DETAILED ACTION
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 Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed09/23/2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. In response to applicant’s argument in the remarks, ALSHINA in [04] teaches input to base layer encoder and enhancement layer encoder is video data signal, in [61] teaches in scalable structure, base layer is the lower, and further Fig.3, [88], [156]-[158], teaches enhancement-encoder controller 1665 controls switch 1698 to perform a inter prediction that needs to refer to a previously reconstructed base layer image, meaning the base layer would provide a upsampled reconstructed image data as the reference to the enhancement layer encoder for inter prediction in the enhancement layer, and the upsampled is derived by a one time interpolation filtering process to Luma, thus this upsampled, previously reconstructed image would be only luma component fed to enhancement layer encoder as the inter prediction occurs.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 35, 36, 43-45, 47-54 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by US 20160007032 A1 ALSHINA; Elena et al. (hereafter ALSHINA).
Regarding claim 35, ALSHINA discloses A method of encoding a data signal using a hierarchical coding approach (Fig.1), wherein the data signal is encoded at a first layer using a first encoding module and at a second layer using a second encoding module (Fig.10, [04], [149], base layer image sequences or video is the data signal to be encoded by a base encoder and enhancement layer image sequences or video is the data signal to be encoded by an enhancement encoder), the first layer being lower than the second layer ([61], in scalable structure, base layer is lower), and wherein the data signal is composed of two or more components ([58], [188], an image in an image sequence comprises two chroma components one luma component), the method comprising: sending a control signal from the second module to the first module to instruct the first module to provide to the second module only a first component of the signal at the first layer (Fig.3, [88], [156]-[158], enhancement-encoder controller 1665 controls switch 1698 to perform a inter prediction that needs to refer to a previously reconstructed base layer image, meaning the base layer would provide a upsampled reconstructed image data as the reference to the enhancement layer encoder as a prediction image of the enhancement layer, and the upsampled is derived by a time interpolation filtering process to Luma, thus this upsampled, previously reconstructed image would be only luma component).
Regarding claim 36, ALSHINA discloses The method of claim 35, wherein the control signal is sent when the second module determines that only the first component of the data signal is to be encoded at the second layer (Fig.3, [88], [156]-[158])
Regarding claim 43, ALSHINA discloses The method of claim 35, wherein the first encoding module implements a first encoding method, and the second encoding module implements a second encoding method (Fig.3).
Regarding claim 44, ALSHINA discloses The method of claim 43, wherein the first encoding method is different from the second encoding method ([106]).
Regarding claim 45, ALSHINA discloses The method of claim 43, wherein the first encoding method is the same as the second encoding method ([61]).
Regarding claim 47, ALSHINA discloses The method of claim 46, wherein the first layer is at a lower resolution than the second layer ([61]).
Regarding claim 48, ALSHINA discloses The method of claim 35, further comprising: receiving, at the first module, the two or more components of the data signal; and providing, by the first module, only the first component of the signal to the second module ([88], [156-[158]).
Regarding claim 49, ALSHINA discloses The method of claim 35, wherein providing only the first component of the date signal comprises: processing, by the first module, the two or more components of the signal; and passing, by the first module to the second module, only the first component of the data signal ([88], [156]-[158]).
Regarding claim 50, ALSHINA discloses The method of claim 35, wherein providing only the first component of the data signal comprises: writing to a memory, by the first module, only the first component of the data signal ([183]).
Regarding claim 51, ALSHINA discloses The method of claim 35, wherein providing only the first component of the data signal comprises: encoding, by the first module, only the first component of the data signal ([135]).
Regarding claim 52, ALSHINA discloses The method according to claim 35, wherein the signal is a video signal, the components comprise luma and chroma components, and the first component comprises the luma component ([229]).
Regarding claim 53, ALSHINA discloses A method of decoding a signal using a hierarchical coding approach, wherein the data signal is encoded at a first layer using a first encoding module and at a second layer using a second encoding module (Fig.3), the first layer being lower than the second layer ([61]) and wherein the signal is composed of two or more components ([58]); the method comprising: receiving, at a decoding module, a first processed signal, said first processed signal being processed by the first encoding module (Figs.2, 19), and wherein the first processed signal only contains a first component of the signal, and wherein the first processed signal was generated by providing only the first component of the signal based on a signal sent from the second encoding module to the first encoding module instructing the first encoding module to provide only said first component ([158], [161]-[162]).
Regarding claim 54, see the rejection for claim 35.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 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, 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 37 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ALSHINA, and further in view of US 20160150238 A1 PARK; Min-woo et al. (hereafter Park).
Regarding claim 37, Park teaches The method of claim 36, wherein the determination comprises determining a condition requiring that only the first component of the data signal should be provided ([185]-[186]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the method of encoding a signal using a hierarchical coding approach disclosed by ALSHINA to include the teaching in the same field of endeavor of Park, in order to improve the encoding efficiency of inter layer prediction, as identified by Park.
Claim(s) 38-42 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over ALSHINA, in view of Park, and further in view of US 20130329777 A1 KONDA; Rupesh Kumar et al. (hereafter Konda).
Regarding claim 38, Konda teaches The method of claim 37, wherein the condition comprises encoding the data signal for a low-power service ([69], [74]).
Therefore it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention having all the references ALSHINA, Park and Konda before him/her, to modify the method of encoding a signal using a hierarchical coding approach disclosed by ALSHINA to include the teaching in the same field of endeavor of Park and Konda, in order to improve the encoding efficiency of inter layer prediction, as identified by Park, and improve battery life or accommodating current processor availability or workload, as identified by Konda.
Regarding claim 39, Konda teaches The method of claim 38, wherein the low-power service comprises videoconferencing (Fig.1, [37]).
Regarding claim 40, Konda teaches The method of claim 37, wherein the condition comprises a requirement to reduce power consumption ([38]).
Regarding claim 41, Konda teaches The method of claim 37, wherein the condition comprises a requirement to reduce a number of processing operations to be performed in the encoding of the data signal ([84]).
Regarding claim 42, ALSHINA discloses The method of claim 37, wherein the processing operations comprise reading and/or writing to memory ([98]).
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/TRACY Y. LI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2487