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 .
Claim Objections
Claim(s) 29 objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 29 is used twice with different claim elements. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 – 3, 5, 12, 13, 15, 24 -37, 29, and 30is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Solovyey et al (US 2024/0161488, hereafter Solovyey).
As per claim 1, Solovyey discloses method of video decoding, comprising:
decoding a residue block in a latent space for a block of a picture (¶ 259; The bitstream may be decoded by the hyper prior decoder to obtain reconstructed latent space residuals);
obtaining a predicted latent block for said block based on one or more neighboring latent blocks of said picture; obtaining a latent block for said block- based on said residue block and said predicted latent block (¶ 145; Therefore, the intra prediction uses reconstructed neighboring samples of a frame and ¶ 259; The reconstructed latent space residuals are combined in the latent space domain with the prediction (also in the latent space domain); and
inverse transforming said latent block for said block to reconstruct said block in a pixel domain (¶ 94 and 134).
As per claim 2, Solovyey discloses the method of claim 1, further comprising: determining that said block is to be reconstructed in said pixel domain, wherein said block is reconstructed in said pixel domain only if said block is determined to be reconstructed (¶ 258 and 259).
As per claim 3, Solovyey discloses the method of claim 2, wherein a computer vision task is performed in order to determine that said block is to be reconstructed in said pixel domain (¶ 207; in general, the output of the decoding side does not need to be a reconstructed picture for human viewing. It may be feature data for or results of computer processing such as computer vision processing or the like.).
As per claim 5, Solovyey discloses the method of claim 1, wherein one or more convolution layers or one or more fully connected layers followed by activation functions are applied to obtain said predicted latent block (¶ 378; The output signal of the activation function may be used as an input of a next convolutional layer.).
Regarding claim 12, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 1 are applicable for claim 12.
Regarding claim 13, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 5 are applicable for claim 13.
Regarding claim 15, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 5 are applicable for claim 15.
Regarding claim 24, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 1 are applicable for claim 24.
Regarding claim 25, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 2 are applicable for claim 25.
Regarding claim 26, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 3 are applicable for claim 26.
Regarding claim 27, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 5 are applicable for claim 27.
Regarding claim 29, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 1 are applicable for claim 29.
Regarding claim 29, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 5 are applicable for claim 29.
Regarding claim 30, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 5 are applicable for claim 30.
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.
Claim(s) 10, 16, 18, 28, 32 and 33 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Solovyey in view of Jiang et al (US 2022/0215592, hereafter Jiang).
As per claim 10, Solovyey discloses the method of claim 1, for one neighboring latent block of said one or more neighboring latent blocks (¶ 145; Therefore, the intra prediction uses reconstructed neighboring samples of a frame).
However, Solovyey does not explicitly teach only a part of a latent block corresponding to said one neighboring latent block is used to obtain said predicted latent block for said block.
In the same field of endeavor, Jiang teaches teach only a part of a latent block corresponding to said one neighboring latent block is used to obtain said predicted latent block for said block (¶ 42).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art at time the invention was effectively filed to modify the invention of Solovyey in view of Jiang. The advantage is improved video compression.
Regarding claim 16, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 10 are applicable for claim 16.
Regarding claim 18, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 10 are applicable for claim 18.
Regarding claim 28, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 10 are applicable for claim 28.
Regarding claim 32, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 10 are applicable for claim 32.
Regarding claim 33, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 10 are applicable for claim 33.
Conclusion
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/CHIKAODILI E ANYIKIRE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2487