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 on 12/04/2024 and 09/08/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d) which papers have been placed of record in the file.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-6 and 10-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (US 2016/0234492 A1) in view of Fu et al.( US 2013/0259118 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Li discloses a method comprising: decoding a first information set for luma samples and a second information set for chroma samples([0039][0117][0177]- A coding block may be an N×N block of samples. A CU may comprise a coding block of luma samples and two corresponding coding blocks of chroma samples of a picture that has a luma sample array, a Cb sample array, and a Cr sample array), each information set containing a plurality of candidate sets of filter parameters([see in table-7-8 and claim 2]-syntax in table-7, especially “alf_filter_coeff” in conjunction with syntax in table-8; claim 2 ); obtaining for a current block of a picture part an information indicating with a first value that a single index identifies a first candidate set of filter parameters in the first information set and a second candidate set of filter parameters in the second information set and indicating with a second value that a first index identifies the first candidate set of filter parameters in the first information set and a second index identifies the second candidate set of filter parameters in the second information set([see in Fig. 5 and claim 4]- ("ALF UNIT" 92 in Fig. 5; claim 4, especially "performing the filtering operation on the current CTU using the ALF information associated with the candidate from the candidate list" and also If the number of candidates increase, the index has to increase as well.)); see also [0094]- different rules apply to what sauces may be used to provide candidates, and how many candidates on the candidates list can be used (maximum number) or must be used (minimum number) for a given candidates list).
However, Li does not explicitly disclose decoding, for the current block, the single index or the first and second indexes based on the obtained information; decoding said current block; and filtering luma samples and chroma samples of said decoded current block with the candidate sets of filter parameters identified by the single index or by the first and second indexes.
In an analogous art, Fu discloses decoding, for the current block, the single index or the first and second indexes based on the obtained information([see in Fig. 2]- a current block shares the in-loop filter parameters with a neighboring block or neighboring blocks. Furthermore, the block may include multiple LCUs to lower the bitrate corresponding to the in-loop filter parameters; [para 0032]); decoding said current block; and filtering luma samples and chroma samples of said decoded current block with the candidate sets of filter parameters identified by the single index or by the first and second indexes([para 0032 and 0065]-The exemplary syntax design supports the use of ALF buffer so that an index can be used to select one of multiple ALF filters stored in the ALF buffer" and the usage of "alf_new_filter_set_flag", which indicates an update of the candidate sets). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of Fu to the modified system of Li a method and apparatus for improved in-loop processing such as SAO and ALF [Fu; para 0002].
Regarding claim 2, Li discloses wherein said first and second information sets are associated with a block of said picture part decoded first in decoding order([see in claim 4 and 16]-decoding in order of use).
Regarding claim 3, Li discloses comprising decoding a data representative of a number of candidates sets of filter parameters ([para 0055]- two groups with adjacent index values may be merged, i.e. such that the two groups use the same set of ALF parameters; [see also in Fig. 6]).
Regarding claim 4, Li discloses wherein the candidate sets of each plurality of candidate sets of filter parameters are decoded in their order of use([see in table-5]- a candidate list of ALF parameters from the neighboring CTUs is constructed (e.g., by ALF unit 65) and an index to the candidate list is signalled to determine the ALF parameters. Each entry of the aforementioned candaidate list is a full set of ALF parameters that are used to perform the adaptive loop filtering (e.g., by ALF unit 65) for the current CT).
Regarding claim 5, Li disclose further comprising re-ordering the candidate sets of filter parameters before filtering said current block([para 0101]- as in motion vector prediction, entries containing the same content (e.g., ALF prameters) from different neighbors do not need to be duplicated in the list. Therefore, in some examples there is a pruning process to get rid of duplications. Spatial or temporal candidates may be added into the list (with or without pruning) in a pre-defined order. Alternatively (or in addition), such an order may depend on whether one or more bocks in the current CTU is/are temporal predicted in a certain fashion).
Regarding claim 6, Li discloses wherein the candidate sets of filter parameters are re-ordered such that each set of filter parameters used for filtering a block located immediately to the left of the current block is listed first([para 0101]- as in motion vector prediction, entries containing the same content (e.g., ALF prameters) from different neighbors do not need to be duplicated in the list. Therefore, in some examples there is a pruning process to get rid of duplications. Spatial or temporal candidates may be added into the list (with or without pruning) in a pre-defined order. Alternatively (or in addition), such an order may depend on whether one or more bocks in the current CTU is/are temporal predicted in a certain fashion).
Regarding claim 10, Li discloses in each plurality of candidate sets of filter parameters, a candidate set of filter parameters specifying that a block is not filtered([para 0119]- ALF process may be applied multiple times for a CTU by, for example, performing a filtering operation on a CTU that has already been filtered. The input to the second round ALF process is the output of the first round ALF process).
Regarding claim 11, wherein the candidate set of filter parameters specifying that a block is not filtered is inserted between the candidate sets of filter parameters at a predefined position([para 0189 ]-video encoder 20 may form the candidate list by inserting the temporal neighbor CTUs into the candidate list based on an order of the reference indexes the temporal neighboring CTUs are associated with. In some examples, video encoder 20 may form the candidate list to include one or more temporal neighboring CTUs in the respective reference pictures other than co-located temperal neghboring CTUs).
Regarding claim 12, Li discloses wherein said first and second information sets is decoded from a slice header of a slice to which said current block belongs([para 0191-0193]- video encoder 20 may signal whether temporal candidates are allowed or not signaling as high-level syntax e.g., PPS, slice header, SPS).
Regarding claim 13, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 1. Hence; all limitations for claim 13 have been met in method claim 1.
Regarding claim 14, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 12.
Regarding claim 15, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 2.
Regarding claim 16, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 3.
Regarding claim 17, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 4.
Regarding claim 18, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 5.
Regarding claim 19, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 1. Hence; all limitations for claim 19 have been met in method claim 1.
Regarding claim 20, the claim is interpreted and rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 1. Hence; all limitations for claim 20 have been met in method claim 1.
Claims 7-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Fu as applied to claim 5 above and further in view of WEN et al.( NPL-Non-CE9 Parallel Merge/skip Mode for HEVC )
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Li and Fu don’t exclusively disclose wherein the candidate sets of filter parameters are re-ordered such that the candidate sets of filter parameters used for filtering blocks decoded prior to the current block are listed in an order.
In an analogous art, WEN discloses wherein the candidate sets of filter parameters are re-ordered such that the candidate sets of filter parameters used for filtering blocks decoded prior to the current block are listed in an order([see in pg. 6-7]- The order of the candidate list is based on spatial distance). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to provide the technique of WEN to resolve problem of merge/skip mode design [2] is highly sequential and introduces dependency among neighboring PUs. it leads to difficulty for the motion estimation on the encoder side for the pipelined architecture, and also prevents the decoder side from achieving parallel motion compensation [WEN; Introduction].
Regarding claim 8, WEN discloses wherein the candidate sets of filter parameters are re-ordered such that at least one candidate set of filter parameters not used for filtering blocks decoded prior to the current block is inserted before a last candidate set of filter parameters used for filtering said blocks decoded prior to the current block([see pg. 7 and Fig. 3-4]- order of the candidate list is ha"ed on spatial distance. The one is closer to top-left position of current PU would have higher order. For example, in Figure 3, the order of candidate list of PU4 would be {A, E, C}).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 9 is 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Regarding claim 9, The method of claim 5, wherein the candidate sets of filter parameters are re-ordered such that a candidate set of filter parameters not used by blocks decoded prior to the current block and that is the first candidate to be used next is inserted at a position that is function of the number of blocks of said picture part to decode after said current block and of the number of candidate sets of filter parameters not used yet by blocks decoded prior to the current block.
Citation of Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art are made of record and not relied upon but considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure:
1. Wurmlin et al. US 2009/0315978 A1, a method and a system for generating a 3D representation of a dynamically changing 3D scene
2. Zhu et al., US 2016/0205404 A1, discloses Variations of rho-domain rate control for video encoding or other media encoding are presented.
3. He et. al., US 2018/0309995 A1, discloses video sequence may include a first-temporal level picture and a second-temporal level picture.
4. TERADA et. al., US 2018/0184123 A1, discloses image encoding methods and image decoding methods.
5. Zhang et al., US 2018/0205946 A1, discloses intra-prediction of chrominance (chroma) blocks of video data.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MD NAZMUL HAQUE whose telephone number is (571)272-5328. The examiner can normally be reached IFW.
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/MD N HAQUE/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2487