Prosecution Insights
Last updated: September 25, 2026
Application No. 18/993,001

SERIALISED VIDEO TRANSMISSION

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Jan 10, 2025
Priority
Jul 22, 2022 — EU 22186477.0 +1 more
Examiner
MENGESHA, MULUGETA A
Art Unit
2424
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
LEICA INSTRUMENTS (SINGAPORE) PTE. LTD.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
82%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
7m
Est. Remaining
92%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 82% — above average
82%
Career Allowance Rate
608 granted / 745 resolved
+23.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +10% lift
Without
With
+10.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
16 currently pending
Career history
768
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
12.1%
-27.9% vs TC avg
§103
51.3%
+11.3% vs TC avg
§102
15.9%
-24.1% vs TC avg
§112
5.5%
-34.5% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 745 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . Claims Status Claims 1-14 are currently pending in the application. Claim 15 has been cancelled. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action: A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made. The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action. Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2009/0161750 A1 to Racicot in view of US 2010/0188569 A1 to Meiners et al. As to claims 1 and 11, Racicot discloses an apparatus [a method] for combining a plurality of serialised video streams from a plurality of different video sources, each serialised video stream being received over a different communication channel (see fig.1; page.1,¶0010), the apparatus comprising: a receiver configured to separately receive each of the plurality of serialised video streams (see fig.1; page.1,¶0012-¶0013); a plurality of buffers, each buffer configured to buffer at least the active pixels of a received frame line of a serialised frame of one of the plurality of received video streams (see page.1,¶0017,¶0021); one or more processors configured (see fig.1), for each respective group of active pixels in a completely received frame line of pixels in a received frame of a received serialised video stream, to: assign a video source indicator to the respective group of active pixels (see fig.1; page.1,¶0017);and a transmitter configured to onwardly transmit the generated data structures of the plurality of received serialised video streams over the a common channel (see fig.1; page.2,¶0019). Racicot fails explicitly discloses generate a data structure comprising the respective group of active pixels, the video source indicator assigned to the respective group of active pixels, and a frame line position indicator for the respective group of active pixels, the data structure omitting at least one blanking pixel of the completely received frame line. Meiners discloses generate a data structure comprising the respective group of active pixels, the video source indicator assigned to the respective group of active pixels, and a frame line position indicator for the respective group of active pixels, the data structure omitting at least one blanking pixel of the completely received frame line (see fig.6 and 7; page.3,¶0044, ¶0046-¶0047). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Racicot with the teaching as taught by Meiners in order to accommodate delays in selecting and dispatching data from buffers. As to claim 2, Racicot further discloses wherein the transmitter is configured to pause transmission after a respective data structure from a first video source has been transmitted until a next data structure from a second video source or from the first video source is ready for transmission (see page.2,¶0019). As to claim 3, Meiners further discloses wherein the video source indicator identifies a spatial relationship between at least two of the plurality of video sources(see fig.6; page.3,¶0044). As to claim 4, Racicot further discloses wherein the video source indicator and the frame line position indicator are included in a header of a respective data structure, and wherein a bit size of the header is matched to a parallel width of a serialiser of the transmitter configured to combine the data structures from the plurality of different video sources into one an outgoing serialised video stream (see page.2,¶0019). As to claim 5, Racicot further discloses wherein the data structures from the plurality of video sources are interleaved by the serialiser in the outgoing serialised video stream (see page.2,¶0019). As to claim 6, Racicot further discloses wherein at least one received serialised video stream is received over a respective communication channel having one or more of: a different data rate; or a different video resolution; to a data rate or a video resolution of at least another communication channel via which another received video stream is received (see page.2,¶0019). As to claim 7, Racicot further discloses wherein none of the blanking pixels of received video frame lines are included in the onwardly transmitted data structures (see page.2,¶0019). As to claim 8, Racicot further discloses wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit the outgoing generated data structures of the plurality of received serialised video streams over the common channel along a wired link and/or over a wireless communication channel to an apparatus configured to cause a display of received video data (see fig.1; page.2,¶0019). As to claims 9 and 14, Racicot discloses a viewing apparatus [a method for viewing a plurality of serialized video] comprising: a receiver configured to receive a serialised video stream comprising a plurality of data structures (see page.2,¶0019-¶0020), each data structure comprising an active pixel group, a source indicator assigned to the active pixel group, and a frame line position indicator assigned to the active pixel group (see page.1,¶0017,¶0019,¶0026). Racicot fails explicitly discloses one or more processors configured to: generate a complete line of video data by adding one or more blanking pixels to each active pixel group of a respective data structure until a next data structure comprising a next active pixel group in the serialised video stream is received; and cause the complete line of video data to be output for presentation on a display associated with the source indictor of the complete line of video data at a position in a video frame indicated by the frame line position indicator assigned to the active pixel group of the complete line of video data. Meiners discloses one or more processors configured to: generate a complete line of video data by adding one or more blanking pixels to each active pixel group of a respective data structure until a next data structure comprising a next active pixel group in the serialised video stream is received; and cause the complete line of video data to be output for presentation on a display associated with the source indictor of the complete line of video data at a position in a video frame indicated by the frame line position indicator assigned to the active pixel group of the complete line of video data (see fig.6 and 7; page.3,¶0044, ¶0046-¶0047). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Racicot with the teaching as taught by Fudge in order to output for display of the image represented thereby the selected image display format. As to claim 10, Meiners further discloses wherein the received serialised video stream is processed by one or more processors to add a variable number of blanking pixels for output as a continuous serialised video stream to the display (see fig.7; page.4,¶0047). As to claim 12, Racicot further discloses after each data structure has been transmitted, determining whether another data structure from another frame line of another serialized frame originating from another one of the plurality of video sources is ready for onwards transmission, and based upon determining that the another data structure is ready for onwards transmission, onwardly transmitting the another data structure from the another one of the plurality of video sources over the common channel (see page.2,¶0019). As to claim 13, Racicot further discloses after a respective data structure has been transmitted: determining that there is no other data structure from any of the plurality of video sources that is ready for transmission; pausing transmission until another data structure from one of the plurality of video sources is ready for transmission; and onwardly transmitting the another data structure over the common channel (see page.2,¶0019). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MULUGETA MENGESHA whose telephone number is (469)295-9212. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9:00AM-5:30PM ET. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Benjamin Bruckart can be reached at 571-272-3982. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. MULUGETA MENGESHA Primary Examiner Art Unit 2424 /Mulugeta Mengesha/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2424
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Prosecution Timeline

Jan 10, 2025
Application Filed
Jun 24, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103
Aug 24, 2026
Applicant Interview (Telephonic)
Aug 24, 2026
Examiner Interview Summary

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
82%
Grant Probability
92%
With Interview (+10.0%)
2y 4m (~7m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 745 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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