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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. The following title is suggested: “Image Processing Device and Method for Suppressing a Reduction in Encoding Efficiency” or a title more indicative of the claimed subject matter.
Double Patenting (Non-Statutory)
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 double patenting rejection is appropriate where the claims at issue 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).
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 reference 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. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP §§ 706.02(l)(1) - 706.02(l)(3) for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/forms/. The filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Double patenting between App. 19/214,062 and US Patent No. 12,322,146 B2
Claims 1-19 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-5 and 7-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,322,146 B2. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have substituted the methods steps of the current application with those of U.S. Patent No. 12,322,146 as the claims of the current application are broader in scope than those of the issued patent.
Application 19/214,062
U.S. Patent No. 12,322,146 B2
Claim 1
Claim 1
Claim 2
Claim 2
Claim 3
Claim 3
Claim 4
Claim 4
Claim 5
Claim 5
Claim 6
Claim 7
Claim 7
Claim 8
Claim 8
Claim 9
Claim 9
Claim 10
Claim 10
Claim 11
Claim 11
Claim 12
Claim 12
Claim 13
Claim 13
Claim 14
Claim 14
Claim 15
Claim 15
Claim 16
Claim 16
Claim 17
Claim 17
Claim 18
Claim 18
Claim 19
Claim 19
Claim 20
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if the obviousness type double patenting rejections listed above are resolved. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
In regards to independent claim 1, none of the cited prior art alone or in combination provides motivation to teach “a reference relationship indicating a reference destination used to calculate a predictive value of attribute data of a processing target point of the point cloud data; calculate a prediction residual that is a difference value between the attribute data of the processing target point and the predictive value; and encode the prediction residual” as the references only teach encoding and compression techniques for suppressing three-dimensional data representing objects, however the references fail to explicitly disclose the coordinate conversion from polar to cartesian with the subsequent calculation of predictive attribute data for determining a difference value between a pre-determined reference relationship and the predictive attribute data, in conjunction with the remaining features of the claim 1, for obtaining more efficient point cloud encoding.
In addition, there is no teaching, suggestion, or motivation found in the current references and none that can be inferred from the examiner’s own knowledge with respect to the current limitation.
In regards to independent claims 9, 10, and 19, these claims recite limitations
similar in scope to that of claim 1, and thus are objected to under the same rationale as provided above.
In regards to dependent claims 2-8 and 11-18, these claims depend from objected to base claims, and thus are objected to under the same rationale as provided above.
As allowable subject matter has been indicated, applicant's reply must either comply with all formal requirements or specifically traverse each requirement not complied with. See 37 CFR 1.111(b) and MPEP § 707.07(a).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 2020/0250857 A1 – Reference is of particular relevance to the application as it discloses an information processing apparatus and a method that allow for suppression of a decrease in encoding efficiency. Correlation information is generated that results from encoding of voxel data resulting from quantization of point cloud data with use of correlation of a distribution pattern of values of the voxel data; the generated correlation information is encoded; and a bit stream including the correlation information is generated.
US 2021/0158575 A1 – Reference is of particular relevance to the application as it discloses an information processing apparatus and method that are capable of suppressing a decrease in encoding efficiency. When point cloud data is to be Octree-encoded, a point distribution of child nodes of a current node is updated in accordance with a peripheral point distribution around the current node, and then a sequence of signals is generated by performing Octree encoding with the updated point distribution.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TERRELL M ROBINSON whose telephone number is (571)270-3526. The examiner can normally be reached 8am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, KENT CHANG can be reached at 571-272-7667. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TERRELL M ROBINSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2614
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