DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-4, 7-14, and 17-20 have been considered but are moot because the new grounds of rejection.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-4, 7-8, 10-11, 13-14, and 17 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.
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.
Claims 1, 9, and 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (US 20240430480 A1) in view of Ilola (WO 2021136876 A1).
As per claim 1, Lee teaches the claimed:
1. An encoding method, comprising:
encoding, by an encoder side, first information corresponding to a target three-dimensional mesh, to obtain a first bitstream, wherein the first information is determined based on geometry information corresponding to the target three-dimensional mesh;
(Lee [0039]: “The patch information encoder 120 may encode the patch information to generate a bitstream.”
Lee [0034]: “the patch information may include a coordinate value in the three-dimensional space of each patch and information in the three-dimensional space such as width, length, depth, and the like. It may also include information such as coordinate values in a two-dimensional projective plane and information such as horizontal and vertical lengths.”
Lee teaches the patch information encoder that encodes patch information, which is based on geometry information such as coordinate values like width, length, depth, and horizontal or vertical values.)
determining, by the encoder side, a second bitstream based on connection information corresponding to a first reconstructed mesh, wherein the first reconstructed mesh is determined based on the first information and the target three-dimensional mesh;
(Lee [0045]: “The mesh geometry-information encoder 160 encodes the mesh vertices, connectivity, texture map vertices, and the like to generate a bitstream.”
Lee [0029]: “the present disclosure provides a mesh and point cloud coding method and a device for predicting with reference to a reconstructed point cloud when a mesh is encoded/decoded, or for predicting with reference to a reconstructed mesh when a point cloud is encoded/decoded.” Lee describes the present disclosure uses a reference (target) mesh.
Lee teaches the mesh geometry information encoder that generates a second bitstream based on connectivity that corresponds to the mesh and texture map vertices given by the patch (first) information, which the geometric image is based from, which the occupancy image is based from in paragraphs [0034-0037]. Thus, Lee teaches a second bitstream based on connection information and a reconstructed mesh.)
Lee alone does not explicitly teach the remaining claim limitations.
However, Lee in combination with Ilola teaches the claimed:
determining, by the encoder side, a third bitstream based on target information and an attribute encoding manner, wherein the attribute encoding manner is represented by a state identifier, the target information comprises attribute information corresponding to the first reconstructed mesh or comprises the target three-dimensional mesh and a target texture map corresponding to the target three-dimensional mesh; and
(Lee [0042]: “The attribute video encoder 150 receives and then encodes an attribute image or mesh texture map to generate a bitstream.”
Ilola [0111]: “the UV coordinates may be signalled as separate attribute channel, wherein a new attribute type may be added for V-PCC which would allow such signalling. As a result, the texture maps may be tailored specifically for the model in question and used to achieve per pixel accuracy of UV coordinates. This adds a new encoded video component to V-PCC video bitstream”
Ilola [0103]: “syntax elements, which may be referred to as asps uv mapping flag and asps uv mapping type are added to atlas sequence parameter set in extensions fields or any other suitable syntax structure” Ilola teaches the asps uv mapping flag, which indicates whether the uv mapping is used, thus a state or switch identifier, and the asps uv mapping type indicates the type of uv mapping mechanism, which is the encoding manner.
Lee [0029]: “the present disclosure provides a mesh and point cloud coding method and a device for predicting with reference to a reconstructed point cloud when a mesh is encoded/decoded, or for predicting with reference to a reconstructed mesh when a point cloud is encoded/decoded.” Lee describes the present disclosure uses a reference (target) mesh.
Lee teaches the attribute encoder that refers to a mesh texture map, that is based on the target mesh as stated in paragraph [0029], thus teaching that the target information includes the target mesh and the texture map.)
generating, by the encoder side, a target bitstream based on the first bitstream, the second bitstream, and the third bitstream.
(Lee [0047]: “The bitstream synthesizer 170 concatenates all of the received bitstreams to generate a single bitstream.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the switch identifier as taught by Ilola with the system of Lee in order to support different attribute and texture encoding techniques and to determine how the attribute and textures information should be encoded and decoded.
As per claim 9, Lee teaches the claimed:
9. A decoding method, comprising:
decomposing, by a decoder side, an obtained target bitstream, (Lee [0049]: “The point cloud-and-mesh decoding device (hereinafter used interchangeably with “decoding device”) reconstructs a three-dimensional point cloud and mesh from the bitstream.”) to obtain first information, (Lee [0053]: “The geometry video decoder 430 decodes the received bitstream to reconstruct a geometric image.”) decoding information, (Lee [0049-0057] teaches of multiple decoders, which inherently have decoding information as the decoder must be able to decode the inputted bitstreams in the proper ways.) an attribute encoding manner, (Ilola [0122-0123]: “a signal is provided to the decoder … said signaling is performed by a flag in one or more of the following: occupancy information, geometry information, attribute information. For example, for occupancy this type of signaling may be added in occupancy information(atlasld) by a syntax element”) and a third bitstream, (Lee [0053]: “The bitstream separator 410 receives and then separates the bitstream into multiple bitstreams.” Lee teaches a bitstream separator, thus a third bitstream can be obtained.) wherein the attribute encoding manner is represented by a state identifier; (Ilola [0103]: “syntax elements, which may be referred to as asps uv mapping flag and asps uv mapping type are added to atlas sequence parameter set in extensions fields or any other suitable syntax structure” Ilola teaches the asps uv mapping flag, which indicates whether the uv mapping is used, thus a state or switch identifier, and the asps uv mapping type indicates the type of uv mapping mechanism, which is the encoding manner.)
obtaining, by the decoder side, geometry information corresponding to a target three-dimensional mesh based on the first information;
(Lee [0053]: “The geometry video decoder 430 decodes the received bitstream to reconstruct a geometric image.” Lee teaches the geometric information as creating a geometric image requires some kind of information to create the image.)
determining, by the decoder side, connection information corresponding to the target three-dimensional mesh based on the decoding information; and
(Lee [0057]: “The mesh geometry-information decoder 460 may receive a bitstream as input to reconstruct the geometry information of the mesh. In this case, the geometry information of the mesh may include mesh vertices, mesh connectivity, and information on the texture vertices of the mesh. The reconstructed geometry information may be combined with the reconstructed mesh texture map generated by the attribute video decoder 450 and the form of a reconstructed mesh may be outputted by combination.” Lee teaches determining the mesh connectivity from the geometry information of the mesh, which is based on the decoding information from the mesh geometry-information decoder.)
determining, by the decoder side, attribute information corresponding to the target three-dimensional mesh based on the third bitstream and the attribute encoding manner.
(Lee [0055]: “The attribute video decoder 450 may decode the inputted bitstream to reconstruct an attribute image or a mesh texture map.”
Ilola [0122-0123]: “a signal is provided to the decoder … said signaling is performed by a flag in one or more of the following: occupancy information, geometry information, attribute information.”)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the switch identifier as taught by Ilola with the system of Lee in order to support different attribute and texture encoding techniques and to determine how the attribute and textures information should be encoded and decoded.
As per claim 20, this claim is similar in scope to limitations recited in claim 9, and thus is rejected under the same rationale.
As per claim 18, Lee teaches the claimed:
18. The method according to claim 9, wherein the attribute information comprises reconstructed texture coordinate information and a reconstructed texture map; and
(Lee [0142]: “the attribute information of the reconstructed point cloud may be projected onto the face. Further, the projected attribute information may be projected again to the texture map based on the texture map coordinates of the vertices.”)
the determining attribute information corresponding to the target three-dimensional mesh based on the third bitstream and the attribute encoding manner comprises:
in a case that the attribute encoding manner indicated by the state identifier is a third attribute encoding manner,
(Ilola [0103]: “syntax elements, which may be referred to as asps uv mapping flag and asps uv mapping type are added to atlas sequence parameter set in extensions fields or any other suitable syntax structure” Ilola teaches the asps uv mapping flag, which indicates whether the uv mapping is used, thus a state or switch identifier, and the asps uv mapping type indicates the type of uv mapping mechanism, which is the encoding manner. Further looking at Table 1, it shows example syntax elements, which correspond to the different encoding manners, and a third attribute encoding manner here can be any three syntax elements that indicate the mapping type and mechanism.)
decoding, by the decoder side, the third bitstream, to obtain the reconstructed texture map corresponding to the target three-dimensional mesh, wherein the third bitstream does not include encoded reconstructed texture coordinate information.
(Lee [0049]: “The decoding device may include all or part of a bitstream separator 410, a patch information decoder 420, a geometry video decoder 430, an occupancy video decoder 440, an attribute video decoder 450, a mesh geometry-information decoder 460, and a point cloud image-synthesizer 470.”
Lee [0055]: “The attribute video decoder 450 may decode the inputted bitstream to reconstruct an attribute image or a mesh texture map.”
Lee [0057]: “The mesh geometry-information decoder 460 may receive a bitstream as input to reconstruct the geometry information of the mesh. In this case, the geometry information of the mesh may include mesh vertices, mesh connectivity, and information on the texture vertices of the mesh.” Lee teaches the mesh geometry information decoder that receives a bitstream to reconstruct geometry information, thus since the result of the decoding is a reconstructed geometry information, which includes mesh vertices where the vertices represent coordinates of the mesh, the bitstream will not include the encoded reconstructed texture coordinate information.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the switch identifier as taught by Ilola with the system of Lee in order to support different attribute and texture encoding techniques and to determine how the attribute and textures information should be encoded and decoded.
As per claim 19, Lee teaches the claimed:
19. A terminal, comprising a processor and a memory, wherein a program or instructions executable on the processor is/are stored in the memory; and when the program or the instructions is/are executed by the processor, the steps of the encoding method according to claim 1.
(Lee [0176]: “various methods or functions described in some embodiments may be implemented as instructions stored in a non-transitory recording medium that can be read and executed by one or more processors. The non-transitory recording medium may include, for example, various types of recording devices in which data is stored in a form readable by a computer system.”)
Claims 2 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Ilola in view of Kim (US 20090184956 A1) and in further view of Iguchi (US 20210264641 A1).
As per claim 2, Lee alone does not explicitly teach the claimed limitations.
However, Lee in combination with Kim and Iguchi teaches the claimed:
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the encoding the first information corresponding to the target three-dimensional mesh, to obtain the first bitstream comprises:
quantizing, by the encoder side, the geometry information of the target three-dimensional mesh, to obtain the first information, wherein the first information comprises at least one of the following: first-precision geometry information, second-precision geometry information, or information about a supplementary point; and
(Kim [0053]: “As described above, by using the cluster mesh obtained through the clustering of the respective meshes in the three-dimensional mesh model, vertex data in the three-dimensional mesh model can be easily compressed. In addition, by introducing local coordinate systems to the respective cluster meshes, the vertex positions can be accurately expressed with a small number of bits through quantization of geometry information of vertexes included in the respective cluster meshes.”
Kim [0069]: “The local quantization denotes calculation of geometry information of the vertexes 510 and 520 included in the cluster mesh based on a local coordinate system.”
Kim teaches the quantization of the geometric information to determine the calculations of the mesh, which corresponds to the first information.)
encoding, by the encoder side, the first information, to obtain the first bitstream, wherein
(Lee [0061]: “the encoding device may encode an inputted point cloud or mesh to generate a bitstream.” Lee teaches the inputting a mesh to generate a bitstream, thus using the quantized calculation of the mesh as stated in Kim above would result in encoding the first information to generate a bitstream.)
the first-precision geometry information is geometry information obtained after quantization of the target three-dimensional mesh,
(Kim [0053]: “the vertex positions can be accurately expressed with a small number of bits through quantization of geometry information”.)
the second-precision geometry information is geometry information lost in a quantization process of the target three-dimensional mesh, and
(Iguchi [0667]: “As a result, in the quantization of the point cloud data, precise geometry information and the precise number of points are lost.” Iguchi teaches lost geometry information after quantization of the point cloud data.)
the information about the supplementary point is information about a point that needs additional processing and that is generated in the quantization process.
(Kim [0070]: “In the case of performing the quantization by using the absolute coordinate system without applying the local coordinate system, a larger number of bits are required in quantizing the positions of the respective vertexes.” Kim teaches information of geometry information that more bits would be required (additional processing) after the quantization process.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the quantization of geometric information as taught by Kim with the system of Lee in order to reduce storage and memory in addition to faster processing and computations. Also to use the claimed invention of the lost geometry information as taught by Iguchi with the system of Lee in order to improve reconstruction accuracy and optimize compression quality and storage efficiency.
As per claim 12, Lee alone does not explicitly teach the remaining claim limitations.
However, Lee in combination with Kim and Iguchi teaches the claimed:
12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the obtaining the geometry information corresponding to the target three-dimensional mesh based on the first information comprises:
determining, by the decoder side based on first-precision geometry information and a quantization parameter of each component, coordinates of each vertex in the first-precision geometry information; and
(Kim [0039]: “The mesh data includes geometry information of the respective vertexes.”
Kim [0050]: “quantization unit effectively quantizes the respective vertex positions in respective local coordinate systems in accordance with the respective cluster meshes.”
Kim teaches the quantization unit that quantizes cluster meshes, which include the geometric information, and thus quantizes each of those parts, to determine the coordinates of each vertex in the geometric information.)
determining, by the decoder side, geometry information corresponding to the target three-dimensional mesh based on coordinates of each vertex in the target three-dimensional mesh and second-precision geometry information.
(Kim [0053]: “by introducing local coordinate systems to the respective cluster meshes, the vertex positions can be accurately expressed with a small number of bits through quantization of geometry information of vertexes included in the respective cluster meshes.”
Iguchi [0667]: “As a result, in the quantization of the point cloud data, precise geometry information and the precise number of points are lost.” Iguchi teaches lost geometry information after quantization of the point cloud data.)
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the quantization of geometric information as taught by Kim with the system of Lee in order to reduce storage and memory in addition to faster processing and computations. Also to use the claimed invention of the lost geometry information as taught by Iguchi with the system of Lee in order to improve reconstruction accuracy and optimize compression quality and storage efficiency.
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 nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) 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 mailing date of this final action.
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/JOSHUA SUO/Examiner, Art Unit 2616
/DANIEL F HAJNIK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2616
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