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 .
This office action is in response to amendment filed 05/14/2026 in which the claims 1, 3, 5-6 are pending.
Specification
Abstract and the title of the instant application are amended hence the objection to the specification has been overcome.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 1, 3, 5-6 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-6 of copending Application No. 19/439,576 in view of Thomas et al. (US 2017/0118540 A1).
Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the examined application claim is obvious over the conflicting copending claim. The difference between the instant and conflicting copending claim is the addition of limitation “obtaining, from a bitstream, first information indicating a position of a first region including a first object in the image; derive the first region based on the first information” in the instant claim. See the table below. However Thomas discloses obtaining, from a bitstream, first information indicating a position of a first region including a first object in the image; derive the first region based on the first information (Para [0116] teaches the position parameters 620,621 x,y,w,h may define the position of a MPD video element wherein the coordinates x,y define the origin of the image region of the MPD video element). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize limitation in the method of the conflicting copending claim, since it enables providing position of the ROI of a ROI stream i.e. ROI video stream, on a frame level, so that smooth or seamless transition to a tiled streaming mode can be realized.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection.
Instant application:19/433,111
Co-pending application:19/439,576
1. A method of decoding an image, comprising: obtaining, from a bitstream, first information indicating a position of a first region including a first object in the image; derive the first region based on the first information; obtaining, from a bitstream, second information indicating a size of a second region including a second object in the image; and derive the second region based on the second information.
1. A method of decoding an image, comprising: reconstructing the image based on encoding information;
determining a size of a region in the reconstructed image based on the encoding information; and identifying the region based on the determined size, wherein the region is based on an object included in the reconstructed image.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein a size of the image is smaller than a size of an image indicated by encoding information.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein a size of the reconstructed image is smaller than a size of an image indicated by the encoding information.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information and the second information are obtained from a supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message of the bitstream.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the encoding information related to the size is obtained from a supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message.
4. The method of claim 1, based on a value of a flag obtained from the bitstream, at least one of the first information or the second information is determined depending on information included in a previous SEI message.
4. The method of claim 1, based on a value of flag included in the encoding information, the size is determined depending on information included in a previous SEI message.
5. A method of encoding an image, comprising: determining a first object in the image; generating first information indicating a position of a first region including the first object; determining a first object in the image; and generating second information indicating a size of a second region including the second object.
5. A method of encoding an image, comprising: reconstructing the image; identifying a region in the reconstructed image; determining a size of the identified region; and generating encoding information indicating the size of the identified region, wherein the region is identified based on an object included in the reconstructed image.
6. A method of transmitting a bitstream, comprising: determining a first object in the image; generating first information indicating a position of a first region including the first object; determining a first object in the image; and generating second information indicating a size of a second region including the second object; generating the bitstream including the first information and the second information; and transmitting the bitstream.
6. A method of transmitting a bitstream, comprising: reconstructing the image; identifying a region in the reconstructed image; determining a size of the identified region; generating encoding information indicating the size of the identified region; generating the bitstream including the encoding information; and transmitting the bitstream, wherein the region is identified based on an object included in the reconstructed image.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 05/14/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Claim Rejection Under U.S.C. 112
The Examiner has rejected Claims 1-6 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter. See OA at par. 7, pages 7-8. Among the rejected claims, Claims 1, 5, and 6 are independent, and Claims 2 and 4 are canceled.
In rejecting Claims 1, 5, and 6, the Examiner stated that "... claim recites "first object in the image" and "second object in the image", which is interpreted as first object and second object and not region of interest (ROI)/specific region of the image (as supported by specification, hence claims are indefinite." Id.
In the present response, the independent Claims 1, 5 and 6 have been amended to recite "a region representing an object" to clarify the subject matter. Emphasis added.
This amendment is fully supported by the Original Specification, particularly regarding "object-based encoding" and setting a region as a region of interest (ROI):
[00136] Some constructions in the following example may be applied to various encoding techniques such as spatial domain encoding, frequency domain encoding, block-based encoding, object-based encoding, and the like.
[00466] The projected image may be configured to include
some or all of 360-degree content according to encoding settings. In this case, location information of a region (or a pixel) to be placed at the center of the projected image may be implicitly generated as a predetermined value or may be explicitly generated. Also, when the projected image includes specific regions of the 360-degree content, the range information and location information of the included regions may be generated. Also, range information (e.g., the width and the height) and
location information (e.g., which is measured on the basis of an upper left end of an image) of a region of interest (ROI) may be generated from the projected image. In this case, a specific region with high importance in the 360-degree content may be set as an ROI...
Original Specification, pars. [00136] and [00466], emphasis added.
Accordingly, Applicant respectfully submits that the Examiner's rejection of Claims 1-6 under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) has been overcome and request withdrawal of the rejection.
Examiner respectfully disagrees and clarifies that specification in para[0466] recites a specific region with high importance in the 360-degree content may be set as an ROI, and further as recited in para[0467] Accordingly, the 360-degree image encoder may generate and transmit a bitstream having two or more qualities, and the 360-degree image decoder may set an ROI according to a user's view and may selectively decode the bitstream according to the ROI. That is, a place where a user's gaze is directed may be set as an ROI through a head tracking or eye tracking system, and only the necessary part may be rendered.
Hence the region of interest is identified by position ad size and that region is based on an object, however the claim “obtaining, from a bitstream, first information indicating a position of a first region including representing a first object in the image; derive the first region based on the first information; obtaining, from a bitstream, second information indicating a size of a second region including representing a second object in the image; and derive the second region based on the second information”. hence claims are indefinite.
Claim Rejection Under U.S.C. 102
The Examiner has rejected Claims 1-7 under 35 U.S.C. 102 as being anticipated by Thomas. See OA at par. 10, pages 9. Among the rejected claims, Claims 1, 5, and 6 are independent, and Claims 2 and 4 are canceled.
In the present response, Claim 1 has been amended to incorporate the features of Claims 2 and 4, and Claims 2 and 4 are canceled in light of the amendments to Claim 1. The amended Claim 1 recites:
1) "wherein a size of the image is smaller than a size of an image indicated by
encoding information"; and
2) "wherein, based on a value of a flag obtained from the bitstream, at least one of
the first information or the second information is determined depending on
information included in a previous SEI message."
Emphasis added.
Applicant respectfully submits that Thomas does not disclose, otherwise teach or suggest, at least these amended features of Claim 1 for the following reasons.
In rejecting Claim 2, the Examiner stated that Thomas discloses "wherein a size of the image is smaller than a size of an image indicated by encoding information" by referring to paragraphs [0067], [0071], and [0155] of Thomas. See OA a pages 10-11.
Applicant respectfully disagrees. Contrary to the Examiner's assertion, Thomas merely states that the ROI may be smaller than the image region as a result of the decoding process, and nowhere does Thomas disclose, otherwise teach or suggest, the claimed feature "wherein a size of the image is smaller than a size of an image indicated by encoding information."
Emphasis added.
[0067] ... a ROI is defined as a sub-region 106,110 of an image
region 100 ...
[0071] ... The ROI position information may comprise ROI
coordinates that define the position and the size of the ROI within
the image region of the source video....
[0155 ... Thus the eventual ROI may be smaller than the image
region that results from the decoding process. The cropped
images (each comprising the ROI) may be buffered and rendered
on a display (not shown).
Thomas, pars. [0067], [0071], [0155], emphasis added.
Examiner respectfully disagrees and clarifies that with respect to Claim Rejections under 35 USC § 112 still pending for the independent claim 1 and with respect to support in the specification for the amended language the arguments are not persuasive.
With respect to claimed feature "wherein a size of the image is smaller than a size of an image indicated by encoding information".
Thomas discloses in para[0067]-[0068] that the position and size of the ROI within the image region 100 may be defined on the basis of ROI coordinates 103. As shown in FIG. 1. The ROI may be pre-selected using a tracking algorithm or a camera operator. A stream may be generated by cropping the ROI out of the image region of decoded frames of the source video and encoding the cropped regions in a separate stream, e.g. an MPEG and/or DVB encoded stream. This stream may be referred to as a ROI stream 107. The coordinates of the cropped region may be referred to as ROI coordinates. For example, the source video may relate to a high-resolution, wide field-of-view (panorama) video of a soccer match and the ROI stream may be generated on the basis of the source video by cropping the ROI associated with the ball out of the decoded frames of the source video.
Further to clarify examiner has also relied on Para[0142] which recites information for determining the number and/or size of HEVC-tiles (e.g. the number of HEVC-tiles that are represented as a SubRepresentation and/or part of the position information associated with the SRDs); [0143] information for determining the position of the position of the HEVC tiles or the ROI stream (e.g. part of the position information associated with the SRDs); [0144] information for signaling that the ROI position and/or the size of the ROI changes in time (using e.g. the “dynamic” parameter).
Thus Thomas discloses "wherein a size of the image is smaller than a size of an image indicated by encoding information."
Applicant further argues In rejecting Claim 4, the Examiner stated that Thomas discloses "based on a value of a flag obtained from the bitstream, at least one of the first information or the second information is determined depending on information included in a previous SEI message" by referring to paragraph [0205] of Thomas. See OA at pages 11-12.
Applicant respectfully disagrees. Contrary to the Examiner's assertion,, Thomas merely discloses delivering ROI parameters via a user data unregistered SEI message:9
[0205] The SEI message type referred to as user data unregistered allows arbitrary data to be carried in the bitstream. In case of ROI coordinates this SEI message may be used to carry the ROI coordinates. Four parameters, i.e. horizontal position and vertical position of the top left corner and the width and the height may be used to define a ROI in the image region of decoded frames of the source video.
Thomas, par. [0205], emphasis added. However, nowhere does Thomas disclose, otherwise teach or suggest, the claimed feature "wherein, based on a value of a flag obtained from the bitstream, at least one of the first information or the second information is determined depending on information included in a previous SEI message," Emphasis added.
From the foregoing, Applicant respectfully submits that Thomas does not disclose, otherwise teach or suggest, one or more of the amended features of Claim 1.
Claims 5 and 6 have been amended to recite substantially similar features of Claim 1.
Accordingly, Applicant respectfully submits that Claims 1, 5, and 6,
Examiner respectfully disagrees and clarifies that with respect to Claim Rejections under 35 USC § 112 still pending for the independent claim 1 and with respect to support in the specification for the amended language the arguments are not persuasive.
With respect to claimed feature “based on a value of a flag obtained from the bitstream, at least one of the first information or the second information is determined depending on information included in a previous SEI message “ and specification para[0473] recites the information generated during the pre-processing process may be added to the bitstream in the form of SEI or metadata. In this case, the bitstream may contain at least one piece of encoding data having partially different settings for the encoding process and at least one piece of pre-processing information having partially different settings for the pre-processing process. This is to construct a decoded image in combination of a plurality of pieces of encoding data (encoding data + pre-processing information) according to user environments
Thomas discloses in para[0028] teaches at least part of said ROI position information is transported in the bitstream of said ROI video stream to said client device, preferably a SEI message or a ROI coordinates flag defining the location of said ROI coordinates in said bitstream; Para[0202] & FIG. 16A depicts wherein the ROI data are inserted as a supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message in the bitstream of a MPEG stream that is encoded using an H.264/MPEG-4 based codec, Para[0205] teaches In case of ROI coordinates this SEI message may be used to carry the ROI coordinates. Four parameters, i.e. horizontal position and vertical position of the top left corner and the width and the height may be used to define a ROI in the image region of decoded frames of the source video.
Thus Thomas discloses based on a value of a flag obtained from the bitstream, at least one of the first information or the second information is determined depending on information included in a previous SEI message.
Hence examine respectfully submits that Thomas discloses, otherwise teach or suggest, one or more of the amended features of Claim 1 and substantially similar features of Claim 5, 6.
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.
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 1-6 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.
Claims 1, 5, 6 recites “first information indicating a position of a first region representing a first object in the image”…. “second information indicating a size of a second region representing a second object in the image”,
Specification in para[0466] recites a specific region with high importance in the 360-degree content may be set as an ROI, and further as recited in para[0467] Accordingly, the 360-degree image encoder may generate and transmit a bitstream having two or more qualities, and the 360-degree image decoder may set an ROI according to a user's view and may selectively decode the bitstream according to the ROI. That is, a place where a user's gaze is directed may be set as an ROI through a head tracking or eye tracking system, and only the necessary part may be rendered.
Hence the region of interest is identified by position and size and that region is based on an object, however the claim “obtaining, from a bitstream, first information indicating a position of a first region including representing a first object in the image; derive the first region based on the first information; obtaining, from a bitstream, second information indicating a size of a second region including representing a second object in the image; and derive the second region based on the second information”, hence claims are indefinite.
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)(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.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Thomas et al. (US 2017/0118540 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Thomas discloses a method of decoding an image (Para[0083] teaches decoded by an HEVC decoder), comprising: obtaining, from a bitstream, first information indicating a position of a first region representing an object a first object in the image (Para[0082] teaches the location of one or more moving ROIs 206,210 in the image region of the HEVC stream may be defined by ROI position information 212 , FIG. 1. The ROI position information may change in time thereby defining a trajectory of a moving ROI within the image region of the source file. The coordinate system that is used for defining the tile position information may also be used in order to determine the ROI coordinates of the ROI in the ROI stream, Para [0116] teaches the position parameters 620,621 x,y,w,h may define the position of a MPD video element wherein the coordinates x,y define the origin of the image region of the MPD video element); derive the first region based on the first information (Para[0037] teaches receiving a ROI video stream for rendering a first ROI defining a first sub-region within the full image region of a HEVC-tiled video stream, the positions of HEVC tiles in said HEVC-tiled video stream being defined by tile position information; providing ROI position information associated with at least one video frame of said ROI video stream, said ROI position information comprising at least a first position of said first ROI); obtaining, from a bitstream, second information indicating a size of a second region representing a second object in the image (Para [0116] teaches the position parameters 620,621 x,y,w,h may define the position of a MPD video element wherein the coordinates x,y define the origin of the image region of the MPD video element and w and h define the width and height of the image region); and derive the second region based on the second information (Para[0037] teaches requesting video data, preferably comprised in one or more HEVC tile streams, associated with said one or more identified HEVC tiles for rendering a second ROI defining a second sub-region within the full image region of said HEVC-tiled video stream. Para[0071] teaches the ROI position information may comprise ROI coordinates that define the position and the size of the ROI within the image region of the source video. Para[0073] teaches the first sub-region (representing the ROI) may start at a first time instance at a first ROI position 106 associated with first ROI coordinates and a first ROI size and after some time, the sub-region may move to a second ROI position 110 associated with second ROI coordinates and second ROI size. Para[0085] teaches the decoder may use the tile position information in order to determine which track it needs to extract from the HEVC stream for decoding. In an embodiment, tile position information in a track may comprise a tile origin and tile size information (e.g. width and height parameters) in order to position the tile in a reference space defined by a coordinate system as described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2), wherein a size of the image is smaller than a size of an image indicated by encoding information (Para[0067] teaches a ROI is defined as a sub-region 106,110 of an image region 100, Para [0071] teaches The ROI position information may comprise ROI coordinates that define the position and the size of the ROI within the image region of the source video. Para [0144] information for signaling that the ROI position and/or the size of the ROI changes in time (using e.g. the “dynamic” parameter)), wherein based on a value of a flag obtained from the bitstream, at least one of the first information or the second information is determined depending on information included in a previous SEI message (Para[0028] para[0028] teaches at least part of said ROI position information is transported in the bitstream of said ROI video stream to said client device, preferably a SEI message or a ROI coordinates flag defining the location of said ROI coordinates in said bitstream; [0205] teaches the SEI message type referred to as user data unregistered allows arbitrary data to be carried in the bitstream. In case of ROI coordinates this SEI message may be used to carry the ROI coordinates. Four parameters, i.e. horizontal position and vertical position of the top left corner and the width and the height may be used to define a ROI in the image region of decoded frames of the source video).
Regarding claim 3, Thomas discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the first information and the second information are obtained from a supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message of the bitstream (para[0028] teaches at least part of said ROI position information is transported in the bitstream of said ROI video stream to said client device, preferably a SEI message or a ROI coordinates flag defining the location of said ROI coordinates in said bitstream; Para[0202] & FIG. 16A depicts wherein the ROI data are inserted as a supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message in the bitstream of a MPEG stream that is encoded using an H.264/MPEG-4 based codec, Para[0205] teaches In case of ROI coordinates this SEI message may be used to carry the ROI coordinates. Four parameters, i.e. horizontal position and vertical position of the top left corner and the width and the height may be used to define a ROI in the image region of decoded frames of the source video).
Regarding claim 5, Thomas discloses a method of encoding an image, comprising: determining a first object in the image (Para[0098] teaches ROI stream generator 412. The ROI stream generator is configured to select a ROI (e.g. a region with a particular activity) by panning and zooming through the image region of the frames of the source frames and generate a ROI stream by cropping the ROI out of video frames and building a new video stream (a ROI stream 414) on the basis of cropped image regions); generating first information indicating a position of a first region representing the first object (Para[0098] teaches the ROI may be selected automatically using an algorithm, e.g. a tracking algorithm for tracking a particular object in the images, or a human operator that selects the ROI. During the generation of the ROI stream, the coordinates of the ROI may be collected as ROI position information 418); determining a first object in the image (Para[0071] teaches ROI position information 112 may be determined when the ROI stream is formed. The ROI position information defines the positions of the (limited field-of-view) image region of ROI video within the wide field-of-view image region of the source video); and generating second information indicating a size of a second region representing the second object. (Para[0071] teaches the ROI position information may comprise ROI coordinates that define the position and the size of the ROI within the image region of the source video), wherein a size of the image is smaller than a size of an image indicated by encoding information (Para[0067] teaches a ROI is defined as a sub-region 106,110 of an image region 100, Para [0071] teaches The ROI position information may comprise ROI coordinates that define the position and the size of the ROI within the image region of the source video. Para [0144] teaches information for signaling that the ROI position and/or the size of the ROI changes in time (using e.g. the “dynamic” parameter)), wherein based on a value of a flag obtained from the bitstream, at least one of the first information or the second information is determined depending on information included in a previous SEI message (Para para[0028] teaches at least part of said ROI position information is transported in the bitstream of said ROI video stream to said client device, preferably a SEI message or a ROI coordinates flag defining the location of said ROI coordinates in said bitstream; [0205] teaches the SEI message type referred to as user data unregistered allows arbitrary data to be carried in the bitstream. In case of ROI coordinates this SEI message may be used to carry the ROI coordinates. Four parameters, i.e. horizontal position and vertical position of the top left corner and the width and the height may be used to define a ROI in the image region of decoded frames of the source video).
Regarding claim 6, Thomas discloses a method of transmitting a bitstream (FIGS. 16A and 16B depict a data format for transporting ROI data in the encoded bitstream of MPEG stream), comprising: determining a first object in the image (Para[0098] teaches the ROI may be selected automatically using an algorithm, e.g. a tracking algorithm for tracking a particular object in the images, or a human operator that selects the ROI); generating first information indicating a position of a first region representing the first object (Para[0098] teaches During the generation of the ROI stream, the coordinates of the ROI may be collected as ROI position information 418. The ROI position information may be sent as metadata in the ROI stream or as separate data file to the client); determining a first object in the image (Para[0098] teaches The ROI may be selected automatically using an algorithm, e.g. a tracking algorithm for tracking a particular object in the images, or a human operator that selects the ROI); and generating second information indicating a size of a second region representing the second object (Para[0073] teaches the first sub-region (representing the ROI) may start at a first time instance at a first ROI position 106 associated with first ROI coordinates and a first ROI size and after some time, the sub-region may move to a second ROI position 110 associated with second ROI coordinates and second ROI size. During the trajectory the ROI may zoom into a predetermined part of the image region of the source video. Hence, the ROI depicted in FIG. 1 is a dynamic ROI in the sense its position within the image region of the source file and its size relative to the image region of the source file may change in time); generating the bitstream including the first information and the second information; and transmitting the bitstream (Para[0028] teaches at least part of said ROI position information is transported in the bitstream of said ROI video stream to said client device, preferably a SEI message or a ROI coordinates flag defining the location of said ROI coordinates in said bitstream). wherein a size of the image is smaller than a size of an image indicated by encoding information (Para[0067] teaches a ROI is defined as a sub-region 106,110 of an image region 100, Para [0071] teaches The ROI position information may comprise ROI coordinates that define the position and the size of the ROI within the image region of the source video. Para [0144] teaches information for signaling that the ROI position and/or the size of the ROI changes in time (using e.g. the “dynamic” parameter)) , wherein based on a value of a flag obtained from the bitstream, at least one of the first information or the second information is determined depending on information included in a previous SEI message (para[0028] teaches at least part of said ROI position information is transported in the bitstream of said ROI video stream to said client device, preferably a SEI message or a ROI coordinates flag defining the location of said ROI coordinates in said bitstream; Para[0205] teaches the SEI message type referred to as user data unregistered allows arbitrary data to be carried in the bitstream. In case of ROI coordinates this SEI message may be used to carry the ROI coordinates. Four parameters, i.e. horizontal position and vertical position of the top left corner and the width and the height may be used to define a ROI in the image region of decoded frames of the source video).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROWINA J CATTUNGAL whose telephone number is (571)270-5922. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7:30-6pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Pendleton can be reached at (571) 272-7527. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ROWINA J CATTUNGAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2425
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