DETAILED ACTION
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA first to invent provisions.
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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 03/09/2026 has been entered.
Following prior arts are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 20120263235 A1 (hereinafter Sugio)
US 20130077871 A1 (hereinafter Lu)
US 20120170648 A1 (hereinafter Chen)
US 20120320969 A1 (hereinafter Zheng)
US20040223657A1 (hereinafter Sugimoto)
US 20130003857 A1 (hereinafter Yu)
US 20130128982 A1 (Kim)
US-20140177707-A1 (George)
US 20110293010 A1 (hereinafter Jeong)
CE9:Unified Merge and AMVP candidates selection (UNI03), Document:JCTVC-F297, Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) of ITU-T SG16 WP3 and ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 6th Meeting:Torino, IT, 14-22 July, 2011
Response to Remarks/Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim rejections have been fully considered but they are not persuasive for following reason.
Re: Prior art rejection of independent claims
Applicant argued in substance that the Lu does not teaches the argued claimed limitation because Lu’s neighboring QPs does not teach previous QP
Examiner respectfully disagrees from following portions of LU, it is clear that E is the current block and any of A-D can be considered previous block as they are previously coded.
Abstract
Methods and apparatus are provided for determining quantization parameter predictors from a plurality of neighboring quantization parameters. An apparatus includes an encoder for encoding image data for at least a portion of a picture using a quantization parameter predictor for a current quantization parameter to be applied to the image data. The quantization parameter predictor is determined using multiple quantization parameters from previously coded neighboring portions. A difference between the current quantization parameter and the quantization parameter predictor is encoded for signaling to a corresponding decoder.
[0023] According to still another aspect of the present principles, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus includes a decoder for decoding image data for at least a portion of a picture using a quantization parameter predictor for a current quantization parameter to be applied to the image data. The quantization parameter predictor is determined using multiple quantization parameters from previously coded neighboring portions. A difference between the current quantization parameter and the quantization parameter predictor is decoded for use in decoding the image data.
[0024] According to yet another aspect of the present principles, there is provided a method in a video decoder. The method includes decoding image data for at least a portion of a picture using a quantization parameter predictor for a current quantization parameter to be applied to the image data. The quantization parameter predictor is determined using multiple quantization parameters from previously coded neighboring portions. The method further includes decoding a difference between the current quantization parameter and the quantization parameter predictor for use in decoding the image data.
[0074] Providing high perceptual quality at the region of interest has a pronounced impact in the overall perceptual quality. Hence a general guideline in the QP adjustment is to assign lower QPs to the regions of interest to improve the perceptual quality and higher QPs to other areas to reduce the number of bits. Since the picture content has great continuity, the QPs for neighboring coding units are often correlated. In the prior art, the correlation between the current QP and the QP of the previously coded block is exploited. Since the QP can also correlate to QPs from other neighboring blocks, we improve the QP predictor by considering more QPs. Turning to FIG. 7, exemplary neighboring coding units are indicated generally by the reference numeral 700. The neighboring coding units 700 include the following: left neighboring coding unit indicated by A; top neighboring coding unit indicated by B; top-right neighboring coding unit indicated by C; and top-left neighboring coding unit indicated by D). Neighboring coding units A through D are used to form a QP predictor for the current coding unit indicated by E. In one example, the definitions of A, B, C, and D are the same as the blocks used for the MPEG-4 AVC Standard motion vector predictors. More QPs from other neighboring coding units can also be included to obtain the QP predictor.
Therefore, applicant’s arguments are not persuasive
Re: Prior art rejection of dependent claims
Applicant has presented no additional argument, other than arguments already presented with respect to independent claims. Therefore, the arguments are similarly not persuasive.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating
Claims 1 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Sugio in view of Lu in view of Chen in view of Zheng further in view of Sugimoto.
Regarding Claim 1: Sugio teaches 1. A method of decoding [(Fig. 11 & Fig. 10)] video data in merge mode, comprising: constructing a merge candidate list using available spatial and temporal merge candidates, [(para 111 & s54 of Fig. 11. In Fig. 6 see Merge block candidate includes Neighbor block {teaches claimed spatial} and co-located merge block {teaches temporal: “a merge block from which at least one motion vector and at least one reference picture index value are copied” para 111, motion vector indicates motion information: which is indicated by the candidate list}))] :
deriving motion information using a merge index and the merge candidate list[(para 111 & s55, s53 in Fig. 11)] : generating a prediction block using the motion information[(para 111)] : generating a residual block by inverse-quantizing a quantized block and by inverse-transforming the inverse quantized block[(unit 202, 203 of Fig.10 and para 106, prediction error is residual block: )] : and generating a reconstructed block using the residual block and the prediction block[(para 109, unit 211 of Fig.10, reconstructing/decoding )] ,
Sugio does not explicitly teach
a quantization parameter and a quantization matrix is used in the inverse-quantization
wherein the quantization parameter is generated per quantization unit and a minimum size of the quantization unit is adjusted per picture, the quantization parameter is generated using a quantization parameter predictor and a differential quantization parameter,
wherein the differential quantization parameter is generated by restoring a bin string indicating an absolute value of the differential quantization parameter and a bin indicating a sign of the differential quantization parameter,
wherein the quantization parameter predictor is generated using at most two quantization parameters, the at most two quantization parameters comprising:
a left quantization parameter and an above quantization parameters when both of the left and above quantization parameters are available,
the above quantization parameter and a previous quantization parameter when the left quantization parameter is not available,
the left quantization parameter and the previous quantization parameter when the above quantization parameter is not available, and
the previous quantization parameter when both of the left and above quantization parameters are not available,
wherein when the left and above quantization are unavailable, the previous quantization parameter is set as the quantization parameter predictor,
wherein available blocks of a left block, an above block, an above-right block and an left-below block are set as available spatial merge candidate blocks, and available above-left block is added as available merger candidate block when at least one of the left block, the above block, the above-right block, and the left-below block is unavailable.
However, Lu, in the same field of endeavor, teaches
a quantization parameter and a quantization matrix is being used in inverse-quantization [(para 5, teaches quantization on encoder, on the decoder side it is inverse-quantization)]
the quantization parameter is generated using a quantization parameter predictor and a differential quantization parameter [(para 85)]
wherein the quantization parameter predictor is generated using at most two quantization parameters, the at most two quantization parameters comprising:
a left quantization parameter and an above quantization parameters when both of the left and above quantization parameters are available,
the above quantization parameter and a previous quantization parameter when the left quantization parameter is not available,
the left quantization parameter and the previous quantization parameter when the above quantization parameter is not available, and
the previous quantization parameter when both of the left and above quantization parameters are not available,
wherein when the left and above quantization are unavailable, the previous quantization parameter is set as the quantization parameter predictor,
[(para 79-80, 74, Fig.7 ; Rule 4 in para 79 and the fact in para 80 that when the QPA/left and QPB/above are not available Rule 4 only have QPc, QP of other block {in this case QPC} teaches previous quantization parameter because they are previously coded {para 74}
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. )] ,
Therefore in light of above discussion it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the system disclosed by Sugio with the teaching of Lu, to enhance coding techniques by reusing more related QPs..
Sugio in view of Lu does not explicitly teach wherein the quantization parameter is generated per quantization unit and a minimum size of the quantization unit is adjusted per picture, the quantization parameter is generated using a quantization parameter predictor and a differential quantization parameter
and wherein the differential quantization parameter is generated by restoring a bin string indicating an absolute value of the differential quantization parameter and a bin indicating a sign of the differential quantization parameter, and
wherein available blocks of a left block, an above block, an above-right block and an left-below block are set as available spatial merge candidate blocks, and available above-left block is added as available merger candidate block when at least one of the left block, the above block, the above-right block, and the left-below block is unavailable.
However Chen, in the same field of endeavor, teaches wherein the quantization parameter is generated per quantization unit and a minimum size of the quantization unit is adjusted per picture, [(para 110, 109, please note minimum QP depth {used to find minimum coding unit size } is signaled, in a PPS {para 110} PPS is picture parameter set {para 109})] , the quantization parameter is generated using a quantization parameter predictor and a differential quantization parameter[(equation 1 in para 108 and para 109: QPy,PREV teaches the predictor and the delta QP teaches the differential)] ,
Therefore in light of above discussion it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the system disclosed by Sugio in view of Lu by incorporating the teaching of Chen, because all the claimed elements were known in the prior art and one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as claimed by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded predictable results to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.
Sugio in view of Lu in view of Chen does not explicitly teach wherein available blocks of a left block, an above block, an above-right block and an left-below block are set as available spatial merge candidate blocks, and available above-left block is added as available merger candidate block when at least one of the left block, the above block, the above-right block, and the left-below block is unavailable. And
and wherein the differential quantization parameter is generated by restoring a bin string indicating an absolute value of the differential quantization parameter and a bin indicating a sign of the differential quantization parameter,
However Zheng, in the same field of endeavor, teaches available blocks of a left block, an above block, an above-right block and an left-below block are set as available spatial merge candidate blocks, and available above-left block is added as available merger candidate block when at least one of the left block, the above block, the above-right block, and the left-below block is unavailable [(Fig.5A and Provisional application no:61/499114 see Fig.4 and para 13)] ,
Therefore, in light of above discussion it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art at the time the invention was made to combine the teaching of the prior art because by reusing motion information, even more, processing of motion estimation is reduced by avoiding full motion estimation.
Sugio in view of Lu in view of Chen in view of Zheng does not explicitly shows the differential quantization parameter is generated by restoring a bin string indicating an absolute value of the differential quantization parameter and a bin indicating a sign of the differential quantization parameter.
However, Chen teaches that differential quantization parameters are coded using arithmetic coding [(Chen para 45)] and Sugimoto, teaches that during arithmetic coding differential parameter is generated by restoring a bin string indicating an absolute value [(Fig.10 shows the bin string representing differential value)] of the differential parameter and a bin indicating a sign of the differential parameter [(Fig.9 shows bin for sign)]
Therefore, in light of above discussion it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the system disclosed by Sugio in view of Lu in view of Chen in view of Zhou to include the teaching of Sugimoto, because Sugimoto simply providing the details of arithmetic coding (the arithmetic coding being used by Chen), the details of arithmetic coding that Chen is silent.
Claim 4 is rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over Sugio in view of Lu in view of Chen in view of Zheng in view of Sugimoto. further in view of Yu.
Regarding Claim 4:Please refer to previously presented analysis of the base/independent claim and any intervening claim(s) on which the current claim depends upon and section of prior art(s) relied upon therein.
Sugio in view of Lu in view of Chen in view of Zheng in view of Sugimoto does not explicitly shows that when a size of the quantized block is larger than a predetermined size, a plurality of subsets are generated by inversely scanning quantized coefficient information and the quantized block is generated by inversely scanning the plurality of subsets using a diagonal scan.
However, Yu teaches that when a size of quantized block is larger than a predetermined size, a plurality of subsets are generated by inversely scanning quantized coefficient information and the quantized block is generated by inversely scanning the plurality of subsets using a diagonal scan. ((para 100:Also see para 80, & 81 & 97, 98))
Therefore, in light of above discussion it would have been obvious to one of the ordinary skills in the art at the time the invention was made to modify the system disclosed by Sugio in view of Lu in view of Chen in view of Zhou to include the teaching of Yu, because such incorporation would have aligned the system with known techniques of high efficiency video coding therefore improve the coding efficiency ((see para 100 & 9)).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Shahan Rahaman whose telephone number is (571)270-1438. The examiner can normally be reached on 7am - 3:30pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nasser Goodarzi can be reached at telephone number (571) 272-4195. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/SHAHAN UR RAHAMAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2426
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