DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. 19/102,605, filed on February 10, 2025.
Oath/Declaration
Oath/Declaration as filed on February 10, 2025 is noted by the Examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 17 is objected to because of the following informalities:
The claim recites limitation “an encoder” in first line of the claim, but the limitation is indefinite, because it is unclear as to whether the limitation is referring to a same “encoder” recited in second line of claim 1, or to a different encoder. Therefore, Examiner suggests the limitations should be amended, without adding new matter, in a manner that resolves the indefiniteness issue.
Claim 18 is objected to because of the following informalities:
The claim recites limitation “a decoder” in first line of the claim, but the limitation is indefinite, because it is unclear as to whether the limitation is referring to a same “decoder” recited in second line of claim 2, or to a different decoder. Therefore, Examiner suggests the limitations should be amended, without adding new matter, in a manner that resolves the indefiniteness issue.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. In particular, claim 8 recites limitation “the current node Nk” in third thru fourth lines of the claim, but the limitation is unclear at least because there is insufficient antecedent basis for the above limitation in the claim given that the claim uses the limitation term for a first time without previously reciting the limitation term in the claim or in a claim from which the claim 8 depends which even further creates lack of clarity in regard to exactly what the limitation term is referring to. Therefore, Examiner suggests the limitation should be amended, without adding new matter, in a manner that resolves the antecedent basis issue.
Potentially Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1 and 2 are allowable, because the prior art references of record do not teach the combination of all element limitations as presently claimed. For example, in regard to claim 1, the prior art of record at least does not expressly teach concept of obtaining nodes encompassing at least part of the point cloud at a depth d in a lexicographic order along each of axes X, Y, Z of the coordinate system; determining a neighbour pattern for each node Nk based on a subset of neighbour nodes; and entropy encoding the occupancy information of each node into a bitstream based on the neighbour pattern. In addition, in regard to claim 2, the prior art of record at least does not expressly teach concept of obtaining nodes encompassing at least part of the point cloud at a depth d in a lexicographic order along each of axes X, Y, Z of the coordinate system; determining neighbour pattern for each node Nk based on a subset of neighbour nodes; and entropy decoding the occupancy information of each node from a bitstream based on the neighbour pattern. In addition, claims 3-7, 9-16, and 20 are allowable at least in light of their dependency to their respective independent claim. In addition, claims 8 and 17-18 would be allowable if rewritten to overcome applicable rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ) 2nd paragraph and objection(s) indicated above because for claims 8 and 17-18, at least in light of its dependency, the prior art references of record do not teach the combination of all element limitations as presently claimed.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure and include the following:
Flynn et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2021/0004992 A1 (hereinafter Flynn) teaches methods and devices for improved entropy coding of point clouds.
Huang et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2021/0150771 A1 (hereinafter Huang) teaches encoding data captured by the sensors of an autonomous vehicle.
Lasserre et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2021/0350583 A1 (hereinafter Lasserre) teaches methods and devices for binary entropy coding of point clouds.
Han et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2022/0222863 A1 (hereinafter Han) teaches a three-dimensional data encoding method, a three-dimensional data decoding method, a three-dimensional data encoding device, and a three-dimensional data decoding device that is capable of appropriately decoding point cloud data.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ABDUL-SAMAD A ADEDIRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-3128. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Thursday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amr Awad can be reached on 571-272-7764. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ABDUL-SAMAD A ADEDIRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2621
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