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 Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yu et al. (US 7,099,389).
Regarding claim 1, Yu discloses:
A method for controlling a bit rate of an encoder, comprising:
obtaining a buffer pool state when it is detected that an image signal processor receives a to- be-processed image frame (Yu: col 3, line 9-14; determine status of virtual buffer before determining the strength of the filtering for uncompressed video stream that is to be encoded; col 4, line 45-67; col 7, line 31-40; col 9, line 7-19);
obtaining a corresponding denoising intensity according to the buffer pool state (Yu: col 3, line 9-14; determine, on the basis of the rate control and a status of its virtual buffer, the strength of the filtering for uncompressed video stream that is to be encoded; col 4, line 45-67; if the virtual buffer is approaching full, then the amount of pre-filtering is adjusted so that the virtual buffer does not overflow and the filtered uncompressed video is the video signal that is encoded. If there is no danger of virtual buffer overflow, then the current picture is slightly filtered or not filtered at all (the uncompressed video signal from the storage and delay module 16 is used as the input for encoding); col 7, line 31-48; col 9, line 7-19); and
outputting the denoising intensity to the image signal processor, to enable the image signal processor to denoise the image frame by using the denoising intensity, and outputting a denoised image frame to an encoder, to enable the encoder to encode the denoised image frame (Yu: col 3, line 9-14; control signal to the adaptive pre-filter 16 and to the switch 22 that determines, on the basis of the status of its virtual buffer, the strength of the filtering and which uncompressed video stream is to be encoded; performing filtering according to control signal and encoding; col 4, line 45-67; the amount of pre-filtering is adjusted so that the virtual buffer does not overflow and the filtered uncompressed video is the video signal that is encoded; col 9, line 7-19; using virtual buffer fullness to control a lowpass pre-filter for the uncompressed video signal, and encoding the filtered or unfiltered uncompressed video signal).
Regarding claim 7, Yu discloses:
The method for controlling a bit rate of an encoder according to any one of claim 1, wherein after the obtaining a buffer pool state, the method further comprises:
obtaining a corresponding quantization parameter according to the buffer pool state (Yu: col 5, line 3-5; Test Model 5 (TM5) takes a complexity measure to allocate target bits for each picture and then sets a quantization parameter for each MB based on the fullness of the virtual buffer; col 7, line 30-47; before encoding MB.sub.j the fullness of the virtual buffer is computed for I, P, B independently: d.sub.j=d.sub.0+B.sub.j-1-(T*(j-1))/MB.sub.--cnt where B.sub.j is the number of bits generated by encoding all MBs in the picture up to and including j, MB_cnt is the number of MBs in the picture, T is the constant bit rate (CBR) per picture, d.sub.0 is the initial fullness of the virtual buffer and d.sub.j is the fullness of the virtual buffer at MB.sub.j. The reference quantization parameter Q.sub.j is then computed for MB.sub.j Q.sub.j=d.sub.j*51/r where the reaction parameter, r, is r=2*R/F); and
outputting the obtained quantization parameter to the encoder, to enable the encoder to quantize the denoised image frame by using the quantization parameter (Yu: col 3, line 53-59; quantizer step sizes of macro-blocks for use in encoding; col 5, line 3-5; col 4, line 4-17; col 7, line 30 – col 8, line 44; adaptive quantization and encoding).
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, 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) 16-17 and 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yu et al. (US 7,099,389) in view of Szegedi (US 2022/0060753).
Regarding claim 16,
Yu teaches:
An electronic device to implement a method for controlling a bit rate of an encoder (Yu: Fig 1), the method comprising:
obtaining a buffer pool state when it is detected that an image signal processor receives a to-be-processed image frame (Yu: col 3, line 9-14; determine status of virtual buffer before determining the strength of the filtering for uncompressed video stream that is to be encoded; col 4, line 45-67; col 7, line 31-40; col 9, line 7-19);
obtaining a corresponding denoising intensity according to the buffer pool state (Yu: col 3, line 9-14; determine, on the basis of the rate control and a status of its virtual buffer, the strength of the filtering for uncompressed video stream that is to be encoded; col 4, line 45-67; if the virtual buffer is approaching full, then the amount of pre-filtering is adjusted so that the virtual buffer does not overflow and the filtered uncompressed video is the video signal that is encoded. If there is no danger of virtual buffer overflow, then the current picture is slightly filtered or not filtered at all (the uncompressed video signal from the storage and delay module 16 is used as the input for encoding); col 7, line 31-48; col 9, line 7-19); and
outputting the denoising intensity to the image signal processor, to enable the image signal processor to denoise the image frame by using the denoising intensity, and outputting a denoised image frame to an encoder, to enable the encoder to encode the denoised image frame (Yu: col 3, line 9-14; control signal to the adaptive pre-filter 16 and to the switch 22 that determines, on the basis of the status of its virtual buffer, the strength of the filtering and which uncompressed video stream is to be encoded; performing filtering according to control signal and encoding; col 4, line 45-67; the amount of pre-filtering is adjusted so that the virtual buffer does not overflow and the filtered uncompressed video is the video signal that is encoded; col 9, line 7-19; using virtual buffer fullness to control a lowpass pre-filter for the uncompressed video signal, and encoding the filtered or unfiltered uncompressed video signal).
Yu fails to teach:
comprising at least one memory and at least one processor, wherein the memory stores one or more computer instructions executable by the processor to implement a method,
Szegedi teaches:
An electronic device, comprising at least one memory and at least one processor, wherein the memory stores one or more computer instructions executable by the processor to implement a method for controlling a bit rate of an encoder (Szegedi: Fig 1; [0089]; [0122]-[0123]),
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art to combine the teachings of Szegedi with Yu. Using the memory, processor and computer readable medium of Szegedi would benefit the Yu teachings by expanding operability, marketability and profitability. Additionally, this is the application of a known technique, using a memory, processor and computer readable medium, to a known device ready for improvement, the Yu device, to yield predictable results.
Regarding claim 17, Yu in view of Szegedi teaches the limitations of this claim as discussed above with respect to claim 16.
Regarding claim 23,
Yu in view of Szegedi teaches:
The electronic device according to claim 16, wherein after the obtaining a buffer pool state, the method further comprises:
obtaining a corresponding quantization parameter according to the buffer pool state (Yu: col 5, line 3-5; Test Model 5 (TM5) takes a complexity measure to allocate target bits for each picture and then sets a quantization parameter for each MB based on the fullness of the virtual buffer; col 7, line 30-47; before encoding MB.sub.j the fullness of the virtual buffer is computed for I, P, B independently: d.sub.j=d.sub.0+B.sub.j-1-(T*(j-1))/MB.sub.--cnt where B.sub.j is the number of bits generated by encoding all MBs in the picture up to and including j, MB_cnt is the number of MBs in the picture, T is the constant bit rate (CBR) per picture, d.sub.0 is the initial fullness of the virtual buffer and d.sub.j is the fullness of the virtual buffer at MB.sub.j. The reference quantization parameter Q.sub.j is then computed for MB.sub.j Q.sub.j=d.sub.j*51/r where the reaction parameter, r, is r=2*R/F); and
outputting the obtained quantization parameter to the encoder, to enable the encoder to quantize the denoised image frame by using the quantization parameter (Yu: col 3, line 53-59; quantizer step sizes of macro-blocks for use in encoding; col 5, line 3-5; col 4, line 4-17; col 7, line 30 – col 8, line 44; adaptive quantization and encoding).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-6, 18-22 and 24-28 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Li et al. (US 2014/0376616) teaches quantization parameter adjustment based on sum of variance and estimated picture encoding cost; Auyeung (US 2008/0232459) teaches a hypothetical reference decoder.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES M PONTIUS whose telephone number is (571)270-7687. The examiner can normally be reached M-Th 8-4.
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/JAMES M PONTIUS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2488