Detailed Office Action
1. This communication is being filed in response to the submission having a mailing date of (12/09/2024) which a (3) month Shortened Statutory Period for Response has been set.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Acknowledgements
3. Upon new entry, claims (1 -2) appear pending for examination, of which (1, 2) are the two (2) parallel running independent claims on record.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) that was submitted on date (12/09/2024) is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, being approved and considered by the examiner.
Drawings
5. The submitted Drawings on date (12/09/2024) has been accepted and considered under the 37 CFR 1.121 (d).
Double Patenting
6. The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g. In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
6.1. A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
6.2. Individuals associated with the filing and prosecution of the instant patent application have a duty to disclose information within their knowledge as to other copending United States applications which are "material to patentability" of the application in question. See MPEP §2001.06(b) for more details.
6.3. Independent claims (1 and 2) of the instant Application 18/974,444, directed to a transcoder technique, employing a particular multidirectional ternary partitioning (i.e. binary, ternary split) variations of the same, being rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obvious-type double patenting as being unpatentable over the analogous claims of the parent patent Appls. 18/510,430 (now US 12,206,882), 17/743,348; (now US 11,876,992) and 16/587,961; (now US 11,368,703) respectively.
Instant Application
(18/974,444)
Reference: 18/510,430 (now US 12,206,882)
Reference: 17/743,348
(now US 11,876,992)
Reference: 16/587,961;
(now US 11,368,703).
Claim 1. A transmitter for an encoded bitstream, the transmitter comprising: circuitry; and a memory coupled to the circuitry, wherein the circuitry, in operation: writes a first parameter and a second parameter to a bitstream; derives a partition mode based on the first and second parameters; and responsive to the derived partition mode being a first partition mode, executes the first partition mode including: splitting a block of a picture, in a vertical direction or in a horizontal direction, into a plurality of first blocks, the plurality of first blocks including a Nx2N block sized N pixels by 2N pixels; splitting the Nx2N block, wherein a ternary split is allowed to split the Nx2N block in the vertical direction, which is a direction along the 2N pixels, into a plurality of sub blocks including at least one sub block sized N/4 x 2N, while a binary split is not allowed to split the Nx2N block in the vertical direction into two sub blocks that are equally sized N/2 x 2N; encoding the plurality of sub blocks to the bitstream; and transmitting the encoded bitstream.
Claim 2. A transmitting method for an encoded bitstream performed by a transmitter, the transmitting method comprising: writing a first parameter and a second parameter to a bitstream; deriving a partition mode based on the first and second parameters; and responsive to the derived partition mode being a first partition mode, executing the first partition mode including: splitting a block of a picture, in a vertical direction or horizontal direction, into a plurality of first blocks, the plurality of first blocks including a Nx2N block sized N pixels by 2N pixels; splitting the Nx2N block, wherein a ternary split is allowed to split the Nx2N block in the vertical direction, which is a direction along the 2N pixels, into a plurality of sub blocks including at least one sub block sized N/4 x 2N, while a binary split is not allowed to split the Nx2N block in the vertical direction into two sub blocks that are equally sized N/2 x 2N; encoding the plurality of sub blocks to the bitstream; and transmitting the encoded bitstream.
Claim 1. An image encoder comprising: circuitry; and a memory coupled to the circuitry, wherein the circuitry, in operation: writes a first parameter and a second parameter to a bitstream; derives a partition mode based on the first and second parameters; and responsive to the derived partition mode being a first partition mode, executes the first partition mode including: splitting a block of a picture, in a vertical direction or in a horizontal direction, into a plurality of first blocks, the plurality of first blocks including a Nx2N block sized N pixels by 2N pixels; splitting the Nx2N block, wherein a ternary split is allowed to split the Nx2N block in the vertical direction, which is a direction along the 2N pixels, into a plurality of sub blocks including at least one sub block sized N/4 x 2N, while a binary split is not allowed to split the Nx2N block in the vertical direction into two sub blocks that are equally sized N/2 x 2N; and encoding the plurality of sub blocks.
Claim 5. An encoding method comprising: writing a first parameter and a second parameter to a bitstream; deriving a partition mode based on the first and second parameters; and responsive to the derived partition mode being a first partition mode, executing the first partition mode including: splitting a block of a picture, in a vertical direction or in a horizontal direction, into a plurality of first blocks, the plurality of first blocks including a Nx2N block sized N pixels by 2N pixels; splitting the Nx2N block, wherein a ternary split is allowed to split the Nx2N block in the vertical direction, which is a direction along the 2N pixels, into a plurality of sub blocks including at least one sub block sized N/4 x 2N, while a binary split is not allowed to split the Nx2N block in the vertical direction into two sub blocks that are equally sized N/2 x 2N; and encoding the plurality of sub blocks.
Claim 1. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a bitstream, the bitstream including instructions and parameters which, when loaded to an image decoder, cause the image decoder to perform a process including: and parsing an encoded bitstream to obtain a first parameter and a second parameter; deriving a partition mode based on the first and second parameters; wherein, responsive to the derived partition mode being a first partition mode, the process includes executing the first partition mode including: splitting a block of a picture, in a vertical direction or in a horizontal direction, into a plurality of first blocks, the plurality of first blocks including a Nx2N block sized N pixels by 2N pixels; splitting the Nx2N block, wherein a ternary split is allowed to split the Nx2N block in the vertical direction, which is a direction along the 2N pixels, into a plurality of sub blocks including at least one sub block sized N/4 x 2N, while a binary split is not allowed to split the Nx2N block in the vertical direction into two sub blocks that are equally sized N/2 x 2N; and decoding the plurality of sub blocks.
Claim 1. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions which, when loaded to an image decoder, cause the image decoder to perform a process including: receiving and decoding an encoded bitstream to obtain quantized transform coefficients and a first parameter and a second parameter; deriving a partition mode based on the first and second parameters; inverse-quantizing the quantized transform coefficients to obtain transform coefficients and inverse-transforming the transform coefficients to obtain residuals; generating a prediction of a current block based on a reference block in a decoded reference picture or based on an encoded reference block in a current picture; and adding the residuals and the predictions to reconstruct blocks; wherein, responsive to the derived partition mode being a first partition mode, the process includes executing the first partition mode including: splitting a block of a picture, in a vertical direction or in a horizontal direction, into a plurality of first blocks, the plurality of first blocks including a Nx2N block sized N pixels by 2N pixels; splitting the Nx2N block, wherein a ternary split is allowed to split the Nx2N block in the vertical direction, which is a direction along the 2N pixels, into a plurality of sub blocks including at least one sub block sized N/4 x 2N, while a binary split is not allowed to split the Nx2N block in the vertical direction into two sub blocks that are equally sized N/2 x 2N; and decoding the plurality of sub blocks.
6.4. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made/filed, to combine the instant 18/974,444 with the cited above reference(s) because although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other, the claim language uses similar scope of the invention, and/or a similar variation of the same claim language.
Claim objection
7. Independent claims (1, 2) and the associated dependencies are objected to, because of the judicially created Double patent doctrine, as documented in section (6) above, but it may be considered for allowance if properly rewritten, and/or if a Terminal Disclaimer (TD) is timely filed, in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d).
Prior Art Citations
8. The following List of prior art, made of record and not relied upon, is/are considered
pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
8.1. Patent documentation
US 9,883,203 B2 Chien; et al. H04N19/139; H04N19/136; H04N19/176;
US 9,654,776 B2 Chen; et al. H04N19/122; H04N19/537; H04N19/174;
US 11,140,384 B2 Ko; et al. H04N19/159; H04N19/132; H04N19/70;
US 11,368,703 B2 Lim; et al. H04N19/44; H04N19/70; H04N19/119;
US 11,876,992 B2 Lim; et al. H04N19/44; H04N19/70; H04N19/119;
US 12,206,882 B2 Lim; et al. H04N19/44; H04N19/70; H04N19/119;
8.1. Non-Patent documentation (NPL):
_ Asymmetric coding unit in QTBT; Leannec; Oct-2016;
_ Local-constrained quadtree plus binary tree block partition structure; Wang; 2016;
_ Effective Quadtree Plus Binary Tree Block Partition Decision; Wang; et al; May-11-2017;
CONCLUSIONS
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LUIS PEREZ-FUENTES (luis.perez-fuentes@uspto.gov) whose telephone number is (571) 270 -1168. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8am-5pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, WILLIAM VAUGHN can be reached on (571) 272-3922. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 272 -3922. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated system, please call (800) 786 -9199 (USA OR CANADA) or (571) 272 -1000.
/LUIS PEREZ-FUENTES/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2481.