UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`
`
`UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
`United States Patent and Trademark Office
`Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
`P.O. Box 1450
`Alexandria, Virginia 2231371450
`www.uspto.gov
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`15/177,482
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`06/09/2016
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`NORITAKA IGUCHI
`
`2016-1841T
`
`5755
`
`06’2””
`- 759°
`”5044
`Wenderoth, L1nd & Ponack, L.L.P.
`1025 Connecticut Avenue, NW
`Suite 500
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`Washington DC 20036
`
`CHOKSHI' PINKAL R
`
`2425
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`PAPER NUMBER
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`NOTIFICATION DATE
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`DELIVERY MODE
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`06/26/2019
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`ELECTRONIC
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`Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
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`The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
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`Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above—indicated "Notification Date" to the
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`following e—mail address(es):
`eoa @ wenderoth. com
`kmiller @ wenderothcom
`
`PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
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`

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`0,7709 A0170” Summary
`
`Application No.
`15/177,482
`Examiner
`PINKAL R CHOKSHI
`
`Applicant(s)
`IGUCHI et al.
`Art Unit
`2425
`
`AIA (FITF) Status
`Yes
`
`- The MAILING DA TE of this communication appears on the cover sheet wit/7 the correspondence address -
`Period for Reply
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`A SHORTENED STATUTORY PERIOD FOR REPLY IS SET TO EXPIRE g MONTHS FROM THE MAILING
`DATE OF THIS COMMUNICATION.
`Extensions of time may be available under the provisions of 37 CFR 1.136(a). In no event, however, may a reply be timely filed after SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing
`date of this communication.
`|f NO period for reply is specified above, the maximum statutory period will apply and will expire SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing date of this communication.
`-
`- Failure to reply within the set or extended period for reply will, by statute, cause the application to become ABANDONED (35 U.S.C. § 133).
`Any reply received by the Office later than three months after the mailing date of this communication, even if timely filed, may reduce any earned patent term
`adjustment. See 37 CFR 1.704(b).
`
`Status
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`1). Responsive to communication(s) filed on 05/30/2019.
`[:1 A declaration(s)/affidavit(s) under 37 CFR 1.130(b) was/were filed on
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`2a)D This action is FINAL.
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`2b)
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`This action is non-final.
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`3)[:] An election was made by the applicant in response to a restriction requirement set forth during the interview on
`; the restriction requirement and election have been incorporated into this action.
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`4)[:] Since this application is in condition for allowance except for formal matters, prosecution as to the merits is
`closed in accordance with the practice under Expat/7e Quay/e, 1935 CD. 11, 453 O.G. 213.
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`Disposition of Claims*
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`5)
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`Claim(s) fl is/are pending in the application.
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`5a) Of the above claim(s)
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`is/are withdrawn from consideration.
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`E] Claim(s)
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`is/are allowed.
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`Claim(s) fl is/are rejected.
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`[:1 Claim(s) _ is/are objected to.
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`) ) ) )
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`6 7
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`8
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`
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`are subject to restriction and/or election requirement
`[j Claim(s)
`9
`* If any claims have been determined aflowabie. you may be eligible to benefit from the Patent Prosecution Highway program at a
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`participating intellectual property office for the corresponding application. For more information, please see
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`http://www.uspto.gov/patents/init events/pph/index.jsp or send an inquiry to PPeredback@uspto.gov.
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`Application Papers
`10)[:] The specification is objected to by the Examiner.
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`11)[:] The drawing(s) filed on
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`is/are: a)D accepted or b)l:] objected to by the Examiner.
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`Applicant may not request that any objection to the drawing(s) be held in abeyance. See 37 CFR 1.85(a).
`Replacement drawing sheet(s) including the correction is required if the drawing(s) is objected to. See 37 CFR 1.121 (d).
`
`Priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119
`12):] Acknowledgment is made of a claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d) or (f).
`Certified copies:
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`a)D All
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`b)I:l Some**
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`c)C] None of the:
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`1.[:] Certified copies of the priority documents have been received.
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`2.[:] Certified copies of the priority documents have been received in Application No.
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`3.[:] Copies of the certified copies of the priority documents have been received in this National Stage
`application from the International Bureau (PCT Rule 17.2(a)).
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`** See the attached detailed Office action for a list of the certified copies not received.
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`Attachment(s)
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`1)
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`Notice of References Cited (PTO-892)
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`Information Disclosure Statement(s) (PTO/SB/08a and/or PTO/SB/08b)
`2)
`Paper No(s)/Mail DateW.
`U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
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`3) C] Interview Summary (PTO-413)
`Paper No(s)/Mail Date
`4) CI Other-
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`PTOL-326 (Rev. 11-13)
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`Office Action Summary
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`Part of Paper No./Mai| Date 20190606
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`

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`Application/Control Number: 15/177,482
`Art Unit: 2425
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`Page 2
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`DETAILED ACTION
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`Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
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`1.
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`The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined
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`under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA.
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`Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1. 1 14
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`2.
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`A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set
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`forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this
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`application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set
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`forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action
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`has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on
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`05/13/2019 has been entered.
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`Response to Arguments
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`3.
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`Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim 1 have been considered but are
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`moot because the arguments do not apply in view of newly found reference Park being
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`used in the current rejection. See the new rejection below.
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`Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 1 12
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`4.
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`The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
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`(b) CONCLUSION—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly
`pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor
`regards as the invention.
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`The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA), second paragraph:
`The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly
`claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
`
`

`

`Application/Control Number: 15/177,482
`Art Unit: 2425
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`Page 3
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`5.
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`Claims 3 and 5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA),
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`second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly
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`claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the
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`applicant regards as the invention.
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`.
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`Claims 3 and 5 recite the limitation "the received packet group" in lines 12
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`and 14, respectively. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in
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`the claim.
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`Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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`6.
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`The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all
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`obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
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`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.
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`7.
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`Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US PG
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`Pub 2009/0164652 to Slobotskoy (“S/obotskoy’) in view of US PG Pub 2015/0078456 to
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`Hannuksela (“Hannukse/a’) and US PG Pub 2014/0317664 to Park (“Park’).
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`Regarding claim 1, “A transmitting method” reads on the method of
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`processing/streaming content to a receiving device (abstract) disclosed by
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`Slobotskoy and represented in Figs. 2 and 5.
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`As to “comprising: dividing an access unit into slice segments or tiles,
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`encoding the slice segments or the tiles” Slobotskoy discloses (110023, 110035,
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`10058) that the original content is encoded, where (10037) that the encoded
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`

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`Application/Control Number: 15/177,482
`Art Unit: 2425
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`Page 4
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`content includes a plurality of presentation units as represented in Fig. 2
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`(elements 203, 201 ).
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`As to “the access unit being an image included in a video signal”
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`Slobotskoy discloses (110037, 10057) that the presentation unit comprises
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`audio/video and pictures of the content.
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`As to “storing the data unit in a packet in units of one data unit, in units of
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`a plurality of data units including the data unit, or in units of portions into which
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`the data unit is divided, and generating a packet group” Slobotskoy discloses
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`(110036, 10037) that the presentation units are packetized as a presentation
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`group/metadata as represented in Fig. 2 (elements 202A, 202N). Slobotskoy
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`further discloses (110033, 10039) that the content data and associated packetized
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`data/metadata is stored in the storage unit as represented in Fig. 2 (elements
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`204, 102).
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`As to “transmitting the generated packet group as data” Slobotskoy
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`discloses (110042, 110043, 10033) that the stream processor transmits content
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`comprising presentation groups made up of presentation units as represented in
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`Fig. 5 (elements 103, 203, 108).
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`As to “generating first information and second information, the first
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`information indicating a presentation time of a first access unit that is presented
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`first among the plurality of access units including the access unit, and the second
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`information being used to calculate a decoding time of the plurality of access
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`units” Slobotskoy discloses (110060, 110061) that the media content includes
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`decode timestamp (DTS) and presentation timestamp (PTS), where they indicate
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`

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`Application/Control Number: 15/177,482
`Art Unit: 2425
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`Page 5
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`the order in which the presentation units are to be decoded and presented to the
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`user of the receiving device; PCR and DTS/PTS timestamps set to freerun
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`values are generated. Slobotskoy further discloses (10078) that the content is
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`altered by inserting additional packets to increment DTS and PTS timestamps as
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`represented in Fig. 7.
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`As to “transmitting the first information and the second information as
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`control information” Slobotskoy discloses (10061) that the processor streams
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`PCR and PTS/DTS timestamps in real-time as represented in Fig. 7, where
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`(110063) the continuity and accuracy of the PCR, PTS, and DTS timestamps are
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`maintained throughout the lifetime of the stream.
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`Slobotskoy meets all the limitations of the claim except “dividing an access
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`unit into slice segments or tiles.” However, Hannuksela discloses (110056, 10057)
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`that the access unit includes plurality of slice segments as represented in Fig. 7.
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`As to “storing at least one of the encoded slice segments or at least one of
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`the encoded tiles in a network abstraction layer (NAL) unit” Hannuksela discloses
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`(110053, 110054, 10060) that the pictures are divided into slices and tiles which are
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`encoded/decoded; (110057, 110060) the slice segment is transported in one NAL
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`unit.
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`As to “storing the NAL unit in a data unit, the NAL unit and the data unit
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`corresponding to each other on a one-to-one basis” Hannuksela discloses
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`(10057) that each slice segment is transported in one NAL unit, where (110251)
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`the NAL unit stored as a data unit in one access unit. Therefore, it would have
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`been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date
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`

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`Application/Control Number: 15/177,482
`Art Unit: 2425
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`Page 6
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`of the invention to modify Slobotskoy’s system by dividing an access units into
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`segments/tiles and storing these segments in NAL unit as taught by Hannuksela
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`in order to improve coding efficiency for the enhancement layers, the coded
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`representation of that layer may depend on the lower layers; each layer together
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`with all its dependent layers is one representation of the video signal at a certain
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`spatial resolution, temporal resolution, quality level, and/or operation point of
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`other types of scalability (110004).
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`Combination of Slobotskoy and Hannuksela meets all the limitations of the
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`claim except “wherein the control information is stored and transmitted in a
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`payload of a different packet, the different packet including a header and the
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`payload and the different packet including the payload being different from a
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`packet in which the data is stored”. However, Park discloses (10071) that the
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`MMTP payload includes fragment metadata that represents control information
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`for a fragment unit of each of MFUs included in the MMTP payload as
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`represented in Figs. 48-40; (10106, 110110, 110112) each packet comprises a
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`packet header and a payload section, where the payload section comprises a
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`payload header that indicates fragment metadata as shown in Fig. 4D; (110121)
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`one payload, 700 different from the other payloads 702 and 704, includes
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`metadata for the other payloads, where each of the payloads 702 and 704
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`represents fragment metadata for MFUs constituting its payload, and each mdat
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`box may be fragmented into a plurality of MFUs as represented in Fig. 7.
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`Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art
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`before the effective filing date of the invention to modify Slobotskoy and
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`

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`Application/Control Number: 15/177,482
`Art Unit: 2425
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`Page 7
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`Hannuksela's systems by providing control information and the data in different
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`packets as taught by Park in order to provide efficient MPEG transport
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`technology in the hybrid network environment in which a single terminal is
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`connected to a plurality of networks and provides multimedia services, and in the
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`recent multimedia service environment designed to provide hybrid content that is
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`composed of not only the audio and video data but also the application, widget,
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`image and the like, and that can be consumed in a user's terminal (110014).
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`Regarding claim 2, “The transmitting method according to claim 1,
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`wherein the second information is information used to calculate a decoding time
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`of part of the plurality of access units” Slobotskoy discloses (110060) that the
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`decode timestamp (DTS) timestamp includes a series of bits that indicate to a
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`decoder in the receiving playback device the order in which presentation units
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`are to be decoded.
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`Regarding claim 3, see rejection similar to claim 1. Furthermore,
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`Slobotskoy discloses (10043) that the processed content, as mentioned above, is
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`output to the receiving device as represented in Fig. 5 (element 104).
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`Regarding claim 4, see rejection similar to claim 1.
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`Regarding claim 5, see rejection similar to claim 3.
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`

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`Application/Control Number: 15/177,482
`Art Unit: 2425
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`Page 8
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`Conclusion
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`8.
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`Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
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`examiner should be directed to PINKAL R CHOKSHI whose telephone number is
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`(571)270-3317. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 7am-5pm.
`
`Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video
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`conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an
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`interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request
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`(AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
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`If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s
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`supervisor, BRIAN T PENDLETON can be reached on (571)272-7527. The fax phone
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`number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571 -
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`273-8300.
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`Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the
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`
`/PINKAL R CHOKSHI/
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`Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2425
`
`