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 .
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on February 22nd 2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims 1 and 5 are objected to because of the following informalities:
Regarding claim 1, states the following “value indicating the number of dimensions” (Line 10). Examiner suggest changing “the” to “a”.
Regarding claim 5, states the following “of a CTU” (line 3). Examiner suggest writing out what CTU refers to.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
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 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 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.
Regarding claim 6, the phrase "such as" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Claims 6 will be rejected as best understood by the examiner.
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.
Claim(s) 1-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kim et al. U.S. Application Publication 20240153150 A1 (hereinafter Kim) in view of NPL IDS Referenced “Information technology - Coded representation of immersive media - Part 29: Video-based dynamic mesh coding (V-DMC)” (hereinafter ISO Document)
Regarding claim 1, Kim teaches a 3D data decoding apparatus for decoding coded data, the 3D data decoding apparatus comprising: (Fig. 7, Inter Frame Decoding 702 Para. 0031)
a video decoder (Fig. 7, Inter Frame Decoding 702 Para. 0031) configured to decode a mesh displacement image (Displacement Sub-Stream, Para. 0076) decoded from a geometry video stream (Bitstream) in which a Unit Type of the coded data is V3C_GVD; (MPEG V3C Scenes, Para. 0031)
and a displacement unmapper (Fig. 7 Image Unpacking 510 Para. 0046)configured to derive a mesh displacement (Displacements d``(i) Para. 0046) QDisp[compIdx][pos] per position pos and component compIdx, from a mesh displacement image (Frame Height/Width Para. 0021) gFrame[compIdx][y][x] having an x and y position and a component compIdx,
However, Kim fails to teach:
wherein the displacement unmapper is configured to derive a Y coordinate of a geometry image from a product of a height dispCompHeight and a variable compIdx from 0 to a value indicating the number of dimensions DisplacementDim of geometry minus 1 to derive the mesh displacement, in a case that the geometry image is in a 4:2:0 format.
Kim and ISO Document are analogous to the claimed invention because both of them are in the same field of decoding subdivided meshes in the unit type V3C and format 4:2:0.
ISO Document teaches:
Unity Type V3C_GVD; (Page 4, Section: 8.3.2.3 V3C Unit Payload Syntax)
and a displacement unmapper (Page 47-48, Section: 11.5 Inverse Image packing of wavelet coefficients) configured to derive a mesh displacement QDisp[compIdx][pos] per position pos and component compIdx (dispQuantCoeffArray[v0][d], Page 48-49), from a mesh displacement image gFrame[compIdx][y][x] having an x and y position and a component compIdx (dispQuantCoeffFrame, Page 47-48)
wherein the displacement unmapper (Page 47-48, Section: 11.5 Inverse Image packing of wavelet coefficients) is configured to derive a Y coordinate of a geometry image from a product of a height dispCompHeight (origHeight, See Code Snippet 1) and a variable compIdx (d) from 0 to a value indicating the number of dimensions DisplacementDim of geometry minus 1 to derive the mesh displacement, in a case that the geometry image is in a 4:2:0 format. (if(DecGeoChromaFormat == 4:2:0), See Code Snippet 1 Below)
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim’s Image Unpacking Module 420 to incorporate the ISO Document’s Inverse Image Packing method. Since doing so would provide the benefit of deriving mesh displacement images in V3C_GVD format 4:2:0.
Regarding claim 2, Kim fails to teach the 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the displacement unmapper is configured to decode, from coded data, a syntax element indicating whether slices are used.
However, ISO Document teaches the 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the displacement unmapper (Page 47-48, Section: 11.5 Inverse Image packing of wavelet coefficients) is configured to decode, from coded data, a syntax element indicating whether slices (Segments/Patches/Tiles/Subpictures) are used. (Section: 8.4.6.2.3 Atlas frame parameter set vdmc extension RBSP syntax Page 21, Section: 8.4.6.2.4 Atlas frame attribute tile information Page 22 and Page 25, Section: 8.4.7.3 Intra mesh patch data unit semantics Page 27-28) The ISO document teaches syntax elements that keep track of the subdivision, tile, and patch of the mesh. Frames can be decoded further into Segments, Tiles, Subpictures, and patches which can be interchanged with slices. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim’s Tiles/Patches to incorporate ISO Document’s Syntax Elements. Since doing so would provide the benefit of keeping track of frame divisions.
Regarding claim 3, Kim fails to teach the 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the displacement unmapper is configured to derive a value of the height dispCompHeight, according to a syntax element indicating whether slices are used.
However, ISO Document teaches the 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the displacement unmapper (Page 47-48, Section: 11.5 Inverse Image packing of wavelet coefficients) is configured to derive a value of the height dispCompHeight (OrigHeight, See Code Snippet 1 Above and Code Snippet 2 Below), according to a syntax element indicating whether slices (Segments/Patches/Tiles/Subpictures) are used. (Section: 8.4.6.2.3 Atlas frame parameter set vdmc extension RBSP syntax Page 21, Section: 8.4.6.2.4 Atlas frame attribute tile information Page 22 and Page 25, Section: 8.4.7.3 Intra mesh patch data unit semantics Page 27-28)
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim’s Tiles/Patches to incorporate ISO Document’s Syntax Elements and Height Values. Since doing so would provide the benefit of keeping track of frame divisions and calculating their height values.
Regarding claim 4, Kim fails to teach the 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the displacement unmapper is configured to derive a value of the height dispCompHeight to be a constant multiple of a predetermined value.
However, ISO Document teaches the 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the displacement unmapper (Page 47-48, Section: 11.5 Inverse Image packing of wavelet coefficients) is configured to derive a value of the height dispCompHeight (OrigHeight) to be a constant multiple of a predetermined value. (See Code Snippet 1 and Code Snippet 2 Above) Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim’s Height Values to incorporate ISO Document’s method of Deriving Height Values. Since doing so would provide the benefit of deriving height values based on block sizes.
Regarding claim 5, Kim fails to teach the 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the displacement unmapper is configured to derive a value of the height dispCompHeight, according to a height of a CTU of the geometry video stream.
However, ISO Documents teaches the 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the displacement unmapper (Page 47-48, Section: 11.5 Inverse Image packing of wavelet coefficients) is configured to derive a value of the height dispCompHeight (OrigHeight), according to a height of a CTU of the geometry video stream. (See Code Snippet 1 and Code Snippet 2 Above) The height of a CTU can be the block size. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim’s Height Values to incorporate ISO Document’s method of Deriving Height Values. Since doing so would provide the benefit of deriving height values based on block sizes.
Regarding claim 6, Kim fails to teach the 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the 3D data decoding apparatus is configured to decode a geometry video stream that has been encoded using segments in units of components compIdx of a mesh image, in a case that a syntax element indicating whether to use encoding in units of segments such as slices indicates that segments are used.
However, ISO Document teaches the 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the 3D data decoding apparatus (Page 2 Section: 6 Overall V3C characteristics, decoding operations, and post-decoding processes) is configured to decode a geometry video stream that has been encoded using segments in units of components compIdx (dimensions d, See Coded Snippet 1 Above) of a mesh image, in a case that a syntax element indicating whether to use encoding in units of segments such as slices (Segments/Patches/Tiles/Subpictures) indicates that segments are used. (Section: 8.4.6.2.3 Atlas frame parameter set vdmc extension RBSP syntax Page 21, Section: 8.4.6.2.4 Atlas frame attribute tile information Page 22 and Page 25, Section: 8.4.7.3 Intra mesh patch data unit semantics Page 27-28) CompIdx is a variable and according to claim 1 is 0 to the number of dimensions. Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim’s Inter Frame Decoder to incorporate ISO Document’s Variables and Syntax Elements. Since doing so would provide the benefit of deriving mesh displacement images using dimensions and keeping track of frame divisions.
Regarding claim 7, Kim fails to teach the 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the 3D data decoding apparatus is configured to always decode a geometry video stream that has been encoded using segments in units of components compIdx of a mesh image, in a case that the geometry video stream has been one-dimensionally encoded.
However, ISO Document teaches the 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the 3D data decoding apparatus (Page 2 Section: 6 Overall V3C characteristics, decoding operations, and post-decoding processes) is configured to always decode a geometry video stream that has been encoded using segments in units of components compIdx (dimensions d, See Coded Snippet 1 Above) of a mesh image, in a case that the geometry video stream has been one-dimensionally encoded. (asps_vdmc_ext_1d_displacement_flag, Page 5-6 Section: 8.3.6.1.3 Atlas sequence parameter set vdmc extension RBSP syntax and Page 47 Section: 11.5 Inverse image packing of wavelet coefficients) Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim’s Inter Frame Decoder to incorporate ISO Document’s Variables and Syntax Elements. Since doing so would provide the benefit of deriving mesh displacement images using dimensions and keeping track of frame divisions.
Regarding claim 8, Kim fails to teach the 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the 3D data decoding apparatus is configured to always decode a geometry video stream that has been encoded using segments in units of components compIdx of a mesh image, in a case that the geometry video stream has been one-dimensionally encoded using the 4:2:0 format.
However, ISO Document teaches the 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the 3D data decoding apparatus(Page 2 Section: 6 Overall V3C characteristics, decoding operations, and post-decoding processes) is configured to always decode a geometry video stream that has been encoded using segments in units of components compIdx (dimensions d, See Coded Snippet 1 Above) of a mesh image, in a case that the geometry video stream has been one-dimensionally encoded(asps_vdmc_ext_1d_displacement_flag, Page 5-6 Section: 8.3.6.1.3 Atlas sequence parameter set vdmc extension RBSP syntax and Page 47 Section: 11.5 Inverse image packing of wavelet coefficients) using the 4:2:0 format. (if(DecGeoChromaFormat == 4:2:0), See Code Snippet 1 Above) Therefore, it would have been obvious to someone of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Kim’s Inter Frame Decoder to incorporate ISO Document’s Variables and Syntax Elements. Since doing so would provide the benefit of deriving mesh displacement images using dimensions, keeping track of frame divisions, and decoding data from 4:2:0 format.
Regarding claim 9, is directed to the encoding apparatus and displacement mapper that mirrors claim 1’s decoding apparatus and displacement unmapper, therefore it is rejected under the same rationale as claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BRIANNA R COCHRAN whose telephone number is (571)272-4671. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri. 7:30am - 5:00pm.
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/BRIANNA RENAE COCHRAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2615
/ALICIA M HARRINGTON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2615