Invalidity dossier
US 6658157
Method and apparatus for converting image information
Current assignee: Sony Corp
Added 9/23/2026, 2:10:44 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US 6,658,157 B1
Title: Method and apparatus for converting image information
Patent number: US6658157B1
Application number: US09/605,035
Assignee / Original Assignee: Sony Corp (assignment recorded 2000-10-23)
Inventors: Kazushi Satoh, Takeshi Kubozono, Shintaro Okada, Yu Liu, Naofumi Yanagihara
Priority date: 1999-06-29 (priority claimed from JP18360299A)
Filing date: 2000-06-27
Publication/grant date: 2003-12-02
Legal status (as listed): Expired – Fee Related; adjusted expiration 2022-01-19 (the listing states this is an assumption, not a legal conclusion)
Purpose and plain-language scope
The patent concerns converting image information, using an orthogonal transform (e.g., a discrete cosine transform), quantization, and motion compensation as its core prior-art keywords. Its classifications place it in digital video coding/decoding, specifically adaptive coding involving selection of transform size (e.g., 8x8 or other DCT sizes) and traceable to sampling, masking, or truncation of coding units, coefficient masking, resampling, and data-rate/code-amount control at the encoder output. In everyday terms, the disclosed subject matter appears directed to a method and apparatus for re-encoding or converting compressed image/video information by operating on orthogonal-transform coefficients, quantizing them, and applying motion compensation—rather than by simply re-encoding fully decoded pictures.
The classification entries H04N19/122 (selection of transform size), H04N19/132 (sampling, masking or truncation of coding units, e.g., high-frequency transform coefficient masking), and H04N19/146 (data rate or code amount at the encoder output) are consistent with converting image information by selectively handling transform coefficients to control coding size and rate.
What the supplied excerpt does not establish
The excerpt contains no claims, no detailed description, no drawings list, no abstract, and no cited prior-art references. Therefore it cannot establish the actual claimed scope, the specific conversion steps, coefficient-selection criteria, the types or names of the transforms used, the embodiments described, or the technical problems and advantages asserted. The classifications and prior-art keywords are index-derived metadata, not claim language. No litigation, ownership-transfer history beyond the recorded assignment, validity, or prior-art analysis is presented here.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:52:29 PM
Cases on file (0)
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.