Prosecution Insights
Last updated: April 19, 2026
Application No. 19/038,081

ENHANCED SIGNALING OF SEI PROCESSING ORDER IN VIDEO BITSTREAMS

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Jan 27, 2025
Examiner
NOH, JAE NAM
Art Unit
2481
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Bytedance Inc.
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
86%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
2y 2m
To Grant
76%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 86% — above average
86%
Career Allow Rate
382 granted / 445 resolved
+27.8% vs TC avg
Minimal -10% lift
Without
With
+-10.0%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
2y 2m
Avg Prosecution
26 currently pending
Career history
471
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
14.2%
-25.8% vs TC avg
§103
37.5%
-2.5% vs TC avg
§102
31.5%
-8.5% vs TC avg
§112
7.8%
-32.2% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 445 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
DETAILED ACTION This action is in response to the application filed on 1/27/2025. Claims 1-20 are pending. 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 . Information Disclosure Statement The references listed on the Information Disclosure Statement submitted on 3/21/2025 has/have been considered by the examiner (see attached PTO-1449). Claim Mapping Notation In this office action, following notations are being used to refer to the paragraph numbers or column number and lines of portions of the cited reference. In this office action, following notations are being used to refer to the paragraph numbers or column number and lines of portions of the cited reference. [0005] (Paragraph number [0005]) C5 (Column 5) Pa5 (Page 5) S5 (Section 5) Furthermore, unless necessary to distinguish from other references in this action, “et al.” will be omitted when referring to the reference. Claim interpretation Claims 19-20 are directed to a computer readable medium that stores generated bitstream. The bitstream is being treated as a product that is the result of the process (method). The steps are not required elements of claims 19-20, so they only limit the invention in terms of how they define the contents of the information in the bitstream. MPEP §2113 The contents of the bitstream, defined by how the bitstream was generated, only describes the content of the information in the bitstream and as result are descriptive language. See MPEP §2111.05. The bitstream has no functional relationship with the claimed non-transitory computer-readable recording medium. 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 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. (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. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a1) and (a2) as being anticipated by Yin et al. (US 12542929 B2) 1. A method for processing visual media data, comprising: performing a conversion between visual media data and a bitstream of the visual media data based on a rule, wherein the rule includes a requirement of bitstream conformance, and C3 “…Thus, video encoder (120) compresses the output of the film-grain remover (107) to generate a compressed bitstream 122. The compressed bitstream 122 and the metadata (112 and 117) are transmitted to a decoder.” the requirement of bitstream conformance requires that within a supplemental enhancement information (SEI) processing order SEI message, there shall be at least two pairs of syntax elements, and C4-C5 “TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 SEI processing order SEI message sei_processing_order( payloadSize ) { Descriptor  po_num_sei_msg_types u(16)  for( i = 0; i < num_sei_msg_types; i++ ) {   po_sei_payload_type[ i ] u(16)   po_sei_order[ i ] u(8)  } } po_num_sei_msg_types specifies the number of types of SEI messages for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. po_sei_payload_type[i] indicates the payload Type value of the i-th type of SEI message for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. The values of po_sei_payload_type[m] and po_sei_payload_type[n] shall not be identical when m is not equal to n.” wherein one pair of syntax elements included in the at least two pairs of syntax elements comprises an SEI payload type syntax element and C4-C5 “…po_sei_payload_type[ i ] u(16)   po_sei_order[ i ] u(8)  } } po_num_sei_msg_types specifies the number of types of SEI messages for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. po_sei_payload_type[i] indicates the payload Type value of the i-th type of SEI message for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. The values of po_sei_payload_type[m] and po_sei_payload_type[n] shall not be identical when m is not equal to n.” an SEI processing order syntax element with a first index, and C4 “TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 SEI processing order SEI message sei_processing_order( payloadSize ) { Descriptor  po_num_sei_msg_types u(16)  for( i = 0; i < num_sei_msg_types; i++ ) {   po_sei_payload_type[ i ] u(16)   po_sei_order[ i ] u(8)  } } po_num_sei_msg_types specifies the number of types of SEI messages for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. po_sei_payload_type[i] indicates the payload Type value of the i-th type of SEI message for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message.” another pair of syntax elements included in the at least two pairs of syntax elements comprises the SEI payload type syntax element and an SEI processing order syntax element with a second index. C4-C5 “TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 SEI processing order SEI message sei_processing_order( payloadSize ) { Descriptor  po_num_sei_msg_types u(16)  for( i = 0; i < num_sei_msg_types; i++ ) {   po_sei_payload_type[ i ] u(16)   po_sei_order[ i ] u(8)  } } po_num_sei_msg_types specifies the number of types of SEI messages for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. po_sei_payload_type[i] indicates the payload Type value of the i-th type of SEI message for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. The values of po_sei_payload_type[m] and po_sei_payload_type[n] shall not be identical when m is not equal to n.” 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the requirement of bitstream conformance further requires that within the SEI processing order SEI message, there shall be at least two values of the SEI processing order syntax elements in the at least two pairs of syntax elements that are not equal. C5 “The values of po_sei_order[m] and po_sei_order[n] shall not be identical when m is not equal to n.” 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the SEI payload type syntax element is denoted as po_sei_payload_type [i], wherein an index i is a non-negative integer, and po_sei_payload_type [i] specifies a payload type value of an i-th SEI message type for which preferred processing order information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. C4-C5 “…po_sei_payload_type[ i ] u(16)   po_sei_order[ i ] u(8)  } } po_num_sei_msg_types specifies the number of types of SEI messages for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. po_sei_payload_type[i] indicates the payload Type value of the i-th type of SEI message for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. The values of po_sei_payload_type[m] and po_sei_payload_type[n] shall not be identical when m is not equal to n.” 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the SEI processing order syntax element is denoted as po_sei_processing_order [j], wherein an index j is a non-negative integer, and po_sei_processing_order [j] specifies a preferred order of processing of a j-th SEI message type for which preferred processing order information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. C4 “TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 SEI processing order SEI message sei_processing_order( payloadSize ) { Descriptor  po_num_sei_msg_types u(16)  for( i = 0; i < num_sei_msg_types; i++ ) {   po_sei_payload_type[ i ] u(16)   po_sei_order[ i ] u(8)  } } po_num_sei_msg_types specifies the number of types of SEI messages for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. po_sei_payload_type[i] indicates the payload Type value of the i-th type of SEI message for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message.” 5. The method of claim 4, wherein for any two different integer values of m and n that are greater than or equal to 0, po_sei_processing_order [m] less than po_sei_processing_order[n] indicates any SEI message with payload type equal to po_sei_payload_type[m] should be processed before any SEI message with payload type equal to po_sei_payload_type[n]. C5 “If the values of po_sei_order[m] is less than the values of po_sei_order[n], the SEI message with po_sei_payload_type[m] is processed before the SEI message with po_sei_payload_type[n]” 6. The method of claim 4, wherein for any two different integer values of P and Q, values of po_sei_payload_type[P] and po_sei_payload_type[Q] shall not be identical when a condition is satisfied. C4-C5 “…po_sei_payload_type[ i ] u(16)   po_sei_order[ i ] u(8)  } } po_num_sei_msg_types specifies the number of types of SEI messages for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. po_sei_payload_type[i] indicates the payload Type value of the i-th type of SEI message for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. The values of po_sei_payload_type[m] and po_sei_payload_type[n] shall not be identical when m is not equal to n.” 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the rule specifies that when the SEI processing order SEI message is present in any access unit of a coded video sequence (CVS) in the bitstream, the SEI processing order SEI message shall be present in a first access unit of the CVS. C4 “TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 SEI processing order SEI message sei_processing_order( payloadSize ) { Descriptor  po_num_sei_msg_types u(16)  for( i = 0; i < num_sei_msg_types; i++ ) {   po_sei_payload_type[ i ] u(16)   po_sei_order[ i ] u(8)  } } po_num_sei_msg_types specifies the number of types of SEI messages for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. po_sei_payload_type[i] indicates the payload Type value of the i-th type of SEI message for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message.” One of ordinary skilled in the art understands that the ordering SEI message shall be present in the first access unit in order to process the ordering of the SEI messages. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the rule specifies that the SEI processing order SEI message persists in decoding order from a current access unit until an end of a coded video sequence (CVS) including the current access unit. C4 “TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 SEI processing order SEI message sei_processing_order( payloadSize ) { Descriptor  po_num_sei_msg_types u(16)  for( i = 0; i < num_sei_msg_types; i++ ) {   po_sei_payload_type[ i ] u(16)   po_sei_order[ i ] u(8)  } } po_num_sei_msg_types specifies the number of types of SEI messages for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. po_sei_payload_type[i] indicates the payload Type value of the i-th type of SEI message for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message.” It is implicit that the decoding will be in the decoding order. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the rule specifies that when there are multiple SEI processing order SEI messages present in a coded video sequence (CVS), the multiple SEI processing order SEI messages shall have same content. C4 “TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 SEI processing order SEI message sei_processing_order( payloadSize ) { Descriptor  po_num_sei_msg_types u(16)  for( i = 0; i < num_sei_msg_types; i++ ) {   po_sei_payload_type[ i ] u(16)   po_sei_order[ i ] u(8)  } } po_num_sei_msg_types specifies the number of types of SEI messages for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message. po_sei_payload_type[i] indicates the payload Type value of the i-th type of SEI message for which information is provided in the SEI processing order SEI message.” One of ordinary skilled in the art understands that there will not be conflicting syntax. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the conversion includes encoding the visual media data into the bitstream. C3 “…Thus, video encoder (120) compresses the output of the film-grain remover (107) to generate a compressed bitstream 122. The compressed bitstream 122 and the metadata (112 and 117) are transmitted to a decoder.” 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the conversion includes decoding the visual media data from the bitstream. C3 “As depicted in FIG. 1A, after decoding (125), the decoded output (127) is passed to a film-grain insertion unit 130, which generates and adds film grain noise using the information embedded in the FGC metadata (117).” Regarding the claims 12-20, they recite elements that are at least included in the claims 1-4, 1-3, 1 and 2 above but in a different claim form and/or encoding/decoding counterpart that are reciprocal. Therefore, the same rationale for the rejection of the claims 1-4, 1-3, 1 and 2 applies. Regarding the processor, memory and storage medium in the claims, see [C8-C9] of the reference. Conclusion The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Bross et al. (US 11962765 B1) and He (US 20240015332 A1) disclose relevant art related to the subject matter of the present invention. A shortened statutory period for reply to this action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. An extension of time may be obtained under 37 CFR 1.136(a). However, in no event, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAE N. NOH whose telephone number is (571) 270-0686. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 8:30AM-5PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William Vaughn can be reached on (571) 272-3922. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JAE N NOH/ Primary Examiner Art Unit 2481
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Prosecution Timeline

Jan 27, 2025
Application Filed
Feb 04, 2026
Non-Final Rejection — §102 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
86%
Grant Probability
76%
With Interview (-10.0%)
2y 2m
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 445 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allow rate.

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