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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-30 are currently pending in the present application, with claims 1, 17, 18, 30 being independent.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/17/2025 have been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 2, 5, 10, 21, and 26 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
Specifically, the claims recite a “base avatar model (BAVM) box”, “base model mapping (BMMA) box”, and “base model component (BMCP) box” as an extension of a Fullbox of ISOBMFF. However, the specification does not describe the structural characteristics of these boxes or identify what constitutes the claimed FullBox extension. Accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art would not be know how to make and/or use the claimed invention without undue experimentation.
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 2, 5, 10, 21, and 26 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.
Regarding claims 2, 5, and 10, the recited limitations of “base avatar model (BAVM) box”, “base model mapping (BMMA) box”, and “base model component (BMCP) box” as an extension of a Fullbox of ISOBMFF. The term “FullBox” is relied upon as a structural limitation of the claimed boxes, however, neither the claims nor specification define the term or explain its structure, meaning, or distinguishing characteristics. One of ordinary skill in the art cannot render the metes and bounds of the claims and what structural limitations are imposed by reciting that the claimed BAVM, BMMA, and BMCP boxes comprise an extension of a “FullBox”, and it is unclear what constitutes an “extension” of a FullBox.
Further, the claims do not identify the characteristics that distinguish a claimed “extension of a FullBox” from other ISO BMFF boxes or explain what structural limitations are imposed by the recited extension. Accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the claimed BAVM, BMMA, and BMCP boxes.
The examiner respectfully requests the applicant to clarify the scope of the claimed invention.
Claims 21 and 26 recites substantially similar subject matter as to that of claims 5 and 10 and is rejected using substantially similar rationale as to that which was set forth with respect to claim 5 and 10.
Claims depending thereon are also rejected for substantially similar reasons as that set forth for the claims from which they depend on.
Claims 2, 5, 10, 21, and 26 will be examined as best understood by the examiner.
Examiner’s note: No prior art rejection is made with respect to the limitations reciting “a base avatar model (BAVM) box as an extension of a FullBox “, “a base model mapping (BMMA) box as an extension of a FullBox” and “a base model component (BMCP) box as an extension of a FullBox“ in claims 2, 5, 10, 21, and 26. These limitations are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) because the claims and specification fail to reasonably apprise one of ordinary skill in the art the metes and bounds of what constitutes “an extension of a FullBox”. Accordingly, the examiner is unable to determine the full scope of the claimed subject matter or perform a complete prior art search directed to these limitations. Upon amendment clarifying the scope of the claim language, additional conduction of a further search and prior art may be applied.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 3, 17-19, and 30 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Sugio et al. (US 11461934 B2), hereinafter referred to as “Sugio”.
Regarding claim 1, Sugio discloses a method of storing media data, the method comprising:
storing a three-dimensional (3D) object model in an ISO base media file format (ISO BMFF) file (Fig. 14-15 and Col. 15-16; a method of storing the NAL unit in an ISOBMFF file…a common PCC codec NAL unit is stored in an ISOBMFF file), including:
storing metadata for the 3D object model in the ISO BMFF file (Fig. 14 and Col. 15-16; a file in ISOBMFF includes…moov that stores metadata, such as control information (signaling information));
storing a number of levels of detail (LODs) for the 3D object model in the ISO BMFF file (Fig. 77-82 and Col. 47-50; each level in the classification is referred to as a level of detail (LoD)…the three-dimensional data encoding device may add the number of LoDs to the header. Fig. 82; NumLoD); and
for each of the number of LODs, storing data associating the LOD with data representing a size (Fig. 82; NumOfPoint[i]), complexity (Fig. 78, 82 and Col. 49-52; If the thresholds of the LoDs are set in such a manner that the higher the level, the greater the threshold is as shown in FIG. 78, higher levels (levels closer to LoD0) include sparser point clouds (sparse) in which the three-dimensional points are at greater distances, and lower levels include denser point clouds (dense) in which the three-dimensional points are at smaller distances. In the example shown in FIG. 78, LoD0 is the lowest level… the three-dimensional data encoding device can use a different quantization scale for each LoD. For example, the three-dimensional data encoding device sets the quantization scale to be smaller in higher levels and greater in lower levels…), and components of the 3D object model for the LOD in the ISO BMFF file (Fig. 84 and Col. 58; After the encoding of the geometry information, if the position of a three-dimensional point is changed because of quantization or the like, the three-dimensional data encoding device reassigns the attribute information on the original three-dimensional point to the three-dimensional point changed in position…The three-dimensional data encoding device then encodes the reassigned attribute information (Attribute)…three-dimensional data encoding device encodes color, reflectance, and frame index as attribute information…).
Regarding claim 3, Sugio discloses the method of claim 1, and further discloses wherein storing the data associating the LOD with the data representing the size, complexity, and components of the 3D object model for the LOD comprises storing a base model mapping structure in the ISO BMFF file (Fig. 82; attribute_header {…NumLoD…NumOfPoint[i]…Thres_Lod[i]…NumNeighborPoint[i]…THd[i]…QS[i]…R_TH[i]…}. Examiner's note: header constitutes a structure mapping each LOD index to corresponding parameters (containing data arrays indexed by LOD). Col. 58; three-dimensional data encoding device encodes color, reflectance, and frame index as attribute information, the three-dimensional data encoding device may generate a bitstream including the result of encoding of color followed by the result of encoding of reflectance followed by the result of encoding of frame index).
Regarding claim 17, claim 17 is the device claim (Fig. 1 and Col. 68; the three-dimensional data decoding device includes a processor and memory, and the processor performs the above process using the memory) of method claim 1 and is accordingly rejected using substantially similar rationale as to that which is set for with respect to claim 1.
Regarding claim 18, Sugio discloses a method of retrieving media data, the method comprising:
retrieving, by a client device, data representing a three-dimensional (3D) object model stored in an ISO base media file format (ISO BMFF) file (Fig. 1; cloud server, internet communication, user terminal, demultiplexer, decoder, and presenter. Col. 7; Embodiment 1 described below relates to a three-dimensional data encoding method and a three-dimensional data encoding device for encoded data of a three-dimensional point cloud that provides a function of transmitting and receiving required information for an application, a three-dimensional data decoding method and a three-dimensional data decoding device for decoding the encoded data, a three-dimensional data multiplexing method for multiplexing the encoded data, and a three-dimensional data transmission method for transmitting the encoded data. Col. 15-16; it can be contemplated to expand the functionality of ISOBMFF and use ISOBMFF to accumulate or transmit PCC-encoded data. Fig. 14-15 and Col. 15-16; a method of storing the NAL unit in an ISOBMFF file…a common PCC codec NAL unit is stored in an ISOBMFF file) and one or more levels of detail (LODs) for the 3D object model stored in the ISO BMFF file (Fig. 82 and Col. 47-52; each level in the classification is referred to as a level of detail (LoD)…the three-dimensional data encoding device may add the number of LoDs to the header…), wherein the ISO BMFF file is stored on a server device (Fig. 1);
sending, by the client device, a request to the server device to access data for the 3D object model at one of the LODs (Fig. 1; cloud server, internet communication, user terminal, demultiplexer, decoder, and presenter. Col. 7; Embodiment 1… Col. 15-16; it can be contemplated to expand the functionality of ISOBMFF and use ISOBMFF to accumulate or transmit PCC-encoded data), the data for the 3D object model at the one of the LODs including a size, complexity, and components of the 3D object model for the one of the LODs (Col. 55-56; the attribute header includes number-of-levels information (NumLoD), number-of-three-dimensional-points information (NumOfPoint[i]), a level threshold (Thres_Lod[i]), number-of-peripheral-points information (NumNeighborPoint[i]), a prediction threshold (THd[i]), a quantization scale (QS[i]), and a binarization threshold (R_TH[i])…Col. 58; After the encoding of the geometry information, if the position of a three-dimensional point is changed because of quantization or the like, the three-dimensional data encoding device reassigns the attribute information on the original three-dimensional point to the three-dimensional point changed in position…The three-dimensional data encoding device then encodes the reassigned attribute information (Attribute)…three-dimensional data encoding device encodes color, reflectance, and frame index as attribute information…); and
receiving, by the client device, the data for the 3D object model at the one of the LODs in response to the request (Fig. 1; cloud server, internet communication, user terminal, demultiplexer, decoder, and presenter. Col. 7; Embodiment 1… Col. 15-16; it can be contemplated to expand the functionality of ISOBMFF and use ISOBMFF to accumulate or transmit PCC-encoded data), the data for the 3D object model at the one of the LODs having the size, the complexity, and the components of the 3D object model for the one of the LODs (Fig. 90-91).
Regarding claim 19, Sugio discloses the method of claim 18, and further discloses wherein the data associating the LOD with the data representing the size, complexity, and components of the 3D object model for the LOD comprises a base model mapping structure (Fig. 82; attribute_header {…NumLoD…NumOfPoint[i]…Thres_Lod[i]…NumNeighborPoint[i]…THd[i]…QS[i]…R_TH[i]…}. Examiner's note: header constitutes a structure mapping each LOD index to corresponding parameters (containing data arrays indexed by LOD). Col. 58; three-dimensional data encoding device encodes color, reflectance, and frame index as attribute information, the three-dimensional data encoding device may generate a bitstream including the result of encoding of color followed by the result of encoding of reflectance followed by the result of encoding of frame index).
Regarding claim 30, claim 30 is the device claim (Fig. 1 and Col. 68; the three-dimensional data decoding device includes a processor and memory, and the processor performs the above process using the memory) of method claim 18 and is accordingly rejected using substantially similar rationale as to that which is set for with respect to claim 18.
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 (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 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.
Claim(s) 4, 6-8, 13, 20, 22-24, and 29 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugio et al. (US 11461934 B2), hereinafter referred to as “Sugio”, in view of AVRIL Q., et al. "MORGAN: MPEG Original Reference Geometric Avatar Neutral", 29th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, ACMPUB27, New York, NY, USA, 9 October 2023, XP059457233, 10 Pages, hereinafter referred to as “Avril Q.”.
Regarding claim 4, Sugio discloses the method of claim 1, and further discloses wherein the data representing the size, complexity, and components of the 3D object model for the LOD comprises a size value (Fig. 82; NumOfPoint[i]).
Sugio does not disclose wherein the data representing the .
In the same art of 3D object representation, encoding, storage, and transmission of geometric avatar models having LODs, Avril Q. discloses wherein the data representing the (Section 3.1.1; Each LOD is described and referenced as follows: High Resolution…46,244 quad faces (97,296 triangles) Medium Resolution…13,196 quad faces (26,356 triangles) Low Resolution…5,300 quad faces (10,571 triangles)), a number of components (Table 1 and Section 3.1.2; The body model is divided into 47 semantical body regions…), and for each of the number of components, data representative of a corresponding component (Table 1, 5, 6 and Section 3.1.2-3.1.4; Model Body Semantics…Base UV Maps…Base Skeleton…).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Sugio’s three-dimensional data encoding/decoding system to incorporate Avril Q.’s mesh-face counts and semantic component information for each LOD. Doing so enables each LOD representation to include more descriptive structural metadata regarding the complexity and composition of the avatar model. Such modifications predictably improves efficient LOD selection and rendering and allows downstream applications to identify the characteristics of each representation using standardized metadata, by applying known avatar metadata to Sugio’s existing LOD architecture.
Regarding claim 6, Sugio in view of Avril Q. discloses the method of claim 4, but Sugio does not disclose wherein the data representative of the corresponding component comprises one or more of data representing a geometry of the component or one or more images of the component.
In the same art of 3D object representation, encoding, storage, and transmission of geometric avatar models having LODs, Avril Q. discloses wherein the data representative of the corresponding component comprises one or more of data representing a geometry of the component (Section 3.1.2; Table 1 provides the correspondence between semantical regions and geometric properties of the bodies) or one or more images of the component (Section 3.1.3; Each UV tile represents a different texture image with its own UV coordinates).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate Avril Q.’s geometry and texture-image representation into Sugio’s LOD framework because geometry and associated texture images define the visual appearance of the avatar model. Including both geometric and image data for each component predictably improves rendering fidelity while allowing efficient transmission and reconstruction of the selected LOD using well-known avatar representations.
Regarding claim 7, Sugio in view of Avril Q. discloses the method of claim 4, but Sugio does not disclose further comprising for each of the components, storing data describing a role of the component for the 3D object model.
In the same art of 3D object representation, encoding, storage, and transmission of geometric avatar models having LODs, Avril Q. discloses further comprising for each of the components, storing data describing a role of the component for the 3D object model (Tables 5-6; mappings between child nodes and semantics and Section 4.1; MPEG_node_avatar).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate Avril Q’s semantic role information for avatar components into Sugio’s stored component information because semantic identification enables software to distinguish the functional purpose of individual model components, where Sugio’s system already encodes reassigned attribute information (Sugio Col. 58; The three-dimensional data encoding device then encodes the reassigned attribute information (Attribute)…three-dimensional data encoding device encodes color, reflectance, and frame index as attribute information…). Therefore, incorporating a role of the component would predictably improve avatar editing, animation, rendering, and communication systems using conventional metadata techniques.
Regarding claim 8, Sugio in view of Avril Q. discloses the method of claim 7, but Sugio does not disclose wherein the role comprises one or more of a joint, a blendshape, a mesh, a map, or a pose transform.
In the same art of 3D object representation, encoding, storage, and transmission of geometric avatar models having LODs, Sugio discloses wherein the role comprises one or more of a joint (Section 3.1.4; skeleton joints are also provided in their usual form i.e., the joints are identified by a naming convention and follow a hierarchical representation…Fig. 8; Position of the 63 joints of Morgan), a blendshape (Section 3.2.1; The Morgan model provides a collection of facial blend shapes, as illustrated in Table 4…), a mesh (Section 3.1; As illustrated in Figure 2, Morgan is represented by a topological 3D mesh modelled as either a female (left slice) or a male (right slice) body shape), a map (Fig. 7 and Section 3.1.3; UV map…), or a pose transform (Section 3.1.4; manipulation and animation generation techniques).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate Avril Q.’s well-known structural and animation primitives used in geometric avatar models into Sugio’s stored LOD information. Doing so allows efficient identification of avatar components and enables accurate animation, skeletal deformation, and facial expression when rendering the avatar model.
Regarding claim 13, Sugio in view of Avril Q. discloses the method of claim 4, but Sugio does not disclose wherein storing the data representative of the components comprises storing the data representative of the components hierarchically such that each component having a parent component includes data identifying the parent component.
In the same art of 3D object representation, encoding, storage, and transmission of geometric avatar models having LODs, Sugio discloses wherein storing the data representative of the components comprises storing the data representative of the components hierarchically such that each component having a parent component includes data identifying the parent component (Fig. 8, Table 2-3, and Section 3.1.4; follow a hierarchical representation…).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to organize Sugio’s component information hierarchically using Avril Q.’s skeletal hierarchy. Hierarchical parent-child relationships are a conventional technique for representing articulated avatar models, and doing so improves animation, editing, and efficient traversal of the model while also maintaining compatibility with established avatar data structures.
Regarding claim 20, Sugio discloses the method of claim 18, and further discloses wherein the data representing the size, complexity, and components of the 3D object model for the LOD comprises a size value (Fig. 82; NumOfPoint[i]).
Sugio does not disclose wherein the data representing the .
In the same art of 3D object representation, encoding, storage, and transmission of geometric avatar models having LODs, Avril Q. discloses wherein the data representing the (Section 3.1.1; Each LOD is described and referenced as follows: High Resolution…46,244 quad faces (97,296 triangles) Medium Resolution…13,196 quad faces (26,356 triangles) Low Resolution…5,300 quad faces (10,571 triangles)), a number of components (Table 1 and Section 3.1.2; The body model is divided into 47 semantical body regions…), and for each of the number of components, data representative of a corresponding component (Table 1, 5, 6 and Section 3.1.2-3.1.4; Model Body Semantics…Base UV Maps…Base Skeleton…).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to modify Sugio’s three-dimensional data encoding/decoding system to incorporate Avril Q.’s mesh-face counts and semantic component information for each LOD. Doing so enables each LOD representation to include more descriptive structural metadata regarding the complexity and composition of the avatar model. Such modifications predictably improve efficient LOD selection and rendering and allows downstream applications to identify the characteristics of each representation using standardized metadata, by applying known avatar metadata to Sugio’s existing LOD architecture.
Regarding claim 22, Sugio in view of Avril Q. discloses the method of claim 20, but Sugio does not disclose wherein the data representative of the corresponding component comprises one or more of data representing a geometry of the component or one or more images of the component.
In the same art of 3D object representation, encoding, storage, and transmission of geometric avatar models having LODs, Avril Q. discloses wherein the data representative of the corresponding component comprises one or more of data representing a geometry of the component (Section 3.1.2; Table 1 provides the correspondence between semantical regions and geometric properties of the bodies) or one or more images of the component (Section 3.1.3; Each UV tile represents a different texture image with its own UV coordinates).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate Avril Q.’s geometry and texture-image representation into Sugio’s LOD framework because geometry and associated texture images define the visual appearance of the avatar model. Including both geometric and image data for each component predictably improves rendering fidelity while allowing efficient transmission and reconstruction of the selected LOD using well-known avatar representations.
Regarding claim 23, Sugio in view of Avril Q. discloses the method of claim 20, but Sugio does not disclose further comprising for each of the components, storing data describing a role of the component for the 3D object model.
In the same art of 3D object representation, encoding, storage, and transmission of geometric avatar models having LODs, Avril Q. discloses further comprising for each of the components, storing data describing a role of the component for the 3D object model (Tables 5-6; mappings between child nodes and semantics and Section 4.1; MPEG_node_avatar).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate Avril Q’s semantic role information for avatar components into Sugio’s stored component information because semantic identification enables software to distinguish the functional purpose of individual model components, where Sugio’s system already encodes reassigned attribute information (Sugio Col. 58; The three-dimensional data encoding device then encodes the reassigned attribute information (Attribute)…three-dimensional data encoding device encodes color, reflectance, and frame index as attribute information…). Therefore, incorporating a role of the component would predictably improve avatar editing, animation, rendering, and communication systems using conventional metadata techniques.
Regarding claim 24, Sugio in view of Avril Q. discloses the method of claim 23, but Sugio does not disclose wherein the role comprises one or more of a joint, a blendshape, a mesh, a map, or a pose transform.
In the same art of 3D object representation, encoding, storage, and transmission of geometric avatar models having LODs, Avril Q. discloses wherein the role comprises one or more of a joint (Section 3.1.4; skeleton joints are also provided in their usual form i.e., the joints are identified by a naming convention and follow a hierarchical representation…Fig. 8; Position of the 63 joints of Morgan), a blendshape (Section 3.2.1; The Morgan model provides a collection of facial blend shapes, as illustrated in Table 4…), a mesh (Section 3.1; As illustrated in Figure 2, Morgan is represented by a topological 3D mesh modelled as either a female (left slice) or a male (right slice) body shape), a map (Fig. 7 and Section 3.1.3; UV map…), or a pose transform (Section 3.1.4; manipulation and animation generation techniques).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to incorporate Avril Q.’s well-known structural and animation primitives used in geometric avatar models into Sugio’s stored LOD information. Doing so allows efficient identification of avatar components and enables accurate animation, skeletal deformation, and facial expression when rendering the avatar model.
Regarding claim 29, Sugio in view of Avril Q. discloses the method of claim 20, but Sugio does not disclose wherein the data representative of the components comprises a hierarchical representation of the components such that each component having a parent component includes data identifying the parent component.
In the same art of 3D object representation, encoding, storage, and transmission of geometric avatar models having LODs, Avril Q. discloses wherein the data representative of the components comprises a hierarchical representation of the components such that each component having a parent component includes data identifying the parent component (Fig. 8, Table 2-3, and Section 3.1.4; follow a hierarchical representation…).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to organize Sugio’s component information hierarchically using Avril Q.’s skeletal hierarchy. Hierarchical parent-child relationships are a conventional technique for representing articulated avatar models, and doing so improves animation, editing, and efficient traversal of the model while also maintaining compatibility with established avatar data structures.
Claim(s) 9, 11, 25, and 27 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugio et al. (US 11461934 B2), hereinafter referred to as “Sugio”, in view of AVRIL Q., et al. "MORGAN: MPEG Original Reference Geometric Avatar Neutral", 29th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, ACMPUB27, New York, NY, USA, 9 October 2023, XP059457233, 10 Pages, hereinafter referred to as “Avril Q.”, and in further view of Oh (EP 4124032 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Sugio in view of Avril Q. discloses the method of claim 4, but does not disclose storing each component separately as a respective metadata item in the ISO BMFF file.
In the same art of storing and transmitting 3D media using ISO BMFF, Oh discloses storing each component separately as a respective metadata item in the ISO BMFF file (Par. 0337-0339; video track encapsulation, one or more video streams may be encapsulated into one or more tracks. In the metadata track encapsulation, metadata related to a video stream and/or an image may be encapsulated in one or more tracks. The metadata includes data related to the content of the point cloud data…metadata may be encapsulated into a meta-data track, or may be encapsulated together in a video track or an image track. In the image encapsulation, one or more image may encapsulated into one or more tracks or items. Par. 0765; V-PCC bitstream carrying a V-PCC parameter set, a geometry bitstream, an occupancy map bitstream, an attribute bitstream, and/or an atlas data bitstream may be encapsulated in a ISOBMFF-based file format by the file/segment encapsulator…V-PCC bitstream may be stored in a single track or multiple tracks…Par. 0793).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to store the individual avatar components separately as metadata items within Sugio’s ISO BMFF file using the metadata organization taught by Oh. Doing to improves modularity, simplifies access to individual components, supports zelective retrieval and update of component information, and follows wekk-known established ISO BMFF container practices for multimedia content.
Regarding claim 11, Sugio in view of Avril Q. and in further view of Oh discloses the method of claim 9, but Sugio in view of Avril Q. does not disclose wherein storing each component separately as a respective metadata item in the ISO BMFF file comprises storing, for each of the components, a type value representing a type for the component and an encoding value representing how the component is encoded.
In the same art of storing and transmitting 3D media using ISO BMFF, Oh discloses wherein storing each component separately as a respective metadata item in the ISO BMFF file comprises storing, for each of the components, a type value representing a type for the component and an encoding value representing how the component is encoded (Par. 0772; The mdia box may include a media information container (mint) box providing information on the corresponding media data and a handler (hdlr) box (HandlerBox) indicating the type of stream. Par. 0774; The stbl box may include a sample description (stsd) box that provides information on an employed coding type and initialization information necessary for the coding type. Par. 0791; The compressor_name field is a name of a compressor for informative purposed…).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to associate each separately stored metadata item with type and encoding information as taught by Oh into Sugio and Avril Q.’s combined system. Doing so enables interoperable decoding, parsing, and rendering across different implementations, and such metadata is conventionally included within ISO BMFF structures to ensure that stored media components can be correctly interpreted by receiving devices.
Regarding claim 25, Sugio in view of Avril Q. discloses the method of claim 20, but does not disclose wherein the data representing the components of the 3D object model for the LOD comprises separate respective metadata items for each of the components.
In the same art of storing and transmitting 3D media using ISO BMFF, Oh discloses wherein the data representing the components of the 3D object model for the LOD comprises separate respective metadata items for each of the components. (Par. 0337-0339; video track encapsulation, one or more video streams may be encapsulated into one or more tracks. In the metadata track encapsulation, metadata related to a video stream and/or an image may be encapsulated in one or more tracks. The metadata includes data related to the content of the point cloud data…metadata may be encapsulated into a meta-data track, or may be encapsulated together in a video track or an image track. In the image encapsulation, one or more image may encapsulated into one or more tracks or items. Par. 0765; V-PCC bitstream carrying a V-PCC parameter set, a geometry bitstream, an occupancy map bitstream, an attribute bitstream, and/or an atlas data bitstream may be encapsulated in a ISOBMFF-based file format by the file/segment encapsulator…V-PCC bitstream may be stored in a single track or multiple tracks…Par. 0793).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to store the individual avatar components separately as metadata items within Sugio’s ISO BMFF file using the metadata organization taught by Oh. Doing to improves modularity, simplifies access to individual components, supports zelective retrieval and update of component information, and follows wekk-known established ISO BMFF container practices for multimedia content.
Regarding claim 27, Sugio in view of Avril Q. and in further view of Oh discloses the method of claim 25, but Sugio in view of Avril Q. does not disclose wherein each of the components includes a type value representing a type for the component and an encoding value representing how the component is encoded.
In the same art of storing and transmitting 3D media using ISO BMFF, Oh discloses wherein each of the components includes a type value representing a type for the component and an encoding value representing how the component is encoded (Par. 0772; The mdia box may include a media information container (mint) box providing information on the corresponding media data and a handler (hdlr) box (HandlerBox) indicating the type of stream. Par. 0774; The stbl box may include a sample description (stsd) box that provides information on an employed coding type and initialization information necessary for the coding type. Par. 0791; The compressor_name field is a name of a compressor for informative purposed…).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to associate each separately stored metadata item with type and encoding information as taught by Oh into Sugio and Avril Q.’s combined system. Doing so enables interoperable decoding, parsing, and rendering across different implementations, and such metadata is conventionally included within ISO BMFF structures to ensure that stored media components can be correctly interpreted by receiving devices.
Claim(s) 12 and 28 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugio et al. (US 11461934 B2), hereinafter referred to as “Sugio”, in view of AVRIL Q., et al. "MORGAN: MPEG Original Reference Geometric Avatar Neutral", 29th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, ACMPUB27, New York, NY, USA, 9 October 2023, XP059457233, 10 Pages, hereinafter referred to as “Avril Q.”, and in further view of "Information technology - MPEG systems technologies - Part 7: Common encryption in ISO base media file format files, 4th ed.," International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Aug. 2023, 15 pages.
Regarding claim 12, Sugio in view of Avril Q. discloses the method of claim 4, and Avril Q. further discloses one or more of the components (Table 1 and Section 3.1.2; The body model is divided into 47 semantical body regions…).
Sugio in view of Avril Q. does not disclose encrypting data.
In the same art of storing and transmitting multimedia content using ISOBMFF, ISO/IEC 23001-7:2023 discloses encrypting data (Pg. 1, Section 1 Scope; File, item, track, and track fragment metadata is specified to enable multiple digital rights and key management systems (DRMs) to access the same common encrypted file or stream… Pg. 4-9, Section 5-8; Protection system specific data…key identifier (KID), initialization vector and vector size, protection pattern, and protection flag. This data is contained in the TrackEncryptionBox…or in the ItemEncryptionBox…).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to apply the standardized common encryption technique of ISO/IEC 23001-7:2023 to Sugio and Avril Q.’s combined ISO BMFF-based storage of avatar components. Encryption protects the confidentiality and integrity of stored media while maintaining interoperability with standardized ISO BMFF readers and digital rights management systems. Applying standardized encryption to already-stored avatar component data merely provides a predictable security enhancement without changing the underlying storage architecture.
Regarding claim 28, Sugio in view of Avril Q. discloses the method of claim 4, and Avril Q. further discloses one or more of the components (Table 1 and Section 3.1.2; The body model is divided into 47 semantical body regions…).
Sugio in view of Avril Q. does not disclose retrieving decryption keys for each of the encrypted components; and decrypting data for the encrypted components using the decryption keys
In the same art of storing and transmitting multimedia content using ISOBMFF, ISO/IEC 23001-7:2023 discloses retrieving decryption keys for each of the encrypted components; and decrypting data for the encrypted components using the decryption keys (Section Introduction; Common Encryption specifies encryption and key mapping methods that enable decryption of the same file using different Digital Rights Management (DRM) and key management systems. It defines encryption algorithms and encryption related metadata necessary to decrypt the protected streams, yet it leaves the details of rights mappings, key acquisition and storage, DRM content protection compliance rules, etc., up to the DRM system or systems. For instance, DRM systems necessarily support identifying the decryption key via stored key identifiers (KIDs), but how each DRM system protects and locates the KID identified decryption key is left to a DRM-specific method. Pg. 4-9, Section 5-8; Protection system specific data…key identifier (KID), initialization vector and vector size, protection pattern, and protection flag. Pg. 9, Section 8.1.1; The data encapsulated in the Data field may be read by the identified content protection system client to enable decryption key acquisition and decryption of media data).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to retrieve the corresponding decryption keys and decrypt encrypted avatar components as taught by ISO/IEC 23001-7:2023. Decryption is the conventional complementary operation required to access encrypted ISO BMFF media, and using standardized key identifiers and decryption procedures enables authorized receiving devices to recover protected avatar component data while preserving compatibility with existing Common Encryption infrastructure, yielding predictable results in improved security enhancement.
Claim(s) 14-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Sugio et al. (US 11461934 B2), hereinafter referred to as “Sugio”, in view of BOUAZIZI I., et al., "3GPP, Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects, Multimedia Codecs, Systems and Services, Avatar Representation and Communication, (Release 18)", Mobile Competence Centre, 650, Route Des Lucioles, F-06921 Sophia-antipolis Cedex, France, Type Draft TR, FS Avatar, S4-232051, TR 26.813 V0.2.1, Vol. SA WG4, No. Chicago, US, 20231113 - 20231117, XP052548724, 28 Pages, hereinafter referred to as “Bouazizi I.”.
Regarding claim 14, Sugio the method of claim 1, but does not disclose further comprising publishing an identifier for the ISO BMFF file to an application server (AS) in a computer network.
In the same art of network-based storage, management, and communication of digital avatar representations for multimedia services, Bouazizi I. discloses further comprising publishing an identifier for the ISO BMFF file to an application server (AS) in a computer network (Pg. 13-14, Section 5.4; When a digital representation is generated on a user's device, it may be pre-uploaded and stored in the network or transmitted to the other party via the network before the start of avatar service. Users may update the digital representation they have stored in the network or transmitted to others…User A may generate several versions of digital representations for different purposes of usage, then upload them with different names, tags, roles or other attributes for future access…MNO B identifies and stores the avatar and its ID…).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to publish an identifier for Sugio’s ISO BMFF avatar model to an application server as taught by Bouazizi I. Network-based avatar repositories conventionally identify stored avatar assets using identifiers to facilitate discovery, efficient retrieval, synchronization, and sharing among multiple devices and users.
Regarding claim 15, Sugio discloses the method of claim 1, but does not disclose further comprising receiving a request for access to the 3D object model at one of the LODs from a receiving device.
In the same art of network-based storage, management, and communication of digital avatar representations for multimedia services, Bouazizi I. discloses further comprising receiving a request for access to the 3D object model at one of the LODs from a receiving device (Pg. 13, Section 5.4; If multiple avatars were pre-uploaded, User A may choose one of the avatars that fit the target avatar service by searching (or browsing) based on associated attributes of the avatars from the repository. Pg. 17, Section 6.2.1.1.2; MPEG-SD reference body avatar is available in three levels of detail (mesh resolution): low, medium, high (see Figure 2)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, for Sugio’s system to receive requests identifying a desired avatar representation, including a particular LOD as taught by Bouazizi I. Systems storing multiple representations of the same avatar benefit from allowing receiving devices to request the representation best suited for the requesting device’s rendering capability, bandwidth, or application requirements, and doing so yields predictable results in reduced unnecessary transmission and rendering efficiency.
Regarding claim 16, Sugio in view of Bouazizi I. discloses the method of claim 15, and Sugio further discloses further comprising providing the data representing the size, complexity, and components of the 3D object model (Fig. 1; cloud server, internet communication, user terminal, demultiplexer, decoder, and presenter. Col. 7; Embodiment 1 described below relates to a three-dimensional data encoding method and a three-dimensional data encoding device for encoded data of a three-dimensional point cloud that provides a function of transmitting and receiving required information for an application, a three-dimensional data decoding method and a three-dimensional data decoding device for decoding the encoded data, a three-dimensional data multiplexing method for multiplexing the encoded data, and a three-dimensional data transmission method for transmitting the encoded data. Col. 15-16; it can be contemplated to expand the functionality of ISOBMFF and use ISOBMFF to accumulate or transmit PCC-encoded data. Fig. 14-15 and Col. 15-16; a method of storing the NAL unit in an ISOBMFF file…a common PCC codec NAL unit is stored in an ISOBMFF file)
Sugio does not appear to explicitly disclose for the requested one of the LODs to the receiving device in response to the request.
In the same art of network-based storage, management, and communication of digital avatar representations for multimedia services, Bouazizi I. discloses for the requested one of the LODs to the receiving device in response to the request (Pg. 13, Section 5.4; If multiple avatars were pre-uploaded, User A may choose one of the avatars that fit the target avatar service by searching (or browsing) based on associated attributes of the avatars from the repository. Pg. 17, Section 6.2.1.1.2; MPEG-SD reference body avatar is available in three levels of detail (mesh resolution): low, medium, high (see Figure 2)).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to provide in response to the request the metadata associated with the requested LOD as taught by Bouazizi I. Returning the associated metadata together with the selected LOD enables efficient retrieval, minimizes unnecessary data transfer, and follows conventional client-server retrieval of multimedia assets.
Conclusion
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/JENNY N TRAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2615
/ALICIA M HARRINGTON/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2615
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