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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of the Restriction Requirement in the reply filed on 04/27/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the two groups share some similar overlapping features which the applicant argues would not pose a serious search or examination burden. This is not found persuasive because applicant points out piecemeal some portions of claims which lightly overlap, however not even most of the claim limitations applicant cites fully overlap. They only recite similar terminology as they are necessarily operating in the same field, however, the underlying inventive concepts of each grouping is clearly different as previously laid out.
The following table highlights some example differences which separates the two groupings with no overlap
Group 1
Group 2
Claim 1
Claims 10, 15
determining a leaf node, of the plurality of the nodes, close to a position of the point; selecting, from one or more reference points associated with the leaf node, one or more reference points closest to the position of the point
determining, based on attributes associated with a reference point determined from an approximate nearest neighbor search, attribute predictors for attributes associated with the reconstructed point
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 10-20 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected Group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 04/27/2026.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/16/2025 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 06/23/2025 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 § 102
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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Gao et al. (US 20260170696 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Gao et al. teaches a method comprising: decoding, by a computing device, points of a point cloud, associated with content, to determine reconstructed points of the point cloud (Paragraphs 15-22);
generating a space partitioning tree comprising a plurality of nodes that associates one or more reference points, of a reference point cloud for attributes, with a plurality of sub- volumes associated with the reference point cloud (Paragraphs 15-22); and
for each reconstructed point of the reconstructed points: determining a point based on a motion vector, of a motion vector field, associated with the reconstructed point (Paragraphs 15-22; Paragraph 76; Paragraphs 102-108);
determining a leaf node, of the plurality of the nodes, close to a position of the point (Paragraphs 15-22; Paragraphs 86-94);
selecting, from one or more reference points associated with the leaf node, one or more reference points closest to the position of the point (Paragraphs 15-22; Paragraphs 86-94; Paragraphs 132-133); and
determining, based on one or more attributes associated with the one or more selected reference points, an attribute predictor for an attribute associated with the reconstructed point (Paragraphs 15-22; Paragraphs 61-63; Paragraph 73).
Regarding Claim 2, Gao et al. teaches the method of claim 1, Gao et al. further teaches for each reconstructed point of the reconstructed points: decoding, from a bitstream, a residual attribute indicating a difference between the attribute associated with each reconstructed point and the attribute predictor; and decoding, based on the attribute predictor and the decoded residual attribute, the attribute associated with the each reconstructed point of the reconstructed points (Paragraphs 15-22; Paragraphs 61-63; Paragraph 73; Paragraphs 195-203).
Regarding Claim 3, Gao et al. teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the determining the attribute predictor is further based on: approximation information for searching the one or more reference points from the reference point cloud (Paragraphs 15-22; Paragraphs 61-63; Paragraph 73; Paragraphs 193-203).
Regarding Claim 4, Gao et al. teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the one or more selected reference points comprise a plurality of selected reference points; and the method further comprising: determining, based on a weighted average of the plurality of attributes, the attribute predictor, wherein the weighted average of the plurality of attributes is based on respective distances between the plurality of selected reference points and the position of the point (Paragraphs 15-22; Paragraphs 61-63; Paragraph 73; Paragraphs 100-114; Paragraphs 193-203).
Regarding Claim 5, Gao et al. teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: selecting, based on distances between the one or more reference points and the position of the point, the one or more reference points closet to the position of the point, wherein the distances comprise at least one of a Manhattan distance, a Euclidean distance, Chebyshev distance, or a Minkowski distance (Paragraphs 15-22; Paragraphs 61-63; Paragraph 73; Paragraphs 100-114; Paragraphs 193-203).
Regarding Claim 6, Gao et al. teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the determining the point is further based on translating the reconstructed point by the motion vector (Paragraphs 15-22; Paragraph 76; Paragraphs 102-108).
Regarding Claim 7, Gao et al. teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the motion vector is associated with all points of the reconstructed points (Paragraphs 15-22; Paragraph 76; Paragraphs 102-108).
Regarding Claim 8, Gao et al. teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the one or more reference points comprises: performing a depth-first search on the space partitioning tree to determine a node, of the plurality of nodes, associated with the smallest sub-volume containing the position of the point (Paragraphs 15-22; Paragraphs 61-63; Paragraph 73; Paragraphs 193-203).
Regarding Claim 9, Gao et al. teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining the reference point cloud for the attributes from an already-coded reference point cloud frame, wherein the already-coded reference point cloud is used to decode a geometry of the point cloud; and decoding at least one of: the motion vector field; or an indication of the already-coded reference point cloud (Paragraphs 15-22; Paragraph 76; Paragraphs 102-108; Paragraphs 149-155).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FARHAN MAHMUD whose telephone number is (571)272-7712. The examiner can normally be reached 10-7.
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/FARHAN MAHMUD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2483
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