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 1-20 are pending for examination.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 03/06/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicant argues that paragraph [0144] applies only when the current block does not
extend beyond the picture boundary. However, the rejection does not rely on [0144] as teaching the boundary condition. Rather, paragraph [0144] is relied upon for the well-known QT split operation that generates four child blocks having half the width and half the height of the parent block, while paragraph [0197] is relied upon for partitioning blocks that extend beyond the picture boundary. It would have been obvious to apply the known QT partitioning operation of paragraph [0144] to the boundary-overlapping block partitioning scenario of paragraph [0197] because both teachings concern partitioning of coding blocks within the same QTBT framework and the combination merely applies a known partitioning technique to a known
partitioning condition.
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.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over CHOI (US 20210352285 A1) in view of NAM (US 20210037266 A1).
Regarding claim 1, CHOI teaches a video decoding method, comprising:
determining a value of a first parameter, wherein the first parameter indicates a minimum size in luma samples of a luma leaf block resulting from quadtree splitting of a coding tree unit (the experiment may represent coding of an image in which the minimum size of the luma block is 4×8 size/8×4 size [0086]);
determining a size of a target coding unit (When the current block is a current luma block, the encoding apparatus/decoding apparatus may determine whether the number of samples of the generated blocks by partitioning is greater than 16, and when the current block is a current chroma block, the encoding apparatus/decoding apparatus may determine whether the number of samples of the generated blocks by partitioning is greater than 4. The specific number may be represented as a threshold value. [0111] Examiner note: target size determined);
CHOI does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, NAM teaches determining whether the target coding unit comprises samples outside of a picture boundary ([0201] In an embodiment, when the boundary of the CTU (or CTB, the CU having the maximum size) is out of the boundary of the picture (or slice), the encoder may transmit, to the decoder, a syntax indicating whether the QT partitioning is allowed.); and
decoding the target coding unit based on the value of the first parameter, the size of the target coding unit, and whether the target coding unit comprises samples outside of the picture boundary (when the block is spanned in a picture boundary area, that is, when a right or lower boundary of a current CTU (or a maximum coding unit, CTB) exceeds a current picture, the encoder/decoder may partition the current CTU into blocks having a maximum size, which may be BT or TT (i.e., multi type tree) partitioned without an additional syntax signaling. [0197]), wherein the decoding comprises:
in response to the first parameter and the size of the target coding unit are both equal to a first value and the target coding unit comprises samples outside of the picture boundary, splitting the target coding unit into a plurality of coding units, wherein each of the plurality of coding units has a half horizontal size and a half vertical size of the target coding unit (in the case that split_qt_flag value is 1, the case represents that the current block is split into four blocks of a half of the width and a half of the height. x0 and y0 represents a top left position of a luma image. [0144]).
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 NAM and apply them to CHOI. One would be motivated as such as partitioning is adjusted according to complexity of the image to determine an effective partitioning structure with relatively small partitioning information (NAM: [0200]).
Regarding claim 2, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the method of claim 1. NAM teaches wherein the first value is 128 ([0092] A maximum supported size of a CTU for coding and prediction may be different from a maximum supported size of a CTU for transform. For example, a maximum supported size of luma block in a CTU may be 128×128.). The same motivation used to combine CHOI in view of NAM is applicable.
Regarding claim 3, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the method of claim 1. NAM teaches in response to the first parameter and the size of the target coding unit are both equal to the first value and the target coding unit comprises samples outside of the picture boundary, determining a first flag signaled in a bitstream has a second value, wherein the first flag equal to the second value indicates each of the plurality of coding units has a half horizontal size and a half vertical size of the target coding unit ([0008] when a current coding tree block is out of a boundary of a current picture, partitioning the current coding tree block into a plurality of coding blocks so that coding blocks partitioned from the current coding tree block are included in a current picture … when the first syntax element indicates that the current coding block is partitioned, parsing a second syntax element indicating whether the current coding block is partitioned by using a quad-tree structure; when the second syntax element indicates that the current coding block is not partitioned by using the quad-tree structure). The same motivation used to combine CHOI in view of NAM is applicable.
Regarding claim 4, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the method of claim 3. NAM teaches wherein the second value is 1 (In the case that split_qt_flag value is 1, the case represents that the current block is split into four blocks of a half of the width and a half of the height. x0 and y0 represents a top left position of a luma image. [0144]). The same motivation used to combine CHOI in view of NAM is applicable.
Regarding claim 5, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the method of claim 3. CHOI teaches wherein the first flag comprises a split_qt_flag (A syntax element indicating the first flag may be split_qt_flag [0194]).
Regarding claim 6, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the method of claim 1. CHOI teaches determining values of a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth parameter associated with the target coding unit, the parameters respectively indicating whether quad split, binary horizontal split, binary vertical split, ternary horizontal split, and ternary vertical split are allowed to be used to split the target coding unit (Table 3: [0104]-[0105]).
Regarding claim 7, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the method of claim 6. CHOI teaches in response to the first parameter and the size of the target coding unit are both equal to the first value, determining the values of the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth parameter are all equal to a third value (Table 3: [0104]-[0105]).
Regarding claim 8, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the method of claim 6. NAM teaches wherein the values of the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth parameter all equal to the third value indicates that none of the quad split, binary horizontal split, binary vertical split, ternary horizontal split, or ternary vertical split is allowed to be used to split the target coding unit ([0010] Preferably, the partitioning of the current coding block into the plurality of coding blocks may further include when the current coding tree block is out of the boundary of the current picture, parsing a fifth syntax element indicating whether quad-tree splitting is allowed, and when the fifth syntax element indicates that the quad-tree splitting is not allowed, the current coding tree block may be partitioned into the plurality of coding blocks by using the binary-tree structure or the ternary-tree structure.). The same motivation used to combine CHOI in view of NAM is applicable.
Regarding claim 9, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the method of claim 1. CHOI teaches determining, based on a value of a first flag signaled in a bitstream, the target coding unit is split into the plurality of coding units (A syntax element indicating the first flag may be split_qt_flag [0194]).
Regarding claim 10, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the method of claim 9. CHOI teaches wherein the value of the first flag is equal to 1 (A syntax element indicating the first flag may be split_qt_flag [0194]).
Regarding claim 11, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the method of claim 9. CHOI teaches wherein the first flag comprises a split_cu_flag (a first flag (e.g., MTT split CU flag (mtt_split_cu_flag)) may be signaled to indicate whether a corresponding node (i.e., the corresponding CU) is additionally partitioned. [0104]).
Regarding claim 12, CHOI teaches a video encoding method, comprising:
setting a value of a first parameter, wherein the first parameter indicates a minimum size in luma samples of a luma leaf block resulting from quadtree splitting of a coding tree unit (the experiment may represent coding of an image in which the minimum size of the luma block is 4×8 size/8×4 size [0086]);
determining a size of a target coding unit (When the current block is a current luma block, the encoding apparatus/decoding apparatus may determine whether the number of samples of the generated blocks by partitioning is greater than 16, and when the current block is a current chroma block, the encoding apparatus/decoding apparatus may determine whether the number of samples of the generated blocks by partitioning is greater than 4. The specific number may be represented as a threshold value. [0111]);
CHOI does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, NAM teaches determining whether the target coding unit comprises samples outside of a picture boundary ([0201] In an embodiment, when the boundary of the CTU (or CTB, the CU having the maximum size) is out of the boundary of the picture (or slice), the encoder may transmit, to the decoder, a syntax indicating whether the QT partitioning is allowed.); and
encoding the target coding unit based on the value of the first parameter, the size of the target coding unit, and whether the target coding unit comprises samples outside of the picture boundary (when the block is spanned in a picture boundary area, that is, when a right or lower boundary of a current CTU (or a maximum coding unit, CTB) exceeds a current picture, the encoder/decoder may partition the current CTU into blocks having a maximum size, which may be BT or TT (i.e., multi type tree) partitioned without an additional syntax signaling. [0197]), wherein the encoding comprises:
in response to the first parameter and the size of the target coding unit are both equal to a first value and the target coding unit comprises samples outside of the picture boundary, splitting the target coding unit into a plurality of coding units, wherein each of the plurality of coding units has a half horizontal size and a half vertical size of the target coding unit (in the case that split_qt_flag value is 1, the case represents that the current block is split into four blocks of a half of the width and a half of the height. x0 and y0 represents a top left position of a luma image. [0144]).
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 NAM and apply them to CHOI. One would be motivated as such as partitioning is adjusted according to complexity of the image to determine an effective partitioning structure with relatively small partitioning information (NAM: [0200]).
Regarding claim 13, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the method of claim 12. NAM teaches wherein the first value is 0 (In the case that split_qt_flag value is 1, the case represents that the current block is split into four blocks of a half of the width and a half of the height. x0 and y0 represents a top left position of a luma image. [0144]). The same motivation used to combine CHOI in view of NAM is applicable.
Regarding claim 14, CHOI teaches a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a bitstream of a video for processing according to operations comprising:
determining a value of a first parameter of the bitstream, wherein the first parameter indicates a minimum size in luma samples of a luma leaf block resulting from quadtree splitting of a coding tree unit (the experiment may represent coding of an image in which the minimum size of the luma block is 4×8 size/8×4 size [0086]);
determining a size of a target coding unit (When the current block is a current luma block, the encoding apparatus/decoding apparatus may determine whether the number of samples of the generated blocks by partitioning is greater than 16, and when the current block is a current chroma block, the encoding apparatus/decoding apparatus may determine whether the number of samples of the generated blocks by partitioning is greater than 4. The specific number may be represented as a threshold value. [0111]);
CHOI does not explicitly teach the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, NAM teaches determining whether the target coding unit comprises samples outside of a picture boundary ([0201] In an embodiment, when the boundary of the CTU (or CTB, the CU having the maximum size) is out of the boundary of the picture (or slice), the encoder may transmit, to the decoder, a syntax indicating whether the QT partitioning is allowed.); and
in response to the first parameter and the size of the target coding unit are both equal to a first value and the target coding unit comprises samples outside of the picture boundary, splitting the target coding unit into a plurality of coding units, wherein each of the plurality of coding units has a half horizontal size and a half vertical size of the target coding unit (in the case that split_qt_flag value is 1, the case represents that the current block is split into four blocks of a half of the width and a half of the height. x0 and y0 represents a top left position of a luma image. [0144]).
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 NAM and apply them to CHOI. One would be motivated as such as partitioning is adjusted according to complexity of the image to determine an effective partitioning structure with relatively small partitioning information (NAM: [0200]).
Regarding claim 15, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14. NAM teaches wherein the first value is 128 ([0092] A maximum supported size of a CTU for coding and prediction may be different from a maximum supported size of a CTU for transform. For example, a maximum supported size of luma block in a CTU may be 128×128.). The same motivation used to combine CHOI in view of NAM is applicable.
Regarding claim 3, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14. NAM teaches wherein the bitstream comprises a first flag and is for processing according to:
in response to the first parameter and the size of the target coding unit are both equal to the first value and the target coding unit comprises samples outside of the picture boundary, determining the first flag has a second value, wherein the first flag equal to the second value indicates each of the plurality of coding units has a half horizontal size and a half vertical size of the target coding unit ([0008] when a current coding tree block is out of a boundary of a current picture, partitioning the current coding tree block into a plurality of coding blocks so that coding blocks partitioned from the current coding tree block are included in a current picture … when the first syntax element indicates that the current coding block is partitioned, parsing a second syntax element indicating whether the current coding block is partitioned by using a quad-tree structure; when the second syntax element indicates that the current coding block is not partitioned by using the quad-tree structure). The same motivation used to combine CHOI in view of NAM is applicable.
Regarding claim 17, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16. NAM teaches wherein the second value is 1 (In the case that split_qt_flag value is 1, the case represents that the current block is split into four blocks of a half of the width and a half of the height. x0 and y0 represents a top left position of a luma image. [0144]). The same motivation used to combine CHOI in view of NAM is applicable.
Regarding claim 18, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16. CHOI teaches wherein the first flag comprises a split_qt_flag (A syntax element indicating the first flag may be split_qt_flag [0194]).
Regarding claim 19, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14. CHOI teaches determining values of a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth, and a sixth parameter associated with the target coding unit, the parameters respectively indicating whether quad split, binary horizontal split, binary vertical split, ternary horizontal split, and ternary vertical split are allowed to be used to split the target coding unit (Table 3: [0104]-[0105]).
Regarding claim 20, CHOI in view of NAM teaches the non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19. NAM teaches in response to the first parameter and the size of the target coding unit are both equal to the first value, determining the values of the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth parameter are all equal to a third value ([0010] Preferably, the partitioning of the current coding block into the plurality of coding blocks may further include when the current coding tree block is out of the boundary of the current picture, parsing a fifth syntax element indicating whether quad-tree splitting is allowed, and when the fifth syntax element indicates that the quad-tree splitting is not allowed, the current coding tree block may be partitioned into the plurality of coding blocks by using the binary-tree structure or the ternary-tree structure.). The same motivation used to combine CHOI in view of NAM is applicable.
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.
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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jamie Atala can be reached at 57127227384. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HESHAM K ABOUZAHRA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2486
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