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 .
Claim Status
This Office Action responds to application 19/126401 filed on 5/1/25. Claims 1-15 are pending.
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.
Drawings
Figure 3 is objected to as depicting a block diagram without "readily identifiable" descriptors of each block, as required by 37 CFR 1.84(n). Rule 84(n) requires "labeled representations" of graphical symbols, such as blocks; and any that are "not universally recognized may be used, subject to approval by the Office, if they are not likely to be confused with existing conventional symbols, and if they are readily identifiable." In the figure(s) in this application, the blocks 30-35 are not readily identifiable per se and therefore require the insertion of text that identifies the function of those blocks. That is, each vacant block should be provided with a corresponding label identifying its function or purpose.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as "amended." If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either "Replacement Sheet" or "New Sheet" pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Applicant is advised to employ the services of a competent patent draftsperson outside the Office, as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office no longer prepares new drawings. The corrected drawings are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. The requirement for corrected drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
1. Claims 1, 4, 7, 10, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Oh, US 2021/0005016 A1 (hereinafter Oh).
As for claim 1, Oh discloses a method of encoding a volumetric scene, the method comprising: obtaining a list ([0773], e.g., patch data unit, note a collection of eth patch data unit) of atlas tiles ([0941], e.g., tile), an atlas tile packing patches ([0143], e.g., patch) clustered according to a criterion based on similarity ([0143], e.g., same direction and/or adjacent) and continuity ([0143], e.g., same direction and/or adjacent); generating metadata ([0122], e.g., metadata) comprising: an indication ([0080], e.g., point cloud content and [0941], e.g., number of tile and [0942], e.g., number of tile) on whether the volumetric scene is formatted as a list of atlas tiles; information indicating a number ([0941], e.g., number of tile and [0942], e.g., number of tile) of atlas tiles in the list of atlas tiles; and for each atlas tile of the list: a size and a location ([0774], e.g., x-coordinate and/or [0775], e.g., y-coordinate) within the atlas tile for each patch packed in the atlas tile; and encoding ([0084], e.g., encoder 10002) the list of atlas tiles and generated metadata in a data stream.
As for claim 4, the claim recites a device for encoding a volumetric scene and comprising a memory associated with a processor of the method of claim 1, and is similarly analyzed.
As for claim 7, the claim recites a method for decoding a volumetric scene from a data stream of the method of claim 1, and is similarly analyzed.
As for claim 10, the claim recites a device for decoding a volumetric scene from a data stream and comprising a memory associated with a processor of the method of claim 1, and is similarly analyzed.
As for claim 13, the claim recites a non-transitory readable medium carrying data stream representative of a volumetric scene of the method of claim 1, and is similarly analyzed.
2. Additionally or alternatively, claims 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. as being anticipated by Raber, US 2005/0206741 A1 (hereinafter Raber).
As for claims 13-15, Raber discloses non-transitory readable medium ([0051], e.g., CD) carrying data (the medium is utilized merely as a support for the data, thus, the data has no patentable weight. See MPEP 2111.05.).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14, and 15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
1. US 2003/0108099 discloses picture encoding method and apparatus, picture decoding method and apparatus and furnishing medium.
2. US 2005/0053294 discloses techniques and tools for progressive and interlaced video coding and decoding.
3. US 2006/0126962 discloses methods and systems for reducing blocking artifacts with reduced complexity for spatially-scalable video coding.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH SUH whose telephone number is 571-270-7484. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Thursday, 7:30 AM - 6:00 PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Jay Patel can be reached on 571-272-2988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/JOSEPH SUH/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2485
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