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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC 101
35 USC 101 reads:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
For each rejection below, dependent claims are rejected similarly as not remedying the rejection, unless otherwise noted.
Judicial exception (JE) to 101 patentability -- claims 1-3 and 6-31 -- for example, a claim to an abstract idea and not significantly more
Claims 6-10 and 16-20 are rejected under 35 USC 101 because the claimed invention is not directed to patent eligible subject matter. After consideration of relevant factors with respect to each claim as a whole, each claim is directed to an abstract idea and not significantly more, as explained below.
The claimed invention is directed to a JE (i.e. an abstract idea, a natural principle or a product of nature) without reciting significantly more. Each claim recites elements constituting a JE, and neither a combination of elements within the JE nor additional elements beyond the JE amount to significantly more than the JE.
In Alice, citing Mayo and Bilski, two Mayo questions are posed to determine eligibility under 101: First, is a claim directed to a JE? And second, if so, does the claim recite significantly more than the JE?
For citations and further explanation, see the following USPTO Guidance: Federal Register notice titled "July 2015 Update on Subject Matter Eligibility" (80 FR 45429, also see 79 FR 74618) and also the USPTO website "Examination Guidance and Training Materials," including examples of analysis (www .uspto.gov/patent/laws-and-regulations/examination-policy/examination-guidance-and-training-materials).
Steps and/or elements of independent claim 16 are directed to a computer-implemented method, including the steps and/or elements of " receiving,...," "detecting..." "decoding…… and "triggering...," each of which steps/elements, in at least some embodiments within a BRI, involves only manipulation of data. A BRI of the instant claims is analogous to the following examples, as cited and discussed in the above guidance: obtaining and comparing intangible data (e.g. Cybersource, Ambry, Myriad CAFC and SmartGene) and/or execution of an algorithm to implement mathematical relationships and/or formulas (e.g. Benson, Flook, Diehr, FuzzySharp, In re Grams and In re Abele). Regarding element/step "extracting...," the step is exemplified but not defined in the specification (instant specification: e.g. [0005]), and a BRI reads on embodiments that include extraction from and transfer of previously acquired data. Thus, within a BRI, the identified steps, elements and JE(s) read on one or more embodiments which only involve manipulation of data. It is not clear that these steps/elements, taken together and with a BRI, must represent other than an abstract idea according to any relevant analysis or case law. Therefore, in answer to the first Mayo question, the above steps/elements are directed to a JE.
As in Alice (at 306, as cited in the above USPTO guidance) and Bilski (as cited in Alice, id), an abstract idea may comprise multiple abstract steps/elements (i.e. from Alice: "a series of steps" at 306) and need not be a single equation, relationship or principle. Regarding the first Mayo question, an "algorithm itself" cannot be patented (Bilski at 3230 citing Benson) because it is an abstract idea, requiring further analysis via the second Mayo question. One test as to what constitutes an abstract idea is the extent to which a suspected abstract idea, in the form of steps or elements of a claim, is not applied to and does not improve the physical world (see Digitech at p. 11 of the slip op. as cited in the above USPTO guidance: "The method... claims an abstract idea because it describes” decoding the first watermark or the second watermark into a sequence of symbols; and triggering an event based on the sequence of symbols "Data in its ethereal, non-physical form is simply information that does not fall under any of the categories of eligible subject matter under section 101").
Addressing the second Mayo question, all steps/elements in claim 16 are part of the JE. Also, it is not clear from the record that the claim as a whole is an improvement over embodiments available in the art at the time of the instant invention. Nor is it clear that the claim as a whole is sufficiently analogous to any controlling case law identifying examples of eligible claims. Therefore, answering the second Mayo question, the claim does not recite significantly more than a JE.
Viewed as a whole and considering all steps/elements within claim 16 both individually and in combination, the claim steps/elements do not recite limitations to transform the JE into a patent eligible application of the JE such that the claim amounts to significantly more than the JE.
The dependent claims do not remedy the above rejections.
Possible avenues to overcoming this JE rejection are discussed and exemplified in the above-cited Guidance. As appropriate, one possible avenue may be, for example, clarifying on the record the extent to which the invention improves its relevant technology field in all claimed embodiments (see the Research Corporation Technologies (RCT) example in the Guidance (79 FR 74618,74630; 2014 Interim Guidance on Patent Subject Matter Eligibility; §IV.B.2) and in the 2014 Abstract Ideas Examples (Part One, Example 3, §"Analysis")).
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Eyer et al (US 20190297391) in view of Pu et al (US 2016/0029028)
As to claim 1, Eyer teaches a system comprising: one or more processors; and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors (The television or other device processes the digital data to receive information that, for example, allows the viewing device to identify a channel currently being watched and recognize a channel change; to identify the content being viewed, including short content such as interstitials; to discover a location for accessing additional information about the content (e.g., a URL of a remote server); to identify the temporal location within the content being rendered, ideally to a level of per sample or access unit accuracy; and/or to receive a time-sensitive event trigger in real time, paragraph [0046]) to perform operations including:
receiving, at media device ( FIG. 5A embodiment, the I/O interfaces 524 may include one or more input and/or output interfaces to receive and/or transmit any required types of information for the TV 122, paragraph [0100]), a media segment, wherein the media segment includes a set of video frames (Figure 3, video data, audio data, metadata manager);
detecting a watermark in a first video frame of the set of video frames (the television 122 determines symbol values of the watermark representing the embedded metadata based on the luminance values in pixels of a first portion (e.g., first line) of a video frame of the content. , paragraph [0135]), wherein the watermark includes a first set of pixels with encoded data and a second set of pixels proximate to the first set of pixels and wherein the second set of pixels comprise pixel values that are based on a third set of pixels of the first video frame (2 bits are encoded per a symbol, the determined highest luminance value is used to determine three splice points, which are compared with the first set of luminance values to derive the symbol values. For example, when the determined highest luminance value is N and the four luminance values used to encode the symbols are 0, N/3, 2N/3, and N, a first splice point may be determined by N/6, a second splice point may be determined by N/2, and a third splice point may be determined by 5N/6. Any non-integer splice points are rounded to the nearest integer in one embodiment. Subsequently, each of the luminance values in the set of luminance values is compared with at least one of the first, second, or third slice points to derive the symbol data values, paragraph [014-0149]; decoding the watermark ( a decoder device of the reception apparatus 550 then uncompresses the compressed audio data and video data to produce uncompressed audio data 318 and uncompressed video data 316 (including the embedded metadata 322, paragraph [0133])
While Eyer meets a number of the limitations of the claimed invention, as pointed out more fully above, Eyer fails to specifically teach “
by assigning a first symbol to one or more subsets of pixels that correspond to a first luminance or chrominance value and a second symbol to one or more subsets of pixels that correspond to a second luminance or chrominance value; and triggering an event based on a sequence of symbols derived from the assigned symbols”.
Specifically, Pu et al teaches assigning a first symbol to the one or more subsets of pixels that correspond to the first pixel value and a second symbol to the one or more subsets of pixels that correspond to the second pixel value ( figure 12 block 1206 in some embodiments, a palette may be constructed for the block. The palette comprises entries that map pixel values that are present in the block to block index values. In some embodiments, the palette may comprise entries for all unique pixel values present in the block. In other embodiment, the palette may comprise entries for a subset of the unique pixel values present in the block. For example, the palette may comprise entries for the most common pixel values of the block, the pixel values associated with a threshold number of pixels in the block, and/or the like; At block 1208, sub-block palettes are constructed for sub-blocks within the block, which may be used to specify pixel values that are present within the sub-block, paragraph [0202-0204]) and generating, based on the first symbol and the second symbol, a first sequence of symbols .Thereafter, as illustrated in FIG. 4C, to determine a relationship between R1 and R2, R2 is subtracted from R11 to obtain a set of intensity difference values shown in a 4*4 matrix. In an embodiment, determining the relationship between different regions involves determining ratios of intensities of each pixel in the first region to the intensities of corresponding pixels in the second region. In addition to intensity differences and intensity ratios, various other relationship values between pixels in different regions may be determined, such as, for example, a calculation involving a combination of intensity difference and intensity ratio between pixels from different regions. Although image intensity is used to illustrate the examples, any other value that can be derived from the image may be used. Examples include, but are not limited to, values of a intensity histogram, edge orientation histogram around each corner point, color histogram, transform domain coefficients, paragraph 45) and (b) embedding data into a digital video signal without visually impairing the signal, in order to provide a means for conveying additional information with the video signal and by performing the reconstruction operation for each TU of the CU, video decoder 30 may reconstruct a residual video block associated with the CU ( paragraph [0093][0098][0118][0140][0143][0215]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Eyer and included the sub block palette of Pu et al in order to improve coding efficiency and reducing computational resource requirements. Therefore, the claimed invention would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention by applicant.
As to claim 2, Pu et al teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the operations further include: decoding a second watermark in a second video frame of the set of video frames into a second sequence of symbols, wherein the second watermark includes a fourth set of pixels with encoded data, and wherein a location of the fourth set of pixels within the second video frame is different from a location of the first set of pixels within the first video frame, wherein triggering the event is further based on the second sequence of symbols (paragraph [0093][0098][0118][0140][0143][0215], note that Eyer also teaches the broadcaster is given the flexibility to adjust the values to tradeoff between watermark visibility and robustness. Higher values of luminance lead to higher visibility and higher robustness and/or bits per a symbol. Lower values lead to lower visibility at the cost of lower robustness and/or bits per a symbol).
As to claim 3, Pu et al teaches the system of claim 1, further comprising: decoding a second watermark in the first video frame of the set of video frames into a second sequence of symbols, wherein the second watermark includes a fourth set of pixels with encoded data, and wherein a location of the fourth set of pixels within the first video frame is different from a location of the first set of pixels within the first video frame, wherein triggering the event is further based on the second sequence of symbols ( paragraph [0093][0098][0118] [0140][0143] [0215], note that Eyer also teaches the broadcaster is given the flexibility to adjust the values to tradeoff between watermark visibility and robustness. Higher values of luminance lead to higher visibility and higher robustness and/or bits per a symbol. Lower values lead to lower visibility at the cost of lower robustness and/or bits per a symbol).
As to claim 4, Pu teaches the system of claim 1, wherein the event causes the media device to replace the media segment with a replacement media segment (When video decoder 30 receives the bitstream, video decoder 30 may perform a parsing operation on the bitstream. When video decoder 30 performs the parsing operation, video decoder 30 may extract syntax elements from the bitstream. Video decoder 30 may reconstruct the pictures of the video data based on the syntax elements extracted from the bitstream. The process to reconstruct the video data based on the syntax elements may be generally reciprocal to the process performed by video encoder 20 to generate the syntax elements, paragraph[0094-0095][0150][0151]).
As to claim 5, Pu et al teaches the system of claim 1, wherein decoding the watermark further includes assigning one or more symbols to the sequence of symbols based on a location of the first set of pixels within the first video frame( figure 12 block 1206 in some embodiments, a palette may be constructed for the block. The palette comprises entries that map pixel values that are present in the block to block index values. In some embodiments, the palette may comprise entries for all unique pixel values present in the block. In other embodiment, the palette may comprise entries for a subset of the unique pixel values present in the block. For example, the palette may comprise entries for the most common pixel values of the block, the pixel values associated with a threshold number of pixels in the block, and/or the like; At block 1208, sub-block palettes are constructed for sub-blocks within the block, which may be used to specify pixel values that are present within the sub-block, paragraph [0202-0204]).
The limitation of claims 6-10 has been addressed above .
As to claim 11, Eyer teaches system comprising: one or more processors; and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors (The television or other device processes the digital data to receive information that, for example, allows the viewing device to identify a channel currently being watched and recognize a channel change; to identify the content being viewed, including short content such as interstitials; to discover a location for accessing additional information about the content (e.g., a URL of a remote server); to identify the temporal location within the content being rendered, ideally to a level of per sample or access unit accuracy; and/or to receive a time-sensitive event trigger in real time, paragraph [0046]) to perform operations including:
receiving, at media device ( FIG. 5A embodiment, the I/O interfaces 524 may include one or more input and/or output interfaces to receive and/or transmit any required types of information for the TV 122, paragraph [0100]), a media segment, wherein the media segment includes a set of video frames ( figure 3);
detecting a first watermark in a first video frame of the set of video frames, wherein the first watermark includes a first set of pixels with encoded data; detecting a second watermark in a second video frame of the set of video frames, wherein the second watermark includes a second set of pixels with encoded data( determine a first set of luminance values used to encode a first subset of the symbols based on luminance values of a first plurality of pixels included in the image, derive data values of the first subset of the symbols encoded in the image based on a first predetermined slice point, determine a luminance value used to encode a second subset of the symbols in the image based on the derived data values of the first subset of the symbols, determine a second set of luminance values used to encode the second subset of the symbols based on luminance values of a second plurality of pixels included in the image, and derive data values of the second subset of the symbols encoded in the image based on the second set of luminance values and using the determined luminance value, paragraph [0205]). While Eyer meets a number of the limitations of the claimed invention, as pointed out more fully above, Eyer fails to specifically teach “ wherein a location of the second set of pixels within the first video frame is different from a location of the first set of pixels; decoding the first watermark or the second watermark into a sequence of symbols; and triggering an event based on the sequence of symbols. “
Specifically, Pu et al teaches in figure 12 block 1206 in some embodiments, a palette may be constructed for the block. The palette comprises entries that map pixel values that are present in the block to block index values. In some embodiments, the palette may comprise entries for all unique pixel values present in the block. In other embodiment, the palette may comprise entries for a subset of the unique pixel values present in the block. For example, the palette may comprise entries for the most common pixel values of the block, the pixel values associated with a threshold number of pixels in the block, and/or the like; At block 1208, sub-block palettes are constructed for sub-blocks within the block, which may be used to specify pixel values that are present within the sub-block, paragraph [0202-0204]).and generating, based on the first symbol and the second symbol, a first sequence of symbols .Thereafter, as illustrated in FIG. 4C, to determine a relationship between R1 and R2, R2 is subtracted from R11 to obtain a set of intensity difference values shown in a 4*4 matrix. In an embodiment, determining the relationship between different regions involves determining ratios of intensities of each pixel in the first region to the intensities of corresponding pixels in the second region. In addition to intensity differences and intensity ratios, various other relationship values between pixels in different regions may be determined, such as, for example, a calculation involving a combination of intensity difference and intensity ratio between pixels from different regions. Although image intensity is used to illustrate the examples, any other value that can be derived from the image may be used. Examples include, but are not limited to, values of a intensity histogram, edge orientation histogram around each corner point, color histogram, transform domain coefficients, paragraph 45) and (b) embedding data into a digital video signal without visually impairing the signal, in order to provide a means for conveying additional information with the video signal and by performing the reconstruction operation for each TU of the CU, video decoder 30 may reconstruct a residual video block associated with the CU ( paragraph [0093][0098][0118][0140][0143][0215]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified Eyer and included the sub block palette of Pu et al in order to improve coding efficiency and reducing computational resource requirements. Therefore, the claimed invention would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention by applicant.
As to claim 12, Pu et al teaches the system of claim 11, wherein decoding the first watermark or the second watermark into a sequence of symbols includes: assigning a first symbol to one or more subsets of pixels of the first watermark that correspond to a first luminance or chrominance value and a second symbol to one or more subsets of pixels of the first watermark that correspond to a second luminance or chrominance value; assigning a third symbol to one or more subsets of pixels of the second watermark that correspond to a third luminance or chrominance value and a fourth symbol to one or more subsets of pixels of the second watermark that correspond to a fourth luminance or chrominance value; and generating a sequence of symbols based on the assigned symbols of the first watermark and the assigned symbols of the second watermark
As to claim 13, Pu et al teaches the system of claim 11, wherein the first watermark includes a third set of pixels proximate to the first set of pixels, wherein a value of pixels of the third set of pixels are selected based on pixel values of a fourth set of pixels, and wherein a location of the third set of pixels within the first video frame is different from a location of the fourth set of pixels within the first video frame( paragraph [0093][0098][0118] [0140][0143] [0215], note that Eyer also teaches the broadcaster is given the flexibility to adjust the values to tradeoff between watermark visibility and robustness. Higher values of luminance lead to higher visibility and higher robustness and/or bits per a symbol. Lower values lead to lower visibility at the cost of lower robustness and/or bits per a symbol).
As to claim 14, Pu et al teaches the system of claim 11, wherein the event causes the media device to replace the media segment with a replacement media segment(When video decoder 30 receives the bitstream, video decoder 30 may perform a parsing operation on the bitstream. When video decoder 30 performs the parsing operation, video decoder 30 may extract syntax elements from the bitstream. Video decoder 30 may reconstruct the pictures of the video data based on the syntax elements extracted from the bitstream. The process to reconstruct the video data based on the syntax elements may be generally reciprocal to the process performed by video encoder 20 to generate the syntax elements, paragraph[0094-0095][0150][0151]).
As to claim 15, Pu et al teaches the system of claim 11, wherein decoding the first watermark further includes assigning one or more symbols to the sequence of symbols based on a location of the first set of pixels within the first video frame( figure 12 block 1206 in some embodiments, a palette may be constructed for the block. The palette comprises entries that map pixel values that are present in the block to block index values. In some embodiments, the palette may comprise entries for all unique pixel values present in the block. In other embodiment, the palette may comprise entries for a subset of the unique pixel values present in the block. For example, the palette may comprise entries for the most common pixel values of the block, the pixel values associated with a threshold number of pixels in the block, and/or the like; At block 1208, sub-block palettes are constructed for sub-blocks within the block, which may be used to specify pixel values that are present within the sub-block, paragraph [0202-0204]).
The limitation of claim 16-20 has been addressed above.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NANCY BITAR whose telephone number is (571)270-1041. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 p.m..
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NANCY . BITAR
Examiner
Art Unit 2664
/NANCY BITAR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2664
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