CTNF 19/248,132 CTNF 89139 Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. DETAILED ACTION This Office Action is sent in response to Applicant’s Communication received 24 June 2025 for application number 19/248,132. The Office hereby acknowledges receipt of the following and placed of record in file: Specification, Drawings, Abstract, Oath/Declaration, Claims. Claims 1-3 are presented for examination. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on the following dates are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and are being considered by the Examiner: 3/3/26. Double Patenting 08-33 AIA 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 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); 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 nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined 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 § 2146 et seq. 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 filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13. The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual 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 www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer. 08-36 AIA Claim s 1-3 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim s 1 and 5 of U.S. Patent No. 12,368,893 in view of Park et a. (US 2017/0188028) . Regarding claim 1 , ‘893 discloses a method for decoding an image (claim 1), the method comprising: obtaining a flag related to whether a transform skip is applied to a current block (claim 1); obtaining a transform index indicating a combination of transform types applied to a horizontal direction and a vertical direction of the current block based on the flag specifying that the transform is applied to the current block (claim 1), performing inverse transform on coefficients of the current block based on the combination of the transform types indicated by the transform index to generate residual samples of the current block (claim 1); and generating reconstructed samples of the current block based on the residual samples and the prediction samples (claim 1); wherein different transform types are applied to the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, or the same transform types are applied to the horizontal direction and the vertical direction (claim 1), and wherein the transform index is binarized based on a truncated unary method (claim 1). ‘893 does not explicitly disclose obtaining image information including prediction related information from a bitstream; deriving prediction samples based on the prediction related information; and both a width and a height of the current block being less than or equal to 32. In the same field of endeavor, Park discloses obtaining image information including prediction related information from a bitstream; deriving prediction samples based on the prediction related information (pars. 105, 119, 192); and both a width and a height of the current block being less than or equal to 32 (par. 108). It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, with motivation to modify ‘893 to include the teachings of Park in order to reduce the realization/operation complexity of encoding and decoding (Park, par. 6). Regarding claim 2 , ‘893 discloses a method of encoding a video signal by an apparatus, comprising: generating a residual block of the current block based on the prediction block of the current block; determining whether to apply a transform to the residual block (claim 5); generating a transform index indicating a combination of transform types applied to a horizontal direction and a vertical direction of the residual block based on that it is determined that the transform is applied to the residual block (claim 5); performing the transform on the residual block based on the combination of the transform types indicated by the transform index (claim 5); and binarizing the transform index based on a truncated unary method (claim 5), and wherein different transform types are applied to the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, or the same transform types are applied to the horizontal direction and the vertical direction (claim 5). ‘893 does not explicitly disclose deriving prediction block of a current block; generating prediction related information; and that both a width and a height of the residual block are equal to or smaller than 32. In the same field of endeavor, Park discloses deriving prediction block of a current block; generating prediction related information (pars. 105, 119, 192); and both a width and a height of the current block being less than or equal to 32 (par. 108). It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, with motivation to modify ‘893 to include the teachings of Park in order to reduce the realization/operation complexity of encoding and decoding (Park, par. 6). Regarding claim 3 , the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 2. Prior Art not relied upon: Please refer to the references listed in attached PTO-892, which are not relied upon for the claim rejections, since these references are pertinent to the disclosure. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NGUYEN T TRUONG whose telephone number is (571)272-5262. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon - Fri, 6AM - 2PM. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JAMIE ATALA can be reached on 571-272-7384. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. 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, see 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 information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /NGUYEN T TRUONG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/248,132 Page 2 Art Unit: 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/248,132 Page 3 Art Unit: 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/248,132 Page 4 Art Unit: 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/248,132 Page 5 Art Unit: 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/248,132 Page 6 Art Unit: 2486
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