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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted 09/25/2024 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 § 112
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.
Claims 3-10 and 16-18 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 applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 3 and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential steps, such omission amounting to a gap between the steps. See MPEP § 2172.01. The omitted steps are: the variable N is undefined. The variable N seems to be used both as an integer in the index I, and also as a variable for a particular feature information selected by index i. Appropriate correction is required.
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) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lim et al. (US 20210136379 A1).
Regarding Claim 1, Lim et al. teaches a method for picture processing (Abstract), comprising:
decoding a bitstream to obtain a quantization coefficient of a current picture block (Paragraph 119);
determining a quantization parameter corresponding to the current picture block, and obtaining a transform coefficient of the current picture block by performing inverse quantization on the quantization coefficient based on the quantization parameter (Paragraph 7);
determining a reconstructed picture block of the current picture block according to the transform coefficient (Paragraphs 128-132); and
obtaining an enhanced picture block by performing quality enhancement on the reconstructed picture block based on the quantization parameter (Paragraph 5; Paragraph 9; Paragraphs 174-175; Paragraph 201; Paragraph 227; Paragraphs 253-254).
Regarding Claim 2, Lim et al. teaches the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the enhanced picture block by performing quality enhancement on the reconstructed picture block based on the quantization parameter comprises: obtaining first feature information of the reconstructed picture block by performing feature weighting on the reconstructed picture block based on the quantization parameter; and determining the enhanced picture block according to the first feature information (Paragraph 146; Paragraph 166; Paragraph 233; Paragraph 241-247; Paragraphs 253-255).
Regarding Claim 3, Lim et al. teaches the method of claim 2, wherein obtaining the first feature information of the reconstructed picture block by performing feature weighting on the reconstructed picture block based on the quantization parameter comprises: obtaining i-th feature information of the reconstructed picture block by performing feature weighting on (i-1)-th feature information of the reconstructed picture block based on the quantization parameter, where i is a positive integer from 1 to N, and obtaining N-th feature information of the reconstructed picture block by repeating feature weighting, wherein when i = 1, the (i-1)-th feature information is the reconstructed picture block; and determining the first feature information of the reconstructed picture block according to the N-th feature information (Paragraphs 112-117; Paragraph 146; Paragraph 166; Paragraph 233; Paragraph 241-247; Paragraphs 253-255; Paragraph 270).
Regarding Claim 4, Lim et al. teaches the method of claim 3, wherein obtaining the i-th feature information of the reconstructed picture block by performing feature weighting on the (i-1)-th feature information of the reconstructed picture block based on the quantization parameter comprises: extracting M feature information of different scales from the (i-1)-th feature information, where M is a positive integer greater than 1; obtaining i-th weighted feature information by weighting the M feature information of different scales; and determining the i-th feature information according to the i-th weighted feature information (Paragraphs 112-117; Paragraph 144-149; Paragraph 164-167; Paragraphs 190-195; Paragraph 233; Paragraph 241-248; Paragraphs 253-255; Paragraph 270).
Regarding Claim 5, Lim et al. teaches the method of claim 4, wherein obtaining the i-th weighted feature information by weighting the M feature information of different scales comprises: obtaining first concatenated feature information by concatenating the M feature information of different scales; and obtaining the i-th weighted feature information by weighting the first concatenated feature information (Paragraph 78; Paragraphs 112-117; Paragraphs 120-121; Paragraph 144-149; Paragraph 164-167; Paragraphs 190-195; Paragraph 233; Paragraph 241-248; Paragraphs 253-255; Paragraph 270).
Regarding Claim 6, Lim et al. teaches the method of claim 4, wherein determining the i-th feature information according to the i-th weighted feature information comprises: determining a sum of the i-th weighted feature information and the (i-1)-th feature information as the i-th feature information; or determining the i-th weighted feature information as the i-th feature information (Paragraph 78; Paragraphs 112-117; Paragraphs 120-121; Paragraph 144-149; Paragraph 164-167; Paragraphs 190-195; Paragraph 233; Paragraph 241-248; Paragraphs 253-255; Paragraph 270).
Regarding Claim 7, Lim et al. teaches the method of claim 3, wherein obtaining the first feature information of the reconstructed picture block by performing feature weighting on the reconstructed picture block based on the quantization parameter comprises: extracting second feature information of the reconstructed picture block based on the quantization parameter; and obtaining the first feature information of the reconstructed picture block by performing feature weighting on the second feature information (Paragraph 146; Paragraph 166; Paragraph 233; Paragraph 241-247; Paragraphs 253-255).
Regarding Claim 8, Lim et al. teaches the method of claim 7, wherein extracting the second feature information of the reconstructed picture block based on the quantization parameter comprises: obtaining concatenated information by concatenating the reconstructed picture block and the quantization parameter; and obtaining the second feature information by performing feature extraction on the concatenated information (Paragraph 144-149; Paragraph 164-167; Paragraphs 190-195; Paragraph 233; Paragraph 241-247; Paragraphs 253-255).
Regarding Claim 9, Lim et al. teaches the method of claim 7, wherein determining the first feature information of the reconstructed picture block according to the N-th feature information comprises: obtaining the first feature information of the reconstructed picture block according to the N-th feature information and at least one of first N-1 feature information prior to the N-th feature information (Paragraph 78; Paragraphs 112-117; Paragraphs 120-121; Paragraph 144-149; Paragraph 164-167; Paragraphs 190-195; Paragraph 233; Paragraph 241-248; Paragraphs 253-255; Paragraph 270).
Regarding Claim 10, Lim et al. teaches the method of claim 9, wherein obtaining the first feature information of the reconstructed picture block according to the N-th feature information and the at least one of the first N-1 feature information prior to the N-th feature information comprises: obtaining second concatenated feature information by concatenating the at least one of the first N-1 feature information, the N-th feature information, and the second feature information; and obtaining the first feature information of the reconstructed picture block by performing feature extraction on the second concatenated feature information (Paragraph 78; Paragraphs 112-117; Paragraphs 120-121; Paragraph 144-149; Paragraph 164-167; Paragraphs 190-195; Paragraph 233; Paragraph 241-248; Paragraphs 253-255; Paragraph 270).
Regarding Claim 11, Lim et al. teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: decoding the bitstream to obtain a first flag, wherein the first flag indicates whether quality enhancement is allowed for the reconstructed picture block of the current picture block; wherein obtaining the enhanced picture block by performing quality enhancement on the reconstructed picture block based on the quantization parameter comprises: obtaining the enhanced picture block by performing quality enhancement on the reconstructed picture block based on the quantization parameter, based on a determination according to the first flag that quality enhancement is allowed for the reconstructed picture block (Paragraph 146; Paragraph 166; Paragraph 233; Paragraph 241-247; Paragraphs 253-255; ).
Regarding Claim 12, Lim et al. teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining a test enhanced picture block by performing quality enhancement on the reconstructed picture block based on the quantization parameter; and determining a first picture quality of the test enhanced picture block and a second picture quality of the reconstructed picture block; wherein obtaining the enhanced picture block by performing quality enhancement on the reconstructed picture block based on the quantization parameter comprises: determining the test enhanced picture block as the enhanced picture block of the reconstructed picture block if the first picture quality is greater than the second picture quality (Paragraphs 100-107; Paragraph 146; Paragraph 166; Paragraph 233; Paragraph 241-247; Paragraphs 253-255).
Regarding Claim 13, Lim et al. teaches the method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the enhanced picture block by performing quality enhancement on the reconstructed picture block based on the quantization parameter comprises: normalizing the reconstructed picture block and the quantization parameter; and obtaining the enhanced picture block based on the normalized reconstructed picture block and the normalized quantization parameter (Paragraph 146; Paragraph 166; Paragraph 233; Paragraph 241-247; Paragraphs 253-255).
Method claims 14-19 are drawn to the encoding method associated with the decoding method of claims 1-4, 7 and 12 above, is drawn to similar limitations performed in the inverse, and is rejected for the same reasons as used above. Lim et al. further teaches encoding the current picture block based on the quantization parameter to obtain a quantization coefficient of the current picture block (Paragraph 6; Paragraph 9; Paragraphs 51-54).
Regarding claim 20, claim 20 claims a product by process claim limitation where the product is the bitstream and the process is the method steps to generate the bitstream. MPEP §2113 recites “Product-by-Process claims are not limited to the manipulations of the recited steps, only the structure implied by the steps”. Thus, the scope of the claim is the storage medium storing the bitstream (with the structure implied by the method steps). The structure includes the information and samples manipulated by the steps.
“To be given patentable weight, the printed matter and associated product must be in a functional relationship. A functional relationship can be found where the printed matter performs some function with respect to the product to which it is associated”. MPEP §2111.05(I)(A). When a claimed “computer-readable medium merely serves as a support for information or data, no functional relationship exists. MPEP §2111.05(III).
The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing the claimed bitstream in claim 20 merely services as a support for the storage of the bitstream and provides no functional relationship between the stored bitstream and storage medium. Therefore the bitstream, which scope is implied by the method steps, is non-functional descriptive material and given no patentable weight. MPEP §2111.05(III). Thus, the claim scope is just a storage medium storing data and is anticipated by Lim et al. as follows.
Regarding Claim 20, Lim et al. teaches the limitations of claim 14 above, Lim et al. further teaches a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a bitstream, the bitstream being generated according to the method of claim 14 (Paragraph 74; Paragraph 8).
Conclusion
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/FARHAN MAHMUD/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2483