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 1-4 are pending for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/20/2025, 06/12/2025, 03/25/2025, 02/12/2025, 01/16/2025, 01/16/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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 1-4 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-3 of U.S. Patent No. 12519949 in view of AONO (US 20200177911 A1).
Regarding instant claims 1-4, Patent No. 12519949 discloses the following limitations:
Instant application
Patent No. 12519949
Claims 1-4 . A method of decoding/encoding an image, the method comprising:
[claim 1 & 2] An image decoding/encoding method performed by a decoding apparatus, the method comprising:
obtaining information for a collocated picture through a bitstream;
deriving a sub-block based temporal merge candidate of a current block based on a
collocated block in a collocated picture;
[claim 1]
deriving the collocated picture based on the obtained information;
deriving a sub-block based temporal merge candidate of a current block based on a
collocated block in the collocated picture;
generating a sub-block based merge candidate list based on the sub-block based temporal merge candidate of the current block;
generating a sub-block based merge candidate list based on the sub-block based temporal merge candidate of the current block;
[claim 1]
deriving a motion vector for each of a plurality of sub-blocks of the current block based on
the sub-block based merge candidate list; and
deriving a motion vector for each of a plurality of sub-blocks of the current block based on
the sub-block-based merge candidate list;
[claim 1]
deriving prediction samples of the plurality of sub-blocks of the current block based on the
motion vector for each of a plurality of sub-blocks,
deriving prediction samples for the plurality of sub-blocks based on the motion vectors of
the plurality of sub-blocks;
[claim 1]
wherein a location of the collocated block is a location in the collocated picture moved
based on a motion vector of a spatial neighboring block of the current block from a location in the collocated picture that corresponds to the location of the current block, and
wherein a location of the collocated block is a location in the collocated picture moved based on the motion vector of the spatial neighboring block of the current block from a location in the collocated picture that corresponds to a location of the current block.
[claim 1]
Patent No. 12519949 does explicitly claim wherein the spatial neighboring block of the current block is a left neighboring block of the current block.
However, in an analogous art, AONO teaches wherein the spatial neighboring block of the current block is a left neighboring block of the current block (Note that the neighboring PUs include spatial neighboring PUs of the decoding target PU, such as a left PU [0559]).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to take the teachings of AONO and apply them to Patent No. 12519949. One would be motivated as such as a prediction image can be improved with reduced complexity.
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 3 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by AONO (US 20200177911 A1).
A bit stream generated by a method, the method comprising… is a product by process claim limitation where the product is the bit stream and the process is the method steps to generate the bitstream. MPEP §2113 recites “Product-by-Process claims are not limited to the manipulations of the recited steps, only the structure implied by the steps”. Thus, the scope of the claim is the storage medium storing the bitstream (with the structure implied by the method steps). The structure includes the information and samples manipulated by the steps.
“To be given patentable weight, the printed matter and associated product must be in a functional relationship. A functional relationship can be found where the printed matter performs some function with respect to the product to which it is associated”. MPEP §2111.05(I)(A). When a claimed “computer-readable medium merely serves as a support for information or data, no functional relationship exists. MPEP §2111.05(III). The storage medium storing the claimed bitstream in claim 3 merely services as a support for the storage of the bitstream and provides no fictional relationship between the stored bitstream and storage medium. Therefor the structure bitstream, which scope is implied by the method steps, is non-functional descriptive material and given no patentable weight. MPEP §2111.05(III). Thus, the claim scope is just a storage medium storing data and is anticipated by REFERENCE which recites a storage medium storing a bitstream ([0068]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HESHAM K ABOUZAHRA whose telephone number is (571)270-0425. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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/HESHAM K ABOUZAHRA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2486