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 .
This communication is responsive to the correspondence filled on 09/03/2024.
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
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, 2, 6, 8 and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cai225 (U.S. Pub. No. 20130173225 A1), in view of Wang (Progressive point set surface compression based on planar reflective symmetry analysis - Die Wang, Chen He, Xueqing Li, Jingliang Peng - School of Computer Science and Technology, Shandong University, Jinan 250101, China - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cad.2014.08.014 - Computer-Aided Design 58 (2015).
Examiner’s note: Coding and decoding are done using same opposite algorithm.
Regarding to claim 1 and 8:
8. Cai225 teach a method of mesh encoding, comprising: (Cai225 [0036] FIG. 2 shows an example of a 2D mesh model. Thus, the model can be encoded by one reference (namely one side of the model) and one instance of the reference (namely the other side of the model), which reduces the number of points (vertices) to be encoded by 50%.) determining whether a mesh is symmetric with respect to a symmetry plane, (Cai225 Fig. 7 [0036] FIG. 2 shows an example of a 2D mesh model. In FIG. 2 c), the determined symmetry of this exemplary model is shown: a reflection [symmetry plane] on a symmetry axis 230. Thus, the model can be encoded by one reference (namely one side of the model) and one instance of the reference (namely the other side of the model), which reduces the number of points (vertices) to be encoded by 50%. In this particular example, there is no remainder at least in the first iteration. Further symmetries that can be encoded using references and instances can be detected in subsequent sampling levels at is reduced sampling step sizes, as described above.) the mesh including a plurality of vertices; (Cai225 [0032] FIG. 2 [0041] FIG. 4 shows a device for detecting repetitive structures in 3D mesh models according to one embodiment of the invention. It comprises sampling means SM, i.e. a sampling unit, for sampling the 2D or 3D mesh model provided at the input in. It uses a current sampling step size sss that it receives from a sampling step calculation unit SSCU, as described below. It is generally to be noted that the sampling step size is uniform within one sampling level, and that if a sampling step sizes is a fractional number (not an integer), the virtual sampling point between vertices will be replaced by the nearest vertex, since the sampling points are always vertices of the model.) when the mesh is symmetric with respect to the symmetry plane, (Cai225 Fig.2 and Fig. 7) dividing the plurality of vertices into a first group of vertices that is positioned at a first side of the symmetry plane, a second group of vertices that is positioned at a second side of the symmetry plane opposite to the first side, (Cai225 Fig.2 [0036] FIG. 2 Thus, the model can be encoded by one reference (namely one side of the model) [first side] and one instance of the reference (namely the other side of the model) [second side], which reduces the number of points (vertices) to be encoded by 50%.)
and encoding the second group of vertices by reflecting the first group of vertices with respect to the symmetry plane. (Cai225 [0036] In FIG. 2 c), the determined symmetry of this exemplary model is shown: a reflection on a symmetry axis 230. Thus, the model can be encoded by one reference (namely one side of the model) and one instance of the reference (namely the other side of the model), which reduces the number of points (vertices) to be encoded by 50%. In this particular example, there is no remainder at least in the first iteration. Further symmetries that can be encoded using references and instances can be detected in subsequent sampling levels at is reduced sampling step sizes, as described above. FIG. 2 [0038] Since symmetry is an important concept for the invention, it is clarified here that symmetry means invariance under a set of transformations, such as rotations, translations, reflections and uniform scaling. That is, repeating structures can be determined independently from size, position and orientation of the instances)
vertices that is positioned on the symmetry plane; (Cai225 in Fig.2c an imaginary line bisecting the middle section with two horizontal lines without symmetry can be interpreted as symmetry plane which is half way through the third group)
Cai225 do not explicitly teach and a third group of vertices that is positioned on the symmetry plane;
However Wang teach and a third group of vertices that is positioned on the symmetry plane; (Wang page 35 col 2 para 5: Given a point set surface (i.e., a point-based 3D model), the proposed encoder works in two stages: it firstly conducts planar reflective symmetry analysis and, based on which, divides the whole surface into symmetric height field pairs, non-symmetric height fields and the remaining surface portion [third region]; it secondly encodes the three types of surface portions using different methods to maximize
the coding gain.)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Cai225, further incorporating Wang in video/camera technology. One would be motivated to do so, to incorporate a third group of vertices that is positioned on the symmetry plane. This functionality will improve efficiency with predictable results.
Regarding to claim 2:
2. Cai225 teach the method of claim 1, wherein a vector is formed between each of the reconstructed first group of vertices and a reflected vertex of the respective vertex of the reconstructed first group of vertices, (Cai225 [0036] In FIG. 2 c), the determined symmetry of this exemplary model is shown: a reflection on a symmetry axis 230. Thus, the model can be encoded by one reference (namely one side of the model) and one instance of the reference (namely the other side of the model), which reduces the number of points (vertices) to be encoded by 50%. In this particular example, there is no remainder at least in the first iteration. Further symmetries that can be encoded using references and instances can be detected in subsequent sampling levels at is reduced sampling step sizes, as described above. FIG. 2 [0038] Since symmetry is an important concept for the invention, it is clarified here that symmetry means invariance under a set of transformations, such as rotations, translations, reflections and uniform scaling. That is, repeating structures can be determined independently from size, position and orientation of the instances) the vector being perpendicular to the symmetry plane. (Cai225 [0039] The reflection part may be represented by a 1-bit flag, for example, as described in PCT application (fill in application number) entitled "Method and Apparatus for Reflective Symmetry Based 3D Model Compression" by W. Jiang, K. Cai, and T. Luo. [0040] The rotation part is a 3.times.3 matrix. The three columns (or rows) of the rotation part are unit orthogonal [perpendicular] vectors. In order to address several applications where sometimes either decoding efficiency or decoding error matters the most, we propose two options for how to compress the rotation part.)
Regarding to claim 6:
6. Cai225 teach the method of claim 1, further comprising: reconstructing a third group of vertices of the mesh by reflecting each of the third group of vertices with respect to the symmetry plane, the third group of vertices being positioned on the symmetry plane. (Cai225 in Fig.2c an imaginary line bisecting the middle section with two horizontal lines without symmetry can be interpreted as symmetry plane which is half way through the third group. Fig.2c middle section with two horizontal lines without symmetry can be interpreted as third group as there is no corresponding symmetry)
Regarding to claim 13:
13. Cai225 teach the method of claim 8, Cai225 do not explicitly teach further comprising: encoding the third group of vertices of the mesh by reflecting the third group of vertices with respect to the symmetry plane.
However Wang teach further comprising: encoding the third group of vertices of the mesh by reflecting the third group of vertices with respect to the symmetry plane. (Wang page 35 col 2 para 5: Given a point set surface (i.e., a point-based 3D model), the proposed encoder works in two stages: it firstly conducts planar reflective symmetry analysis and, based on which, divides the whole surface into symmetric height field pairs, non-symmetric height fields and the remaining surface portion; it secondly encodes the three types of surface portions using different methods to maximize the coding gain.)
Claims 3-5, 11-12 and 15-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Cai225 (U.S. Pub. No. 20130173225 A1), in view of Wang (Progressive point set surface compression based on planar reflective symmetry analysis - Die Wang, Chen He, Xueqing Li, Jingliang Peng - School of Computer Science and Technology, Shandong University, Jinan 250101, China - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cad.2014.08.014 - Computer-Aided Design 58 (2015), further in view of Cai487 (U.S. Pub. No. 20140285487 A1).
Regarding to claim 3, 11 and 17:
3. Cai225 teach the method of claim 1, wherein the reconstructing the second group of vertices further comprises: reflecting a reconstructed first vertex of a first vertex of the first group of vertices across the symmetry plane to generate a first reflected vertex at the second side of the symmetry plane; (Cai225 [0036] In FIG. 2 c), the determined symmetry of this exemplary model is shown: a reflection on a symmetry axis 230. Thus, the model can be encoded by one reference (namely one side of the model) and one instance of the reference (namely the other side of the model), which reduces the number of points (vertices) to be encoded by 50%. In this particular example, there is no remainder at least in the first iteration. Further symmetries that can be encoded using references and instances can be detected in subsequent sampling levels at is reduced sampling step sizes, as described above. FIG. 2 [0038] Since symmetry is an important concept for the invention, it is clarified here that symmetry means invariance under a set of transformations, such as rotations, translations, reflections and uniform scaling. That is, repeating structures can be determined independently from size, position and orientation of the instances)
Cai225 do not explicitly teach and reconstructing a first vertex of the second group of vertices that is closest to the first reflected vertex based on the first reflected vertex and a displacement that is signaled in the bitstream, the displacement indicating a difference between (i) a reflected vertex of the first vertex of the first group of vertices at the second side of the symmetry plane and (ii) the first vertex of the second group of vertices.
However Cai487 teach and reconstructing a first vertex of the second group of vertices that is closest to the first reflected vertex (Cai487 teach [0039] Reflective Symmetry Based 3D Model Compression which use symmetrical coding closest proximity for the coding the second half of the symmetry. [0002] In practical applications, many 3D models consist of a large number of connected components [vertices]. And these multi-connected 3D models usually contain lots of repetitive structures in various transformations, as shown in Fig. Efficient compression methods for this kind of 3D models should be able to extract the redundancy existing in the repetitive structures. [0049] Since instances may have extremely close pseudo translation vectors, which we call duplicate translation vectors, some data fields of the bitstream are defined to denote the duplicate translation vectors.) based on the first reflected vertex and a displacement that is signaled in the bitstream, (Cai487 TABLE-US-00002 [0064] Num. of Bits Descriptor class A3DMC_stream_header{ repeat_struc_bit 1 3d_model_compr_mode 2 QP 5 If(repeat_struc_bit == 1){ pattern_num 8 If(pattern_num == 255){ pattern_num_2 16 } instance_num 16 If(instance_num == 65535){ instance_num_2 32 } insta_trans_elem_bit 1 insta_rotat_mode_bit 1 cartesian/spherical coordinate use_scaling_bit 1 uni_part_bit 1 error_compensate_enable_bit 1 [signaled in the bitstream] property_enable_bits 4 Flags for 4 candidate properties reserved_bits 6 } }) the displacement indicating a difference between (i) a reflected vertex of the first vertex of the first group of vertices at the second side of the symmetry plane and (ii) the first vertex of the second group of vertices. (Cai487 [0036] Since instances may have larger decoding error, which is defined as the distance between the original component and the component restored from the pattern and instance transformation, some data fields of the bitstream are defined to denote the compressed instance decoding error to guarantee the decoded 3D model quality. [0038] As shown below, the instance transformation can de divided into four parts, reflection part (Refle), rotation part (Rotat), translation part (Transl), and possible scaling part. [0039] The reflection part may be represented by a 1-bit flag, for example, as described in PCT application (fill in application number) entitled "Method and Apparatus for Reflective Symmetry Based 3D Model Compression" by W. Jiang, K. Cai, and T. Luo. Please note in case of coding using symmetry reflection error is zero which means closest to the first reflected vertex in terms of coding error)
The motivation for combining Cai225 and Wang as set forth in claim 1 is equally applicable to claim 3. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Cai225, further incorporating Wang and Cai487in video/camera technology. One would be motivated to do so, to incorporate reconstructing a first vertex of the second group of vertices that is closest to the first reflected vertex based on the first reflected vertex and a displacement that is signaled in the bitstream. This functionality will improve quality with predictable results.
Regarding to claim 4 and 18:
4. Cai225 teach the method of claim 1, Cai225 do not explicitly teach further comprising: forming the mesh by combining the reconstructed first group of vertices and the reconstructed second group of vertices.
However Cai487 teach further comprising: forming the mesh by combining the reconstructed first group of vertices and the reconstructed second group of vertices. (Cai487 [0093] 8. An encoder adapted to compress the four parts, i.e. reflection [combining the reconstructed first group of vertices and the reconstructed second group of vertices], rotation, translation and possible scaling parts, of instance transformation separately; [0094] 9. Compression of the rotation part of one instance transformation as 2 orthogonal axes or Eular angles; and [0095] A decoder adapted to restore the transformation matrix of a instance from the corresponding decoded reflection, translation, rotation and possible scaling parts, as shown in FIG. 4.)
Regarding to claim 5 and 19:
5. Cai225 teach the method of claim 1, Cai225 do not explicitly teach further comprising: reconstructing a third group of vertices of the mesh that is positioned on the symmetry plane, each of the third group of vertices being reconstructed as an encoded value of the respective vertex of the third group of vertices that is received in the bitstream.
However Cai487 teach further comprising: reconstructing a third group of vertices of the mesh that is positioned on the symmetry plane, each of the third group of vertices being reconstructed as an encoded value of the respective vertex of the third group of vertices that is received in the bitstream. (Cai487 [0039] The reflection part may be represented by a 1-bit flag, for example, as described in PCT application (fill in application number) entitled "Method and Apparatus for Reflective Symmetry Based 3D Model Compression" by W. Jiang, K. Cai, and T. Luo. [0065] Then all the instances must have the same size with the corresponding pattern. uni_part_bit: a 1-bit unsigned integer indicates whether there is unique part in the original 3d model. 0 means there is no unique [third group of vertices] part and 1 means there is unique part [symmetry and reflection is used for coding]. If uni_part_bit equals 0 [0068] Num. of bits Descriptor class compr_repeat_struc_data{ compr_pattern_data if (insta_trans_elem_bit == 1){ compr_insta_elementary_data } else{ compr_insta_grouped_data } if (uni_part_bit == 1){ compr_uni_part_data } }. [0069] compr_uni_part_data: contain the compressed unique part data, which is encoded by the compression method indicated by 3d_model_compr_mode.)
Regarding to claim 12:
12. Cai225 teach the method of claim 8, further comprising: encoding each of the third group of vertices (Cai225 Fig.2c middle section with two horizontal lines without symmetry can be interpreted as third group as there is no corresponding symmetry)
Cai225 do not explicitly teach by encoding an original value of the respective vertex of the third group of vertices.
However Cai487 teach by encoding an original value of the respective vertex of the third group of vertices. (Cai487 [0039] The reflection part may be represented by a 1-bit flag, for example, as described in PCT application (fill in application number) entitled "Method and Apparatus for Reflective Symmetry Based 3D Model Compression" by W. Jiang, K. Cai, and T. Luo. [0065] Then all the instances must have the same size with the corresponding pattern. uni_part_bit: a 1-bit unsigned integer indicates whether there is unique part in the original 3d model. 0 means there is no unique [third group of vertices] part)
Regarding to claim 15:
15. Cai225 teach a method of processing mesh data, the method comprising: when the mesh is symmetric with respect to a symmetry plane, a first group of vertices of the mesh that is positioned at a first side of the symmetry plane is reconstructed; and a second group of vertices of the mesh that is positioned at a second side of the symmetry plane is reconstructed by reflecting the reconstructed first group of vertices with respect to the symmetry plane. (Claim 15 is rejected for the same reason as claim 1)
Cai225 do not explicitly teach processing a bitstream of the mesh data according to a format rule, wherein: the bitstream includes coded information of a mesh that includes a plurality of vertices; and the format rule specifies that:
However Cai487 teach processing a bitstream of the mesh data according to a format rule, (Cai487 [0101] As will be evident to one of skill in the art, implementations may produce a variety of signals formatted to carry information that may be, for example, stored or transmitted. The information may include, for example, instructions for performing a method, or data produced by one of the described implementations. For example, a signal may be formatted to carry as data the rules for writing or reading the syntax of a described embodiment, or to carry as data the actual syntax-values written by a described embodiment.) wherein: the bitstream includes coded information of a mesh that includes a plurality of vertices; (Cai487 [0002] In practical applications, many 3D models consist of a large number of connected components [vertices]. And these multi-connected 3D models usually contain lots of repetitive structures in various transformations, as shown in Fig. Efficient compression methods for this kind of 3D models should be able to extract the redundancy existing in the repetitive structures) and the format rule specifies that: (Cai487 [0039] The reflection part may be represented by a 1-bit flag, for example, as described in PCT application (fill in application number) entitled "Method and Apparatus for Reflective Symmetry Based 3D Model Compression" by W. Jiang, K. Cai, and T. Luo. [0065] Then all the instances must have the same size with the corresponding pattern. uni_part_bit: [format rule] a 1-bit unsigned integer indicates whether there is unique part in the original 3d model. 0 means there is no unique [third group of vertices] part and 1 means there is unique part [symmetry and reflection is used for coding]. If uni_part_bit equals 0 [0068] Num. of bits Descriptor class compr_repeat_struc_data{ compr_pattern_data if (insta_trans_elem_bit == 1){ compr_insta_elementary_data } else{ compr_insta_grouped_data } if (uni_part_bit == 1){ compr_uni_part_data } }. [0069] compr_uni_part_data: contain the compressed unique part data, which is encoded by the compression method indicated by 3d_model_compr_mode.)
Regarding to claim 16:
16. Cai225 teach the method of claim 15, wherein a vector is formed between each of the reconstructed first group of vertices and a reflected vertex of the respective vertex of the reconstructed first group of vertices, (Cai225 [0036] In FIG. 2 c), the determined symmetry of this exemplary model is shown: a reflection on a symmetry axis 230. Thus, the model can be encoded by one reference (namely one side of the model) and one instance of the reference (namely the other side of the model), which reduces the number of points (vertices) to be encoded by 50%. In this particular example, there is no remainder at least in the first iteration. Further symmetries that can be encoded using references and instances can be detected in subsequent sampling levels at is reduced sampling step sizes, as described above. FIG. 2 [0038] Since symmetry is an important concept for the invention, it is clarified here that symmetry means invariance under a set of transformations, such as rotations, translations, reflections and uniform scaling. That is, repeating structures can be determined independently from size, position and orientation of the instances) the vector being perpendicular to the symmetry plane. (Cai225 [0039] The reflection part may be represented by a 1-bit flag, for example, as described in PCT application (fill in application number) entitled "Method and Apparatus for Reflective Symmetry Based 3D Model Compression" by W. Jiang, K. Cai, and T. Luo. [0040] The rotation part is a 3.times.3 matrix. The three columns (or rows) of the rotation part are unit orthogonal [perpendicular] vectors. In order to address several applications where sometimes either decoding efficiency or decoding error matters the most, we propose two options for how to compress the rotation part.)
Regarding to claim 20:
20. Cai225 teach the method of claim 15, wherein the format rule further specifies that: a third group of vertices of the mesh is reconstructed by reflecting each of the third group of vertices with respect to the symmetry plane, the third group of vertices being positioned on the symmetry plane. (Cai225 Fig.2c middle section with two horizontal lines without symmetry can be interpreted as third group as there is no corresponding symmetry)
Allowable subject matter
Claims 7, 9-10 and 14 is/are 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 because the limitations of these dependent claims are not obvious from the prior art search when all the limitations of independent and intervening claims are taken into account.
Regarding to claim 7 and 14:
7. Cai225 teach the method of claim 6, wherein the reconstructing further comprises: determining a reconstructed first vertex of a first vertex of the third group of vertices; (Cai225 Fig.2c middle section with two horizontal lines without symmetry can be interpreted as third group as there is no corresponding symmetry) reflecting the reconstructed first vertex across the symmetry plane to generate a first reflected vertex; (Cai225 [0036] In FIG. 2 c), the determined symmetry of this exemplary model is shown: a reflection on a symmetry axis 230. Thus, the model can be encoded by one reference (namely one side of the model) and one instance of the reference (namely the other side of the model), which reduces the number of points (vertices) to be encoded by 50%. In this particular example, there is no remainder at least in the first iteration. Further symmetries that can be encoded using references and instances can be detected in subsequent sampling levels at is reduced sampling step sizes, as described above. FIG. 2 [0038] Since symmetry is an important concept for the invention, it is clarified here that symmetry means invariance under a set of transformations, such as rotations, translations, reflections and uniform scaling. That is, repeating structures can be determined independently from size, position and orientation of the instances)
Prior art do not teach merging the reconstructed first vertex and the first reflected vertex when the first reflected vertex has a same 3D coordinate as the reconstructed first vertex to generate a merged first vertex on the symmetry plane; and reconstructing the first vertex of the third group of vertices based on the merged first vertex.
Regarding to claim 9:
9. Cai225 teach the method of claim 8, wherein the determining whether the mesh is symmetric further comprises: reflecting each of a first subset of the plurality of vertices of the mesh across the symmetry plane to generate a respective reflected vertex; determining a closest vertex in a second subset of the plurality of vertices for each of the reflected vertices in the mesh; and (Please see the rejection of claim 3)
Prior art does not teach when distances between the closest vertices and the respective reflected vertices are less than a threshold value, determining that the mesh is symmetric with respect to the symmetry plane.
Closely related prior art
Examiner notes teaching of U.S. Pub. No. 20140320492 A1 is/are pertinent to the independent claim(s), however is not used because dependent claims are better covered by cited reference.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NASIM N NIRJHAR whose telephone number is (571) 272-3792. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 8 am to 5 pm ET.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William F Kraig can be reached on (571) 272-8660. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/NASIM N NIRJHAR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2896
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