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 .
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on July 15, 2026, disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of Patent Number US1231832 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
Response to Arguments
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection of claims 1–6 and 13–17 over claims 1–10 of U.S. Patent No. 12,301,832 has been withdrawn in view of the terminal disclaimer filed on July 15, 2016.
Claim 20 has been canceled and therefore requires no further consideration.
Newly added claim 21 raises new issues of patentability and is addressed in the rejections set forth below.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the second paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112:
(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 21 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.
Regarding claim 21, this claim recites the limitation phrase “[a] method of encoding visual media data, the method comprising encoding and transmitting a bitstream that includes the visual media data and are generated according to an encoding method.” Subsequently the claims recites “the encoding method comprises” followed by a plurality of additional operations. It is unclear whether the operations subsequently recited as being performed by “the encoding method” constitute positive steps of the claimed “method of encoding visual media data,” or instead merely characterize a separate method according to which the recited bitstream is generated.
Accordingly, it is unclear whether claim 21 requires performance of the subsequently recited encoding method operations as steps of the claimed method, or merely requires encoding and transmitting a bitstream characterized as having been generated according to such an encoding method.
The scope is further unclear because the phrase “a bitstream that includes the visual media data and are generated according to an encoding method” does not clearly identify whether “are generated” refers to the recited “bitstream” or to the “visual media data.”
Therefore, the metes and bounds of claim 21 cannot be determined with reasonable certainty.
For purposes of applying art, the Examiner has interpreted claim 21 as reciting a single encoding process in which the bitstream is generated according to the subsequently recited encoding operations and the resulting bitstream is transmitted.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-19 are allowed.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FABIO S LIMA whose telephone number is (571)270-0625. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 8 am - 4 pm.
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/FABIO S LIMA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2486
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