DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the amendment filed on December 10, 2025 and RCE filed January 12, 2026. Claims 1-21 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 Amendment
The amendments made to original claims 1 and 19-20 have been fully considered.
Response to Argument
Applicant's arguments and amendments received December 10, 2025 have been fully considered.
With regard to 35 U.S.C. § 103, Applicant argues that the cited prior art fails to disclose an indication of all predicted signals in the plurality of predicted signals is derived using the coding information rather than signaled in the bitstream. Specifically, Applicant argues that Huang’s “merge candidate” cannot be an “indication of … additional predicted signals” because Huang’s “merge candidate” is constructed and thus the “predicted signal itself”. Accordingly, Applicant argues because it is the predicted signal itself, it cannot be an indication of the predicted signal. Applicant also argues that the merge index signaled in the bitstream cannot be the indicator as it is explicitly signaled in the bitstream and Poirier does not provide the indicator that Huang is missing.
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Firstly, Huang’s merge candidate is not the predicted signal itself. In merge mode video coding, the motion information of a previous block is used to predict the current block but the motion information is not signaled. Rather, what is signaled is an index pointing to a previously coded candidate in a list of potential candidates (e.g., including previously coded spatial neighbors, temporal neighbors, historical candidates, etc.) (see ¶¶7-10, 103, 159, 179, 188, 209). Once a particular candidate in the list is determined, the motion information of that candidate is determined/derived and used to generate the prediction (see id.). In other words, 1) an index is signaled, 2) that signaled index is used to determine a selected specific candidate, 3) the motion information for that selected candidate is determined, and 4) the current block is predicted using the motion information of the candidate. So neither the merge candidate index, nor the merge candidate are the prediction itself, rather they are at least two derivation steps removed – the signaled index is used to determine the candidate, the candidate is used to determine the motion information, and that motion information is then used to form the prediction. The analysis for AMVP mode is similar, AMVP mode signals an index that is used to derive a neighboring block and the motion information thereof, which is then used for prediction. AMVP simply additionally signals a MVD and reference picture identification information
Further, each of these elements derived from the merge index – the merge candidate, the motion information, and the prediction are derived “using the coding information”. Specifically, the merge candidate is derived based on the signaled index and the candidate list (an index to a list without the list itself is meaningless, thus the candidate is derived based on a combination of the index and the entry in list to which it points), i.e., coding information. The motion information of that candidate is also derived based on coding information – it is derived indirectly from the same items the candidate is derived from and then by determining the motion information for that particular candidate, i.e., using coding information.
With respect to whether these items may be an “indication of all additional predicted signals”, both the merge candidate and the motion information thereof are items that represent the additional predicted signals – they are not the predicted signal itself but are indicative of what the predicted signal will be (see also ¶¶7-10, 103, 179, specifically stating that the prediction blocks, i.e., candidates, “represent” the additional prediction hypothesis, i.e., additional predicted signals).
If Applicant would like to ensure that “indication of all additional predicted signals” is interpreted as a particular item of information, e.g., an unsignaled flag or index, Applicant is encouraged to use more specific language to describe the “indication”.
See the rejection below for further explanation of how the art on record reads on the claimed 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 1-15 and 18-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over U.S. Patent Publication No. 2022/0311997 (“Huang”), which corresponds to a provisional application filed March 2021, in view of the level of skill in the art.
With respect to claim 1, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed, including
A method of video processing, comprising:
determining, during a conversion between a video unit of a video and a bitstream of the video, a plurality of predicted signals based on coding information of the video unit, the video unit being coded with a non-intra coding mode, and the plurality predicted signals comprising at least one of: a basic predicted signal or an additional predicted signal (see Figs. 3, 4, 7, items 200, 300, 400, 406-408, ¶¶116-117, 155-156, 172-173, 176, showing and describing that during encoding/decoding, i.e., during a conversion between a video unit of a video and a bitstream of the video unit, a plurality of predicted signals based on motion/coding information of the video unit are determined (e.g., base/basic mode hypothesis signal and one or more additional hypothesis signals), that the video unit may be coded with inter mode, merge mode, or AMVP mode, i.e., a non-intra coding mode), wherein an indication of all additional predicted signals in the plurality of predicted signals is derived using the coding information rather than signaled in the bitstream (see citations above and ¶¶7-10, 103, 159, 179, 188, 209, describing that where there are additional predicted signals in the plurality of predicted signals, a selected candidate (e.g., merge candidate or AMVP candidate) and the motion thereof, i.e., indications of all additional predicted signals in the plurality of predicted signals, may be derived using the coding information (e.g., merge index or AMVP index – see Applicant’s specification at 383 describing that such indexes are “coding information”) and that these candidates themselves are not described as being explicitly signaled in the bitstream (only their associated positional index));
determining a final predicted signal for the video unit based on the plurality of predicted signals (see Fig. 7, item 410, ¶¶120, 160, 176-177, describing determining a multi-hypothesis prediction block, i.e., final predicted signal, for the video unit based on the plurality of predicted signals (base hypothesis prediction block and additional hypothesis prediction block); and
performing the conversion based on the final predicted signal for the video unit (see Fig. 7, item 412, ¶¶120, 134-139, 160, 164-166, 177-178, describing that the coder may decode/encode the current block using the multi-hypothesis prediction block, i.e., based on the final predicted signal for the video unit).
Huang does not explicitly describe encoding/decoding as conversions between a video unit of a video and a bitstream of a video. However, as can be seen in Huang Figs. 2-3, an encoder would have been understood to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing to receive a video input including video units and output a bitstream and a decoder to receive a coded bitstream input and output a decoded reconstructed video unit of a video. In other words, they would have been understood to such a person to be mechanisms for converting between a video unit of a video and a bitstream of a video and it would have been obvious to such a person to have described encoding/decoding as such in the description of Huang.
Accordingly, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses each and every element of independent claim 1.
With respect to claim 2, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of independent claim 1. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein the basic predicted signal is excluded for the video unit, or
wherein determining the plurality of predicated signals comprises:
constructing a motion candidate list for the video unit;
selecting a predetermined number of candidates from the motion candidate list; and
deriving additional predicted signals in the plurality of predicted signals based on the selected candidates, or
wherein determining the plurality of predicated signals comprises:
constructing a motion candidate list for the video unit;
reordering the motion candidate list;
selecting a predetermined number of candidates from the reordered motion candidate list; and
deriving additional predicted signals in the plurality of predicted signals based on the selected candidates, or
wherein determining the plurality of predicated signals comprises:
constructing a motion candidate list for the video unit;
refining the motion candidate list; and
selecting a predetermined number of candidates from the refined motion candidate list to derive additional predicted signals in the plurality of predicted signals, or
wherein an indication of at least one additional predicted signal in the plurality of predicted signals is derived using the coding information, or
wherein the additional predicted signal in the plurality of predicted signals is derived using the coding information (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 1 above, describing that the predicted signals may be determined by constructing a motion candidate list, selecting a candidate from the list, and deriving the additional predicted signals based on the selected candidate).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 2.
With respect to claim 3, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of independent claim 1. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein the coding information comprises motion information associated with the video unit (see citations and arguments with respect to claims 1-2 above, describing that the predicted signals are based on motion information associated with the current block/video unit, i.e., the coding information comprises motion information associated with the video unit).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 3.
With respect to claim 4, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of dependent claim 3. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein the motion information is used to derive the basic predicated signal for the video unit (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 1 above, describing that the motion information of the coding block is used to derive the base/basic signal for the video unit).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 4.
With respect to claim 5, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of independent claim 1. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein the coding information comprises a motion information list (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 1 above and ¶¶22, 87, 103, 118, 175, 176, describing that the motion information for a coding block may include a motion information candidate list).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 5.
With respect to claim 6, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of dependent claim 5. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein the additional predicted signal in the plurality of predicted signals is derived using at least one motion information in the motion information list except a motion information used to derive the basic predicted signal of the video unit (see citations and arguments with respect to claims 1 and 5 above, describing that the additional predicted signal in the plurality of predicted signals is derived using motion information in the merge candidate motion information list and is not derived using the same motion information used to derive the base predicted signal of the video unit – for example, the base predicted signal may be derived from AMVP motion information or inter motion information, rather than merge candidates).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 6.
With respect to claim 7, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of dependent claim 6. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein a target motion information at a predefined position in the motion information list is used to derive the additional predicted signal, or
wherein more than one motion information is averaged and used to derive the additional predicted signal, or
wherein a cost is used to evaluate a difference between each candidate motion information and first motion information used to derive the basic predicted signal, and wherein a set of motion information with a minimum cost are used to derive the additional predicted signal (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 1 and ¶¶81, 86-87, 119, 159, 176, describing that the additional predicted signal is derived using motion information from the merge candidate list in a predefined position identified by the merge candidate index).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 7.
With respect to claim 8, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of dependent claim 5. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein motion information used to obtain the additional predicted signal is derived using a template to select one or more motion information from the motion information list (see citations and arguments with respect to claims 1 and 5 above and ¶¶75-76, 88, 119, 161, 169, 171, 177, describing the selection of merge candidates in the merge candidate list to obtain the additional predicted signal and that these merge candidates may be derived using LIC, including a template).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 8.
With respect to claim 9, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of dependent claim 8. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein the template comprises a region which comprises at least one of: an adjacent neighboring sample or a non-adjacent neighboring sample, or
wherein a reference of the template is derived using one motion information of the motion information list,
wherein a cost is calculated between the reference and a reconstruction of the template, and
wherein motion information with a minimum cost is used to obtain the additional predicted signal (see citations and arguments with respect to claims 1 and 8 above including ¶76-80, describing that LIC uses a template based on samples corresponding to the current CU – i.e., a region comprising at least one of an adjacent or non-adjacent neighboring sample. The term neighboring is relative, thus any sample may be considered adjacent neighboring or non-adjacent neighboring to the current CU).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 9.
With respect to claim 10, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of independent claim 1. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein the coding information comprises at least one of:
a reconstructed pixel adjacent to the video unit,
a reconstructed pixel non-adjacent to the video unit,
a reconstructed sample adjacent to the video unit,
a reconstructed sample non-adjacent to the video unit,
a reconstructed video unit adjacent to the video unit, or
a reconstructed video unit non-adjacent to the video unit (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 1 above and ¶¶5, 19, 56, 114, describing that the prediction motion information includes block data from previously coded pictures, i.e., includes reconstructed pixels/samples/video units non-adjacent to the video unit).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 10.
With respect to claim 11, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of dependent claim 10. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein at least one of the followings is used to derive a motion information to obtain the additional predicted signal of the video unit:
a reconstructed pixel adjacent to the video unit,
a reconstructed pixel non-adjacent to the video unit,
a reconstructed sample adjacent to the video unit,
a reconstructed sample non-adjacent to the video unit,
a reconstructed video unit adjacent to the video unit, or
a reconstructed video unit non-adjacent to the video unit (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 1 above and ¶¶22, 83, describing that the prediction motion information used to obtain the additional predicted signal may include data from a neighboring bi-predicted block, i.e., includes reconstructed pixels/samples/video units adjacent or non-adjacent to the video unit).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 11.
With respect to claim 12, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of independent claim 1. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein at least one of: the basic predicted signal of the video unit and the additional predicted signal of the video unit is fused to obtain the final predicted signal of the video unit (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 1 above, describing that the base/basic predicted signal and the additional predicted signal are combined, i.e., fused, to obtain the multi-hypothesis/final predicted signal of the video unit).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 12.
With respect to claim 13, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of dependent claim 12. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein the basic predicted signal and the additional predicted signal are weighted to obtain the final predicted signal, or
wherein only the additional predicted signal is used to obtain the final predicted signal, or wherein the final predicted signal is obtained by:
P = Shift(w0 x P0 + ((1<<K) – w0) x P1, K), wherein K represents an integer, wo represents an integer which is not larger than (1<<K), and Shift presents an operation, or
wherein the final predicted signal is obtained by:
P = SatShift (w0 x P0 + ((1<<K) – w0) x P1, K),
wherein K represents an integer, wo represents an integer which is not larger than (1<<K), and SatShift presents an operation, or
wherein a clipping operation is applied to at least one of:
the basic prediction signal,
the additional predicted signal, or
the final predicted signal (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 1 above and ¶¶120, 160, 177, describing that the final predicted signal may be formed using a weighted combination of the additional and base predicted signals).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 13.
With respect to claim 14, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of independent claim 1. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein the plurality of predicted signals comprises multiple additional predicted signals (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 1 above and ¶¶82, 116, 156, 171, describing that the additional predicted signal may be “one or more” additional predicted signals).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 14.
With respect to claim 15, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of dependent claim 14. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein the multiple additional predicted signals are derived based on a predetermined number of candidates in a motion candidate list which is constructed for the video unit, or
wherein the basic predicted signal and the multiple additional predicted signals are weighted to obtain the final predicted signal of the video unit, or
wherein the final predicted signal of the video unit is derived by iteratively weighted the basic predicted signal and the multiple additional predicted signals, or
wherein the final predicted signal of the video unit is obtained by:
P = Shift(w0 x P0 + w1 x P1 +... wN x PN , K),
wherein P represents the final predicted signal, wo represents a weighting parameter for the basic predicted signal, P0 represents the basic predicted signal, w1 represents a weighting parameter for the first additional predicted signal, P1 represents the first additional predicted signal, wN represents a weighting parameter for the N-th additional predicted signal, PN represents the N-the additional predicted signal, K is an integer, shift represents an operation (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 1 above and ¶¶120, 160, 177, describing that the final predicted signal may be formed using a weighted combination of the additional and base predicted signals and ¶¶82, 116, 156, 171, describing that the additional predicted signal may be “one or more” additional predicted signals).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 15.
With respect to claim 18, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of dependent claim 2. Huang additionally discloses:
further comprising at least one of:
determining whether to use a fusion of the plurality of predicted signals for a non-intra coding tool based on the coding information, or
determining how to use the fusion of the plurality of predicted signals for the non-intra coding tool based on the coding information, or
wherein whether to use a fusion of the plurality of predicted signals for a non-intra coding tool is indicated in the bitstream, and/or wherein how to use the fusion of the plurality of predicted signals for the non-intra coding tool is indicated in the bitstream, or
wherein at least one of the followings is indicated:
how to derive an additional predicted signal in the plurality of predicted signals, or
the number of additional predicted signals in the plurality of predicted signals, or
wherein how to fuse at least one of: a basic predicted signal or an additional predicted signal is indicated, or
wherein whether to fuse the plurality of predicted signals depends on at least one of: slice type or picture type, or
wherein whether to and/or how to fuse the plurality of predicted signals depends on at least one of:
a dimension,
a size of the video unit,
an adjacent neighboring video unit of the video unit, or
a non-adjacent neighboring video unit of the video unit, or
wherein whether to and/or how to fuse the plurality of predicted signals depends on a partitioning depth of the video unit, or
wherein an indication of dice information for fusing the plurality of predicted signals is indicated based on a condition, or
wherein the video unit comprises one of: an inter-coded block, an intra block copy (IBC) coded block, or a palette coded block, or
wherein if a fusion of the plurality of predicted signals is applied to the video unit which is coded by IBC, motion information of the video unit comprises a block vector, or
wherein if a fusion of the plurality of predicted signals is applied to the video unit which is coded by palette mode, motion information of the video unit comprises at least one of: a palette table, a palette entry, or a palette predictor, or
wherein the coding information comprises the basic predicated signal for the video unit, or
wherein the coding information indicates at least one of:
whether the video unit is affine-coded,
whether the video unit is subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP)-coded,
whether the video unit is subblock-coded,
whether the video unit is local illumination compensation (LIC)-coded,
whether the video unit is combined inter and intra prediction (CIIP)-coded,
whether the video unit is bi-prediction with coding unit level weight (BCW)-coded, or
a BCW index of the video unit, or
the method further comprises: determining whether to use the basic predicted signal or a fusion of the plurality of predicted signals as the final predicted signal based on the coding information, or
wherein the coding information comprises at least one of:
a coding mode,
a size of the video unit,
a dimension of the video unit,
an adjacent neighboring video unit of the video unit,
a non-adjacent neighboring video unit of the video unit, or
colour components, or
wherein the non-intra coding mode comprises a coding tool with merge mode in which at least one predicted signal is derived using a merge index indicated in the bitstream, or
wherein the non-intra coding mode comprises a coding tool with normal inter prediction mode in which at least one predicted signal is derived using at least one of: a motion vector or a motion vector difference, or a reference index indicated in the bitstream, or
wherein a non-intra coding tool is applied to the video unit even a fusion of the plurality of predicted signals is applied to the video unit, or
wherein the conversion includes encoding the target block into the bitstream, or
wherein the conversion includes decoding the target block from the bitstream, or
wherein the video unit comprises one of:
a colour component,
a sub-picture,
a slice,
a tile,
a coding tree unit (CTU),
a CTU row,
a group of CTU,
a coding unit (CU),
a prediction unit (PU),
a transform unit (TU),
a coding tree block (CTB),
a coding block (CB),
a prediction block (PB),
a transform block (TB),
a block,
a sub-block of a block,
a sub-region within a block, or
a region that contains more than one sample or pixel, or
wherein an indication of whether to and/or how to determine the final predicted based on the plurality of predicted signals is indicated at one of the followings:
sequence level,
group of pictures level,
picture level,
slice level, or
tile group level, or
wherein an indication of whether to and/or how to determine the final predicted based on the plurality of predicted signals is indicated in one of the following:
a sequence header,
a picture header,
a sequence parameter set (SPS),
a video parameter set (VPS),
a dependency parameter set (DPS),
a decoding capability information (DCI),
a picture parameter set (PPS),
an adaptation parameter sets (APS),
a slice header, or
a tile group header, or
wherein an indication of whether to and/or how to determine the final predicted based on the plurality of predicted signals is included in one of the following:
a prediction block (PB),
a transform block (TB),
a coding block (CB),
a prediction unit (PU),
a transform unit (TU),
a coding unit (CU),
a virtual pipeline data unit (VPDU),
a coding tree unit (CTU),
a CTU row,
a slice,
a tile,
a sub-picture, or
a region containing more than one sample or pixel, or
wherein the method further comprises:
determining, based on coded information of the target block, whether and/or how to determine the final predicted based on the plurality of predicted signals, the coded information including at least one of:
the coding mode,
a block size,
a colour format,
a single and/or dual tree partitioning,
a colour component,
a slice type, or
a picture type (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 1 above, describing that the conversion may be encoding or decoding).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 18.
With respect to claim 19, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of independent claim 1. Huang additionally discloses:
An apparatus for processing video data comprising a processor and a non-transitory memory with instructions thereon (see ¶¶30, 40, 108-109, 148-150, 309-310), wherein the instructions upon execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:
determining, during a conversion between a video unit of a video and a bitstream of the video unit, a plurality of predicted signals based on coding information of the video unit, the video unit being coded with a non-intra coding mode, and the plurality predicted signals comprising at least one of: a basic predicted signal or an additional predicted signal, wherein an indication of all additional predicted signals in the plurality of predicted signals is derived using the coding information rather than signaled in the bitstream (see citations and arguments with respect to corresponding element of claim 1 above);
determining a final predicted signal for the video unit based on the plurality of predicted signals (see citations and arguments with respect to corresponding element of claim 1 above); and
performing the conversion based on the final predicted signal for the video unit (see citations and arguments with respect to corresponding element of claim 1 above).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 19.
With respect to claim 20, claim 20 recites the elements of claim 1 in computer-readable medium form rather than method form. Huang discloses that its method may be implemented using a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions executed by a processor (see ¶¶40, 309-310). Accordingly, the disclosure cited with respect to claim 1 also applies to claim 20.
With respect to claim 21, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of independent claim 1. Huang additionally discloses:
storing the bitstream in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium (see ¶¶40, 309-310).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 21.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
Claims 16 and 17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huang in view of U.S. Patent Publication No. 2021/0400269 (“Poirier”).
With respect to claim 16, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of independent claim 1.
Huang does not explicitly disclose wherein if a fusion of the plurality of predicted signals is applied, a target coding tool is not enabled for the video unit.
However, in the same field of endeavor, Poirier discloses that it was known to disable a target coding tool, e.g., bidirectional optical flow, when multi-hypothesis prediction is used, i.e.,:
wherein if a fusion of the plurality of predicted signals is applied, a target coding tool is not enabled for the video unit (see ¶¶105, 115, describing that when multi-hypothesis prediction is used, BIO and GBi are not enabled/are disabled).
As detailed above, Huang describes that in multi-hypothesis prediction, a fusion is applied to a plurality of signals. Huang also details that other coding tools may be used in this system, e.g., LIC, AMVP, GPM, interpolation filtering, etc. At the time of filing, one of ordinary skill would have been familiar with the different coding tools that may be applied with a multi-hypothesis system, as well as those that are not appropriate to be applied. Accordingly, as evidenced by Poirier, such a person would have understood that BIO and GBi may not be appropriate when multi-hypothesis prediction, for example, when uni-prediction is desired. Accordingly, to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing, restricting GBi and BIO to be disabled when multi-hypothesis prediction is used 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 mechanism for disabling BIO and GBi when multi-hypothesis prediction is used in the multi-hypothesis coding system of Huang as taught by Poirier.
With respect to claim 17, Huang discloses the invention substantially as claimed. As described above, Huang in view of the level of skill in the art discloses all the elements of dependent claim 16. Huang additionally discloses:
wherein the target coding tool comprises at least one of:
a local illumination compensation (LIC),
a decoder side motion refinement (DMVR),
a multi-pass DMVR,
a bi-directional optical flow (BDOF),
a sample based BDOF,
a prediction refinement with optical flow (PROF),
an overlapped block motion compensation (OBMC),
an adaptive motion vector resolution (AMVR),
a half sample interpolation filter,
a subblock transform (SBT),
a multiple transform set (MTS), or
an affine prediction (see citations and arguments with respect to claim 16 above and ¶98, describing that BIO is disabled when multi-hypothesis prediction is used and clarifying that BIO is bi-directional optical flow aka BDOF).
The reasons for combining the cited prior art with respect to claim 1 also apply to claim 17.
Conclusion
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, Art Unit 2481
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