DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the arguments filed on February 2, 2026. Claims 26-29 and 31-48 are pending and are examined.
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 Argument
Applicant's arguments and amendments received February 2, 2026 have been fully considered.
With regard to 35 U.S.C. § 103, Applicant argues that the cited prior art fails to disclose “the reordering scheme indicates that at least one zero motion candidate existing in the list of motion candidates is not to be reordered”. Specifically, Applicant argues that Chen discloses a scheme for selecting multiple candidates for reorder by categorizing them into multiple types for reordering, but that Chen is silent about which types are selected for reordering and which types are not selected for reordering – that Chen discloses a way to select candidates for reordering without specifying which specific candidates are to be reordered or not reordered.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Chen very clearly describes that it is the “selected candidates” that are in fact reordered while the others are not. For example, in Chen’s Abstract, Chen states “target candidates within a selected candidate set are reordered.” Chen’s Fig. 8 shows an example of this – where the selected candidate set (1 and 3) are reordered (in step 830) and the remaining, non-selected candidates are not (0, 2, 4, and 5). This figure is described in paragraph 91, which recites that candidates 1 and 3 are selected for reordering “the reordering is then performed for the selected candidate”. Fig. 9 recites in step 940 “reorder the selected candidates”. The specification goes on to recite that there are various ways to “select” some candidates for re-ordering, including selection according to candidate type (see ¶¶38-39, 99). Paragraphs 38-39 specifically recite that “the selected candidate set may correspond to member candidates… belonging to one or more selected candidate types”. These candidate types/categories are described in paragraph 99, separating type 4 candidates as including “other candidates” (which as described in ¶10, includes a zero vector candidate). In other words, Chen clearly describes a reordering scheme where one or more categories, e.g., categories/types 1-3, may be selected for reordering and where category/type 4 (including the zero motion vector. candidate) is not to be reordered. Then, like shown in Fig. 8, Chen teaches reordering of the selected candidates (e.g. types 1-3) without reordering the non-selected candidates (e.g., type 4, including the zero motion candidate).
For further explanation, see the rejection below for how the art on record reads on the newly amended language as well as the examiner's interpretation of the cited art in view of the presented claim set.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claims 26-42 and 44-45 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as obvious over U.S. Patent Publication No. 2020/0068218 (“Chen”) in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2018/0359483 (“Chen 2”).
With respect to claim 26, Chen discloses:
A method for video processing, comprising:
constructing, during a conversion between a target block of a video and a bitstream of the video, a list of motion candidates for motion information for the target block (see Abstract, Figs. 8-9, 16, items 810, 910, 1620, ¶¶18, 30, 87, describing constructing, during encoding/decoding, i.e., during a conversion between a target block of a video and a bitstream of the video, a list of motion candidates for motion information for the target, i.e., current, block);
determining a reordering scheme based at least in part on coding information, the reordering scheme indicating how to reorder at least one motion candidate existing in the list of motion candidates (see citations and arguments with respect to element above and Abstract, Figs. 8, 9, and 16, items 920-940, 1630-1340, ¶¶30-31, 38-39, 91-96, 99, describing determining a reordering scheme indicating how to reorder at least one motion candidate in the list of motion candidates, and that this reordering scheme may be based on coding information, e.g., based on the coding cost and/or candidate types), wherein the reordering scheme indicates that at least one zero motion candidate existing in the list of motion candidates is not to be reordered, and… (see citations and arguments above, and Fig. 8, ¶¶10, 38-39, 89, 99, describing that the reordering scheme may indicate that certain “selected” candidate types are reordered (e.g., candidate types 1 and 2 – spatial and temporal candidates) and other candidate types are not to be reordered (e.g., candidate types 3 and 4 – sub-PU candidates and “other” candidates) – as described in ¶10, such “other” candidates may include a zero vector candidate);
generating a target list of motion candidates from the list of motion candidates according to the reordering scheme (see citations with respect to elements above, describing that the reordered MVP candidate list, i.e., target list of motion candidates, is generated by reordering the original/initial list according to the reordering scheme); and
deriving the motion information for the target block from the target list of motion candidates (see citations and arguments with respect to elements above and Abstract, Fig. 16, item 1650, ¶¶30, 87, 147, describing that the MVP/motion vector for the current, i.e., target, block is derived from the reordered list of candidates, i.e., target list of motion candidates).
Chen does not explicitly describe what a zero vector candidate is, i.e., it does not explicitly disclose each of the at least one zero motion candidate is a motion candidate with a motion vector being equal to 0.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Chen 2 details that it was known that zero vector candidates are motion candidates with a motion vector equal to zero, i.e.:
each of the at least one zero motion candidate is a motion candidate with a motion vector being equal to 0 (see ¶¶105, 116, describing the addition of zero motion vector candidates and that zero motion vector candidates are motion vector candidates/MVPs with motion vector of magnitude “0”).
At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill would have been familiar with zero motion candidates and of adding such candidates to a candidate list. Such a person would have understood that, as evidenced by Chen 2, that these zero motion candidates have motion vectors of magnitude “0”. Accordingly, to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing, describing the zero vector in the reordered list coding system of Chen as such would have represented nothing more than the combination of prior art elements according to predictable results and/or the simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to describe Chen’s zero vector candidate as a zero vector with motion vector equal to “0” in the reordered list coding system of Chen as taught by Chen 2.
With respect to claim 27, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein the coding information comprises at least one of the following:
a coding mode for the video, or a category of at least one motion candidate in the list of motion candidates (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 26 above, describing that the coding information may comprise a candidate type, i.e., coding mode, or category of motion candidate).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 27.
With respect to claim 28, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of dependent claim 27. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein determining a reordering scheme comprises:
determining a reordering scheme to indicate that the list of motion candidates is to be reordered in accordance with a determination that the coding mode is one of the following: a regular advanced motion vector predication (AMVP) mode, a regular merge mode, an affine merge mode, a sub-block-based merge mode, a geometric partitioning mode (GPM), a triangle partition mode (TPM), a template matching (TM) merge mode, a merge mode with motion vector differences (MMVD), or a decoder-side motion vector refinement (DMVR) (see citations and arguments with respect to claims 26 and 27 above, describing that the coding modes upon which reordering may depend includes sub-PU TMVP, STMVP, i.e., a sub-block based merge mode and affine merge modes).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 28.
With respect to claim 29, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of dependent claim 27. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein determining a reordering scheme comprises:
determining a reordering scheme to indicate that the list of motion candidates or at least one motion candidate in the list of motion candidates is to be reordered, in accordance with a determination that the at least one motion candidate belongs to at least one of the following categories: a category of adjacent spatial motion candidates, a category of temporal motion candidates, a category of spatial temporal motion vector prediction (STMVP) motion candidates, a category of non-adjacent spatial motion candidates, a category of history-based motion vector prediction (HMVP) motion candidates, or a category of pair-wise average motion candidates (see citations and arguments with respect to claims 26 and 27 above, describing that the categories upon which the reordering scheme may depend includes a category of adjacent spatial motion candidates, a category of temporal motion candidates, and a category of STMVP candidates).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 29.
With respect to claim 31, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of dependent claim 27. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein determining a reordering scheme comprises:
determining a reordering scheme to indicate that at least one motion candidate in the list of motion candidates is not to be reordered in accordance with a determination that the at least one motion candidate belongs to at least one of the following categories: a category of uni-prediction subblock based motion candidates, a category of subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) motion candidates, a category of inherited affine motion candidates, a category of constructed affine motion candidates, or a category of zero padding affine motion candidates (see citations and arguments with respect to claims 26 and 27 above, describing that some candidates may not be reordered where they belong to certain categories, e.g., all sub-PU MV candidates, STMVP candidates, affine merge candidates, and other candidates, i.e., a category of uni-prediction subblock based motion candidates, a category of subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) motion candidates, a category of inherited affine motion candidates, a category of constructed affine motion candidates, or a category of zero padding affine motion candidates).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 31.
With respect to claim 32, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein in the case that the reordering scheme indicates that at least one motion candidate in the list of motion candidates is to be reordered, the reordering scheme further indicates at least one of the following:
a scheme for selecting a template for refinement to be performed on the list of motion candidates,
a scheme for calculating a template matching cost for refinement to be applied on the list of motion candidates,
the number of motion candidates to be reordered in the list of motion candidates, or
the number of subgroups of motion candidates to be reordered in the list of motion candidates (see citations and arguments with respect to claims 26 and 27 above, and Chen ¶¶91, 99, 103, describing that the reordering scheme may indicate a scheme for selecting a template for refinement to be performed, a scheme for calculating template matching cost for refinement to be applied, the threshold index number of candidates to be reordered in the list of motion candidates, and the threshold number of categories/subgroups of motion candidates to be reordered in the list of motion candidates).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 32.
With respect to claim 33, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein generating the target list of motion candidates comprises:
in accordance with a determination that the reordering scheme indicates that at least one motion candidate of the list of motion candidates is to be reordered,
reordering the at least one motion candidate in the list of motion candidates to obtain the target list of motion candidates,
in accordance with a determination that the reordering scheme indicates that the list of motion candidates is not to be reordered,
determining the list of motion candidates as the target list of motion candidates (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 26 above, and Chen ¶96, describing that in accordance with a determination that the reordering scheme/flag for the reordering scheme indicates that at least one candidate is to be reordered, reordering the list to obtain the target list and if it indicates no reordering/reordering is off, not reordering/using the initial/original list).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 33.
With respect to claim 34, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein deriving the motion information comprises:
retrieving at least one index of at least one motion candidate from the target list of motion candidates;
applying refinement on the at least one motion candidate indexed by the at least one retrieved index, to obtain at least one refined motion candidate; and
deriving the motion information based on the at least one refined motion candidate (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 26 above, including Chen Fig. 8, ¶¶5-6, 8-9, 18, 35, 38, 87, 99, showing and describing that deriving the motion information includes the retrieving of at least one motion candidate from the target list, applying refinement on the retrieved indexed candidate, and using the refined motion candidate to derive motion information for the current block).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 34.
With respect to claim 35, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of dependent claim 33. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein deriving the motion information comprises:
deriving at least one index from the bitstream;
retrieving at least one motion candidate indexed by the at least one index from the target list of motion candidates; and
deriving the motion information based on the at least one motion candidate (see citations and arguments with respect to claims 26 and 34 above, describing that a merge/candidate index may be derived from the bitstream and retrieved from the reordered list, i.e., target list, and that the motion information for the current block may be obtained from this indexed candidate).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 35.
With respect to claim 36, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein generating the target list of motion candidates comprises:
applying refinement on the list of motion candidates, to obtain a refined list of motion candidates;
in accordance with a determination that the reordering scheme indicates that at least one motion candidate of the list of motion candidates is to be reordered,
reordering at least one refined motion candidate in the refined list of motion candidates to obtain the target list of motion candidates, the at least one refined motion candidate being corresponding to the at least one motion candidate; and
in accordance with a determination that the reordering scheme indicates that the list of motion candidates is not to be reordered,
determining the refined list of motion candidates as the target list of motion candidates (see citations and arguments with respect to claims 26 and 33 above, and Chen Fig. 7, ¶¶11-14, 87-88, describing that the original list of candidates may be refined and those candidates may be reordered or not reordered based on the cost/candidate type of the refined candidate, i.e., the reordering scheme).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 36.
With respect to claim 37, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of dependent claim 36. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein deriving the motion information comprises:
retrieving at least one index of at least one motion candidate from the target list of motion candidates; and
deriving the motion information based on the at least one refined motion candidate indexed by the at least one index (see citations and arguments with respect to claims 26, 34, and 36 above, describing that the deriving motion information may include retrieving an index for a motion information in the reordered, i.e., target, list of motion candidates, and that the index may be to the refined motion candidate, which is then used to derive the motion information of the current block).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 37.
With respect to claim 38, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein generating the target list of motion candidates comprises:
in accordance with a determination that the reordering scheme indicates that at least one motion candidate of the list of motion candidates is to be reordered,
reordering the at least one motion candidate in the list of motion candidates to obtain a reordered list of motion candidates;
generating at least one further motion candidate based on the reordered list of motion candidates; and
constructing the target list of motion candidates based at least in part on the at least one further motion candidate (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 26 above and Chen ¶¶6, 10, 87, 96, 137, 145, describing that in generating the reordered, i.e., target, list, the reordering scheme may indicate reordering, e.g., via a flag, and thereby reorder motion candidates in the list and new/additional, i.e., further, candidates may be generated based on the reordered list).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 38.
With respect to claim 39, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein determining a reordering scheme comprises:
determining the reordering scheme to indicate that a number of motion candidates from a beginning of the list of motion candidates are to be reordered (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 26 above, including Chen Fig. 8, showing and describing that the candidates with indexes or groups with index/group type less than a threshold, i.e., from the beginning of the list, may be reordered).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 39.
With respect to claim 40, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein the list of motion candidates is divided into at least one subgroup of motion candidates, and wherein determining a reordering scheme comprises:
determining the reordering scheme based on the at least one subgroup of motion candidates (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 26 above, describing that the motion candidates may be divided into candidate type subgroups and the reordering scheme may be determined based on these subgroups).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 40.
With respect to claim 41, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein the reordering scheme indicates at least one of the following:
only the first subgroup of motion candidates is to be reordered,
a last subgroup of motion candidates is not to be reordered,
the last subgroup of motion candidates is to be reordered if the last subgroup is also the first group,
different subgroups are to be reordered separately,
two motion candidates in different subgroups are not to be reordered together, or
a first motion candidate in a first subgroup is to be put ahead of a second motion candidate in a second subgroup after reordering if the first subgroup is ahead of the second subgroup (see citations and arguments with respect to claims 26 and 40 above and Chen ¶¶138-143, showing and describing that only the first subgroup of candidate types may be reordered (MG<=1); that different subgroups are to be reordered (or not) separately; that two motion candidates in different subgroups may be not reordered together, e.g., where they are reordered based on cost also; and that first candidates in a first subgroup may be put ahead of second candidates in a second subgroup after reordering where the first subgroup is ahead of the second subgroup).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 41.
With respect to claim 42, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein generating the target list of motion candidates comprises:
in accordance with a determination that the reordering scheme indicates that at least one first motion candidate in the list of motion candidates is not to be reordered,
determining an order of the at least one first motion candidate within the target list of motion candidates according to an original order of the at least one first motion candidate within the list of motion candidates (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 26 above, describing that the reordered list, i.e., target list, may be generated by determining that at least one motion candidate is not to be reordered (e.g., sub-PU and “other” candidates) and determining the order of such non-reordered candidates according to their original order).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 42.
With respect to claim 43, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein the bitstream comprises signaling indicating the reordering scheme applied on the list of motion candidates (see Chen ¶96, describing that it was known to send a flag indicating that reordering is used, i.e., signaling indicating the reordering scheme applied on the candidates).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 43.
With respect to claim 44, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
An electronic device (see Abstract, ¶¶6, 30, 147, 150, describing an encoder/decoder/encoding device/decoding device, i.e., electronic device, in a device for image processing), comprising:
a processing unit (see ¶¶147, 150, describing that the device may be embodied by hardware or software, including software executed by a processor, i.e., processing unit); and
a memory coupled to the processing unit and having instructions stored thereon (see citations above, describing that software modules may be executed by the processor to perform the inventive methods – Examiner takes Official Notice that it was known to store such software for execution by a processor in memory coupled to the processor) which, when executed by the processing unit, cause the electronic device to perform a method comprising:
constructing, during a conversion between a target block of a video and a bitstream of the video, a list of motion candidates for motion information for the target block (see citations and arguments with respect to corresponding element of claim 26 above);
determining a reordering scheme based at least in part on coding information, the reordering scheme indicating how to reorder at least one motion candidate existing in the list of motion candidates is to be reordered, wherein the reordering scheme indicates that at least one zero motion candidate existing in the list of motion candidates is not to be reordered, and each of the at least one zero motion candidate is a motion candidate with a motion vector being equal to 0 (see citations and arguments with respect to corresponding element of claim 26 above);
generating a target list of motion candidates from the list of motion candidates according to the reordering scheme (see citations and arguments with respect to corresponding element of claim 26 above); and
deriving the motion information for the target block from the target list of motion candidates (see citations and arguments with respect to corresponding element of claim 26 above).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 44.
With respect to claim 45, claim 45 recites the elements of claim 26 in computer-readable medium form rather than method form. Chen discloses that its method may be embodied by software stored in memory, e.g., a computer-readable medium, and executed by a processor (see ¶¶150). Accordingly, the disclosure recited with respect to claim 26 also applies to claim 45.
With respect to claim 46, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
storing the bitstream in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium (see Chen 2 ¶70, describing that it was known to store a bitstream generated when encoding in a computer-readable storage medium to be retrieved by a decoder).
At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill would have been familiar with the generation of a bitstream at the encoder and the signaling of such a bitstream to the decoder. Such a person would also have understood that, as evidenced by Chen 2, such communication may need to occur over a span of time, and thus require the storage of the bitstream for alter retrieval at the decoder (see citation above). Accordingly, to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing, allowing for such storage in a non-transitory computer-readable medium after encoding and prior to decoding in the coding system of Chen would have represented nothing more than the combination of prior art elements according to predictable results and/or the simple substitution of one known element for another to obtain predictable results.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to include a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for storing the bitstream output by the encoder for retrieval by the decoder in the coding system of Chen as taught by Chen 2.
With respect to claim 47, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein the conversion includes encoding the target block into the bitstream (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 26, showing and describing that the conversion includes encoding the target block into the bitstream).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 47.
With respect to claim 48, Chen discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As detailed above, Chen in view of Chen 2 discloses all the elements of independent claim 26. Chen/Chen 2 additionally discloses:
wherein the conversion includes decoding the target block from the bitstream (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 26, showing and describing that the conversion includes encoding the target block into the bitstream).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 26 also apply to claim 48.
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.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LINDSAY JANE KILE UHL whose telephone number is (571)270-0337. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30 AM-5:00 PM.
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LINDSAY J UHL
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2481
/LINDSAY J UHL/Primary Examiner, AU 2481