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 .
Claims 1 – 6 have been examined and are pending.
Drawings
The applicant’s submitted drawings on 07/25/2024 are acceptable for examination purposes.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/25/2024 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1 - 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claims 1 and 4-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) as being indefinite because the claim language, particularly the limitations reciting “one or more first ranges to be changed in a video” and “one or more second ranges other than the first ranges,” fails to provide clear and definite boundaries of the claimed subject matter.
Specifically, the terms “first ranges” and “second ranges” are vague and ambiguous, as the claim does not define what constitutes a “range.” It is unclear whether a “range” refers to a spatial region within a video frame, a temporal segment (e.g., frame intervals), a spatiotemporal region, or some other partitioning of the video signal. Furthermore, the relationship between the “first ranges” and “second ranges” is only described as “other than the first ranges,” which does not provide sufficient clarity on how these ranges are identified, selected, or demarcated.
Because a person of ordinary skill in the art would not be able to ascertain the metes and bounds of these “first ranges” and “second ranges” with reasonable certainty, the claim fails to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter regarded as the invention.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 – 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being unpatentable by US Patent Application US Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0237380 to Kakii et al. (hereinafter Kakii).
Claim 1, Kakii discloses coding and decoding methods for motion-image data transmitted and received between the terminal equipment, and further it discloses:
video processing system comprising: circuitry (Kakii Fig. 5) configured to
individually compress and packetize a video signal (Kakii discloses (¶10) a coding method using an image processing technology of compressing each of the individual image frames (i.e. packets) constituting motion-image (i.e. video) data) for each of (i) one or more first ranges to be changed in a video and (ii) one or more second ranges other than the first ranges (Kakii discloses (¶11 - ¶15) dividing image frames into ROI/non-ROI (Region of Interest, ROI) and individually compressing them (first vs. second ranges). In a two-way interactive system Kakii discloses (Fig. 14) a plurality of rectangular regions are grouped into the ROI (high-resolution display region/range includes face and head, middle-resolution display region/range includes hands, arms, breast) and non-ROI includes low-resolution and low-speed display region includes the background and others)
execute a process of making a change in packet groups related to the first ranges to be processed (Kakii describes (Figs. 14-16) dynamically adjusting coding for ROI and non-ROI regions separately, with separate compression rate for selected tiles and sub-regions, and then combining/transmitting them)
individually decode a first packet group related to a given first range, and a second packet group related to a given second range, among processed packet groups (Kakii discloses (¶80, ¶105, Figs. 7-8) the compression rate and division size are adaptively adjusted and this enables better image processing (¶86). The received terminal decodes coded data for each tile associated with the ROI packet group i.e. first range, and also decodes coded data of each tile associated with the non-ROI packet group i.e. second range).
Claim 2, Kakii discloses all the elements of claim 1. Further, it discloses:
wherein the change includes thinning out a part of the video at regular intervals to reduce a size of the video, the given first range being a range in which the part of the video is to be thinned out (Kakii discloses (¶15) high quality coding only to ROI (e.g. face/hands) while background and less important parts can be reduced in resolution or skipped, which corresponds to thinning out a part of the video at intervals, e.g. ¶16, background is coded at only intervals of a fixed period) and
wherein the circuitry is configured to discard a packet in the given first range (Kakii discloses (¶16 - ¶17) in the coding process for non-ROI rectangular regions, the code length may be 0 during a certain period of time, meaning that those packets/regions are not coded and prior decoded images may be reused. This is essentially discarding packets in selected ranges to reduce size.)
Claim 3, Kakii discloses all the elements of claim 1. Further, it discloses:
wherein the change includes a change in a partial range of the video, the given first range being the partial range, and wherein the circuitry is configured to change a packet in the given first range (Kakii discloses (¶15) high quality coding only to ROI (e.g. face/hands) while background and less important parts can be reduced in resolution or skipped. The transmitter terminal equipment 20A sends the coded data of motion of the head, motion of hands, motion of the upper body, etc. at high speed (e.g., 30 frames/second (fps) and with delay of not more than 200 msec. This reflects a change in a partial range of the video. Furthermore, Kakii discloses (¶19) dynamically changing the compression rate and division size of rectangular regions (sub-ranges) based on user interaction or circumstances. This corresponds to changing packets in selected ranges of the video.)
Claim 4, do not teach or further define over the limitations in Claim 1. Therefore, claim 4 is rejected for the same rationale of rejection as set forth in Claim 1.
Claim 5, do not teach or further define over the limitations in Claim 1. Therefore, claim 5 is rejected for the same rationale of rejection as set forth in Claim 1.
Claim 6, do not teach or further define over the limitations in Claim 1. Therefore, claim 6 is rejected for the same rationale of rejection as set forth in Claim 1.
Conclusion
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0328109 to Pavlovskaia et al. (Providing Television Broadcasts Over a Managed Network And Interactive Content Over An Unmanaged Network To A Client Device)
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/H. A. K./
Examiner, Art Unit 2451
/Chris Parry/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2451