DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
Claim Status
This Office Action responds to application 19/254937 filed on 6/30/25. Claims 1-20 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. The claims recite “the context is selected at least based on … a color plane type associated with the current transform coefficient block.” However, this limitation is not found in the original specification nor original claim set, thus, rendering the claims failing to comply with the written description requirement.
Reasons for Allowance
The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance:
The prior art of record, US 2008/0266151 A1 to Sankaran et al. (hereinafter "Sankaran") and US 2002/0172418 A1 to Hu (hereinafter "Hu") do not disclose the context is selected at least based on a color plane type associated with the current transform coefficient block.
Rather, Sankaran discloses an apparatus for decoding transform coefficient blocks encoded in a data stream, comprising: a decoder configured to: extract, from the data stream, a last significant syntax element by entropy decoding, and extract, from the data stream, information indicating whether a significant transform coefficient currently indicated by a currently associated syntax element is the last significant transform coefficient within a transform coefficient block independent from a position of the significant transform coefficient within the transform coefficient block; and an associator configured to associate the last significant syntax element with a respective position within a corresponding transform coefficient block according to a scan order, wherein the decoder is configured to use, in entropy decoding a current last significant syntax element, a context for the current last significant syntax element associated with a current transform coefficient block and Hu discloses wherein the context is selected at least based on a position of the current last significant syntax element within the current transform coefficient block.
Similar reasoning applies to claim(s) 6, 11, and 16 mutatis mutandis. Accordingly, claims 1-20 are allowed.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled "Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance."
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-20 are allowable if the rejection under 35 U.S.C. 112 is overcome.
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.
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/JOSEPH SUH/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2485
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