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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group VI (original claim 8) in the reply filed on 01/27/2026 is acknowledged.
Status of the Application
Claims 1-7 have been cancelled. Claims 9 and 10 have been amended to depend on claim 8. Claims 8-10 are currently pending in this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/08/2024 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 08/04/2025 was filed. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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) 8-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by CHEN et al. (Hereafter, “Chen”) [US 2023/0135378 A1].
In regards to claim 8, Chen discloses a method of applying template matching (TM) in video coding or decoding ([0157] A template matching (TM) technique can be used in video/image coding.), the method comprising one or more of: combining intra sub-partition mode (ISP) with TM, wherein each sub-partition predicted block has its own intra mode, determined by applying TM to refine a shared intra mode among all sub-partitions of the predicted block using either neighboring angular intra prediction modes or the most probable mode (MPM) modes; combining interpolation filtering in intra prediction with TM, wherein TM is applied to determine what interpolation filter to apply without explicitly signaling its identity index; combining block partitioning with TM, wherein for a given coded unit (CU), first, applying TM to determine the best integer motion vector; and subsequently, copying the block partition from the best MV as the inferred partition for the current block; combining BCW (bi-prediction with CU level weights) with TM ([0239] At (S2410), for a current block in a current picture to be encoded with bi-prediction with coding unit (CU)-level weights (BCW), template matching (TM) can be performed on respective BCW candidate weights, for example, in a BCW list, such as described in FIGS. 19, 21, and 23.), wherein instead of signaling weighting values candidates, these are selected via template matching ([0239] The TM can be performed by (i) determining a respective TM cost corresponding to each of the respective BCW candidate weights and (ii) selecting, based on the respectively determined TM costs, a BCW candidate weight to be a BCW weight used to encode the current block. [0249] At (S2420), the current block can be encoded based on the selected BCW weight.); and combining adaptive motion vector resolution with TM, wherein instead of explicit signaling motion vector resolution, the motion vector resolution can be inferred using template matching comprising: applying template matching using two or motion vector resolutions, and selecting as the preferred resolution the motion vector resolution among the two or motion vector resolutions that provides the best motion vector.
Examiner would like to note that due to the wording of the claim (“one or more of”), the Examiner only needs to reject one of the limitations for the claim to have been anticipated by the reference.
Claim 9 lists all the same elements of claim 8, but in non-transitory computer-readable storage medium form rather than method form. Therefore, the supporting rationale of the rejection to claim 8 applies equally as well to claim 9.
Claim 10 lists all the same elements of claim 8, but in apparatus form rather than method form. Therefore, the supporting rationale of the rejection to claim 8 applies equally as well to claim 10.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Kaitlin A Retallick whose telephone number is (571)270-3841. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8am-5pm.
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/KAITLIN A RETALLICK/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2482