Prosecution Insights
Last updated: August 17, 2026
Application No. 18/934,064

INTER PREDICTION MODE-BASED IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD AND APPARATUS THEREFOR

Non-Final OA §DOUBLEPATENT§DP
Filed
Oct 31, 2024
Priority
Aug 24, 2015 — provisional 62/208,830 +6 more
Examiner
CATTUNGAL, ROWINA J
Art Unit
2425
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
Nokia Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
75%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
8m
Est. Remaining
89%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 75% — above average
75%
Career Allowance Rate
401 granted / 532 resolved
+17.4% vs TC avg
Moderate +13% lift
Without
With
+13.4%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 5m
Avg Prosecution
18 currently pending
Career history
568
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.4%
-35.6% vs TC avg
§103
61.8%
+21.8% vs TC avg
§102
11.9%
-28.1% vs TC avg
§112
7.3%
-32.7% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 532 resolved cases

Office Action

§DOUBLEPATENT §DP
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 . This office action is in response to application filed 10/31/2024 in which the claims 1, 13-14 are pending. 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. The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer. Claims 1, 13-14 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 13-14 of U.S. Patent No. US 12,137,240 B2 in view of Lim et al. (US 2012/0314771 A1). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the examined application claim is obvious over the conflicting patent claim. The difference between the instant claim 1, 13-14 and conflicting patent claim 1, 13-14 are that instant claim are apparatus claims & instant claims 13-14 also includes additional limitations generate residual samples of the current block based on the prediction samples; generate residual information based on the residual samples in the instant claim. See the table below. However Lim discloses the apparatuses for encoding and decoding a video by blocks through examples shown in FIGS. 1 to 8, and Para [0099] teaches the subtracter 120 generates a residual block of the current block by subtracting the predicted block from the current block. Here, the outputted residual block includes a residual signal which has a value obtained by subtracting the predicted pixel value of the predicted block from the original pixel value of the current block. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize limitation in the method of the conflicting patent claim, since Image encoding/decoding apparatus for a communication device and the apparatus improves the compression efficiency of the image. Instant application:18/934,064 Patent No.: US 12,137,240 B2 1. An apparatus, comprising: a memory configured to store an image; and a processor coupled with the memory, wherein the processor is configured to: obtain residual information from bitstream; obtain residual samples of a current block based on the residual information; derive a motion vector predictor (MVP) based on motion information of a neighbor block of the current block; obtain a motion vector difference (MVD) of the current block; obtain a flag related to a resolution of the MVD, determine whether motion vector scale adaptation for the current block is applied based on the flag, wherein a value of the flag being equal to 0 specifies that the resolution of the MVD is set to 1/4 pel-scale; round the MVP based on the flag; modify the MVD to set the resolution of the MVD to the 1/4 pel-scale based on the flag; obtain a motion vector (MV) of the current block based on the modified MVD and the rounded MVP; generate prediction samples of the current block based on the MV; and generate reconstructed samples of the current block based on the prediction samples and the residual samples. 1. A method of decoding a video signal, the method comprising: obtaining residual samples of a current block; deriving a motion vector predictor (MVP) based on motion information of a neighbor block of the current block; obtaining a motion vector difference (MVD) of the current block; obtaining a flag related to a resolution of the MVD, determining whether motion vector scale adaptation for the current block is applied based on the flag, wherein a value 0 of the flag specifies that the resolution of the MVD is set to ¼ pel-scale; rounding the MVP based on the flag; modifying the MVD to set the resolution of the MVD to the ¼ pel-scale based on the flag; obtaining a motion vector (MV) of the current block based on the modified MVD and the rounded MVP; generating prediction samples of the current block based on the MV; and generating reconstructed samples of the current block based on the prediction samples and the residual samples. 13. An apparatus, comprising: a memory configured to store an image; and a processor coupled with the memory, wherein the processor is configured to: obtain a motion vector difference (MVD) of a current block; round a motion vector predictor (MVP) derived from a neighbor block of the current block; modify the MVD to set a resolution of the MVD to integer pel-scale; derive a motion vector (MV) of the current block based on the modified MVD and the rounded MVP; and generate prediction samples of the current block based on the derived MV; generate residual samples of the current block based on the prediction samples; generate residual information based on the residual samples; encode a flag related to the resolution of the MVD and the residual information, wherein the flag is related to the rounding and the modifying, and a value of the flag being equal to 0 specifies that the resolution of the MVD is set to 1/4 pel-scale. 13. A method of encoding a video signal, the method comprising: obtaining a motion vector difference (MVD) of a current block; rounding a motion vector predictor (MVP) derived from a neighbor block of the current block; modifying the MVD to set a resolution of the MVD to integer pel-scale; deriving a motion vector (MV) of the current block based on the modified MVD and the rounded MVP; and generating a prediction block of the current block based on the derived MV; and encoding a flag related to the resolution of the MVD, wherein the flag is related to the rounding and the modifying, and a value 0 of the flag specifies that the resolution of the MVD is set to ¼ pel-scale. 14. An apparatus, comprising: a processor configured to generate a bitstream for an image; and a transmitter configured to transmit the data comprising the bitstream, wherein, , the processor is configured to: obtain a motion vector difference (MVD) of a current block; round a motion vector predictor (MVP) derived from a neighbor block of the current block; modify the MVD to set a resolution of the MVD to integer pel-scale; derive a motion vector (MV) of the current block based on the modified MVD and the rounded MVP; and generate prediction samples of the current block based on the derived MV; generate residual samples of the current block based on the prediction samples; generate residual information based on the residual samples ; encode a flag related to the resolution of the MVD and the residual information, wherein the flag is related to the rounding and the modifying, and a value of the flag being equal to 0 specifies that the resolution of the MVD is set to 1/4 pel-scale. 14. A transmission method for data comprising a bitstream for an image, the method comprising: obtaining the bitstream for the image; and transmitting the data comprising the bitstream, wherein the bitstream is generated by performing the steps of: obtaining a motion vector difference (MVD) of a current block; rounding a motion vector predictor (MVP) derived from a neighbor block of the current block; modifying the MVD to set a resolution of the MVD to integer pel-scale; deriving a motion vector (MV) of the current block based on the modified MVD and the rounded MVP; and generating a prediction block of the current block based on the derived MV; and encoding a flag related to the resolution of the MVD, wherein the flag is related to the rounding and the modifying, and a value 0 of the flag specifies that the resolution of the MVD is set to ¼ pel-scale. Claims 1, 13-14 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 13-14 of U.S. Patent No. US 11,729,411 B2 in view of Lim et al. (US 2012/0314771 A1). The difference between the instant claim 1, 13-14 and conflicting patent claim 1, 13-14 are that instant claim are apparatus claims & instant claim 1 includes additional determine whether motion vector scale adaptation for the current block is applied based on the flag. However Lim discloses in para[0144] The resolution change flag generator 920 may generate a resolution change flag into the bitstream, which indicates whether to define a motion vector resolution and/or a resolution of a differential motion vector with respect to each area of an image or each motion vector. Instant claims 13-14 also includes additional limitations generate residual samples of the current block based on the prediction samples; generate residual information based on the residual samples in the instant claim. See the table below. However Lim discloses the apparatuses for encoding and decoding a video by blocks through examples shown in FIGS. 1 to 8, and [0099] The subtracter 120 generates a residual block of the current block by subtracting the predicted block from the current block. Here, the outputted residual block includes a residual signal which has a value obtained by subtracting the predicted pixel value of the predicted block from the original pixel value of the current block. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to utilize limitation in the method of the conflicting patent claim, since Image encoding/decoding apparatus for a communication device and the apparatus improves the compression efficiency of the image. Instant application:18/934,064 Patent No.: US 11,729,411 B2 1. An apparatus, comprising: a memory configured to store an image; and a processor coupled with the memory, wherein the processor is configured to: obtain residual information from bitstream; obtain residual samples of a current block based on the residual information; derive a motion vector predictor (MVP) based on motion information of a neighbor block of the current block; obtain a motion vector difference (MVD) of the current block; obtain a flag related to a resolution of the MVD, determine whether motion vector scale adaptation for the current block is applied based on the flag, wherein a value of the flag being equal to 0 specifies that the resolution of the MVD is set to 1/4 pel-scale; round the MVP based on the flag; modify the MVD to set the resolution of the MVD to the 1/4 pel-scale based on the flag; obtain a motion vector (MV) of the current block based on the modified MVD and the rounded MVP; generate prediction samples of the current block based on the MV; and generate reconstructed samples of the current block based on the prediction samples and the residual samples. 1. A method of decoding a video signal, comprising: obtaining residual samples of a current block; deriving a motion vector predictor (MVP) based on motion information of a neighbor block of the current block; obtaining a motion vector difference (MVD) of the current block; obtaining a flag related to a resolution of the MVD, a value 0 of the flag specifying that the resolution of the MVD is ¼ pel-scale; rounding the MVP based on the flag; scaling the MVD based on the flag; obtaining a motion vector (MV) of the current block based on the scaled MVD and the rounded MVP; generating prediction samples of the current block based on the MV; and generating reconstructed samples of the current block based on the prediction samples and the residual samples. 13. An apparatus, comprising: a memory configured to store an image; and a processor coupled with the memory, wherein the processor is configured to: obtain a motion vector difference (MVD) of a current block; round a motion vector predictor (MVP) derived from a neighbor block of the current block; modify the MVD to set a resolution of the MVD to integer pel-scale; derive a motion vector (MV) of the current block based on the modified MVD and the rounded MVP; and generate prediction samples of the current block based on the derived MV; generate residual samples of the current block based on the prediction samples; generate residual information based on the residual samples; encode a flag related to the resolution of the MVD and the residual information, wherein the flag is related to the rounding and the modifying, and a value of the flag being equal to 0 specifies that the resolution of the MVD is set to 1/4 pel-scale. 13. A method of encoding a video signal, the method comprising: obtaining a motion vector difference (MVD) of a current block; rounding a motion vector predictor (MVP) derived from a neighbor block of the current block; modifying the MVD to set a resolution of the MVD to integer pel-scale; deriving a motion vector (MV) of the current block based on the modified MVD and the rounded MVP; and generating a prediction block of the current block based on the derived MV; and encoding a flag related to the resolution of the MVD, wherein the flag is related to the rounding and the modifying, and a value 0 of the flag specifies that the resolution of the MVD is set to ¼ pel-scale. 14. An apparatus, comprising: a processor configured to generate a bitstream for an image; and a transmitter configured to transmit the data comprising the bitstream, wherein, , the processor is configured to: obtain a motion vector difference (MVD) of a current block; round a motion vector predictor (MVP) derived from a neighbor block of the current block; modify the MVD to set a resolution of the MVD to integer pel-scale; derive a motion vector (MV) of the current block based on the modified MVD and the rounded MVP; and generate prediction samples of the current block based on the derived MV; generate residual samples of the current block based on the prediction samples; generate residual information based on the residual samples ; encode a flag related to the resolution of the MVD and the residual information, wherein the flag is related to the rounding and the modifying, and a value of the flag being equal to 0 specifies that the resolution of the MVD is set to 1/4 pel-scale. 14. A transmission method for data comprising a bitstream for an image, the method comprising: obtaining the bitstream for the image; and transmitting the data comprising the bitstream, wherein the bitstream is generated by performing the steps of: obtaining a motion vector difference (MVD) of a current block; rounding a motion vector predictor (MVP) derived from a neighbor block of the current block; modifying the MVD to set a resolution of the MVD to integer pel-scale; deriving a motion vector (MV) of the current block based on the modified MVD and the rounded MVP; and generating a prediction block of the current block based on the derived MV; and encoding a flag related to the resolution of the MVD, wherein the flag is related to the rounding and the modifying, and a value 0 of the flag specifies that the resolution of the MVD is set to ¼ pel-scale. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ROWINA J CATTUNGAL whose telephone number is (571)270-5922. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 7:30am-6pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Brian Pendleton can be reached at (571) 272-7527. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /ROWINA J CATTUNGAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2425
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Prosecution Timeline

Oct 31, 2024
Application Filed
Apr 30, 2025
Response after Non-Final Action
May 15, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §DOUBLEPATENT, §DP (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
75%
Grant Probability
89%
With Interview (+13.4%)
2y 5m (~8m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 532 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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