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
Acknowledgment of Amendments
As per Applicants amendment filed 11/14/2025 overcomes the following objection(s)/rejection(s):
The objection to the specification has been withdrawn in view of Applicants amendment.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 30-32, 34-47 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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, 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 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 obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 30-32, 35-37, 41-42, 44-46 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Meardi et al, (U.S. Pub. No. 2022/0159250 A1) in view of Hu et al., (U.S. Pub. No. 2011/0216839 A1).
The applied reference has a common inventor with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2).
This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C.102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B); or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement. See generally MPEP § 717.02.
As per claim 30, Meardi teaches a module for use in a video decoder, configured to: receive one or more layers of residual data from an enhancement decoding layer (fig. 2, [0056-0057], The encoded level 1 stream is received by a first decoder 200-1 (i.e., a level 1 decoder) which decodes a first set of residuals as encoded by the first encoder 100-1), the one or more layers of residual data being generated based on a comparison of data derived from a decoded video signal and data derive from an original input video (abstract, [0018-0019] and fig. 2, fig. 5); process the one or more layers of residual data to generate the modified residuals (fig. 2 el. 200-1, 240-1; [0057-00058]) and one or more layers of correction data comprising one or more layers of residual data (abstract, [0018], [0034], [0052], and fig. 2, fig. 6 “correcting the base decoded signal using the filtered version of the first decoded residual signal to produce a corrected version of the based decoded signal”), the correction data being configured to combine with a base decoded video signal from a base decoding layer to modify the base decoded video signal (fig. 6 el. 640),when the one more layers of residual data are combined with the modified base decoded video signal to generate enhanced video data (fig. 2; [0057], “At a first summation component 210-C, the output of the base decoder 220 is combined with the decoded residuals obtained from the first decoder 200-1. … “The output of the second decoder 200-2 is a second set of decoded residuals. These may be at a higher resolution to the first set of residuals and the input to the upsampling component 205U. At a second summation component 200-C, the second set of residuals from the second decoder 200-2 are combined with the output of the upsampling component 205U, i.e. an upsampled reconstructed level 1 signal, to reconstruct the original signal”) the enhanced video data corresponds to a combination of the based decoded video signal with the one or more layers of residual data from the enhancement decoding layer (fig. 2, fig. 6), wherein elements of the correction data are calculated as a function of a plurality of elements of the residual data (fig. 2 el. 240-1; [0058], [0067-0068], [0080]).
Meardi does not explicitly disclose one or more layers of positive residual data, wherein the positive residual data comprises only values greater than or equal to zero; and one or more layers of negative residual data, one or more layers of residual data from the enhancement decoder layer so as to account for the modifications made to generate the one or more layers of residual data.
However, Hu teaches one or more layers of positive residual data, wherein the positive residual data comprises only values greater than or equal to zero ([0085-0087], [0132-0142] and at least table 1); and one or more layers of negative residual data ([0125], [0128], and at least table 1) one or more layers of residual data from a decoding layer so as to account for the modification made to generate the one or more layers of residual data,(abstract, [0028], [0031], [0085-0087], [0132-0142], table 1, fig. 7-9, “obtaining a modified core layer signal. In this embodiment, the method for obtaining a modified core layer signal includes: according to the specified residual symbol, using a preset modification factor to modify the predicted residual signal after core layer decoding; and adding up the modified core layer predicted residual signal and the predicted value of the core layer signal to obtain the modified core layer signal).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Hu with Meardi for benefit of the enhancement quality of the core layer can be improved.
As per claim 31, Meardi (modified by Hu) as a whole teaches everything as claimed above, see claim 30. In addition, Meardi teaches wherein the dimension of the one or more layers of correction data correspond to dimensions of a downsampled version of the one or more layers of residual data (abstract, [0007], [0042],[0067], fig. 2).
As per claim 32, Meardi (modified by Hu) as a whole teaches everything as claimed above, see claim 30. In addition, Meardi teaches wherein the residual data is generated using the correction data and the one or more layers of residual data (fig. 2). Meardi does not explicitly disclose positive residual data.
However, Hu teaches positive residual data ([0085-0087], [0132-0142] and at least table 1).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Hu with Meardi for benefit of the enhancement quality of the core layer can be improved.
As per claim 35, Meardi (modified by Hu) as a whole teaches everything as claimed above, see claim 30. In addition, Meardi teaches wherein the module is a module in a CPU or CPU of a video decoder chipset ([0003], [0035], [0047], [0077]).
As per claim 36, Meardi teaches a module for use in a video decoder, configured to receive a base decoded video signal from a base decoding layer (fig. 2 el. 220); receiving on ore more layers of correction data from an enhancement decoding layer, the one more layers of correction data comprising one or more layers of residual data (fig. 2 el. 200-1, output of 240-1, fig. 3 and [0067], “.. the residuals used in the first enhancement level can be considered as a correction signal as they able to “correct” a future decoded base stream to be the or a closer approximation of the downsampled input video that was used in the base encoding operation”); and combine the correction data with the base decoded signal to modify the based decoded video signal (fig. 2 el. 210-C and [0057-0058]), wherein elements of the correction data are calculated as a function of a plurality of elements of the one or more layers of residual data from the enhancement decoding layer (fig. 2, fig. 3 and [0067]) when one or more layers of residual data are combined with the modified base decoded video signal to generate enhanced video data, the enhanced video data corresponds to a combination of the base decoded video signal with one or more layers of residual data from the enhancement layer (fig. 2; el. 210C, 205U and 200-C; [0057]); the one or more layers of residual data being generated based on a comparison of data derived from a decoded video signal and derived from an original (abstract, [0018-0019]). Although Meardi discloses the correction data comprises one or more layers of residual data, Meardi does not explicitly disclose the one or more layers of correction data comprising one or more layers of negative residual data, the one or more layers of residual data from the enhancement decoding layer so as to account for the modifications made to generate the one or more layers of residual data, and positive residual data and wherein the positive residual data comprises only values greater than the or equal to zero.
However, Hu teaches the claimed the one or more layers of correction data comprising one or more layers of negative residual data ([0085-0087], [0125], [0128], and at least table 1), the one or more layers of residual data from the enhancement decoder layer so as to account for the modifications made to generate the one or more layers of residual data (abstract, [0028], [0031], [0085-0087], [0132-0142], table 1, fig. 7-9, “obtaining a modified core layer signal. In this embodiment, the method for obtaining a modified core layer signal includes: according to the specified residual symbol, using a preset modification factor to modify the predicted residual signal after core layer decoding; and adding up the modified core layer predicted residual signal and the predicted value of the core layer signal to obtain the modified core layer signal), and positive residual data and wherein the positive residual data comprises only values greater than one or equal to zero ([0085-0087], [0132-0142] and at table 1)
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Hu with Meardi to benefit the enhancement quality of the core layer can be improved.
As per claim 37, Meardi (modified by Hu) as a whole teaches everything as claimed above, see claim 36. In addition, Meardi teaches wherein the module is a subtraction module configured to subtract the one or more layers of correction data from the base decoded video signal to generate the modified video signal (fig. 2).
As per claim 38, Meardi (modified by Hu) as a whole teaches everything as claimed above, see claim 37. In addition, Meardi teaches wherein the module is a module in a hardware block or GPU of a video decoder chipset ([0003], [0035], [0047], [0077]).
As per claim 41, which is the corresponding method for use in a video coder with the limitations of the module for use as recited in claim 30, thus the rejection and analysis made for claim 30 also applies here.
As per claim 42, which is the corresponding method with the limitations of the module as recited in claims 32 and 33.
As per claim 44, which is the corresponding method for use in a video decoder with the limitation of the module for use in a video decoder as recited in claim 36, thus rejection and analysis made for claim 36 also applies here.
As per claim 45, which is the corresponding method for use in a video decoder with the limitation of the module for use in a video decoder as recited in claim 37, thus rejection and analysis made for claim 37 also applies here.
As per claim 46, Meardi (modified by Hu) as a whole teaches everything as claimed above, see claim 44. In addition, Meardi teaches upsampling the modified base decoded video signal (fig. 2 el. 205U); and combining the upsampled modified based decoded video signal with the one or more layers of residual data to generate a decoded reconstruction of an original input video signal (fig. 2; [0057], [0113], [0144]); wherein the step of combining the upsampled modified base decoded video signal with the one or more layers of residual data is performed by a hardware block, GPU, or video output path of a video decoder chipset ([0003], [0035], [0047], [0077]).
Claim39 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being obvious over Meardi et al., in view of Hu et al., (U.S. Pub. No. 2011/0216839 A1) and further in view of Clucas et al., (U.S. Pub. No. 2024/0305839 A1).
The applied reference has a common inventor with the instant application. Based upon the earlier effectively filed date of the reference, it constitutes prior art under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2).
This rejection under 35 U.S.C. 103 might be overcome by: (1) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(a) that the subject matter disclosed in the reference was obtained directly or indirectly from the inventor or a joint inventor of this application and is thus not prior art in accordance with 35 U.S.C.102(b)(2)(A); (2) a showing under 37 CFR 1.130(b) of a prior public disclosure under 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(B); or (3) a statement pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) establishing that, not later than the effective filing date of the claimed invention, the subject matter disclosed and the claimed invention were either owned by the same person or subject to an obligation of assignment to the same person or subject to a joint research agreement. See generally MPEP § 717.02.
As per claim 39, Meardi (modified by Hu) as a whole teaches everything as claimed above, see claim 37. Meardi does not explicitly disclose wherein the subtraction module is comprised in a secure region of video decoder chipset and operations are performed on secure memory of the video decoder chipset.
However, Clucas teaches wherein the subtraction module is comprised in a secure region of video decoder chipset and operations are performed on secure memory of the video decoder chipset (fig. 3-6).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to incorporate the teachings of Clucas with Meardi (modified by Hu) for the benefit of providing improved compression efficiency to existing codecs, and reduces encoding and decoding complexity.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 34, 40, 43 and 47 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.
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JESSICA PRINCE whose telephone number is (571)270-1821. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-3:30 P.M..
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JESSICA PRINCE
Examiner
Art Unit 2486
/JESSICA M PRINCE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2486