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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-3, 5, 6, 9-12, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chen, US 2019/0208225 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Chen discloses: a video coding method comprising:
receiving data to be encoded or decoded as a current block of a current picture of a video;
selecting a context variable for a current sign prediction residual based on an absolute value
of a current transform coefficient (See [0104], which discloses a video decoder parses signs and sign residues and determined absolute values of transform coefficient. “Thus, the video decoder can determine what signs are predicted and, for each predicted sign, the video decoder can determine the context to use to parse the sign prediction residue based on the dequantized coefficient value.”), wherein the current sign prediction residual is a difference between a predicted sign and a sign of the current transform coefficient of the current block (See [0105], which discloses coding “correctness” of sign prediction, i.e. a residual value.);
entropy encoding or decoding the current sign prediction residual using the selected context
variable (See [0141], which discloses); and
reconstructing the current block by using the sign and the absolute value of the current
transform coefficient (For example, entropy encoding unit 220 may entropy encode quantized transform coefficient blocks from quantization unit 208.).
Regarding claim 2, Chen discloses: the video coding method of claim 1, wherein the predicted sign is one of a set of predicted signs of a best sign prediction hypothesis (See [0074]-[0075], which disclose predicting sign of a coefficient and evaluating cost of hypothesis by a spatial-domain cost function.), the best sign prediction hypothesis has a lowest cost among a plurality of candidate sign prediction hypotheses ([0075], “Similarly, each hypothesis is evaluated by a given spatial-domain cost function, and the hypothesis which minimizes the cost function gives the predicted sign value combination).
Regarding claim 3, Chen discloses: the video coding method of claim 2, wherein the cost of a particular sign prediction hypothesis is computed based on residuals in pixel domain that are transformed from a set of transform coefficients having the set of predicted signs of the particular sign prediction hypothesis ([0117] discloses determining cost values for a plurality of hypothesis reconstructions, which includes predicted sign values. See equation 1 in [0077]).
Regarding claim 5, Chen discloses: the video coding method of claim 1, wherein the context variable is selected dependent on whether the absolute value of the current transform coefficient is greater than a particular threshold or within a particular numerical range (See [0108], “In one example, a quantized coefficient that is larger than or equal to a predefined threshold will use a high probability context while the quantized coefficient which is smaller than a predefined threshold will use a low probability context to decode the sign prediction bin.”).
Regarding claim 6, Chen discloses: the video coding method of claim 5, wherein a first context variable is selected when the absolute value of the transform coefficient is greater than or equal to the particular threshold and a second context variable is selected when the absolute value of the
transform coefficient is less than the particular threshold (See [0108], “In one example, a quantized coefficient that is larger than or equal to a predefined threshold will use a high probability context while the quantized coefficient which is smaller than a predefined threshold will use a low probability context to decode the sign prediction bin.”).
Regarding claim 9, Chen discloses: the video coding method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the context variable is further based on a position of the current transform coefficient in a current transform block of the current block (See [0109]; position of a transform coefficient in a transform block denotes the amount of energy contained by the given coefficient, with more significant coefficients being closer to the top-left (DC) coefficient position.)
Regarding claim 10, Chen disclose: the video coding method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the context variable is further based on at least one of (i) a dimension of a transform block that includes the current transform coefficient, (ii) a transform type of the transform block, (iii) a color component index of the transform block, (iv) a number of the predicted signs in the transform block, (v) a number of the non-zero coefficients in the transform block (See [0109], which discloses setting context thresholds based on a number of significant flags, “A significant flag indicates whether a transform coefficient is non-zero; a level-greater-than-one flag indicates whether an absolute value of a transform coefficient is greater than 1; a level-greater-than-two flag indicates whether an absolute value of a transform coefficient is greater than 2.”), (vi) a position of the last significant
transform coefficient in the transform block (See Chen [0069].), (vii) a sum of the absolute values of transform coefficients that are subject to sign prediction, and (viii) a sum of the absolute values of the transform coefficients that are subject to sign prediction after the current transform coefficient.
Regarding claim 11, Chen discloses: the video coding method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the context variable is further based on an absolute value of a next transform coefficient that is subject to sign prediction (See [0108], “quantized coefficient that is larger than or equal to a predefined threshold will use a high probability context while the quantized coefficient which is smaller than a predefined threshold will use a low probability context to decode the sign prediction bin.”).
Regarding claim 12, Chen discloses: the video coding method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the context variable is further based on whether the current transform coefficient is a DC coefficient (See [0115], which discloses DC coefficient is selected).
Apparatus claim 18 is drawn to an apparatus implementing the corresponding method claimed in claim 1. Therefore, apparatus claim 18 corresponds to method claim 1 and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as used above.
Video decoding method 20 is directed to a video decoding method that corresponds to the video coding method claimed in claim 1, and is rejected for the same reasons of anticipation as given above with respect to claim
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.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chen, in view of US 12,316,866, Peringassery Krishnan.
Regarding claim 8, Chen discloses: the video coding method of claim 1, wherein selecting the context variable is further dependent on whether the current transform coefficient belongs to a luma transform block or to a chroma transform block.
See “(117) In some other example implementations, when separate skip_txfm flags are signaled for different color components, as described above, the contexts applied for entropy coding the respective skip_txfm flag may depend on the color component.”
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to take into account whether a current transform coefficient belongs to a luma transform block or to a chroma transform block, as disclosed in Peringassery Krishnan, in order to account for the differing statistical features of chroma and luma pixel in a given region of a video frame, thereby obtaining more accurate context variable for each of the luma and chroma components.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 7, and 13-17 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter.
Regarding claim 4, Chen does not disclose: the video coding method of claim 1, wherein the context variable is selected dependent on the absolute value of the current transform coefficient when the current transform coefficient belongs to a first set of transform coefficients, wherein the context variable is selected independent of the absolute value of the current transform coefficient when the current transform coefficient belongs to a second, different set of transform coefficients.
Chen discloses selecting a context variable for a current transform coefficient based on a quantized transform coefficient of neighboring blocks, using threshold levels for the quantized coefficients to determine a context variable of a current transform coefficient. However, Chen does not disclose selecting a context variable independent of the absolute value of the current transform coefficient when the current transform coefficient belongs to a second, different set of transform coefficients
Regarding claim 7, Chen not disclose: the video coding method of claim 1, wherein selecting the context variable is further dependent on whether the current block is coded by using intra-prediction or by using inter-prediction.
Chen discloses selecting a context variable for a current transform coefficient based on a quantized transform coefficient of neighboring blocks, using threshold levels for the quantized coefficients to determine a context variable of a current transform coefficient. However, Chen does not disclose selecting a context variable based on whether the current block is coded by intra or inter prediction.
Regarding claim 13, Chen not disclose: the video coding method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the context variable is further based on whether a predicted sign of a DC coefficient of the current block is correct.
Chen discloses selecting a context variable for a current transform coefficient based on a quantized transform coefficient of neighboring blocks, using threshold levels for the quantized coefficients to determine a context variable of a current transform coefficient. However, Chen does not disclose selecting a context variable based on whether a predicted sign of a DC coefficient in a current block is correct.
Regarding claim 14, Chen not disclose: the video coding method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the context variable is further based on an accumulated number of incorrectly predicted signs in the current block.
Chen discloses selecting a context variable for a current transform coefficient based on a quantized transform coefficient of neighboring blocks, using threshold levels for the quantized coefficients to determine a context variable of a current transform coefficient. However, Chen does not disclose selecting a context variable based on an accumulated number of incorrectly predicted signs in a current transform block exceeding a threshold.
Regarding claim 15, Chen not disclose: the video coding method of claim 1, wherein the current sign prediction residual is encoded into the bitstream in bypass mode when an accumulated number of incorrectly predicted signs of the current block exceeds a threshold.
Chen discloses selecting a context variable for a current transform coefficient based on a quantized transform coefficient of neighboring blocks, using threshold levels for the quantized coefficients to determine a context variable of a current transform coefficient, and further discloses generally using bypass coding in general. See Chen [0064], “Furthermore, performing bypass CABAC coding may allow for a higher degree of parallelization and throughput..” However, Chen does not disclose determining whether to use a bypass mode based on an accumulated number of incorrectly predicted signs in a current transform block exceeding a threshold.
Regarding claim 16, Chen not disclose: the video coding method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the context variable is further based on a total number of sign prediction residuals in a current transform block that includes the current transform coefficient.
Chen discloses selecting a context variable for a current transform coefficient based on a quantized transform coefficient of neighboring blocks, using threshold levels for the quantized coefficients to determine a context variable of a current transform coefficient. However, Chen does not disclose selecting a context variable based on a total number of sign prediction residuals in a current transform coefficient exceeding a threshold value.
Regarding claim 17, Chen not disclose: the video coding method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the context variable is further based on a distance between an origin of a current transform block and a position of the current transform coefficient in the current transform block.
Chen discloses selecting a context variable for a current transform coefficient based on a quantized transform coefficient of neighboring blocks, using threshold levels for the quantized coefficients to determine a context variable of a current transform coefficient. However, Chen does not disclose selecting a context variable based on a distance between an origin of a current transform block and a position of the current transform coefficient in the current transform block
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYLE M LOTFI whose telephone number is (571)272-8762. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00-5:00.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Pendleton can be reached at 571-272-7527. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/KYLE M LOTFI/Examiner, Art Unit 2425
Prosecution Insights