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
Response to Amendment
This is in response to applicant’s amendment/response filed on 05/01/2026, which has been entered and made of record. Claims 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 13, 15 have been amended. Claims 2, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 has been cancelled. Claims 16-21 have been added. Claims 1, 3-5, 7, 13, 15-21 are pending in the application.
As an initial matter, the double patenting rejection has been withdrawn in view of applicant's amendments.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments on 05/01/2026 have been fully considered but are moot because the arguments do not apply to any of the references being used in the current rejection.
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 of this title, 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 set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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, 3-5, 7, 13, 15-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Salvi et al. (US Pub 2023/0078840 A1) in view of Steliaros (US Pub 2006/0206509 A1).
As to claim 1, Salvi discloses a method comprising: encoding mesh data (abstract, “in conjunction with additional constraints on the order used to encode displaced micro-meshes, enable lossy compression techniques to efficiently store geometric displacements as a parallel algorithm”), wherein the encoding the mesh data includes:
encoding a basemesh of the mesh data (¶0045, “encoding sub triangles of a triangle mesh in parallel” ¶0166, “These example constraints allow different sub triangles in the mesh to be processed independently (both encoding and then subsequent decoding) by high performance, asynchronous parallel processing while ensuring those processes will independently derive the same displacement values for vertices shared between adjacent sub triangles when encoding the mesh and preventing situations where a larger precision data representation is being squeezed into a smaller number of bits, which would result in a loss of numerical resolution and thus the inability to provide a bit-for-bit match of displacement values at interfacing vertices of different sub triangles.” ¶01618, “FIG. 21, 21A, 21B illustrates how encoding of a uniformly tessellated mesh operates”); and
encoding displacement data for vertices of a subdivided mesh obtained by subdividing the basemesh (¶0052, “One embodiment of our compression algorithm constrains correction bit widths so the set of displacement values representable with a given μ-mesh type is a strict superset of all values representable with a more compressed μ-mesh type. By the encoder organizing the μ-mesh types from most to least compressed, we can proceed to directly encode sub triangles in “compression ratio order” using a predict-and-correct (P&C) scheme, starting with the most compressed μ-mesh type, until a desired level of quality is achieved. This scheme enables parallel encoding while maximizing compression ratio, and without introducing mismatching displacement values along edges shared between sub triangles.” ¶0065, “DMs can be thought of as representatives of data associated with vertices.” ¶0069, “the base triangle itself is not imaged, rasterized or otherwise visualized, and instead serves as a platform for a recursively-subdividable displacement-mapped micromesh. This micromesh is formed as regular 2.sup.n×2.sup.n mesh (where n is any non-zero integer), with each further tessellated level subdividing each sub triangle in the previous level into four (4) smaller sub triangles according to a barycentric grid and a space filling curve.”); and
generating a bitstream containing the mesh data (¶0152, “these two sub triangles are encoded with different micromesh types (for example, assume the sub triangle on the left is more compressed than the sub triangle on the right). As discussed above, the compressor in one embodiment works from more compressed to less compressed formats, so in this case, displacements for the sub triangle on the left will be encoded first. So let's assume the displacements for the sub triangle on the left have already been successfully encoded and a processor is now trying to encode the displacements for the sub triangle on the right—and in particular, displacements for the microvertices of the triangle on the right that lie on the edge shared between the two triangles. The displacement values to be encoded to the shared edge microvertices of the right side sub triangle must match, bit for bit, the displacement values already encoded for the shared edge vertices of the left side sub triangle.” ¶0153, “if you imagine recording on horizontal line such as in a spreadsheet, the number of bits assigned to represent the vertices for a given subdivision level across all the different micromesh types sorted from more compressed to less compressed, will form a monotonic sequence that increases, or does not change, and cannot decrease. In other words, there can never be fewer bits for a given subdivision level in the less compressed type than there are bits in the more compressed type. Example embodiments impose this constraint on the encoding scheme to guarantee watertightness assuming the encoding algorithm is deterministic (it does not have any stochastic components).” ¶0154-0156.).
Salvi does not disclose wherein the bitstream includes: information indicating a subdivision method for subparts of a current submesh.
Steliaros teaches wherein the bitstream includes: information indicating a subdivision method for subparts of a current submesh (Steliaros, ¶0093, “The mesh generator 102 uses a particular division method for which it is programmed. The mesh re-creator 116 uses a program which operates on the same division method. At start of transmission, the sending device 100 can interrogate the reception device 110 to see if the required program is available. If it is not, the sending device 100 can send the required program to the reception device 110 for use in the mesh re-creator 116. Alternatively, the mesh generator can have, at its disposal, a plurality of different division methods. The sending device 100 can check to see which program is available in the reception device 110, and use the appropriate division method. Alternatively, again, the reception device 110 can inform the sending device which method to use, and the sending device can use it.”).
Salvi and Steliaros are considered to be analogous art because all pertain to mesh compression. It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Salvi with the features of “the bitstream includes: information indicating a subdivision method for subparts of a current submesh” as taught by Steliaros. All the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.
As to claim 3, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination Salvi and Steliaros discloses wherein the bitstream contains information related to an encoding operation for an enhancement layer (Salvi, ¶0016, “Multiple layer displacement mapping with lossless image compression”, International Conference on Technologies for E-Learning and Digital Entertainment Edutainment 2010: Entertainment for Education. Digital Techniques and Systems pp 518-528; Szirmay-Kalos et al” ¶0074, “the range between the minimum and maximum triangles with an appropriate resolution can be defined using 11 bits—providing 2.sup.11 or 2048 incremental positions for linear interpolation and allowing a very compact unsigned normalized UNORM11 numerical representation”)
As to claim 4, the combination Salvi and Steliaros discloses a device comprising: a memory; and at least one processor connected to the memory, the at least one processor configured to: encode mesh data, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: encode a basemesh of the mesh data; and encode displacement data for vertices of a subdivided mesh obtained by subdividing the base mesh; and generate a bitstream containing the mesh data, wherein the bitstream includes: information indicating a subdivision method for subparts of a current submesh (See claim 1 for detailed analysis.).
As to claim 5, the combination Salvi and Steliaros discloses a method comprising:
obtaining a bitstream including mesh data (Fig. 10, ¶0076, “we use a compressed format that encodes and communicates a correction to a predicted value that a predictor circuit within the decoder can determine based on information it already has. Such displacement amounts can thus also be stored in a compression format that uses a predict-and-correct (P&C) mechanism.”); and
decoding the mesh data (Fig. 10, ¶0151, “the decoded displacement values of the two triangles must match. S0 vertices match since they are always encoded uncompressed. S1 and S2 vertices will match if and only if (1) the sub triangle is encoded in “compression ratio order” and (2) displacement values encoded with a more compressed μ-mesh type are always representable by less compressed μ-mesh types. The second constraint implies that for a given subdivision level a less compressed μ-mesh type should never use fewer bits than a more compressed μ-mesh type.”), wherein the decoding the mesh data includes:
decoding a basemesh of the mesh data (¶0166, “These example constraints allow different sub triangles in the mesh to be processed independently (both encoding and then subsequent decoding) by high performance, asynchronous parallel processing while ensuring those processes will independently derive the same displacement values for vertices shared between adjacent sub triangles when encoding the mesh and preventing situations where a larger precision data representation is being squeezed into a smaller number of bits, which would result in a loss of numerical resolution and thus the inability to provide a bit-for-bit match of displacement values at interfacing vertices of different sub triangles.”); and
decoding displacement data for vertices of a subdivided mesh obtained by subdividing the basemesh (¶0173, “By propagating these displacement values recovered from decompressing the lower sub triangle vertex to the less-compressed uppermost sub triangle—and with the constraint that the less compressed format of the uppermost sub triangle can exactly represent those propagated values from a more compressed format—it can now be guaranteed that the vertex displacements the decoder recovers for the uppermost sub triangle will be bit-for-bit identical with the corresponding vertex displacements the decoder will recover for the lowermost sub triangles along the shared edge—with no requirement that the decoder decodes both at the same time or knows there is a shared edge.”),
wherein the bitstream includes: information indicating a subdivision method for subparts of a current submesh (Steliaros, ¶0093, “The mesh generator 102 uses a particular division method for which it is programmed. The mesh re-creator 116 uses a program which operates on the same division method. At start of transmission, the sending device 100 can interrogate the reception device 110 to see if the required program is available. If it is not, the sending device 100 can send the required program to the reception device 110 for use in the mesh re-creator 116. Alternatively, the mesh generator can have, at its disposal, a plurality of different division methods. The sending device 100 can check to see which program is available in the reception device 110, and use the appropriate division method. Alternatively, again, the reception device 110 can inform the sending device which method to use, and the sending device can use it.”).
As to claim 7, claim 5 is incorporated and the combination Salvi and Steliaros discloses wherein the bitstream contains information related to an encoding operation for an enhancement layer (Salvi, ¶0099, “compressed displacement blocks can be either 64B or 128B in size, and are used for 16×16 or 32×32 sub triangles. These blocks specify the anchor displacements in UNORM11, per micro-vertex corrections for each subdivision level in two's complement, and four unsigned shift variants per level above subdivision level 1. Note that the bit widths for both corrections and shifts depend on the sub triangle resolution as well as the subdivision level. Furthermore, in one embodiment the microvertex displacement information for the same subdivision level can be encoded in more or less compressed formats (for example, in FIG. 13 compare the 16×16 256-microtriangle level correction bit widths for full cacheline 128B vs. 64B half cacheline displacement blocks)” ¶0177, “foreach base triangle resolution (from lower to higher res): foreach micromesh type (from most to least compressed): foreach not encoded triangle: encode sub triangle if successful then mark sub triangle as encoded foreach partially encoded edge:”).
As to claim 13, claim 15 is incorporated and the combination Salvi and Steliaros discloses wherein the mesh data is decoded based on information related to a decoding operation for an enhancement layer in the bitstream (Salvi, Fig. 10, ¶0099, “FIGS. 12 and 13 show example detailed compressed displacement block formats the encoder uses to communicate compressed displacement values to the decoder. As mentioned, in one embodiment, compressed displacement blocks can be either 64B or 128B in size, and are used for 16×16 or 32×32 sub triangles. These blocks specify the anchor displacements in UNORM11, per micro-vertex corrections for each subdivision level in two's complement, and four unsigned shift variants per level above subdivision level 1. Note that the bit widths for both corrections and shifts depend on the sub triangle resolution as well as the subdivision level. Furthermore, in one embodiment the microvertex displacement information for the same subdivision level can be encoded in more or less compressed formats (for example, in FIG. 13 compare the 16×16 256-microtriangle level correction bit widths for full cacheline 128B vs. 64B half cacheline displacement blocks).”).
As to claim 15, the combination Salvi and Steliaros discloses a device comprising: a memory; and at least one processor connected to the memory, the at least one processor configured to: obtain a bitstream including mesh data; and a decoder configured to decode the mesh data, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: decode a basemesh of the mesh data; and decode displacement data for vertices of a subdivided mesh obtained by subdividing the basemesh, wherein the bitstream includes: information indicating a subdivision method for subparts of a current submesh (See claim 5 for detailed analysis.).
As to claim 16, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination Salvi and Steliaros discloses the bitstream contains information indicating whether to split the mesh data (Salvi, ¶0099, “compressed displacement blocks can be either 64B or 128B in size, and are used for 16×16 or 32×32 sub triangles. These blocks specify the anchor displacements in UNORM11, per micro-vertex corrections for each subdivision level in two's complement, and four unsigned shift variants per level above subdivision level 1. Note that the bit widths for both corrections and shifts depend on the sub triangle resolution as well as the subdivision level. Furthermore, in one embodiment the microvertex displacement information for the same subdivision level can be encoded in more or less compressed formats (for example, in FIG. 13 compare the 16×16 256-microtriangle level correction bit widths for full cacheline 128B vs. 64B half cacheline displacement blocks)” ¶0177, “foreach base triangle resolution (from lower to higher res): foreach micromesh type (from most to least compressed): foreach not encoded triangle: encode sub triangle if successful then mark sub triangle as encoded foreach partially encoded edge:”)..
As to claim 17, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination Salvi and Steliaros discloses the bitstream contains information related to a type of submeshes (Salvi, ¶0102, “According to some embodiments, a 2-pass approach is used to encode a sub triangle with a given μ-mesh type. See FIG. 14 .” ¶0107, “In this case the compressor can try to encode the sub triangle with less compressed μ-mesh types, until the expected quality is met. This iterative process can lead to attempting to encode a sub triangle with a μ-mesh type that cannot represent all its μ-triangles. In this case the sub triangle is recursively split in four sub triangles until it can be encoded. In one embodiment, the initial split step splits only when the current subtriangle contains more triangles than can be encoded with the current micromesh type (hence the need to recursively split until the number of microtriangles in the subtriangle matches the number of triangles that can be encoded with the current micromesh type).”).
As to claim 18, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination Salvi and Steliaros discloses the bitstream contains information related to a number of added vertices related to splitting of the submeshes (Salvi, ¶0076, “as the tessellation level increases, so do the number of microvertices and we soon run out of room in a single cacheline to store the corresponding displacement values in UNORM11. See FIG. 4 table. For higher tessellation levels, we use a compressed format that encodes and communicates a correction to a predicted value that a predictor circuit within the decoder can determine based on information it already has.” ¶0081, “It will be noted that the encoder will communicate the base anchor displacements to the decoder, and the decoder in recursively subdividing the base triangle into increasingly deeper levels of subdivision (resulting in higher and higher tessellation levels) will already have calculated the adjacent microvertex displacement values which are thus available for computing (by linear interpolation) the displacement values for new intermediate microvertices.”).
As to claim 19, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination Salvi and Steliaros discloses the bitstream contains information related to a depth related to the splitting of the submeshes (Salvi, ¶0069, “This micromesh is formed as regular 2n×2n mesh (where n is any non-zero integer), with each further tessellated level subdividing each sub triangle in the previous level into four (4) smaller sub triangles according to a barycentric grid and a space filling curve. See FIG. 4 table. In this example, higher tessellation levels have more sub triangles defined within the base triangle and thus offer higher levels of detail. See FIG. 5 .” ¶0072. ¶0078, “At each level of subdivision, new vertex displacement values are formed by averaging the displacement values of two adjacent vertices in a higher subdivision level.” ¶0081, “It will be noted that the encoder will communicate the base anchor displacements to the decoder, and the decoder in recursively subdividing the base triangle into increasingly deeper levels of subdivision (resulting in higher and higher tessellation levels) will already have calculated the adjacent microvertex displacement values which are thus available for computing (by linear interpolation) the displacement values for new intermediate microvertices.”)
As to claim 20, claim 1 is incorporated and the combination Salvi and Steliaros discloses the bitstream contains offset information related to geometry information about the added vertices (0078, “At each level of subdivision, new vertex displacement values are formed by averaging the displacement values of two adjacent vertices in a higher subdivision level.”).
As to claim 21, claim 5 is incorporated and the combination Salvi and Steliaros discloses the bitstream contains information related to a type of submeshes (Salvi, ¶0102, “According to some embodiments, a 2-pass approach is used to encode a sub triangle with a given μ-mesh type. See FIG. 14 .” ¶0107, “In this case the compressor can try to encode the sub triangle with less compressed μ-mesh types, until the expected quality is met. This iterative process can lead to attempting to encode a sub triangle with a μ-mesh type that cannot represent all its μ-triangles. In this case the sub triangle is recursively split in four sub triangles until it can be encoded. In one embodiment, the initial split step splits only when the current subtriangle contains more triangles than can be encoded with the current micromesh type (hence the need to recursively split until the number of microtriangles in the subtriangle matches the number of triangles that can be encoded with the current micromesh type).”).
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 extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to YU CHEN whose telephone number is (571)270-7951. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8-5 PST Mid-day flex.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Xiao Wu can be reached on 571-272-7761. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/YU CHEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2613
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