SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.Download PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardMay 22, 202014922714 - (D) (P.T.A.B. May. 22, 2020) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 14/922,714 10/26/2015 Jin Young LEE 012052.1071C1 6887 89980 7590 05/22/2020 NSIP LAW P.O. Box 65745 Washington, DC 20035 EXAMINER LI, TRACY Y ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2487 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 05/22/2020 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): pto.nsip@gmail.com pto@nsiplaw.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE ____________ BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD ____________ Ex parte JIN YOUNG LEE, DU-SIK PARK, JAEJOON LEE, HO CHEON WEY, IL SOON LIM, and SEOK LEE ____________ Appeal 2019-002330 Application 14/922,714 Technology Center 2400 ____________ Before ELENI MANTIS MERCADER, NORMAN H. BEAMER, and GARTH D. BAER, Administrative Patent Judges. MANTIS MERCADER, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL Appeal 2019-002330 Application 14/922,714 2 STATEMENT OF THE CASE Appellant1 appeals under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) from the Examiner’s final rejection of claims 1, 2, 6, and 7; claims 3–5 are also pending and indicated as containing allowable subject matter. See Final Act. 4, 6. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We reverse. THE INVENTION Appellant’s claimed invention is directed to “a 3D video motion estimating apparatus and method” in which the “3D video motion estimating apparatus may enable a motion vector of a color image and a motion vector of a depth image refer to each other” (Abstract). Independent claim 1 is reproduced below, and is representative of the subject matter on appeal: 1. A[n] apparatus of estimating a motion of a three dimensional (3D) video, comprising: a receiver configured to receive a color image macroblock and a depth image macroblock; and a determiner configured to determine a motion vector of the color image macroblock and to determine a motion of the depth image macroblock based on the determined motion vector of the color image macroblock, wherein the determined motion vector of the color image macroblock is used as a motion vector for the depth image macroblock. Appeal Br. 16 (Claims Appendix). 1 We use the word “Appellant” to refer to “applicant” as defined in 37 C.F.R. § 1.42. Appellant identifies Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. as the real party in interest. Appeal Br. 3. Appeal 2019-002330 Application 14/922,714 3 REFERENCES The prior art relied upon by the Examiner in rejecting the claims on appeal is the following: Ideses US 2008/0205791 A1 Aug. 28, 2008 Tan US 2010/0141651 A1 June 10, 2010 Choi WO 2009084814 A1 July 9, 2009 REJECTION The Examiner made the following rejection: Claims 1, 2, 6, and 7 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as being unpatentable over Tan, Ideses, and Choi. Final Act. 4. ISSUE The pivotal issue is whether the Examiner erred in finding the combination of Tan, Ideses, and Choi teaches or suggests the limitation of: a determiner configured to determine a motion vector of the color image macroblock and to determine a motion of the depth image macroblock based on the determined motion vector of the color image macroblock, wherein the determined motion vector of the color image macroblock is used as a motion vector for the depth image macroblock, as recited in independent claim 1, and similarly recited in independent claim 6. ANALYSIS Appellant argues that: [e]quation 1 of Ideses explicitly discloses that “D is the computed depth per pixel, MVx and MVy are motion vectors for the X and Y directions, respectively.” Id. There, is no mention, not even a hint, of either of MVx or MVy being related to color image macroblock, as recited in claim 1. (Reply Br. 7, citing Ideses ¶ 106). Appeal 2019-002330 Application 14/922,714 4 We agree. The Examiner finds, and we agree, that: Ideses teaches a depth comes from motion or block motion estimate for calculating depth maps, that indicates the depth value of depth map represents motion or block motion vector. Therefore, Ideses teaches the motion of depth map is calculated by motion vectors of color frame of video as depicted in equation (1). (Ans. 5, citing Ideses ¶¶ 32–35, 106). However, Ideses further teaches that: [t]he motion estimation in this method is performed using Sub MacroBlocks of 4x4 pixels. Therefore, when creating the depth map, interpolation of the motion vectors to all 16 pixels in the sub MacroBlock is used. (Ideses ¶ 109). The Examiner’s finding regarding the depth map calculations appear to be made with respect to 4x4 pixel blocks, unlike Ideses’ “block-matching algorithm” which “tries to find ‘the best matching position’ for the 16x16 macroblock” (Ideses ¶ 98 (emphasis added); see also Fig. 1). The Examiner further finds, and we agree that: Choi teaches motion vectors are used in common by depth images and color images, that indicates depth image and color use the same motion vector, the motion vector of one image can be used by the other image. (Ans. 5, citing Choi ¶ 17). However, the Examiner does not supply an express finding that establishes Choi’s motion vectors are based on macroblocks. While the Answer also refers to Wikipedia entries for “motion estimation” and “depth map” (see Ans. 5), these citations are insufficient to support the Examiner’s finding that “Choi teaches the motion vector of the Appeal 2019-002330 Application 14/922,714 5 color image macroblock is used as a motion vector for the depth image” (Ans. 5, emphasis added).2 Taken together, the Examiner has not shown a teaching or motivation to indicate why one skilled in the art would apply the combined teachings of Tan, Ideses, and Choi using the claimed “color image macroblock” and “depth image macroblock.” Nor has the Examiner shown why use of macroblocks in the combined teachings would be a “predictable variation” that “a person of ordinary skill can implement.” KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 417 (2007). Accordingly, we are constrained by the record to reverse the Examiner’s obviousness rejection of independent claim 1, as well as independent claim 6 commensurate in scope, and dependent claims 2 and 7.3 CONCLUSION The Examiner erred in finding the combination of Tan, Ideses, and Choi teaches or suggests the limitation of: 2 We note the file history contains no text copy corresponding to the Wikipedia entries cited by the Examiner. Generally, we find Wikipedia to be an unreliable source of information because it is generally not considered to be as trustworthy as traditional sources for several reasons, including: (1) it is not peer reviewed; (2) the authors are unknown; and (3) apparently anyone can contribute to the source definition. See Bing Shun Li v. Holder, 400 Fed.Appx. 854, 857 (5th Cir. 2010) (noting Wikipedia’s unreliability and citing Badasa v. Mukasey, 540 F.3d 909, 910–11 (8th Cir. 2008)). 3 Should there be further prosecution, the Examiner should consider the application of Choi Figure 14(b) and paragraphs 108–109 describing using a motion vector calculated from a color image as the motion vector of a depth image, in conjunction with Ideses’ “block-matching algorithm” (see Ideses ¶ 98) that uses macroblocks. Appeal 2019-002330 Application 14/922,714 6 a determiner configured to determine a motion vector of the color image macroblock and to determine a motion of the depth image macroblock based on the determined motion vector of the color image macroblock, wherein the determined motion vector of the color image macroblock is used as a motion vector for the depth image macroblock, as recited in independent claim 1, and similarly recited in independent claim 6. DECISION In summary: Claims Rejected 35 U.S.C. § Reference(s)/Basis Affirmed Reversed 1, 2, 6, 7 103(a) Tan, Ideses, Choi 1, 2, 6, 7 REVERSED Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation