Detailed Office Action
1. This communication is being filed in response to the submission having a mailing date of (02/27/2025) which a (3) month Shortened Statutory Period for Response has been set.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Acknowledgements
3. Upon initial entry, claims (1 -12) appear pending on this application, of which (1, 5, 9) are the three (3) parallel running independent claims on record.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The submitted IDS dated (02/27/2025) is partially in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, being reviewed and considered by the Examiner.
4.1. Multiple entries from the IDS have been discarded, for failure to cite the relevant pages in the publication. Each of the submitted publications must comply with 37 CFR 1.98 provisions, in order evaluate the corresponded information listed, to be considered by the Office. See also MPEP [37 CFR 1.98(b); each publication must be identified by publisher, author (if any), title, relevant pages of the publication, and date and place of the publication.]
4.2. Further, some other entries have been discarded because they are pointed to internet hyperlinks, that may be subjected to deletion, modification or relocation. A timely submitted digital copies of the referring papers/documents is also recommended moving forward.
Drawings
5. The submitted Drawings on date (02/27/2025) has been accepted and considered under the 37 CFR 1.121 (d).
Claim rejection section
Double Patenting
6. 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 obviousness-type 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); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
6.1. 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 a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
6.2. Individuals associated with the filing and prosecution of the instant patent application have a duty to disclose information within their knowledge as to other copending United States applications which are "material to patentability" of the application in question. See MPEP §2001.06(b) for more details.
6.3. Independent claims (1, 5 and 9) of the instant Application 18/974,444, directed to a coding ecosystem of the same, being rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obvious-type double patenting as being unpatentable over the analogous claims of the parent patent Appls. 18/510,430 (now US 12,206,882), 17/743,348; (now US 11,876,992) and 16/587,961; (now US 11,368,703) respectively.
Instant Application
19/066,029
Reference: 17/707,581
(now US 12,244,869 B2)
1. An apparatus to reconstruct coded video data, the apparatus comprising: a processor; one or more processor readable media storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform: receiving a coded bitstream comprising one or more coded reshaped images in a reshaped codeword representation, and receiving reshaping parameters for the one or more coded reshaped images in the coded bitstream, wherein the reshaping parameters comprise parameters to generate a forward reshaping function based on the reshaping parameters, wherein the forward reshaping function maps pixels of an image from an input codeword representation to the reshaped codeword representation, wherein the reshaping parameters comprise: a delta-index parameter to determine an active maximum bin index used for reshaping, wherein the active maximum bin index is smaller or equal to a predefined maximum bin index, wherein the delta-index parameter represents a difference between the active maximum bin index and the predefined maximum bin index; a min-index parameter indicating a minimum bin index being used in the reshaping; absolute delta codeword values for each active bin used in the reshaping; and signs of the absolute delta codeword values for each active bin used in the reshaping.
5. An apparatus to generate reshaping parameters for an encoded bitstream, the apparatus comprising: a processor; one or more processor readable media storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform: receiving a sequence of video pictures in an input codeword representation; and, wherein, for one or more pictures in the sequence of video pictures, the processor: applies a forward reshaping function to generate reshaped pictures in a reshaped codeword representation, wherein the forward reshaping function maps pixels of an image from the input codeword representation to the reshaped codeword representation; generating reshaping parameters for the reshaped codeword representation; and generates a coded bitstream based at least on the reshaped pictures, wherein the reshaping parameters comprise: a delta-index parameter to determine an active maximum bin index used for reshaping, wherein the active maximum bin index is smaller or equal to a predefined maximum bin index, wherein the delta-index parameter represents a difference between the active maximum bin index and the predefined maximum bin index; a min-index parameter indicating a minimum bin index being used in the reshaping; absolute delta codeword values for each active bin used in the reshaping; and signs of the absolute delta codeword values for each active bin used in the reshaping.
9. A non-transitory processor-readable medium having stored thereon an encoded video stream structure, the encoded video stream structure comprising: one or more coded reshaped images in a reshaped codeword representation, and reshaping parameters for the one or more coded reshaped images, wherein the reshaping parameters comprise parameters to generate a forward reshaping function based on the reshaping parameters, wherein the forward reshaping function maps pixels of an image from an input codeword representation to the reshaped codeword representation, wherein the reshaping parameters comprise: a delta-index parameter to determine an active maximum bin index used for reshaping, wherein the active maximum bin index is smaller or equal to a predefined maximum bin index, wherein the delta-index parameter represents a difference between the active maximum bin index and the predefined maximum bin index; a min-index parameter indicating a minimum bin index being used in the reshaping; absolute delta codeword values for each active bin used in the reshaping; and signs of the absolute delta codeword values for each active bin used in the reshaping.
1. A method to reconstruct coded video data with one or more processors, the method comprising: receiving a coded bitstream comprising one or more coded reshaped images in a reshaped codeword representation; receiving reshaping parameters for the one or more coded reshaped images in the coded bitstream, wherein the reshaping parameters comprise parameters to generate a forward reshaping function based on the reshaping parameters, wherein the forward reshaping function maps pixels of an image from an input codeword representation to the reshaped codeword representation, wherein the reshaping parameters comprise: a delta-index parameter to determine an active maximum bin index used for reshaping, wherein the active maximum bin index is smaller or equal to a predefined maximum bin index, wherein the delta-index parameter represents a difference between the active maximum bin index and the predefined maximum bin index; a min-index parameter indicating a minimum bin index being used in the reshaping; absolute delta codeword values for each active bin used in the reshaping; and signs of the absolute delta codeword values for each active bin used in the reshaping.
5. A method to generate reshaping parameters for an encoded bitstream, the method comprising: receiving a sequence of video pictures in an input codeword representation; for one or more pictures in the sequence of video pictures applying a forward reshaping function to generate reshaped pictures in a reshaped codeword representation, wherein the forward reshaping function maps pixels of an image from the input codeword representation to the reshaped codeword representation; generating reshaping parameters for the reshaped codeword representation; and generating a coded bitstream based at least on the reshaped pictures, wherein the reshaping parameters comprise: a delta-index parameter to determine an active maximum bin index used for reshaping, wherein the active maximum bin index is smaller or equal to a predefined maximum bin index, wherein the delta-index parameter represents a difference between the active maximum bin index and the predefined maximum bin index; a min-index parameter indicating a minimum bin index being used in the reshaping; absolute delta codeword values for each active bin used in the reshaping; and signs of the absolute delta codeword values for each active bin used in the reshaping.
9. An apparatus comprising: a processor; one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions for generating and recording a bitstream in a recording medium, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the processor to perform a video encoding method to generate the bitstream, the encoding method comprising: receiving a sequence of video pictures in an input codeword representation; for one or more pictures in the sequence of video pictures applying a forward reshaping function to generate reshaped pictures in a reshaped codeword representation, wherein the forward reshaping function maps pixels of an image from the input codeword representation to the reshaped codeword representation; generating reshaping parameters for the reshaped codeword representation; and generating a coded bitstream based at least on the reshaped pictures, wherein the reshaping parameters comprise: a delta-index parameter to determine an active maximum bin index used for reshaping, wherein the active maximum bin index is smaller or equal to a predefined maximum bin index, wherein the delta-index parameter represents a difference between the active maximum bin index and the predefined maximum bin index; a min-index parameter indicating a minimum bin index being used in the reshaping; absolute delta codeword values for each active bin used in the reshaping; and signs of the absolute delta codeword values for each active bin used in the reshaping.
13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions for generating and recording a bitstream in a recording medium, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the processor to perform a video encoding method to generate the bitstream, the encoding method comprising: receiving a sequence of video pictures in an input codeword representation; for one or more pictures in the sequence of video pictures applying a forward reshaping function to generate reshaped pictures in a reshaped codeword representation, wherein the forward reshaping function maps pixels of an image from the input codeword representation to the reshaped codeword representation; generating reshaping parameters for the reshaped codeword representation; and generating a coded bitstream based at least on the reshaped pictures, wherein the reshaping parameters comprise: a delta-index parameter to determine an active maximum bin index used for reshaping, wherein the active maximum bin index is smaller or equal to a predefined maximum bin index, wherein the delta-index parameter represents a difference between the active maximum bin index and the predefined maximum bin index; a min-index parameter indicating a minimum bin index being used in the reshaping; absolute delta codeword values for each active bin used in the reshaping; and signs of the absolute delta codeword values for each active bin used in the reshaping.
6.4. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made/filed, to combine the instant 19/066,029 with the cited above reference(s) because although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other, the claim language uses similar scope of the invention, and/or a similar variation of the same claim language.
35 U.S.C 102(a)(1)
7. 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.
7.1. Claims (9 -12) is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hiron; et al. (USPG PUB 20200186839; hereafter “Hiron”).
Claim (9) is directed to a non-transitory computer readable storage medium (CRM) storing a bitstream generated by an encoding method. The claim doesn’t recite that the CRM contains executable instruction(s), that by execution, would implement the claimed encoding method.
To be given patentable weight, the CRM and the bitstream (i.e. descriptive material) must be in a functional relationship. A functional relationship can be found where the descriptive material performs some function with respect to the CRM to which it is associated. See 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 CRM storing the claimed bitstream in claim (9) merely services as a support for the CRM of the bitstream, and provides no functional relationship between the stored bitstream and the CRM. Therefore, 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 Koo; et al. (US 10,499,061 B2; which similarly recites a storage medium storing a bitstream (Figs (8, 9)) in at least [Hiron; 0045].
Claims (10 -12) are dependent claims of claim (9) and are rejected for the same reasons.
Claim objection
8. Independent claims (1 -12) and the associated dependencies are objected to, because of the judicially created Double patent (DP) doctrine (section (6)) and rejection (section (7)) above, but it may be considered for allowance if properly rewritten, and/or if a Terminal Disclaimer (TD) is timely filed, in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d).
8.1. For more information about e-Terminal Disclaimers (eTD), please refer to: www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-l.jsp.
Prior Art Citations
9. The following List of prior art, made of record and not relied upon, is/are considered
pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
9.1. Patent documentation
US 9,686,551 B2 Puri; et al. H04N19/167; H04N19/513; H04N19/1887;
US 9,584,811 B2 Su; et al. H04N19/85; H04N19/46; H04N19/126;
US 10,015,491 B2 Su; et al. H04N19/124; H04N19/117; H04N19/98;
US 10,542,289 B2 Yin; et al. H04N19/30; H04N19/85; H04N19/186;
US 10,165,275 B2 Lu; et al. H04N19/17; H04N19/30; H04N19/182;
US 12,244,869 B2 Yin; et al. H04N19/46; H04N19/85; H04N19/107; -
US 20190014331 A1 Li; et al. H04N19/196; H04N19/30; H04N19/174;
US 20200186839 A1 Hiron; et al. H04N19/186; H04N19/70; H04N19/85
US 20200267392 A1 Lu; et al. H04N19/107; H04N19/159; H04N19/117;
9.2. Non-Patent documentation (NPL):
_ Google search history log; USPTO -2026.
CONCLUSIONS
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LUIS PEREZ-FUENTES (luis.perez-fuentes@uspto.gov) whose telephone number is (571) 270 -1168. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8am-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) 272 -3922. 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, 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 system, please call (800) 786 -9199 (USA OR CANADA) or (571) 272 -1000.
/LUIS PEREZ-FUENTES/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2481.