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 .
Status of the Claims
Currently, claims 3-4 are pending in the application.
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 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.
Claims 3-4 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al. (US 20180176556, hereinafter Zhao) in view of CHOI et al. (US 20250220238 , hereinafter CHOI).
Regarding Claim 3, Zhao discloses a method to perform sign prediction in video coding ([0034], transform coefficient sign bit prediction for video encoding and decoding, as applied for Intra or Inter code; [0064], predict the sign for one coefficient using both positive value and negative values for the respective sign), the method comprising:
accessing a current coding unit (CU), a neighbor left CU to the current CU, and a neighbor top CU to the current CU, wherein the neighbor CUs comprise neighboring pixels ([0069], FIG. 3A, performing sign prediction with a template-based hypothesis reconstruction by recreating only the leftmost and topmost pixels of the block, from the inverse transformation added to the block prediction to create the leftmost and topmost pixel outputs);
if the current CU is coded in intra mode, in computing a hypothesis cost to determine sign prediction, considering only neighboring pixels in a direction of the intra mode ([0247], [0248], cost function measures the pixel value difference or pixel gradient value difference along the intra prediction direction such as a partial subset of allowed intra prediction directions are pre-selected, and each allowed intra prediction direction is mapped to one of the pre-selected intra directions which approximates the intra prediction direction; [0117]).
Zhao does not explicitly disclose wherein the hypothesis cost is computed at least in part with one or more residual hypothesis terms, wherein the one or more residual hypothesis terms are coded as a sign residual by an encoder, wherein the one or more residual hypothesis terms are provided by way of the sign residual to a decoder for computing the hypothesis cost.
CHOI teaches wherein the hypothesis cost is computed at least in part with one or more residual hypothesis terms, wherein the one or more residual hypothesis terms are coded as a sign residual by an encoder wherein the one or more residual hypothesis terms are provided by way of the sign residual to a decoder for computing the hypothesis cost ([0010],deriving the number of prediction signs for the current block, performing sign prediction for the current block to derive the signs of the residual coefficients based on the number of prediction signs, deriving residual samples of the current block based on the signs, and encoding the image information including residual information of the current block and information on the number of prediction signs; [0113] The sign residual may be sent as “0” if the prediction corresponds to the true value of the sign, otherwise it may be sent as “1”. That is, if the value of the predicted sign is correct, a syntax element for the sign with a value of 0 can be transmitted, if the value of the predicted sign is incorrect, a syntax element for the sign with a value of 1 may be transmitted. The syntax element may also be called a sign residual.)
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of hypothesis cost is computed at least in part with one or more residual hypothesis terms as taught by CHOI ([0047]) into the encoding & decoding system of Zhao in order to provide systems for enables establishing high-efficiency video compression technology to effectively compress, transmit, store, and reproduce high-resolution, high-quality video/image information, and increasing video/image coding efficiency (CHOI, [0004]).
Regarding Claim 4, Zhao discloses a method to perform sign prediction in video coding ([0034], transform coefficient sign bit prediction for video encoding and decoding, as applied for Intra or Inter code; [0064], predict the sign for one coefficient using both positive value and negative values for the respective sign), the method comprising:
accessing a current transform unit (TU), a neighbor left TU to the current TU, and a neighbor top TU to the current TU, wherein the neighbor TUs comprise neighboring pixels ([0069], FIG. 3A, performing sign prediction with a template-based hypothesis reconstruction by recreating only the leftmost and topmost pixels of the block, from the inverse transformation added to the block prediction to create the leftmost and topmost pixel outputs);
accessing vectors lists of the current TU ([0067], FIG. 3A, coordinates of various pixels of transform coefficient block (TB) 42 with previously-reconstructed neighbor pixels as well as for the hypothesis reconstruction; FIG. 3B, mathematical formulae illustrating hypothesis reconstruction and prediction techniques ); and
computing a hypothesis cost to determine sign prediction by considering only the neighbor TU with similar motion information ([0249] when intra prediction direction is not available (e.g., one block is coded with inter mode), a derived intra prediction mode may be used instead that comes from a block identified by a motion vector in a coded picture; [0291], improve the sign discrimination functions using estimates of the variances of errors in pixel predictions [including temporal with motion vector]).
Zhao does not explicitly disclose wherein the hypothesis cost is computed at least in part with one or more residual hypothesis terms, wherein the one or more residual hypothesis terms are coded as a sign residual by an encoder, wherein the one or more residual hypothesis terms are provided by way of the sign residual to a decoder for computing the hypothesis cost.
CHOI teaches wherein the hypothesis cost is computed at least in part with one or more residual hypothesis terms, wherein the one or more residual hypothesis terms are coded as a sign residual by an encoder wherein the one or more residual hypothesis terms are provided by way of the sign residual to a decoder for computing the hypothesis cost ([0010],deriving the number of prediction signs for the current block, performing sign prediction for the current block to derive the signs of the residual coefficients based on the number of prediction signs, deriving residual samples of the current block based on the signs, and encoding the image information including residual information of the current block and information on the number of prediction signs; [0113] The sign residual may be sent as “0” if the prediction corresponds to the true value of the sign, otherwise it may be sent as “1”. That is, if the value of the predicted sign is correct, a syntax element for the sign with a value of 0 can be transmitted, if the value of the predicted sign is incorrect, a syntax element for the sign with a value of 1 may be transmitted. The syntax element may also be called a sign residual.)
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Therefore, it would have been obvious to one ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of hypothesis cost is computed at least in part with one or more residual hypothesis terms as taught by CHOI ([0047]) into the encoding & decoding system of Zhao in order to provide systems for performing transform coding based on boundary matching costs of various transform parameters in an efficient manner thus improving the coding efficiency (CHOI, [0037]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Samuel D Fereja whose telephone number is (469)295-9243. The examiner can normally be reached 8AM-5PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, DAVID CZEKAJ can be reached at (571) 272-7327. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SAMUEL D FEREJA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2487
