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 .
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 1/12/26 has been entered.
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 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Mora et al. (US 2020/0296356) in view of Xiu et al. (US 2019/0166370).
Regarding claim 1, Mora discloses a method comprising: performing, for a block, a decoder side intra mode derivation (DIMD) (e.g. see ¶ [0092]) based on a gradient filter applied to neighboring samples of the block to generate a histogram of gradients (HoG) (see fig. 5; e.g. see ¶ [0208]) comprising amplitudes for a plurality of first intra prediction modes (see “Amplitude” in fig. 5) at a first precision (see “N” of 308a in fig. 3c); determining, from the HoG, a first intra prediction mode (see “NDIMD” of 307b in fig. 3c) corresponding to one of the plurality of first intra prediction modes associated with the highest peak of the amplitudes in the HoG (e.g. see Mode 10 in fig. 5); generating a plurality of intra prediction modes, at the first precision (see “N” of 308a in fig. 3c), comprising: the first intra prediction mode determined from the HoG (see 307b in fig. 3c); and a second intra prediction mode determined from a most probable mode (MPM) (see 307a in fig. 3c) comprising intra prediction modes at a second precision (see “NS” of 307a in fig. 3c) lower than the first precision (see first precision N = NS + NDIMD having more candidates indicates better precision than second precision NS candidates alone in fig. 3c); and selecting, for coding the block and from a plurality of intra prediction modes (see 103 and 105 in fig. 1), at least one intra prediction mode based on predictions of a template of the block generated for the plurality of intra prediction modes (see 309a in fig. 3c).
Although Mora discloses the MPM, it is noted that Mora does not provide the particular wherein the MPM is determined from the list.
However, Xiu discloses a decoder side derivation of intra prediction mode precision wherein the MPM is determined from the list (e.g. see ¶ [0047]).
Given the teachings as a whole, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate Xiu teachings of signaling MPM list into Mora MPM intra prediction for the benefit of providing essential information for DIMD processing.
Regarding claims 2, 10 and 17, Xiu further discloses wherein the first intra prediction mode is stored as an intra prediction mode in the MPM list at the second precision (e.g. see ¶ [0126]).
Regarding claims 3, 11 and 18, Xiu further discloses wherein both the first intra prediction mode and the at least one selected intra prediction mode indicate an angular intra prediction mode among 129 different angular intra prediction modes (e.g. see ¶ [0093]), and wherein the second intra prediction mode indicates an angular intra prediction mode among 65 different angular intra prediction modes (e.g. see ¶ [0093]).
Regarding claims 4, 12 and 19, Mora further discloses wherein the DIMD comprises determining the HoG; the first intra prediction mode corresponds to a first or a second highest peak in the HoG (e.g. see Mode 10 in fig. 5); a third ultra prediction mode is based on the second highest peak (e.g. see Mode 18 in fig. 5); and the plurality of intra prediction modes is further determined based on the third intra prediction mode (see 307b in fig. 3c).
Regarding claims 5 and 13, Mora further discloses wherein the performing the DIMD comprises: applying the gradient filter to the neighboring samples of the block to determine a gradient (e.g. see ¶ [0226]); determining an intra angular direction corresponding to an edge orientation of the gradient (e.g. see ¶ [0177]); and increasing, by an intensity of the gradient, a value at an index of the HoG determined using the intra angular direction (see fig. 5; e.g. see ¶ [0176]).
Regarding claims 6 and 14, Xiu further discloses wherein the neighboring region extends to the left and above the block by L1 and L2 samples, respectively (see fig. 6).
Regarding claims 7, 15 and 20, Xiu further discloses comprising: determining a prediction of the block based on at least one selected intra prediction mode (see 706 in fig. 7); and adding the prediction of the block to a residual to reconstruct the block (see lower “+” in fig. 7).
Regarding claim 8, Xiu further discloses comprising: determining a prediction of the block based on at least one selected intra prediction mode (see 706 in fig. 7); and determining a residual based on a difference between the prediction of the block and the block (see 708 in fig. 7).
Regarding claim 9, the claim(s) recite analogous limitations to claim 1, and is/are therefore rejected on the same premise.
Regarding claim 16, the claim(s) recite analogous limitations to claim 1, and is/are therefore rejected on the same premise.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to claims 1-20 have been considered but are moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection.
Citation of Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Choi et al. (US 2025/0080754), discloses decoder side intra mode derivation with most probable mode.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RICHARD T TORRENTE whose telephone number is (571)270-3702. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 6:45-3:15 pm.
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/RICHARD T TORRENTE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2485