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 .
Double Patenting
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 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); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
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 nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1 and 15 is/are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 7, 8 and 14 of copending Application No. 18823546 (reference application). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because both applications claimed an encoding and decoding processes of a symmetric 3D mesh.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
The following table illustrates the conflicting claim pairs:
Instant Application
1
15
Reference Patent
8, 14
1, 7
Claims of the instant application are compared to claims of Reference Patent in the following tables.
Instant Application
Reference Patent
1. A method for encoding a 3D mesh, comprising:
determining a symmetry plane of the 3D mesh that cuts the 3D mesh into a first half mesh and a second half mesh;
encoding the first half mesh to generate an encoded first half mesh;
encoding the second half mesh using a reconstruction of the encoded first half mesh reflected by the symmetry plane as a predictor to generate encoded second half mesh;
identifying, among boundary vertex pairs between the first half mesh and the second half mesh, a first subset boundary vertex pairs containing zero or more actual boundaries in the 3D mesh;
generating, based on the encoded first half mesh, the encoded second half mesh, and the first subset boundary vertex pairs, at least one syntax element associated with merging of one or more of the boundary vertex pairs; and
including the encoded first half mesh, the encoded second half mesh, and the at least one syntax element in a bitstream of the 3D mesh.
8. A method of mesh encoding, comprising:
determining whether a mesh is symmetric with respect to a symmetry plane, the mesh including a plurality of vertices;
when the mesh is symmetric with respect to the symmetry plane, dividing the plurality of vertices into a first group of vertices that is positioned at a first side of the symmetry plane, a second group of vertices that is positioned at a second side of the symmetry plane opposite to the first side, and a third group of vertices that is positioned on the symmetry plane; and
encoding the second group of vertices by reflecting the first group of vertices with respect to the symmetry plane.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the encoding the third group of vertices further comprises:
reflecting each of the third group of vertices across the symmetry plane to generate a respective reflected vertex;
determining whether the third group of vertices and the reflected vertices have same three-dimensional (3D) coordinates;
merging each of the third group of vertices and a reflected vertex corresponding to the respective vertex to generate a merged vertex when the reflected vertex and the respective vertex have a same 3D coordinate; and
encoding each of the third group of vertices based on the respective merged vertex.
Instant Application
Reference Patent
15. A method for decoding a 3D mesh, comprising;
receiving a bitstream of the 3D mesh encoded as a first half mesh and a second half mesh divided by a symmetry plane;
generating reconstructed first half mesh and reconstructed second half mesh from the bitstream for the first half mesh and the second half mesh, respectively;
extracting at least one syntax element associated with merging of boundary vertex pairs between the first half mesh and the second half mesh; and
merging one or more of the boundary vertex pairs between the first half mesh and the second half mesh according to the at least one syntax element.
1. A method of mesh decoding, comprising:
receiving a bitstream of a mesh that includes a plurality of vertices;
when the mesh is symmetric with respect to a symmetry plane, reconstructing a first group of vertices of the mesh that is positioned at a first side of the symmetry plane; and
reconstructing a second group of vertices of the mesh that is positioned at a second side of the symmetry plane by reflecting the reconstructed first group of vertices with respect to the symmetry plane.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the reconstructing further comprises:
determining a reconstructed first vertex of a first vertex of the third group of vertices;
reflecting the reconstructed first vertex across the symmetry plane to generate a first reflected vertex;
merging the reconstructed first vertex and the first reflected vertex when the first reflected vertex has a same 3D coordinate as the reconstructed first vertex to generate a merged first vertex on the symmetry plane; and
reconstructing the first vertex of the third group of vertices based on the merged first vertex.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 are allowed over prior art.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Regarding Claim 1, Cai teaches a method for encoding a 3D mesh, comprising (Cai Abst: Common 2D or 3D mesh models comprise redundancy in the form of symmetries, such as repetitive structures):
determining a symmetry plane of the 3D mesh that cuts the 3D mesh into a first half mesh and a second half mesh (Cai [0026] After clustering, those transformations that relate to a real symmetry can be identified; [0036] FIG. 2 Thus, the model can be encoded by one reference (namely one side of the model) [first side] and one instance of the reference (namely the other side of the model) [second side]);
encoding the first half mesh to generate an encoded first half mesh (Cai [0036] In FIG. 2 c), the determined symmetry of this exemplary model is shown: a reflection on a symmetry axis 230. Thus, the model can be encoded by one reference (namely one side of the model) and one instance of the reference (namely the other side of the model), which reduces the number of points (vertices) to be encoded by 50%);
encoding the second half mesh using a reconstruction of the encoded first half mesh reflected by the symmetry plane as a predictor to generate encoded second half mesh (Cai [0007] The invention is particularly suitable for improved detection of repeating structures and instances thereof in mesh models. Such detection of repeating structures and instances thereof is useful in several respects. It is particularly advantageous for improved encoding of mesh models, since instances of repeating structures can be encoded by a reference to their representative structure);
identifying, among boundary vertex pairs between the first half mesh and the second half mesh, a first subset boundary vertex pairs containing zero or more actual boundaries in the 3D mesh (Cai [0031] d=(1-a.sub.max).sup.-1/3 is the sampling step decrease rate. [0032] n.sub.i is the number of vertices/triangles of repeating structure instances discovered during current iteration (or the surface area of such structures). [0033] m.sub.i=m.sub.i-1-n.sub.i-1 is the number of the vertices or triangles of the repetitive structure representatives and of the model part that does not include any repetitive structures after i-1 iterations (or the surface area of such structures); FIG. 2);
Wang disclosed an algorithm for progressive point set surface compression based on planar reflective symmetry analysis. Wang teaches
including the encoded first half mesh, the encoded second half mesh, and the at least one syntax element in a bitstream of the 3D mesh (Wang pg. 38, col 2: we combine the coding bits from various encoders to form a bit stream for compression of the input model).
Deering disclosed a method for compressing 3D geometry data that is capable of compressing both regularly tiled and irregularly tiled surfaces.
Deering disclosed an automatic approach to the detection of partial, local, and global symmetries and orbits in arbitrary 3D datasets.
Simari disclosed an approach to finding maximally symmetric parts is based on robust M-estimation using an iteratively reweighted least squares (IRLS) algorithm
But none of the prior art teaches “and generating, based on the encoded first half mesh, the encoded second half mesh, and the first subset boundary vertex pairs, at least one syntax element associated with merging of one or more of the boundary vertex pairs.“ Therefore, claim 1 as a whole is allowable.
Regarding Claims 15 and 20, the claims recited a decoding method using same opposite algorithm. Therefore, they are allowable for the same reason as claim 1.
The corresponding dependent claims are therefore allowable by virtue of their dependencies.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Cai et al.US 20130173225 A1, referred herein as Cai
Deering (US 6525722 B1), referred herein as Deering
Wang et al. (Progressive point set surface compression based on planar reflective symmetry analysis, 2015), referred herein as Wang
Shi et al. (Progressive point set surface compression based on planar reflective symmetry analysis, 2016), referred herein as Shi
Simari et al. (Folding meshes: Hierarchical mesh segmentation
based on planar symmetry, 2006), referred herein as Simari
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Samantha (Yuehan) Wang whose telephone number is (571)270-5011. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, King Poon can be reached at (571)272-7440. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Samantha (YUEHAN) WANG/
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2617
Prosecution Insights