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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 30 December 2025 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Regarding claim 1, the Applicant contends that Kim fails to teach determining a predefined search area that is predefined based on dimensions of a current block within a current picture. However, the Examiner respectfully disagrees. Kim discloses that the motion vector search range SR may be specified by a specific conditional statement or signaling based on the bitstream (Kim: paragraph [1783]). [1784] For example, the specific conditional statement may include the size of the target block or a condition related to the SR of a neighboring block (Kim: paragraph [1784]).
Regarding claim 1, the Applicant contends that Kim fails to teach the one or more additional search areas, which are determined based on the one or more block vectors. However, the Examiner respectfully disagrees. Paragraphs [1023]-[1030] of Kim describe refinement using motion information. Paragraph [0199] of Kim states that motion information may be information including at least one of a reference picture list, a reference image, a motion vector candidate, a motion vector candidate index, a merge candidate, and a merge index, as well as a motion vector, a reference picture index, and an inter-prediction indicator. In embodiments, “motion vector” may be one of 1) a motion vector of inter-prediction and 2) a block vector (BV) of Intra Block Copy (IBC) (Kim [1889]). Therefore, Kim supports refinement using motion vectors or block vectors.
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) 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Kim et al. (US 20240406436 A1).
Re claim 1, Kim discloses a method of decoding video data, the method comprising:
determining a predefined search area that is predefined based on dimensions of a current block within a current picture (Kim: Fig. 23; paragraphs [1783]-[1784], motion vector search range SR may be specified by a specific conditional statement or signaling based on the bitstream, wherein the specific conditional statement may include the size of the target block),
the dimensions of the current block including both a height and a width of the current block (Kim: paragraph [1930], the block size may indicate both the horizontal size and the vertical size of the block);
determining one or more block vectors (Kim [1889] In embodiments, “motion vector” may be one of 1) a motion vector of inter-prediction and 2) a block vector (BV) of Intra Block Copy (IBC));
determining one or more additional search areas based on the one or more block vectors (Kim: paragraphs [1023]-[1030], multiple search steps at multiple resolutions);
determining a prediction block for the current block based on the predefined search area and the one or more additional search areas (Kim: paragraphs [0567]-[0568]); and
reconstructing the current block based on the prediction block (Kim: paragraph [0855]).
Re claim 2, Kim discloses
determining template matching cost values between a current template of the current block and respective templates of prediction blocks in the predefined search area and the one or more additional search areas (Kim: paragraphs [1023]-[1030], multiple search steps at multiple resolutions; paragraphs [1310]-[1314]),
wherein determining the prediction block comprises determining the prediction block based on the template matching cost values (Kim: paragraphs [0567]-[0568]; paragraphs [1310]-[1314]).
Re claim 3, Kim discloses that the template matching cost values are first template matching cost values, the method further comprising:
determining additional prediction blocks based on the prediction blocks in the predefined search area and the one or more additional search areas (Kim: paragraphs [1023]-[1030], multiple search steps at multiple resolutions; paragraphs [1310]-[1314]; paragraphs [0567]-[0568]); and
determining second template matching cost values between the current template and respective templates of the additional prediction blocks (Kim: paragraphs [1023]-[1030], multiple search steps at multiple resolutions; paragraphs [1310]-[1314]),
wherein determining the prediction block comprises determining the prediction block for the current block based on the first template matching cost values and the second template matching cost values (Kim: paragraphs [1023]-[1030], multiple search steps at multiple resolutions; paragraphs [1310]-[1314]; paragraphs [0567]-[0568]).
Re claim 4, Kim discloses
wherein one of the one or more additional search areas comprises a main subarea and other subareas (Kim: paragraphs [1023]-[1030], multiple search steps at multiple resolutions), and
wherein determining template matching cost values comprises:
determining template matching cost values between the current template and respective templates of prediction blocks in the main subarea (Kim: paragraphs [0995]-[0998]); and
based on none of the template matching cost values between the current template and respective templates of prediction blocks in the main subarea satisfying a threshold, determining template matching cost values between the current template and respective templates of prediction blocks in the other subareas (Kim: paragraphs [1310]-[1314]).
Re claim 5, Kim discloses that determining the prediction block comprises determining the prediction block associated with the lowest template matching cost value (Kim: paragraph [1474]).
Re claim 6, Kim discloses
constructing a candidate list of prediction blocks arranged based on the respective template matching cost values (Kim: paragraph [1464]); and
receiving an index into the candidate list that identifies the prediction block (Kim: paragraph [1464]).
Re claim 7, Kim discloses
wherein the one or more block vectors comprise one or more block vector predictors for the current block (Kim: paragraphs [0536]-[0542]), and
wherein the one or more block vector predictors are based on block vectors of neighboring blocks (Kim: paragraphs [0536]-[0542]).
Re claim 8, Kim discloses that determining the one or more additional search areas comprises:
determining respective center samples identified with each of the one or more block vectors (Kim: paragraph [1885], the predefined location of the target block may be one of left-above, center, right-above, left-below, and right-below of the target block); and
determining respective predefined-shape areas around each of the respective center samples ((Kim: paragraph [1030]).
Re claim 9, Kim discloses that the predefined-shape areas comprise one of a rectangular shape or a cross shape (Kim: paragraph [1030]).
Re claim 10, Kim discloses that reconstructing the current block comprises:
receiving residual information indicative of a difference between the current block and the prediction block (Kim: paragraph [0291]); and
adding the residual information to the prediction block to reconstruct the current block (Kim: paragraph [0291]).
Claim 11 recites the corresponding decoding device for implementing the method of claim 1. Therefore, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 1 are applicable to claim 11. Kim additionally discloses a decoding apparatus including a processing unit executing instructions stored in a memory (Kim: paragraphs [0774]-[0775]). Accordingly, claim 11 has been analyzed and rejected with respect to claim 1 above.
Claim 12 has been analyzed and rejected with respect to claim 2 above.
Claim 13 has been analyzed and rejected with respect to claim 3 above.
Claim 14 has been analyzed and rejected with respect to claim 4 above.
Claim 15 has been analyzed and rejected with respect to claim 5 and 6 above.
Claim 16 has been analyzed and rejected with respect to claim 7 above.
Claim 17 has been analyzed and rejected with respect to claim 8 above.
Claim 18 has been analyzed and rejected with respect to claim 9 above.
Claim 19 has been analyzed and rejected with respect to claim 10 above.
Claim 20 recites the corresponding encoding device encoding the data decoded by the decoding device of claim 11. Therefore, arguments analogous to those presented for claim 11 are applicable to claim 20. Kim additionally discloses an encoding apparatus including a processing unit executing instructions stored in a memory (Kim: paragraphs [0756]-[0757]). Accordingly, claim 20 has been analyzed and rejected with respect to claim 11 above.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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.
Contact
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHRISTOPHER G FINDLEY whose telephone number is (571)270-1199. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.
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/CHRISTOPHER G FINDLEY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2482
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