Application No. 17/116,137
`Reply to Office Action Dated June 8, 2021
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`REMARKS
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`Applicant respectfully requests reconsideration of this application in view of the above
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`amendments and the following remarks. Claims 1-9 will be pending upon entry of this
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`amendment. Claims 1, 4, and 7-8 have been amended. Claim 9 is new. Support for the
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`amendments may be found, for example, in page 135, line 30 to page 136, line 2; and page 139,
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`lines 25-32. No new matter has been addedto the application.
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`In the Office Action, the Examiner contendedthatthe title of the invention is not
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`descriptive. In response, Applicant has amendedtothetitle as suggested by the Examiner.
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`Claims 1-8 were rejected under 35 U.S.C. §103 as being unpatentable over Liaoetal.
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`(U.S. 2021/0051335) in view of Yasugiet al. (U.S. 2019/0364279 A1). In response, Applicant
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`has amended claims 1, 4, and 7-8 to more particularly recite the subject matter that Applicant
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`considers as their invention and to moreclearly distinguish the claims from Liao and Yasugi.
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`Amendedclaim 1 recites, in part, the circuitry, in operation,
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`determines a mode to be applied to a block from a plurality of merge modes based
`on a width of the block and a height of the block,
`when the mode determinedis a first mode, stores in a bitstream an index
`indicating a distance and an angle that define twopartitions in the block, and encodes the
`block using the first mode, and
`disables the first mode and storing of the index in the bitstream when (i) the width
`is at least 8 times as muchasthe heightor (11) the height is at least 8 times as much asthe
`width.
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`Liao fails to teach or suggest circuitry that disables the first mode and storing of the index
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`in the bitstream when(i) the width is at least 8 times as muchasthe height or(ii) the height is at
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`least 8 times as much as the width. Liao describes a geometric partition modethat is only applied
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`to blocks whose width and height are both larger than or equal to 8 and the ratio of max (width,
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`heigh )/min (width, height) is smaller than or equal to 4, and are coded in a geometric
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`skip or merge mode. See [0146]. A first mode is not disabled when(1) a width is at least 8 times
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`as muchasa heightor(ii) the height is at least 8 times as muchas the width. Rather, the
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`geometric partition mode is simply applied to blocks with certain widths and heights.
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`Yasugi fails to cure the deficiencies of Liao. Yasugi describes, in a case that a target
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`block has a rectangular shape with an aspectratio of a prescribed value or greater, a coding node
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`

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`Application No. 17/116,137
`Reply to Office Action Dated June 8, 2021
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`(CN) information decoder 10 restricts split of the target block by such ternary tree (TT) split that
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`generates boundaries along a longitudinal direction of the target block. See 7[0446]. Aspect ratio
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`TT split restriction prohibits a ratio between “width” and “height” from being a prescribed value
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`or greater by TT split, e.g., 1:8 (432, 8x64) and 8:1 (324, 648). See §[0447]. In other words,
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`in a case that a target block has a shape horizontally long to a certain extent or more, horizontal
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`split is prohibited. In a case that a target block has a shape vertically long to a certain extent or
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`more, vertical split is prohibited. For example, FIG. 49A illustrates an example in which the CN
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`information decoder 10 prohibits horizontal split because a target block has a horizontally long
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`shape. See [0448]. FIG. 49B illustrates an example in which the CN information decoder 10
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`prohibits vertical split because a target block hasa vertically long shape. The CN information
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`decoder 10 does not disable a merge mode. Rather, when a target block has a large aspect ratio,
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`the CN information decoder 10_restricts TT split in a certain direction among different TT split
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`directions. For example, a horizontal split is prohibited for a horizontally long block, and a
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`vertical split is prohibited for a vertically long block. The TT split, itself, is not disabled.
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`The combination of Liao and Yasugifails to teach the above subject matter as well. If the
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`teachings of Yasugi were to be combined with Liao, the result would be restriction of some of
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`the partition patterns of the geometric partition mode of Liao (e.g., prohibition of a horizontal
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`split for a horizontally long block, and a vertical split for a vertically long block), not restriction
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`of the geometric partition mode,itself.
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`Applicant submits claim 1 is allowable over Liao and Yasugi. Dependent claims 2-3 are
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`allowable for the features recited therein as well as for the reasons discussed above with respect
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`to claim 1.
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`Although the language of claims 4 and 7-8 are not identical to the language of claim 1,
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`the allowability of claims 4 and 7-8 will become apparent in light of the discussion above with
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`respect to claim 1. Dependent claims 5-6 are allowable for the features recited therein as well as
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`for the reasons discussed above with respect to claim 4.
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`Applicant has added new claim 9. Claim 9 depends from claim 1. Applicant submits that
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`claim 9 is allowable for the features recited therein as well as for the reasons discussed above
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`with respect to claim 1.
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`Application No. 17/116,137
`Reply to Office Action Dated June 8, 2021
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`Closing
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`All of the claims remaining in the application are now clearly allowable. Favorable
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`consideration and a Notice of Allowanceare earnestly solicited.
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`In the event the Examiner finds minor informalities that can be resolved by telephone
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`conferenceor if the Examinerbelieves a telephone conference would facilitate prosecution of this
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`application, the Examineris urged to contact Applicant’s undersigned representative by telephone
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`at (206) 622-4900 in order to expeditiously resolve prosecution of this application.
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`Respectfully submitted,
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`Seed Intellectual Property Law Group Lip
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`/Blake K. Kumabe/
`Blake K. Kumabe
`Registration No. 68,240
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`701 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5400
`Seattle, Washington 98104
`Phone: (206) 622-4900 | Fax:
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`(206) 682-6031
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`BK1:dmk
`80301191
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