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 .
Claims 1-3 have been amended.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 05/06/2026 has been entered.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 03/18/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 05/06/2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1-3 under 35 U.S.C. 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Li (US 20160286230 A1) in view of GOTO (US 20140219355 A1).
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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li (US 20160286230 A1) in view of GOTO (US 20140219355 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Li teaches a video decoding method, the method comprising:
deriving a merge candidate list of a current block (merge candidate list. [0195] [0196]);
deriving a first prediction direction motion vector and a second prediction direction motion vector from the merge candidate list (A set of motion information contains motion information for forward and backward prediction directions. Here forward and backward prediction directions are two prediction directions of a bidirectional prediction mode [0062]);
deriving a first prediction block direction search area based on the first prediction direction motion vector (Fig. 9);
deriving a second prediction direction search area based on the second prediction direction motion vector (Fig. 9); and
deriving a first prediction direction refined motion vector and a second prediction direction refined motion vector based on the first prediction direction search area and the second prediction direction search area ([0165] The example of FIG. 9 includes current picture 140 having current block 142 (the block currently being coded), a first candidate motion vector PMV0 that identifies a first template block 144 of a first reference picture 146 (L0 ref), and a second candidate motion vector PMV1 that identifies a second template block 148 of a second reference picture 150. The video coder may apply dMV as an offset to locate a first reference block 152 in search window 154 of first reference picture 146 and to locate a second reference block 156 in search window 158 of second reference picture 150.),
wherein the first prediction direction is different from the second prediction direction (Fig. 9),
Li does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, GOTO teaches wherein the first prediction direction search area is an area having square shape centered on a pixel position of a reference picture indicated by the first prediction direction motion vector and the second prediction direction search area is an area having square shape centered on a pixel position of a reference picture indicated by the second prediction direction motion vector (Fig. 1-4: block search means for searching for a reference block, that most approximates the prediction target block of the prediction target frame, within a predetermined search range in a frame in the past direction relative to the prediction target frame or within a predetermined search range in a frame in the future direction relative to the prediction target frame; search center setting means for setting a search center when the block search means performs a search regarding the prediction target block in the frame in the past direction and in the frame in the future direction [0039]).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to take the teachings of GOTO and apply them to Li. One would be motivated as such as to improve the performance of the full-search ME of a comparatively small search range.
Regarding claim 2, Li teaches a video encoding method, the method comprising:
deriving a merge candidate list of a current block (merge candidate list. [0195] [0196]);
deriving a first prediction direction motion vector and a second prediction direction motion vector from the merge candidate list (A set of motion information contains motion information for forward and backward prediction directions. Here forward and backward prediction directions are two prediction directions of a bidirectional prediction mode [0062]);
deriving a first prediction block direction search area based on the first prediction direction motion vector (Fig. 9);
deriving a second prediction direction search area based on the second prediction direction motion vector (Fig. 9); and
deriving a first prediction direction refined motion vector and a second prediction direction refined motion vector based on the first prediction direction search area and the second prediction direction search area ([0165] The example of FIG. 9 includes current picture 140 having current block 142 (the block currently being coded), a first candidate motion vector PMV0 that identifies a first template block 144 of a first reference picture 146 (L0 ref), and a second candidate motion vector PMV1 that identifies a second template block 148 of a second reference picture 150. The video coder may apply dMV as an offset to locate a first reference block 152 in search window 154 of first reference picture 146 and to locate a second reference block 156 in search window 158 of second reference picture 150.),
wherein the first prediction direction is different from the second prediction direction (Fig. 9),
Li does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, GOTO teaches wherein the first prediction direction search area is an area having square shape centered on a pixel position of a reference picture indicated by the first prediction direction motion vector and the second prediction direction search area is an area having square shape centered on a pixel position of a reference picture indicated by the second prediction direction motion vector (Fig. 1-4: block search means for searching for a reference block, that most approximates the prediction target block of the prediction target frame, within a predetermined search range in a frame in the past direction relative to the prediction target frame or within a predetermined search range in a frame in the future direction relative to the prediction target frame; search center setting means for setting a search center when the block search means performs a search regarding the prediction target block in the frame in the past direction and in the frame in the future direction [0039]).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to take the teachings of GOTO and apply them to Li. One would be motivated as such as to improve the performance of the full-search ME of a comparatively small search range.
Regarding claim 3, Li teaches a non-transitory computer-readable recoding medium storing a bitstream encoded by a video encoding method, the video encoding method comprising:
deriving a merge candidate list of a current block (merge candidate list. [0195] [0196]);
deriving a first prediction direction motion vector and a second prediction direction motion vector from the merge candidate list (A set of motion information contains motion information for forward and backward prediction directions. Here forward and backward prediction directions are two prediction directions of a bidirectional prediction mode [0062]);
deriving a first prediction block direction search area based on the first prediction direction motion vector (Fig. 9);
deriving a second prediction direction search area based on the second prediction direction motion vector (Fig. 9); and
deriving a first prediction direction refined motion vector and a second prediction direction refined motion vector based on the first prediction direction search area and the second prediction direction search area ([0165] The example of FIG. 9 includes current picture 140 having current block 142 (the block currently being coded), a first candidate motion vector PMV0 that identifies a first template block 144 of a first reference picture 146 (L0 ref), and a second candidate motion vector PMV1 that identifies a second template block 148 of a second reference picture 150. The video coder may apply dMV as an offset to locate a first reference block 152 in search window 154 of first reference picture 146 and to locate a second reference block 156 in search window 158 of second reference picture 150.),
wherein the first prediction direction is different from the second prediction direction (Fig. 9),
Li does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, GOTO teaches wherein the first prediction direction search area is an area having square shape centered on a pixel position of a reference picture indicated by the first prediction direction motion vector and the second prediction direction search area is an area having square shape centered on a pixel position of a reference picture indicated by the second prediction direction motion vector (Fig. 1-4: block search means for searching for a reference block, that most approximates the prediction target block of the prediction target frame, within a predetermined search range in a frame in the past direction relative to the prediction target frame or within a predetermined search range in a frame in the future direction relative to the prediction target frame; search center setting means for setting a search center when the block search means performs a search regarding the prediction target block in the frame in the past direction and in the frame in the future direction [0039]).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to take the teachings of GOTO and apply them to Li. One would be motivated as such as to improve the performance of the full-search ME of a comparatively small search range.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HESHAM K ABOUZAHRA whose telephone number is (571)270-0425. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jamie Atala can be reached at 57127227384. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/HESHAM K ABOUZAHRA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2486
Prosecution Insights