DETAILED ACTION
1. The Office Action is in response to application 18855198 filed on 10/08/2024. Claims 34-53 are pending.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statements (IDS) submitted on 10/13/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in application 18855198 filed on 10/08/2024.
Priority # Filling Data Country
22305501.3 2022-04-08 EP
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
4. The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
5. Claim 34 and its dependent claims 35-42 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
For claim 34, it recites limitations of “a current block in the reference picture” in “obtain a motion compensated block associated with a current block in the reference picture”; however, it is not clear if the current block is in the reference picture or the motion compensated block is in the reference picture (fig. 20 gives an example that the motion compensated block is in the reference picture);
it recites limitations of “an associated intra-coded block” in “obtain, based on the motion compensated block, an associated intra-coded block”; however, it is not clear if the intra-coded block is associated with the motion compensated block or associated with the current block in the reference picture?
Thus the scope of the claim and its dependent claims 35-42 are unclear.
6. Claim 43 and its dependent claims 44-50 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
For claim 43, it recites limitations of “a current block in the reference picture” in “obtaining a motion compensated block associated with a current block in the reference picture”; however, it is not clear if the current block is in the reference picture or the motion compensated block is in the reference picture (fig. 20 gives an example that the motion compensated block is in the reference picture);
it recites limitations of “an associated intra-coded block” in “obtaining, based on the motion compensated block, an associated intra-coded block;”; however, it is not clear if the intra-coded block is associated with the motion compensated block or associated with the current block in the reference picture?
Thus the scope of the claim and its dependent claims 44-50 are unclear.
7. Claim 51 and its dependent claims 52-53 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
For claim 51, it recites limitations of “a current block in the reference picture” in “obtain, based on a candidate motion vector, a motion compensated block associated with a current block in the reference picture”; however, it is not clear if the current block is in the reference picture or the motion compensated block is in the reference picture (fig. 20 gives an example that the motion compensated block is in the reference picture);
it recites limitations of “an associated intra-coded block” in “obtain, based on the motion compensated block, an associated intra-coded block”; however, it is not clear if the intra-coded block is associated with the motion compensated block or associated with the current block in the reference picture?
Thus the scope of the claim and its dependent claims 52-53 are unclear.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
8. 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 of this title, 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.
9. Claim 34, 39-40, 42-43, 48-49 are rejected are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HONG et al. (WO 2022063538) and in view of CHEN et al. (US 20230079960).
Regarding claim 34, HONG teaches a device for video encoding (fig. 3; paragraph 0116, …The current coding unit may be accessed by the apparatus 300 for purposes of carrying out a particular process and/or operation on the current coding unit, such as encoding,), the device comprising:
a processor (fig. 3, 32) configured to:
obtain a reference picture of a current picture (fig. 6, 602), the reference picture comprising a clean region and a dirty region divided by a boundary (as shown in fig. 1, fig. 2A-2F);
obtain a motion compensated block associated with a current block in the reference picture (fig. 2E, block B0-B2 and A0-A1 are motion compensated block associated with a current block in the reference picture; paragraph 0103, the prediction block for coding unit Al pointed by MV of Al (i.e. motion compensation block) is in a clean area, but for the current coding unit 200 in the clean area, the prediction block pointed by MV of Al may be within the dirty area);
obtain, based on the motion compensated block, an associated intra-coded block (fig. 2C, reference samples (blocks) are intra coded; paragraph 0059, … picture comprising a plurality of coding units undergoing a gradual decoding refresh with an angular intra mode);
determine intra mode information for the current block based on a location of the intra-coded block relative to the boundary (fig. 2C, the location of the reference samples (i.e. the intra-coded block) relative to the boundary is used to determine intra mode information for current block (i.e., CU); paragraph 0098, … for a current coding unit in a clean area, some angular intra modes may use reference samples from dirty areas to calculate predictions for the pixels of the current coding unit);
and encode the current picture based on the intra mode information (fig. 12, 1205; after the intra mode is selected, the current picture is encoded; paragraph 0151, … the encoder may perform a determination of a coding cost for the valid coding mode).
It is noticed that HONG does not disclose explicitly of determine intra mode propagation information for the current block based on a location of the intra-coded block.
. CHEN discloses of determine intra mode propagation information for the current block based on a location of the intra-coded block (fig. 16; paragraph 0155, … intra prediction modes of a reference block (1606) of the current block (1604) may only be propagated to subblocks of the second partition (1616). Accordingly, an intra mode of a smallest unit (1608) in the reference block (1606) can be propagated to a corresponding subblock (1610) of the second partition (1616) in the current block (1604). An intra mode of a smallest unit (1612) in the reference block (1606) may not be propagated to a corresponding subblock (1618) of the first partition (1614) in the current block (1604).).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that determine intra mode propagation information for the current block based on a location of the intra-coded block as a modification to the device for the benefit of intra prediction modes of a reference block may only be propagated to some subblocks of a current block within a geometric partition (paragraph 0155).
Regarding claim 43, HONG teaches a method for video encoding (fig. 9), the method comprising:
obtain a reference picture of a current picture (fig. 6, 602), the reference picture comprising a clean region and a dirty region divided by a boundary (as shown in fig. 1, fig. 2A-2F);
obtain a motion compensated block associated with a current block in the reference picture (fig. 2E, block B0-B2 and A0-A1 are motion compensated block associated with a current block in the reference picture; paragraph 0103, the prediction block for coding unit Al pointed by MV of Al (i.e., motion compensation block) is in a clean area, but for the current coding unit 200 in the clean area, the prediction block pointed by MV of Al may be within the dirty area);
obtain, based on the motion compensated block, an associated intra-coded block (fig. 2C, reference samples (blocks) are intra coded; paragraph 0059, … picture comprising a plurality of coding units undergoing a gradual decoding refresh with an angular intra mode);
determine intra mode information for the current block based on a location of the intra-coded block relative to the boundary (fig. 2C, the location of the reference samples (i.e. the intra-coded block) relative to the boundary is used to determine intra mode information for current block (i.e., CU); paragraph 0098, … for a current coding unit in a clean area, some angular intra modes may use reference samples from dirty areas to calculate predictions for the pixels of the current coding unit);
and encode the current picture based on the intra mode information (fig. 12, 1205; after the intra mode is selected, the current picture is encoded; paragraph 0151, … the encoder may perform a determination of a coding cost for the valid coding mode).
It is noticed that HONG does not disclose explicitly of determine intra mode propagation information for the current block based on a location of the intra-coded block.
. CHEN discloses of determine intra mode propagation information for the current block based on a location of the intra-coded block (fig. 16; paragraph 0155, … intra prediction modes of a reference block (1606) of the current block (1604) may only be propagated to subblocks of the second partition (1616). Accordingly, an intra mode of a smallest unit (1608) in the reference block (1606) can be propagated to a corresponding subblock (1610) of the second partition (1616) in the current block (1604). An intra mode of a smallest unit (1612) in the reference block (1606) may not be propagated to a corresponding subblock (1618) of the first partition (1614) in the current block (1604).).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that determine intra mode propagation information for the current block based on a location of the intra-coded block as a modification to the method for the benefit of intra prediction modes of a reference block may only be propagated to some subblocks of a current block within a geometric partition (paragraph 0155).
Regarding claim 39, the combination of HONG and CHEN teaches the limitations recited in claim 34 as discussed above. In addition, HONG further discloses that based on the location of the intra-coded block being in the clean region of the reference picture (fig. 2C, the left reference samples is in the clean region of the reference picture), set the intra mode propagation information for the current block to indicate an intra prediction mode of the associated intra-coded block (paragraph 0059, … . a plurality of coding units undergoing a gradual decoding refresh with an angular intra mode).
Regarding claim 40, the combination of HONG and CHEN teaches the limitations recited in claim 34 as discussed above. In addition, HONG further discloses that based on the location of the intra-coded block being in the dirty region of the reference picture (fig. 2C, top reference samples is in the dirty region), set the intra mode propagation information for the current block to indicate a default intra prediction mode (paragraph 0098, …an angular intra mode uses the reference samples 225 within a dirty area to calculate the predictions for the pixels of a coding unit 200 in the clean area).
Regarding claim 42, the combination of HONG and CHEN teaches the limitations recited in claim 34 as discussed above. In addition, HONG further discloses that the motion compensated block and the associated intra-coded block are the same block (fig. 2E, A0-A1 is motion compensated block and also intra-coded block).
Regarding claim 48, the combination of HONG and CHEN teaches the limitations recited in claim 43 as discussed above. In addition, HONG further discloses that based on the location of the intra-coded block being in the clean region of the reference picture (fig. 2C, the left reference samples is in the clean region of the reference picture), set the intra mode propagation information for the current block to indicate an intra prediction mode of the associated intra-coded block (paragraph 0059, … . a plurality of coding units undergoing a gradual decoding refresh with an angular intra mode).
Regarding claim 49, the combination of HONG and CHEN teaches the limitations recited in claim 43 as discussed above. In addition, HONG further discloses that based on the location of the intra-coded block being in the dirty region of the reference picture (fig. 2C, top reference samples is in the dirty region), set the intra mode propagation information for the current block to indicate a default intra prediction mode (paragraph 0098, …an angular intra mode uses the reference samples 225 within a dirty area to calculate the predictions for the pixels of a coding unit 200 in the clean area).
10. Claim 51-53 are rejected are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over HONG et al. (WO 2022063538) and in view of SUGIO et al. (ES 2779226).
Regarding claim 51, HONG teaches a device for video encoding (fig. 3), the device comprising:
a processor (fig. 3, 32) configured to:
obtain a reference picture of a current picture (fig. 6, 602), the reference picture comprising a clean region and a dirty region divided by a boundary (as shown in fig. 1, fig. 2A-2F);
obtain, based on a candidate motion vector, a motion compensated block associated with a current block in the reference picture (fig. 2E, block B0-B2 and A0-A1 are motion compensated block associated with a current block in the reference picture; paragraph 0103, the prediction block for coding unit Al pointed by MV of Al (i.e. motion compensation block) is in a clean area, but for the current coding unit 200 in the clean area, the prediction block pointed by MV of Al may be within the dirty area);
obtain, based on the motion compensated block, an associated intra-coded block (fig. 2C, reference samples (blocks) are intra coded; paragraph 0059, … picture comprising a plurality of coding units undergoing a gradual decoding refresh with an angular intra mode);
determine intra mode information for the current block based on a location of the intra-coded block relative to the boundary (fig. 2C, the location of the reference samples (i.e. the intra-coded block) relative to the boundary is used to determine intra mode information for current block (i.e., CU); paragraph 0098, … for a current coding unit in a clean area, some angular intra modes may use reference samples from dirty areas to calculate predictions for the pixels of the current coding unit);
and encode the current picture based on the intra mode information (fig. 12, 1205; after the intra mode is selected, the current picture is encoded; paragraph 0151, … the encoder may perform a determination of a coding cost for the valid coding mode).
It is noticed that HONG does not disclose explicitly of determine whether to discard the candidate motion vector for the current block based on a location of the intra-coded block.
. SUGIO discloses of determine whether to discard the candidate motion vector for the current block based on a location of the intra-coded block (fig. 4; page 80, … delete, from the first motion vector predictor candidates, an unavailable motion vector predictor candidate that was derived from an intra-prediction-coded block, a block located outside a sector boundary).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that determine whether to discard the candidate motion vector for the current block based on a location of the intra-coded block as a modification to the device for the benefit of deleting un-needed Motion vectors (page 80).
Regarding claim 52, the combination of HONG and CHEN teaches the limitations recited in claim 51 as discussed above. In addition, HONG further discloses that based on the location of the intra-coded block being in the clean region of the reference picture (fig. 2E, the A0,A1 is in the clean region of the reference picture), consider the candidate motion vector for encoding the current block (fig. 2E, MV of A1 is considered).
Regarding claim 53, the combination of HONG and CHEN teaches the limitations recited in claim 51 as discussed above. In addition, HONG further discloses that based on the location of the intra-coded block being in the dirty region of the reference picture (fig. 2E, B1 in the dirty region) ; discard the candidate motion vector for encoding the current block (fig. 2E, MV from B1 is not used).
11. Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. See form 892.
12. Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZAIHAN JIANG whose telephone number is (571)272-1399. The examiner can normally be reached on flexible.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sath Perungavoor can be reached on (571)272-7455. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-270-0655.
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/ZAIHAN JIANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2488
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