throbber
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`_________________________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`_________________________
`
`Robert Bosch LLC,
`Petitioner
`
`v.
`
`Monument Peak Ventures, LLC,
`Patent Owner
`_________________________
`
`Case IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`_________________________
`
`DECLARATION OF DR. JOHN R. GRINDON, D.SC.
`
`BOSCH EXHIBIT 1004
`
`Page 1 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`I.
`
`
`
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1
`
`II.
`
`Qualifications ................................................................................................... 1
`
`III. Legal Standards ............................................................................................... 3
`
`IV. Level of Ordinary Skill in the Art and Materials Considered ......................... 7
`
`V.
`
`The ’507 Patent ................................................................................................ 8
`
`A. Disclosure and Claims ......................................................................... 10
`
`B.
`
`Prosecution History ............................................................................. 14
`
`VI. Claim Construction ........................................................................................ 15
`
`A.
`
`Belief Map ........................................................................................... 15
`
`B. Main Subject ........................................................................................ 17
`
`VII. Claims 1, 8, and 14 are unpatentable over the prior art ................................. 18
`
`A. Ground 1: Toyama, Itti, and Neubauer render claims 1, 8, and 14
`obvious. ............................................................................................... 18
`
`1.
`
`Prior Art Summary .................................................................... 18
`
`Toyama ........................................................................... 18
`a.
`Itti .................................................................................... 20
`b.
`Neubauer ......................................................................... 23
`c.
`Claim 1 ...................................................................................... 25
`
`e.
`
`d.
`
`Claim 1 [preamble]: “A method of producing an image of
`at least a portion of a digital image, comprising:” ......... 25
`Claim 1[a]: “a) providing a digital image having pixels;”
` ........................................................................................ 26
`Claim 8 ...................................................................................... 38
`
`2.
`
`3.
`
`f.
`
`“The method of claim 1 wherein the crop window is
`completely within the digital image.” ............................ 38
`
`
`
`i
`
`Page 2 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`4.
`
`Claim 14 .................................................................................... 38
`
`g.
`
`“A computer storage product having at least one
`computer storage medium having instructions stored
`therein causing one or more computers to perform the
`method of claim 1.” ........................................................ 38
`VIII. Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 39
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`ii
`
`Page 3 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`I.
`
`Introduction
`
`
`
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`I, Dr. John R. Grindon, declare as follows:
`
`1.
`
`I have been asked to submit this declaration on behalf of Robert Bosch
`
`LLC (“Petitioner”) in connection with a petition for inter partes review of U.S. Pa-
`
`tent No. 6,654,507 (“the ’507 patent,” Ex. 1001). Specifically, I have been retained
`
`as an independent expert consultant by Petitioner to provide my opinions on the
`
`technology claimed in, and the patentability or unpatentability of certain claims of
`
`the ’507 patent (“the challenged claims”). Although I am being compensated at my
`
`usual rate of $500 per hour for the time I spend on this matter, no part of my com-
`
`pensation depends on the outcome of this proceeding, I have no financial interest in
`
`any of the parties, and I have no other interest in this proceeding.
`
`II. Qualifications
`
`2. My qualifications for forming the opinions set forth in this report are
`
`summarized below and described in more detail in my curriculum vitae (attached as
`
`Ex. 1003). I am currently an independent consultant and provide services related to
`
`digital image processing and software algorithm development. For more than forty
`
`years, I have studied, researched, and worked in the analysis, design, and develop-
`
`ment of electronic systems, devices, and software related to acquiring, processing
`
`and analyzing signals and images. I hold various US and foreign patents in these
`
`areas.
`
`
`
`1
`
`Page 4 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`3.
`
`I received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Uni-
`
`versity of Missouri at Rolla (now Missouri University of Science and Technology),
`
`in Rolla, Missouri in 1961. I then received a Master of Science in Electrical Engi-
`
`neering from MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1962. In 1960, I designed RF
`
`electronics for military radar systems for Westinghouse Electric Corporation, and in
`
`1961, I designed microwave electronics for Hughes Aircraft Corporation. I began
`
`working at McDonnell Aircraft Corp., which became McDonnell Douglas Corpora-
`
`tion and now Boeing, in 1962, and I received my Doctor of Science in Electrical
`
`Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis in 1970 while employed at
`
`McDonnell Douglas.
`
`4.
`
`I held various positions during my 25-year tenure at McDonnell Doug-
`
`las, including Branch Chief of Electronics. I led various research and development
`
`teams, including projects related to (1) tracking and guidance for the Tomahawk
`
`Cruise Missile; (2) developing scene analysis algorithms for 3D-imagery for auton-
`
`omous Cruise Missile guidance; and (3) developing image-based automatic target
`
`classification and recognition algorithms for anti-ship missiles.
`
`5.
`
`In 1987, I became Executive Vice President and Director of Research
`
`for Cencit, Inc., a start-up company engaged in the research and development of 3D
`
`electronic imaging systems based on digital video image processing electronics and
`
`software algorithms. While at Cencit, I developed the concept and led the analysis,
`
`
`
`2
`
`Page 5 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`design, and implementation of a 3D computer vision system for non-contact shape
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`
`
`
`digitization and a computer-controlled four-axis DNC milling machine to replicate
`
`physical models of scanned objects. In 1990, I became an independent consultant
`
`working on various digital image processing algorithms.
`
`III. Legal Standards
`
`6.
`
`I have been informed by Petitioner’s counsel that the following legal
`
`principles apply to analysis of patentability based on 35 U.S.C. § 103 for obvious-
`
`ness. I have also been informed that, in an inter partes review proceeding, a patent
`
`claim is unpatentable if it is shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the claim
`
`would have been anticipated by a prior art patent or publication, or obvious by one
`
`or more properly-combined prior art patents or publications.
`
`7.
`
`I understand that under 35 U.S.C. § 103, “[a] patent for a claimed in-
`
`vention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not iden-
`
`tically 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.”
`
`8. When considering the issues of obviousness, I have been instructed by
`
`counsel for Petitioner to do the following:
`
`(a) determine the scope and content of the prior art;
`
`
`
`3
`
`Page 6 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`(b) ascertain the differences between the prior art and the claims at is-
`
`sue;
`
`(c) resolve the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art; and
`
`(d) consider evidence of secondary indicia of non-obviousness (if avail-
`
`able).
`
`9.
`
`I understand that the relevant time for considering whether a claim
`
`would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (“POSA”) is
`
`the time of alleged invention. I have been asked to assume a priority date for the
`
`challenged claims of December 14, 2000.
`
`10.
`
`I have been told that a reference may be modified or combined with
`
`other references or with the POSA’s own knowledge if the person would have found
`
`the modification or combination obvious. A POSA is presumed to know all the rel-
`
`evant prior art, and the obviousness analysis may consider the inferences and crea-
`
`tive steps that a POSA would employ.
`
`11.
`
`In determining whether a prior-art reference could have been combined
`
`with another prior-art reference or other information known to a person having or-
`
`dinary skill in the art, I have been told that the following principles may be consid-
`
`ered:
`
`
`
`(a) a combination of familiar elements according to known methods is likely
`
`to be obvious if it yields predictable results;
`
`4
`
`Page 7 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`(b) the substitution of one known element for another is likely to be obvious
`
`if it yields predictable results;
`
`(c) the use of a known technique to improve similar items or methods in the
`
`same way is likely to be obvious if it yields predictable results;
`
`(d) the application of a known technique to a prior art reference that is ready
`
`for improvement is likely obvious if it yields predictable results;
`
`(e) any need or problem known in the field and addressed by the reference can
`
`provide a reason for combining the elements in the manner claimed;
`
`(f) a person of ordinary skill often will be able to fit the teachings of multiple
`
`references together like a puzzle; and
`
`(g) the proper analysis of obviousness requires a determination of whether a
`
`person of ordinary skill in the art would have a “reasonable expectation of
`
`success”—not “absolute predictability” of success—in achieving the claimed
`
`invention by combining prior art references.
`
`12.
`
`I have been told that whether a prior art reference renders a patent claim
`
`unpatentable as obvious is determined from the perspective of a POSA. Further, I
`
`understand that while there is no requirement that the prior art contain an express
`
`suggestion to combine known elements to achieve the claimed invention, a sugges-
`
`tion to combine known elements to achieve the claimed invention may come from
`
`the prior art as a whole or individually, as filtered through the knowledge of one
`
`
`
`5
`
`Page 8 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`skilled in the art. I have also been told that the inferences and creative steps a person
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`
`
`
`of ordinary skill in the art would employ are also relevant to the determination of
`
`obviousness.
`
`13.
`
`I have been told that when a work is available in one field, design alter-
`
`natives and other market forces can prompt variations of it, either in the same field
`
`or in another. If a POSA can implement a predictable variation and would see the
`
`benefit of doing so, that variation is likely to be obvious. In many fields, there may
`
`be little discussion of obvious combinations, and in these fields market demand—
`
`not scientific literature—may drive design trends. When there is a design need or
`
`market pressure and there are a finite number of predictable solutions, a POSA has
`
`good reason to pursue those known options.
`
`14.
`
`I have been told that there is no rigid rule that a reference or combina-
`
`tion of references must contain a “teaching, suggestion, or motivation” to combine
`
`references. But I also have been told that the “teaching, suggestion, or motivation”
`
`test can be a useful guide in establishing a rationale for combining elements of the
`
`prior art. This test poses the question whether there is an express or implied teaching,
`
`suggestion, or motivation to combine prior art elements in a way that yields the
`
`claimed invention and avoids impermissible hindsight analysis.
`
`
`
`6
`
`Page 9 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`15.
`
`I have been informed that, in this proceeding, claim terms in the ’507
`
`patent are given their ordinary and customary meaning to a person of ordinary skill
`
`in the art at the time of the invention.
`
`16.
`
`I have been asked to assume that December 14, 2000, is the date of the
`
`invention, as that is the earliest date to which the ’507 patent claims priority. I have
`
`not conducted a separate analysis to determine whether the challenged claims are
`
`entitled to this priority date, as I understand that the prior art references discussed
`
`below qualify as prior art even if all claims are deemed to be entitled to the December
`
`14, 2000, priority date.
`
`IV. Level of Ordinary Skill in the Art and Materials Considered
`
`17. The ’507 patent is directed to cropping a digital image by using a belief
`
`map of the image to identify main subjects. In my opinion, a person of ordinary skill
`
`in the art (“POSA”) of the ’507 patent would have a bachelor’s degree in electrical
`
`engineering, computer science, physics, or a related field, and two to four years of
`
`experience (or the academic equivalent) in the field of computer/machine vision or
`
`image processing. Less work experience may be compensated by a higher level of
`
`education, and vice versa.
`
`18.
`
`In forming my opinions expressed in this declaration, I have consid-
`
`ered, among other things, the following documents. I understand the documents have
`
`been given the following exhibit numbers in this proceeding:
`
`
`
`7
`
`Page 10 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`Exhibit
`Ex. 1001
`Ex. 1002
`Ex. 1005
`Ex. 1006
`
`Ex. 1007
`
`
`
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`Description
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507 to Jiebo Luo et al. (the ’507 patent”).
`Patent Prosecution History of U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507.
`U.S. Patent No. 6,792,135 to Toyama. (“Toyama”).
`Itti, Laurent et al., “A Model of Saliency-Based Visual Attention for
`Rapid Scene Analysis,” IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and
`Machine Intelligence, Vol. 20, No. 11, November 1998 (“Itti”).
`U.S. Patent No. 6,553,131 to Neubauer et al. (“Neubauer”).
`
`
`In forming my opinions, I have also relied on my education and experience.
`
`V. The ’507 Patent
`
`19. The challenged claims are directed to a system and method for auto-
`
`matically creating cropped and zoomed versions of photographic images. ’507 pa-
`
`tent, Abstract. As the ’507 patent admits, conventional systems already cropped im-
`
`ages based on, for example, “relatively homogenous margins around the borders of
`
`an image” or “different intensity levels within the image.” Id., 2:22-23, 32-33. The
`
`’507 patent claims that the major drawback of these techniques is that “both tech-
`
`niques cannot deal with images with nonuniform backgrounds.” Id., 2:50-51. The
`
`patent asserts that this resulted in manual cropping still being preferred over those
`
`automated methods.
`
`20. The ’507 patent asserts that the advantage of the disclosed invention is
`
`the ability to automatically crop and zoom images based on a so-named “belief”
`
`map, which helps identify areas of interest in an image based upon their saliency in
`
`the map. ’507, 3:53-60. But belief, or saliency, maps were not novel as of the filing
`
`
`
`8
`
`Page 11 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`date of the ’507 patent. In fact, such maps (and algorithms for developing such maps)
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`
`
`
`were already known and taught by others, including algorithms based on research
`
`attempting to model the way humans (and other primates) detect objects of interest
`
`in an image. Itti, p. 1254. Simply automating human behavior by applying a known
`
`technique for modeling such behavior is not inventive. See Princeton Biochemicals,
`
`Inc. v. Beckman Coulter, Inc., No. CIV.A. 96-5541 (MLC), 2004 WL 1398227, at
`
`*18 (D.N.J. June 17, 2004), aff'd, 411 F.3d 1332 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (“It has been well-
`
`established that the obvious automation of a known manual process is not patenta-
`
`ble.”) (citing In re Vener & Bowser, 262 F.2d 91(C.C.P.A. 1958), and In re Rundell,
`
`48 F.2d 958 (C.C.P.A. 1931)). And the technique claimed by the ’507 patent of lo-
`
`cating an object of interest in an image and cropping around it was similarly con-
`
`ventional. See Itti, p. 1256 (discussing the focus of attention as “a simple disk”).
`
`Indeed, the challenged claims recite nothing more than automating manual processes
`
`by combining well-known machine vision principles to determine main subjects in
`
`a photograph (that model the first step of the manual process) and well-known tech-
`
`niques to crop and zoom images (that model the second step of the manual process).
`
`Such automation of a manual process is not patentable. See Princeton Biochemical ,
`
`2004 WL 1398227, at *18. Therefore, with further reference to the following infor-
`
`mation discussed below, the Board should institute inter partes review of the ’507
`
`patent and cancel claims 1, 8, and 14 based on the grounds presented.
`
`
`
`9
`
`Page 12 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`21. The ’507 patent provides “[a] method of producing an image of at least
`
`a portion of a digital image.” ’507 patent, Abstract. Before the ’507 patent, there
`
`were two main types of prior art: one examines images in a line-by-line fashion and
`
`the other, examines images block-by-block to identify uniform areas. The first type
`
`automatically cropped images by (1) examining image borders; (2) determining, by
`
`using grayscale images, whether a row of pixels is to be cropped based on pixel
`
`variation; (3) determining if a row of pixels passes the criterion to be included in the
`
`final cropped image; (4) examining the next row inward until all rows are complete;
`
`and (5) determining the final cropped image. Id., 2:8-21. In other words, these prior
`
`art programs removed homogenous margins around the image border and did not
`
`examine image contents. Id., 2:22-24. The second type cropped images based on
`
`different intensity levels within an image. Id., 2:30-40.
`
`22. The ’507 patent purports to improve prior art systems by using a belief
`
`map of the image to identify main subjects. Id., 3:28-32. Belief mapping has been
`
`used in various computer vision applications, and using it to crop an image would
`
`have been obvious to one of ordinary skill.
`
`A. Disclosure and Claims
`
`23. The ’507 patent claims methods of and systems for cropping a digital
`
`image comprising three main steps: (1) developing a belief map indicative of main
`
`subjects in the image; (2) determining a crop window; and (3) cropping the image to
`
`
`
`10
`
`Page 13 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`include a portion of the image with high subject content. See generally ’507 Patent,
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`
`
`
`Claims 1-28. Claim 1 is illustrative of the challenged claims:
`
`1. A method of producing an image of at least a portion of a digital im-
`age, comprising:
`
`a) providing a digital image having pixels;
`
`b) computing a belief map of the digital image by using the pixels
`of the digital image to determine a series of features and using such fea-
`tures to assign a probability of a location of a main subject of the digital
`image in the belief map;
`
`c) determining a crop window having a shape factor and a zoom
`factor, the shape and the zoom factors determining a size of the crop
`window; and
`
`d) cropping the digital image to include a portion of the image of
`high Subject content in response to the belief map and the crop window.
`
`Id., 11:57-12:3.
`
`24. The specification of the ’507 patent describes in significantly more de-
`
`tail a process for automatically cropping an image. For example, in explaining how
`
`a belief map is created, the ’507 patent describes a main subject detection (“MSD”)
`
`system that provides a “discriminative” “measure of saliency or relative importance
`
`for different regions” in an image for a number of applications, “including automatic
`
`crop and zoom.” Id., 4:48-51, 4:53. The MSD system performs various sub-tasks,
`
`including: “region segmentation, perceptual grouping, feature extraction, and prob-
`
`
`
`11
`
`Page 14 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`abilistic and semantic reasoning.” Id., 4:65-66. Features are extracted for each seg-
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`
`
`
`mented image region to represent a variety of visual saliency properties which are
`
`input into a probability network to create a non-binary belief map. Id., 4:67-5:4.
`
`25. Through MSD, regions belonging to a main subject are differentiated
`
`from the image background. Id., 5:5-7. The MSD system outputs a “list of segmented
`
`regions ranked in descending order of their likelihood (or belief) as potential main
`
`subjects for a generic or specific application” and can also be converted into a belief
`
`map, which can be represented for visual purposes as an image wherein the region’s
`
`brightness is proportional to the belief or probability that the region is a main subject.
`
`Id., 5:17-20, 5:25-27 (“The associated likelihood is also attached to each region so
`
`that regions with large values correspond to regions with high confidence or be-
`
`lief…”). These “brighter” regions, i.e. those having larger belief values, represent
`
`regions with high confidence of being part of the main subject. Id., 5:26-28.
`
`26. FIG. 3 of the ’507 patent further explains how it uses the belief map
`
`results for additional image processing . In step 200, the image is input, and a belief
`
`map is created using MSD. Id., 7:1. A zoom factor, based on either an operator’s
`
`selection or determined automatically on a main subject size estimate, and a cropped
`
`window are selected in step 201. Id., 7:2-7.
`
`
`
`12
`
`Page 15 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`
`
`27.
`
`In step 201, belief map regions are clustered using a k-means clustering
`
`process and the lowest belief cluster, or the background, is zeroed using a predefined
`
`threshold. Id., 7:16-18. Next, the centroid of non-zero beliefs are computed in step
`
`202, and a crop window is centered at the centroid in step 204. Id., 7:23-25, 8:5-6.
`
`The centroid is calculated by summing the values of the beliefs at each pixel loca-
`
`tion. Id., 7:29-38.
`
`28.
`
`In step 205, the crop window is moved so that the entire crop window
`
`is within the original image. Id., 8:7-8. The cropped window is then moved again in
`
`
`
`13
`
`Page 16 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`item 206 so that all regions of the highest belief subject are included in the cropped
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`
`
`
`window, thereby capturing the entire subject of interest. Id., 8:9-12. Step 207 deter-
`
`mines whether an “acceptable solution” has been found, meaning whether it is pos-
`
`sible to include “at least the regions of the highest belief values” in the cropping
`
`window. Id., 8:16-19. If an acceptable solution exists, the window is moved again in
`
`item 208 to maximize the belief sums within the window. Id., 8:20-22. If an accepta-
`
`ble solution is not produced, the final position of the crop window is restored to that
`
`of step 205. Id., 9:1-3.
`
`B.
`
`Prosecution History
`
`29. During prosecution of the application that issued as the ’507 patent, the
`
`Examiner rejected challenged claims 1, 8, and 14 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(e) as antic-
`
`ipated by Jia (U.S. Patent No. 6,430,320). Ex. 1002, p. 77-80. The examiner also
`
`rejected claims 1, 8, and 14 for obviousness-type double patenting. Id., p. 81
`
`30. The applicant also argued that Jia did not disclose “belief maps” and
`
`agreed to file a terminal disclaimer upon an indication of allowability. Id., 275-79.
`
`31. The Examiner allowed claims 1-28 because “none of the prior art, teach
`
`or fairly suggest computing a belief map of the digital image, by using the pixels of
`
`the digital image to determine a series of features, and using such features to assign
`
`a probability of a location of a main subject of the digital image in the belief map.”
`
`Id., 291. The examiner noted that Jia (US Patent 6,430,320) discloses “a method of
`
`
`
`14
`
`Page 17 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`automatically cropping an image according to a belief of where in the image a main
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`
`
`
`subject is located …. [but] does not each or fairly suggest the use of a belief map in
`
`which a probability of the location of the main subject is assign[ed].” Id., 291-92.
`
`32. The Examiner, however, never considered the references applied in the
`
`petition— Toyama, Itti or Neubauer—nor were these references cited by the appli-
`
`cant. See Ex. 1002; ’507 patent, cover page. The proposed ground teaches a belief
`
`map with corresponding belief values that the Examiner found lacking in the prior
`
`art considered and which led to the allowance of the claims.
`
`VI. Claim Construction
`
`33. A claim in a patent subject to inter partes review is subject to the claim
`
`construction standard of Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (en
`
`banc). See 83 Fed. Reg. 51,340 (October 11, 2018). Under the Phillips standard,
`
`claims are given their ordinary and customary meaning to a person of ordinary skill
`
`in the art at the time of the invention. Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1313. The following terms
`
`requires construction for this proceeding. Claim terms not addressed below should
`
`be given their plain and ordinary meaning.
`
`A. Belief Map
`
`34.
`
`In the ’507 patent, a “belief map” as used in claim 1 means a probabil-
`
`ity-related map indicating importance of a region by providing a measure of relative
`
`
`
`15
`
`Page 18 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`importance for different regions in an image. Synonyms for “belief” maps are “like-
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`
`
`
`lihood,” “probability,” or “saliency” maps.
`
`35. The ’507 patent states that the “‘belief’ map is more than a binary map
`
`that only indicates location of the determined main subject;” instead, the “associated
`
`likelihood is also attached to each region so that regions with large values correspond
`
`to regions with high confidence or belief of being part of the main subject.” ’507
`
`patent, 5:23-28 (emphasis added); see also id., 5:17-22 (explaining that the main
`
`subject detection (MSD) output used “is a list of segmented regions ranked in de-
`
`scending order of their likelihood (or belief) as potential main subjects for a generic
`
`or specific application. This list can be readily converted into a map in which the
`
`brightness of a region is proportional to the main subject belief of the region.”).
`
`36. Each pixel in the belief map corresponds to a pixel in the original image
`
`and is assigned a likelihood value of the region where it is in the original image. See
`
`id., 7:36-38. The region(s) with the highest likelihood value are designated as the
`
`main subject. Thresholds may be applied to select other belief values—those that are
`
`lower than the highest but higher than the lowest belief values—and designate them
`
`as secondary main subjects. Id., 5:51-54 (explaining that these secondary main sub-
`
`jects can be “included according to a descending order of belief values once the main
`
`subject of highest belief values are included.”); see also id., 8:43-46, 9:59-67. Ac-
`
`cordingly, Petitioner requests that “belief map” be construed as “a map indicating
`
`
`
`16
`
`Page 19 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`importance of a region by providing a measure of relative importance for different
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`
`
`
`regions in an image.”
`
`B. Main Subject
`
`37. A “main subject,” as used in claim 1 is a photographic subject having a
`
`highest belief value in a belief map. See ’507 patent, 4:38-40 (“Main subject detec-
`
`tion provides a measure of saliency or relative importance for different regions that
`
`are associated with different subjects in an image.”) The ’507 patent states that the
`
`“output of [main subject detection] … is a list of segmented regions ranked in de-
`
`scending order of their likelihood (or belief) as potential main subjects.” Id., 5:17-
`
`19. The ’507 patent explains that the belief map “reflects the inherent uncertainty”
`
`of determining a main subject because “different observers may disagree on certain
`
`subject matter while agreeing on other subject matter in terms of main subjects.” Id.,
`
`5:29-33.
`
`38. This list of regions can be converted to a map where the region bright-
`
`ness is proportional to the main subject belief of the region. Id., 5:20-22; see also
`
`id., 5:25-28 (explaining that the belief map attaches a likelihood “to each region so
`
`that regions with large values correspond to regions with high confidence or belief
`
`of being part of the main subject”) (emphases added). However, a “binary decision”
`
`can also be obtained by “using an appropriate threshold on the belief map.” Id., 5:34-
`
`36.
`
`
`
`17
`
`Page 20 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`VII. Claims 1, 8, and 14 are unpatentable over the prior art
`
`
`
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`A. Ground 1: Toyama, Itti, and Neubauer render claims 1, 8, and 14
`obvious.
`
`39. Toyama discloses a system and method for producing at least a portion
`
`of an image by determining a crop window and cropping the image to a portion of
`
`the image containing a main subject as claimed. Toyama suggests computing a belief
`
`map to determine the location of the main subject, and Itti and Neubauer resolve any
`
`dispute that computing a belief map and assigning a probability of a main subject’s
`
`location was known. Itti discloses a belief map through its saliency map that repre-
`
`sents “the conspicuity—or ‘saliency’—at every location” in the image created from
`
`normalized conspicuity maps representing various features. Itti, p. 1255. Neubauer
`
`similarly discloses a probability-like saliency map where the “highest peak values
`
`in the intensity regions have the highest probability of being the license plate and
`
`are selected for further processing.” Neubauer., 4:29-31, 5:4-7.
`
`1.
`
`Prior Art Summary
`
`a.
`
`Toyama
`
`40. As shown below in FIGS. 3 and 4, Toyama discloses a face detection
`
`system 210 and method for detecting a face within an image. Toyama, 2:18-23. The
`
`system includes: (1) a hypothesis module that defines a sub-region in which to search
`
`for a face; (2) a feature extraction module for extracting image feature values based
`
`on a non-intensity image property; and (3) a relational template module that uses a
`
`
`
`18
`
`Page 21 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`relational template and facial regions to determine whether a face has been detected.
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`
`
`
`Id., 2:30-42.
`
`
`
`41. First, the face detection system receives the raw image 200 and sends
`
`it to a hypothesis module 300. Id., 6:32-36. The hypothesis module generates a hy-
`
`pothesis and defines the dimensions of a sub-region in the raw image 200 (or cropped
`
`image) where a face may be found. Id. The cropped image is preprocessed by pre-
`
`processing module 320, id., 6:36-38, before being sent to a feature extraction mod-
`
`ule, id., 6:38-40.
`
`
`
`19
`
`Page 22 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`
`
`42. Based on a relational analysis of various features extracted from the
`
`cropped image, the system 210 determines whether a face has been detected in a
`
`cropped image (box 360). Id., 6:53-55. If a face is not found in the sub-region, a
`
`different sub-region is produced (box 370) by returning to the hypothesis module
`
`300 and another hypothesis is generated about where a face may be located within
`
`the image 200. Id., 6:55-60. If a face is detected in the cropped image, the face in-
`
`formation, including the location and dimensions of the cropped image, is sent as an
`
`output (380). Id., 6:62-67.
`
`b.
`
`Itti
`
`
`
`20
`
`Page 23 of 43
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2019-01473
`U.S. Patent No. 6,654,507
`
`43.
`
`“A Model of Saliency-Based Visual Attention for Rapid Scene Analy-
`
`sis” (“Itti”) is an article published by the IEEE in November 1998. Ex. 1006. Ac-
`
`cording to the IEEE Xplore database, the article appears in volume 20, issue 11 of
`
`the “IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence magazine,

This document is available on Docket Alarm but you must sign up to view it.


Or .

Accessing this document will incur an additional charge of $.

After purchase, you can access this document again without charge.

Accept $ Charge
throbber

Still Working On It

This document is taking longer than usual to download. This can happen if we need to contact the court directly to obtain the document and their servers are running slowly.

Give it another minute or two to complete, and then try the refresh button.

throbber

A few More Minutes ... Still Working

It can take up to 5 minutes for us to download a document if the court servers are running slowly.

Thank you for your continued patience.

This document could not be displayed.

We could not find this document within its docket. Please go back to the docket page and check the link. If that does not work, go back to the docket and refresh it to pull the newest information.

Your account does not support viewing this document.

You need a Paid Account to view this document. Click here to change your account type.

Your account does not support viewing this document.

Set your membership status to view this document.

With a Docket Alarm membership, you'll get a whole lot more, including:

  • Up-to-date information for this case.
  • Email alerts whenever there is an update.
  • Full text search for other cases.
  • Get email alerts whenever a new case matches your search.

Become a Member

One Moment Please

The filing “” is large (MB) and is being downloaded.

Please refresh this page in a few minutes to see if the filing has been downloaded. The filing will also be emailed to you when the download completes.

Your document is on its way!

If you do not receive the document in five minutes, contact support at support@docketalarm.com.

Sealed Document

We are unable to display this document, it may be under a court ordered seal.

If you have proper credentials to access the file, you may proceed directly to the court's system using your government issued username and password.


Access Government Site

We are redirecting you
to a mobile optimized page.





Document Unreadable or Corrupt

Refresh this Document
Go to the Docket

We are unable to display this document.

Refresh this Document
Go to the Docket