DETAILED ACTIONNotice 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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 1/25/2022 has been entered.
Examiner's Note
The instant application has a lengthy prosecution history and the examiner encourages the applicant to have a telephonic interview with the examiner prior to filing a response to the instant office action. Also, prior to the interview the examiner encourages the applicant to present multiple possible claim amendments, so as to enable the examiner to identify claim amendments that will advance prosecution in a meaningful manner.
Acknowledgment
Claims 1-6, 8-11, 15, and 17-20, amended on 1/25/2022, are acknowledged by the examiner.
Claims 21-24, added on 1/25/2022, are acknowledged by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Presented arguments with respect to claim 1 and its dependent claims have been fully considered, but some are rendered moot in view of the new ground of rejection necessitated by amendments initiated by the applicants.
Claim Rejection – 35 U.S.C. § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(B) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1 and 4-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claims contain subject matters, which were not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably enable a person skilled in the art to make to the invention commensurate in scope with the claims. To satisfy the written description requirement, the specification must describe the claimed invention in sufficient details that one skilled in the art can reasonably conclude that the inventors had possession of the claimed invention. The amended claim 1 fails to satisfy the written description requirement when the invention is claimed and described in functional language but the specification does not sufficiently identify how the invention achieves the claimed function. The amended claim 1 recites “for transmission over a network between a PCM and a light module”. However, neither the specification nor the claim explains what is the PCM. Accordingly, this limitation does not satisfy the written description requirement. It is not enough information for one skilled in the art could write a program or implement in an apparatus to achieve the claimed function because the specification must explain how the inventors achieve the claimed function to satisfy the written description requirement. For the reasons discussed above, claim 1 and its dependent claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph.
Claims 1 and 4-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter “a PCM”, which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention. Therefore, claim 1 and its dependent claims are indefinite and are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph. In this Office action, it is assumed that the PCM is a location.
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.
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 factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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 non-obviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a), the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned at the time any inventions covered therein were made absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and invention dates of each claim that was not commonly owned at the time a later invention was made in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(c) and potential pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(e), (f) or (g) prior art under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a).
Claims 1 and 4-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kanj et al. (US Patent 11,505,112 B2), (“Kanj”), in view of Deshpande et al. (US Patent 8,422,779 B2), (“Deshpande”), in view of Eessen et al. (US Patent 11,094,255 B2), (“Eessen”), in view of Lee et al. (US Patent 5,901,178), (“Lee”).
Regarding claim 1, Kanj meets the claim limitations as follow.
A method for managing an image in an automotive lighting device (a method for controlling a light pattern provided by an automotive lighting device of an automotive vehicle) [Kanj: Abstract], comprising:- providing a first image pattern (provide a light pattern in the direction of the movement of the vehicle) [Kanj: col. 1, line 21-22] comprising a plurality of pixels (This matrix configuration 6 is a high-resolution module, having a resolution greater than 1000 pixels) [Kanj: col. 5, line 1-2], wherein each pixel is characterized by a value related to the luminous intensity of the pixel ((defining the luminous intensity of each pixel) [Kanj: col. 2, line 66-67]; (FIG. 6a shows a detailed view of the operation of this matrix arrangement. In this figure, 20 colurmis and 10 rows of the matrix arrangement are seen. In each cell, one number from 1 to 10 represents the luminous intensity of the associated LED, in intervals of 10%. Thus, a number "4" represents 40% of luminous intensity, and a number 5 represents 50% of luminous intensity) [Kanj: col. 6, line 51-57; Fig. 6A]), wherein the value of a plurality of pixels is zero (Note: Please see the numbers of pixels that have zero values in Figs. 6A-6C) [Kanj: Figs. 6A-6C], with the light pixels (This matrix configuration 6 is a high-resolution module, having a resolution greater than 1000 pixels) [Kanj: col. 5, line 1-2] of the image pattern ((a light pattern in the direction of the movement of the vehicle) [Kanj: col. 1, line 21-22]; (the light pattern further comprises a fixed beam provided by a first group of solid-state light sources, and the matrix arrangement comprises a second group of solid-state light sources, wherein the sum of the fixed beam and the dynamic portion gives result in the light pattern) [Kanj: col. 2, line 34-39]) are greyscale pixels, and the luminous intensity of each pixel being characterized (defining the luminous intensity of each pixel) [Kanj: col. 2, line 66-67] by a number according to a scale from 0 to 255, so that each value related to the luminous intensity may be expressed with 8 bits; - selecting a relevant portion of the value of each pixel, thus obtaining relevant values ((The configuration of such a monolithic matrix allows the arrangement of selectively activatable pixels very close to each other) [Kanj: col. 5, line 19-21]; (The two fixed positions are oriented in the same manner for all the micro-mirrors and form, with respect to a reference plane supporting the matrix interpolation between the first and the second portions. of micro-mirrors, a characteristic angle of the matrix of micro-mirrors defined in its specifications. Such an angle is generally less than 20° and may be usually about 12°. Thus, each micro-mirror reflecting a part of the light beams which are incident on the matrix of micro-mirrors forms an elementary emitter of the pixelated light source. The actuation and control of the change of position of the mirrors for selectively activating this elementary emitter to emit or not an elementary light beam is controlled by the control centre) [Kanj: col. 5, line 50-61]), with the relevant portion of each value (divide the dynamic portion in a first portion and a second portion shifting the operation of the light sources associated to the first portion in the same direction as the sensed turn; and create a third portion between the shifted first portion and the second portion) [Kanj: col. 1, line 61-67] being the first 4 bits of the corresponding value (two "1"s would belong to the third portion and the remaining two ''1''s would belong to the first portion) [Kanj: col. 2, line 31-32 – Note: Kanj teaches that four bits are encoded]; and - preparing compressed data related to the relevant values, together with data related to the position of the pixel with a value equal to zero (Note: Please see positions of pixels that have zero values in Figs. 6A-6C) [Kanj: Figs. 6A-6C], for transmission over a network between a PCM and a light module of the automotive lighting device, wherein the compressed data is configured to reduce bandwidth requirements below 5 Mbps to accommodate limitations imposed by automotive manufacturers (the light points which are regulated by the official law still accomplishes its luminous intensity standard) [Kanj: col. 3, line 36-38].
Kanj does not explicitly disclose the following claim limitations (Emphasis added).
with the light pixels of the image pattern are greyscale pixels and the luminous intensity of each pixel being characterized by a number according to a scale from 0 to 255, so that each value related to the luminous intensity may be expressed with 8 bits; …
preparing compressed data related to the relevant values, together with data related to the position of the pixel with a value equal to zero, for transmission over a network between a PCM and a light module of the automotive lighting device, wherein the compressed data is configured to reduce bandwidth requirements below 5 Mbps to accommodate limitations imposed by automotive manufacturers.
However, in the same field of endeavor Deshpande further discloses the claim limitations and the deficient claim limitations as follows:
with the light pixels of the image pattern are greyscale pixels (In this regard, a source image may comprise or be converted between other types of signals including, but not limited to, YUV, CMYK, Greyscale, HSY, and HSL signals, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure) [Deshpande: col. 3, line 2-5; Fig. 1] and the luminous intensity of each pixel being characterized by a number according to a scale from 0 to 255 (The number 0 represents the lack of color and 255 is the maximum intensity) [Deshpande: col. 3, line 16-17], so that each value related to the luminous intensity may be expressed with 8 bits (At 8 bits per pixel, there may be 28 bits which represent 256 values) [Deshpande: col. 3, line 13-14; Fig. 3]; ..
with the relevant portion of each value being the first 4 bits of the corresponding value ((At 8 bits per pixel, there may be 28 bits which represent 256 values) [Deshpande: col. 3, line 13-14; Fig. 3]; (an encoder component configured to categorize data from the source image into a plurality of data sets including at least a first data set comprised of bit values from the most significant bit planes and a second data set comprised of bit values from the least significant bit planes) [Deshpande: col. 13, line 9-13] – Note: Deshpande discloses that data use 8-bits bit planes. Hence the most significant bit plane includes 4-bits and the least significant bit plane includes 4-bits); andpreparing compressed data related to the relevant values, together with data related to the position of the pixel with a value equal to zero ((The present disclosure is directed to methods, systems, and apparatus for improved data compression. In one embodiment, a method is provided that separates image data by color channels and ordered bit planes. The method includes arranging bytes representing pixel values from a source image into corresponding color channels. Bits in each color channel are separated into a plurality of bit planes that are ordered based on significance. Then, the method may combine bits associated with adjacent pixel locations from common bit planes into new bytes. Once the image data is separated in this way, different compression processes are applied to data sets represented in the ordered bit planes) [Deshpande: Abstract; col. 1, line 48-59 – Note: Value equal of zero has lowest significant]; (As illustrated in FIG. 3, a source image 302 may be viewed as a combination of data sets. Each of the data sets has attributes or properties affecting which compression techniques will be most efficient. As used herein, "efficiency" or "compression efficiency" refers to minimizing the number of bits used to represent image data while maximizing visual quality of a decoded image. In this regard, the most significant information in an image is represented in the highest order bit planes (i.e., SET A 312). As such, high-order bits tend to have substantial areas in which bit values are contiguous, as described in further detail below. On the other hand, the lowest order bit planes (i.e., SET C 316) are less significant and relatively disordered or random when compared to higher-order bit planes. Yet, existing encoders apply the same or substantially similar compression techniques to all data in the source image without sufficiently accounting for significance of the data. In general, more aggressive compression algorithms can and should be applied to the lower order bit planes (SET C 316) than the higher order bit planes (i.e. SET A 312)) [Deshpande: col. 6, line 45-64; Fig. 3]), for transmission over a network (i.e. the source image is encoded for network transmission) [Deshpande: col. 4, line 64-65; Fig. 5] between a PCM and a light module of the automotive lighting device ((i.e. The computer 702 may operate in a networked or distributed environment using the network interface 712 to facilitate communications and logical connections to one or more other remote computers, such as remote computer 718. The remote computer 718 may be a personal computer, a server, a router a wireless device, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, or any other media consumption or transmission device, and may include any or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 702. The logical connections depicted in FIG. 7 include a network 720, such as a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), which may also include other networks/buses. Such networking environments are commonplace in homes, offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets, and the Internet. As mentioned above, while exemplary embodiments have been described in connection with various computing devices and network architectures, the underlying concepts may be applied to any network system and any computing device or system in which it is desirable to encode/decode image data) [Deshpande: col. 4, line 64-65; Figs. 5-7 – Note: In this reference, PCM is considered as one location and the automotive lighting device is considered as another location in the network], wherein the compressed data is configured to reduce bandwidth requirements (Data compression refers to the application of one or more processes that reduce the amount of space and/or bandwidth used in storing and/or transmitting data. For example, a data compression process may identify and reduce the redundancy of bits (or other information unit) in a multimedia file or stream. The compression process translates or encodes the data from an original representation into an encoded format that is more compact. A smaller amount of information is used to represent the data in the encoded format thereby conserving storage and transmission resources) [Deshpande: col. 1, line 22-31] below 5 Mbps (i.e. the source image is encoded for network transmission) [Deshpande: col. 4, line 64-65; Fig. 5]; (Data compression refers to the application of one or more processes that reduce the amount of space and/or bandwidth used in storing and/or transmitting data. For example, a data compression process may identify and reduce the redundancy of bits (or other information unit) in a multimedia file or stream. The compression process translates or encodes the data from an original representation into an encoded format that is more compact. A smaller amount of information is used to represent the data in the encoded format thereby conserving storage and transmission resources) [Deshpande: col. 1, line 22-31]).
It would have been obvious to one with an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Kanj with Deshpande to program the system to implement of Deshpande’s method.
Therefore, the combination of Kanj with Deshpande will enable the system to improve coding efficiency [Deshpande: col. 5, line 17-23].
In the same field of endeavor Eessen further discloses the claim limitations as follows:
with the light pixels of the image pattern are greyscale pixels ((In an embodiment of the present invention, the values of the first S most significant bits such as four most significant bits and/or the L least significant bits such as four least significant bits can indicate whether the corresponding LED or OLED has to be driven so as to reach a brightness which lies in the highest or lowest range of brightness. A comparator can be provided to compare the first S or four most significant bits of the BDl such as 16 bits (b15, b14, b13 and b12)) [Eessen: col. 15, line 4-12]; (If any of the first S such as four most significant bits is different from zero, which indicates the LED or OLED is to be driven in the higher range of brightness, the L such as 4 least significant bits (b3, b2, bl and bO) of the 16 bits word are truncated.) [Eessen: col. 15, line 23-27]).
It would have been obvious to one with an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Kanj and Deshpande with Eessen to program the system to implement of Eessen’s method.
Therefore, the combination of Kanj and Deshpande with Eessen will enable the system to reducing the timing restriction on the hardware, maintaining the brightness as well as the color gamut, and improving the bandwidth [Eessen: col. 3, line 25-33].
Kanj, Deshpande and Eessen do not explicitly disclose the following claim limitations (Emphasis added).
reduce bandwidth requirements below 5 Mbps.
However, in the same field of endeavor Deshpande further discloses the claim limitations and the deficient claim limitations as follows:
reduce bandwidth requirements below 5 Mbps (A satisfactory image quality is provided for most viewers using 6 MHz of bandwidth for analog video such as that
conforming to the NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) standard. A corresponding compressed digital image can be transmitted at a data rate of less than 5 Mbps (Million bits per second)) [Lee: col. 6, line 53-58].
It would have been obvious to one with an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Kanj, Deshpande and Eessen with Lee to program the system to implement of Lee’s method.
Therefore, the combination of Kanj, Deshpande and Eessen with Lee will enable the system to be compliant with the NTSC standard [Lee: col. 6, line 53-58].
Regarding claim 4, Kanj meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 1. Kanj further meets the claim limitations as follow.
wherein the relevant values are arranged in a unidimensional array, and the compressed data includes ((This invention can be useful for many types of lighting matrix/array-based technology, from the simplest one, with only a few thousands light sources, to more advanced ones, with several hundred thousand light sources) [Kanj: col. 3, line 53-56] – Note: a matrix comprises of multiple unidimensional arrays. Such as the matrix 51 in Fig. 6A, which has 10 unidimensional arrays that have array index from 0-9, and each array has 17 elements)- a first number of consecutive zeros from the start of the unidimensional array until arriving at a data segment (Note: Please see the unidimensional array[3] of the matrix 51 in Fig. 6A. The unidimensional array[3] start with 4 zeros, then follows by a data segment “6, 8, 9, 9, 8, 6, 4”) [Kanj: Fig. 6A]- key data referred to a data segment with non-zero values (Note: the key data of the unidimensional array[3] of matrix 51 in Fig. 6A are “6, 8, 9, 9, 8, 6, 4”) [Kanj: Fig. 6A]; and - successively the number of consecutives zeros until the next data segment and the key data referred to the next data segment (Note: the successively the number of consecutives zeros are 6 successively consecutives zeros in the unidimensional array[3] of the matrix 51 in Fig. 6A) [Kanj: Fig. 6A].
Regarding claim 5, Kanj meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 4. Kanj further meets the claim limitations as follow.
wherein all the data segments include the same number of pixels (Note: As shown in the illustration in Fig. 6A, each unidimensional array [0-9] has 17 pixels) [Kanj: col. 3, line 53-56].
Regarding claim 6, Kanj meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 1. Kanj does not explicitly disclose the following claim limitations (Emphasis added).
wherein the key data is obtained by applying a key on the values of the data segment.
However, in the same field of endeavor Deshpande further discloses the deficient claim limitations as follows:
wherein the key data is obtained ((wherein categorizing image data represented in the bit planes into a plurality of data sets includes combining bits associated with adjacent pixel locations into new bytes) [Deshpande: col. 12, line 43-46]; (In addition or alternatively, a number of currently available or yet-to-be-developed encoders or "codecs" may be used to encode image data, at block 110. In this regard, existing codecs apply a compression algorithm to an image and/or image sequence that is designed to identify and reduce various types of redundancies. A generic compression algorithm that is commonly employed in numerous contexts is Run Length Encoding (RLE). In this type of encoding, runs of data, that is, sequences in which the same data value occurs in many consecutive data elements, are stored as a single data value and count, rather than as the original run. Stated differently, Run Length Encoding replaces a sequence (i.e., run) of consecutive symbols having the same value with the value and the length of the sequence. Generally described, the processing described with reference to FIG. 1 separates image data in a way that is more-optimal for Run Length Encoding. Accordingly, the present disclosure may be used in conjunction with third-party codecs/encoders to manipulate image data in a way that improves compression efficiency for any codec that utilizes Run Length Encoding. Once the image data is encoded, the method 100 described with reference to FIG. 1 proceeds to block 112, where it terminates) [Deshpande: col. 5, line 1-23] – Note: Paragraph [0023] of the application specification describes that the key data is the values of data segment are stored) by applying a key on the values of the data segment (applying run length encoding to compress a first data set comprised of image data associated with one or more of the highest order bit planes) [Deshpande: col. 12, line 17-19].
It would have been obvious to one with an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Kanj, Lee, and Eessen with Deshpande to program the system to implement of Deshpande’s method.
Therefore, the combination of Kanj, Lee, and Eessen with Deshpande will enable the system to improve coding efficiency [Deshpande: col. 5, line 17-23].
Regarding claim 7, Kanj meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 6. Kanj does not explicitly disclose the following claim limitations (Emphasis added).
wherein a first value of the key involves that all the values of the segment are the same.
However, in the same field of endeavor Deshpande further discloses the deficient claim limitations as follows:
wherein a first value of the key involves that all the values of the segment are the same (In addition or alternatively, a number of currently available or yet-to-be-developed encoders or "codecs" may be used to encode image data, at block 110. In this regard, existing codecs apply a compression algorithm to an image and/or image sequence that is designed to identify and reduce various types of redundancies. A generic compression algorithm that is commonly employed in numerous contexts is Run Length Encoding (RLE). In this type of encoding, runs of data, that is, sequences in which the same data value occurs in many consecutive data elements, are stored as a single data value and count, rather than as the original run. Stated differently, Run Length Encoding replaces a sequence (i.e., run) of consecutive symbols having the same value with the value and the length of the sequence. Generally described, the processing described with reference to FIG. 1 separates image data in a way that is more-optimal for Run Length Encoding. Accordingly, the present disclosure may be used in conjunction with third-party codecs/encoders to manipulate image data in a way that improves compression efficiency for any codec that utilizes Run Length Encoding. Once the image data is encoded, the method 100 described with reference to FIG. 1 proceeds to block 112, where it terminates) [Deshpande: col. 5, line 1-23].
It would have been obvious to one with an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Kanj, Lee, and Eessen with Deshpande to program the system to implement of Deshpande’s method.
Therefore, the combination of Kanj, Lee, and Eessen with Deshpande will enable the system to improve coding efficiency [Deshpande: col. 5, line 17-23].
Regarding claim 8, Kanj meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 7. Kanj does not explicitly disclose the following claim limitations (Emphasis added).
wherein a second value of the key involves that a first portion of the segment have pixels which have the same first value and a second portion of the segments have pixels which have the same second value.
However, in the same field of endeavor Deshpande further discloses the deficient claim limitations as follows:
wherein a second value of the key involves that a first portion of the segment have pixels which have the same first value and a second portion of the segments have pixels ((an encoder component configured to categorize data from the source image into a plurality of data sets including at least a first data set comprised of bit values from the most significant bit planes and a second data set comprised of bit values from the least significant bit planes) [Deshpande: col. 13, line 9-13]; (applying run length encoding to compress a first data set comprised of image data associated with one or more of the highest order bit planes) [Deshpande: col. 12, line 17-19]), which have the same second value (In addition or alternatively, a number of currently available or yet-to-be-developed encoders or "codecs" may be used to encode image data, at block 110. In this regard, existing codecs apply a compression algorithm to an image and/or image sequence that is designed to identify and reduce various types of redundancies. A generic compression algorithm that is commonly employed in numerous contexts is Run Length Encoding (RLE). In this type of encoding, runs of data, that is, sequences in which the same data value occurs in many consecutive data elements, are stored as a single data value and count, rather than as the original run. Stated differently, Run Length Encoding replaces a sequence (i.e., run) of consecutive symbols having the same value with the value and the length of the sequence. Generally described, the processing described with reference to FIG. 1 separates image data in a way that is more-optimal for Run Length Encoding. Accordingly, the present disclosure may be used in conjunction with third-party codecs/encoders to manipulate image data in a way that improves compression efficiency for any codec that utilizes Run Length Encoding. Once the image data is encoded, the method 100 described with reference to FIG. 1 proceeds to block 112, where it terminates) [Deshpande: col. 5, line 1-23].
It would have been obvious to one with an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Kanj, Lee, and Eessen with Deshpande to program the system to implement of Deshpande’s method.
Therefore, the combination of Kanj, Lee, and Eessen with Deshpande will enable the system to improve coding efficiency [Deshpande: col. 5, line 17-23].
Regarding claim 9, Kanj meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 8. Kanj further meets the claim limitations as follow.
sending the compressed data to a light module (lighting module) [Kanj: col. 4, line 24; Figs. 2-3] of the automotive lighting device (a solid-state electronic lighting device) [Kanj: col. 2, line 45; Fig. 2); and
decompressing the compressed data by the light module ((lighting module) [Kanj: col. 4, line 24; Figs. 2-3]; (lighting device) [Kanj: col. 4, line 55; Fig. 1-3]).
Kanj does not explicitly disclose the following claim limitations (Emphasis added).
- sending the compressed data to a light module of the automotive lighting device; and - decompressing the compressed data by the light module.
However, in the same field of endeavor Deshpande further discloses the deficient claim limitations as follows:
- sending the compressed data ((transmitting data. For example, a data compression process may identify and reduce the redundancy of bits (or other information unit) in a multimedia file or stream. The compression process translates or encodes the
data from an original representation into an encoded format that is more compact. A smaller amount of information is used to represent the data in the encoded format thereby conserving storage and transmission resources.) [Deshpande: col. 1, line 24-32; Fig. 7]; (the source image is encoded for network transmission, storage, etc.) [Deshpande: col. 2, line 64-65; Fig. 7]); and- decompressing the compressed data ((decoding the encoded representation of the source image) [Deshpande: col. 12, line 25; Fig. 7]; (decode the data, a decoding process is applied that returns the data into its original format. In the interest of connectivity and efficiency, most systems exchange multimedia data such as digital video in a compressed format. Accordingly, achieving improved compression rates allows these systems to better utilize computer resources and network infrastructure) [Deshpande: col. 1, line 31-38; Fig. 7] ; (FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a computing environment in which image data may be encoded/decoded in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure) [Deshpande: col. 2, line 19-20; Fig. 7]).
It would have been obvious to one with an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Kanj, Lee, and Eessen with Deshpande to program the system to implement of Deshpande’s method.
Therefore, the combination of Kanj, Lee, and Eessen with Deshpande will enable the system to improve coding efficiency [Deshpande: col. 5, line 17-23].
Reference Notice
Additional prior arts, included in the Notice of Reference Cited, made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Philip Dang whose telephone number is (408) 918-7529. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Thursday between 8:30 am - 5:00 pm (PST).
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/Philip P. Dang/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2488
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