DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-19 and 21 are pending. Claims 1, 9, 11, and 1 are currently amended. Claim 20 is cancelled.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see section “Rejection under 35 U.S.C 102” and “Newly Added Claims”, filed September 1, 2026, with respect to claims 1, 11, and 21 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument. Although the amended limitations are not taught by Mammou et al. (U.S. Publication No. US 2020/0014953 A1), the newly found prior art, Chao et al. (U.S. Publication No. US 2024/0104783 A1), was necessitated by the amended limitations of “generating re-parameterization information of a current frame, the re-parameterization information indicating adjustment information of uv coordinates of vertices of the current frame based on a re-parameterization transform of a color attribute map of the current frame;” and “encoding correspondence information of the current frame in a bitstream that indicates the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame and includes offsets to the uv coordinates of the vertices of the current frame in the color attribute map of the current frame;”. See section “Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103” below.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on August 16, 2024 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claim 11 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In the claims filed August 16, 2024, original claim 11 lines 5-6 recite “determining a corresponding region of the current frame in a color attribute map of a reference frame according to correspondence information of the current frame”. However, in the claims filed September 1, 2026, currently amended claim 11 lines 6-10 recite “determining a corresponding region of the current frame in a color attribute map of a reference frame according to correspondence information of the current frame, the correspondence information being included in the bitstream, indicating the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame and including offsets to the uv coordinates of the vertices of the current frame in the color attribute map of the current frame” (emphasis added). The recitation of “the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame” in lines 8-9 were not included in the original claim 11 filed August 16, 2024, and this limitation was not marked as amended in claim 11 filed September 1, 2026.
NOTE: For the purposes of advancing prosecution, Examiner will just object to claim 11 for minor informalities rather than mail out a PTO-324 Notice of Non-Compliant Amendment (37 CFR 1.121).
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.
Claims 1-19 and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mammou et al. (U.S. Publication No. US 2020/0014953 A1) ("Mammou") in view of Chao et al. (U.S. Publication No. US 2024/0104783 A1) ("Chao").
Regarding claim 1, Mammou discloses a method of mesh encoding (Fig. 2C, wherein element 250 is an inter point cloud frame compression encoder, and point clouds are used in mesh creation and therefore correspond to the broadest reasonable interpretation of "mesh"), comprising:
generating re-parameterization information of a current frame, the re-parameterization information (Fig. 2C; paragraphs 0093 and 0246-0247, wherein a point cloud resampling module 252 performs a re-sampling (i.e. a re-parameterization transform) that determines a one-to-one mapping between points in patches of a current frame and points in patches of a reference frame (i.e. re-parameterization information) by displacing the points of a reference frame so that its shape matches the shape of the current frame, and the resulting frame of this mapping is the re-sampled version of the current frame) of a color attribute map of the current frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093 and 0246-0247, wherein module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color (i.e. color attribute map, see that paragraphs 0076 and 0078 list color as an attribute) of the re-sampled points of the patches to transfer the color of the current frame to the re-sampled version of the current frame);
determining a corresponding region of the current frame in a color attribute map of a reference frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093; module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color of the re-sampled patch points, and determines the motion vectors that identify the corresponding points of the current frame’s color patch image (i.e. corresponding region of the current frame) in the reference frame’s color patch image (i.e. color attribute map of a reference frame), indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame);
encoding correspondence information of the current frame in a bitstream (Fig. 2C and 9; paragraph 0093, wherein module 254 encodes the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) in a patch image (see fig. 9, step 940), and images are bitstreams at its core) that indicates the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093; module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color of the re-sampled patch points and determines the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) that identify the corresponding points of the current frame’s color patch image (i.e. corresponding region of the current frame) in the reference frame’s color patch image (i.e. color attribute map of the reference frame), indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame)
encoding the color attribute map of the current frame (Fig. 9; paragraph 0487, wherein the updated color patch image (i.e. color attribute map) encodes residual values indicating differences in colors of the points of the point cloud included in the patch between the reference point cloud frame and the current point cloud frame (i.e. current frame), which is video encoded in step 945) based on (i) the re-parameterization information of the current frame (Fig. 9, wherein the points of the current patch are first re-sampled; Fig. 2C and paragraphs 0093, wherein module 252 determines a one-to-one mapping between points in patches of a current frame and points in patches of a reference frame (i.e. re-parameterization information) from the re-sampling, ensuring each current frame point is compared to its correct reference frame counterpart to encode residual values) and (ii) the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame (Fig. 9; paragraph 0487, wherein in step 937, the set of reference frame color (i.e. color attribute map) patch points correspond to the current frame's re-sampled patch points (i.e. corresponding region of the current frame) via the determined motion vectors; paragraph 0261, wherein the residual color attribute values encoded in the updated color patch image (i.e. color attribute map) at step 938 are computed as the difference between the current frame’s color values and the motion-compensated color values at the corresponding region of the reference frame’s color patch).
However, as indicated by the double strikethroughs above, Mammou fails to teach generating re-parameterization information of a current frame, the re-parameterization information indicating adjustment information of uv coordinates of vertices of the current frame based on a re-parameterization transform of a color attribute map of the current frame and encoding correspondence information of the current frame in a bitstream that indicates the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame and includes offsets to the uv coordinates of the vertices of the current frame in the color attribute map of the current frame, specifically (emphasis added). Chao, on the other hand, teaches an offset of UV vertices coordinates indicates parameterizing the mesh with 2D attribute maps. More specifically and as it relates to the applicant’s claims, Mammou in view of Chao discloses generating re-parameterization information of a current frame, the re-parameterization information indicating adjustment information of uv coordinates of vertices of the current frame (Chao, [0024], [0039-0043], [0061-0064], and [0087-0089], parameterizing a 3D mesh into 2D attribute maps, and then concatenating those individual attribute maps to form a single attribute map (i.e. re-parameterization), which adjusts the UV coordinates of the mesh vertices) based on a re-parameterization transform of a color attribute map of the current frame (Chao, [0024] and [0039-0043], wherein color is listed as a vertex attribute and therefore texture maps correspond to color attribute map) and encoding correspondence information of the current frame in a bitstream that indicates the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame and includes offsets to the uv coordinates of the vertices of the current frame in the color attribute map of the current frame (Chao, [0024], [0039-0043], [0061-0064], and [0087-0089], wherein UV coordinate offsets of the mesh vertices reflect the position in the newly merged texture map (i.e. color attribute map)).
Chao is combinable with Mammou because they are from the same art of video encoding/decoding.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to perform compression efficiently to store and transmit dynamic mesh sequence data, due to the significant amount of data changing over time (Chao, [0005]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate generating re-parameterization information of a current frame, the re-parameterization information indicating adjustment information of uv coordinates of vertices of the current frame based on a re-parameterization transform of a color attribute map of the current frame and encoding correspondence information of the current frame in a bitstream that indicates the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame and includes offsets to the uv coordinates of the vertices of the current frame in the color attribute map of the current frame, as taught by Chao, into the method, as taught by Mammou, to obtain the invention as specified in claim 1.
Regarding claim 2, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 1.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein the re-parameterization information of the current frame is encoded (Fig. 2C and 9; paragraphs 0093 and 0487, wherein the one-to-one point mapping (i.e. re-parameterization information) generated by module 252 flow into the generation of motion vectors by module 254 are encoded into the relative motion patch image in step 940) without stacking the color attribute map of the current frame in a color attribute map video (Fig. 9; paragraphs 0346-0347, wherein the encoder generates the relative motion patch image in step 940 based on the motion vectors derived from the one-to-one mapping of points (i.e. re-parameterization information) between frames and the updated color patch image in step 938 (i.e. color attribute map of the current frame) as distinct outputs of separate sub streams (see paragraph 0346), therefore, the re-parameterization information is therefore encoded without being stacked into the color attribute map video stream).
Regarding claim 3, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 1.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein the encoding the color attribute map of the current frame further comprises:
encoding the re-parameterization information of the current frame that indicates the color attribute map of the current frame is predicted based on the color attribute map of the reference frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093 and 0246-0247, wherein module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color (i.e. color attribute map) of the re-sampled points of the patches (i.e. re-parameterization information), requiring the mapping of the points of the reference frame to the current frame).
Regarding claim 4, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 1.
Mammou additionally discloses, wherein the encoding the color attribute map of the current frame further comprises:
encoding the re-parameterization information of the current frame that indicates the color attribute map of the current frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093 and 0246-0247, wherein module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color (i.e. color attribute map) of the re-sampled points (i.e. re-parameterization information) of the patches to transfer the color of the current frame to the re-sampled version of the current frame) is determined by copying the color attribute map of the reference frame (Paragraphs 0208 and 0247, the prediction of the current frame's color block (i.e. color attribute map) is determined to be identical to and therefore copied from the reference frame's corresponding block according to the skip mode (no residual is encoded because there is no difference between the current block and the reference block))
Regarding claim 5, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 1.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein:
the correspondence information indicates that the corresponding region in the reference frame corresponds to a connected component of the current frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093, wherein module 252 determines a one-to-one mapping between points (i.e. connected component of the current frame), wherein the broadest reasonable interpretation of “connected component” corresponds to points in the current frame that are connected to points in the reference frame because they are the same) in patches of the current image frame and points in patches of a reference image frame (i.e. corresponding region in the reference frame) for the point cloud, and module 254 determines respective motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) for each of the points (i.e. connected component) indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame);
and the encoding the color attribute map of the current frame further comprises:
predicting a color attribute of the connected component of the current frame based on the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093; module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color (i.e. color attribute map) of the re-sampled patch points and determines the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) that identify the corresponding points (i.e. connected component) of the current frame’s color patch (i.e. corresponding region) image in the reference frame’s color patch image, indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame).
Regarding claim 6, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 5.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein the correspondence information indicates a geometric transformation of the connected component, the geometric transformation including one of a translation (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093; module 254 determines the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) that identify the corresponding points (i.e. connected component) of the current frame’s color patch image in the reference frame’s color patch image, indicating how the points moved (i.e. translated) from the reference frame to the current frame), a rotation, a reflection, a scaling, an orthogonal transform, a rigid transform, a similar transform, and a homography.
Regarding claim 7, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 5.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein the correspondence information indicates changes of uv coordinates in the connected component of the current frame (Paragraph 0093, wherein module 254 determines the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) that identify the corresponding points (i.e. connected component) of the current frame’s color patch image in the reference frame’s color patch image, indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame; and paragraphs 118-119, wherein H(u,v) is the set of points that get projected to the same pixel (a single point could be projected onto a pixel rather than a set of points), therefore, the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) indicating a translation of points (i.e. connected components) would also indicate the change of uv coordinates under broadest reasonable interpretation).
Regarding claim 8, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 1.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein:
the correspondence information indicates that the corresponding region in the reference frame corresponds to the color attribute map of the current frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093 and 0246-0247; module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color (i.e. color attribute map) of the re-sampled patch points, to transfer the color of the current frame to the deformed reference frame, and determines the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) that identify the corresponding points of the current frame’s color patch (i.e. corresponding region) image in the reference frame’s color patch image, indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame), and
the encoding the color attribute map of the current frame further comprises:
predicting a color attribute of the current frame based on the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame (Paragraph 0261, wherein the color information (i.e. color attribute map) is temporally predicted by taking the motion compensated value of the current frame based on the reference frame; Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093 and 0246-0247, wherein module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color (i.e. color attribute map) of the re-sampled patch points, to transfer the color of the current frame to the deformed reference frame, and determines the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) that identify the corresponding points (i.e. corresponding region) of the current frame’s color patch image in the reference frame’s color patch image, indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame).
Regarding claim 9, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 8.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein the correspondence information indicates one of a geometric transformation of the color attribute map of the current frame (Paragraph 0093, wherein the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) indicate a translation geometric transformation of the current frame’s color patch image relative to the reference frame’s color patch image (motion vectors are encoded using different image parameters such as: changes in the X, Y, and Z direction for a point are represented by an amount of red, blue, and green, respectively, included at the point in a patch image that includes the point))
However, as indicated by the double strikethroughs above, Mammou fails to teach wherein the correspondence information indicates one of a geometric transformation of the color attribute map of the current frame and changes of the uv coordinates in the color attribute map of the current frame, specifically (emphasis added). Chao, on the other hand, teaches an offset of UV vertices coordinates indicating parameterizing the mesh with 2D attribute maps. More specifically and as it relates to the applicant’s claims, Mammou in view of Chao discloses wherein the correspondence information indicates one of a geometric transformation of the color attribute map of the current frame and changes of the uv coordinates in the color attribute map of the current frame (Chao, [0024], [0039-0043], [0061-0064], and [0087-0089], wherein UV coordinate offsets of the mesh vertices reflect the position in the newly merged texture map (i.e. color attribute map, where color is listed as a vertex attribute and therefore texture maps correspond to color attribute map)).
Chao is combinable with Mammou because they are from the same art of video encoding/decoding.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to perform compression efficiently to store and transmit dynamic mesh sequence data, due to the significant amount of data changing over time (Chao, [0005]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate wherein the correspondence information indicates one of a geometric transformation of the color attribute map of the current frame and changes of the uv coordinates in the color attribute map of the current frame, as taught by Chao, into the method, as taught by Mammou, to obtain the invention as specified in claim 9.
Regarding claim 10, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 1.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein the encoding the color attribute map of the current frame further comprises:
when a skip mode is signaled in the bitstream (Paragraphs 0208 and 0247, wherein a skip mode is signaled),
determining the color attribute map of the current frame by copying the color attribute map of the reference frame according to the skip mode (Paragraphs 0208 and 0247, the prediction of the current frame's color block (i.e. color attribute map) is determined to be identical to and therefore copied from the reference frame's corresponding block according to the skip mode (no residual is encoded because there is no difference between the current block and the reference block)).
Regarding claim 11, Mammou discloses a method of mesh decoding (Fig. 2C and 2D; paragraph 0094, wherein the inter point cloud frame decoder 280 performs the inverse of the inter point cloud frame encoder 250’s operations, and point clouds are used in mesh creation and therefore correspond to the broadest reasonable interpretation of "mesh"), comprising:
receiving a bitstream (Fig. 2D, wherein decoder 280 receives the compressed point cloud information (i.e. a bitstream) that contains the information previously encoded) that includes re-parameterization information of a current frame, the re-parameterization information of the current frame indicating (Fig. 2C; paragraphs 0093 and 0246-0247, wherein a point cloud resampling module 252 performs a re-sampling (i.e. a re-parameterization transform) that determines a one-to-one mapping between points in patches of a current frame and points in patches of a reference frame (i.e. re-parameterization information) by displacing the points of a reference frame so that its shape matches the shape of the current frame, and the resulting frame of this mapping is the re-sampled version of the current frame) of a color attribute map of the current frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093 and 0246-0247, wherein module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color of the re-sampled points (i.e. color attribute map of the current frame) of the patches to transfer the color of the current frame to the re-sampled version of the current frame);
determining a corresponding region of the current frame in a color attribute map of a reference frame according to correspondence information of the current frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093; module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color of the re-sampled patch points and determines the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) that identify the corresponding points of the current frame’s color patch image (i.e. corresponding region of the current frame) in the reference frame’s color patch image (i.e. color attribute map of the reference frame), indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame), the correspondence information being included in the bitstream (Fig. 2C and 9; paragraph 0093, wherein module 254 encodes the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) in a patch image (see fig. 9, step 940), and images are bitstreams at its core), indicating the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093; module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color of the re-sampled patch points and determines the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) that identify the corresponding points of the current frame’s color patch image (i.e. corresponding region of the current frame) in the reference frame’s color patch image (i.e. color attribute map of the reference frame), indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame)
determining the color attribute map of the current frame based on (i) the re-parameterization information of the current frame (Fig. 9, wherein the points of the current patch are first re-sampled; Fig. 2C and paragraphs 0093, wherein module 252 determines a one-to-one mapping between points in patches of a current frame and points in patches of a reference frame (i.e. re-parameterization information) from the re-sampling, ensuring each current frame point is compared to its correct reference frame counterpart to encode residual values) and (ii) the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame (Fig. 9; paragraph 0487, wherein the set of reference frame color patch points (i.e. color attribute map of the reference frame) correspond to the current frame's re-sampled patch points (i.e. corresponding region of the current frame) via the determined motion vectors in step 937; paragraph 0261, wherein the residual color attribute values encoded in the updated color patch image (i.e. color attribute map) at step 938 are computed as the difference between the current frame’s color values and the motion-compensated color values at the corresponding region of the reference frame’s color patch).
However, as indicated by the double strikethroughs above, Mammou fails to teach receiving a bitstream that includes re-parameterization information of a current frame, the re-parameterization information indicating adjustment information of uv coordinates of vertices of the current frame based on a re-parameterization transform of a color attribute map of the current frame and determining a corresponding region of the current frame in a color attribute map of a reference frame according to correspondence information of the current frame, the correspondence information being included in a bitstream, indicating the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame and includes offsets to the uv coordinates of the vertices of the current frame in the color attribute map of the current frame, specifically (emphasis added). Chao, on the other hand, teaches an offset of UV vertices coordinates indicates parameterizing the mesh with 2D attribute maps. More specifically and as it relates to the applicant’s claims, Mammou in view of Chao discloses receiving a bitstream that includes re-parameterization information of a current frame, the re-parameterization information indicating adjustment information of uv coordinates of vertices of the current frame (Chao, [0024], [0039-0043], [0061-0064], and [0087-0089], parameterizing a 3D mesh into 2D attribute maps, and then concatenating those individual attribute maps to form a single attribute map (i.e. re-parameterization), which adjusts the UV coordinates of the mesh vertices) based on a re-parameterization transform of a color attribute map of the current frame (Chao, [0024] and [0039-0043], wherein color is listed as a vertex attribute and therefore texture maps correspond to color attribute map) and determining a corresponding region of the current frame in a color attribute map of a reference frame according to correspondence information of the current frame, the correspondence information being included in a bitstream, indicating the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame and includes offsets to the uv coordinates of the vertices of the current frame in the color attribute map of the current frame (Chao, [0024], [0039-0043], [0061-0064], and [0087-0089], wherein UV coordinate offsets of the mesh vertices reflect the position in the newly merged texture map (i.e. color attribute map)).
Chao is combinable with Mammou because they are from the same art of video encoding/decoding.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to perform compression efficiently to store and transmit dynamic mesh sequence data, due to the significant amount of data changing over time (Chao, [0005]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate teach receiving a bitstream that includes re-parameterization information of a current frame, the re-parameterization information indicating adjustment information of uv coordinates of vertices of the current frame based on a re-parameterization transform of a color attribute map of the current frame and determining a corresponding region of the current frame in a color attribute map of a reference frame according to correspondence information of the current frame, the correspondence information being included in a bitstream, indicating the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame and includes offsets to the uv coordinates of the vertices of the current frame in the color attribute map of the current frame, as taught by Chao, into the method, as taught by Mammou, to obtain the invention as specified in claim 11.
Regarding claim 12, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 11.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein the determining the color attribute map of the current frame further comprises: predicting the color attribute map of the current frame based on the color attribute map of the reference frame according to the re-parameterization information of the current frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093 and 0246-0247, wherein module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color (i.e. color attribute map) of the re-sampled points of the patches (i.e. re-parameterization information), requiring the mapping of the points of the reference frame to the current frame).
Regarding claim 13, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 11.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein the determining the color attribute map of the current frame further comprises:
determining the color attribute map of the current frame by copying the color attribute map of the reference frame (Paragraphs 0208 and 0247, the current frame's color block (i.e. color attribute map), as predicted below, is determined to be identical to and therefore copied from the reference frame's corresponding block according to the skip mode (no residual is encoded because there is no difference between the current block and the reference block)) according to the re-parameterization information of the current frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093 and 0246-0247, wherein module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color (i.e. color attribute map) of the re-sampled points (i.e. re-parameterization information) of the patches to transfer the color of the current frame to the re-sampled version of the current frame (color of the points could be copies according to the skip mode above)).
Regarding claim 14, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 11.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein:
the correspondence information indicates that the corresponding region in the reference frame corresponds to a connected component of the current frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093, wherein module 252 determines a one-to-one mapping between points (i.e. connected component of the current frame), wherein the broadest reasonable interpretation of “connected component” corresponds to points in the current frame that are connected to points in the reference frame because they are the same) in patches of the current image frame and points in patches of a reference image frame (i.e. corresponding region in the reference frame) for the point cloud, and module 254 determines respective motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) for each of the points (i.e. connected component) indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame);
and the determining the color attribute map of the current frame further comprises:
predicting a color attribute of the connected component of the current frame based on the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093; module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color (i.e. color attribute map) of the re-sampled patch points and determines the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) that identify the corresponding points (i.e. connected component) of the current frame’s color patch (i.e. corresponding region) image in the reference frame’s color patch image, indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame).
Regarding claim 15, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 14.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein the correspondence information indicates a geometric transformation of the connected component, the geometric transformation including one of a translation (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093; module 254 determines the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) that identify the corresponding points (i.e. connected component) of the current frame’s color patch image in the reference frame’s color patch image, indicating how the points moved (i.e. translated) from the reference frame to the current frame), a rotation, a reflection, a scaling, an orthogonal transform, a rigid transform, a similar transform, and a homography.
Regarding claim 16, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 14.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein the correspondence information indicates changes of uv coordinates in the connected component of the current frame (Paragraph 0093, wherein module 254 determines the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) that identify the corresponding points (i.e. connected component) of the current frame’s color patch image in the reference frame’s color patch image, indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame; and paragraphs 118-119, wherein H(u,v) is the set of points that get projected to the same pixel (a single point could be projected onto a pixel rather than a set of points), therefore, the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) indicating a translation of points (i.e. connected components) would also indicate the change of uv coordinates under broadest reasonable interpretation).
Regarding claim 17, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 11.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein:
the correspondence information indicates that the corresponding region in the reference frame corresponds to the color attribute map of the current frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093 and 0246-0247; module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color of the re-sampled patch points, to transfer the color of the current frame to the deformed reference frame, and determines the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) that identify the corresponding points (i.e. corresponding region) of the current frame’s color patch image (i.e. color attribute map of the current frame) in the reference frame’s color patch image, indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame), and
the determining the color attribute map of the current frame further comprises:
predicting a color attribute of the current frame based on the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame (Paragraph 0261, wherein the color information (i.e. color attribute map) is temporally predicted by taking the motion compensated value of the current frame based on the reference frame; Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093 and 0246-0247, wherein module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color of the re-sampled patch points, to transfer the color of the current frame to the deformed reference frame, and determines the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) that identify the corresponding points of the current frame’s color patch image (i.e. corresponding region of the current frame) in the reference frame’s color patch image(i.e. color attribute map of the reference frame), indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame).
Regarding claim 18, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 17.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein the correspondence information indicates one of a geometric transformation of the color attribute map of the current frame (Paragraph 0093, wherein the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) indicate a translation geometric transformation of the current frame’s color patch image relative to the reference frame’s color patch image (motion vectors are encoded using different image parameters such as: changes in the X, Y, and Z direction for a point are represented by an amount of red, blue, and green, respectively, included at the point in a patch image that includes the point)) ))
However, as indicated by the double strikethroughs above, Mammou fails to teach wherein the correspondence information indicates one of a geometric transformation of the color attribute map of the current frame and changes of the uv coordinates in the color attribute map of the current frame, specifically (emphasis added). Chao, on the other hand, teaches an offset of UV vertices coordinates indicating parameterizing the mesh with 2D attribute maps. More specifically and as it relates to the applicant’s claims, Mammou in view of Chao discloses wherein the correspondence information indicates one of a geometric transformation of the color attribute map of the current frame and changes of the uv coordinates in the color attribute map of the current frame (Chao, [0024], [0039-0043], [0061-0064], and [0087-0089], wherein UV coordinate offsets of the mesh vertices reflect the position in the newly merged texture map (i.e. color attribute map, where color is listed as a vertex attribute and therefore texture maps correspond to color attribute map)).
Chao is combinable with Mammou because they are from the same art of video encoding/decoding.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to perform compression efficiently to store and transmit dynamic mesh sequence data, due to the significant amount of data changing over time (Chao, [0005]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate wherein the correspondence information indicates one of a geometric transformation of the color attribute map of the current frame and changes of the uv coordinates in the color attribute map of the current frame, as taught by Chao, into the method, as taught by Mammou, to obtain the invention as specified in claim 18.
Regarding claim 19, Mammou and Chao disclose the method of claim 11.
Mammou additionally discloses wherein the determining the color attribute map of the current frame further comprises:
when a skip mode is signaled in the bitstream (Paragraphs 0208 and 0247, wherein a skip mode is signaled),
determining the color attribute map of the current frame by copying the color attribute map of the reference frame according to the skip mode (Paragraphs 0208 and 0247, the prediction of the current frame's color block is determined to be identical to and therefore copied from the reference frame's corresponding block according to the skip mode (no residual is encoded because there is no difference between the current block and the reference block)).
Regarding claim 21, Mammou discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions (Fig. 15 element 1520; [0548]) which, when executed by a processor (Fig. 15 elements 1510; [0540-0541]), cause the processor to perform a method of encoding a bitstream, the method comprising:
generating re-parameterization information of a current frame, the re-parameterization information (Fig. 2C; paragraphs 0093 and 0246-0247, wherein a point cloud resampling module 252 performs a re-sampling (i.e. a re-parameterization transform) that determines a one-to-one mapping between points in patches of a current frame and points in patches of a reference frame (i.e. re-parameterization information) by displacing the points of a reference frame so that its shape matches the shape of the current frame, and the resulting frame of this mapping is the re-sampled version of the current frame) of a color attribute map of the current frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093 and 0246-0247, wherein module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color (i.e. color attribute map, see that paragraphs 0076 and 0078 list color as an attribute) of the re-sampled points of the patches to transfer the color of the current frame to the re-sampled version of the current frame);
determining a corresponding region of the current frame in a color attribute map of a reference frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093; module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color of the re-sampled patch points, and determines the motion vectors that identify the corresponding points of the current frame’s color patch image (i.e. corresponding region of the current frame) in the reference frame’s color patch image (i.e. color attribute map of a reference frame), indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame);
encoding correspondence information of the current frame in a bitstream (Fig. 2C and 9; paragraph 0093, wherein module 254 encodes the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) in a patch image (see fig. 9, step 940), and images are bitstreams at its core) that indicates the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame (Fig. 2C; paragraph 0093; module 254 applies a temporal prediction to the color of the re-sampled patch points and determines the motion vectors (i.e. correspondence information) that identify the corresponding points of the current frame’s color patch image (i.e. corresponding region of the current frame) in the reference frame’s color patch image (i.e. color attribute map of the reference frame), indicating how the points moved from the reference frame to the current frame)
encoding the color attribute map of the current frame (Fig. 9; paragraph 0487, wherein the updated color patch image (i.e. color attribute map) encodes residual values indicating differences in colors of the points of the point cloud included in the patch between the reference point cloud frame and the current point cloud frame (i.e. current frame), which is video encoded in step 945) based on (i) the re-parameterization information of the current frame (Fig. 9, wherein the points of the current patch are first re-sampled; Fig. 2C and paragraphs 0093, wherein module 252 determines a one-to-one mapping between points in patches of a current frame and points in patches of a reference frame (i.e. re-parameterization information) from the re-sampling, ensuring each current frame point is compared to its correct reference frame counterpart to encode residual values) and (ii) the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame (Fig. 9; paragraph 0487, wherein in step 937, the set of reference frame color (i.e. color attribute map) patch points correspond to the current frame's re-sampled patch points (i.e. corresponding region of the current frame) via the determined motion vectors; paragraph 0261, wherein the residual color attribute values encoded in the updated color patch image (i.e. color attribute map) at step 938 are computed as the difference between the current frame’s color values and the motion-compensated color values at the corresponding region of the reference frame’s color patch); and
transmitting the encoded bitstream (Fig. 9 & paragraph 0490, wherein step 945 video encodes the image frames (i.e. bitstream); Fig. 9 & paragraph 0492, wherein the decoder receives the encoded video image frames, corresponding to transmitting the encoded bitstream).
However, as indicated by the double strikethroughs above, Mammou fails to teach generating re-parameterization information of a current frame, the re-parameterization information indicating adjustment information of uv coordinates of vertices of the current frame based on a re-parameterization transform of a color attribute map of the current frame and encoding correspondence information of the current frame in a bitstream that indicates the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame and includes offsets to the uv coordinates of the vertices of the current frame in the color attribute map of the current frame, specifically (emphasis added). Chao, on the other hand, teaches an offset of UV vertices coordinates indicates parameterizing the mesh with 2D attribute maps. More specifically and as it relates to the applicant’s claims, Mammou in view of Chao discloses generating re-parameterization information of a current frame, the re-parameterization information indicating adjustment information of uv coordinates of vertices of the current frame (Chao, [0024], [0039-0043], [0061-0064], and [0087-0089], parameterizing a 3D mesh into 2D attribute maps, and then concatenating those individual attribute maps to form a single attribute map (i.e. re-parameterization), which adjusts the UV coordinates of the mesh vertices) based on a re-parameterization transform of a color attribute map of the current frame (Chao, [0024] and [0039-0043], wherein color is listed as a vertex attribute and therefore texture maps correspond to color attribute map) and encoding correspondence information of the current frame in a bitstream that indicates the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame and includes offsets to the uv coordinates of the vertices of the current frame in the color attribute map of the current frame (Chao, [0024], [0039-0043], [0061-0064], and [0087-0089], wherein UV coordinate offsets of the mesh vertices reflect the position in the newly merged texture map (i.e. color attribute map)).
Chao is combinable with Mammou because they are from the same art of video encoding/decoding.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to perform compression efficiently to store and transmit dynamic mesh sequence data, due to the significant amount of data changing over time (Chao, [0005]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate generating re-parameterization information of a current frame, the re-parameterization information indicating adjustment information of uv coordinates of vertices of the current frame based on a re-parameterization transform of a color attribute map of the current frame and encoding correspondence information of the current frame in a bitstream that indicates the corresponding region of the current frame in the color attribute map of the reference frame and includes offsets to the uv coordinates of the vertices of the current frame in the color attribute map of the current frame, as taught by Chao, into the method, as taught by Mammou, to obtain the invention as specified in claim 21.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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.
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RACHEL Y DANG whose telephone number is (571)438-9519. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday: 7:30am - 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, John Villecco can be reached at (571) 272-7319. 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.
/RACHEL Y DANG/Examiner, Art Unit 2661
/JOHN VILLECCO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2661
Prosecution Insights