DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Oath/Declaration
Oath/Declaration as filed on July 10, 2023 is noted by the Examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 2 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In particular, the limitation “a shadow pixel region” in second line of the claim renders the claim indefinite, because the meaning of the coined terms “a shadow pixel region” recited in the second line of the claim is not apparent in light of the specification. See MPEP § 2173.05(a). Examiner recommends applicant amend the claim, without adding new matter, to positively recite in definite terms more clearly what “a shadow pixel region” actually is.
Claim 10 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In particular, the limitation “a shadow region” in third line of the claim renders the claim indefinite, because the meaning of the coined terms “a shadow region” recited in the third line of the claim is not apparent in light of the specification. See MPEP § 2173.05(a). Examiner recommends applicant amend the claim, without adding new matter, to positively recite in definite terms more clearly what “a shadow region” actually is. In addition, any claim(s) dependent on claim 10 are objected to based on same above reasoning.
Claim 15 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In particular, the limitation “a shadow region” in second line of the claim renders the claim indefinite, because the meaning of the coined terms “a shadow region” recited in the second line of the claim is not apparent in light of the specification. See MPEP § 2173.05(a). Examiner recommends applicant amend the claim, without adding new matter, to positively recite in definite terms more clearly what “a shadow region” actually is.
Claims 16 and 19 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In particular, the claims 16 and 19 are objected to as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. Specifically, the term “if” in second line of the claims renders the claims indefinite because it is unclear whether the action(s) based on the “if” condition ever occur. See MPEP § 2173.05(h)(II). For the purposes of furthering examination, Examiner suggests the term “if”, in the first line of the claim, should be changed to reasonably acceptable language that positively recites limitations in a manner that more clearly defines the scope of the action(s). In addition, any claim(s) dependent on claim 16 are objected to based on same above reasoning.
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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 10, 12, and 14-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chou, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0268180 A1 (hereinafter Chou).
Regarding claim 10, Chou teaches a method comprising: reducing power usage of a display by selecting a pixel value adjustment setting that reduces pixel value adjustments in a shadow region of a frame of video and limits contrast loss (FIGS. 2 and 9, paragraph[0049] of Chou teaches according to a version of the present invention, the dynamic range of the displayed image can be automatically adjusted and enhanced in real-time; the image brightness and contrast management module 100, according to the present invention, examines the input video signal frame-by-frame to assess, in real-time, the pixel luminance histogram of the input video signal at every frame; from the histogram, the image's dynamic range, dominant luminance levels, and the optimal contrast level can be determined; and by nonlinearly adjusting the pixel luminance level distribution, bright or dark dominant areas are stretched to a higher luminance level distribution range to enhance the contrast of the dominant components of the image without blackening the darker parts or saturating the brighter parts of the image, and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0030], [0033], [0041]-[0048], [0050], and Claims 5, 9 and 17 of Chou (i.e., Chou teaches a contrast adjustment unit that uses property parameters to adjust and correct brightness and contrast of an image frame in a video and output pixel luminance data for each pixel to a display for displaying a frame of a video signal corresponding to the video, wherein bright or dark dominant areas are capable of being stretched to a higher luminance distribution to enhance contrast of the dominant components of the image frame)).
Regarding claim 12, Chou teaches the method of claim 10, comprising: providing the selected pixel value adjustment setting to a display interface to modify pixel values based on the selected pixel value adjustment (FIGS. 2 and 9, paragraph[0049] of Chou teaches according to a version of the present invention, the dynamic range of the displayed image can be automatically adjusted and enhanced in real-time; the image brightness and contrast management module 100, according to the present invention, examines the input video signal frame-by-frame to assess, in real-time, the pixel luminance histogram of the input video signal at every frame; from the histogram, the image's dynamic range, dominant luminance levels, and the optimal contrast level can be determined; and by nonlinearly adjusting the pixel luminance level distribution, bright or dark dominant areas are stretched to a higher luminance level distribution range to enhance the contrast of the dominant components of the image without blackening the darker parts or saturating the brighter parts of the image, and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0030], [0033], [0041]-[0048], [0050], and Claims 5, 9 and 17 of Chou (i.e., Chou teaches a contrast adjustment unit that uses property parameters to adjust and correct brightness and contrast of an image frame in a video and output pixel luminance data for each pixel to a display for displaying a frame of a video signal corresponding to the video, wherein bright or dark dominant areas are capable of being stretched to a higher luminance distribution to enhance contrast of the dominant components of the image frame)).
Regarding claim 14, Chou teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the selected pixel value adjustment causes changes to displayed pixel brightness (FIGS. 2 and 9, paragraph[0041] of Chou teaches referring again to FIG. 2, after the property parameters, P(k, n), have been calculated, the brightness and contrast adjustment unit 500 uses the property parameters that characterize the brightness/contrast properties of the image in the frame, i.e., frame n, to determine at least one family of nonlinear adjustment curves (step 206); according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the determined nonlinear adjustment curve(s) can then be used to adjust and correct the brightness and contrast of the image in a next frame, i.e., frame n+1; and thus, the adjustment unit 500 receives pixel luminance data for a next frame (step 208) and automatically adjusts the incoming pixel luminance data by applying the determined nonlinear adjustment curve(s) to the pixel data (step 210), and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0030], [0033], [0042]-[0050], and Claims 5, 9 and 17 of Chou (i.e., Chou teaches a contrast adjustment unit that uses property parameters to adjust and correct brightness and contrast of an image frame in a video and output pixel luminance data for each pixel to a display for displaying a frame of a video signal corresponding to the video)).
Regarding claim 15, Chou teaches the method of claim 10, wherein the selecting a pixel value adjustment setting that reduces pixel value adjustments in a shadow region of a frame of video and limits contrast loss is based on a histogram of pixel value distributions for the frame of video (FIGS. 2 and 9, paragraph[0031] of Chou teaches FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the image brightness and contrast management module 100 according to a version of the present invention; the module 100 includes a histogram generation unit 300, a histogram characterization unit 400 and a brightness and contrast adjustment unit 500; FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of automatically adjusting brightness and contrast using the management module 100 shown in FIG. 1 according to a version of the present invention; referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the management module 100 receives the pixel luminance data, Y.sub.in of a first frame from a video source (step 200); and the histogram generation unit 300 evaluates the luminance data of each pixel in the frame and generates a pixel luminance histogram for the frame (step 202), and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0007], [0030], [0033]-[0034], [0041]-[0050], and Claims 5, 9 and 17 of Chou (i.e., Chou teaches a contrast adjustment unit that uses property parameters to adjust and correct brightness and contrast of an image frame in a video and output pixel luminance data for each pixel to a display for displaying a frame of a video signal corresponding to the video, wherein bright or dark dominant areas are capable of being stretched to a higher luminance distribution to enhance contrast of the dominant components of the image frame, and wherein a histogram unit evaluates luminance data of each pixel in the frame and generates a pixel luminance histogram such that properties of the histogram can be subsequently identified in order to determine at least one family of nonlinear adjustment curves to be used to perform the adjustment and correction of brightness and contrast of the image frame)).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 of this title, 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, 3, 6-7, 9, 16-18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Aurongzeb et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication 2020/0160813 A1 (hereinafter Aurongzeb), in view of Chou.
Regarding claim 1, Aurongzeb teaches an apparatus comprising: a display interface and at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is to execute a driver to: determine pixel value adjustments based on a limit on contrast loss and to reduce power consumption of a display connected to the display interface and (200, 220, 250 FIGS. 1-4, paragraph[0038] of Aurongzeb teaches FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an information handling system with digital display operating a DBL and ALS brightness control management system 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; in an embodiment, and as shown in FIG. 2, a DBL and ALS brightness control management system as described above in 132 may contain application modules, including, but not limited to a DBL control module 245, an ALS control module 240, the DBL and ALS brightness control management system 250 for coordinating operation of the effects of the DBL control module 245 and ALS control module 240, and a semi-supervised machine learning of brightness settings module 255 in various embodiments; as described above, the information handling system may include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components; for example, such as communications between the DBL and ALS brightness control management system 250 operating on CPU 220 or GPU 225 and managing the DBL control 245 and ALS control 240 may occur with various components via one or more bus systems; and communications between the DBL and ALS brightness control management system 250 operating on GPU 220, for example, may occur with any one of the digital display device 201, the backlight power control 215 or other brightness control system, the GNSS module 230, the ambient light detector 235 (also referred to as an ambient light sensor), as well as other devices including time detection device, other location detection devices, a network interface device, or other sensors and components of an information handling system or operatively coupled thereto but not shown in FIG. 2, and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0019], [0021], [0039], [0048]-[0052], [0060], and [0064] of Aurongzeb (i.e., Aurongzeb teaches an information handling system that includes a GPU on which a DBL and ALS brightness control management system operate, wherein the DBL and ALS brightness control management system are capable of applying an adjustment to limit or eliminate the effect of either system and adjust brightness levels to save battery)); but does not expressly teach provide the pixel value adjustments to the display interface to apply to pixels of a video frame.
However, Chou teaches provide the pixel value adjustments to the display interface to apply to pixels of a video frame (FIGS. 2 and 9, paragraph[0041] of Chou teaches referring again to FIG. 2, after the property parameters, P(k, n), have been calculated, the brightness and contrast adjustment unit 500 uses the property parameters that characterize the brightness/contrast properties of the image in the frame, i.e., frame n, to determine at least one family of nonlinear adjustment curves (step 206); according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the determined nonlinear adjustment curve(s) can then be used to adjust and correct the brightness and contrast of the image in a next frame, i.e., frame n+1; and thus, the adjustment unit 500 receives pixel luminance data for a next frame (step 208) and automatically adjusts the incoming pixel luminance data by applying the determined nonlinear adjustment curve(s) to the pixel data (step 210), and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0030], and [0042]-[0050] of Chou (i.e., Chou teaches a contrast adjustment unit that uses property parameters to adjust and correct brightness and contrast of an image frame in a video and subsequently output pixel luminance data to a display for displaying a frame of a video signal corresponding to the video)).
Furthermore, Aurongzeb and Chou are considered to be analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to a system having a display, and involve the same problem of forming the system to suitably adjust a display brightness and contrast. Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method and apparatus of Aurongzeb based on Chou so as to provide the pixel value adjustments to the display interface to apply to pixels of a video frame. One reason for the modification as taught by Chou is automatically adjust, correct, and enhance the brightness and contrast of a video source (ABSTRACT and paragraph[0001] of Chou). The same motivation and rationale to combine for claim 1 mentioned above, in light of corresponding statement of grounds of rejection, applies to each corresponding dependent claim mentioned in the corresponding statement of grounds of rejection.
Regarding claim 3, Aurongzeb and Chou teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the driver executing on the processor is to select a pixel adjustment setting among multiple pixel adjustment settings (FIGS. 1-4, paragraph[0052] of Aurongzeb teaches the DBL and ALS brightness control management system will determine that the state of the DBL control system is at full operational mode at 405; in other aspects, the DBL control system may be off or in a partially operational mode whereby its effect has been reduced according to various embodiments herein; at 410, the DBL and ALS brightness control management system will detect an operational status of the ALS control system for brightness control in view of detected ambient light levels; in an embodiment, the DBL and ALS brightness control management system may detect an indication that an ambient light level has been detected that is of a sufficiently high or low magnitude to trigger an automatic brightness adjustment by the ALS control system; at 415, the DBL and ALS brightness control management system will determine from the ALS control system or from stored information relating to the ALS control system operating policy, the sensitivity settings and rate of brightness change that will occur depending on the detected ambient light levels; information about the sensitivity settings and brightness change rates may include an indication of one or more detected ambient light threshold levels; for example, both high ambient light threshold levels and low ambient light threshold levels may be received indicating trigger levels for a brightness change by the ALS control system; further, the DBL and ALS brightness control management system may collect information on how much brightness level change to expect when ambient light levels reach or surpass either a high or low ambient light level threshold; in yet another aspect, the DBL and ALS brightness control management system may also determine from rate settings of the ALS control system how quickly and how many steps of change will occur when the ALS control system is triggered to alter the brightness levels; for example, the ALS control system may make a gradual change over a specified amount of time in some settings or a quick adjustment to brightness levels in other embodiments; additionally, a change in brightness level may depend upon how much ambient light is detected and may be an amount related to how much the detected ambient light level surpasses either a high or low threshold level or may involve several stepped high and low ambient light level thresholds associated with stepped brightness adjustments amounts; and finally, an open loop settling time may also indicate how quickly and noticeably the transition of brightness levels can occur, and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0019], [0021], [0038]-[0039], [0048]-[0055], [0060], and [0064] of Aurongzeb (i.e., Aurongzeb teaches an information handling system that includes a GPU on which a DBL and ALS brightness control management system operate, wherein the DBL and ALS brightness control management system are capable of applying an adjustment, based on sensitivity setting(s) and even rate settings, to limit or eliminate the effect of either system and adjust brightness levels to save battery)).
Regarding claim 6, Aurongzeb and Chou teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the driver executing on the processor is to provide the pixel value adjustments to the display interface to modify pixel values based on the pixel value adjustments (FIGS. 2 and 9, paragraph[0041] of Chou teaches referring again to FIG. 2, after the property parameters, P(k, n), have been calculated, the brightness and contrast adjustment unit 500 uses the property parameters that characterize the brightness/contrast properties of the image in the frame, i.e., frame n, to determine at least one family of nonlinear adjustment curves (step 206); according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the determined nonlinear adjustment curve(s) can then be used to adjust and correct the brightness and contrast of the image in a next frame, i.e., frame n+1; and thus, the adjustment unit 500 receives pixel luminance data for a next frame (step 208) and automatically adjusts the incoming pixel luminance data by applying the determined nonlinear adjustment curve(s) to the pixel data (step 210), and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0030], [0033], [0042]-[0050], and Claims 5, 9 and 17 of Chou (i.e., Chou teaches a contrast adjustment unit that uses property parameters to adjust and correct brightness and contrast of an image frame in a video and subsequently output pixel luminance data for each pixel to a display for displaying a frame of a video signal corresponding to the video)).
Regarding claim 7, Aurongzeb and Chou teach the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the pixel value adjustments comprise changes to pixel brightness (FIGS. 2 and 9, paragraph[0041] of Chou teaches referring again to FIG. 2, after the property parameters, P(k, n), have been calculated, the brightness and contrast adjustment unit 500 uses the property parameters that characterize the brightness/contrast properties of the image in the frame, i.e., frame n, to determine at least one family of nonlinear adjustment curves (step 206); according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the determined nonlinear adjustment curve(s) can then be used to adjust and correct the brightness and contrast of the image in a next frame, i.e., frame n+1; and thus, the adjustment unit 500 receives pixel luminance data for a next frame (step 208) and automatically adjusts the incoming pixel luminance data by applying the determined nonlinear adjustment curve(s) to the pixel data (step 210), and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0030], [0033], [0042]-[0050], and Claims 5, 9 and 17 of Chou (i.e., Chou teaches a contrast adjustment unit that uses property parameters to adjust and correct brightness and contrast of an image frame in a video and subsequently output pixel luminance data for each pixel to a display for displaying a frame of a video signal corresponding to the video)).
Regarding claim 9, Aurongzeb and Chou teach the apparatus of claim 1, comprising a display, wherein the display is to display pixels of the video frame subject to the pixel value adjustments (FIGS. 2 and 9, paragraph[0041] of Chou teaches referring again to FIG. 2, after the property parameters, P(k, n), have been calculated, the brightness and contrast adjustment unit 500 uses the property parameters that characterize the brightness/contrast properties of the image in the frame, i.e., frame n, to determine at least one family of nonlinear adjustment curves (step 206); according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the determined nonlinear adjustment curve(s) can then be used to adjust and correct the brightness and contrast of the image in a next frame, i.e., frame n+1; and thus, the adjustment unit 500 receives pixel luminance data for a next frame (step 208) and automatically adjusts the incoming pixel luminance data by applying the determined nonlinear adjustment curve(s) to the pixel data (step 210), and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0030], [0033], [0042]-[0050], and Claims 5, 9 and 17 of Chou (i.e., Chou teaches a contrast adjustment unit that uses property parameters to adjust and correct brightness and contrast of an image frame in a video and subsequently output pixel luminance data for each pixel to a display for displaying a frame of a video signal corresponding to the video)).
Regarding claim 16, Aurongzeb teaches a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, that if executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: execute a display interface driver that is to: determine pixel value adjustments based on a limit on contrast loss and to reduce power consumption of a display connected to a display interface and (200, 220, 250 FIGS. 1-4, paragraph[0038] of Aurongzeb teaches FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an information handling system with digital display operating a DBL and ALS brightness control management system 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; in an embodiment, and as shown in FIG. 2, a DBL and ALS brightness control management system as described above in 132 may contain application modules, including, but not limited to a DBL control module 245, an ALS control module 240, the DBL and ALS brightness control management system 250 for coordinating operation of the effects of the DBL control module 245 and ALS control module 240, and a semi-supervised machine learning of brightness settings module 255 in various embodiments; as described above, the information handling system may include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components; for example, such as communications between the DBL and ALS brightness control management system 250 operating on CPU 220 or GPU 225 and managing the DBL control 245 and ALS control 240 may occur with various components via one or more bus systems; and communications between the DBL and ALS brightness control management system 250 operating on GPU 220, for example, may occur with any one of the digital display device 201, the backlight power control 215 or other brightness control system, the GNSS module 230, the ambient light detector 235 (also referred to as an ambient light sensor), as well as other devices including time detection device, other location detection devices, a network interface device, or other sensors and components of an information handling system or operatively coupled thereto but not shown in FIG. 2, and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0019], [0021], [0039], [0048]-[0052], [0060], and [0064] of Aurongzeb (i.e., Aurongzeb teaches a computer readable medium that stores code instructions for an information handling system that includes a GPU on which a DBL and ALS brightness control management system, which is included in the code instructions, operate, wherein the DBL and ALS brightness control management system are capable of applying an adjustment to limit or eliminate the effect of either system and adjust brightness levels to save battery)); but does not expressly teach provide the pixel value adjustments to the display interface to apply to pixels of a video frame prior to display of the pixels.
However, Chou teaches provide the pixel value adjustments to the display interface to apply to pixels of a video frame prior to display of the pixels (FIGS. 2 and 9, paragraph[0041] of Chou teaches referring again to FIG. 2, after the property parameters, P(k, n), have been calculated, the brightness and contrast adjustment unit 500 uses the property parameters that characterize the brightness/contrast properties of the image in the frame, i.e., frame n, to determine at least one family of nonlinear adjustment curves (step 206); according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the determined nonlinear adjustment curve(s) can then be used to adjust and correct the brightness and contrast of the image in a next frame, i.e., frame n+1; and thus, the adjustment unit 500 receives pixel luminance data for a next frame (step 208) and automatically adjusts the incoming pixel luminance data by applying the determined nonlinear adjustment curve(s) to the pixel data (step 210), and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0030], and [0042]-[0050] of Chou (i.e., Chou teaches a contrast adjustment unit that uses property parameters to adjust and correct brightness and contrast of an image frame in a video and subsequently output pixel luminance data to a display for displaying a frame of a video signal corresponding to the video)).
Furthermore, Aurongzeb and Chou are considered to be analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to a system having a display, and involve the same problem of forming the system to suitably adjust a display brightness and contrast. Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method and apparatus of Aurongzeb based on Chou so as to provide the pixel value adjustments to the display interface to apply to pixels of a video frame prior to display of the pixels. One reason for the modification as taught by Chou is automatically adjust, correct, and enhance the brightness and contrast of a video source (ABSTRACT and paragraph[0001] of Chou). The same motivation and rationale to combine for claim 16 mentioned above, in light of corresponding statement of grounds of rejection, applies to each corresponding dependent claim mentioned in the corresponding statement of grounds of rejection.
Regarding claim 17, Aurongzeb and Chou teach the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the determine pixel value adjustments based on a limit on contrast loss and to reduce power consumption of a display connected to a display interface comprises select pixel value adjustments from among multiple configurations of pixel value adjustments (FIGS. 1-4, paragraph[0052] of Aurongzeb teaches the DBL and ALS brightness control management system will determine that the state of the DBL control system is at full operational mode at 405; in other aspects, the DBL control system may be off or in a partially operational mode whereby its effect has been reduced according to various embodiments herein; at 410, the DBL and ALS brightness control management system will detect an operational status of the ALS control system for brightness control in view of detected ambient light levels; in an embodiment, the DBL and ALS brightness control management system may detect an indication that an ambient light level has been detected that is of a sufficiently high or low magnitude to trigger an automatic brightness adjustment by the ALS control system; at 415, the DBL and ALS brightness control management system will determine from the ALS control system or from stored information relating to the ALS control system operating policy, the sensitivity settings and rate of brightness change that will occur depending on the detected ambient light levels; information about the sensitivity settings and brightness change rates may include an indication of one or more detected ambient light threshold levels; for example, both high ambient light threshold levels and low ambient light threshold levels may be received indicating trigger levels for a brightness change by the ALS control system; further, the DBL and ALS brightness control management system may collect information on how much brightness level change to expect when ambient light levels reach or surpass either a high or low ambient light level threshold; in yet another aspect, the DBL and ALS brightness control management system may also determine from rate settings of the ALS control system how quickly and how many steps of change will occur when the ALS control system is triggered to alter the brightness levels; for example, the ALS control system may make a gradual change over a specified amount of time in some settings or a quick adjustment to brightness levels in other embodiments; additionally, a change in brightness level may depend upon how much ambient light is detected and may be an amount related to how much the detected ambient light level surpasses either a high or low threshold level or may involve several stepped high and low ambient light level thresholds associated with stepped brightness adjustments amounts; and finally, an open loop settling time may also indicate how quickly and noticeably the transition of brightness levels can occur, and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0019], [0021], [0038]-[0039], [0048]-[0055], [0060], and [0064] of Aurongzeb (i.e., Aurongzeb teaches an information handling system that includes a GPU on which a DBL and ALS brightness control management system operate, wherein the DBL and ALS brightness control management system are capable of applying an adjustment, based on sensitivity setting(s) and even rate settings, to limit or eliminate the effect of either system and adjust brightness levels to save battery)).
Regarding claim 18, Aurongzeb teaches wherein the determine pixel value adjustments based on a limit on contrast loss and to reduce power consumption of a display connected to the display interface is based on (FIGS. 1-4, paragraph[0038] of Aurongzeb teaches FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an information handling system with digital display operating a DBL and ALS brightness control management system 200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; in an embodiment, and as shown in FIG. 2, a DBL and ALS brightness control management system as described above in 132 may contain application modules, including, but not limited to a DBL control module 245, an ALS control module 240, the DBL and ALS brightness control management system 250 for coordinating operation of the effects of the DBL control module 245 and ALS control module 240, and a semi-supervised machine learning of brightness settings module 255 in various embodiments; as described above, the information handling system may include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components; for example, such as communications between the DBL and ALS brightness control management system 250 operating on CPU 220 or GPU 225 and managing the DBL control 245 and ALS control 240 may occur with various components via one or more bus systems; and communications between the DBL and ALS brightness control management system 250 operating on GPU 220, for example, may occur with any one of the digital display device 201, the backlight power control 215 or other brightness control system, the GNSS module 230, the ambient light detector 235 (also referred to as an ambient light sensor), as well as other devices including time detection device, other location detection devices, a network interface device, or other sensors and components of an information handling system or operatively coupled thereto but not shown in FIG. 2, and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0019], [0021], [0039], [0048]-[0052], [0060], and [0064] of Aurongzeb (i.e., Aurongzeb teaches a computer readable medium that stores code instructions for an information handling system that includes a GPU on which a DBL and ALS brightness control management system, which is included in the code instructions, operate, wherein the DBL and ALS brightness control management system are capable of applying an adjustment to limit or eliminate the effect of either system and adjust brightness levels to save battery)); but does not expressly teach a histogram of pixel value distributions for the frame of video.
However, Chou teaches a histogram of pixel value distributions for the frame of video (FIGS. 2 and 9, paragraph[0031] of Chou teaches FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the image brightness and contrast management module 100 according to a version of the present invention; the module 100 includes a histogram generation unit 300, a histogram characterization unit 400 and a brightness and contrast adjustment unit 500; FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of automatically adjusting brightness and contrast using the management module 100 shown in FIG. 1 according to a version of the present invention; referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the management module 100 receives the pixel luminance data, Y.sub.in of a first frame from a video source (step 200); and the histogram generation unit 300 evaluates the luminance data of each pixel in the frame and generates a pixel luminance histogram for the frame (step 202), and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0007], [0030], [0033]-[0034], [0041]-[0050], and Claims 5, 9 and 17 of Chou (i.e., Chou teaches a contrast adjustment unit that uses property parameters to adjust and correct brightness and contrast of an image frame in a video and output pixel luminance data for each pixel to a display for displaying a frame of a video signal corresponding to the video, wherein bright or dark dominant areas are capable of being stretched to a higher luminance distribution to enhance contrast of the dominant components of the image frame, and wherein a histogram unit evaluates luminance data of each pixel in the frame and generates a pixel luminance histogram such that properties of the histogram can be subsequently identified in order to determine at least one family of nonlinear adjustment curves to be used to perform the adjustment and correction of brightness and contrast of the image frame)).
Regarding claim 20, Aurongzeb and Chou teach the non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the pixel value adjustments comprise changes to pixel brightness (FIGS. 2 and 9, paragraph[0041] of Chou teaches referring again to FIG. 2, after the property parameters, P(k, n), have been calculated, the brightness and contrast adjustment unit 500 uses the property parameters that characterize the brightness/contrast properties of the image in the frame, i.e., frame n, to determine at least one family of nonlinear adjustment curves (step 206); according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the determined nonlinear adjustment curve(s) can then be used to adjust and correct the brightness and contrast of the image in a next frame, i.e., frame n+1; and thus, the adjustment unit 500 receives pixel luminance data for a next frame (step 208) and automatically adjusts the incoming pixel luminance data by applying the determined nonlinear adjustment curve(s) to the pixel data (step 210), and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0030], [0033], [0042]-[0050], and Claims 5, 9 and 17 of Chou (i.e., Chou teaches a contrast adjustment unit that uses property parameters to adjust and correct brightness and contrast of an image frame in a video and subsequently output pixel luminance data for each pixel to a display for displaying a frame of a video signal corresponding to the video)).
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chou, in view of Tang, U.S. Patent Application Publication 2022/0222856 A1 (hereinafter Tang).
Regarding claim 13, Aurongzeb teaches the method of claim 12, but does not expressly teach wherein the pixel values comprise Red Green Blue (RGB) pixel values or Hue Saturation Value (HSV) pixel values.
However, Tang wherein the pixel values comprise Red Green Blue (RGB) pixel values or Hue Saturation Value (HSV) pixel values (FIGS. 2 and 9, paragraph[0095] of Tang teaches the DSP module 934 may be configured to process digital signals; the DSP module 934 may comprise an image digital signal processor (IDSP), a video digital signal processor DSP (VDSP) and/or an audio digital signal processor (ADSP); the DSP module 934 may be configured to receive information (e.g., pixel data values captured by the image sensor 908) from the sensor input 940; the DSP module 934 may be configured to determine the pixel values (e.g., RGB, YUV, luminance, chrominance, etc.) from the information received from the sensor input 940; and the DSP module 934 may be further configured to support or provide a sensor RGB to YUV raw image pipeline to improve image quality, bad pixel detection and correction, demosaicing, white balance, color and tone correction, gamma correction, adjustment of hue, saturation, brightness and contrast adjustment, chrominance and luminance noise filtering, and See also at least ABSTRACT, and paragraphs[0093]-[0094] of Tang (i.e., Tang teaches a DSP module that determines RGB pixel values even luminance values to improve adjustment of hue as well as brightness and contrast adjustment)).
Furthermore, Chou and Tang are considered to be analogous art because they are from the same field of endeavor with respect to image processing, and involve the same problem of suitably performing image processing to adjust for brightness or contrast. Therefore, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method and system of Chou based on Tang wherein the pixel values comprise Red Green Blue (RGB) pixel values or Hue Saturation Value (HSV) pixel values. One reason for the modification as taught by Tang is improve brightness and contrast adjustment (paragraph[0095] of Tang).
Potentially Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 4-5, 8, 11, and 19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten to overcome applicable double patenting rejection(s) and objection(s), if any, indicated above, and if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims, because for each of claims 4-6, 8, 15-17, and 19 the prior art references of record do not teach the combination of all element limitations as presently claimed.
Conclusion
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/ABDUL-SAMAD A ADEDIRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2621
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