DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-16 are pending for examination.
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) was submitted on 10/10/2025. The
submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information
disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al, US 20230291895 A1 (Lee), in view of Tourapis et al, US 20210099711 A1 (Tourapis).
Regarding Claim 1, Lee discloses a method for encoding, in a data stream, a sequence of point clouds (Lee Fig. 4; ¶ [0141]– point cloud video encoder 10002 of FIG. 1; Lee ¶ [0315]– geometry information entropy encoder 52016 may use various encoding methods), a point cloud of the sequence comprising a geometry and rendering attributes (Lee Fig. 16; ¶ [0305]– geometry encoder (51006); Lee Fig. 16; ¶ [0306]– attribute encoder (51007); Lee ¶ 0131]– The point cloud content providing system (for example, the reception device 10004 or the renderer 10007) may render the geometry and attributes), the method comprising, for a current frame (Lee ¶ [0298]– a reference frame may be a frame referenced (or involved) in order to encode/decode a current frame): obtaining a temporal prediction of a current point cloud by motion-compensating the geometry and the rendering attributes of a previous frame of the sequence (Lee ¶ [0341]– The attribute information inter-predictor 53012 predicts the attribute information about the current frame based on the previously reconstructed attribute information and/or geometry information about points in another frame stored in the buffer 53010; Lee [0473]– According to embodiments, geometry information and attribute information may share motion vectors or each motion vector may be separately stored in the buffer. A motion vector stored in the buffer may be used in coding current point cloud data);
compressing the geometry of the current point cloud (Lee Fig. 16; ¶ [0305]– geometry encoder 51006 may include a coordinate transformer 52001, a geometry information transform/quantization unit 52002, a geometry information coding method derivation unit 52003, a subtractor 52004, a residual geometry information transform/quantization unit 52005),
encoding the compressed geometry in the data stream (Lee Fig. 16 ¶ [0315]– The geometry information entropy encoder 52016 ... performs entropy encoding) and obtaining a temporary point cloud by decompressing the compressed geometry (Lee Fig. 16; ¶ [0317]– The residual geometry information reconstructed by the residual geometry information inverse transform/inverse quantization unit 52006 is output to the adder 52007, and the adder 52007 adds the reconstructed residual geometry information and the inter-predicted or intra-predicted geometry information to reconstruct the geometry information (i.e., temporary point cloud));
mapping the rendering attributes of the current point cloud on the geometry of the temporary point cloud (Lee Fig. 16; ¶ [0329]– The geometry information mapper 53002 maps the attribute information received from the attribute information transformer 53001 and the reconstructed geometry information (i.e., temporary point cloud) received from the geometry information output unit 52011 of the geometry encoder 51006 to reconstruct attribute information.); and
for each block of the geometry of the temporary point cloud (Lee Fig. 16; [0330]– The attribute information node partitioner 53003 may partition the attribute information reconstructed by the geometry information mapper 53002 into nodes),
computing a prediction of the rendering attributes of the block according to the selected prediction mode (Lee ¶ [0340]– The attribute information intra-predictor 53011 predicts attribute information; Lee ¶ [0341]– The attribute information inter-predictor 53012 predicts the attribute information; Lee ¶ [0342]– The switching unit 53013 may provide the attribute information intra-predicted by the attribute information intra-predictor 53011 or the attribute information inter-predicted by the attribute information inter-predictor 53012) and obtaining a residue by subtracting the prediction from the rendering attributes of the temporary point cloud and encoding the residue and the prediction mode in the data stream (Lee Fig. 16; [0331]– The subtractor 53004 outputs a difference between the attribute information partitioned into the nodes and the intra-predicted or inter-predicted attribute information (which is referred to as residual attribute information); Lee ¶ [0334]– The attribute information entropy encoder 53014 receives the transformed quantized residual attribute information and prediction information...The prediction information may be ... prediction mode information...an attribute bitstream is generated).
However, Lee does not explicitly disclose selecting a prediction mode for the rendering attributes of the block by comparing the rendering attributes of the temporal prediction of the current point cloud and the rendering attributes of the temporary point cloud.
Tourapis teaches selecting a prediction mode for the rendering attributes of the block (Tourapis Fig. 5; [0137]– At 510, the encoder determines for each lowest level segment whether attribute values for the lowest level segment are to be compressed via intra-prediction or inter-prediction) by comparing the rendering attributes of the temporal prediction of the current point cloud and the rendering attributes of the temporary point cloud (Tourapis Fig. 1C; ¶ [0078]– At 156, the predicted attribute values determined at 154 are compared to the actual attribute values of the dynamic point cloud at the target frame).
Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains to modify Lee to incorporate an adaptive technique for selecting an intra or inter prediction mode for rendering attributes of a block as taught by Tourapis.
One would be motivated to combine Tourapis’s adaptive technique for selecting an intra or inter prediction mode for rendering attributes of a block to improve point-cloud attribute compression efficiency (Tourapis ¶ [0137]– At 510, the encoder determines for each lowest level segment whether attribute values for the lowest level segment are to be compressed via intra-prediction or inter-prediction).
Regarding Claim 2, Lee in combination, further discloses the method of Claim 1, further comprising computing an intra-frame prediction of the current point cloud (Lee ¶ [0340]– The attribute information intra-predictor 53011 predicts attribute information based on the attribute information and/or geometry information of points that have been previously reconstructed in the same frame), wherein selecting a prediction mode for a block is further based on the intra-frame prediction (Lee ¶ [0342]– The switching unit 53013 may provide the attribute information intra-predicted by the attribute information intra-predictor 53011 ...according to a signal indicating whether...intra-prediction is performed; Thus, selection of the block prediction mode uses the intra-frame prediction).
Regarding Claim 3, Lee in combination further discloses the method of Claim 1, wherein a point cloud of the sequence and the temporary point cloud are structured as octrees (Lee Fig. 6; ¶ [0167]– The octree structure is created by recursive subdividing of a cubical axis-aligned bounding box), wherein blocks of the geometry of the temporary point clouds are nodes of the octree (Lee Fig. 6; ¶ [0168]– This partitioning scheme is applied until the leaf node of the octree becomes a voxel) and wherein selecting a prediction mode is performed by layer of the octree (Lee ¶ [0348]– the prediction mode may be parsed in a unit such as a node, a tile, a slice, or a frame; Thus, the block is an octree node at a selected layer, and prediction-mode selection is performed on a node/layer basis).
Regarding Claim 4, Lee in combination further discloses the method of Claim 1, wherein the prediction modes are encoded using binary adaptive arithmetic coding (Lee Fig. 16; [0334]– The attribute information entropy encoder 53014 receives...prediction information...The prediction information may be ...prediction mode information…The attribute information entropy encoder 53014 may use various encoding methods such as...context-adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC)).
With regard to Claim 5, the claim limitations are essentially the same as Claim 1 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject Claim 1 is applied to Claim 5. Furthermore, Lee discloses a device for encoding (Lee ¶ [0109]– The transmission device 10000 according to the embodiments includes ...a point cloud video encoder 10002), in a data stream, a sequence of point clouds, a point cloud of the sequence comprising a geometry and rendering attributes (Lee Fig. 16; ¶ [0305]– geometry encoder (51006); Lee Fig. 16; ¶ [0306]– attribute encoder (51007); Lee ¶ 0131]– The point cloud content providing system (for example, the reception device 10004 or the renderer 10007) may render the geometry and attributes), the device comprising a processor associated with a memory (Lee ¶ [0303]– one or more processors…one or more memories may store one or more programs for processing the point cloud data), the processor being configured for, for a current frame.
With regard to Claims 6, the claim limitations are essentially the same as Claim 2 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject Claim 2 is applied to Claims 6.
With regard to Claims 7 the claim limitations are essentially the same as Claim 3 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject Claim 3 are applied to Claim 7.
With regard to Claims 8 the claim limitations are essentially the same as Claim 4 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject Claims 4 are applied to Claim 8.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 9-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lee.
Regarding Claim 9, Lee discloses a method for decoding a sequence of point clouds (Lee Fig. 11; [0206]– point cloud video decoder), a point cloud of the sequence comprising a geometry and rendering attributes (Lee ¶ [0131]– render the geometry and attributes decoded through the decoding process), the method comprising: decoding a compressed geometry from a data stream (Lee Fig. 25; ¶ [0421]– The geometry information entropy decoder 62001 may perform entropy decoding on the input geometry bitstream) and obtaining a temporary point cloud by decompressing the compressed geometry (Lee ¶ [0423]– The adder 62004 adds the reconstructed residual geometry information and the predicted geometry information to reconstruct the geometry information (i.e., temporary point cloud));
obtaining a temporal prediction of the temporary point cloud by motion-compensating the geometry and the rendering attributes of a previously decoded point cloud of the sequence (Lee Fig. 25; ¶ [0445]– the attribute information inter-predictor 63010 and the attribute information intra-predictor 63009 may use attribute information or geometry information about points in the same frame or different frames stored in the buffer 63008 for attribute information prediction; Lee ¶ [0446]– perform inter-prediction on the current prediction unit based on information included in at least one of frames before or after the current frame including the current prediction unit; Lee ¶ [0472]– a motion vector used for inter-frame prediction may be additionally stored in the buffer);
for each block of the geometry of the temporary point cloud, decoding, from the data stream, a prediction mode and a residue for the rendering attributes of the block (Lee ¶ [0438]– The attribute information node partition deriver may parse or derive partition information for positioning attribute information into units in which prediction, transformation, quantization, or the like is to be performed; Lee Fig. 25; ¶ [0436]– The attribute information entropy decoder 63001 may perform entropy decoding on an input attribute bitstream and output transformed and/or quantized residual attribute information... attribute-related prediction information);
computing a prediction of the rendering attributes of the block from the temporal prediction and according to the prediction mode (Lee Fig. 25; ¶[0445]– The attribute information inter-predictor 63010 and the attribute information intra-predictor 63009 included in the attribute information predictor may generate predictive attribute information; Lee ¶ [0446]– perform inter-prediction on the current prediction unit based on information included in at least one of frames before or after the current frame including the current prediction unit);
and setting the rendering attributes of the block by adding the residue to the prediction (Lee Fig. 25; ¶ [0449]– The adder 63005 generates reconstructed attribute information by adding the intra-predicted or inter-predicted attribute information and the reconstructed residual attribute information).
Regarding Claim 10, Lee discloses the method of Claim 9, wherein the prediction of the rendering attributes of a block is further computed from an intra-frame prediction of the temporary point cloud (Lee Fig. 25; ¶ [0447]– the attribute information intra-predictor 63009 may generate predictive attribute information based on reconstructed attribute information about a point in the current frame).
Regarding Claim 11, Lee discloses the method of Claim 9, wherein the current point cloud is structured as an octree (Lee Fig. 6; ¶ [0167]– The octree structure is created by recursive subdividing of a cubical axis-aligned bounding box), wherein blocks of the geometry of the current point clouds are nodes of the octree (Lee Fig. 6; ¶ [0168]– This partitioning scheme is applied until the leaf node of the octree becomes a voxel) and wherein decoding a prediction mode is performed by a layer of the octree (Lee ¶ [0348]– the prediction mode may be parsed in a unit such as a node, a tile, a slice, or a frame; Thus, the block is an octree node at a selected layer, and prediction-mode decoding is performed on a node/layer basis).
With regard to Claims 12 the claim limitations are essentially the same as Claim 4 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject Claims 4 are applied to Claim 12.
With regard to Claim 13, the claim limitations are essentially the same as Claim 9 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject Claim 9 is applied to Claim 13. Furthermore, Lee discloses a device for decoding a sequence of point clouds (Lee ¶ [0113]– The reception device 10004 according to the embodiments includes a receiver 10005, a point cloud video decoder 10006), a point cloud of the sequence comprising a geometry and rendering attributes (Lee ¶ [0131]– render the geometry and attributes decoded through the decoding process), the device comprising a processor associated with a memory (Lee ¶ [0303]– one or more processors…one or more memories may store one or more programs for processing the point cloud data), the processor being configured for.
With regard to Claims 14, the claim limitations are essentially the same as Claim 10 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject Claim 10 are applied to Claim 14.
With regard to Claims 15 the claim limitations are essentially the same as Claim 11 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject Claim 11 are applied to Claim 15.
With regard to Claims 16 the claim limitations are essentially the same as Claim 4 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject Claims 4 are applied to Claim 16.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTIAN P MCFALL whose telephone number is (571)270-0773. The examiner can normally be reached Monday Friday, 8 a.m. 5 p.m. ET..
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/C.P.M./Examiner, Art Unit 2483
/JOSEPH G USTARIS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2483
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