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
1. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/25/2024 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Claims 1, 6, 12, 25 and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Reinhard et al., European Patent Publication EP3672267 A1 (Publication Date – June 24, 2020).
Regarding claim 1, Reinhard discloses A method comprising: applying an inverse tone mapping process comprising: obtaining first standard dynamic range data (para 0074 – “In the exemplary use case of figure 3A, a video of low quality is obtained (in a BT.709 SDR format for instance) from a video source (like at least one of the storage device 112, acquiring device 110, and/or production device 114 of figure 1”).;
obtaining information representative of an inverse tone mapping process adapted to generate high dynamic range data from the first standard dynamic range data and inserting the information in metadata; and generating high dynamic range data from the first standard dynamic range data using the information representative of an inverse tone mapping process inserted in the metadata (para 0074 – “As the video is to be processed by a first processing device (like transmitting device 140 of figure 1) requiring a high-quality format (for instance a HDR format of type known as Perceptual Quantization (PQ) type if referring to the BT.2100 standard) a first format modification needs to be applied to the video content in order to output a first video in an HDR format. As explained above, this first format modification can be either an up-conversion or a mapping. In the use case of figure 3A, the first format modification is an up-conversion. The indication of the side information associated to the content by performing the method 600 of figure 6, is an indication of an up-conversion”; paras 0063-0064 – “The method can further comprise modifying 620 the format of the content, by applying a format modification to the obtained content. The format modification results in a content having a second format. The format modification can be chosen according to the first format of the obtained content and also in view of a further processing of the content. For instance, a second format can be required by a forthcoming processing, and thus the format modification should output data in the second format. In the exemplary embodiment of figure 6, the method can comprise associating 630 indication regarding the format modification that has been performed on the content. Notably, the indication can include a designation of a kind of the format modification. The kind of the format modification can be representative of range operations performed between range of values representable by the input and output format of the format modification. Depending upon embodiments, the indication can be associated as side information to the content (for instance it can be mixed with the content, as signaling information), or can be part of metadata related to the content, or can be stored in an auxiliary file linked to the content”; para 0024 – “As illustrated by Figure 2A, when the output format of a content output by a conversion correspond to representation in an output range 210 being larger than the input range 200 represented by the input format of the content input to the conversion, the conversion is called an "up-conversion". Examples of up-conversion include, in the technical field of video processing, techniques known as "inverse tone mapping" (ITM), that transform lower luminances into higher luminances, thus improving the visibility of a content, and therefore its quality as assessed by a user viewing the content. Indeed, a SDR content, once up-converted (thus becoming an HDR content) can appear with higher luminances that the original SDR content. Luminance values are expanded to use more of the available HDR luminance range, and thereby leverage the display capabilities”); and
applying a pre-processing process comprising: obtaining the high dynamic range data and the metadata; and generating second standard dynamic range data from the high dynamic range data applying a tone mapping process derived from the information representative of an inverse tone mapping process inserted in the metadata (para 0075 – “In the use case of figure 3A, by performing the method 700 of figure 7, the obtained indication regarding the first format modification already applied corresponds to a kind of format modification being an up-conversion, thus the second format modification to be applied is determined as being a down-conversion (ideally restituting the original source video) rather than a clipping”; para 0078 – “the knowledge of the kind of format modification that has already been performed on a content, can help to improve, or at least avoid degrading too much, the quality of a content during a second format modification of the content. For instance, a lower range content being first formatted as a higher range content can then be reconstructed during a second format modification as a low range content without, or with few, degradation of its quality. For example, at least some embodiments of the present disclosure can help reconstructing a SDR signal without degradation from a signal SDR previously formatted as an HDR signal (or in other words an SDR signal placed in a HDR container). According to another example, at least some embodiments of the present disclosure can help to increase a quality of a content by using the side information associated with the content at the time of a second format modification, by taking account of the kind of format modification already applied to the content. Notably, as explained above, a HDR content using a more extended range of HDR values can be generated from an SDR content mapped in a HDR format (or in other words placed in a HDR container). Another example can be found regarding roundtripping, where the method 700 can permit, in at least some of its embodiments, in case of side information representative of a previous mapping, to do roundtripping between low and high-quality representations without loss of quality”; para 0025 – “As illustrated by Figure 2B, when the output format of a content output by a conversion correspond to representation in an output range 210 being narrower than the input range 200 represented by the input format of the content input to the conversion, the conversion is called a "down-conversion". Examples of down-conversion include techniques known as "tone mapping" (TM), that transform higher luminances into lower luminances such that a HDR content, once down-converted (thus becoming a SDR content) appears with lower luminances than the original HDR content. HDR range of luminance values is compressed to fit into the available SDR luminance range, and thereby a HDR content, once down-converted, can be shown on legacy SDR displays”; paras 0067-0069 – “In the illustrated embodiment of figure 7, the method can comprise obtaining 720 side information associated with the audio and/or video input content, the side information being related to an history of at least one format modification applied to the content. In the illustrated embodiment, the side information, is received together with the input content. Depending upon embodiments, the side information can be mixed with the content, as signaling information for instance, or in the form of metadata or can be kept in an auxiliary file for instance. According to the present disclosure the side information can comprise an indication regarding a kind of at least one first format modification previously applied on the input content. The indication can be representative of range operations performed between range of values representable by the input and output format of the at least one first format modification. In some embodiments, this indication can be for instance representative of an element of a group enumerating elements corresponding respectively to: up-conversions, down-conversions, mapping, clipping. In other embodiments, this indication can be for instance representative of an element of a first group enumerating elements corresponding respectively to: up-conversions and mapping, or representative of an element of a second group enumerating elements corresponding respectively to: down-conversions and clipping. It is to be pointing out that, depending upon embodiments, the indication can be related to one or several format modifications applied to the content. In some embodiments, only the kind of the last format modification applied to a content can be present in the side information. In other embodiments, the side information can comprise an history relating to several format modifications applied to the content, the history comprising the kinds of several previously applied format modifications (for instance kinds of the n-last format modifications applied to a content). According to figure 7, the method can further comprise determining 730 a second format modification to be applied to the obtained content. For instance, a given format can be required by a forthcoming processing, like a rendering of the content by a specific display or speaker, or an insertion of the content in another content having a different format. According to the present disclosure, the determining 730 of the second format modification can notably take into account (further to the input format and the format required to be output by the second format modification) the kind of the first format modification previously applied to the content. The kind of the second format modification (to be applied next to the content) can notably be selected among possible kind of format modifications leading to the required output format, so as to help avoiding artefacts in the output content”.
Regarding claim 6, Reinhard discloses “the method of claim 1 wherein the method is applied for each picture of the first standard dynamic range data or for groups of the first standard dynamic range data” (as cited in the rejection of claim 1, Reinhard teaches applied method to video in SDR format).
Regarding claim 12, claim 12 has been similarly analyzed and rejected as per citations made in the rejection of claim 1.
Regarding claim 25, claim 25 has been similarly analyzed and rejected as per citations made in the rejection of claim 1 (further see figures 4 and 5).
Regarding claim 29, claim 29 has been similarly analyzed and rejected as per citations made in the rejection of claim 1 (further see figures 4 and 5).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Claim(s) 3-4, 14-15, 26-27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Reinhard et al., European Patent Publication EP3672267 A1 (Publication Date – June 24, 2020) as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of Le Pendu et al., U.S. Patent No. 10,650,501 B2.
Regarding claim 3, claim 3 recites “the method according to claim 1, wherein the information is representative of an inverse tone mapping curve or of a tone mapping curve”. As cited in the rejection of claim 1, Reinhard in paras 0063-0064 – discloses “In the exemplary embodiment of figure 6, the method can comprise associating 630 indication regarding the format modification that has been performed on the content. Notably, the indication can include a designation of a kind of the format modification. The kind of the format modification can be representative of range operations performed between range of values representable by the input and output format of the format modification. Depending upon embodiments, the indication can be associated as side information to the content (for instance it can be mixed with the content, as signaling information), or can be part of metadata related to the content, or can be stored in an auxiliary file linked to the content”; and as further cited the format modification can include “inverse tone mapping”; and similarly, in paras 0067-0069 – teaches format modification include “tone mapping”. Clearly, Reinhard teaches the information is representative of an inverse tone mapping or tone mapping, but does not explicitly use the term “curve” with the mappings. However, examiner here asserts that tone mapping functions/curves are very well known to be used to define/achieve the inverse tone mapping and tone mapping; and are further taught by Le Pendu. Le Pendu discloses that mapping curve can be used for format modification (see col. 7, lines 15-58). Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to use the well-known teachings of using tone mapping curves in format modification as taught by Le Pendu in the invention of Reinhard. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the well-known teachings of using tone mapping curves in format modification as taught by Le Pendu in the invention of Reinhard, because curves as well-known are mathematical functions and serve as fundamental tools in tone mapping that re-maps input brightness to output values, providing high-quality tone mapping; further adding “curves” provide mapping often represented as a graphical line plotting input luminosity to output luminosity.
Regarding claim 4, the combined invention of Reinhard and Le Pendu discloses “The method according to claim 3 comprising, responsive to the information is representative of a tone mapping curve, computing an inverse of the inverse tone mapping curve used to define the inverse tone mapping process” (see Reinhard – paras 0067-0069 - According to figure 7, the method can further comprise determining 730 a second format modification to be applied to the obtained content. For instance, a given format can be required by a forthcoming processing, like a rendering of the content by a specific display or speaker, or an insertion of the content in another content having a different format. According to the present disclosure, the determining 730 of the second format modification can notably take into account (further to the input format and the format required to be output by the second format modification) the kind of the first format modification previously applied to the content. The kind of the second format modification (to be applied next to the content) can notably be selected among possible kind of format modifications leading to the required output format, so as to help avoiding artefacts in the output content”; and taking the use case of figure 3A – where SDR-HDR-SDR is required operation and tone-mapping which relies on the previous format modification, which is inverse tone mapping and an inverse of the inverse tone mapping curve is tone mapping, which is required here).
Regarding claim 14, claim 14 has been similarly analyzed and rejected as per citations made in the rejection of claim 3.
Regarding claim 15, claim 15 has been similarly analyzed and rejected as per citations made in the rejection of claim 4.
Regarding claim 26, claim 26 has been similarly analyzed and rejected as per citations made in the rejection of claim 3.
Regarding claim 27, claim 27 has been similarly analyzed and rejected as per citations made in the rejection of claim 4.
8. Claim(s) 5, 16 and 28 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Reinhard et al., European Patent Publication EP3672267 A1 (Publication Date – June 24, 2020), further in view of Le Pendu et al., U.S. Patent No. 10,650,501 B2; and, further in view of ITU-T Series H Supplement 18 (10/2017) (as cited by applicant).
Regarding claim 5, claim 5 recites “The method according to claim 4 comprising computing a first look-up table and a second look-up table from the inverse of the inverse tone mapping curve, the first look-up table being adapted for tone mapping a luminance component of high dynamic range data and the second look-up table being adapted for correcting color components of the high dynamic range data and estimating first variables representative of a tone mapping function and second variables representative of a color correction function from the first and second look-up tables, the first and the second variables being the information representative of the inverse tone mapping process inserted in the metadata”.
Reinhard as cited teaches in para 0015 – “the method to be used for the format modification of the content can be chosen in order to be consistent with the former format modification already performed, so as to obtain a content with colors and/or luminances being the most similar to the original colors and/or luminances of the content for instance” – which implies both color and luminance modification is done; and further as cited the combination of Reinhard and Le Pendu teaches the information inserted in the metadata can be mapping curves; but none of the references cited teach generating/using lookup tables for each color and luminance components. However, examiner here asserts mere using of LUT in the metadata are very well known and is merely seen as a routine consideration of implementation choices by the skilled person. ITU-T Series H Supplement 18 (10/2017) teaches use of lookup table (LUT); and each mapping curve can be represented by a LUT and can be used for luma component and color component (see page 10 – sections 7.3.6 and 7.3.4), thus two LUTs for luma and color modification. Therefore, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to use the well-known teachings of using LUTs to represent tone mapping curves in format modification as taught by ITU T in the combined invention of Reinhard and Le Pendu. A person having ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the well-known teachings of using LUTs to represent tone mapping curves in format modification as taught by ITU T in the combined invention of Reinhard and Le Pendu, because LUTs are well known to be used for dynamic range conversion primarily to ensure consistent color, rapid processing (computationally efficient), and precise tone mapping.
Regarding claim 16, claim 16 has been similarly analyzed and rejected as per citations made in the rejection of claim 5.
Regarding claim 28, claim 28 has been similarly analyzed and rejected as per citations made in the rejection of claim 4.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Manav Seth whose telephone number is (571) 272-7456. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Sumati Lefkowitz, can be reached on (571) 272-3638. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Manav Seth/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2672
March 26, 2026
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