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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority based on an application filed in Korea on 10/12/2023. It is noted, however, that applicant has not filed a certified copy of the foreign application (10-2023-0135775) as required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Claim Objections
Claims 8-15 objected to because of the following informalities:
Claims 8-15 have a minor formatting issue. Claim 8 (and corresponding dependent claims) includes the updating step. The limitation is about the change of the QP of the privacy region which would fall under the contingent limitation “based on the ROI not being included in the digital image.”
The Office provides the following as a suggestion for the limitation to be indented for the formatting:
A method for encoding a digital image including a privacy region, the method comprising:
determining whether a region of interest (ROI) is included in the digital image;
based on the ROI not being included in the digital image:
increasing a quantization coefficient (QP) of the privacy region based on the privacy region being a solid mask, and
adjusting the QP of the privacy region according to a mosaic level based on the privacy region being a mosaic mask; and
___________updating encoding information of the privacy region based on a change of the QP of the privacy region.
Claim 13 recites “based on the ROI being included in the digital image: adjusting the QP of the ROI and the QP of the privacy region based on a proportion of the ROI and the privacy region in the digital image, and an amount of encoding resources saved in the privacy region;…”
There appears to be a minor typographical error with a comma. There appears to be two elements “proportion…and an amount…”
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
Claim 12 is 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.
Claim 12 recites the limitation "the QP of the ROI" in line 2. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Note that claim 12 depends on claim 8.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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 person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-15 and 17-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and/or 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Dutt et al (US 10,200,695 and hereafter referred to as “Dutt”).
Regarding Claim 1, Dutt discloses a method for encoding a digital image including a privacy region, the method comprising:
determining whether a change occurs in the privacy region within the digital image (Column 10, lines 18-36); and
based on no change occurring in the privacy region within the digital image, encoding the privacy region in a skip mode, and
based on the change occurring in the privacy region within the digital image, increasing a quantization coefficient (QP) of the privacy region (Column 10, lines 18-36).
Note that the limitation “determining whether a change occurs in the privacy region within the digital image, based on no change occurring in the privacy region within the digital image, encoding the privacy region in a skip mode” are contingent limitations and are not required in method claims. See MPEP 2111.04, II. The Office notes that only one of the limitations either no change or a change are required.
Regarding Claim 2, Dutt discloses all the limitations of Claim 1. Dutt discloses further comprising: updating encoding information of the privacy region based on the increase of the QP of the privacy region (Column 10, lines 52-57).
Regarding Claim 3, Dutt discloses all the limitations of Claim 1. Dutt discloses wherein, based on the change in the privacy region occurring within the digital image, the QP of the privacy region is increased to a maximum value provided by an encoder (Column 10, lines 52-57, Column 10, line 13).
Regarding Claim 4, Dutt discloses all the limitations of Claim 1. Dutt discloses further comprising: determining whether a region of interest (ROI) is included in the digital image, prior to the determining whether the change occurs in the privacy region (Figure 2A, 2B, Figure 6A-6C, Figure 7, Figure 10A-10C); and adjusting a QP of the ROI and the QP of the privacy region in the digital image based on the ROI being included in the digital image ((Figure 2A, 2B, Figure 6A-6C, Figure 7, Figure 10A-10C).
Regarding Claim 5, Dutt discloses all the limitations of Claim 4. Dutt discloses wherein the adjusting the QP of the ROI comprises reducing the QP of the ROI (Column 10, lines 6-13, Column 18, lines 20-28 – the equation has values which increase or reduce the QP).
Regarding Claim 6, Dutt discloses all the limitations of Claim 4. Dutt discloses wherein the adjusting the QP of the ROI and the QP of the privacy region is based on at least one of a ratio of the ROI and the privacy region in the digital image and an amount of encoding resources saved in the privacy region (Column 10, lines 6-13, Column 18, lines 20-28).
Regarding Claim 7, Dutt discloses all the limitations of Claim 5. Dutt discloses the adjusting the QP of the ROI and the QP of the privacy region in the digital image is performed for each macroblock within the digital image (Column 10, lines 6-13, Column 18, lines 20-28 – the equation has values which increase or reduce the QP).
Regarding Claim 8, Dutt discloses method for encoding a digital image including a privacy region, the method comprising:
determining whether a region of interest (ROI) is included in the digital image (Figure 2A, 2B, Figure 6A-6C, Figure 7, Figure 10A-10C, Column 5, lines 54-65);
based on the ROI not being included in the digital image:
increasing a quantization coefficient (QP) of the privacy region based on the privacy region being a solid mask, and
adjusting the QP of the privacy region according to a mosaic level based on the privacy region being a mosaic mask; and
updating encoding information of the privacy region based on a change of the QP of the privacy region.
Note that the limitation “determining whether a region of interest (ROI) is included in the digital image and based on the based on the ROI not being included in the digital image” are contingent limitations and are not required in method claims. Therefore, any limitations which refers to “based on the ROI not being included in the digital image” are not required to be met. See MPEP 2111.04, II. Please note that dependent claims 9-10 and 12 include contingent limitations from “based on the ROI not being included” and therefore, are not required to be met. Note claim 11 and 13-15 have contingent limitations, but these fall under the contingency rejected.
Regarding Claim 9-10, 12, Dutt discloses all the limitations of Claim 8. Claims 9, 10, and 12 are not required as they depend on the contingency based on the ROI not being included in the image.
Regarding Claim 11, Dutt discloses all the limitations of Claim 8. Dutt discloses
further comprising: based on the ROI being included in the digital image: adjusting a QP of the ROI and the QP of the privacy region based on a proportion of the ROI and the privacy region in the digital image (Column 10, lines 6-13, Column 18, lines 20-28); and updating encoding information of the ROI and the privacy region based on the adjusted QP of the ROI and the adjusted QP of the privacy region (Column 10, lines 52-57).
Regarding Claim 13, Dutt discloses all the limitations of Claim 8. Dutt discloses
further comprising: based on the ROI being included in the digital image: adjusting the QP of the ROI and the QP of the privacy region based on a proportion of the ROI and the privacy region in the digital image (Column 10, lines 5-17), and an amount of encoding resources saved in the privacy region (Column 6, lines 24-36, Column 10, lines 18-25); and updating encoding information of the ROI and the privacy region based on the adjusted QP for the ROI and the adjusted QP of the privacy region (Column 10, lines 52-57).
Regarding Claim 14, Dutt discloses all the limitations of Claim 11. Dutt discloses wherein the adjusting the QP of the ROI comprises reducing the QP of the ROI (Column 10, lines 6-13, Column 18, lines 20-28 – the equation has values which increase or reduce the QP).
Regarding Claim 15, Dutt discloses all the limitations of Claim 11. Dutt discloses the adjusting the QP of the privacy region comprises increasing the QP of the privacy region (Column 10, lines 6-13, Column 18, lines 20-28 – the equation has values which increase or reduce the QP).
Regarding Claim 17, Dutt discloses a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a computer-executable program comprising instructions, which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to execute a digital image encoding method comprising:
inputting a digital image comprising a plurality of frames, wherein first frames of the plurality of frames comprise a privacy region, and second frames of the plurality of frames comprise a privacy region and a region of interest (ROI) (Column 4, lines 1-10, Figure 6A, Figure 6B, Figure 1, Figure 11A, Figure 11B, video necessarily includes a plurality of frames, and regions of interest include those next to the masked/privacy region)
increasing a quantization coefficient (QP) of the privacy region based on a change in the privacy region among the plurality of frames (Column 10, lines 18-45, Column 18, lines 4-15); and
updating encoding information of the digital image (Column 10, lines 52-57).
Regarding Claim 18, Dutt discloses all the limitations of Claim 17. Dutt discloses wherein, with respect to the first frames: the increasing the QP of the privacy region comprises at least one of: increasing the QP of the privacy region based on the privacy region being a solid mask (Column 10, lines 14-17, Column 18, lines 20-28, degree of masking, See also Figure 6A-6C, Figure 7, mask, Column 8, lines 1-4), and adjusting the QP of the privacy region according to a mosaic level based on the privacy region being a mosaic mask (Column 10, lines 14-17, Column 18, lines 20-28, degree of masking, See also Figure 6A-6C, Figure 7, mask, Column 8, lines 1-4); and the updating the encoding information comprises updating encoding information of the privacy region based on the change of the QP of the privacy region (Column 10, lines 52-57).
Regarding Claim 19, Dutt discloses all the limitations of Claim 18. Dutt discloses
wherein, with respect to the second frames: the increasing the QP of the privacy region comprises: increasing the QP of the privacy region based on an area ratio of the ROI and the privacy region (Column 10, lines 18-45, Column 18, lines 4-15), and decreasing the QP of the ROI in proportion to the increase in QP of the privacy region (Column 10, lines 18-45, Column 18, lines 4-15); and the updating the encoding information comprises updating the encoding information of the ROI and the privacy region (Column 10, lines 52-57).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 16 and 20 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FARZANA HOSSAIN whose telephone number is (571)272-5943. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Christopher Kelley can be reached at 571-272-7331. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/FARZANA HOSSAIN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2482
January 29, 2026