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 .
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because said abstract is in claim, not narrative form as required. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5 and 15 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.
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.
Claim 29 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claim claims a transitory bitstream which is currently deemed to fall outside the four statutory categories per Patent Office Policy because a particular process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter is not claimed. This rejection is directly analogous to the USPTO policy of rejecting mediums not clearly defined as non-transitory storing processes.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
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, 2 ,4, 9-11, 13, 14, 19, 23, 25 and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Fitzgerald (US 11,153,604) published May 31, 2019.
Regarding claim 1, Fitzgerald discloses a method for displaying a video on a transparent display, (column 4, lines 25-40, displaying image sequence on transparent display) the method comprising: receiving an encoded video bitstream, (column 25, lines 20-30, 50-60, compressed and encoded bitstream received over communications link) wherein the encoded video bitstream comprises image data comprising multiple image values representing an image to be displayed (column 25, lines 50-60, video stream of a sequence of images) and transparency data representing an intended transparency level of at least a part of the image to be displayed; (column 24, lines 1-10, transparency data for images for display sent with images on alpha channel) and for at least one frame of the video bitstream: decoding the received encoded image data to obtain a decoded image data; (column 25, lines 25-35, decoding/decompressing the received image data for display) determining whether a current frame is associated with transparency data; (column 10, lines 55-68, each frame is linked to corresponding transparency data sent in the alpha channel for a region of the frame) and in case that the current frame is associated with the transparency data, adjusting the decoded image data to obtain a transparency-adjusted image data depending on the received transparency data. (column 10, lines 50-68, image transparency adjusted per the received transparency data from the alpha channel)
Column 24, lines 45-50 makes clear that compression and decompression are analogous operations.
Regarding claim 2, Fitzgerald discloses wherein the transparency data comprises binary values representing the intended transparency level of the at least a part of the image to be displayed; (column 24, lines 5-20, alpha channel carries encoded/compressed transparency values in bitstream which is in binary) or wherein the transparency data comprises integer values representing the intended transparency level of the at least a part of the image encoded in the image data, wherein the integer values comprise N bit of data, N corresponding to 8, 10, 12 or 16. (in the alternative, hence non-limiting)
Regarding claim 4, Fitzgerald discloses wherein the transparency data comprises region parameters representing a defined region within the image represented by the image data, (column 16, lines 63-68, image dived into different areas with different objects having different regions) wherein one or several transparency values are allocated to the defined region. (column 24, lines 10-20, various areas have different defined opacities for transparency reproduction)
Regarding claim 9, Fitzgerald discloses a method for displaying a video on a transparent display comprising: decoding an encoded video bitstream with multiple frames according to the method of claim 1; (see claim 1 mapping above) and displaying an image according to the transparency-adjusted decoded image data in case that the current frame is associated with transparency data (column 4, lines 25-50, image displayed with different regions of specified transparency) and, displaying an image corresponding to the decoded image data in case that the current frame is associated with the transparency data. (column 4, lines 25-50, image displayed with different regions of specified transparency)
Regarding claim 10, Fitzgerald discloses a method for displaying a video on a transparent display, (column 9, lines 30-35) the method comprising: receiving a video sequence, wherein the video sequence comprises image data comprising multiple image values representing an image to be displayed; (column 15, lines 1-30, receiving successive images at a frame rate at display device) for at least one frame of the video sequence: encoding the image data of a current frame; (column 25, lines 30-60, encoding/compressing and image frame) providing transparency data representing an intended transparency level of at least a region of the image to be displayed, in case that the current frame is intended to represent a transparent image; (column 24, lines 1-10, alpha channel includes transparency data for areas in the image) and writing the encoded frame into an output video bitstream. (column 24, lines 10-25, frame transmitted as a bitstream in RGB channels)
Regarding claim 11, Fitzgerald discloses wherein the transparency data comprises binary values representing the intended transparency level of at least a part of the image to be displayed; (column 24, lines 5-20, alpha channel carries encoded/compressed transparency values in bitstream which is in binary) or wherein the transparency data comprises integer values representing the intended transparency level of the at least a part of the image encoded in the image data, wherein the integer values comprise N bit of data, N corresponding to 8, 10, 12 or 16. (in the alternative, hence non-limiting)
Regarding claim 13, Fitzgerald discloses wherein the transparency data comprises region parameters representing a defined region within the image represented by the image data, (column 16, lines 63-68, image dived into different areas with different objects having different regions) wherein one or several transparency values are allocated to the defined region. (column 24, lines 10-20, various areas have different defined opacities for transparency reproduction)
Regarding claim 14, Fitzgerald discloses wherein the transparency data comprises a reduced number of transparency values in comparison to a number of image values comprised in the image data. (column 4, lines 35-45, transparent region subsumed by image with total frame values and transparent region values, so larger than transparent values)
Regarding claim independent claim 19, claim 19 is a device claim reciting features similar to claim 1, and is therefore also anticipated by Fitzgerald for reasons similar to claim 1.
Regarding claim 23, Fitzgerald discloses a display device for displaying a transparent image, (column 9, lines 30-35, transparent display) comprising a decoding device according to claim 19; (see reference to claim 19 above) and a transparent screen, (column 9, lines 30-35, transparent display) wherein the decoding device is configured to output the transparency-adjusted image data to the transparent screen. (column 24, lines 1-10, image with specified transparency regions)
Regarding claim 25, Fitzgerald discloses an encoding device comprising a processor for encoding a received video sequence, (column 39, lines 50-60, SOC performs encoding of claim 10) wherein the encoding device is configured to perform the method of claim 10. (see claims mapping of claim 10)
Regarding claim 29, claim 29 recited features of claim 1 and claim 10 and is therefore anticipated by Fitzgerald for reasons similar to claim 1 and 10. Further, column 24, lines 45-50 makes clear that compression and decompression are analogous operations.
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) 6-8 and 16-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Fitzgerald in view of Wang (US 2024/0040157).
Regarding claim 6, Fitzgerald discloses an alpha channel for communicating auxiliary coding parameters, (column 24, lines 1-10) but does not specify that the alpha channel is an SEI channel for conveying SEI messages.
However, Wang teaches that an alpha channel may be used for SEI, thus teaching wherein the video bitstream comprises Supplemental Enhancement Information (SEI). (paragraph 0316)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the instant application that an alpha channel is used to convey SEI in a bitstream because such is the purpose of an alpha channel in the art before the effective date of the instant application as evinced by Wang. (paragraph 0316)
Regarding claim 7, Fitzgerald discloses wherein the SEI comprises a payload type indicator indicating whether the transparency data is contained in the video bitstream, and the method further comprises: determining whether the payload type indicator equals to a first predetermined value representing a presence of the transparency data; and adjusting the decoded image data depending on the transparency data, in case that the payload type indicator equals to the first predetermined value. (column 24, lines 1-10, alpha channel carries SEI indicator indicating transparency of a display region for adjusting the same in display)
Regarding claim 8, Fitzgerald discloses wherein the SEI comprises a run-length encoding indicator indicating whether the transparency data is run-length encoded, and the method further comprises : determining whether the run-length encoded indicator equals to a second predetermined value representing that the transparency data is run-length encoded; and decoding the run-length encoded transparency data using a run-length decoding method, in case that the run-length encoding indicator equals to the second predetermined value. (column 26, lines 20-30, run-length encoding used, will be signaled in the alpha channel per above)
Claims 16-18 recite features similar to claims 6-8, respectively, and are therefore also rendered obvious by the combination of Fitzgerald and Wang for reasons similar to claims 6-8, respectively.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Hinds (US 2025/0227304) implicates SEI as a particular Alpha channel in the state of the art.
Hsieh (US 2017/0069277) per the ISR implicates the features of claim 1 per se.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER KINGSBURY GLOVER whose telephone number is (303)297-4401. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8-6 MT.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jay Patel can be reached at 571 272 2988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHRISTOPHER KINGSBURY GLOVER/Examiner, Art Unit 2485
/JAYANTI K PATEL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2485 February 2, 2026