DETAILED ACTION
Summary
This office action for US Patent application 18/975891 is responsive to communications filed on April 24th, 2026. Currently, claims 1-20 are pending are presented for examination.
Response to Arguments
On pages 9-11, applicant’s arguments with respect to claims 1, 9 and 16 have been considered. The applicant is arguing that Heo does not teach about a newly amended limitation “obtaining update determining indication information of the target sample” and “determining that the update determining indication information indicates to update the first prediction value of the target sample”. While applicant’s arguments have been considered and understood, the examiner couldn’t understand the whole reasoning of the applicant because of a short of supporting materials pointed out from the specification to clearly explain amended limitations. Determining a target sample value of a coding block by combining a first intra prediction value of the coding block and an inter prediction value of the coding block is well-known and described by Heo. Whenever a new block is received for coding, a new intra prediction value and a new inter prediction value of the new block is determined to obtain a new target sample. In other words, with or without update determining indication information of the target sample which indicates to update the intra prediction value, the new intra prediction value and new inter prediction value are determined to update a new target sample value. Heo explicitly overcomes this new feature. The examiner really has a difficult time to find a specific material to support “indication information indicates to update the first prediction value of the target sample”. The examiner can only find in the specification how to determine the updated prediction value of the target sample based on the prediction value of the target sample before updating not the first prediction value. The applicant is suggested to clarify this. The examiner also questions how the indication information of the target sample is generated and obtained. Because of all above reasons, the examiner does think Heo still meet all claimed limitations.
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.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 8-12, 15-18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C §102 (a)(1) as being anticipated by Heo et al. (US 20180249156 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Heo et al. (US 20180249156 A1) meets the claim limitations, as follows:
A method of prediction for video coding, the method comprising:
obtaining a first prediction value of a target sample through inter prediction [i.e. generate an inter-prediction block (S1602), Fig. 16], wherein the first prediction value is obtained based on a merge mode [i.e. deriving a motion information from a candidate block in a merge mode; paragraph. 0183, 0184, 0247, 0265];
obtaining a second prediction value of the target sample through intra prediction [i.e. generate an intra prediction block (S1604), Fig. 16], wherein the second prediction value is obtained based on a spatial neighboring sample mode [i.e. neighboring samples of a current processing block in intra-prediction mode, intra-planar mode; paragraph. 0144-0145, 0141];
obtaining update determining indication information of the target sample; and
in response to determining that the update determining indication information indicates to update the first prediction value of the target sample [i.e. materials to support this feature cannot be found from the specification or in the remarks] based on a weighted coefficient of the first prediction value and a weighted coefficient of the second prediction value, to obtain an updated prediction value of the target sample, [i.e. generate a joint an inter-intra prediction block by applying respective weights (S1605); paragraph. 2070-2071, 0306, 0309, Fig. 16].
Regarding claim 2, Heo et al. (US 20180249156 A1) discloses the following claim limitations as set forth in claim 1.
Furthermore, Heo et al. (US 20180249156 A1) discloses the claim limitations as follows:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the second prediction value is obtained using a planar intra prediction mode [i.e. intra-planar mode; paragraph. 0144-0145, 0141].
Regarding claim 4, Heo et al. (US 20180249156 A1) discloses the following claim limitations as set forth in claim 1.
Furthermore, Heo et al. (US 20180249156 A1) discloses the claim limitations as follows:
The method according to claim 1, wherein obtaining the first prediction value of the target sample comprises:
parsing a bitstream to obtain motion information of a to-be-processed picture block [i.e. derive motion information (S1601); Fig. 16]; and
performing motion compensation on the to-be-processed picture block based on the obtained motion information [i.e. generate a prediction block for the current process block based on the derived motion information (motion compensation); paragraph. 0192], to obtain a prediction block of the to-be-processed picture block, wherein the prediction block of the to-be-processed picture block comprises the first prediction value of the target sample [i.e. generate the inter prediction block (S1620); Fig. 16].
Regarding claim 5, Heo et al. (US 20180249156 A1) discloses the following claim limitations as set forth in claim 1.
Furthermore, Heo et al. (US 20180249156 A1) discloses the claim limitations as follows:
The method according to claim 1, wherein the updated prediction value of the target sample is obtained based on w1 * predP(xP, yP) and w2 * predPl(xP, yP) [i.e. equation 2; paragraph. 0309],
wherein (xP, yP) represents coordinates of the target sample, predP(xP, yP) represents the first prediction value, predPl(xP, yP) represents the second prediction value, w1 represents the weighted coefficient of the first prediction value, w2 represents the weighted coefficient of the second prediction value, w1 and w2 are preset constants, and w1 is unequal to w2 [i.e. paragraph. 0309-0315].
Regarding claim 8, Heo et al. (US 20180249156 A1) discloses the following claim limitations as set forth in claim 1.
Furthermore, Heo et al. (US 20180249156 A1) discloses the claim limitations as follows:
The method according to claim 1, wherein
the update determining indication information of the target sample is obtained by parsing a bitstream [i.e. once a new block is received, its target value is calculated; Fig. 1]; and
before performing the weighting calculation on the first prediction value and the second prediction value, the method further comprises:
determining whether the update determining indication information indicates to update the first prediction value of the target sample [i.e. calculate an inter prediction value of a block; Fig. 1].
Regarding claim 9, all the claim limitations which are set forth and rejected as per discussion for claim 1.
Regarding claim 10, all the claim limitations which are set forth and rejected as per discussion for claim 2.
Regarding claim 11, all the claim limitations which are set forth and rejected as per discussion for claim 4.
Regarding claim 12, all the claim limitations which are set forth and rejected as per discussion for claim 5.
Regarding claim 15, all the claim limitations which are set forth and rejected as per discussion for claim 8.
Regarding claim 16, all the claim limitations which are set forth and rejected as per discussion for claim 1.
Regarding claim 17, all the claim limitations which are set forth and rejected as per discussion for claim 2.
Regarding claim 18, all the claim limitations which are set forth and rejected as per discussion for claim 5.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3, 6-7, 13-14, 19-20 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.
New Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications form the examiner should be directed to Nam Pham, whose can be contacted by phone at (571)270-7352. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon—Thurs.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, CZEKAJ DAVID, can be reached on (571)272-7327.
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/NAM D PHAM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2487
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