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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This communication is a non-Final office action in merits. Claims 1-20, as originally filed, are presently pending and have been elected and considered below.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 9/6/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claims 1-20 do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because:
Although the claim is directed to a statutory machine, it recites abstract mathematical concepts (determine a plurality of wavelet coefficients packed in a plurality of two- dimensional (2D) blocks of a 2D image based on the displacement information) without integrating them into a practical application, and without additional elements that amount to significantly more than the abstract idea. For example, “unpack the plurality of wavelet coefficients from the plurality of 2D blocks based on levels of detail of the plurality of wavelet coefficients, determine a plurality of displacements of the mesh in the current mesh frame,…, ” which are certain logical and/or mathematical operations that could be decided mentally and/or manually and absent specific technical constraints and yet integrated into practical application.
Claims 9 and 17 recite similar limitations and are rejected with the same reason as claim 1. Dependent claims depending from claims 1, 9, and 17 do not add significant more to their base claims and therefore rejected the same.
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.
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 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 5-10, 13-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2023/0290008 A1, Mammou et al. (hereinafter Mammou).
As to claim 1, Mammou discloses an apparatus for mesh decoding, the apparatus comprising: processing circuitry configured to:
receive a bitstream that includes displacement information and base mesh information of a mesh in a current mesh frame (Figs 4-5, 18-19, compressed bitstream with base mesh (m(i) and displacements (d(i) information; pars 0003-0004, 0006);
determine a plurality of wavelet coefficients packed in a plurality of two- dimensional (2D) blocks of a 2D image based on the displacement information (Figs 10, 15; pars 0004, 0025, obtaining packed quantized wavelet coefficients with updated displacements information into 2D image);
unpack the plurality of wavelet coefficients from the plurality of 2D blocks based on levels of detail of the plurality of wavelet coefficients (Figs 10, 17-19; pars 0004, 0007, 0076, 0106, 0124-0127, unpacking wavelet coefficients supporting three scalability with various levels of detail); and
determine a plurality of displacements of the mesh in the current mesh frame based on the unpacked plurality of wavelet coefficients (Figs 17-19, displacements being reconstructed based on unpacked wavelet coefficients; pars 0004, 0006-0007), the plurality of displacements being associated with a base mesh and the mesh in the current mesh frame (Figs 18-19, intra-frame operations), the base mesh including a subset of a plurality of vertices of the mesh (Figs 20, 24; pars 0004, 0056, 0076).
Although various limitations have been taught in more than one embodiment, consider Mammou’s teachings as a whole, it would have been obvious to one of skill in the art before the filing date of invention to incorporate Mammou’s teachings together to provide an image/video based mesh compression apparatus and method with predictable results.
As to claim 2, Mammou discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: unpack a subset of the plurality of wavelet coefficients from each of the plurality of 2D blocks (Figs 18-19; pars 0003-0004, 0006-0007, 0076, 0128, 0232, 0238, 2D blocks corresponding to patches and/or ROI of the image), the subset of the plurality of wavelet coefficients in each of the plurality of 2D blocks being from a respective level of the levels of detail (pars 0124-0127).
As to claim 5, Mammou discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the plurality of wavelet coefficients is coded according to an intra mode (Figs 10, 18, intra frame decoding); and the processing circuitry is configured to: determine predictions of the plurality of wavelet coefficients based on reconstructed wavelet coefficients of neighboring 2D blocks of the plurality of 2D blocks in the current mesh frame (pars 0241-0251).
As to claim 6, Mammou discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the plurality of wavelet coefficients is coded according to an inter mode (Figs 17, 19; pars 0027, 0029, 0075, 0101, 0109, inter encoding/decoding process); and the processing circuitry is configured to: determine (i) predictions of the plurality of wavelet coefficients based on reconstructed wavelet coefficients from a reference mesh frame of the current mesh frame (Figs 10, 17-19; pars 0008, 0073, 0101, 0171, 0195-0196, 0238-0241), and (ii) prediction residues associated with the predictions of the plurality of wavelet coefficients (pars 0247-0252, 0255-0256).
As to claim 9, Mammou discloses a method of mesh encoding, comprising:
determining a plurality of displacements of a mesh in a current mesh frame, the plurality of displacements being associated with a base mesh and the mesh (Fig 10: 1004; Fig 17; pars 0003-0004, 0006. 0072), the base mesh including a subset of a plurality of vertices of the mesh (Fig 6; pars 0068, 0072, 0076);
performing a wavelet transform on the plurality of displacements to generate a plurality of wavelet coefficients (Fig 10: 1005; pars 0004, 0076, 0081, perform wavelet transform on displacements and generates wavelet coefficients);
packing the plurality of wavelet coefficients into a plurality of two-dimensional (2D) blocks of a 2D image based on levels of detail of the plurality of wavelet coefficients (Fig 10: 1007, Fig 15; pars 0004, 0025, 0076); and
encoding the plurality of wavelet coefficients into a bitstream, the bitstream including displacement information associated with the plurality of wavelet coefficients and base mesh information associated with the base mesh (Figs 4, 10: 1008, 17; pars 0004-0005, 0019, 0057-0058, 0073-0075). See motivation statement in claim 1.
As to claim 10, Mammou discloses the method of claim 9, wherein the packing the plurality of wavelet coefficients further comprise: packing a subset of the plurality of wavelet coefficients into each of the plurality of 2D blocks (Fig 15; pars 0004, 0025, 0076, 0094-0097), the subset of the plurality of wavelet coefficients in each of the plurality of 2D blocks being from a respective level of the levels of detail (pars 0124-0127, based on levels of detail).
As to claim 13, Mammou discloses the method of claim 9, wherein: the plurality of wavelet coefficients is encoded according to an intra mode (Figs 10, 17, intra frame encoding; pars 0074-0075, 0103, 0195); and the encoding the plurality of wavelet coefficients includes determining predictions of the plurality of wavelet coefficients based on reconstructed wavelet coefficients of neighboring 2D blocks of the plurality of 2D blocks in the current mesh frame (Figs 10, 17; pars 0081-0083).
As to claim 14, it is rejected with the same reason as set forth in claim 6.
As to claim 17, Mammou discloses a method of mesh data processing, the method comprising: processing a bitstream of the mesh data according to a format rule, wherein: the bitstream includes displacement information and base mesh information of a mesh in a current mesh frame (Figs 4, 10, 17); and
the format rule specifies that: a plurality of wavelet coefficients packed in a plurality of two-dimensional (2D) blocks of a 2D image is determined based on the displacement information (Figs 10, 15; pars 0004, 0025, obtaining packed quantized wavelet coefficients with updated displacements information into 2D image);
the plurality of wavelet coefficients packed in the plurality of 2D blocks is unpacked based on levels of detail of the plurality of wavelet coefficients (Figs 10, 17; pars 0124-0127, based on levels of detail); and
a plurality of displacements of the mesh in the current mesh frame is determined based on the unpacked plurality of wavelet coefficients (Figs 17-19, displacements being reconstructed based on unpacked wavelet coefficients; pars 0004, 0006-0007), the plurality of displacements being associated with a base mesh and the mesh in the current mesh frame (Figs 10, 17-19; pars 0075, 0101, 0194, 0238), the base mesh including a subset of a plurality of vertices of the mesh (Figs 20, 24; pars 0004, 0056, 0076). See motivation statement in claim 1.
As to claim 18, it is rejected with the same reason as set forth in claim 2.
Claims 7-8, 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mammou in view of US 2002/0131505 A1, Vidunas (hereinafter Vidunas).
As to claim 8, Mammou discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the plurality of wavelet coefficients is coded in a skip mode (pars 0073, 0075, 0083, 0171, skipping encoding or updating) but does not expressly teach the processing circuitry is configured to: determine the plurality of wavelet coefficients as zero in the current mesh frame. Vidunas, in the same or similar field of endeavor, further teaches an XOR operation to identify zero value wavelet coefficients in the current frame (pars 0021-0023, 0026).
Therefore, consider Mammou and Vidunas’s teachings as a whole, it would have been obvious to one of skill in the art before the filing date of invention to incorporate Vidunas’s teachings in Mammou’s apparatus to provide more efficient encoding process by identifying zero values wavelet coefficients.
As to claim 7, Mammou as modified discloses the apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the plurality of wavelet coefficients is coded in a copy mode (Vidunas: Fig 4; pars 0025-0027, the original data being copied to the out buffer); and the processing circuitry is configured to: determine predictions of the plurality of wavelet coefficients as reconstructed wavelet coefficients in a reference mesh frame of the current mesh frame (Mammou: Figs 10, 17-19; pars 0008, 0073, 0101, 0171, 0195-0196, 0238-0241).
As to claim 15, it is rejected with the same reason as set forth in claim 7.
As to claim 16, it is rejected with the same reason as set forth in claim 8.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4, 11-12, 19-20 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.
Reasons for Allowance
Prior art of record (Mammou and Vidunas) neither discloses alone nor teaches in combination functions and features recited in claim 3. Claims 11 and 19 recite similar limitations as claim 3. Claims 4, 12, and 20 depend from claims 3, 11, and 19, respectively.
Examiner’s Note
Examiner has cited particular column, line number, paragraphs and/or figure(s) in the reference(s) as applied to the claims for the convenience of the Applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings of the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested from the applicant in preparing responses, to fully consider the reference(s) in entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the Examiner.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to QUN SHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-7927. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 8:30-5:50 PT.
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/QUN SHEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2662