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 Amendment
Claims 1-2, 4, 6, 9, 11, and 14 have been amended. Claims 17-20 have been cancelled. Claims 21-24 have been added. Claims 1-16 and 21-24 are pending for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 11/26/2025, with respect to the rejections of claims 1-3, 10, and 16 under 35 U.S.C. 103 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 Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn.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 Lin (US 20240223748 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 1-2, 16, 21-22, and 24 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tourapis (US 20160360234 A1) in view of Lin (US 20240223748 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Tourapis teaches a method for decoding video data, comprising:
receiving a video bitstream including a current image frame, wherein the video bitstream comprises a first syntax element for a bi-predictive intra block copy (IBC) mode (An IBC block is a predictively or bipredictively coded block that uses pixel blocks from a current picture. Bipredictively coded IBC blocks may use pixel blocks also from a different picture [0032]. Methods and systems of the present disclosure provide for signaling (from an encoder to a decoder) of those areas that are considered when performing IBC for an image or an area of the image. For example, the signaling may be output from encoder system 100 and may indicate a distance from a current block within which reference data may be used for prediction [0032]);
based on the first syntax element, determining that a current coding block of the current image frame is coded with two reference coding blocks located in a reconstructed portion of the current image frame according to the bi-predictive IBC mode (An IBC block is not explicitly recognized through a mode, but is instead recognized through a corresponding reference index. That is, the reference index may indicate whether the reference corresponds to a current picture or a different picture. [0032]);
identifying the two reference coding blocks corresponding to the current coding block in the reconstructed portion of the current image frame (An IBC block is not explicitly recognized through a mode, but is instead recognized through a corresponding reference index. That is, the reference index may indicate whether the reference corresponds to a current picture or a different picture. [0032]);
reconstructing the current image frame including the current coding block (When coding a not yet coded pixel block 306, prediction may be made with reference to a source pixel block 308 that has already been reconstructed. [0033]).
Tourapis does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, Lin teaches adaptively determining, for the current coding block, a target weight associated with the two reference coding blocks according to whether the target weight of the current coding block is determined based on two template matching weights of the two reference coding blocks (video encoder 200 and video decoder 300 may derive the combining weight wk based on the template matching cost. Thus, in some examples, a video coder may determine a weight for a first prediction block based on a template matching cost of a first reference template and determine a weight for the second prediction block based on a template matching cost of the second reference template. [0127]);
combining the two reference coding blocks based on the target weight to predict the current coding block (The video coder may generate samples of the prediction block for the current block as a combination of samples of the first prediction block and the second prediction block weighted according to the weight for the first prediction block and the weight for the second prediction block. [0127]).
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 Lin and apply them to Tourapis. One would be motivated as such as to improve the coding efficiency of template matching, instead of using only one pattern and process of template in TM, template matching may use different template types, store more candidates, and apply fusion to combine these different candidates which are found by the different methods.
Regarding claim 2, Tourapis in view of Lin teaches the method of claim 1. Lin teaches wherein the two reference coding blocks includes a first reference block and a second reference block, the method further comprising:
identifying a first block vector associated with the first reference block; and
identifying a second block vector associated with the second reference block ([0085] FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating example template and reference samples of the template in reference pictures.).
The same motivation used to combine Tourapis in view of Lin in claim 1 is applicable.
Regarding claim 16, Tourapis in view of Lin teaches the method of claim 1.
Tourapis teaches wherein the first syntax element is signaled for the current coding block on a coding block level (para [0016], [0027], [0032]-[0033]- signaling may be output from encoder system 100 and may indicate a distance from a current block within which reference data may be used for prediction).
Regarding claim 21, Tourapis teaches a method for encoding video data, comprising:
determining whether a bi-predictive intra block copy (IBC) mode is applied to a current coding block in a current image frame, the bi-predictive IBC mode indicating that the current coding block of the current image frame is to be coded with two reference coding blocks located in a reconstructed portion of the current image frame (An IBC block is a predictively or bipredictively coded block that uses pixel blocks from a current picture. Bipredictively coded IBC blocks may use pixel blocks also from a different picture [0032]. Methods and systems of the present disclosure provide for signaling (from an encoder to a decoder) of those areas that are considered when performing IBC for an image or an area of the image. For example, the signaling may be output from encoder system 100 and may indicate a distance from a current block within which reference data may be used for prediction [0032]);
identifying the two reference coding blocks corresponding to the current coding block in the reconstructed portion of the current image frame (An IBC block is not explicitly recognized through a mode, but is instead recognized through a corresponding reference index. That is, the reference index may indicate whether the reference corresponds to a current picture or a different picture. [0032]);
encoding the current coding block into a bitstream based on the combination of the two reference coding blocks (Fig. 1A 1B).
Tourapis does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, Lin teaches adaptively determining, for the current coding block, a target weight associated with the two reference coding blocks according to whether the target weight of the current coding block is determined based on two template matching weights of the two reference coding blocks (video encoder 200 and video decoder 300 may derive the combining weight wk based on the template matching cost. Thus, in some examples, a video coder may determine a weight for a first prediction block based on a template matching cost of a first reference template and determine a weight for the second prediction block based on a template matching cost of the second reference template. [0127]);
combining the two reference coding blocks based on the target weight (The video coder may generate samples of the prediction block for the current block as a combination of samples of the first prediction block and the second prediction block weighted according to the weight for the first prediction block and the weight for the second prediction block. [0127]).
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 Lin and apply them to Tourapis. One would be motivated as such as to improve the coding efficiency of template matching, instead of using only one pattern and process of template in TM, template matching may use different template types, store more candidates, and apply fusion to combine these different candidates which are found by the different methods.
Regarding claim 22, Tourapis in view of Lin teaches the method of claim 21. Lin teaches wherein the two reference coding blocks includes a first reference block and a second reference block, and the method further comprises: identifying a first block vector associated with the first reference block; and identifying a second block vector associated with the second reference block ([0085] FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating example template and reference samples of the template in reference pictures.).
The same motivation used to combine Tourapis in view of Lin in claim 1 is applicable.
Regarding claim 24, Tourapis teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processor ([0054]), cause the processor to perform a method of encoding a bitstream comprising:
determining whether a bi-predictive intra block copy (IBC) mode is applied to a current coding block in a current image frame, the bi-predictive IBC mode indicating that the current coding block of the current image frame is to be coded with two reference coding blocks located in a reconstructed portion of the current image frame (An IBC block is a predictively or bipredictively coded block that uses pixel blocks from a current picture. Bipredictively coded IBC blocks may use pixel blocks also from a different picture [0032]. Methods and systems of the present disclosure provide for signaling (from an encoder to a decoder) of those areas that are considered when performing IBC for an image or an area of the image. For example, the signaling may be output from encoder system 100 and may indicate a distance from a current block within which reference data may be used for prediction [0032]);
identifying the two reference coding blocks corresponding to the current coding block in the reconstructed portion of the current image frame (An IBC block is not explicitly recognized through a mode, but is instead recognized through a corresponding reference index. That is, the reference index may indicate whether the reference corresponds to a current picture or a different picture. [0032]);
encoding the current coding block into the bitstream based on the combination of the two reference coding blocks; and transmitting the encoded bitstream (Fig. 1A 1B).
Tourapis does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, Lin teaches adaptively determining, for the current coding block, a target weight associated with the two reference coding blocks according to whether the target weight of the current coding block is determined based on two template matching weights of the two reference coding blocks (video encoder 200 and video decoder 300 may derive the combining weight wk based on the template matching cost. Thus, in some examples, a video coder may determine a weight for a first prediction block based on a template matching cost of a first reference template and determine a weight for the second prediction block based on a template matching cost of the second reference template. [0127]);
combining the two reference coding blocks based on the target weight (The video coder may generate samples of the prediction block for the current block as a combination of samples of the first prediction block and the second prediction block weighted according to the weight for the first prediction block and the weight for the second prediction block. [0127]).
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 Lin and apply them to Tourapis. One would be motivated as such as to improve the coding efficiency of template matching, instead of using only one pattern and process of template in TM, template matching may use different template types, store more candidates, and apply fusion to combine these different candidates which are found by the different methods.
Claims 3 and 23 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tourapis in view of Lin further in view of ZHANG (US 20210218980 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Tourapis in view of Lin teaches the method of claim 1. Tourapis in view of Lin does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, ZHANG teaches selecting the target weight from a list of predefined weights based on a weight index, wherein the weight index is received with the video bitstream (para [0263]-[0264]).
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 ZHANG and apply them to Tourapis in view of Lin. One would be motivated as such as to improve the coding efficiency.
Regarding claim 23, Tourapis in view of Lin teaches the method of claim 21. Tourapis in view of Lin does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, ZHANG teaches encoding a weight index in the bitstream, the weight index indicting the target weight from a list of predefined weights (para [0263]-[0264]).
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 ZHANG and apply them to Tourapis in view of Lin. One would be motivated as such as to improve the coding efficiency.
Claims 4-6 and 10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Tourapis in view of ZHANG further in view of Chuang (US 20180098070 A1).
Regarding claim 4, Tourapis in view of Lin teaches the method of claim 1. Tourapis in view of Lin does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, ZHANG teaches obtaining a list of predefined weights ([0263]-[0264]);
for each of a subset of predefined weights,
combining two reference templates of the two reference coding blocks based on the respective predefined weight to generate a predicted template of the current coding block (para [0137]-[0140], [0198]-[0199], [0240]-[0241 ]- two motion vectors, one is for reference picture list 0 and the other is for reference picture list 1, are obtained and combined to make the bi-predictive merge candidate; bilateral template is generated as the weighted combination (i.e. average) of the two prediction blocks, from the initial MV0 of list0 and MV1 of list1);
determining a respective template matching cost based on the predicted template and a current template of the current coding block; and in accordance with the respective template matching cost corresponding to one of the subset of predefined weights (para [0224]-[0227]- the matching cost is the absolute sum difference (SAD) of bilateral matching or template matching; w is a weighting factor which is empirically set to 4, MV and MVS indicate the current MV and the starting MV, respectively. SAD is still used as the matching cost of template matching at sub CU level search).
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 ZHANG and apply them to Tourapis in view of Lin. One would be motivated as such as to improve the coding efficiency.
Tourapis in view of Lin and ZHANG does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, Chuang teaches the subset of predefined weights satisfies with a predefined selection criterion, setting the one of the subset of predefined weights as the target weight ((para [0143}-[0148], [0194], A weight can also be referred to as a scaling factor. By using templates of a first reference picture and a second reference picture, for example, the one or more weights can include a first weight for the template of the first reference picture and a second weight for the template of the second reference picture. ).
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 Chuang and apply them to Tourapis in view of ZHANG. One would be motivated as such as to improve the coding efficiency.
Regarding claim 5, Tourapis in view of Lin, ZHANG and Chuang teaches the method of claim 4. Chuang teaches wherein in accordance with the predefined selection criterion, the respective template matching cost corresponding to the target weight is equal to or less than the respective template matching cost corresponding to any distinct remaining predefined weight in the subset of predefined weights (para [0148]-[0150]- least-square regression to obtain the values of the weights w0 and w1 and the offset).
The same motivation used to combine Tourapis in view of Lin, ZHANG and Chuang in claim 4 is applicable.
Regarding claim 6, Tourapis in view of Lin, ZHANG and Chuang teaches the method of claim 4. ZHANG teaches wherein the subset of predefined weights includes an inherited bi-predicted weight and two neighboring weights in the list of predefined weights, the method further comprising:
applying a scale factor to at least the respective template matching cost corresponding to the inherent bi-predicted weight (For merge mode, the weight selection is inherited from the merge candidate. In this proposal, GBi supports DMVR to generate the weighted average of template as well as the final predictor for BMS-1.0. [0265]).
The same motivation used to combine Tourapis in view of Lin, ZHANG and Chuang in claim 4 is applicable.
Regarding claim 10, Tourapis in view of Lin, ZHANG and Chuang teaches the method of claim 4. ZHANG teaches wherein determining the respective template matching cost for each of the subset of predefined weights further includes:
determining a sum of absolute differences (SAD) of samples of the predicted template and samples of the current template (para [0225]-[0226], [0238]- the matching cost is the absolute sum difference (SAD) of bilateral matching or template matching).
The same motivation used to combine Tourapis in view of Lin, ZHANG and Chuang in claim 1 is applicable.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 7-9, and 11-15 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 HESHAM K ABOUZAHRA whose telephone number is (571)270-0425. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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/HESHAM K ABOUZAHRA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2486