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 .
Status of Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see p.7-8, filed 08/28/2026, with respect to the rejections of Claims 1-20 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered but are moot because Applicant’s amendments of the independent claims has altered the scope of the claims, and therefore, necessitated new grounds of rejection which are presented below. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL.
Claim Objections
Claim 19 is objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 19 recites “…a representation thereof a in hexadecimal format” in which a typographical error has occurred. Appropriate correction is required.
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.
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 1-9, 11-12, and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu (US 20130315394 A1) in view of Kim et al. (US 20200285893 A1) and Sharma et al. (US 20170344776 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Liu teaches "A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a data set in a first specific format"; (Liu, Paras. 22, 40, and 63, teaches receiving original data wherein the original data or user data may comprise passwords, ID card numbers, and financial accounts, etc., i.e., receive a data set in a first specific format being a file with text and/or numbers);
"transforming the data set into data-string values in a second specific format"; (Liu, Paras. 49-52, teaches transforming each of the characters of the replacing data into an ASCII code, transforming the ASCII code into a binary code, and further transforming the binary code into a hexadecimal code, i.e., transform the data set into string values of a second format being the hexadecimal format including string values).
However, Liu does not explicitly teach “wherein the data-string values includes a set of data-string values, wherein each of the set of data-string values is represented by an intensity for each of one or more channels; generating a digitally encoded image by transforming the data-string data into an image comprising a pixel value for each of a set of pixels, wherein the pixel values for the set of pixels have at least three different intensities and/or at least three different colors relative to each other; outputting the digitally encoded image for inputting to a receiver device, wherein the receiver device converts the graphical representation into a grid of pixel-specific values by applying at least a partial transformation to the pixel-specific values to generate text and/or numerical values predicted to include at least part of the data set”.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Kim teaches "wherein the data-string values includes a set of data-string values, wherein each of the set of data-string values is represented by an intensity for each of one or more channels"; (Kim, Paras. 73-78, teaches recognizing the entire source code data of the web file as a series of strings in which each character is changed to a hexadecimal digit and converts three hexadecimal values into a color data of a pixel wherein the hexadecimal digits represents the three values of a pixel for its RGB value, i.e., data string values being the hexadecimal values represent an intensity for each of the one or more channels of each pixel);
"generating a digitally encoded image by transforming the data-string data into an image comprising a pixel value for each of a set of pixels"; (Kim, Para. 73-78, teaches creating a two-dimensional color image by two-dimensionally arranging the converted color data being the color pixels wherein the color data of each pixel is determined by changing each character to a hexadecimal digit and converting the three hexadecimal values into a color data of each pixel, i.e., generating a digitally encoded image by transforming the string data into an image comprising a pixel value for each pixel);
"wherein the pixel values for the set of pixels have at least three different intensities and/or at least three different colors relative to each other"; (Kim, Paras. 73-78, teaches recognizing the entire source code data of the web file as a series of strings in which each character is changed to a hexadecimal digit and converts three hexadecimal values into a color data of a pixel wherein the hexadecimal digits represents the three values of a pixel for its RGB value, i.e., pixel values have at least three different intensities or colors relative to each other being the three values of the pixel for its RGB value).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the invention of Liu by including the string values representing an intensity for channels in which a digitally encoded image is generated by transforming the string data into an image comprising pixel values having at least three intensities or colors taught by Kim. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine the references since it provides fast performance for easy filtering (Kim, Abstract, teaches the motivation of combination to be to provide fast performance for easy filtering of large-scale files).
However, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim does not explicitly teach "outputting the digitally encoded image for inputting to a receiver device, wherein the receiver device converts the graphical representation into a grid of pixel-specific values by applying at least a partial transformation to the pixel-specific values to generate text and/or numerical values predicted to include at least part of the data set".
In an analogous field of endeavor, Sharma teaches "outputting the digitally encoded image for inputting to a receiver device, wherein the receiver device converts the graphical representation into a grid of pixel-specific values by applying at least a partial transformation to the pixel-specific values to generate text and/or numerical values predicted to include at least part of the data set"; (Sharma, FIGs. 3-4, Claims 1-3 and 6, and Para. 54, teaches receiving three data sequences designated to be encoded in three of the RGB channels of a coherent RGB barcode image wherein the coherent RGB barcode image is created by embedding one each of said data sequences in one each of the R, G, and B channels of the coherent barcode as a monochrome barcode aligned with a selected geometric layout wherein the coherent RGB color barcode is displayed for a mobile device to capture an image of the barcode and localizing synchronization patterns in said captured image to determine a geometric layout of the coherent color barcode and an alignment of the geometric layout to the captured image of the coherent RGB color barcode wherein a matrix transform is applied to RGB values in each pixel of the captured image of the barcode for extracting the three separate monochrome grey images of each barcode of the coherent RGB color barcode and decoding the three separate monochrome grey images to provide a decoded data for corresponding barcode of the coherent RGB color barcode and wherein the data encoding and decoding comprises independent messages m1, m2, and m3 being encoded, i.e., output the digitally encoded image for input to a receiver device being the mobile device capturing the encoded image wherein the graph representation is converted into a grid of pixel values by applying at least a partial transformation to the pixel values being the matrix transform applied to values of each pixel according to the layout and alignment of the 2D image for generating text and/or numerical values predicted to include at least part of the data set being the decoding of the originally encoded data).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the invention of Liu and Kim by including the inputting of the encoded image for converting the graphical representation into a gird of pixel values to generate predicted values which include at least part of the data set taught by Sharma. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine the references since it improves performance (Sharma, Para. 49, teaches the motivation of combination to be to enable estimation and cancellation for performance improvements).
Thus, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date.
Regarding Claim 2, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma teaches "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transformation includes: transforming the data set from the first specific format into another data set in a ASCII format"; (Liu, Para. 49, teaches transforming each of the characters of the replacing data into an ASCII code, i.e., transform the data set of a first format into a data set in an ASCII format).
Regarding Claim 3, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma teaches "The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the transformation includes: transforming the other data set in the ASCII format to data in a binary format"; (Liu, Para. 49, teaches transforming the ASCII code into a binary code, i.e., transforming the ASCII format data to a binary format).
Regarding Claim 4, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma teaches "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transformation includes: generating the data set or a representation thereof in a hexadecimal format"; (Liu, Para. 49, teaches further transforming the binary code into a hexadecimal code, i.e., data set generated in a hexadecimal format).
Regarding Claim 5, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma teaches "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transformation includes: generating data in a hexadecimal format, wherein the hexadecimal format utilizes one or more pixels to represent a given hexadecimal value"; (Kim, Paras. 73-78, teaches the conversion module changing each character to a hexadecimal digit and converts three hexadecimal values into a color data of a pixel, i.e., hexadecimal format utilizes pixels to represent a hexadecimal value).
The proposed combination as well as the motivation for combining the Liu, Kim, and Sharma references presented in the rejection of Claim 1, applies to claim 5. Thus, the method recited in claim 5 is met by Liu in view of Kim and Sharma.
Regarding Claim 6, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma teaches "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transformation includes: generating data in a grayscale format, wherein the grayscale format is configured to use a scale with at least three distinct values"; (Kim, Paras. 79-82, teaches the conversion module converting the color data of each pixel into grayscale using a conversion equation comprising a gray value as well as R, G, and B color values and wherein a file converted into grayscale is divided into a scale of 256 levels and when downscaled it is divided into ten scale levels, i.e., data generated in a grayscale format using a scale with at least three distinct values).
The proposed combination as well as the motivation for combining the Liu, Kim, and Sharma references presented in the rejection of Claim 1, applies to claim 6. Thus, the method recited in claim 6 is met by Liu in view of Kim and Sharma.
Regarding Claim 7, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma teaches "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transformation includes: generating data in a multi-channel color format, such that each or multiple pixels in the digitally encoded image is represented by a set of channel values that were generated based on the data set"; (Kim, Paras. 73-78, teaches recognizing the entire source code data of the web file as a series of strings in which each character is changed to a hexadecimal digit and converts three hexadecimal values into a color data of a pixel wherein the hexadecimal digits represents the three values of a pixel for its RGB value, i.e., data is in a multi-channel color format being RGB such that each pixel of the image is represented by a set of channel values based on the based data set being the converted hexadecimal values into the RGB color data of a pixel).
The proposed combination as well as the motivation for combining the Liu, Kim, and Sharma references presented in the rejection of Claim 1, applies to claim 7. Thus, the method recited in claim 7 is met by Liu in view of Kim and Sharma.
Regarding Claim 8, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma teaches "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein outputting the digitally encoded image includes presenting the digitally encoded image"; (Kim, FIGs. 4-5, teaches showing an image of a web file converted into grayscale, i.e., presenting the digitally encoded image).
The proposed combination as well as the motivation for combining the Liu, Kim, and Sharma references presented in the rejection of Claim 1, applies to claim 8. Thus, the method recited in claim 8 is met by Liu in view of Kim and Sharma.
Regarding Claim 9, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma teaches "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein outputting the digitally encoded image includes transmitting the digitally encoded image"; (Kim, Para. 71, teaches the image conversion module transmits the image converted into grayscale, i.e., digitally encoded image is output by transmission to another module).
The proposed combination as well as the motivation for combining the Liu, Kim, and Sharma references presented in the rejection of Claim 1, applies to claim 9. Thus, the method recited in claim 9 is met by Liu in view of Kim and Sharma.
Regarding Claim 11, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma teaches "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the pixel values of the set of pixels in the digitally encoded image include grayscale values"; (Kim, Paras. 79-82, teaches the conversion module converting the color data of each pixel into grayscale using a conversion equation comprising a gray value as well as R, G, and B color values, i.e., pixel values of the pixels in the encoded image include grayscale values).
The proposed combination as well as the motivation for combining the Liu, Kim, and Sharma references presented in the rejection of Claim 1, applies to claim 11. Thus, the method recited in claim 11 is met by Liu in view of Kim and Sharma.
Regarding Claim 12, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma teaches "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the pixel values of the set of pixels in the digitally encoded image include multi-channel color values"; (Kim, Paras. 73-78, teaches recognizing the entire source code data of the web file as a series of strings in which each character is changed to a hexadecimal digit and converts three hexadecimal values into a color data of a pixel wherein the hexadecimal digits represents the three values of a pixel for its RGB value, i.e., pixel values of the pixel in the image include multi-channel color values being the RGB color values).
The proposed combination as well as the motivation for combining the Liu, Kim, and Sharma references presented in the rejection of Claim 1, applies to claim 12. Thus, the method recited in claim 12 is met by Liu in view of Kim and Sharma.
Claim 15 recites a system with elements corresponding to the steps recited in Claim 1. Therefore, the recited elements of this claim are mapped to the proposed combination in the same manner as the corresponding steps in its corresponding method claim. Additionally, the rationale and motivation to combine the Liu, Kim, and Sharma references, presented in rejection of Claim 1, apply to this claim. Finally, the combination of the Liu, Kim, and Sharma references discloses a processor and a memory to execute instructions (for example, see Liu, Paragraph 35).
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu in view of Kim, Sharma, and Lawrence (US 20170187983 A1).
Regarding Claim 10, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma does not explicitly teach "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating a digitally encoded image further comprises integrating an orienting indicator to facilitate adjusting skew, scale, or orientation of the digitally encoded image".
In an analogous field of endeavor, Lawrence teaches "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating a digitally encoded image further comprises integrating an orienting indicator to facilitate adjusting skew, scale, or orientation of the digitally encoded image"; (Lawrence, Paras. 28 and 30, teaches an encoder which encodes the image data to obtain a signal and digital indicator values that indicate the device orientation while recording and wherein a bit representing the view orientation is compared to a bit representing the device orientation indicator to rotate the image of the frame if there is a mismatch, i.e., encoded image comprises an integrated orienting indicator to facilitate adjusting the orientation of the image through the rotation).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the invention of Liu, Kim, and Sharma by including the integration of an orienting indicator for adjusting orientation of the image taught by Lawrence. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine the references since it captures a better view (Lawrence, Para. 1, teaches the motivation of combination to be to capture a better view due to undesired rotation).
Thus, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu in view of Kim, Sharma, and Franklin et al. (US 12175438 B1).
Regarding Claim 13, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma does not explicitly teach "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transformation includes: transforming a received graphical representation into a grid of pixel-specific values to detect one or more orienting indicators and adjusting an image property".
In an analogous field of endeavor, Franklin teaches "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transformation includes: transforming a received graphical representation into a grid of pixel-specific values to detect one or more orienting indicators and adjusting an image property"; (Franklin, Col. 14 lines 48-67 and Col. 15 lines 1-11, teaches corrections being based on recognition of corners or borders of the check image in which each common pixel of each image may be labeled with a common metadata designation or position indicator wherein a pixel grid is used to compare common pixels from differing image frames in which the images may be rotated for alignment or may be resized, i.e., transforming a graphical representation or image into a grid of pixel values comprising position indicators to detect orientation indicator for adjusting an image property such as rotation or scale).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the invention of Liu, Kim, and Sharma by including the transformation into a grid of pixel values to detect orientation indicators to adjust an image property taught by Franklin. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine the references since it mitigates errors (Franklin, Abstract, teaches the motivation of combination to be to mitigate potential image errors).
Thus, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu in view of Kim, Sharma, and Park (US 20160117799 A1).
Regarding Claim 14, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma does not explicitly teach "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the digitally encoded image includes a portion that includes an additional set of pixels that are ordered or labeled in a manner that indicates, for each pixel of the additional set of labels, a data value that the pixel is to represent".
In an analogous field of endeavor, Park teaches "The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the digitally encoded image includes a portion that includes an additional set of pixels that are ordered or labeled in a manner that indicates, for each pixel of the additional set of labels, a data value that the pixel is to represent"; (Park, Para. 12, teaches adding a plurality of additional pixels to generate an up-scaled image by generating a color difference component for each of the additional pixels on the basis of the color difference component of an arbitrary pixel among pixels of the input image that are adjacent to the respective additional pixel, and generating a brightness component for each of the additional pixels on the basis of the brightness component of the pixels of the input image that are adjacent to the respective additional pixel, i.e., image includes an additional set of pixels ordered or labeled in a manner that indicates the value the pixel represents being the evaluated color and brightness difference of the pixel based on the adjacent pixels).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the invention of Liu, Kim, and Sharma by including an additional set of pixels that are ordered or labeled to indicate a value of the pixels taught by Park. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine the references since it provides an up-scale image (Park, Para. 9, teaches the motivation of combination to be to provide an up-scale image at a reduced computational quantity).
Thus, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date.
Claims 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu in view of Kim.
Regarding Claim 16, Liu teaches "A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, including instructions configured to cause one or more data processors to perform a set of actions including: receiving a data set in a first specific format"; (Liu, Paras. 22, 40, 63, and 70, teaches receiving original data wherein the original data or user data may comprise passwords, ID card numbers, and financial accounts in which a processing unit is coupled to the storage unit, etc., i.e., receive a data set in a first specific format being a file with text and/or numbers);
"transforming the data set into data-string values in a second specific format"; (Liu, Paras. 49-52, teaches transforming each of the characters of the replacing data into an ASCII code, transforming the ASCII code into a binary code, and further transforming the binary code into a hexadecimal code, i.e., transform the data set into string values of a second format being the hexadecimal format including string values).
However, Liu does not explicitly teach “wherein the data-string values includes a set of data-string values, wherein each of the set of data-string values is represented by an intensity for each of one or more channels; generating a digitally encoded image by transforming the data-string data into an image comprising a pixel value for each of a set of pixels, wherein the pixel values for the set of pixels have at least three different intensities and/or at least three different colors relative to each other; outputting the digitally encoded image”.
In an analogous field of endeavor, Kim teaches "wherein the data-string values includes a set of data-string values, wherein each of the set of data-string values is represented by an intensity for each of one or more channels"; (Kim, Paras. 73-78, teaches recognizing the entire source code data of the web file as a series of strings in which each character is changed to a hexadecimal digit and converts three hexadecimal values into a color data of a pixel wherein the hexadecimal digits represents the three values of a pixel for its RGB value, i.e., data string values being the hexadecimal values represent an intensity for each of the one or more channels of each pixel);
"generating a digitally encoded image by transforming the data-string data into an image comprising a pixel value for each of a set of pixels"; (Kim, Para. 73-78, teaches creating a two-dimensional color image by two-dimensionally arranging the converted color data being the color pixels wherein the color data of each pixel is determined by changing each character to a hexadecimal digit and converting the three hexadecimal values into a color data of each pixel, i.e., generating a digitally encoded image by transforming the string data into an image comprising a pixel value for each pixel);
"wherein the pixel values for the set of pixels have at least three different intensities and/or at least three different colors relative to each other"; (Kim, Paras. 73-78, teaches recognizing the entire source code data of the web file as a series of strings in which each character is changed to a hexadecimal digit and converts three hexadecimal values into a color data of a pixel wherein the hexadecimal digits represents the three values of a pixel for its RGB value, i.e., pixel values have at least three different intensities or colors relative to each other being the three values of the pixel for its RGB value);
"outputting the digitally encoded image"; (Kim, Para. 71, teaches the image conversion module transmits the image converted into grayscale, i.e., digitally encoded image is output by transmission to another module).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the invention of Liu by including the string values representing an intensity for channels in which a digitally encoded image is generated by transforming the string data into an image comprising pixel values having at least three intensities or colors taught by Kim. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to combine the references since it provides fast performance for easy filtering (Kim, Abstract, teaches the motivation of combination to be to provide fast performance for easy filtering of large-scale files).
Thus, the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date.
Regarding Claim 17, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma teaches " The computer-program product of claim 16, wherein the transformation includes: transforming the data set from the first specific format into another data set in a ASCII format"; (Liu, Para. 49, teaches transforming each of the characters of the replacing data into an ASCII code, i.e., transform the data set of a first format into a data set in an ASCII format).
Regarding Claim 18, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma teaches " The computer-program product of claim 17, wherein the transformation includes: transforming the other data set in the ASCII format to data in a binary format"; (Liu, Para. 49, teaches transforming the ASCII code into a binary code, i.e., transforming the ASCII format data to a binary format).
Regarding Claim 19, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma teaches " The computer-program product of claim 16, wherein the transformation includes: generating the data set or a representation thereof a in hexadecimal format"; (Liu, Para. 49, teaches further transforming the binary code into a hexadecimal code, i.e., data set generated in a hexadecimal format).
Regarding Claim 20, the combination of references of Liu in view of Kim and Sharma teaches " The computer-program product of claim 16, wherein the transformation includes: generating data in a hexadecimal format, wherein the hexadecimal format utilizes one or more pixels to represent a given hexadecimal value"; (Kim, Paras. 73-78, teaches the conversion module changing each character to a hexadecimal digit and converts three hexadecimal values into a color data of a pixel, i.e., hexadecimal format utilizes pixels to represent a hexadecimal value).
The proposed combination as well as the motivation for combining the Liu, Kim, and Sharma references presented in the rejection of Claim 16, applies to claim 20. Thus, the computer program product recited in claim 20 is met by Liu in view of Kim.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/ANDREW S BUDISALICH/Examiner, Art Unit 2662
/AMANDEEP SAINI/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2662
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