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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 3/7/24 & 8/1425 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 6, 9-10, 13, 15-17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US PG Pub 2020/0286261 to Faramarzi et al.
Regarding claim 1. A computer-implemented method for decoding three-dimensional (3D) content comprising:
processing a coded bitstream comprising connectivity information associated with the 3D content (“The electronic device 300 can create media content such as generate a 3D point cloud, a mesh, or capture (or record) content through a camera. The electronic device 300 can encode the media content to generate a bitstream, such that the bitstream can be transmitted directly to another electronic device or indirectly such as through the network 102 of FIG. 1. The electronic device 300 can receive a bitstream directly from another electronic device or indirectly such as through the network 102 of FIG. 1.”, paragraph 78 “A decoder receives the bitstream, decompresses the bitstream. The decoder reconstructs the vertices based on the information within the frames and applies the connectivity information to reconstruct the mesh. After the mesh is reconstructed, it can be rendered and displayed for a user to observe”, paragraph 49, see also 42, 47-48);
extracting a block of the connectivity information from a connectivity information frame extracted from the coded bitstream “A decoder receives the bitstream, decompresses the bitstream. The decoder reconstructs the vertices based on the information within the frames and applies the connectivity information to reconstruct the mesh. After the mesh is reconstructed, it can be rendered and displayed for a user to observe”, paragraph 49, “In step 956, the decoder 550 decodes the connectivity information from the second bitstream. In step 958, the decoder 550 decodes the first and second frames. The first and second frames include regular patches, raw patches, or a combination thereof. A regular patch visually represents a portion of the mesh, while a raw patch is visually represented as a block in data in the frame”, paragraph 224 note: a block can be any size amount of data including an entire frame. In the reference a patch is used as a block of data);
reconstructing a set of faces based on the block of the connectivity information (“A decoder receives the bitstream, decompresses the bitstream. The decoder reconstructs the vertices based on the information within the frames and applies the connectivity information to reconstruct the mesh. After the mesh is reconstructed, it can be rendered and displayed for a user to observe”, paragraph 49, “In step 956, the decoder 550 decodes the connectivity information from the second bitstream. In step 958, the decoder 550 decodes the first and second frames. The first and second frames include regular patches, raw patches, or a combination thereof. A regular patch visually represents a portion of the mesh, while a raw patch is visually represented as a block in data in the frame”, paragraph 224); and
reconstructing the 3D content based on the reconstructed set of faces (“The decoder 550a receives a bitstream 549a. The bitstream 549a is the bitstream that was generated by the encoder 510a of FIG. 5B. The demultiplexer 552 separates bitstream 549a into compressed connectivity information, compressed reordering information, and the compressed vertex coordinates and attributes. The connectivity decoder 560 decodes the compressed connectivity information to generate reconstructed connectivity information. The reordering information decoder 565 decodes the compressed reordering information to generate reconstructed reordering information. The point cloud decoder 570 decodes the compressed vertex coordinates and attributes to generate the reconstructed vertex coordinates and attributes. The reconstructed vertices resemble a point cloud, since the vertex coordinates correspond to points located in 3D space”, paragraph 148, “Each of the vertices (each row of the vertex information 484) can include an index number (not illustrated) that identifies each particular vertex of the mesh and is used to relate each vertex to a face that is described the face information 486”, paragraph 98).
Regarding claim 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: extracting the connectivity information frame from the coded bitstream, wherein the connectivity information frame comprises pixels corresponding with connectivity information samples (“FIG. 4I illustrates an example portion of a mesh file 480 in accordance with an embodiment of this disclosure. The mesh file 480, which describes a mesh, includes a header 482, vertex information 484, and face information 486”, paragraph 97).
Regarding claim 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the connectivity information frame is extracted from the coded bitstream based on a video codec, the video codec indicated in header information associated with the coded bitstream (“According to embodiments of the present disclosure, leveraging existing video codecs can be used to compress and reconstruct a point cloud, when the point cloud is converted from a 3D representation to a 2D representation. Additionally, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, leveraging existing video codecs can be used to compress and reconstruct a mesh by separating the vertices information from the connectivity information of a mesh, such as the edges, faces and the like. The vertices information can then be encoded in a similar manner as a point cloud. In certain embodiments, the conversion of a point cloud or mesh from a 3D representation to a 2D representation includes projecting clusters of points (of a point cloud) or (vertices of a mesh) onto 2D frames by creating patches. Thereafter, video codecs such as HEVC, AVC, VP9, VP8, VVC, and the like can be used to compress the 2D frames representing in a similar manner to that of a 2D video”, paragraph 42).
Regarding claim 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the reconstructing the set of faces comprises:
reconstructing a first face based on a second face and a connectivity coding sample (“The decoder 550 can use a connectivity decoder to decode the connectivity information and a video decoder to decode the first and second frames. The video decoder can be configured to decode a point cloud. The first frame and the second frame can include patches”, paragraph 224),
wherein the second face precedes the first face (“The raw patch 444 explicitly signals.. geometry coordinates of certain point, such that the points can be packed into the raw patch 444 in any arbitrary order”, paragraph 91, see also paragraph 118 "In certain embodiments, the point cloud encoder 520 encodes the vertices in the order that they are packed into the frames, which can be different than the order of the connectivity information 514", note: a different order than the order received may have a second face preceding the first.), and the connectivity coding sample indicates differential index values between vertices associated with the first face and the second face (“The face information is an index that lists information about each of the faces of the mesh. Each row of the face information 486 describes a different face of the mesh”, paragraph 100, see also paragraphs 47-49 & 224).
Regarding claim 9. A decoder for decoding three-dimensional (3D) content comprising:
at least one processor; and a memory (“The processor 340 can include one or more processors or other processing devices. The processor 340 can execute instructions that are stored in the memory 360”, paragraph 70) storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the decoder to perform:
processing a coded bitstream comprising connectivity information associated with the 3D content (“The electronic device 300 can create media content such as generate a 3D point cloud, a mesh, or capture (or record) content through a camera. The electronic device 300 can encode the media content to generate a bitstream, such that the bitstream can be transmitted directly to another electronic device or indirectly such as through the network 102 of FIG. 1. The electronic device 300 can receive a bitstream directly from another electronic device or indirectly such as through the network 102 of FIG. 1.”, paragraph 78 “A decoder receives the bitstream, decompresses the bitstream. The decoder reconstructs the vertices based on the information within the frames and applies the connectivity information to reconstruct the mesh. After the mesh is reconstructed, it can be rendered and displayed for a user to observe”, paragraph 49, see also 42, 47-48);
extracting a connectivity information frame from the coded bitstream “A decoder receives the bitstream, decompresses the bitstream. The decoder reconstructs the vertices based on the information within the frames and applies the connectivity information to reconstruct the mesh. After the mesh is reconstructed, it can be rendered and displayed for a user to observe”, paragraph 49),
wherein the connectivity information frame comprises pixels corresponding with connectivity coding samples representative of the 3D content (“Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for improving the compression and decompression of a mesh. For example, an encoder separates the vertices from the connectivity information of a mesh. The encoder groups (or clusters) the vertices with respect to different projection planes, and then stores the groups of vertices as patches on a 2D frames. The patches representing the geometry and attribute information are packed respectively into geometry video frames and attribute video frames, where each pixel within any of the patches corresponds to a vertex in 3D space. The geometry video frames are used to encode the geometry information, and the corresponding attribute video frames are used to encode the attribute (such as color) of the mesh. The two transverse coordinates (with respect to the projection plane) of a vertex corresponds to the column and row indices in the geometry video frame (u, v) plus a transverse-offset which determines the location of the entire patch within the video frame. The depth of the vertices is encoded as the value of the pixel in the video frame plus a depth-offset for the patch. The depth of the vertices depends on whether the projection of the 3D point cloud is taken from the XY, YZ, or XZ coordinates”, paragraph 45, 47-49);
extracting a block of the connectivity information from the connectivity information frame (“A decoder receives the bitstream, decompresses the bitstream. The decoder reconstructs the vertices based on the information within the frames and applies the connectivity information to reconstruct the mesh. After the mesh is reconstructed, it can be rendered and displayed for a user to observe”, paragraph 49,);
reconstructing a set of faces based on the block of the connectivity information (“The vertex information 484 is an index that lists information about each vertex of the mesh. Each row of the vertex information 484 describes a different vertex of the mesh. Each of the vertices (each row of the vertex information 484) can include an index number (not illustrated) that identifies each particular vertex of the mesh and is used to relate each vertex to a face that is described the face information 486”, paragraph 98); and
reconstructing the 3D content based on the reconstructed set of faces (“The decoder 550a receives a bitstream 549a. The bitstream 549a is the bitstream that was generated by the encoder 510a of FIG. 5B. The demultiplexer 552 separates bitstream 549a into compressed connectivity information, compressed reordering information, and the compressed vertex coordinates and attributes. The connectivity decoder 560 decodes the compressed connectivity information to generate reconstructed connectivity information. The reordering information decoder 565 decodes the compressed reordering information to generate reconstructed reordering information. The point cloud decoder 570 decodes the compressed vertex coordinates and attributes to generate the reconstructed vertex coordinates and attributes. The reconstructed vertices resemble a point cloud, since the vertex coordinates correspond to points located in 3D space”, paragraph 148, “Each of the vertices (each row of the vertex information 484) can include an index number (not illustrated) that identifies each particular vertex of the mesh and is used to relate each vertex to a face that is described the face information 486”, paragraph 98).
Regarding claim 10. The decoder of claim 9, wherein the connectivity information frame is extracted from the coded bitstream based on a video codec, the video codec indicated in header information associated with the coded bitstream (“According to embodiments of the present disclosure, leveraging existing video codecs can be used to compress and reconstruct a point cloud, when the point cloud is converted from a 3D representation to a 2D representation. Additionally, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, leveraging existing video codecs can be used to compress and reconstruct a mesh by separating the vertices information from the connectivity information of a mesh, such as the edges, faces and the like. The vertices information can then be encoded in a similar manner as a point cloud. In certain embodiments, the conversion of a point cloud or mesh from a 3D representation to a 2D representation includes projecting clusters of points (of a point cloud) or (vertices of a mesh) onto 2D frames by creating patches. Thereafter, video codecs such as HEVC, AVC, VP9, VP8, VVC, and the like can be used to compress the 2D frames representing in a similar manner to that of a 2D video”, paragraph 42).
Regarding claim 13. The decoder of claim 9, wherein the reconstructing the set of faces comprises:
reconstructing a first face based on a second face and a connectivity coding sample (“The decoder 550 can use a connectivity decoder to decode the connectivity information and a video decoder to decode the first and second frames. The video decoder can be configured to decode a point cloud. The first frame and the second frame can include patches”, paragraph 224),
wherein the second face precedes the first face (“The raw patch 444 explicitly signals.. geometry coordinates of certain point, such that the points can be packed into the raw patch 444 in any arbitrary order”, paragraph 91, see also paragraph 118 "In certain embodiments, the point cloud encoder 520 encodes the vertices in the order that they are packed into the frames, which can be different than the order of the connectivity information 514", note: a different order than the order received may have a second face preceding the first.), and the connectivity coding sample indicates differential index values between vertices associated with the first face and the second face (“The face information is an index that lists information about each of the faces of the mesh. Each row of the face information 486 describes a different face of the mesh”, paragraph 100, see also paragraphs 47-49 & 224).
Regarding claim 15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a decoder, cause the decoder to perform (“The processor 340 can include one or more processors or other processing devices. The processor 340 can execute instructions that are stored in the memory 360”, paragraph 70):
processing a coded bitstream comprising connectivity information associated with 3D content (“The electronic device 300 can create media content such as generate a 3D point cloud, a mesh, or capture (or record) content through a camera. The electronic device 300 can encode the media content to generate a bitstream, such that the bitstream can be transmitted directly to another electronic device or indirectly such as through the network 102 of FIG. 1. The electronic device 300 can receive a bitstream directly from another electronic device or indirectly such as through the network 102 of FIG. 1.”, paragraph 78 “A decoder receives the bitstream, decompresses the bitstream. The decoder reconstructs the vertices based on the information within the frames and applies the connectivity information to reconstruct the mesh. After the mesh is reconstructed, it can be rendered and displayed for a user to observe”, paragraph 49, see also 42, 47-48);
extracting a block of the connectivity information from a connectivity information frame extracted from the coded bitstream (“A decoder receives the bitstream, decompresses the bitstream. The decoder reconstructs the vertices based on the information within the frames and applies the connectivity information to reconstruct the mesh. After the mesh is reconstructed, it can be rendered and displayed for a user to observe”, paragraph 49,);
reconstructing each face in a set of faces in the block of the connectivity information based on an associated connectivity coding sample indicative of differential index values between vertices associated with the faces in the set of faces (“The vertex information 484 is an index that lists information about each vertex of the mesh. Each row of the vertex information 484 describes a different vertex of the mesh. Each of the vertices (each row of the vertex information 484) can include an index number (not illustrated) that identifies each particular vertex of the mesh and is used to relate each vertex to a face that is described the face information 486”, paragraph 98, see also paragraph 45, 47-49, 91, 100, 119, 224); and
reconstructing the 3D content based on the reconstructed set of faces (“The decoder 550a receives a bitstream 549a. The bitstream 549a is the bitstream that was generated by the encoder 510a of FIG. 5B. The demultiplexer 552 separates bitstream 549a into compressed connectivity information, compressed reordering information, and the compressed vertex coordinates and attributes. The connectivity decoder 560 decodes the compressed connectivity information to generate reconstructed connectivity information. The reordering information decoder 565 decodes the compressed reordering information to generate reconstructed reordering information. The point cloud decoder 570 decodes the compressed vertex coordinates and attributes to generate the reconstructed vertex coordinates and attributes. The reconstructed vertices resemble a point cloud, since the vertex coordinates correspond to points located in 3D space”, paragraph 148, “Each of the vertices (each row of the vertex information 484) can include an index number (not illustrated) that identifies each particular vertex of the mesh and is used to relate each vertex to a face that is described the face information 486”, paragraph 98).
Regarding claim 16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions further cause the decoder to perform: extracting the connectivity information frame from the coded bitstream (“A decoder receives the bitstream, decompresses the bitstream. The decoder reconstructs the vertices based on the information within the frames and applies the connectivity information to reconstruct the mesh. After the mesh is reconstructed, it can be rendered and displayed for a user to observe”, paragraph 49,), wherein the connectivity information frame comprises pixels corresponding with connectivity information samples (“FIG. 4I illustrates an example portion of a mesh file 480 in accordance with an embodiment of this disclosure. The mesh file 480, which describes a mesh, includes a header 482, vertex information 484, and face information 486”, paragraph 97).
Regarding claim 17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the connectivity information frame is extracted from the coded bitstream based on a video codec, the video codec indicated in header information associated with the coded bitstream (“According to embodiments of the present disclosure, leveraging existing video codecs can be used to compress and reconstruct a point cloud, when the point cloud is converted from a 3D representation to a 2D representation. Additionally, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, leveraging existing video codecs can be used to compress and reconstruct a mesh by separating the vertices information from the connectivity information of a mesh, such as the edges, faces and the like. The vertices information can then be encoded in a similar manner as a point cloud. In certain embodiments, the conversion of a point cloud or mesh from a 3D representation to a 2D representation includes projecting clusters of points (of a point cloud) or (vertices of a mesh) onto 2D frames by creating patches. Thereafter, video codecs such as HEVC, AVC, VP9, VP8, VVC, and the like can be used to compress the 2D frames representing in a similar manner to that of a 2D video”, paragraph 42).
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.
The factual inquiries 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.
Claim(s) 4-5, 8, 11-12, & 18-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Faramarzi as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US PG Pub 2005/0131660 to Yadagar et al.
Regarding claim 4. Faramarzi discloses extracting information from the coded bitstream (“The electronic device 300 can encode the media content to generate a bitstream, such that the bitstream can be transmitted directly to another electronic device or indirectly such as through the network 102 of FIG. 1. The electronic device 300 can receive a bitstream directly from another electronic device or indirectly such as through the network 102 of FIG. 1.”, paragraph 78 “A decoder receives the bitstream, decompresses the bitstream. The decoder reconstructs the vertices based on the information within the frames and applies the connectivity information to reconstruct the mesh. After the mesh is reconstructed, it can be rendered and displayed for a user to observe”, paragraph 49, see also 42, 47-49).
Faramarzi does not disclose, wherein the block size information comprises a block origin sample index associated with the block and a block size associated with the block.
However, Yadagar in the same area of 3-dimensional image/video compression, discloses wherein the block size information comprises a block origin sample index associated with the block and a block size associated with the block (“The procedure calls for Tiles, one at the time, for analysis and examination. In case Tile is of minimum size and can no longer be decomposed further, it is itself within its territory and recorded for storage or transmission”, paragraph 108).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Faramarzi’s mesh compression to include: wherein the block size information comprises a block origin sample index associated with the block and a block size associated with the block.
It would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Faramarzi' s mesh compression by the teaching of Yadagar because of the following reasons: (a) data compression attempts to reduce the size of the raw data by changing it into a compressed form so that it consumes less storage or transmits across channels more efficiently with less cost, (paragraph 6, Yadagar); and (b) to overcome the issue that transmitting an uncompressed point cloud from one electronic device to another uses significant bandwidth due to the size and complexity of the data as taught by Faramarzi at paragraph 41.
Regarding claim 5. Yadagar discloses wherein the block size information comprises a number of connectivity coding samples associated with the block, the block size expressed in terms of the connectivity coding samples (“In fact with a tile's inheritance label, the present modeling and coding system can gain information about its... connectivity, position, size.. etc.”, paragraph 226).
Regarding claim 8. Yadagar discloses wherein the reconstructing the set of faces terminates in response to the last face in the block of the connectivity information being reconstructed (“The while loop in the decoder algorithm terminates when image frame is completely Painted”, paragraph 153).
Regarding claim 11. Yadagar discloses extracting block size information from the coded bitstream, wherein the block size information comprises a block origin sample index associated with the block and a block size associated with the block (“The procedure calls for Tiles, one at the time, for analysis and examination. In case Tile is of minimum size and can no longer be decomposed further, it is itself within its territory and recorded for storage or transmission”, paragraph 108).
Regarding claim 12. Yadagar discloses wherein the block size information comprises a number of connectivity coding samples associated with the block, the block size expressed in terms of the connectivity coding samples (“In fact with a tile's inheritance label, the present modeling and coding system can gain information about its... connectivity, position, size.. etc.”, paragraph 226, see also paragraph 108, the block size expressed in terms of the connectivity coding samples paragraphs 108 and 226).
Regarding claim 18. Yadagar discloses extracting block size information from the coded bitstream, wherein the block size information comprises a block origin sample index associated with the block and a block size associated with the block (“In fact with a tile's inheritance label, the present modeling and coding system can gain information about its... connectivity, position, size.. etc.”, paragraph 226, see also paragraph 108, the block size expressed in terms of the connectivity coding samples paragraphs 108 and 226).
Regarding claim 19. Yadagar discloses wherein the block size information comprises a number of connectivity coding samples associated with the block, the block size expressed in terms of the connectivity coding samples (“In fact with a tile's inheritance label, the present modeling and coding system can gain information about its... connectivity, position, size.. etc.”, paragraph 226, see also paragraph 108, the block size expressed in terms of the connectivity coding samples paragraphs 108 and 226).
Claim(s) 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Faramarzi as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of US PG Pub 2013/0272372 to Hannuksela.
Regarding claim 7. Faramarzi discloses wherein connectivity coding samples in the connectivity information frame (“The electronic device 300 can encode the media content to generate a bitstream, such that the bitstream can be transmitted directly to another electronic device or indirectly such as through the network 102 of FIG. 1. The electronic device 300 can receive a bitstream directly from another electronic device or indirectly such as through the network 102 of FIG. 1”, paragraph 78 “A decoder receives the bitstream, decompresses the bitstream. The decoder reconstructs the vertices based on the information within the frames and applies the connectivity information to reconstruct the mesh. After the mesh is reconstructed, it can be rendered and displayed for a user to observe”, paragraph 49, see also 42, 47-49).
Faramarzi does not disclose coding being arranged in a raster-scan order (“”, paragraph). However, Hannuksela in the same area of video coding discloses coding being arranged in a raster-scan order (“In a HEVC WD5, pictures are divided into slices and tiles. A slice may be a sequence of treeblocks but (when referring to a so-called fine granular slice) may also have its boundary within a treeblock at a location where a transform unit and prediction unit coincide. Treeblocks within a slice are coded and decoded in a raster scan order”, paragraph 99).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Faramarzi’s mesh compression to include: coding being arranged in a raster-scan order.
It would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Faramarzi' s mesh compression by the teaching of Hannuksela because of the following reasons: (a) it would allow the system to reorder and encode video data, (paragraph 99, Hannuksela); and (b) to overcome the issue that transmitting an uncompressed point cloud from one electronic device to another uses significant bandwidth due to the size and complexity of the data as taught by Faramarzi at paragraph 41.
Claim(s) 14 & 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Faramarzi as applied to claim 1 above, in view of US PG Pub 2005/0131660 to Yadagar et al. and further in view of US PG Pub 2013/0272372 to Hannuksela.
Regarding claim 14. Faramarzi discloses wherein connectivity coding samples in the connectivity information frame (“The electronic device 300 can encode the media content to generate a bitstream, such that the bitstream can be transmitted directly to another electronic device or indirectly such as through the network 102 of FIG. 1. The electronic device 300 can receive a bitstream directly from another electronic device or indirectly such as through the network 102 of FIG. 1.”, paragraph 78 “A decoder receives the bitstream, decompresses the bitstream. The decoder reconstructs the vertices based on the information within the frames and applies the connectivity information to reconstruct the mesh. After the mesh is reconstructed, it can be rendered and displayed for a user to observe”, paragraph 49, see also 42, 47-49).
Faramarzi nor Yadagar disclose coding being arranged in a raster-scan order. However, Hannuksela in the same area of video coding discloses coding being arranged in a raster-scan order (“In a HEVC WD5, pictures are divided into slices and tiles. A slice may be a sequence of treeblocks but (when referring to a so-called fine granular slice) may also have its boundary within a treeblock at a location where a transform unit and prediction unit coincide. Treeblocks within a slice are coded and decoded in a raster scan order”, paragraph 99).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Faramarzi’s mesh compression to include: coding being arranged in a raster-scan order.
It would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Faramarzi' s mesh compression by the teaching of Hannuksela because of the following reasons: (a) it would allow the system to reorder and encode video data, (paragraph 99, Hannuksela); and (b) to overcome the issue that transmitting an uncompressed point cloud from one electronic device to another uses significant bandwidth due to the size and complexity of the data as taught by Faramarzi at paragraph 41.
Regarding claim 20. Faramarzi discloses wherein connectivity coding samples in the connectivity information frame (“The electronic device 300 can encode the media content to generate a bitstream, such that the bitstream can be transmitted directly to another electronic device or indirectly such as through the network 102 of FIG. 1. The electronic device 300 can receive a bitstream directly from another electronic device or indirectly such as through the network 102 of FIG. 1.”, paragraph 78 “A decoder receives the bitstream, decompresses the bitstream. The decoder reconstructs the vertices based on the information within the frames and applies the connectivity information to reconstruct the mesh. After the mesh is reconstructed, it can be rendered and displayed for a user to observe”, paragraph 49, see also 42, 47-49).
Hannuksela in the same area of video coding discloses coding being arranged in a raster-scan order (“In a HEVC WD5, pictures are divided into slices and tiles. A slice may be a sequence of treeblocks but (when referring to a so-called fine granular slice) may also have its boundary within a treeblock at a location where a transform unit and prediction unit coincide. Treeblocks within a slice are coded and decoded in a raster scan order”, paragraph 99)
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US PG Pub 2011/0037763 to Lee et al. discloses an apparatus for 3D mesh compression based on quantization, includes a data analyzing unit (510) for decomposing data of an input 3D mesh model into vertices information (511) property information (512) representing property of the 3D mesh model, and connectivity information (515) between vertices constituting the 3D mesh model: and a mesh model quantizing unit (520) for producing quantized vertices and property information of the 3D mesh model by using the vertices, property and connectivity information (511, 512, 513). Further, the apparatus for 3D mesh compression based on quantization includes a decision bit encoding unit (535) for calculating a decision bit by using the quantized connectivity information and then encoding the quantized vertex information, property information and connectivity information (511, 512, 513) by using the decision bit.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER D. WAIT, Esq. whose telephone number is (571)270-5976. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 9:30- 6:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Abderrahim Merouan can be reached at 571 270-5254. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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CHRISTOPHER D. WAIT, Esq.
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2683
/CHRISTOPHER WAIT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2683
Prosecution Insights