DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . It is responsive to the submission dated 03/11/2025. Claims 1-20 are presented for examination. Claims 1, 9 and 16 are independent claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
2. The information disclosure statements (IDSs) submitted on 03/11/2025 and 08/18/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and are being considered by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
3. 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.
4. Claims 1-8 are 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.
The subject-matters of claims 1-8 are indefinite because the steps from the method claim encompass broadly written functional claimed language that only describes the function of the invention as opposed to how it is carried out.
Particularly, claim 1, as currently formulated, appears to provide a concatenation of block box experiments, of which only inputs and outputs are specified. The claimed steps merely define obscure parameters (e.g., obtaining low-resolution media data) by virtue of vague relation to other unclear and undefined other parameters (e.g., obtaining high-resolution media data), as no details are provided describing how the parameters of the media data are determined in order to achieve the stated result.
Specifically, the subject-matters in claim 1 are indefinite because the steps in the claim provide no concrete functional or structural features explaining:
1. how the media from the VR environment is received and processed? Is it automated or is it upon user-request?;
2. how the low-resolution media data is obtained from the VR environment? Is it via user interaction with a user interface displaying the media? Is this process automated? Or is it via image/visual recognition?;
3) how the at least one region within the low-resolution media data is identified? Is it automated, or is it via visual recognition?; and
4) the detail(s) of the high-resolution media data is obtained is/are also lacking.
Additionally, while the claim recites that a high-resolution media data is obtained from the low-resolution media data, the claim, however, fails to provide any function that follows after that portion within the low-resolution media data is obtained, as such process fails to yield no tangible result. As such, the ordinary skill in the art would not be able to draw a clear boundary between what is and is not covered by the claim.
The claims not specifically cited in this rejection are rejected as being dependent upon their rejected base claims.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
5. 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.
6. Claims 1-3, 8-11, 16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(a2) as being anticipated by Bae et al. (20210279945).
Considering claim 1, Bae discloses a method for processing media data in a virtual reality (VR) environment (e.g., a method of receiving a multimedia service, including a method of processing content regarding an object in a three-dimensional (3D) space. See abstract), the method comprising:
receiving the media data associated with the VR environment (e.g., receiving content regarding an object in a three-dimensional (3D) space, the content including media data and metadata. See abstract and paras. 27 and 55);
obtaining low-resolution media data of the VR environment from the media data based on network bandwidth capabilities associated with a user device of a user (e.g., Bae discloses: a method of receiving a multimedia service, in which, by using user feedback information in a large-volume 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF) media transmission service using network-based media processing (NBMP), it is possible to reduce network traffic through efficient media transmission and a burden of rendering media content on a terminal. See abstract. A pre-rendering unit 222 of the media processing entity 220 may perform pre-rendering on 6DoF media content by using the metadata related to the media data. The pre-rendering unit 222 may transmit partial content corresponding to a user's viewpoint or partial content displayed through a user terminal device 230, by using user information (user Info.), when the pre-rendering unit 222 performs pre-rendering on the 6DoF content. The user information may be transmitted in the form of metadata regarding a service user to the media processing entity 220 from the user terminal device 230. See para. 45. For example, when streams have a correlation with one another, the media processing entity may transmit information about an object in three streams. In this case, the object may be expressed in a 3D space when all the three streams are received. In another example, when streams have no correlation, the first stream may be data expressing an object at a low quality, the second stream may be data expressing an object at a medium quality, and the third stream may be data expressing an object at a high quality. The media processing entity according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may receive configuration information of a stream (or a 3D object) as the reconstruction type information in a manifest form or another agreed form to allow a terminal to receive and render data. See para. 55. The pre-rendering unit 300 according to an embodiment may receive media data and metadata of 6DoF content and receive a user-selected viewpoint and/or a terminal's environment from the user terminal before transmitting the received information to the user terminal. See para. 60);
identifying at least one region within the low-resolution media data based on contextual information associated with the user in the VR environment (e.g., Bae discloses: performing pre-rendering on the 6DoF media content by using the meta data related to the media data…. The metadata may include space metadata, reconstruction type information, scene description information, etc. see paras. 51-52. The reconstruction type information may include information indicating whether streams have a correlation with one another or have no correlation and/or configuration information of each stream (or a 3D object), when the object is expressed in various levels of detail (LoD). For example, when streams have a correlation with one another, the media processing entity may transmit information about an object in three streams. In this case, the object may be expressed in a 3D space when all the three streams are received. In another example, when streams have no correlation, the first stream may be data expressing an object at a low quality, the second stream may be data expressing an object at a medium quality, and the third stream may be data expressing an object at a high quality. The media processing entity according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may receive configuration information of a stream (or a 3D object object) as the reconstruction type information in a manifest form or another agreed form to allow a terminal to receive and render data. See paras. 54-55, wherein the object expressed in low quality when there’s no correlation between the streams corresponds to the identified region. In addition, Bae discloses physically searching for or discovering each object or a part thereof in media data and information about a data format for expressing the object. When information of the manifest file is changed through pre-rendering, the updated manifest file may be transmitted to the terminal. For example, a form of 6DoF content may be changed into a 2D image form through a pre-rendering process of NBMP. Alternatively, the form of the 6DoF content may be changed into a partial transmission form (e.g., partial content corresponding to a user's viewpoint are transmitted through culling, etc.). See paras. 63-64 and also paras. 85-87, 94-100 and 124-126); and
obtaining high-resolution media data corresponding to the low-resolution media data, the high-resolution media data being associated with the at least one region (e.g., Bae discloses: receive configuration information of a stream (or a 3D object) as the reconstruction type information in a manifest form or another agreed form to allow a terminal to receive and render data. The scene description information may include information about how the 3D object is to be expressed or which effect is to be applied in the 3D space. See paras. 55-56. In another example, when streams have no correlation, the first stream may be data expressing an object at a low quality, the second stream may be data expressing an object at a medium quality, and the third stream may be data expressing an object at a high quality. See para. 55. Furthermore, Bae teaches When the form of the 6DoF content is changed, a process of transmitting a changed attribute to the terminal may be required for media processing in the terminal. Depending on an implementation scheme, media data of the 6DoF content may include a plurality of streams that are independently processible based on a user's viewpoint, etc. In this case, the pre-rendering unit 300 may skip the geometric processing process 301, and select media data appropriate for the user's viewpoint and transmit the selected media data to the terminal. See paras. 64-65, wherein the select media data appropriate for the user's viewpoint transmitted for display at the terminal corresponds to the high-resolution media data that is associated with the at least one region within the media streams). See also paras. 68-72, 78-87, 94-100 and 124-126.
As per claim 2, Bae discloses rendering the VR environment based on the low-resolution media data and the high- resolution media data associated with the at least one region in the VR environment. See paras. 83-87, 94-100 and 124-127.
As per claim 3, Bae discloses determining a relevance score for each of one or more components within the at least one region of the VR environment based on the contextual information. See paras. 55-57, 84-87 and 93-100.
As per claim 8, Bae discloses generating a three-dimensional (3D) space around the one or more components based on the contextual information. See paras. 28, 55-56, 74-76, and 82.
The subject-matter of independent claim 9 is similar in scope to that of claim 1, and the rationale raised above to reject the later also apply, mutatis mutandis, to the former. In addition, Bae discloses a system for processing media data in a virtual reality (VR) environment, the system comprising: memory storing instructions; and at least one processor operatively connected to the memory, and configured to execute the instructions. See paras. 32-36.
Claim 10 is rejected under the same rationale as claim 2.
Claim 11 is rejected under the same rationale as claim 3.
The subject-matter of independent claim 16 is similar in scope to that of claim 1, and the rationale raised above to reject the later also apply, mutatis mutandis, to the former. In addition, Bae discloses a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions to be executed by at least one processors. See paras. 32-36.
Claim 20 is rejected under the same rationale as claim 8.
Allowable Subject Matter
7. Claims 4-7, 12-15 and 17-19 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, because the prior art of record fail to teach the method, system and non-transitory computer-readable medium, respectively, of claims 1, 9 and 16, wherein the determining the relevance score comprises: assigning an initial value to each of the one or more components based on a user profile of the user in the VR environment; allocating a weight to each of the one or more components based on a plurality of predetermined parameters; and determining the relevance score of each of the one or more components based on respective initial value and respective allocated weight associated with each of the one or more components (as recited in claims 4-6); wherein , to determine the relevance score, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to: assign an initial value to each of the one or more components based on a user profile of the user in the VR environment; allocate a weight to each of the one or more components based on a plurality of predetermined parameters; and determine the relevance score of each of the one or more components based on respective initial value and respective allocated weight (as recited in claims 12-14); and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: select at least one of the one or more components based on the relevance score; identify a plurality of positional coordinates in the VR environment corresponding to the selected at least one of the one or more components; and superimpose high-resolution media data that is associated with the selected at least one of the one or more components on low-resolution media data based on the identified plurality of positional coordinates (as recited in claim 15); and determine a respective relevance score associated with each of one or more components in the VR environment based on a user profile of the user in the VR environment; and select the at least one component having a relevance score higher than a threshold (as recited in claims 17-19); and the method as claimed in claim 3, further comprising: selecting at least one of the one or more components based on the relevance score; identifying a plurality of positional coordinates in the VR environment corresponding to the selected at least one of the one or more components; and superimposing high-resolution media data that is associated with the selected at least one of the one or more components on corresponding low-resolution media data based on the plurality of positional coordinates (as recited in claim 7).
Conclusion
8. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Galvin (US 12705429) discloses a system and method for multimodal latent hyperspace navigation that enables efficient compression and interactive exploration of spatiotemporal and spectral media content. The system encodes video data into a structured seven-dimensional hyperspace spanning spatial coordinates, temporal progression, viewing orientation, scale, and spectral wavelength using variational autoencoders that generate locally Lorentzian latent patches. Navigation through the hyperspace is achieved via learned geodesic transition functions guided by a latent-space metric tensor, while generative fill-in modules synthesize content for sparsely populated regions. The system supports goal-conditioned traversal, recycling generated outputs back into the latent representation, and iterative refinement from coarse to fine scales. The architecture enables real-time deployment on resource-constrained devices through efficient latent decoding. Applications include immersive film exploration with continuous zoom and viewpoint control, surveillance systems with anomaly detection capabilities, hyperspectral environmental monitoring with real-time spectral analysis, and cognitive systems where navigation is guided by goal potentials through geometric memory structures.
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to WESNER SAJOUS whose telephone number is (571) 272-7791. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 10:00 TO 7:30 (ET).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Said Broome can be reached on 571-272-2931. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/WESNER SAJOUS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2612
WS
09/19/2026
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