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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
A. Claims 2-6, 8, 10-14, 16, 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang, (Segmented Sphere Projection for 360-degree video, JVET Jan 2017) in view of Lambers (Mappings between Sphere, Disc and Square, JCGT 2016)
As for claim 2, Zhang teaches
A method for processing video data, comprising:
obtaining 360-degree video data including a plurality of video frames, each video frame of the plurality of video frames including a spherical representation of video data for the video frame; (title, abstract)
segmenting a video frame from the plurality video frames into a top region, a middle region, and a bottom region, the top region including a first circular area of the spherical representation, the bottom region including a second circular area of the spherical representation that is opposite on the spherical representation from the first circular area, wherein the middle region including an area of the spherical representation between the top region or the bottom region; (Fig 1a, north, equator and south segments)
mapping the top region into a first rectangular area of an output video frame: (Fig 1b, equation (1), ch 2, mapping the top segment of sphere in Fig 1a to square area “N” in Fig 1b) .. ; and
..
mapping the bottom region into a second rectangular area of the output video frame (Fig 1b, equation (1), ch 2, mapping the bottom segment of sphere in Fig 1a to square area “S” in Fig 1b)
..
Zhang does not specifically teach, Lambers however teaches
wherein mapping the top region into the first rectangular area comprises
selecting a first pixel location in the output video frame; (Lambers ch 2 1st par, eq in ch 2.1, (x,y) coordinates of the output square)
determining a first point on the spherical representation corresponding to the first pixel location, wherein the first point on the spherical representation is determined using a mapping for converting from a square to a circle; (coordinates (u,v) in the input disc)
sampling a first pixel from the first point on the spherical representation (equation in 2.1); and
placing the sampled first pixel at the first pixel location (equation in 2.1, correlating the two coordinates)
wherein mapping the bottom region into the second rectangular area comprises
selecting a second pixel location in the output video frame; (Lambers ch 2 1st par, eq in ch 2.1, (x,y) coordinates of the output square)
determining a second point on the spherical representation corresponding to the first second pixel location, wherein the second point on the spherical representation is determined using a mapping for converting from a square to a circle; (coordinates (u,v) in the input disc)
sampling a second pixel from the second point on the spherical representation (equation in 2.1); and
placing the sampled second pixel at the second pixel location (equation in 2.1, correlating the two coordinates)
It would have been obvious, at the time of invention, to modify the teaching of Zhang to include features of Lambers, as all pertain to representing spherical visual data in rectangular format. The motivation to do so would have been, for example, to fully utilize display space, in cases when preserving area ratios are a lower priority.
As for claim 4, 12, the combination of Zhang and Lambers teaches
mapping the top region into a first rectangular area of an output video frame, wherein mapping the top region includes expanding video data included in the first circular area to fill the first rectangular area (Fig 1b, equation (1), ch 2, mapping the top segment of sphere in Fig 1a to square area “N” in Fig 1b), each pixel of the first rectangular area including at least a portion of the video data included in the first circular area of the spherical representation; (Lambers, Fig 1, teaches two hemispheres each being mapped to a full rectangle)
mapping the bottom region into a second rectangular area of the output video frame, wherein mapping the bottom region includes expanding video data included the second circular area to fill the second rectangular area (Fig 1b, equation (1), ch 2, mapping the bottom segment of sphere in Fig 1a to square area “S” in Fig 1b), each pixel of the second rectangular area including at least a portion of the video data included in the second circular area of the spherical representation; (Lambers, Fig 1, teaches two hemispheres each being mapped to a full rectangle)
As for claims 5, 13, the combination of Zhang and Lambers teaches
the video frame is segmented at a first latitude above an equator of the spherical representation and a second latitude below the equator (Zhang, Fig 1a, top and bottom), wherein
the first latitude and the second latitude are equidistant from the equator, wherein the top region is above the first latitude, and wherein the bottom region is below the second latitude. (Zhang, Fig 1a, top and bottom above 45 and -45 degrees)
As for claims 6, 14, the combination of Zhang and Lambers teaches
mapping the middle region to one or more rectangular areas of an output video frame (Zhang, Fig 1b, equation (2), ch 2, mapping the equator/middle segment of sphere in Fig 1a to rectangular area “E” in Fig 1b)
As for claims 8, 16, the combination of Zhang and Lambers teaches
the middle region includes a back view (Zhang Fig 1, the sphere offers a 360 direction, thus some appropriate segment of the sphere can be considered “a back view”; depending on the point of reference, a view diametrically opposite of that point of reference will be “a back view”)
the bottom region is placed in the output video frame adjacent to the back view, and wherein the top region is placed adjacent to the back view (NOTE applicant claim does not specify which point of reference is used to define the “back view”; while Zhang does not appear to specify which pixels corresponding to the Equator sphere segment follow immediately the Southern hemisphere data in the rectangular data packet, any pixels from the Equator segment can be called “a back view” given the diametrically opposite point of reference)
B. Claims 7, 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang and Lambers in view of Ye, “Algorithm descriptions of projection format conversion and video quality metrics in 360Lib” JVET Jan 2017
As for claims 7, 15 the combination of Zhang and Lambers doesn’t teach, Ye however teaches
the middle region includes a left view, a front view, and a right view, wherein the left view is placed in the output video frame adjacent to the front view, and wherein the right view is placed adjacent to front view (Ye, ch 2.6 and Fig 8, views 2-5, views can be named “left”, “front” and “right”, depending on the point of reference; for example if view 3 is called “front”, then view 2 can be called “left” etc)
It would have been obvious, at the time of invention, to modify the teaching of Zhang and Lambers to include features of Ye, as all pertain to representing spherical visual data in rectangular format. The motivation to do so would have been, to specify in greater detail how segments of the sphere view, represented in rectangular output format, may be stored for future use, and referencing the segments as needed - for example if only the front segment is needed, it can be found more quickly if it is known where in the output it is stored.
C. Claims 9, 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang and Lambers in view of Lin “Compact cube layout with tile partition”, JVET Oct 2016
As for claims 9, 17, the combination of Zhang and Lambers does not teach, Lin however teaches
the output video frame has a three-by-two aspect ratio (Figs 1-2 specify the 3x2 layout for representing spherical view data in rectangular format)
It would have been obvious, at the time of the invention, to modify the teaching of Zhang and Lambers to include features of Lin, as both pertain to representing spherical visual data in rectangular format. The motivation to do so would have been, to specify in greater detail how segments of the sphere view, represented in rectangular output format, may be stored for future use, and referencing the segments as needed.
Final Rejection
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 extension fee 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.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK ROZ whose telephone number is (571)270-3382. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:00am-4:30pm.
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/MARK ROZ/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2669
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