DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 3-4, 11, 13-15 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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, 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, 3-4, 11 and 13-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Elsner (US 2016/0314819), in view of Tsukagoshi (US 2020/0294188) and further in view of Ouedraogo et al (US 2018/0270287).
For claim 1, Elsner teaches a video encoding method, comprising:
obtaining a video, wherein the video comprises a plurality of images (e.g. figure 1, Capture device (e.g. camera) 102);
reducing a size of a first image of the plurality of images, to generate a size-reduced image (e.g. abstract: “…the encoder device generates a thumbnail from a particular image”, figure 3 shows a video frame and figure 4 shows the size of thumbnail or paragraph 4: generating thumbnail from I- frame, p-frame or b-frame);
encoding a part or all of the first image into an encoded bit stream through a video coding, to generate an original image encoded stream (e.g. paragraph 4: encoded I-frame, p-frame or b-frame);
encoding the size-reduced image, to generate a size-reduced image encoded stream (e.g. paragraph 4: thumbnails); and
encapsulating the original image encoded stream and the size-reduced image encoded stream into a video stream (e.g. paragraph 4: embeds the thumbnails into the encoder output stream).
Elsner does not further disclose cutting the first image according to a viewing angle, to generate a part of the first image, wherein an extended viewing angle corresponding to the part of the first image is larger than the viewing angle; encoding the size-reduced image into another encoded bit stream through the video coding, to generate a size-reduced image encoded stream.
Tsukagoshi teaches cutting the first image according to a viewing angle, to generate a part of the first image (e.g. paragraph 77: the MP4 stream includes an encoded stream (encoded image data) corresponding to a divided region (partition) obtained by dividing a wide viewing angle image. Figures 4-5, paragraph 88: the video encoder 104 divides the projection picture into a plurality of partitions (divided regions) and obtains an encoded stream corresponding to each of the partitions.), wherein an extended viewing angle corresponding to the part of the first image is larger than the viewing angle (e.g. paragraph 85, 360 degree picture, figures 5 (a) (b) and (c)). It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Tsukagoshi into the teaching of Elsner to improve the display performance of the video by dividing wide viewing angle frame into regions (e.g. abstract, Tsukagoshi).
Elsner and Tsukagoshi do not further disclose encoding the size-reduced image into another encoded bit stream through the video coding, to generate a size-reduced image encoded stream. Ouedraogo et al teach encoding the size-reduced image into another encoded bit stream through the video coding, to generate a size-reduced image encoded stream (e.g. figure 2, paragraph 211: the server has to generate a set of media segments for all the input tiles, tile sets or regions of interest… the server encodes several representations of input video parts with different encoding parameters of resolution, bandwidth, ROI size). It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Ouedraogo et al into the teaching of Elsner and Tsukagoshi to improve encoding efficiency (e.g. abstract, Ouedraogo et al).
Claim 11 is rejected for the same reasons as discussed in claim 1 above, wherein Elsner also teach, see paragraph 66, software programs executable by computer system.
For claim 15, Elsner teaches at least one image capturing device, coupled to the at least one processor, and used for recording the video (e.g. capture device (e.g. camera) 102 couple to image processing engine 120).
For claims 3 and 13, Elsner does not further disclose a range corresponding to the extended viewing angle is extended from at least one side of a range corresponding to the viewing angle. Tsukagoshi teaches a range corresponding to the extended viewing angle is extended from at least one side of a range corresponding to the viewing angle.(e.g. paragraph 85, 360 degree picture, figures 5 (a) (b) and (c)). It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Tsukagoshi into the teaching of Elsner to improve the display performance of the video by dividing wide viewing angle frame into regions (e.g. abstract, Tsukagoshi).
For claims 4 and 14, Elsner does not further disclose each of the plurality of the image is a panorama image, a 360-degree image, or a wide-angle image. Tsukagosh teaches each of the plurality of the image is a panorama image, a 360-degree image, or a wide-angle image. (e.g. paragraph 85, 360 degree picture, figures 5 (a) (b) and (c)). It would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of Tsukagoshi into the teaching of Elsner to improve the display performance of the video by dividing wide viewing angle frame into regions (e.g. abstract, Tsukagoshi).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5, 7-10, 16 and 18-21 allowed.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAQUAN ZHAO whose telephone number is (571)270-1119. The examiner can normally be reached M-Thur: 7:00 am-5:00 pm.
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Email: daquan.zhao1@uspto.gov.
Phone: (571)270-1119
/DAQUAN ZHAO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2484
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