DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in response to the amendment filed on 06/11/2026. Claims 1, 8 and 15 are amended. Claims 2, 9 and 16 are cancelled. Claims 1, 3-8, 10-15, and 17-20 are have been examined.
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 .
Response to Arguments
The rejections under 35 U.S.C 101 non-statutory double patenting rejection are withdrawn because Applicant has timely filed a terminal disclaimer.
Response to Amendment
The amended claims 15-20 fails to establish a functional relationship between the bitstream data and the computer readable medium because the bitstream is not produced by any instructions only received by the CRM.
Examiner’s note:
Machine readable media: when determining the scope of a claim directed to a computer-readable medium containing certain programming, the examiner should first look to the relationship between the programming and the intended computer system. Where the programming performs some function with respect to the computer with which it is associated, a functional relationship will be found. For instance, a claim to computer-readable medium programmed with attribute data objects that perform the function of facilitating retrieval, addition, and removal of information in the intended computer system, establishes a functional relationship such that the claimed attribute data objects are given patentable weight. See Lowry, 32 F.3d at 1583-84, 32 USPQ2d at 1035. However, where the claim as a whole is directed to conveying a message or meaning to a human reader independent of the intended computer system, and/or the computer-readable medium merely serves as a support for information or data, no functional relationship exists. For example, a claim to a memory stick containing tables of batting averages, or tracks of recorded music, utilizes the intended computer system merely as a support for the information. Such claims are directed toward conveying meaning to the human reader rather than towards establishing a functional relationship between recorded data and the computer. See section 2111.05 of MPEP.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 15 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Comer (US 2005/0185937).
Regarding claim 15, Comer discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a bitstream and one or more instructions that, the instructions when executed by at least one processor, cause a decoding device to generate a video based on the bitstream, the bitstream comprising information for use in decoding the video, wherein the information for use in decoding the video comprises: when decoded by a decoding device, is used by the decoding device to generate a video, the bitstream comprising: a picture header, wherein the picture header includes a flag, wherein the flag indicates that all coded slices of a current picture have a slice type equal to 2 (I), or one or more coded slices in the current picture have a slice type equal to 0 (B) or 1 (P);wherein when the flag indicates that the one or more coded slices in the current picture have the slice type equal to 0(B) or 1(P), the decoding device is configured to parse the picture header to obtain a syntax element designed for inter prediction; when the flag indicates that all coded slices of the current picture have the slice type equal to 2 (I), the syntax element designed for inter prediction is not contained in the picture header and the decoding device is configured to infer a value of the syntax element designed for inter prediction to be equal to a value of a syntax element designed for inter prediction in a sequence parameter set (SPS) of the bitstream[[.]];wherein the syntax element designed for inter prediction includes pic log2 diff min qt min cb inter slice, wherein the pic log2 diff min qtmin cb interslice specifies a difference between a base 2 logarithm of a minimum size in luma samples of a luma leaf block resulting from quadtree splitting of a coding tree unit (CTU) and a base 2logarithm of a minimum luma coding block size in luma samples for luma coding units (CUs) in the slices with P or B picture associated with the picture header; or wherein when the pic log2 diff min qt min cb inter slice is not present in the picture header of the bitstream, the value of the pic log2 diff min qt min cb luma is inferred to be equal to sps log2 diff min qt min cb inter slice (Examiner’s note: the “non-transitory computer readable medium” does not establish a functional relationship between the recorded bitstream data and the computer readable medium, therefore the claim will be interpreted as a tangible device being able to store bitstream data; Comer, paragraph 29 discloses the base data bitstream can be recorded onto the DVD as a base layer and assigned a stream identification of 0xE0… the enhancement data bitstream can be recorded onto the DVD as an enhancement layer and assigned a stream identification of 0xBF, 0xFA, 0xFB, 0xFC, 0xFD or 0xFE).
Regarding claim 17, Comer discloses the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the syntax element for inter designed prediction includes pic_max_mtt_hierarchy_depth_inter_slice, wherein the pic_max_mtt_hierarchy_depth_inter_slice specifies a maximum hierarchy depth for coding units resulting from multi-type tree splitting of a quadtree leaf in slices; or wherein when the pic_max_mtt_hierarchy_depth_inter_slice is not present in the picture header of the bitstream, the value of the pic_max_mtt_hierarchy_depth_inter_slice is inferred to be equal to sps_max_mtt_hierarchy_depth_inter_slice (Examiner’s note: the “non-transitory computer readable medium” does not establish a functional relationship between the recorded bitstream data and the computer readable medium, therefore the claim will be interpreted as a tangible device being able to store bitstream data; Comer, paragraph 29 discloses the base data bitstream can be recorded onto the DVD as a base layer and assigned a stream identification of 0xE0… the enhancement data bitstream can be recorded onto the DVD as an enhancement layer and assigned a stream identification of 0xBF, 0xFA, 0xFB, 0xFC, 0xFD or 0xFE).
Regarding claim 18, Comer discloses the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein when the pic_max_mtt_hierarchy_depth_inter_slice is not equal to 0, the syntax element designed for inter prediction further includes pic_log2_diff_max_bt_min_qt_inter_slice, wherein the pic_log2_diff_max_bt_min_qt_inter_slice specifies a difference between a base 2 logarithm of a maximum size (width or height) in luma samples of a luma coding block that can be split using a binary split and a base 2 logarithm of a minimum size (width or height) in luma samples of a luma leaf block resulting from quadtree splitting of a CTU in the slices; or wherein when the pic_log2_diff_max_bt_min_qt_inter_slice is not present in the picture header of the bitstream, the value of the pic_log2_diff_max_bt_min_qt_inter_slice is inferred to be equal to sps_log2_diff_max_bt_min_qt_inter_slice (Examiner’s note: the “non-transitory computer readable medium” does not establish a functional relationship between the recorded bitstream data and the computer readable medium, therefore the claim will be interpreted as a tangible device being able to store bitstream data; Comer, paragraph 29 discloses the base data bitstream can be recorded onto the DVD as a base layer and assigned a stream identification of 0xE0… the enhancement data bitstream can be recorded onto the DVD as an enhancement layer and assigned a stream identification of 0xBF, 0xFA, 0xFB, 0xFC, 0xFD or 0xFE).
Regarding claim 19, Comer discloses the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein when the pic_max_mtt_hierarchy_depth_inter_slice is not equal to 0, the syntax element designed for inter prediction further includes pic_log2_diff_max_tt_min_qt_inter_slice, wherein the pic_log2_diff_max_tt_min_qt_inter_slice specifies a difference between a base 2 logarithm of a maximum size (width or height) in luma samples of a luma coding block that can be split using a ternary split and a base 2 logarithm of a minimum size (width or height) in luma samples of a luma leaf block resulting from quadtree splitting of a CTU in slices; or wherein when the pic_log2_diff_max_tt_min_qt_inter_slice is not present in the picture header of the bitstream, the value of the pic_log2_diff_max_tt_min_qt_inter_slice is inferred to be equal to sps_log2_diff_max_tt_min_qt_inter_slice (Examiner’s note: the “non-transitory computer readable medium” does not establish a functional relationship between the recorded bitstream data and the computer readable medium, therefore the claim will be interpreted as a tangible device being able to store bitstream data; Comer, paragraph 29 discloses the base data bitstream can be recorded onto the DVD as a base layer and assigned a stream identification of 0xE0… the enhancement data bitstream can be recorded onto the DVD as an enhancement layer and assigned a stream identification of 0xBF, 0xFA, 0xFB, 0xFC, 0xFD or 0xFE).
Regarding claim 20, Comer discloses the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the syntax element designed for inter prediction includes pic_cu_qp_delta_subdiv_inter_slice, wherein the pic_cu_qp_delta_subdiv_inter_slice specifies a maximum cbSubdiv value of coding units that in inter slice convey cu_qp_delta_abs and cu_qp_delta_sign_flag; or wherein when the pic_cu_qp_delta_subdiv_inter_slice is not present in the picture header of the bitstream, the value of the pic_cu_qp_delta_subdiv_inter_slice is inferred to be equal to 0 (Examiner’s note: the “non-transitory computer readable medium” does not establish a functional relationship between the recorded bitstream data and the computer readable medium, therefore the claim will be interpreted as a tangible device being able to store bitstream data; Comer, paragraph 29 discloses the base data bitstream can be recorded onto the DVD as a base layer and assigned a stream identification of 0xE0… the enhancement data bitstream can be recorded onto the DVD as an enhancement layer and assigned a stream identification of 0xBF, 0xFA, 0xFB, 0xFC, 0xFD or 0xFE).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1, 3-8 and 10-14 are allowed.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JERRY T JEAN BAPTISTE whose telephone number is (571)272-6189. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9-5PM EST.
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/JERRY T JEAN BAPTISTE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2481
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