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 statement (IDS) submitted on 05/03/2024 is being considered by the examiner. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in parent Application No. EP 213065.6, filed on 11/08/2021.
Status of Claims
Claims 1-5, 7-12, 14, and 16-17 are pending.
Amendments
Applicant submitted amendments on 05/03/2024. The Examiner acknowledges the amendment and has reviewed the claims accordingly.
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 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim does not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because Claim 16 recites a “computer program comprising program code instructions for implementing the method according to claim 1.” Where the computer program comprising program code instructions can be interpreted as software per se.
Therefore, the elements recited in Claim 16 are non-statutory. Similarly, computer programs claimed as computer listings per se, i.e., the descriptions or expressions of the programs are not physical “things.” They are neither computer components nor statutory processes, as they are not “acts” being performed. Such claimed computer programs do not define any structural or functional interrelationships between the computer program and other claimed elements of a computer which permit the computer program’s functionality to be realized. In contrast, a claimed non-statutory computer-readable medium encoded with computer program is a computer element which defines structural and functional relationships between the computer program and the rest of the computer which permit the computer program’s functionality to be realized, and is thus statutory. Accordingly, it is important to distinguish claims that define descriptive material per se from claims that define statutory inventions.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-5, 7-12, 14, and 17 are allowed.
The following is an Examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance:
Claims 1-5, 7-12, 14, and 17 are allowed since the closest prior arts are van der Vleuten et al. (European Patent Publication No. EP 3621307 A1, hereafter referred to as van der Vleuten) and International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) (NPL, Report ITU-R BT.2446-1 “Methods for conversion of high dynamic range content to standard dynamic range content and vice-versa,” March 2021, hereafter referred to as ITU-R).
However, when looking at all the available prior arts, none teach wherein computing the first tone mapping curve comprises: obtaining an intermediate tone mapping curve from the high dynamic range data, wherein non-linear luminance values of the high dynamic range data smaller than a high dynamic range diffuse white are mapped into non-linear luminance values of the standard dynamic range data; rescaling abscissas of the intermediate tone mapping curve from a range of luminance values of the high dynamic range data between zero and the high dynamic range diffuse white to a range of luminance values of the high dynamic range data between zero and a maximum luminance value of the high dynamic range data: and,mapping ordinates of the intermediate tone mapping curve in a range of luminance values of the standard dynamic range data between zero and a value depending on a standard dynamic range diffuse white to obtain the first tone mapping curve: wherein the first tone mapping curve ends by a first point with an abscissa representative of the high dynamic range diffuse white and an ordinate representative of the standard dynamic range diffuse white, and completing the combined tone mapping curve with a second tone mapping curve for high standard dynamic range starting from the first point.
The closest prior art, van der Vleuten teaches methods and apparatuses for coding high dynamic range images which can be compressed by applying functions to be co-communicated with the second dynamic range as metadata. van der Vleuten teaches mapping a high dynamic range (HDR) image to a lower dynamic range (SDR) image.
The closest prior art, ITU-R, teaches methods for conversion of high dynamic range content to standard dynamic range content and vice-versa. ITU-R teaches mapping the “HDR Reference White” level to approximately 90% of the SDR signal to ensure similar brightness between tone-mapped HDR and native SDR content. ITU-R teaches applying a 1:1 tone mapping between HDR and SDR display light over most of the signal range and applying a compression function to the higher luminance level signals.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SYDNEY L BLACKSTEN whose telephone number is (571)272-7651. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30am-5pm.
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/SYDNEY L BLACKSTEN/Examiner, Art Unit 2674
/ONEAL R MISTRY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2674
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