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 .
Status of the Application
Claims 1-9 are currently pending in this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/21/2025 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/17/2025 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 8 and 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claims define “computer-readable storage medium” which is related to software per se. However, the claim does not define a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and is thus non-statutory for that reason (i.e., "When functional descriptive material is recorded on some non- transitory computer-readable medium it becomes structurally and functionally interrelated to the non-transitory medium and will be statutory in most cases since use of technology permits the function of the descriptive material to be realized"- Guidelines Annex IV).
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.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1-9 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 2, 4-6, 8-10, and 12 of U.S. Patent No. 11,425,375 in view of HUANG et al. (Hereafter, “Huang”) [US 2019/0075328 A1]. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they cover mutually associated subject matter. Thus, a terminal disclaimer is required. An analysis of the claims can be seen in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Instant Application No. 19/023,219 vs. U.S. Patent No. 11,425,375
Instant Application No. 19/023,219 Claims (Difference Emphasis Added)
U.S. Patent No. 11,425,375 Claims (Difference Emphasis Added)
1. A method for encoding a current block of a picture, the method comprising: determining the current block of the picture is a boundary block and that a size of the current block is less than or equal to a minimum allowed quadtree (QT) leaf node size (MinQTSize) parameter; in response to the determining, applying forced binary tree (BT) partitioning to the current block, wherein the boundary block is located at a corner boundary, and wherein applying the forced BT partitioning comprises: recursively partitioning the current block by a horizontal forced boundary partitioning until a sub-partition of the current block is located at a bottom boundary of the picture; and recursively partitioning the sub-partition by a vertical forced boundary partitioning until a leaf node is located at a right boundary of the picture; and generating a bitstream comprising the current block encoded based on applying the forced BT partitioning.
1. A method comprising: determining a current block of a picture is a boundary block and that a size of the current block is less than or equal to a minimum allowed quadtree (QT) leaf node size (MinQTSize) parameter; and in response to the determining, applying forced binary tree (BT) partitioning to the current block, wherein applying the forced BT partitioning comprises: recursively partitioning the current block by a horizontal forced boundary partitioning until a sub-partition of the current block is located at a bottom boundary of the picture; and recursively partitioning the sub-partition by a vertical forced boundary partitioning until a leaf node is located at a right boundary of the picture.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying the MinQTSize parameter for controlling partitioning of a non-boundary block of the picture.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying the MinQTSize parameter for controlling partitioning of a non-boundary block of the picture.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the MinQTSize parameter via a sequence parameter set (SPS).
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the MinQTSize parameter via a sequence parameter set (SPS).
Claim 4 is the same as claim 1 but in apparatus form.
Claim 5 is the same as claim 1 but in apparatus form.
Claim 5 is the same as claim 2 but in apparatus form.
Claim 6 is the same as claim 2 but in apparatus form.
Claim 6 is the same as claim 3 but in apparatus form.
Claim 8 is the same as claim 4 but in apparatus form.
Claim 7 is the same as claim 1 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 9 is the same as claim 1 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 8 is the same as claim 2 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 10 is the same as claim 2 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 9 is the same as claim 3 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 12 is the same as claim 4 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
The U.S. Patent fails to explicitly disclose a method for encoding a current block of a picture, the method comprising: wherein the boundary block is located at a corner boundary, and generating a bitstream comprising the current block encoded based on applying the forced BT partitioning.
Huang discloses a method for encoding a current block of a picture ([Abstract] The encoder or decoder encodes or decodes the current CTU.), the method comprising: wherein the boundary block is located at a corner boundary ([Fig. 6 and 0046] The block 602 at a right boundary of the video picture 60 is forced to split using a vertical binary tree split.), and generating a bitstream comprising the current block encoded based on applying the forced BT partitioning ([0007] The current CTU is encoded to form a video bitstream, and the CTU-level syntaxes are signaled in the video bitstream. [0009] In an embodiment, a split flag is signaled in the video bitstream to indicate the splitting of the current CTU or the current CU. [0034] The encoder forces the current CU or PU to split into multiple TUs according to a quadtree split or binary tree split if the size, width M, or height N is greater than the threshold.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the invention with the teachings of Huang in order to improve the block-based video data processing in video coding [See Huang].
Claims 1-9 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 2, 4-6, 8-10, and 12 of U.S. Patent No. 11,750,810 in view of HUANG et al. (Hereafter, “Huang”) [US 2019/0075328 A1]. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they cover mutually associated subject matter. Thus, a terminal disclaimer is required. An analysis of the claims can be seen in Table 2 below.
Table 2: Instant Application No. 19/023,219 vs. U.S. Patent No. 11,750,810
Instant Application No. 19/023,219 Claims (Difference Emphasis Added)
U.S. Patent No. 11,750,810 Claims (Difference Emphasis Added)
1. A method for encoding a current block of a picture, the method comprising:
determining the current block of the picture is a boundary block and that a size of the current block is less than or equal to a minimum allowed quadtree (QT) leaf node size (MinQTSize) parameter; in response to the determining, applying forced binary tree (BT) partitioning to the current block, wherein the boundary block is located at a corner boundary, and wherein applying the forced BT partitioning comprises: recursively partitioning the current block by a horizontal forced boundary partitioning until a sub-partition of the current block is located at a bottom boundary of the picture; and recursively partitioning the sub-partition by a vertical forced boundary partitioning until a leaf node is located at a right boundary of the picture; and generating a bitstream comprising the current block encoded based on applying the forced BT partitioning.
1. A method comprising: determining a current block of a picture is a boundary block and that a size of the current block is less than or equal to a minimum allowed quadtree (QT) leaf node size (MinQTSize) parameter; and in response to the determining, applying forced binary tree (BT) partitioning to the current block, wherein the boundary block is located at a corner boundary, and wherein applying the forced BT partitioning comprises: recursively partitioning the current block by a horizontal forced boundary partitioning until a sub-partition of the current block is located at a bottom boundary of the picture; and recursively partitioning the sub-partition by a vertical forced boundary partitioning until a leaf node is located at a right boundary of the picture.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying the MinQTSize parameter for controlling partitioning of a non-boundary block of the picture.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying the MinQTSize parameter for controlling partitioning of a non-boundary block of the picture.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the MinQTSize parameter via a sequence parameter set (SPS).
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the MinQTSize parameter via a sequence parameter set (SPS).
Claim 4 is the same as claim 1 but in apparatus form.
Claim 5 is the same as claim 1 but in apparatus form.
Claim 5 is the same as claim 2 but in apparatus form.
Claim 6 is the same as claim 2 but in apparatus form.
Claim 6 is the same as claim 3 but in apparatus form.
Claim 8 is the same as claim 4 but in apparatus form.
Claim 7 is the same as claim 1 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 9 is the same as claim 1 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 8 is the same as claim 2 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 10 is the same as claim 2 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 9 is the same as claim 3 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 12 is the same as claim 4 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
The U.S. Patent fails to explicitly disclose a method for encoding a current block of a picture, the method comprising: and generating a bitstream comprising the current block encoded based on applying the forced BT partitioning.
Huang discloses a method for encoding a current block of a picture ([Abstract] The encoder or decoder encodes or decodes the current CTU.), the method comprising: and generating a bitstream comprising the current block encoded based on applying the forced BT partitioning ([0007] The current CTU is encoded to form a video bitstream, and the CTU-level syntaxes are signaled in the video bitstream. [0009] In an embodiment, a split flag is signaled in the video bitstream to indicate the splitting of the current CTU or the current CU. [0034] The encoder forces the current CU or PU to split into multiple TUs according to a quadtree split or binary tree split if the size, width M, or height N is greater than the threshold.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the invention with the teachings of Huang in order to improve the block-based video data processing in video coding [See Huang].
Claims 1-9 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-9 of U.S. Patent No. 12,212,747 in view of HUANG et al. (Hereafter, “Huang”) [US 2019/0075328 A1]. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they cover mutually associated subject matter. Thus, a terminal disclaimer is required. An analysis of the claims can be seen in Table 3 below.
Table 3: Instant Application No. 19/023,219 vs. U.S. Patent No. 12,212,747
Instant Application No. 19/023,219 Claims (Difference Emphasis Added)
U.S. Patent No. 12,212,747 Claims (Difference Emphasis Added)
1. A method for encoding a current block of a picture, the method comprising: determining the current block of the picture is a boundary block and that a size of the current block is less than or equal to a minimum allowed quadtree (QT) leaf node size (MinQTSize) parameter; in response to the determining, applying forced binary tree (BT) partitioning to the current block, wherein the boundary block is located at a corner boundary, and wherein applying the forced BT partitioning comprises: recursively partitioning the current block by a horizontal forced boundary partitioning until a sub-partition of the current block is located at a bottom boundary of the picture; and recursively partitioning the sub-partition by a vertical forced boundary partitioning until a leaf node is located at a right boundary of the picture; and generating a bitstream comprising the current block encoded based on applying the forced BT partitioning.
1. A method for encoding a current block of a picture, the method comprising: determining, by an encoder, the current block of the picture is a boundary block and that a size of the current block is less than or equal to a minimum allowed quadtree (QT) leaf node size (MinQTSize) parameter; in response to the determining, applying, by the encoder, forced binary tree (BT) partitioning to the current block, wherein applying the forced BT partitioning comprises: recursively partitioning the current block by a horizontal forced boundary partitioning until a sub-partition of the current block is located at a bottom boundary of the picture; and recursively partitioning the sub-partition by a vertical forced boundary partitioning until a leaf node is located at a right boundary of the picture; and generating, by the encoder, a bitstream comprising the current block encoded based on applying the forced BT partitioning.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying the MinQTSize parameter for controlling partitioning of a non-boundary block of the picture.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: applying, by the encoder, the MinQTSize parameter for controlling partitioning of a non-boundary block of the picture.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the MinQTSize parameter via a sequence parameter set (SPS).
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, by the encoder, the MinQTSize parameter via a sequence parameter set (SPS) in the bitstream.
Claim 4 is the same as claim 1 but in apparatus form.
Claim 4 is the same as claim 1 but in apparatus form.
Claim 5 is the same as claim 2 but in apparatus form.
Claim 5 is the same as claim 2 but in apparatus form.
Claim 6 is the same as claim 3 but in apparatus form.
Claim 6 is the same as claim 3 but in apparatus form.
Claim 7 is the same as claim 1 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 7 is the same as claim 1 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 8 is the same as claim 2 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 8 is the same as claim 2 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 9 is the same as claim 3 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Claim 9 is the same as claim 3 but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form.
Some of the differences in the claim limitations in the U.S. Patent are narrower than the instant application, and thus it would have been obvious to make the claim limitations in the instant application broader by removing the specific language found in the U.S. Patent.
The U.S. Patent fails to explicitly disclose wherein the boundary block is located at a corner boundary.
Huang discloses wherein the boundary block is located at a corner boundary ([Fig. 6 and 0046] The block 602 at a right boundary of the video picture 60 is forced to split using a vertical binary tree split.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to modify the invention with the binary tree splitting of a corner boundary block as taught by Huang in order to improve the block-based video data processing in video coding [See Huang].
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kaitlin A Retallick whose telephone number is (571)270-3841. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
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/KAITLIN A RETALLICK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2482