DETAILED ACTION
1. This office action is in response to U.S. Patent Application No.: 18/274,011 filed on 9/28/2023
with effective filing date 1/25/2021. Claims 1-9,11-18 and 22-24 are pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
2. 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.
3. The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
4. Claim(s) 1-4, 6, 8-9, 12-14, 18 & 22-23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Oh et al. US 2021/0005016 A1 (IDS) in view of Roimela et al. US 2021/0281879 A1.
Per claims 1, 12, & 22, Oh et al. a method for processing volumetric media, comprising: identifying a Visual Volumetric Video-based Coding (V3C) track and a V3C component track from a container file of a V3C bitstream of the volumetric media, wherein the V3C track and the V3C component track correspond to three-dimensional (3D) spatial regions of the volumetric media (para: 1049-1052, e.g. configuration of the multi-track ISOBMFF V-PCC container, V-PCC units in the V-PCC elementary stream are mapped to individual tracks in the container file based on the type; the V-PCC (or V3C) track is a track carrying the volumetric visual information in the V-PCC bitstream, which includes the atlas sub-bitstream and the sequence parameter sets); obtaining one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams by decapsulating the V3C track, and obtaining one or more video coding sub-bitstreams that correspond to the one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams by decapsulating the V3C component track (para: 423 & 466, e.g. the file structure in FIG. 24 may be generated by the encapsulator 1002 in FIG. 1 (the file/segment encapsulation module may be referred to as an encapsulator), the multiplexer 40013 in FIG. 4; he decapsulation processor (file/segment decapsulation) may decapsulate the point cloud data in the form of a file received from the reception processor. The decapsulation processor (file/segment decapsulation) may decapsulate files or segments according to ISOBMFF, etc., to acquire a point cloud bitstream or point cloud-related metadata (or a separate metadata bitstream)).
Oh et al. fails to explicitly disclose the remaining claim limitation.
Roimela et al. however in the same field of endeavor teaches decoding the one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams and the one or more video coding sub-bitstreams, and generating the 3D spatial region of the volumetric media (para: 71-72, e.g. both V-PCC and MIV, a similar methodology is adopted: the 3D scene is segmented into a number of regions according to heuristics based on, for example, spatial proximity and/or similarity of the data in the region).
Therefore, in view of disclosures by Roimela et al., it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention was made to combine Oh et al. and Roimela et al. in order to provide efficient culling of volumetric video atlas bitstreams in an effective manner. The apparatus allows a video codec to perform video coding and decoding in an efficient manner.
Per claim 2, Oh et al. further teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the identifying a V3C track and a V3C component track from a container file of a V3C bitstream of the volumetric media comprises: identifying one or more V3C atlas tracks based on a type of a sample entry of the V3C track, and identifying one or more packed video component tracks based on the one or more V3C atlas tracks, wherein the V3C track comprises the one or more V3C atlas tracks, and the V3C component track comprises the one or more packed video component tracks (para: 465-469, e.g. the file structure in FIG. 24 may be generated by the encapsulator 1002 in FIG. 1 (the file/segment encapsulation module may be referred to as an encapsulator); the geometry track may include metadata for the geometry data and/or a video coded geometry data bitstream. The V-PCC track may include metadata about the patch and/or a patch sequence data bitstream).
Per claim 3, Roimela et al. further teaches the method according to claim 2, wherein the identifying one or more V3C atlas tracks based on a type of a sample entry of the V3C track, and the identifying one or more packed video component tracks based on the one or more V3C atlas tracks comprise: identifying the one or more V3C atlas tracks based on the type of the sample entry of the V3C track, and identifying one or more packed video component tracks referenced by the V3C atlas track based on an element in a sample entry of the one or more V3C atlas tracks (para: 91-92, & 160, e.g. n V-PCC it is possible to annotate each region of the volumetric bitstream, i.e. the patches or groups of patches that are identified using a “rectangular” shaped volumetric rectangle, with different information).
Per claim 4, Oh et al. further teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the identifying a V3C track and a V3C component track from a container file of a V3C bitstream of the volumetric media comprises: identifying one or more V3C atlas tracks based on a V3C timed metadata track (para: 407-409), and identifying one or more packed video component tracks based on the one or more V3C atlas tracks, wherein the V3C track comprises the one or more V3C atlas tracks, and the V3C component track comprises the one or more packed video component tracks (para: 470, e.g. a track reference may be inserted from the V-PCC patch data track to the video track, to establish the membership of the video track in the specific point cloud based on the patch track).
Per claim 6, Oh et al. further teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the decoding the one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams and the one or more video coding sub-bitstreams comprises: decoding the one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams that are encapsulated into the V3C track, and the one or more video coding sub-bitstreams that are encapsulated into the V3C component track and correspond to the one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams (para: 431-436, e.g. an attribute may represent a plurality of pieces of attribute information. When there is a plurality of attributes, the point cloud processor according to the embodiments performs a plurality of attribute reconstructions; The point cloud processor may receive metadata from the video decoder, the image decoder, and/or the file/segment decapsulator, and process the point cloud based on the metadata).
Per claims 8 & 23, Oh et al. further teaches the method according to claim 1, wherein the decoding the one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams and the one or more video coding sub-bitstreams comprises: decoding one or more atlas tiles in one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams that are encapsulated into one or more V3C atlas tracks, and one or more packed video bitstream subsamples that are encapsulated into one or more packed video component tracks and correspond to the one or more atlas tiles (para: 423, e.g. 22000 performs video track decapsulation, metadata track decapsulation, and/or image decapsulation. The decapsulation processor (file/segment decapsulation) may decapsulate the point cloud data in the form of a file received from the reception processor. The decapsulation processor (file/segment decapsulation) may decapsulate files or segments according to ISOBMFF, etc., to acquire a point cloud bitstream or point cloud-related metadata (or a separate metadata bitstream)), wherein the one or more video coding sub-bitstreams comprise the one or more packed video bitstream subsamples, the V3C track comprises the one or more V3C atlas tracks, and the V3C component track comprises the one or more packed video component tracks (para: 154 & 395, e.g. Geometry represents a point in a 3D space. The geometry image is generated using the occupancy map, which includes information related to 2D image packing of the patches, auxiliary data (patch data), and/or mesh data based on the patches).
Per claim 9, Oh et al. further teaches the method according to claim 8, wherein the packed video bitstream subsample comprises one or more V3C units that correspond to one atlas tile, wherein the V3C unit comprises at least geometry data, attribute data and occupancy map data; or the packed video bitstream subsample comprises one V3C unit, wherein the V3C unit comprises at least geometry data, attribute data and occupancy map data para: 154 & 395, e.g. Geometry represents a point in a 3D space. The geometry image is generated using the occupancy map, which includes information related to 2D image packing of the patches, auxiliary data (patch data), and/or mesh data based on the patches).
Per claim 11, Oh et al. the method according to claim 1, wherein the video coding sub-bitstream comprises at least one of an occupancy map data bitstream, a geometry data bitstream, an attribute data bitstream, and a packed video data bitstream (para: 465-469, e.g. the geometry track may include metadata for the geometry data and/or a video coded geometry data bitstream. The V-PCC track may include metadata about the patch and/or a patch sequence data bitstream).
Per claims 13 & 18, Oh et al. further teaches the method according to claim 12, wherein the encapsulating one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams into a V3C track, and the encapsulating one or more video coding sub-bitstreams that correspond to the one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams into a V3C component track comprise: encapsulating the one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams into one or more V3C atlas tracks, and encapsulating one or more packed video sub-bitstreams that correspond to the one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams into one or more packed video component tracks (para: 465-469, e.g. the file structure in FIG. 24 may be generated by the encapsulator 1002 in FIG. 1 (the file/segment encapsulation module may be referred to as an encapsulator); the geometry track may include metadata for the geometry data and/or a video coded geometry data bitstream. The V-PCC track may include metadata about the patch and/or a patch sequence data bitstream), wherein the V3C track comprises the one or more V3C atlas tracks, the V3C component track comprises the one or more packed video component tracks, and the one or more video coding sub-bitstreams are the one or more packed video sub-bitstreams (para: 470, e.g. a track reference may be inserted from the V-PCC patch data track to the video track, to establish the membership of the video track in the specific point cloud based on the patch track).
Per claim 14, Oh et al. further teaches the method according to claim 13, wherein the encapsulating the one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams into one or more V3C atlas tracks, and the encapsulating one or more packed video sub-bitstreams that correspond to the one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams into one or more packed video component tracks comprise: encapsulating one or more atlas tiles in the one or more atlas coding sub-bitstreams into the one or more V3C atlas tracks, and encapsulating one or more packed video sub-bitstreams that correspond to the one or more atlas tiles into the one or more packed video component tracks para: 465-469, e.g. the file structure in FIG. 24 may be generated by the encapsulator 1002 in FIG. 1 (the file/segment encapsulation module may be referred to as an encapsulator); the geometry track may include metadata for the geometry data and/or a video coded geometry data bitstream. The V-PCC track may include metadata about the patch and/or a patch sequence data bitstream).
Allowable Subject Matter
5. Claims 5, 7, 15-17 & 24 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kiyma et al. US 2024/0046562 A1, e.g. the present disclosure relates to an information processing device and method that enable an increase in data amount of scene description to be curbed. A scene description file including track information that designates, as a reference target, some tracks with information for accessing other tracks, from among a plurality of tracks of a file container that manages information regarding data of the 3D object content is generated.
Hamza et al. US 2025/0056045 A1, e.g. a container format for point cloud data is provided and the container format indicates at least a relationship between a 3D region of the point cloud and one or more video-based point cloud compression (V-PCC) tracks. The V-PCC tracks may be grouped together and linked to the 3D region to allow spatial access to the 3D region.
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to IRFAN HABIB whose telephone number is (571)270-7325. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Th 9AM-7PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jay Patel can be reached at 5712722988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Irfan Habib/Examiner, Art Unit 2485
Prosecution Insights