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 .
Response to Amendment
This action is in response to the remark entered on 10/29/2025.
Claims 1-22 are pending in the instant application.
Claims 1-2, 9, 11, 14 & 20-21 are amended.
Claim 22 is newly added.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's remarks filed 10/29/2025, pages 9-10, regarding the rejection of claim 1, and similarly claims 11 & 20 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 have been fully considered are moot upon further consideration and a new ground(s) of rejection made under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Dumitras et al. (US 2008/0284904 A1) (hereinafter Dumitras) in view of Xu et al. (US 2021/0297688 A1) (hereinafter Xu), further in view of Grange et al. (US 2012/0063513 A1) (hereinafter Grange), and further in view of Wu et al. (US 2017/0064313 A1) (hereinafter Wu).
In response to Applicant’s remark that Examiner’s previously-cited references do not show the Applicant’s newly-recited claim limitations, the Examiner directs Applicant’s attention to the rejection of claims 1, 11 & 20 below, where Applicant’s newly-recited claim limitations are now addressed by Xu & Wu and are rejected as outlined below.
Applicant's remarks filed 10/29/2025, pages 10-11, regarding the rejection of claim 21 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 have been fully considered are moot upon further consideration and a new ground(s) of rejection made under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Dumitras et al. (US 2008/0284904 A1) (hereinafter Dumitras) in view of Xu et al. (US 2021/0297688 A1) (hereinafter Xu), further in view of Grange et al. (US 2012/0063513 A1) (hereinafter Grange), and further in view of Wu et al. (US 2017/0064313 A1) (hereinafter Wu).
In response to Applicant’s remark that Examiner’s previously-cited references do not show the Applicant’s newly-recited claim limitations, the Examiner directs Applicant’s attention to the rejection of claim 21 below, where Applicant’s newly-recited claim limitations are addressed by Xu and are rejected as outlined below.
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 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 of this title, 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 1-4, 8-13 & 20-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in view of Dumitras et al. (US 2008/0284904 A1) (hereinafter Dumitras) in view of Xu et al. (US 2021/0297688 A1) (hereinafter Xu), further in view of Grange et al. (US 2012/0063513 A1) (hereinafter Grange), and further in view of Wu et al. (US 2017/0064313 A1) (hereinafter Wu).
Regarding claim 1, Dumitras discloses a computer-implemented method for encoding video frames [Abstract, methods for compression of video sequences], the method comprising:
performing one or more operations to generate a plurality of denoised video frames corresponding to a plurality of noisy video frames included in with a video sequence [Paragraph [0042]-[0043], Fig. 1, the pre-processing component 105 pre-filters the original video sequence, as plurality of noisy video frames, to remove noise and details and produces a pre-processed (i.e., pre-filtered) video sequence, as plurality of denoised video frames]; and
performing one or more operations to generate an encoded video frame that is an encoded version of a noisy frame included in the plurality of noisy video frames that corresponds to an encoding of a first noisy frame that is different from the noisy frame, wherein the first noisy frame is included in the plurality of noisy video frames [Paragraph [0042]-[0043], The encoding component 110 then receives the pre-processed video sequence and encodes (i.e., compresses) the pre-processed video sequence to produce a pre-processed and compressed video sequence, as encoded video frames that are each corresponding with one another being in the same compressed video sequence and are each associated with their respective corresponding noisy frames in the original video sequence as the plurality of noise video frames video sequence].
However, Dumitras does not explicitly disclose the method of determining a first set of motion vectors based on a first denoised frame included in the plurality of denoised video frames and a second denoised frame included in the plurality of denoised video frames; determining a first residual between the second denoised frame and a prediction frame that is generated based on the first denoised frame and the first set of motion vectors; and performing one or more operations to generate an encoded video frame that is an encoded version of a noisy frame included in the plurality of noisy video frames that corresponds to the second denoised frame.
Xu teaches of determining a first set of motion vectors based on a first denoised frame included in the plurality of denoised video frames and a second denoised frame included in the plurality of denoised video frames [Paragraph [0118]-[0121], [0140]-[0141], [0160]-[0164], [0172]-[0179] & [0220]-[0222], Figs. 1A & 2, Picture pre-processor 18 performing denoising pre-processes original video data to obtain pre-processed pictured data 19 as plurality of denoised video frames, and inputs to encoder 20 to perform inter prediction between denoised current block of second denoised frame and denoised reconstructed reference block from DPB 230 as first denoised frame, that determines a plurality of candidate motion vectors in a candidate motion vector list as first set of motion vectors];
determining a first residual between the second denoised frame and a prediction frame that is generated based on the first denoised frame and the first set of motion vectors [Paragraph [0140]-[0142], [0147]-[0149], [0160]-[0164], [0216], [0220]-[0222] & [0336]-[0338], Figs. 1A & 2, Residual calculation unit 204 calculates residual block/frame as first residual between prediction picture 265 that is inter predicting using candidate motion vectors in a candidate list from a reconstructed reference picture from DPB 230 as first denoised frame and sample values of picture block 203 as current picture block or second denoised frame]; and
performing one or more operations to generate an encoded video frame that is an encoded version of a noisy frame included in the plurality of noisy video frames that corresponds to the second denoised frame, wherein the encoded video frame comprises an encoding of a first noisy frame that is different from the noisy frame, wherein the first noisy frame is included in the plurality of noisy video frames and corresponds to the first denoised frame [Paragraph [0120]-[0122], [0140]-[0142], [0147]-[0149], [0159]-[0164], [0172]-[0180], [0216], [0220]-[0222] & [0336]-[0338], Figs. 1A & 2, Encoder 20 produces encoded picture data 21 that is encoded video frame of that is a transformed residual of the denoised current picture 203 as second denoised frame that is originally a noisy frame, and also comprises referencing a decoded reference picture 231 which is a previous encoding of a first noisy frame different from the noisy frame that is decoded as a reference picture for inter-prediction as a first denoised frame].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance (Xu, Paragraph [0005]).
However, Dumitras and Xu do not explicitly disclose wherein the encoded video frame comprises the first set of motion vectors and a representation of the first residual.
Grange, in the same field of endeavor and pertinent to the problem being solved teaches wherein the encoded video frame comprises the first set of motion vectors and a representation of the first residual [Paragraph [0020]-[0026], The encoder 20 may thus encode a frame as data that comprises one or more of the motion vectors, as first set of motion vectors, and residuals for a particular partitioning of the frame, as representation of first residual, and then output encoded frame data into compressed bitstream 24].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Grange as above, to permit higher quality transmission of video while limiting bandwidth consumption by prediction techniques to minimize the amount of data required to transmit video information, and providing removal of the video noise that differs from frame to frame makes the constructed reference frame a better predictor for multiple frames, increasing data compression of the video stream (Grange, Paragraph [0002]-[0004] & [0029]).
Lastly, Dumitras, Xu, and Grange do not explicitly disclose wherein the encoded video frame comprises a reference to the encoding of a first noisy frame that is different from the noisy frame.
Wu teaches wherein the encoded video frame comprises a reference to the encoding of a first noisy frame that is different from the noisy frame [Paragraph [0144]-[0150], The host decoder transfers parsed data based at least in part on the uncompressed frame header in a first buffer (e.g., picture parameters data buffer). For example, the data based at least in part on the uncompressed frame header includes: (b) reference frame assignments for the current frame (e.g., surface index values that indicate the reference frame assignments), as references to the encoding of the previously encoded first denoised frame that corresponds to the first noisy frame within reference frame buffer].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Wu as above, to allow for hardware-accelerated decoding can reduce power consumption and, in some cases, help make video playback smoother (Wu, Paragraph [0006]).
Regarding claim 2, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
Furthermore, Xu teaches of further comprising generating a first reconstructed video frame associated with the noisy frame that is included in the plurality of noisy video frames and corresponds to the second denoised frame based on the first set of motion vectors, the first residual, and the encoding of the first noisy frame [Paragraph [0112], [0120]-[0128], [0140]-[0142], [0147]-[0149], [0154]-[0161], [0160]-[0164], [0180], [0216], [0220]-[0222] & [0336]-[0338], Figs. 1A & 2, Reconstructed picture of denoised current picture 203 as first reconstructed video frame is the denoised version of the second noisy frame from the original picture data 17 that is formed from the candidate motion vectors as first set of motion vectors that predict from denoised reconstructed reference block from DPB 230 as reconstruction of the previously-encoded first denoised version of the first noisy frame and the first residual].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance (Xu, Paragraph [0005]).
Regarding claim 3, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 2, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
Furthermore, Xu teaches of further comprising generating a second reconstructed video frame associated with a third noisy frame that is included in the plurality of noisy video frames based on the first reconstructed video frame, a second set of motion vectors, and a second residual [Paragraph [0112], [0120]-[0128], [0140]-[0142], [0147]-[0149], [0154]-[0161], [0160]-[0164], [0180], [0216], [0220]-[0222] & [0336]-[0338], Figs. 1A & 2, Reconstructed picture of denoised current picture 203 as second reconstructed video frame is the denoised version of the third noisy frame from the original picture data 17 that is formed from the candidate motion vectors as second set of motion vectors that predict from denoised reconstructed reference block from DPB 230 as second denoised version of second noisy frame and the second residual].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance (Xu, Paragraph [0005]).
Regarding claim 4, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 2, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
Furthermore Xu teaches wherein performing the one or more operations to generate the encoded video frame comprises generating an intra-frame prediction of a block included in the encoded video frame based on one or more adjacent blocks included in the first reconstructed video frame [Paragraph [0112], [0120]-[0128], [0140]-[0142], [0147]-[0149], [0154]-[0161], [0160]-[0165], [0180], [0216], [0220]-[0222] & [0336]-[0338], Figs. 1A & 2, Intra prediction unit 254 obtains the picture block 203 (current block) of the same picture and one or more previous reconstructed blocks such as reconstructed neighboring blocks, as adjacent blocks included in first reconstructed video frame, for intra estimation].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance (Xu, Paragraph [0005]).
Regarding claim 8, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
Furthermore, Xu teaches of further comprising generating the prediction frame by displacing one or more blocks included in the first denoised frame by the first set of motion vectors [Paragraph [0112], [0120]-[0128], [0140]-[0142], [0147]-[0149], [0154]-[0161], [0160]-[0164], [0180], [0216], [0220]-[0222] & [0336]-[0338], Figs. 1A & 2, the candidate motion vectors as first set of motion vectors that predict from denoised reconstructed reference block from DPB 230 as first denoised version of first noisy frame and the first residual].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance (Xu, Paragraph [0005]).
Regarding claim 9, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
Furthermore, Xu teaches wherein performing the one or more operations to generate the plurality of denoised video frames comprises: applying one or more filters to a first reconstructed frame associated with the first noisy frame to generate the first denoised frame [Paragraph [0157], Loop filter unit 220 applied to reconstructed block 215 as first reconstructed frame associated with first noisy frame to form filtered block 221 as first denoised frame input into decoded picture buffer 230]; and applying the one or more filters to the noisy frame that is adjacent to the first noisy frame within the plurality of noisy video frames to generate the second denoised frame [Paragraph [0120], Picture preprocessor 18 as another of one or more filters applied to noisy original picture data 17 to obtain preprocessed picture data 19 as denoised frames that include second denoised frame that was a second noisy frame adjacent to a first noisy frame].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance (Xu, Paragraph [0005]).
Regarding claim 10, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 9, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
Furthermore, Xu teaches wherein the one or more filters comprise at least one of a low-pass filter, a finite impulse response (FIR) filter, an infinite impulse response (IIR) filter, a nonlinear filter, a content-adaptive filter, or a temporal filter [Paragraph [0157] & [0194], The loop filter unit 220/320 is intended to represent one or more loop filters, such as a deblocking filter (low-pass), a sample-adaptive offset (SAO) filter, or another filter such as a bilateral filter (nonlinear filter), an adaptive loop filter (ALF) (content-adaptive filter), a sharpening or smoothing filter, or a collaborative filter].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance (Xu, Paragraph [0005]).
Regarding claims (11-12), claims (11-12) are drawn to one or more non-transitory computer readable media having limitations similar to the method of using the same as claimed in claims (1-2), respectively, treated in the above rejections. Therefore, the one or more non-transitory computer readable media claims (11-12) corresponds to method claims (1-2), respectively, and are rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used above.
Furthermore, Xu teaches of one or more non-transitory computer readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the steps similar to method claim 1 [Paragraphs [0082], [0131]-[0135] & [0208]-[0211], The memory 460 includes one or more disks, tape drives, and solid-state drives, and may be used as an overflow data storage device, configured to store programs when these programs are selectively executed by processors, and store an instruction and data that are read in a program execution process]
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the one or more non-transitory computer readable media disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance and automate the encoding/decoding processes (Xu, Paragraph [0005] & [0131]).
Regarding claim 13, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu disclose the one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 12, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
Furthermore, Xu teaches wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to perform the step of generating an intra-frame prediction of a block included in the encoded video frame based on one or more adjacent blocks included in the second denoised frame [Paragraph [0112], [0120]-[0128], [0140]-[0142], [0147]-[0149], [0154]-[0161], [0160]-[0165], [0180], [0216], [0220]-[0222] & [0336]-[0338], Figs. 1A & 2, Intra prediction unit 254 obtains the picture block 203 (current block) of the same picture and one or more previous reconstructed blocks such as reconstructed neighboring blocks of current block in second denoised frame, as adjacent blocks included in second denoised frame, for intra estimation].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the one or more non-transitory computer readable media disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance (Xu, Paragraph [0005]).
Regarding claims 20, system claim 20 is drawn to the system respectively having limitations similar to the computer-implemented methods of using the same as claimed in claim 1 treated in the above rejections. Therefore, system claim 20 corresponds to method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used above.
Furthermore, Xu teaches of a memory that stores instructions, and a processor that is coupled to the memory and, when executing the instructions, is configured to execute the steps similarly recited in claim 1 [Paragraphs [0082], [0131]-[0135] & [0208]-[0211], The memory 460 includes one or more disks, tape drives, and solid-state drives, and may be used as an overflow data storage device, configured to store programs when these programs are selectively executed by processors, and store an instruction and data that are read in a program execution process]
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance and automate the encoding/decoding processes (Xu, Paragraph [0005] & [0131]).
Regarding claim 21, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
Furthermore, Xu teaches wherein the first set of motion vectors includes one or more motion vectors between the first denoised frame and the second denoised frame [Paragraph [0118]-[0121], [0140]-[0141], [0160]-[0164], [0172]-[0179] & [0220]-[0222], Figs. 1A & 2, Picture pre-processor 18 performing denoising pre-processes original video data to obtain pre-processed pictured data 19 as plurality of denoised video frames, and inputs to encoder 20 to perform inter prediction between denoised current block of second denoised frame and denoised reconstructed reference block from DPB 230 as first denoised frame, that determines a plurality of candidate motion vectors in a candidate motion vector list as first set of motion vectors], the first residual is associated with the first denoised frame and the second denoised frame [Paragraph [0140]-[0142], [0147]-[0149], [0160]-[0164], [0216], [0220]-[0222] & [0336]-[0338], Figs. 1A & 2, Residual calculation unit 204 calculates residual block/frame as first residual between prediction picture 265 that is inter predicting using candidate motion vectors in a candidate list from a reconstructed reference picture from DPB 230 as first denoised frame and sample values of picture block 203 as current picture block or second denoised frame, and thus is associated with first/second denoised frames], and the encoded video frame is associated with the first noisy frame that corresponds to the first denoised frame [Paragraph [0120]-[0122], [0140]-[0142], [0147]-[0149], [0159]-[0164], [0172]-[0180], [0216], [0220]-[0222] & [0336]-[0338], Figs. 1A & 2, Encoder 20 produces encoded picture data 21 that is encoded video frame of that is a transformed residual of the denoised current picture 203 as second denoised frame that comprises referencing (and thus associating with) a decoded reference picture 231 which is a previous encoding of a first noisy frame different from the noisy frame that is decoded as a reference picture for inter-prediction reading on as the first denoised frame].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance (Xu, Paragraph [0005]).
Claims 5, 14 & 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in view of Dumitras et al. (US 2008/0284904 A1) (hereinafter Dumitras), Xu et al. (US 2021/0297688 A1) (hereinafter Xu), Grange et al. (US 2012/0063513 A1) (hereinafter Grange), and Wu et al. (US 2017/0064313 A1) (hereinafter Wu) in view of Lee et al. (US 2005/0069211 A1) (hereinafter Lee).
Regarding claim 5, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
Furthermore, Xu teaches wherein performing the one or more operations to generate the encoded video frame comprises generating an intra-frame prediction of a block included in the encoded video frame [Paragraph [0112], [0120]-[0128], [0140]-[0142], [0147]-[0149], [0154]-[0161], [0160]-[0165], [0180], [0216], [0220]-[0222] & [0336]-[0338], Figs. 1A & 2, Intra prediction unit 254 obtains the picture block 203 (current block) of the same picture and one or more previous reconstructed blocks such as reconstructed neighboring blocks, as adjacent blocks included in first reconstructed video frame, for intra estimation].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance (Xu, Paragraph [0005]).
However, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu do not explicitly disclose generating an intra-frame prediction of a block included in the encoded video frame based on a first cost associated with the intra-frame prediction and a second cost associated with an inter-frame prediction of the block.
Lee teaches generating an intra-frame prediction of a block included in the encoded video frame based on a first cost associated with the intra-frame prediction and a second cost associated with an inter-frame prediction of the block [Paragraph [0035]-[0054], The intra-prediction cost calculation unit 820 performs intra-prediction on the given macroblock if the inter-prediction cost is larger than a sum of a threshold value and a predetermined offset].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Lee as above, so it is possible to considerably reduce the amount of computation that conventionally was required to encode a picture, without any deterioration in the encoding performance, by considerably reducing the number of macroblocks that need to undergo intra-prediction. (Lee, Abstract).
Regarding claim 14, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu disclose the one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 11, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
Furthermore, Dumitras discloses wherein performing the one or more operations to generate the encoded video frame comprises encoding a block within a second noisy frame that is included in the plurality of noisy video frames and corresponds to the second denoised frame [Paragraph [0042]-[0043], The encoding component 110 then receives the pre-processed video sequence and encodes (i.e., compresses) the pre-processed video sequence to produce a pre-processed and compressed video sequence, as encoded video frames that are each associated with their respective corresponding noisy frames in the original video sequence as the plurality of noise video frames video sequence].
However, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu do not explicitly disclose wherein performing the one or more operations to generate the encoded video frame comprises selecting a technique for encoding a block within the noisy frame that is included in the plurality of noisy video frames and corresponds to the second denoised frame based on a cost associated with encoding the block.
Lee teaches wherein performing the one or more operations to generate the encoded video frame comprises selecting a technique for encoding a block within the noisy frame that is included in the plurality of noisy video frames and corresponds to the second denoised frame based on a cost associated with encoding the block [Paragraph [0035]-[0054], The intra-prediction cost calculation unit 820 performs intra-prediction on the given macroblock if the inter-prediction cost is larger than a sum of a threshold value and a predetermined offset, and performs inter-prediction when the inter-prediction cost is not larger than the sum of a threshold value and a predetermined offset].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the one or more non-transitory computer readable media disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Lee as above, so it is possible to considerably reduce the amount of computation that conventionally was required to encode a picture, without any deterioration in the encoding performance, by considerably reducing the number of macroblocks that need to undergo intra-prediction. (Lee, Abstract).
Regarding claim 17, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, Wu, and Lee disclose the one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 14, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
Furthermore, Xu teaches wherein the technique comprises predicting the block based on a first block included in the first noisy frame and a second block included in a third noisy frame in the plurality of noisy video frames [Paragraph [0218], The Bidirectional prediction frame is bi-directional. Reference frames of the B frame are several previous neighboring frames, as containing first block in first noisy frame, the current frame, and several following frames, as second block included in third noisy frame in noisy video sequence].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the one or more non-transitory computer readable media disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance (Xu, Paragraph [0005]).
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in view of Dumitras et al. (US 2008/0284904 A1) (hereinafter Dumitras), Xu et al. (US 2021/0297688 A1) (hereinafter Xu), Grange et al. (US 2012/0063513 A1) (hereinafter Grange), and Wu et al. (US 2017/0064313 A1) (hereinafter Wu) in view of Zhang et al. (US 2015/0319437 A1) (hereinafter Zhang).
Regarding claim 6, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
However, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu do not disclose the particulars of claim 6.
Zhang teaches wherein performing the one or more operations to generate the encoded video frame comprises adding a random or pseudo-random offset to a zero-valued motion vector defined from a first denoised block included in the first denoised frame to a second denoised block included in the second denoised frame [Paragraph [0058]-[0060], Similarly, for blocks with a small or zero motion vector, a negative offset may be applied]
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Zhang as above, for it is advantageous to provide substantially constant visual quality in many video coding implementations avoiding wasteful compression in certain portions of video sequences (Zhang, Paragraph [0017]-[0018]).
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in view of Dumitras et al. (US 2008/0284904 A1) (hereinafter Dumitras), Xu et al. (US 2021/0297688 A1) (hereinafter Xu), Grange et al. (US 2012/0063513 A1) (hereinafter Grange), and Wu et al. (US 2017/0064313 A1) (hereinafter Wu) in view of Perera et al. (US 2012/0082227 A1) (hereinafter Perera).
Regarding claim 7, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
Furthermore, Xu teaches of further comprising performing one or more operations to generate the encoded video frame based on a second residual between a first block that corresponds to the first denoised block and is included in the first noisy frame and a second block that corresponds to the second denoised block and is included in a second frame that corresponds to the second denoised frame [Paragraph [0140]-[0142], [0147]-[0149], [0160]-[0164], [0216], [0220]-[0222] & [0336]-[0338], Figs. 1A & 2, Residual calculation unit 204 calculates residual block/frame as second residual between prediction picture 265 that is inter predicting using candidate motion vectors in a candidate list from a reconstructed reference picture from DPB 230 as first denoised block that is first block of first noisy frame and sample values of picture block 203 as current picture block or second denoised frame of second noisy frame].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance (Xu, Paragraph [0005]).
However, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu do not explicitly disclose wherein the first set of motion vectors includes a zero-valued motion vector defined from a first denoised block included in the first denoised frame to a second denoised block included in the second denoised frame.
Perera teaches wherein the first set of motion vectors includes a zero-valued motion vector defined from a first denoised block included in the first denoised frame to a second denoised block included in the second denoised frame [Paragraph [0046], For instance if the lowest bit rate motion vector is the zero motion vector, the zero motion vector is chosen as the candidate with the lowest SAD and the macroblock is inter coded at step 412].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Perera as above, for it is advantageous that a number of intra-coded macroblocks used to encode a video bit stream is reduced and thereby the number of bits in the encoded video bit stream is reduced. Additionally, a lowest bit rate coding option for a motion vector used to encode the video bit stream provides a process for decreasing the bit rate for the video bit stream while ensuring a relatively high quality picture (Perera, Paragraph [0006]).
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in view of Dumitras et al. (US 2008/0284904 A1) (hereinafter Dumitras), Xu et al. (US 2021/0297688 A1) (hereinafter Xu), Grange et al. (US 2012/0063513 A1) (hereinafter Grange), Wu et al. (US 2017/0064313 A1) (hereinafter Wu), and Lee et al. (US 2005/0069211 A1) (hereinafter Lee) in view of Zhang et al. (US 2015/0319437 A1) (hereinafter Zhang).
Regarding claim 15, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, Wu, and Lee disclose the one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 14, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
However, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, Wu, and Lee do not disclose the particulars of claim 15.
Zhang teaches wherein the technique comprises adding a random offset to a zero-valued motion vector defined from a first denoised block included in the first denoised frame to a second denoised block associated with the block [Paragraph [0058]-[0060], Similarly, for blocks with a small or zero motion vector, a negative offset may be applied]
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the one or more non-transitory computer readable media disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Zhang as above, for it is advantageous to provide substantially constant visual quality in many video coding implementations avoiding wasteful compression in certain portions of video sequences (Zhang, Paragraph [0017]-[0018]).
Claim 16 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in view of Dumitras et al. (US 2008/0284904 A1) (hereinafter Dumitras), Xu et al. (US 2021/0297688 A1) (hereinafter Xu), Grange et al. (US 2012/0063513 A1) (hereinafter Grange), Wu et al. (US 2017/0064313 A1) (hereinafter Wu), and Lee et al. (US 2005/0069211 A1) (hereinafter Lee) in view of Jeon et al. (US 2010/0215101 A1) (hereinafter Jeon).
Regarding claim 16, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, Wu, and Lee disclose the one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 14, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
However, neither Dumitras, Xu, Grange, Wu, nor Lee disclose the particulars of claim 16.
Jeon teaches wherein the technique comprises computing a second residual between the block and a corresponding block that is included in the first noisy frame when a zero-valued motion vector is defined from the corresponding block to the block [Paragraph [0214], In this case, a decoder uses a warped reference picture as a reference picture, performs motion compensation by setting a motion vector to a zero vector, and sets a residual to 0, as computing second residual].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the one or more non-transitory computer readable media disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Jeon as above, to considerably reduce the number of bits required for encoding a residual of the current picture using a warping-transformed reference picture, reducing the number of bits required for coding a motion vector of a current block and further omitting a transport of the motion vector, and reduce complexity generated from performing several interpolation steps (Jeon, Paragraph [0003]-[0013]).
Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in view of Dumitras et al. (US 2008/0284904 A1) (hereinafter Dumitras), Xu et al. (US 2021/0297688 A1) (hereinafter Xu), Grange et al. (US 2012/0063513 A1) (hereinafter Grange), Wu et al. (US 2017/0064313 A1) (hereinafter Wu), and Lee et al. (US 2005/0069211 A1) (hereinafter Lee) in view of Kudana et al. (US 2011/0122942 A1) (hereinafter Kudana).
Regarding claim 18, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, Wu, and Lee disclose the one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 14, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
However, neither Dumitras, Xu, Grange, Wu, nor Lee disclose the particulars of claim 18.
Kudana teaches wherein performing the one or more operations to generate the encoded video frame further comprises computing the cost based on a distortion associated with the block and a bitrate associated with the block [Paragraph [0137]-[0145], minimizing a Lagrange cost for encoding the macro-block, wherein the Lagrange cost is computed according to the following equation: J=D+λ*R, wherein, J is the Lagrange cost, D represents a distortion in the macro-block due to the encoding, λ is the adapted Lagrange multiplier, and R is the transmission bit-rate, wherein the determining determines the encoding mode as a mode that corresponds to the minimized Lagrange cost J].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the one or more non-transitory computer readable media disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Kudana as above, to employ Lagrangian optimization methods to determine a mode to be used for encoding macro-blocks. In general, the optimization technique is designed to achieve optimum rate-distortion performance by selecting the best encoding modes and other parameters for a macro-block. Thus, video encoder aims to minimize distortion in an encoded macro-block, under the constraint that the number of bits transmitted per unit time (the transmission bit-rate) does not exceed some desired value (Kudana, Paragraph [0137]).
Claim 19 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in view of Dumitras et al. (US 2008/0284904 A1) (hereinafter Dumitras), Xu et al. (US 2021/0297688 A1) (hereinafter Xu), Grange et al. (US 2012/0063513 A1) (hereinafter Grange), and Wu et al. (US 2017/0064313 A1) (hereinafter Wu) in view of Deng (US 2017/0374363 A1) (hereinafter Deng).
Regarding claim 19, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu disclose the one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 11, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
Furthermore, Xu teaches wherein the first noisy frame comprises a reference frame in the video sequence and the encoded video frame comprises an encoding of a current frame that is included in the video sequence and corresponds to the second denoised frame [Paragraph [0120]-[0122], [0140]-[0142], [0147]-[0149], [0160]-[0164], [0180], [0216], [0220]-[0222] & [0336]-[0338], Figs. 1A & 2, Encoder 20 produces encoded picture data 21 that is encoded video frame of that is a transformed residual of the denoised current picture 203 that is originally a first noisy frame included in original picture data 17 as plurality of noisy video frames using the candidate motion vectors as first set of motion vectors to predict from denoised reconstructed reference block from DPB 230 as first denoised frame].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the one or more non-transitory computer readable media disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Xu as above, to improve prediction accuracy of a pixel value of a picture block and encoding/decoding performance (Xu, Paragraph [0005]).
However, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu do not explicitly disclose wherein the first noisy frame comprises a reference frame that is a reconstruction of a key frame in the video sequence.
Deng teaches wherein the first noisy frame comprises a reference frame that is a reconstruction of a key frame in the video sequence [Paragraph [0050] & [0104], The I frame is an intra reference frame, is also referred to as a key frame, and is the first frame of GOP encoding. The encoding of the I frame does not rely on previous and following frames].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the one or more non-transitory computer readable media disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Deng as above, to not rely upon previous and following frames for encoding/decoding of a frame in reducing latency (Deng, Paragraph [0104]).
Claim 22 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over in view of Dumitras et al. (US 2008/0284904 A1) (hereinafter Dumitras), Xu et al. (US 2021/0297688 A1) (hereinafter Xu), Grange et al. (US 2012/0063513 A1) (hereinafter Grange), and Wu et al. (US 2017/0064313 A1) (hereinafter Wu) in view of Sohn et al. (US 2005/0025243 A1) (hereinafter Sohn).
Regarding claim 22, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu disclose the computer-implemented method of claim 1, and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
However, Dumitras, Xu, Grange, and Wu do not disclose the particulars of claim 22.
Sohn teaches wherein, in response to determining that a zero-valued motion vector is included in the first set of motion vectors, including in the one or more operations to generate the encoded video frame an operation of adding a first amount of film grain noise to a first portion of the encoded video frame associated with the zero-valued motion vector [Paragraph [0079], With the motion type decision apparatus and method thereof described so far according to the present invention, a motion type of the block for compensation can be determined in consideration of the motion vector which is estimated by a zero motion vector and a predetermined technique. In other words, after extracting the high frequency signal from the inputted signals, the extracted high frequency signal is added with a predetermined noise signal and a threshold is set accordingly].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the one or more non-transitory computer readable media disclosed by Dumitras to integrate and implement the teachings of Sohn as above, for as a motion compensation or motion vector filtering is performed adaptively in accordance with the motion type as determined, motion estimation and compensation efficiency improves, and as a result, image quality deteriorating causes such as block artifact can be avoided (Sohn, Paragraph [0079]).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 DANIEL CHANG whose telephone number is (571)272-5707. The examiner can normally be reached M-Sa, 12PM - 10 PM.
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/DANIEL CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2487