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 .
Detailed Action
This office Action is in response to an application filed on 08/15/2024 claims priority to PRO 63/520,198 08/17/2023, in which claims 1-20 are pending and are being examined.
Priority
Acknowledgement is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C § 119(a)-(d). Claimed foreign priority to EP 23194075.0 08/29/2023. The certified copy of priority has been filed on 03/20/2025.
Information Disclosure Statement
This information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/15/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Examiner’s Note
Claims 1-14 refer to "A method of compressing a multiplane-image (MPI) video”, Claim 15 refers to "A non-transitory computer-readable medium”, Claim 16 refers to "An apparatus for compressing a multiplane-image (MPI) video”, Claims 17-19 refers to "A method of rendering a multiplane-image (MPI) video”, Claim 20 refers to "A non-transitory computer-readable medium” and Claim 20 refers to “A computer program product for decoding video data”. Claims 15-20 are similarly rejected in light of rejection of claims 1-14, any obvious combination of the rejection of claims 1-14, or the differences are obvious to the ordinary skill in the art. It is well known in the art that encoding and decoding are reverse processes of video coding method/system.
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.
Claims 1-3, 7, 10 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chupeau et al. (US 20230362409 A1), hereinafter Chupeau, in view of Janus et al. (US 20230360272 A1), hereinafter Janus.
Regarding claim 1, Chupeau discloses a method of compressing a multiplane-image (MPI) video, the method comprising (Abstract): splitting the MPI video into a first frame sequence and a second frame sequence, the first frame sequence being a sequence of texture frames, with each of the texture frames representing a respective layer of a corresponding multiplane image of the MPI video, the second frame sequence being a sequence of alpha frames, with each of the alpha frames corresponding to a respective one of the texture frames of the first sequence ([0003]-[0004], layer comprises texture information and transparency information); applying a first set of preprocessing operations to convert the first frame sequence into a third frame sequence, the first set including operations according to which a pixel value in a frame of the third frame sequence is determined based on a comparison of a corresponding pixel value of the corresponding alpha frame of the second frame sequence with a first threshold value ([0004], weight, [0100], threshold).
Chupeau discloses all the elements of claim 1 but Chupeau does not appear to explicitly disclose in the cited section applying a second set of preprocessing operations to convert the second frame sequence into a fourth frame sequence, the second set including operations according to which a pixel value in a frame of the fourth frame sequence is determined based on a comparison of a corresponding pixel value of a corresponding source image with a second threshold value; and applying video compression to the second frame sequence and to the fourth frame sequence.
However, Janus from the same or similar endeavor teaches applying a second set of preprocessing operations to convert the second frame sequence into a fourth frame sequence, the second set including operations according to which a pixel value in a frame of the fourth frame sequence is determined based on a comparison of a corresponding pixel value of a corresponding source image with a second threshold value; and applying video compression to the second frame sequence and to the fourth frame sequence (Fig. 4-7, Fig. 11, [0028], texture gated by alpha weight).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Jahid to incorporate the teachings of Janus to reduce the bandwidth of video transmission (Janus,[0025]). Similar reasoning/motivation of modification can be applied/extended to the other related/dependent claims.
Regarding claim 2, Chupeau in view of Janus discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising applying video compression to a sequence of source images corresponding to the MPI video (Chupeau Fig. 2, Janus, Fig. 4-7, Fig. 11).
Regarding claim 3, Chupeau in view of Janus discloses the method of claim 2, further comprising: generating a metadata stream signaling parameters of the video compression; generating an output bitstream by multiplexing the compressed third frame sequence, the compressed fourth frame sequence, the compressed sequence of source images, and the metadata stream; and transmitting the output bitstream through a communication channel (Chupeau [0004]-[0016], Janus, [0062]).
Regarding claim 7, Chupeau in view of Janus discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the first set comprises generating a first thresholded image by nulling in the corresponding source image all pixel values for which the corresponding pixel value of the corresponding alpha frame of the second frame sequence is smaller than the first threshold value (Chupeau, [0100]-[0101]).
Regarding claim 10, Chupeau in view of Janus discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the second set comprises generating a first thresholded image by nulling in the corresponding source image all pixel values for which the corresponding pixel value of the corresponding alpha frame of the second frame sequence is smaller than the second threshold value (Chupeau, [0100]-[0101]).
Regarding claim 14, Chupeau in view of Janus discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the MPI video is one of a plurality of MPI videos corresponding to different respective camera positions of a plurality of camera positions arranged around a scene captured in the MPI video (Chupeau Fig. 2, Janus, Fig. 4-7, Fig. 11).
Regarding claim 15-20, See Examiner’s Note.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-6, 8-9, 11-13 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MOHAMMAD J RAHMAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7190. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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, David Czekaj can be reached at (571) 272-7327. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/Mohammad J Rahman/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2487