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 Interpretation
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(f) Element in Claim for a Combination. – An element in a claim for a combination may be expressed as a means or step for performing a specified function without the recital of structure, material, or acts in support thereof, and such claim shall be construed to cover the corresponding structure, material, or acts described in the specification and equivalents thereof.
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f):
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f). The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Accordingly, the claim language that meets the prongs of 35 U.S.C. 112(f) is: “a submesh decoder configured to decode…a base mesh decoder configured to decode…a mesh displacement decoder configured to decode…a mesh reconstructor configured to decode…” as recited by claim 1, and; “a submesh encoder configured to encode…a base mesh encoder configured to encode…a mesh displacement encoder configured to encode…” as recited by claim 5.
If applicant does not intend to have these limitations interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f), applicant may: (1) amend the claim limitations to avoid them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) (e.g., by reciting sufficient structure to perform the claimed function); or (2) present a sufficient showing that the claim limitations recite sufficient structure to perform the claimed function so as to avoid them being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f).
Claim Objections
Claims 3 and 7 are objected to for the following informalities:
“the number of submeshes” is recited without antecedent basis, as no “number of submeshes” was previously introduced.
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.
Claims 2 and 6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, regards as the invention.
With respect to claims 2 and 6, they recite “the submesh of the mesh displacement”. It is unclear whether this recitation is referring to the previous “submesh of the base mesh” or a distinct submesh that belongs to the “mesh displacement”. If the latter is the case, an issue of antecedent basis would arise, as no “submesh of the mesh displacement” was established in claim 1/5 or 2/6. If the former is true, it would claim a self-correspondence flag, in a potentially redundant/trivial fashion. For the purpose of compact prosecution, the examiner will analyze all possible interpretations as reading on the prior art.
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, 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 1-2 and 5-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Mammou et. al (US 20230401755 A1) (Hereinafter, “Mammou”) in view of Kishimoto et. al (US 20260122272 A1) (Hereinafter, “Kishimoto”)
With respect to claim 1, Mammou teaches:
A 3D data decoding apparatus for decoding mesh data or point cloud data, the 3D data decoding apparatus ([Abstract]; [0048]; [0073]; Figs. 4-5; Fig. 7) comprising:
a Figs. 4-5; [0049]; [0098] “A Patch is a set of sub-meshes. An encoder may explicitly store for each patch the indices of the sub-meshes that belongs to it. In a particular embodiment, a sub-mesh could belong to one or multiple patches (e.g., associate metadata with overlapping parts of the mesh). In another embodiment, a sub-mesh may belong to only a single patch. Vertices located on the boundary between patches are not duplicated. Patches are also encoded while exploiting correlations between them and therefore, they cannot be encoded/decoded independently”; [0105])
a base mesh decoder configured to decoder configured to decode a base mesh from the encoded data and the submesh information (Figs. 4-5; [0049] “Intra frame decoder 502 receives a compressed bitstream b(i), such as the compressed bit stream generated by the intra frame encoder 402 shown in FIG. 4 . Demultiplexer (DEMUX) 504 parses the bitstream into a base mesh sub-component, a displacement sub-component, and an attribute map sub-component. Static mesh decoder 506 decodes the base mesh sub-component to generate a reconstructed quantized base mesh m′(i), which is provided to inverse quantization module 518, which in turn outputs decoded base mesh m″(i) and provides it to reconstructed deformed mesh generator 520”; [0105])
a mesh displacement decoder configured to decode a mesh displacement from the encoded data and the submesh information (Figs. 4-5; [0050] “Also, the displacement sub-component of the bit stream is provided to video decoding 508, wherein video encoded image frames are video decoded and provided to image unpacking 510. Image unpacking 510 extracts the packed displacements from the video decoded image frame and provides them to inverse quantization 512 wherein the displacements are inverse quantized. Also, the inverse quantized displacements are provided to inverse wavelet transform 514, which outputs decoded displacements d″(i). Reconstructed deformed mesh generator 520 applies the decoded displacements d″(i) to the decoded base mesh m″(i) to generate a decoded static/dynamic mesh M″(i). Also, the attribute map sub-component is provided to video decoding 516, which outputs a decoded attribute map A″(i). A reconstructed version of the three-dimensional visual content can then be rendered at a device associated with the decoder using the decoded mesh M″(i) and the decoded attribute map A″(i)”; [0105])
a mesh reconstructor configured to decode a mesh from the base mesh and the mesh displacement being decoded (Figs. 4-5; [0050]; [0105]; [0110]; [0111])
the mesh displacement decoder decodes the mesh displacement from the encoded data, by using the submesh information (Figs. 4-5; [0105]; [0110]; [0111] “When applying quantization to the wavelet coefficients, the quantization parameters used for a vertex are selected based on the quantization parameters of all the patches the vertex belongs to. For example, suppose that a patch belongs to two patches, Patch0 and Patch1. Patch0 has a quantization parameter QP1. Patch1 has a quantization parameter QP2. The wavelet coefficients associated with the vertex will be quantized using the quantization parameter QP=min(QP1, QP2)”)
Mammou does not explicitly teach:
a submesh decoder
However, Kishimoto, in the same field of endeavor of 3D data decoding, teaches:
A 3D data decoding apparatus for decoding mesh data [Abstract]) comprising:
a submesh decoder configured to decode submesh information from encoded data in which the mesh data or the point cloud data is encoded (Fig. 1-3; [0027]; [0036]-[0042] “…firstly, the atlas bit stream may include a submesh data header (SDH), which is a set of header information of submeshes… Second, the atlas bit stream may include a submesh data unit (SDU) representing data of control information related to the submesh”)
a base mesh decoder configured to decode a base mesh from the encoded data and the submesh information ([0028]-[0029])
a mesh displacement decoder configured to decode a mesh displacement from the encoded data and the submesh information ([0034]; [0049]; [0105])
a mesh reconstructor configured to decode a mesh from the base mesh and the mesh displacement being decoded ([0031]; [0116]), wherein
the mesh displacement decoder decodes the mesh displacement from the encoded data, by using the submesh information decoded in the submesh decoder ([0105]; [0113])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Mammou to include the limitations of a submesh decoder, as taught by Kishimoto. Doing so would better facilitate localized quality and parameter control per submesh, improving overall compression efficiency. Rather than operate on the entire 3D model, the methods of Kishimoto would allow for Mammou to adjust settings per submesh, reducing bitstream size. The systems readily integrate, as Kishimoto’s “submesh decoder” simply acts as a sub-parser within the demultiplexer of Mammou, under the same MPEG V-DMC pipeline.
With respect to claim 2, Mammou/Kishimoto teaches:
The 3D data decoding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the submesh decoder includes a flag indicating whether or not a submesh of the base mesh and the submesh of the mesh displacement correspond to each other (Mammou, [0050]; Mammou, [0093]-[0100]; Mammou, [0105]-[0107] “The relationship between sub-meshes and patches may be exploited such that each face of the base mesh is assigned a patch ID”; Mammou, [0120] “In a particular embodiment, a flag is included per vertex or patch”; Kishimoto, [0038]; Kishimoto, [0042]-[0047] “sdu_displacement_coordinate_system_enable_flag is a control signal indicating whether to set a coordinate system that defines a displacement amount for each submesh. For example, when a value of sdu_displacement_coordinate_system_enable_flag is “1”, the coordinate system of the displacement amount may be defined for each submesh, or when a value of sdu_displacement_coordinate_system_enable_flag is “0”, the displacement amount may be defined in a default coordinate system. The default coordinate system may use a known coordinate system, such as a Cartesian coordinate system”; Kishimoto, [0050])
With respect to claim 5, Mammou teaches:
A 3D data coding apparatus for coding mesh data or point cloud data, the 3D data coding apparatus ([Abstract]) comprising:
a Fig. 4; [0008]; [0095] “The sub-mesh structure could be defined either by: Explicitly encoding a per face integer attribute that indicates for each face of the mesh the index of the sub-mesh it belongs to, or…”; [0099])
a base mesh encoder configured to encode a base mesh, by using the submesh information (Fig. 4; [0043] “The base mesh m(i) is provided to quantization module 404, wherein aspects of the base mesh may (optionally) be further quantized… For example, static mesh encoder 406 may be a selected mesh encoder selected from a set of viable mesh encoder, such as a DRACO encoder (or another suitable encoder)…”; [0061])
a mesh displacement encoder configured to encode a mesh displacement, by using the submesh information (Fig. 4; [0043] “These updated displacements d′(i) are provided to wavelet transform 412 which applies a wavelet transformation to further compress the updated displacements d′(i) and outputs wavelet coefficients e(i), which are provided to quantization module 414 which generated quantized wavelet coefficients e′(i). The quantized wavelet coefficients may then be packed into a 2D image frame via image packing module 416, wherein the packed 2D image frame is further video encoded via video encoding 418”; [0063])
the mesh displacement encoder encodes the mesh displacement, by using the submesh information encoded in the submesh encoder (Fig. 4; [0082]; [0105]; [0110]; [0111] “When applying quantization to the wavelet coefficients, the quantization parameters used for a vertex are selected based on the quantization parameters of all the patches the vertex belongs to…”)
Mammou does not explicitly teach:
a submesh encoder
However, Kishimoto, in the same field of endeavor of 3D data encoding, teaches:
A 3D data decoding apparatus for decoding mesh data [Abstract]) comprising:
a submesh encoder configured to encode submesh information (Figs. 1, “Mesh Encoding Device”; Figs. 2-3; [0023]-[0026]; [0036]-[0049] “Here, the submesh is a unit of mesh that can be encoded/decoded singly. The base mesh and the displacement amount are independently defined for each submesh. In addition, the patch is defined as one region included in the submesh”)
a Figs. 1-3; [0023]-[0028]; [0036]-[0042]; [0079]-[0094])
a mesh displacement encoder configured to encode a mesh displacement, by using the submesh information (Fig. 4B; [0045]-[0049]), wherein
the mesh displacement encoder encodes the mesh displacement, by using the submesh information encoded in the submesh encoder (Fig. 4B; [0045]-[0049]; [0053]; [0061]; [0113])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Mammou to include the limitations of a submesh encoder, as taught by Kishimoto. Doing so would better facilitate localized quality and parameter control per submesh, improving overall compression efficiency. Rather than operate on the entire 3D model, the methods of Kishimoto would allow for Mammou to adjust settings per submesh, reducing bitstream size. The systems readily integrate, as Kishimoto’s “submesh encoder” simply acts as a sub-parser under the same MPEG V-DMC pipeline.
With respect to claim 6, Mammou/Kishimoto teaches:
The 3D data coding apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
the submesh encoder includes a flag indicating whether or not a submesh of the base mesh and the submesh of the mesh displacement correspond to each other (Mammou, [0050]; Mammou, [0093]-[0100]; Mammou, [0105]-[0107] “The relationship between sub-meshes and patches may be exploited such that each face of the base mesh is assigned a patch ID”; Mammou, [0120] “In a particular embodiment, a flag is included per vertex or patch”; Kishimoto, [0038]; Kishimoto, [0042]-[0047] “sdu_displacement_coordinate_system_enable_flag is a control signal indicating whether to set a coordinate system that defines a displacement amount for each submesh. For example, when a value of sdu_displacement_coordinate_system_enable_flag is “1”, the coordinate system of the displacement amount may be defined for each submesh, or when a value of sdu_displacement_coordinate_system_enable_flag is “0”, the displacement amount may be defined in a default coordinate system. The default coordinate system may use a known coordinate system, such as a Cartesian coordinate system”; Kishimoto, [0050])
Claims 4 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as unpatentable over Mammou/Kishimoto in view of Mammou et. al (US 20230290063 A1) (Hereinafter, “Mammou 2”)
With respect to claim 4, Mammou/Kishimoto teaches the apparatus of claim 1
Mammou/Kishimoto does not explicitly teach the further limitations of claim 4
However, Mammou 2, in the same field of endeavor of 3D data decoding, teaches:
the mesh displacement decoder decodes the submesh information of the mesh displacement decoder in a case of not decoding the submesh information of the mesh displacement in the submesh decoder (Fig. 18; Fig. 32; [0008]; [0286] “A submeshId is one of the attribute types assigned to each vertex of the resampled base meshes. SubmeshId can be compared with the ids of a segment to determine the corresponding vertices to the segment. If it is not conveyed through basemesh substream decoder, it is derived by the information in the atlas data substream”; [0289]; [0364]; [0392]-[0393] “afps_vmc_ext_overriden_flag indicates any additional information to be signaled to override the syntax elements in ASPS”; [0450]-[0453] “mdu_patch_parameters_enable_flag indicates whether certain parameters are copied from atdupathgroup information or not. In some embodiments, mdu_patchparameters enable flag is not signaled but always set as true”; [0493]-[0503])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Mammou/Kishimoto to include the limitations of fallback decoding, as taught by Mammou 2. Doing so would have the advantage of removing redundant high-level signaling and instead enabling flexible parameter overrides within the displacement decoding payload. The systems readily integrate, as both references are within the MPEG V-DMC environment which allows for modular syntax checking of data already being transmitted through existing components.
With respect to claim 8, Mammou/Kishimoto teaches the apparatus of claim 5
Mammou/Kishimoto does not explicitly teach the further limitations of claim 8
However, Mammou 2, in the same field of endeavor of 3D data encoding, teaches:
the mesh displacement encoder encodes the submesh information of the mesh displacement decoder in a case of not encoding the submesh information of the mesh displacement in the submesh encoder (Fig. 18; Fig. 32; [0008]; [0119]; [0286] “A submeshId is one of the attribute types assigned to each vertex of the resampled base meshes. SubmeshId can be compared with the ids of a segment to determine the corresponding vertices to the segment. If it is not conveyed through basemesh substream decoder, it is derived by the information in the atlas data substream”; [0289]; [0364]; [0392]-[0393] “afps_vmc_ext_overriden_flag indicates any additional information to be signaled to override the syntax elements in ASPS”; [0450]-[0453] “mdu_patch_parameters_enable_flag indicates whether certain parameters are copied from atdupathgroup information or not. In some embodiments, mdu_patchparameters enable flag is not signaled but always set as true”; [0493]-[0503])
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Mammou/Kishimoto to include the limitations of fallback encoding, as taught by Mammou 2. Doing so would have the advantage of removing redundant high-level signaling and instead enabling flexible parameter overrides within the displacement decoding payload. The systems readily integrate, as both references are within the MPEG V-DMC environment which allows for modular syntax checking of data already being transmitted through existing components.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3 and 7 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 (and otherwise overcoming the issue of antecedent basis described above).
With respect to claims 3 and 7, they recite a conditional logic check which accordingly triggers a specific minus 2 offset parameter in the processing of (more than one) submesh syntax elements. While minus 2 offsets can be found in the prior art (Information technology – Coded representation of immersive media – Part 29: Video-based dynamic mesh coding (V-DMC), ISO 23090-29:2023(E), ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 7, Page 133, “dsps_range_log2_minus2”) both the context of submesh decoding/encoding and the specific logical check implemented are not taught. The advantage of claim 3/7’s technique is disclosed in the specification of the claimed invention ([0099]); the language constitutes more than just an obvious design choice. As such, a general advantage of bitstream efficiency is an insufficient rationale to utilize the minus 2 offset in the exact circumstances in which it was implemented.
Additional References
Additionally cited references (see attached PTO-892) otherwise not relied upon above have been made of record in view of the manner in which they evidence the general state of the art.
Inquiry
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NOAH WILLIAM BOYAR whose telephone number is (571)272-8392. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30 – 5:00 EST, Monday – Friday.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chan Park can be reached at 571-272-7409. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/NOAH W BOYAR/Examiner, Art Unit 2669
/CHAN S PARK/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2669
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