DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
2. This application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/737,754, filed Jun. 7, 2024, now allowed, which is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/227,267, filed on Jul. 27, 2023, now U.S. Pat. No. 12,052,433 issued Jul. 30, 2024, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/863,215, filed on Jul. 12, 2022, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,758,172, issued on Sep. 12, 2023, which is a Continuation of International Application No. PCT/KR2021/000515 filed on Jan. 14, 2021, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/961,188, filed on Jan. 14, 2020, the contents of which are all hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Information Disclosure Statement
3. The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 07/16/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
4. 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).
The USPTO internet Web site contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit http://www.uspto.gov/forms/. The filing date of the application will determine what form 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.
5. Claims 1-14 are rejected on are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-15 Application No. 18/227,267 (US Patent No. 12052433 B2) in view of Filippov et al. (US 2022/0400260A1) (hereinafter Filippov). Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because it is merely in the terminology used in both sets of claims.
Please see further example below. Differences are bolded in the following comparison table.
Current application 19/271,622
Copending application 18/227,267
Claim 1
Claim 1
An image decoding method comprising: acquiring a first flag specifying whether information on a subpicture is present in a bitstream; acquiring a second flag specifying whether picture header information is present in a slice header; and decoding the bitstream based on the first flag and the second flag, wherein the first flag is acquired from a sequence parameter set (SPS), wherein, based on the first flag specifying that the information on the subpicture is present in the bitstream, the second flag has a value specifying that the picture header information is not present in the slice header, and wherein the first flag further specifies whether only one subpicture is in each picture.
An image decoding apparatus comprising: a memory; and at least one processor connected to the memory, the at least one processor configured to: acquire a first flag specifying whether information on a subpicture is present in a bitstream; acquire a second flag specifying whether picture header information is present in a slice header; and decode the bitstream based on the first flag and the second flag, wherein, based on the first flag specifying that the information on the subpicture is present in the bitstream, the second flag is restricted to have a value specifying that the picture header information is not present in the slice header.
The conflict application discloses all subject matter of the claimed invention with the exception of “wherein the first flag further specifies whether only one subpicture is in each picture.”
However, Filippov et al. from the same or similar fields of endeavor discloses wherein the first flag further specifies whether only one subpicture is in each picture (e.g., see paragraphs 0417, 0427, 0431: the subpicture).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify the system disclosed by the conflict application to add the teachings of Filippov as above, in order to provide methods for coding a video sequence with weighted prediction parameters that are combined from fade weighting parameters and blending weighting parameters (see paragraph 0006: Filippov).
This is a provisional obviousness-type double patenting rejection because the conflicting claims have not in fact been patented.
4. Independent claim 1 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over independent claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 12395662 (U.S Patent Application No. 18/737,754).
Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because although slightly different words are used within the claim language, however, they cover the same or similar scope and they use the same limitations, using varying terminology, and are also an obvious variants thereof.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
5. Independent claim 1 is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over independent claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 11750172 (U.S Patent Application No. 17/863,215).
Although the claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because although slightly different words are used within the claim language, however, they cover the same or similar scope and they use the same limitations, using varying terminology, and are also an obvious variants thereof.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
Allowable Subject Matter
6. Claims 1-14 will be allowable if Double Patenting Rejection is overcome by filing a Terminal Disclaimer.
Conclusion
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ON MUNG whose telephone number is (571) 270-7557 and whose direct fax number is (571) 270-8557. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 9am - 6pm (ET).
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.
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/ON S MUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2486
Prosecution Insights