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 .
Claims 1, 3, 10 and 18-20 have been amended. Claim 2 have been cancelled. Claims 1, 3-20 are pending for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/16/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
In response to the double patenting rejection, applicant argued that a terminal disclaimer has been filed. However, upon examining, examiner could not verify that a terminal disclaimer had been filed and therefore the double patenting rejection is maintained.
Applicant’s arguments, filed 11/28/2025, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1, 19-20 under 35 U.S.C. 103 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of Han (A Technical Overview of AV1).
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 1, 3-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-18 of U.S. Patent No. US 12126794 B2. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because instant claims 1-20 recite the same method for deriving a data block based on a residual block, at least one reconstructed inter prediction block of the data block, and at least one reconstructed intra prediction reference sample of the data block.
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) 1 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chiang (US 20200322623 A1) in view of Jang (US 20180343455 A1) further in view of Han (A Technical Overview of AV1).
Regarding claim 1, Chiang teaches a method for decoding a data block in a video stream, comprising:
determining that the data block is predicted in a Compound Inter Intra Prediction (CIIP) mode, wherein the data block is derived as a combination of an intra prediction and an inter prediction in the CIIP mode (an additional flag is signaled to indicate if the combined inter/intra prediction (CIIP) mode is applied to the current CU. [0111]).
Chiang does not teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, Jang teaches identifying a data-driven transform kernel for the data block among a transform kernel set, the transform kernel set being configured for selection under the CIIP mode (the coding information may include an intra prediction mode for the neighboring block and a transform kernel. The prediction samples are derived based on an intra prediction mode, and the quantized transform coefficients are generated based on the transform kernel. A scaling mask is set based on the intra prediction mode for the neighboring block and the transform kernel (S760). [0114]);
generating a residual block of the data block by inverse transforming, using at least the data-driven transform kernel, a set of transform coefficients extracted from the video stream for the data block (the coding device may apply the scaling mask, which is determined based on the intra prediction mode of the neighboring block and the transform kernel in the step S760, to the transform coefficients. The coding device derives modified residual samples for the neighboring block by inversely transforming the transform coefficients subjected to CIIP scaling (S725).);
deriving the data block based on the residual block, at least one reconstructed inter prediction block of the data block, and at least one reconstructed intra prediction reference sample of the data block (The reconstructed sample 380 includes a reconstructed sample 385. The coding device derives a neighboring reference sample (neighboring sample) of the current block on the basis of the reconstructed sample 385 (S390). The coding device may generate a predictor of the current block according to an intra prediction mode of the current block on the basis of the derived reference sample (S395).).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to take the teachings of Jang and apply them to Chiang. One would be motivated as such as applying CIIP scaling to a transform coefficient of the neighboring block, thereby improving intra prediction performance (Jang: [0156]).
Chiang in view of Jang does not teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, Han teaches wherein the data-driven transform kernel comprises a transform kernel based on data distribution within the data block (Fig. 24: The waveforms corresponding to the four 1-D transform ker nels are presented in Fig. 24 for dimension N =8. [page 1449].).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to take the teachings of Han and apply them to Chiang in view of Jang. One would be motivated as such as improve the prediction quality for complex videos (Han).
Regarding claim 19, Chiang teaches a device for decoding a video block in a video stream, comprising a memory for storing instructions and a processing circuitry ([0174]) configured to execute the instructions to:
determine that the video block is predicted in a Compound Inter Intra Prediction (CIIP) mode, wherein the video block is derived as a combination of an intra prediction and an inter prediction in the CIIP mode (an additional flag is signaled to indicate if the combined inter/intra prediction (CIIP) mode is applied to the current CU. [0111]);
determine at least one inter intra prediction weighting configuration for the video block ([0112] The weight for intra and inter predicted samples are adaptively selected based on the number of neighboring intra-coded blocks. The (wIntra, wInter) weights are adaptively set as follows. If both top and left neighbors are intra-coded, (wIntra, wInter) is set equal to (3,1). Otherwise, if one of these blocks is intra-coded, these weights are identical, i.e., (2,2), else the weights are set equal to (1,3).);
deriving the at least one inter intra prediction weighting configuration ([0112] The weight for intra and inter predicted samples are adaptively selected based on the number of neighboring intra-coded blocks.), at least one reconstructed inter prediction block of the video block, and at least one reconstructed intra prediction reference sample of the video block ([0125] The intra-picture estimation module 1220 performs intra-prediction based on the reconstructed pixel data 1217 to produce intra prediction data. [0126] The motion estimation module 1235 performs inter-prediction by producing MVs to reference pixel data of previously decoded frames stored in the reconstructed picture buffer 1250. These MVs are provided to the motion compensation module 1230 to produce predicted pixel data.).
Chiang does not teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, Jang teaches identify a data-driven transform kernel for the video block among a transform kernel set (the coding information may include an intra prediction mode for the neighboring block and a transform kernel. The prediction samples are derived based on an intra prediction mode, and the quantized transform coefficients are generated based on the transform kernel. A scaling mask is set based on the intra prediction mode for the neighboring block and the transform kernel (S760). [0114]);
generate a residual block of the video block by inverse-transforming, using at least the data-driven transform kernel, a set of transform coefficients extracted from the video stream for the video block(the coding device may apply the scaling mask, which is determined based on the intra prediction mode of the neighboring block and the transform kernel in the step S760, to the transform coefficients. The coding device derives modified residual samples for the neighboring block by inversely transforming the transform coefficients subjected to CIIP scaling (S725).); and
derive the video block based on the residual block (The coding device derives modified residual samples for the neighboring block by inversely transforming the transform coefficients subjected to CIIP scaling (S725).).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to take the teachings of Jang and apply them to Chiang. One would be motivated as such as applying CIIP scaling to a transform coefficient of the neighboring block, thereby improving intra prediction performance (Jang: [0156]).
Chiang in view of Jang does not teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, Han teaches wherein the data-driven transform kernel comprises a transform kernel based on data distribution within the data block (Fig. 24: The waveforms corresponding to the four 1-D transform ker nels are presented in Fig. 24 for dimension N =8. [page 1449].).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to take the teachings of Han and apply them to Chiang in view of Jang. One would be motivated as such as improve the prediction quality for complex videos (Han).
Regarding claim 20, Chiang teaches a method for encoding a video block in a video stream, comprising:
determining that the video block is to be predicted in a Compound Inter Intra Prediction (CIIP) mode, wherein the video block is derived as a combination of an intra prediction and an inter prediction in the CIIP mode (an additional flag is signaled to indicate if the combined inter/intra prediction (CIIP) mode is applied to the current CU. [0111]);
determining at least one inter intra prediction weighting configuration for the video block ([0112] The weight for intra and inter predicted samples are adaptively selected based on the number of neighboring intra-coded blocks. The (wIntra, wInter) weights are adaptively set as follows. If both top and left neighbors are intra-coded, (wIntra, wInter) is set equal to (3,1). Otherwise, if one of these blocks is intra-coded, these weights are identical, i.e., (2,2), else the weights are set equal to (1,3).);
generating the at least one inter intra prediction weighting configuration ([0112] The weight for intra and inter predicted samples are adaptively selected based on the number of neighboring intra-coded blocks.), at least one reconstructed inter prediction block of the video block, and at least one reconstructed intra prediction reference sample of the video block ([0125] The intra-picture estimation module 1220 performs intra-prediction based on the reconstructed pixel data 1217 to produce intra prediction data. [0126] The motion estimation module 1235 performs inter-prediction by producing MVs to reference pixel data of previously decoded frames stored in the reconstructed picture buffer 1250. These MVs are provided to the motion compensation module 1230 to produce predicted pixel data.).
Chiang does not teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, Jang teaches selecting a data-driven transform kernel for the video block among a transform kernel set (the coding information may include an intra prediction mode for the neighboring block and a transform kernel. The prediction samples are derived based on an intra prediction mode, and the quantized transform coefficients are generated based on the transform kernel. A scaling mask is set based on the intra prediction mode for the neighboring block and the transform kernel (S760). [0114]);
generating a residual block of the video block based on at least the video block (the coding device may apply the scaling mask, which is determined based on the intra prediction mode of the neighboring block and the transform kernel in the step S760, to the transform coefficients. The coding device derives modified residual samples for the neighboring block by inversely transforming the transform coefficients subjected to CIIP scaling (S725).);
transforming the residual block using at least the data-driven transform kernel to generate a set of transform coefficient of the video block ([0150] Specifically, for example, the decoding device may acquire quantized transform coefficients for the neighboring block, and may acquire transform coefficients by inversely quantizing the quantized transform coefficients. The decoding device may derive residual samples or modified residual samples on the basis of the transform coefficients); and
quantizing and entropy coding the set of transform coefficient for inclusion in the video stream along with the inter intra prediction weighting configuration after being encoded ([0047] The entropy encoder 135 may perform entropy-encoding on the quantized transform coefficients.).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to take the teachings of Jang and apply them to Chiang. One would be motivated as such as applying CIIP scaling to a transform coefficient of the neighboring block, thereby improving intra prediction performance (Jang: [0156]).
Chiang in view of Jang does not teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, Han teaches wherein the data-driven transform kernel comprises a transform kernel based on data distribution within the data block (Fig. 24: The waveforms corresponding to the four 1-D transform ker nels are presented in Fig. 24 for dimension N =8. [page 1449].).
It would have been obvious for a person of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filling date of the claimed invention, to take the teachings of Han and apply them to Chiang in view of Jang. One would be motivated as such as improve the prediction quality for complex videos (Han).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-18 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
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HESHAM K ABOUZAHRA whose telephone number is (571)270-0425. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8-5.
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/HESHAM K ABOUZAHRA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2486