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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 7/2/25 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 7/2/25. These drawings are acceptable.
Double Patenting
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 obviousness-type 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); 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 conflicting 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.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
Claims 1-8 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting over claims 1-6 of U. S. Patent No. 11,877,000 since the claims, if allowed, would improperly extend the "right to exclude" already granted in the patent. Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because claims 1 of the present application encompass combination of claims 1, 5 and 6 of U.S. Patent No. 11,877,000.
The subject matter claimed in the instant application is fully disclosed in the patent and is covered by the patent since the patent and the application are claiming common subject matter, as follows in the Table below.
It would have been obvious to one skilled in the art at the time of the invention was made to modify the cited steps as indicated in claim 1 of the instant US application since the omission/addition/alteration of the cited limitations would not have changed the process according to which the process of decoding a bitstream with scaling and offset. Therefore, the ordinary skilled artisan would have been also motivated to modify claim 1 of the cited instant US application by altering the step of the method of claims 1, 5 and 6 of patent 11,877,000. The cited altering elements would not interfere with the functionality of the steps previously claimed and would perform the same function. In re Karlson, 136, USPQ 184 (CCPA 1963).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 1-8 is/are allowed upon overcoming the above rejection.
The following is an Examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: Claim(s) 1 discloses A method to decode a coded bitstream with scalable canvas size, the method performed by a processor and comprising, for a current picture: receiving a current picture width and a current picture height comprising unsigned integer values; receiving first offset parameters determining a rectangular area on the current picture, wherein the first offset parameters comprise signed integer values; computing a current area width and a current area height for the rectangular area on the current picture based on the current picture width, the current picture height and the first offset parameters; for a reference area, accessing a reference area width, a reference area height, a reference area left offset, and a reference area top offset; computing a horizontal scaling factor based on the current area width and the reference area width, wherein computing the horizontal scaling factor (hori_scale_fp) comprises computing horiscalefp = ( ( fRefWidth << 14 ) + ( fCurWidth >>1) ) / fCurWidth wherein fRefWidth denotes the reference area width and fCurWidth denotes the current area width; computing a vertical scaling factor based on the current area height and the reference area height, wherein computing the vertical scaling factor (vert_scale _fp) comprises computing vert_scale _fp= ((fRefHeight << 14) + ( fCurHeight >> 1)) / fCurHeight wherein fRefHeight denotes the reference area height and fCurHeight denotes the current area height; computing a left-offset adjustment and a top-offset adjustment of the current area based on the first offset parameters; and performing motion compensation based on the horizontal and vertical scaling factors, the left-offset adjustment, the top-offset adjustment, the reference area left offset, and the reference area top offset,wherein performing motion compensation comprises computing refxSbL = (((xSb - fCurLeftOffset )<< 4) + refMvLX[ 0 ]) *
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refxL=(( Sign( refxSbL)*(( Abs( refxSbL) + 128 )>>8)+xL*((horiscale _fp+8)>> 4))+32)>>6+( fRefLeftOffset << 4) refySbL = ( ( ( ySb - fCurTopOffset )<<4) + refMvLX[ 1 ] ) * vert_scale_fp refyL=(( Sign( refySbL)*(( Abs( refySbL) + 128 )>>8)+yL*(( vert_scale_fp +8)>>4))+32)>>6+( fRefTopOffset << 4) wherein hori_scalefp denotes the horizontal scaling factor, vertscale _fp denotes the vertical scaling fcator, fCurLeftOffset denotes the left-offset adjustment, fCurTopOffset denotes the top-offset adjustment, fRefLeftOffset denotes the reference area left offset, fRefTopOffset denotes the reference area top offset, and ( refxSbL, refySbL ) and ( refxL, refyL ) are luma locations pointed to by a motion vector ( refMvLX[0], refMvLX[1] ) given in 1/16-sample units.
The closest prior arts Yamamoto et al (US 2017/0034532) discloses offset parameters with horizontal and vertical scaling factor (see fig. 8) but fails to anticipate or render the above underlined limitation obvious.
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.”
Citation of Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
1. Hannuksela (US 2015/0312580), discloses scalable video coding with offsets.
2. Yamamoto et al. (US 2017/0195680), discloses layered video coding with offsets.
3. Hannuksela et al. (US 2019/0297339), scalable video coding with offsets.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RICHARD T TORRENTE whose telephone number is (571)270-3702. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 6:45-3:15 pm.
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/RICHARD T TORRENTE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2485
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