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 .
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
Claims 1 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to a judicial exception without significantly more.
Claim 1
Step 1: Claim 1 is directed to a method, which is a process, thereby meeting step 1.
Claim 1. A method of three-dimensional (3D) data, the method comprising:
Step 2A, Prong One: Claim 1 recites a “mathematical concept”:
encoding original mesh data
MPEP 2106.04 II recites, "Adding one abstract idea (math) to another abstract idea (encoding and decoding) does not render the claim non-abstract”
Step 2A, Prong Two: The following additional element does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application because it does not impose any meaningful limits on practicing the abstract idea.
(a) transmitting a bitstream containing the encoded mesh data and signaling information
Regarding (a), the additional element of displaying step is insignificant extra-solution activity, specifically, “data gathering and outputting.” The transmitting step is similar to the MPEP 2106.05(g)(3), “Mere Data Gathering” examples iv. The generating step amounts “necessary data gathering and outputting.” MPEP 2106.05(g)(3).
Step 2B: Additional elements are determined not to amount to an inventive concept after having considered them both individually and in combination; and the additional elements do not amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself.
(a) transmitting a bitstream containing the encoded mesh data and signaling information
Regarding (a), the additional element of displaying step is insignificant extra-solution activity, specifically, “data gathering and outputting.” The transmitting step is similar to the MPEP 2106.05(g)(3), “Mere Data Gathering” examples iv. The generating step amounts “necessary data gathering and outputting.” MPEP 2106.05(g)(3). In addition, the limitation is similar to MPEP 2106.05(d).II example I “Receiving or transmitting data over a network,” which the courts have recognized as well‐understood, routine, and conventional.
Claim 12 is substantially similar to Claim 1. A similar analysis is applied. In addition, Claim 12 recites “a device,” “encoder,” and “transmitter.” The “device” and various components, under BRI, could be interpreted as a computer or computer components. The computer is recited at a high level of generality, performing a generic computer function. This generic processor limitation is no more than mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component. MPEP 2106.05(f).
The Examiner did not apply 101 abstract-idea rejection to Claim 14 because of the additional element “rendering the decoded mesh data,” which integrates a judicial exception into a practical application.
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.
Claims 1-3 and 8-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mammou et al. (US 20230290063 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Mammou teaches A method of three-dimensional (3D) data (“The illustrated example . . . input static or dynamic 3D mesh M(i)=(C(i), G(i), T(i), TC(i)) to produce a base mesh m(i) and a displacement field d(i) discussed above with respect to FIG. 4.” Mammou ¶ 67.), the method comprising:
encoding original mesh data (
“FIG. 4 illustrates a high level block diagram of a mesh encoding process.” Mammou ¶ 13.
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transmitting a bitstream (bitstream that comprises compressed bitstream in Fig. 4) containing the encoded mesh data (encoded base mesh in Fig. 4) and signaling information (encoded displacements in Fig. 4) (“The decimated/base curve can have a low number of vertices may require fewer bits to be encoded/transmitted.” Mammou ¶ 68.).
Mammou does not explicitly disclose transmitting generated/encoded bitstream, because Mammou ¶ 68 does not recite “encode to transmit.” The Examiner takes an Official Notice that it would have been notoriously well-known in the art that generated bitstreams could be transmitted. The benefits of combining this well-known knowledge would have been continuous transmission of data and efficient transmission of data.
Regarding Claim 2, Mammou further teaches The method of claim 1, wherein the encoding of the mesh data (Mammou Figs. 4, 10) comprises:
generating base mesh data by decimating (Mammou Fig. 6) the original mesh data and encoding the base mesh data (Mammou Fig. 4) (“FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary pre-processing scheme that can be applied by pre-processor 403. The illustrated example uses the case of a 2D curve for simplicity of illustration, but the same concepts can be applied to the input static or dynamic 3D mesh M(i)=(C(i), G(i), T(i), TC(i)) to produce a base mesh m(i) and a displacement field d(i) discussed above with respect to FIG. 4. In FIG. 6, the input 2D curve 601 (represented by a 2D polyline), referred to as the ‘original’ curve, is first down-sampled to generate a base curve/polyline 602, referred to as the ‘decimated’ curve.” Mammou ¶ 67.
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generating additional vertices by subdividing (Mammou Fig. 6 “subdivided” with added vertices) the decimated mesh data one or more times and determining one or more levels varying depending on the number of times of the subdivision (
“A subdivision scheme, such as those described in Reference [A1] (identified below), can be applied to the decimated polyline 602 to generate a ‘subdivided’ curve 603. As one example, in FIG. 6, a subdivision scheme using an iterative interpolation scheme can be applied. This can include inserting at each iteration a new point in the middle of each edge of the polyline. In the example illustrated in FIG. 6, two subdivision iterations were applied.” Mammou ¶ 67.
Each added vertex to subdivide is an additional “one time” for subdivision.
More levels, more subdivisions.
“Encoder/decoder arrangements as described herein could also support scalability at different levels. . . . Likewise, quality and spatial scalability could be achieved by using different mechanisms for the geometry/vertex attribute data and the attribute map data. As one example, geometry scalability can be obtained by leveraging the subdivision structure, making it possible to change the mesh resolution by going from one level of detail to the next.” Mammou ¶ 124.);
reconstructing the encoded base mesh data (m’(i) between 1003 and 1004 in Mammou Fig. 10) (
Mammou Fig. 10:
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“The reconstructed quantized base mesh m′(i) can then be used by displacement updater 1004 to update the displacement field d(i) to generate an updated displacement field d′(i) that takes into account the differences between the reconstructed base mesh m′(i) and the original base mesh m(i).” Mammou ¶ 76.);
generating displacement information based on the subdivided mesh data and the reconstructed base mesh data (“Depending on the application and the targeted bitrate/visual quality, the encoder could optionally encode a set of displacement vectors associated with the subdivided mesh vertices, referred to as displacement field d(i). One technique for computing a displacement field d(i) is described in Section 2, below. The reconstructed quantized base mesh m′(i) can then be used by displacement updater 1004 to update the displacement field d(i) to generate an updated displacement field d′(i) that takes into account the differences between the reconstructed base mesh m′(i) and the original base mesh m(i). By exploiting the subdivision surface mesh structure (as described below), a wavelet transform 1005 (as described below) can then applied to d′(i), generating a set of wavelet coefficients e(i).” Mammou ¶ 76.);
encoding the displacement information (compressed displacements bitstream in Mammou Fig. 10);
reconstructing the encoded displacement information (reconstructed displacement d”(i) between 1011 and 1013 in Mammou Fig. 10);
reconstructing mesh data (Mammou Fig. 10 1013 Reconstruct deformed mesh) based on the reconstructed base mesh data and the reconstructed displacement information (“A reconstructed base mesh m″(i) can be obtained by applying inverse quantization 1012 to the reconstructed quantized base mesh m′(i). The reconstructed deformed mesh DM(i) can be obtained by subdividing m″(i) and applying the reconstructed displacements d″(i) to its vertices by reconstruction block 1013.” Mammou ¶ 76.);
regenerating a texture map (updated attribute Map A’(i) in Mammou Fig. 10) based on a texture map (Attribute Map A(i) of Mammou Fig. 10) of the original mesh data (Static/Dynamic Mesh M(i) of Mammou Fig. 10) and the reconstructed mesh data (DM (i) of Mammou Fig. 10) (
Mammou explains, “The attribute transfer module can compute a new attribute map based on the input mesh M(i) and the input texture map A(i). This new attribute map can be better suited for the reconstructed deformed mesh MD(i). A more detailed description is provided in Section 3 below.” Mammou ¶ 98.
Mammou teaches that the attribute map could be texture map, stating“The attribute maps describe a set of attributes associated with the mesh surface. An example of attribute would be texture information (see FIGS. 2, 3, 23).” Mammou ¶ 217.); and
encoding the regenerated texture map (compressed attribute bitstream at the bottom of Mammou Fig. 10).
Regarding Claim 3, Mammou further teaches The method of claim 2, wherein the encoding of the displacement information comprises: encoding the displacement information corresponding to at least one of the one or more levels using a 2D video codec (
[BRI on the record] With respect to “codec,” the Examiner is reading the limitation to mean a software or hardware tool that encodes and decodes digital data.
[Mapping Analysis]
Mammou Fig. 10 shows that 1008 “video encoding” (codec) generates “compressed displacements bitstream.”
Mammou further teaches that the codec is 2D video codec, stating “. . . packed into a 2D image/video by image packer 1007, and compressed by using an image/video encoder 1008.” Mammou ¶ 76. Here the 2D video codec accepts 2D video/image input.
The Examiner has explained that displacement information is associated with, or corresponding to, one or more levels, through subdivisions.
“As one example, geometry scalability can be obtained by leveraging the subdivision structure, making it possible to change the mesh resolution by going from one level of detail to the next. The displacement information could then be stored as two or more image/video sub-streams . . ..” Mammou ¶ 124. “Depending on the application and the targeted bitrate/visual quality, the encoder could optionally encode a set of displacement vectors associated with the subdivided mesh vertices, referred to as displacement field d(i).” Mammou ¶ 76.).
Regarding Claim 8, Mammou further teaches The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more levels are at least one level of detail (LoD) or at least one scalable LoD (sLoD) (
“Encoder/decoder arrangements as described herein could also support scalability at different levels. . . . Likewise, quality and spatial scalability could be achieved by using different mechanisms for the geometry/vertex attribute data and the attribute map data. As one example, geometry scalability can be obtained by leveraging the subdivision structure, making it possible to change the mesh resolution by going from one level of detail to the next.” Mammou ¶ 124.).
Regarding Claim 9, Mammou further teaches The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one sLoD is configured based on the at least one LoD, wherein a specific sLoD in the at least one sLoD is mapped to one of the at least one LoD (
“Encoder/decoder arrangements as described herein could also support scalability at different levels. . . . Likewise, quality and spatial scalability could be achieved by using different mechanisms for the geometry/vertex attribute data and the attribute map data. As one example, geometry scalability can be obtained by leveraging the subdivision structure, making it possible to change the mesh resolution by going from one level of detail to the next.” Mammou ¶ 124. Also see ¶ 129.
the scalability level of detail depends on the level of details of subdivided mesh structures.).
Regarding Claim 10, Mammou further teaches The method of claim 9, wherein the number of levels in the at least one sLoD is different from the number of levels in the at least one LoD (
“Encoder/decoder arrangements as described herein could also support scalability at different levels. For example, temporal scalability, which could be achieved through temporal subsampling and frame re-ordering. Likewise, quality and spatial scalability could be achieved by using different mechanisms for the geometry/vertex attribute data and the attribute map data.” Mammou ¶ 124. “In this example, a level of detail m can be generated by combining level of detail m−1 and refinement level m−1.” Mammou ¶ 129.
Here, the sLoD and LoD are broad and do not specify types/details of sLoD or LoD.
The numbers could be different depending on the Examiner’s mapping.
For example, sLoD could be including both temporal and/or spatial scalability. The LoD could be levels of structural refinements.).
Regarding Claim 11, Mammou further teaches The method of claim 2, wherein the encoding of the texture map comprises:
encoding the texture map (Map A’(i) of Mammou Fig. 10) corresponding to at least one of the one or more levels using a 2D video codec (“video encoding” of Mammou Fig. 10 that generates “compressed attribute bitstream”) (
Mammou teaches that the attribute map could be texture map, stating“The attribute maps describe a set of attributes associated with the mesh surface. An example of attribute would be texture information (see FIGS. 2, 3, 23).” Mammou ¶ 217.
Mammou teaches the video encoding is 2D based, stating “As is the case with traditional 2D image/video encoding, applying color space conversion and chroma subsampling could be optionally applied to achieve better rate distortion performance (e.g., converting RGB 4:4:4 to YUV4:2:0).” Mammou ¶ 217.
Mammou Fig. 10 shows that “compressed attribute bitstream” is associated with “compressed displacements bitstream,” which is further associated with levels.
“As one example, geometry scalability can be obtained by leveraging the subdivision structure, making it possible to change the mesh resolution by going from one level of detail to the next. The displacement information could then be stored as two or more image/video sub-streams e.g.: Base layer/Level of detail 0: A separate video sub-stream for low frequency coefficients; Refinement Layer 0: A separate video sub-stream for the next band of coefficients; . . .Refinement Layer N−1: A separate video sub-stream for the highest band of coefficients.” Mammou ¶¶ 124-128.).
Claims 12-13 are substantially similar to Claims 1-2. The rejections analyses based on Mammou for Claims 1-2 are applied to Claims 12-13. In addition, Claim 12 recites, “A device for transmitting three-dimensional (3D) data” (Mammou ¶¶ 641-644).
Regarding Claim 14, Mammou teaches A method of receiving three-dimensional (3D) data (“A method of post processing a decoded 3D textured mesh to adaptively tesselate the mesh,” Claim 1.), the method comprising:
receiving a bitstream (compressed bitstream b(i) in Mammou Fig. 18) containing encoded mesh data (encoded mesh M”(i)) and signaling information (encoded displacement d”(i)) ( Mammou Fig. 18:
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decoding (1808) the encoded mesh data (compressed bitstream b(i) in Fig. 18) in the bitstream based on the signaling information (encoded displacement d”(i)) ; and
rendering the decoded mesh data (mesh M”(i)) (“The inverse quantization and reconstruction processes are not normative and could be implemented in various ways and/or combined with the rendering process.” Mammou ¶ 101.).
Mammou does not explicitly disclose rendering the decoded mesh data as shown in Fig. 18, even though Mammou strongly suggests so with the phrase “combined with the rendering process.” The Examiner conducts an obviousness analysis. When the generated decoded mesh according to Fig. 18 and the general discussion of rendering belong to two different embodiments. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine decoding mesh model according to Fig. 18 and rendering. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to generate and display virtual objects so that a viewer could be entertained and/or informed.
Regarding Claim 15, Mammou further teaches The method of claim 14, wherein the decoding of the mesh data (
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reconstructing base mesh data (m’(i)) from the encoded mesh data (bitstream for mesh data to be processed by Mammou Fig. 18 1802);
generating additional vertices by subdividing the reconstructed base mesh data one or more times (
“Similar to the geometry information, additional processing may be performed to the base mesh information after its decoding. More specifically, after decoding the base mesh data, the resulting meshes may be subdivided through a mesh subdivision process. This process requires information, e.g. the subdivision method to be used among others, which may be indicated/included in the atlas data substream. The subdivided/resampled meshes are then refined by adding the displacements from the geometry displacement decoder. Additional information from the atlas data substream may be used to perform this final process.” Mammou ¶ 280.) and
determining one or more levels based on the signaling information and the number of times of the subdivision (
“Thus, the mesh normalization process 3210 may result in different numbers of subdivisions and therefore a dynamically adjustable number of vertices for different patches within a mesh. In this manner, the mesh normalization process may provide significant flexibility in determining of a level of refinement associated with each patch (or subsets of patches) of a 3D mesh.” Mammou ¶ 552; Fig. 32. Mammou ¶ 280 disclosing displacement data, signaling information, used for refinements.);
decoding and reconstructing displacement information (Mammou Fig. 18 1807 to generate “decoded displacement d”(i)”) from the encoded mesh data (compressed bitstream b(i));
reconstructing mesh data (mesh M”(i)) based on the subdivided base mesh data and the reconstructed displacement information (“Similar to the geometry information, additional processing may be performed to the base mesh information after its decoding. More specifically, after decoding the base mesh data, the resulting meshes may be subdivided through a mesh subdivision process. This process requires information, e.g. the subdivision method to be used among others, which may be indicated/included in the atlas data substream. The subdivided/resampled meshes are then refined by adding the displacements from the geometry displacement decoder. Additional information from the atlas data substream may be used to perform this final process.” Mammou ¶ 280. Mammou Fig. 32 3215.);
decoding and reconstructing a texture map (Mammou Fig. 18 1809, 1810; and/or associating decode attribute map to re-meshed mesh) from the encoded mesh data (“Turning to FIG. 24, the process 2400 may be run for each pixel A(i, j) of the attribute map to be generated A. First, the texture coordinate (u, v) for each pixel (i, j) of the attribute map to be generated A(i, j) is computed (block 2401). For example, in FIG. 25, the attribute map to be generated A (e.g., the texture map 2312 associated with the re-meshed mesh 2306) pixel A(i,j) 2502 is associated with coordinate (u, v) 2504 in the texture domain 2506 that includes the updated patches 2308 associated with the re-meshed mesh 2306.” Mammou ¶ 220.
“FIG. 20 shows a block diagram of the proposed remeshing system. The input mesh M(i) can be an irregular mesh. The output can be a base mesh m(i) with a set of displacements d(i) associated with the subdivided version of m(i).” Mammou ¶ 173.); and
performing rendering based on the reconstructed mesh data and the reconstructed texture map (“The inverse quantization and reconstruction processes are not normative and could be implemented in various ways and/or combined with the rendering process.” Mammou ¶ 101.).
Mammou does not explicitly disclose rendering the decoded mesh data as shown in Fig. 18 and texture map, even though Mammou strongly suggests so with the phrase “combined with the rendering process.” The Examiner conducts an obviousness analysis. When the generated decoded mesh and texture and general discussion of rendering belong to two different embodiments. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine decoding mesh model and texture map according to Fig. 18 and rendering. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to generate and display virtual objects so that a viewer could be entertained and/or informed.
Claims 4-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mammou as applied to Claim 2, in further view of ZAKHARCHENKO et al. (US 20260019639 A1).
Regarding Claim 4, Mammou teaches The method of claim 2.
Mammou does not explicitly disclose; however, ZAKHARCHENKO teaches wherein the encoding of the displacement information comprises: encoding the displacement information corresponding to at least one of the one or more levels using a zero run-length coding (“The displacement component codec 1223 can be configured to process data regarding quantized wavelet coefficients in zero-run length encoding and entropy encoding to generate the coded geometry displacements component data and process the coded geometry displacements component data in entropy decoding and zero-run length decoding to reconstruct data regarding quantized wavelet coefficients.” ZAKHARCHENKO ¶ 70. The Examiner has explained that displacement information is associated with, or corresponding to, one or more levels, through subdivisions. Mammou ¶¶ 76, 124.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine ZAKHARCHENKO’s zero run-length coding with Mammou. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to reduce the quantity of the data to be transmitted or saved after the encoding.
Regarding Claim 5, Mammou in view of ZAKHARCHENKO teaches The method of claim 2,
wherein the encoding of the displacement information comprises:
packaging the displacement information in a plurality of frames corresponding to at least one of the one or more levels (Mammou Figs. 10, 17 which show “an intra frame encoder/encoding process” (Mammou ¶ 19) and “inter frame encoder/encoding process” (Mammou ¶ 27), and both figures show a process to generate “compressed displacements bitstream.” In addition, The Examiner has explained that displacement information is associated with, or corresponding to, one or more levels, through subdivisions. Mammou ¶¶ 76, 124.); and
encoding the packaged displacement information using a zero run-length coding (
“The displacement component codec 1223 can be configured to process data regarding quantized wavelet coefficients in zero-run length encoding and entropy encoding to generate the coded geometry displacements component data and process the coded geometry displacements component data in entropy decoding and zero-run length decoding to reconstruct data regarding quantized wavelet coefficients.” ZAKHARCHENKO ¶ 70.).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine ZAKHARCHENKO’s zero run-length coding with Mammou. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to reduce the quantity of the data to be transmitted or saved after the encoding.
Regarding Claim 6, Mammou in view of ZAKHARCHENKO teaches The method of claim 5, wherein the displacement information in the plurality of frames is packaged (see Claim 5’s rejection analyses) using an interleaving method or a serial method based on a mapping relationship of vertices between the plurality of the frames (
Mammou Fig. 17 which show an “inter frame encoder/encoding process” (Mammou ¶ 27). Mammou teaches mapping relationship of vertices between frames, stating “FIG. 17 shows a block diagram of the inter encoding process, i.e., an encoding process in which the encoding depends on temporally separate (e.g., prior) version of the mesh. In one non-limiting example, a reconstructed quantized reference base mesh m′(j) can be used to predict the current frame base mesh m(i). The pre-processing module described above could be configured such that m(i) and m(j) share the same number of vertices, connectivity, texture coordinates, and texture connectivity. Thus, only the positions of the vertices differ between m(i) and m(j).” Mammou ¶ 101.
Mammou teaches a serial method related frames, stating “The remeshing procedure described above handles every frame M(i) independently. While this is optimal for intra coding, time-consistent remeshing may allow better temporal prediction for both mesh and image data. For time-consistent remeshing, one concept is reusing a base mesh pm(j) associated with a reference frame M(j) for a base mesh pm(i) having the same connectivity. By ensuring that a 1-to-1 mapping between pm(i) and pm(j) exists, and that pm(i) and pm(j) have the same number of vertices, number of triangles (or polygons), texture coordinates, and texture coordinate triangles (or polygons), pm(i) and pm(j) will differ only by the positions of their vertices.” Mammou ¶ 196. “Disclosed herein are techniques for compressing motion data—i.e., the geometry and vertex attribute changes from one frame to another—associated with such representations. An input mesh (e.g., M(i)) can be subdivided into a set of patches P(i, j), where i is the frame index and j is the patch index. The input data could come with a time consistent structure, which can ensure that at least a subset of patches in a current frame have the same connectivity as corresponding patches in a reference frame.” Mammou ¶ 240.
Further, it appears that an interleaving method or a serial method include all possibilities for packaging information.).
Regarding Claim 7, Mammou in view of ZAKHARCHENKO teaches The method of claim 5, wherein the signaling information comprises information related to the one or more levels or information related to the packaging of the displacement information in the plurality of frames (“As one example, geometry scalability can be obtained by leveraging the subdivision structure, making it possible to change the mesh resolution by going from one level of detail to the next. The displacement information could then be stored as two or more image/video sub-streams e.g.: Base layer/Level of detail 0: A separate video sub-stream for low frequency coefficients; Refinement Layer 0: A separate video sub-stream for the next band of coefficients; . . .Refinement Layer N−1: A separate video sub-stream for the highest band of coefficients.” Mammou ¶¶ 124-128.
Mammou Figs. 10, 17 which show “an intra frame encoder/encoding process” (Mammou ¶ 19) and “inter frame encoder/encoding process” (Mammou ¶ 27), and both figures show a process to generate “compressed displacements bitstream.”).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Kim et al. (US 20230290011 A1) has similar teachings as the primary reference Mammou et al.:
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZHENGXI LIU whose telephone number is (571)270-7509. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9 AM - 5 PM.
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/ZHENGXI LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2611
Prosecution Insights