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 .
DETAILED ACTION
Summary
This action is in reply to Applicant’s Amendments and Remarks filed on 12/11/2025.
Claims 1-4 and 7-15 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments with respect to amended claims and originally presented claims have been fully considered but they are moot in view of the new grounds of rejection.
During patent examination, the pending claims must be "given their broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification." Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303, at 1316 (Fed. Cir. 2005). See also In re Hyatt, 211 F.3d 1367, 1372, 54 USPQ2d 1664, 1667 (Fed. Cir. 2000).
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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4, 7-9, 11-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al (US 20180176582 A1) in view of Hsu et al (US 20180288439 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Zhao discloses a video coding method [e.g. FIG. 4-5] comprising: receiving data for a block of pixels to be encoded or decoded as a current block of a current picture of a video [e.g. FIG. 2-4; pixels of a current block of the video data]; receiving a set of transform coefficients of the current block [e.g. FIG. 4-5 and 9-10; receiving transform coefficients]; identifying a plurality of transform hypotheses [e.g. FIG. 3 and 6-7; obtaining multiple hypothesis reconstructions of the current block], each hypothesis comprises two or more predicted transform parameters [e.g. FIG. 4-5 and 7-8; [0111-0115 ad 0173-0175]; transform type for primary transform and transform type for the secondary transform, number of signs predictions], the predicted transform parameters of each hypothesis comprises signs and a transform type [e.g. use discrete cosine transform type-II (DCT-II) as the primary inverse transform during sign prediction]; computing a cost for each hypothesis by performing inverse transform [e.g. FIG. 7-8; measure cost functions for multiple hypothesis] on the transform coefficients of the current block according to the signs and transform coefficients of the hypothesis [e.g. FIG. 7-8; computing cost function for each hypothesis]; determining a first predicted signs [signs predictions]] based on the calculated costs of the plurality of transform hypotheses [e.g. e.g. FIG. 7-10; selecting hypothesis based on comparison of cost function]; and encoding or decoding the current block by reconstructing the current block according to the first transform type and the first predicted signs [e.g. FIG. 4-5 and 7-10; encoding/decoding the current block using a sign prediction associated with the selected one of the hypothesis reconstruction].
It is noted that Zhao differs to the present invention in that Zhao fails to explicitly disclose the detail of determining a transform type.
However, Hsu teaches the well-known concept of a video coding method [e.g. FIG. 6-7] comprising: receiving data for a block of pixels to be encoded or decoded as a current block of a current picture of a video [e.g. FIG. 4; [0011]; a block of pixel in a video picture]; receiving a set of transform coefficients of the current block [e.g. FIG. 7-9; [0012]; receiving transform coefficients]; computing a cost for a hypothesis by performing inverse transform [e.g. 1210, 1211, 1212, 1213] on the transform coefficients of the current block according to the transform type [e.g. FIG. 11-12; computing cost for each transform mode for core and the secondary transform], determining a first transform type of based on the calculated costs of the plurality of transform hypotheses [e.g. lowest cost transform mode candidate]; and encoding or decoding the current block by reconstructing the current block according to the first transform type [e.g. FIG. 9-10 and 12-13; 960 or 1370].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the coding system disclosed by Zhao to exploit the well-known video decoding technique taught by Hsu as above, in order to provide improved coding performance [See Hsu; abstract and [0030-0031]].
Regarding claim 2, Zhao and Hsu further disclose the predicted transform parameters of a hypothesis further comprise a primary transform type and a secondary transform type [e.g. Zhao: FIG. 4-5; [0095]; primary transform and secondary transform; Hsu: FIG. 6-7; core transform and secondary transform].
Regarding claim 4, Zhao and Hsu further disclose the predicted signs correspond to the received transform coefficients [e.g. Zhao: FIG. 3, 6-7 and 9-10, signs prediction].
Regarding claim 7, Zhao and Hsu further disclose the cost for each hypothesis comprises a similarity measure[e.g. Hsu: FIG. 4-5; boundary similarity/matching] that is computed based on samples neighboring [e.g. Hsu: neighboring pixels] the current block and samples of the current block that are reconstructed according to the hypothesis along boundaries of the current block [e.g. Hsu: FIG. 4-5, 7 and 10-11, decoded pixel data].
Regarding claim 8, Hsu Zhao and Hsu further disclose the similarity measure is computed based on samples along only one side of the current block [e.g. Hsu: only top or only above].
Regarding claim 9, Zhao and Hsu further disclose the similarity measure is computed based on samples that are identified according to an intra prediction direction for the current block [e.g. Hsu: FIG. 4-5; the boundary matching cost function may factor in the direction of the corresponding intra prediction mode].
Regarding claim 11, Zhao and Hsu further disclose the cost for each hypothesis is computed by performing inverse transform on only a subset and not all of the transform coefficients of the current block [e.g. Hsu: FIG. FIG. 11-12; computing cost for each transform mode for core and the secondary transform; Zhao: certain transform subset are used for coding the block].
Regarding claim 12, Zhao and Hsu further disclose the predicted transform parameters of a hypothesis comprise predicted signs of only a subset and not all of the transform coefficients of the current block [e.g. Zhao: FIG. 3, 6-7 and 9-10; signs predictions and certain transform subset are used for coding the block].
Regarding claim 13, Zhao and Hsu further disclose assigning codewords to different primary or secondary transform types based on the computed costs [e.g. Hsu: FIG. 2-3, codewords], wherein a shortest codeword is assigned to a transform type associated with a lowest cost transform hypothesis [e.g. Hsu: FIG. 3; lowest cost].
Regarding claim 14, this is an electronic apparatus that includes same limitation as in claim 1 above, the rejection of which are incorporated herein.
Regarding claim 15, this is a decoding method that includes same limitation as in claim 1 above, the rejection of which are incorporated herein.
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al (US 20180176582 A1) in view of Hsu et al (US 20180288439 A1) and JUNG et al (US 20220210451 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Zhao and Hsu disclose the predicted transform parameters [e.g. Hsu: transform mode for core transform and transform mode for the secondary transform, prediction mode], but Zhao and Hsu fail to explicitly disclose a transform kernel size.
However, JUNG teaches the well-known concept of the predicted transform parameters comprising a transform kernel size [e.g. FIG. 11-14; transform kernels having different sizes].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the coding system disclosed by Zhao to exploit the well-known video decoding technique taught by Hsu and the well-known video decoding technique taught by JUNG as above, in order to provide improved coding performance [See Hsu; abstract and [0030-0031]] and improved video signal coding efficiency [See JUNG; [0004]].
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al (US 20180176582 A1) in view of Hsu et al (US 20180288439 A1) and LIM et al (US 20220279161 A1).
Regarding claim 10, Zhao and Hsu disclose the similarity measure, but Zhao and Hsu fail to discloses the detail of the similarity measure based on samples neighboring to the current block, but Hsu fails to explicitly disclose the samples are down-sampled.
However, LIM teaches the well-known concept of the neighboring samples that are down-sampled [e.g. performing down-sampling with respect to the neighboring sample of the luma block, deriving a cross-component parameter based on the down-sampled neighboring sample, and generating the prediction block of the current block based on the cross-component parameter].
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the coding system disclosed by Zhao to exploit the well-known video decoding technique taught by Hsu and the well-known video decoding technique taught by LIM as above, in order to provide improved coding performance [See Hsu; abstract and [0030-0031]] and improved video encoding/decoding efficiency [See LIM; [0005]].
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Henry (US 20200137393 A1).
Seregin et al (US 20250365446 A1).
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 ZHUBING REN whose telephone number is (571)272-2788. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9am-5pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph Ustaris can be reached at 571-2727383. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ZHUBING REN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2483