DETAILED ACTION
1. This office action is in response to U.S. Patent Application No.: 18/977,533 filed on 12/11/2024 with effective filing date 10/27/2018. Claims 1-16 are pending.
Double Patenting
2. 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.
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3. Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1-12 of U.S. Patent No. 11388422 and claim 1-15 of U.S. Patent No. 11792410. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other.
Current Application
US 11388422
1. A method of coding implemented by an encoding device or a decoding device, comprising:
obtaining first indication information for a luma position (xCb+cbWidth/2, yCb+cbHeight/2) of a current coding block, wherein cbWidth represents a width of the current coding block in luma samples, cbHeight represents a height of the current coding block in the luma samples;
setting a value of a luma intra prediction mode associated with the current coding block to a first default value, when the first indication information indicates that a Matrix-based Intra Prediction (MIP) is applied for the luma samples at the luma position (xCb+cbWidth/2, yCb+cbHeight/2) and when dual-tree coding is enabled, wherein the first default value equals to a value of Planar mode;
and obtaining a value of a chroma intra prediction mode based on the value of the luma intra prediction mode of the current coding block.
1. A method of coding implemented by a decoding device or an encoding device, comprising:
obtaining indication information for a luma position (cbWidth/2, cbHeight/2) of a current coding block, relative to a top-left luma sample postion (xCb, yCb) of the current coding block, wherein cbWidth represents a width of the current coding block in a luma component, cbHeight represents a height of the current coding block in the luma component;
setting a value of a luma intra prediction mode associated with the current coding block to a first default value, when the indication information indicates that a Matrix-based Intra Prediction (MIP) is applied for the luma component at the luma position (cbWidth/2, cbHeight/2), relative to the top-left luma sample postion (xCb, yCb) of the current coding block;
and obtaining a value of a chroma intra prediction mode based on the value of the luma intra prediction mode of the current coding block.
8. A device for obtaining chroma intra prediction mode, comprising: one or more processors; and a computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processors and storing programming for execution by the processors, wherein the programming, when executed by the processors, configures the device to:
obtain first indication information for a luma position (xCb+cbWidth/2, yCb+cbHeight/2) of a current coding block, wherein cbWidth represents a width of the current coding block in luma samples, cbHeight represents a height of the current coding block in the luma samples; set a value of a luma intra prediction mode associated with the current coding block to a first default value, when the first indication information indicates that a Matrix-based Intra Prediction (MIP) is applied for the luma samples at the luma position (xCb+cbWidth/2, yCb+cbHeight/2) and when dual-tree coding is enabled, wherein the first default value equals to a value of Planar mode; and obtain a value of a chroma intra prediction mode based on the value of the luma intra prediction mode of the current coding block.
9. A device for obtaining chroma intra prediction mode, comprising: one or more processors; and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium coupled to the processors and storing programming for execution by the processors, wherein the programming, when executed by the processors, configures the device to:
obtain first indication information for a luma position (cbWidth/2, cbHeight/2) of a current coding block, relative to a top-left luma sample postion (xCb, yCb) of the current coding block, wherein cbWidth represents a width of the current coding block in a luma component, cbHeight represents a height of the current coding block in the luma component; set a value of a luma intra prediction mode associated with the current coding block to a first default value, when the first indication information indicates that a Matrix-based Intra Prediction, MIP, is applied for the luma component at the luma position (cbWidth/2, cbHeight/2), relative to the top-left luma sample postion (xCb, yCb) of the current coding block; obtain second indication information for the luma position (cbWidth/2, cbHeight/2) of the current coding block, when the first indication information indicates that the MIP is not applied for the luma component at the luma position (cbWidth/2, cbHeight/2), relative to the top-left luma sample postion (xCb, yCb) of the current coding block; set the value of the luma intra prediction mode associated with the current coding block to a second default value when the second indication information indicates that an Intra Block Copy, IBC, mode or palette mode is applied for the luma component at the luma position (cbWidth/2, cbHeight/2), relative to the top-left luma sample postion (xCb, yCb) of the current coding block; and obtain a value of a chroma intra prediction mode based on the value of the luma intra prediction mode of the current coding block.
15. A non-transitory storage medium, wherein the storage medium is configured to: store a bitstream, wherein the bitstream comprises first indication information for a luma position (xCb+cbWidth/2, yCb+cbHeight/2) of a current coding block, wherein cbWidth represents a width of the current coding block in luma samples, cbHeight represents a height of the current coding block in luma samples, wherein a value of a luma intra prediction mode associated with the current coding block is equal to a value of Planar mode, when the first indication information indicates that a Matrix-based Intra Prediction (MIP) is applied for the luma samples at the luma position (xCb+cbWidth/2, yCb+cbHeight/2) and when dual-tree coding is enabled; and wherein a value of a chroma intra prediction mode is obtained based on the value of the luma intra prediction mode of the current coding block.
Allowable Subject Matter
4. After analyzing the current application examiner concluded that the novelty of the current application involves obtaining indication information for a luma position of a current coding block, relative to a top-left luma sample position of the current coding block. A value of a luma intra prediction mode associated with the current coding block is set to a first default value, when the indication information indicates that a matrix-based intra prediction (MIP) is applied for the luma component at the luma position, relative to the top-left luma sample position of the current coding block. A value of a chroma intra prediction mode is obtained, based on the value of the luma intra prediction mode of the current coding block.
The prior art of record in particular, Son et al. US 2018/0241995 A1 in view of Deng et al. US 2021/0329248 A1 and Kim et al. WO 2020/222484 A1 does not disclose, with respect to claim 1, obtaining first indication information for a luma position (xCb+cbWidth/2, yCb+cbHeight/2) of a current coding block, wherein cbWidth represents a width of the current coding block in luma samples, cbHeight represents a height of the current coding block in the luma samples; setting a value of a luma intra prediction mode associated with the current coding block to a first default value, when the first indication information indicates that a Matrix-based Intra Prediction (MIP) is applied for the luma samples at the luma position (xCb+cbWidth/2, yCb+cbHeight/2) and when dual-tree coding is enabled, wherein the first default value equals to a value of Planar mode; and obtaining a value of a chroma intra prediction mode based on the value of the luma intra prediction mode of the current coding block as claimed.
Rather, Son et al. discloses the method involves obtaining information about a luma prediction mode of a current block and a chroma prediction mode from a bitstream. A luma intra prediction mode of the current block is drawn based on the information about the luma prediction mode. A chroma intra prediction mode of the current block is determined based on information about the luma intra prediction mode and chroma prediction mode. The luma or chroma intra prediction mode is determined as an intra prediction mode, which is lower than luma intra prediction mode of number among 27-34 burn intra prediction modes.
Similarly, Deng et al. discloses the method involves performing a first determination that a luma video block of a video is coded using a matrix based intra prediction (MIP) mode in which a prediction block of the luma video block is determined by performing a boundary downsampling operation, followed by a matrix vector multiplication operation, and selectively followed by an upsampling operation on previously coded samples of the video. A second determination about a chroma intra mode to be used for a chroma video block associated with the luma video block is performed based on the first determination. A conversion between the chroma video block and a bitstream representation of the chroma video block is performed based on the second determination.
Also Kim et al. discloses the video signal processing method involves deriving a chroma intra prediction mode to which the current chroma block is applied based on a luma intra prediction mode of a luma block corresponding to a current chroma block. A chroma prediction sample of the current chroma block is generated based on the chroma intra prediction mode, and reconstructed the current chroma block based on the chroma prediction sample. The luma intra prediction mode is a matrix-based intra prediction (MIP) on a luma block corresponding to the current chroma block. A luma prediction sample of the current luma block is generated by applying the MIP to the current luma block when the MIP mode is applied to the current luma block, and a residual block of the current luma block is generated by performing an inverse transform on the current luma block. The current luma block is reconstructed based on the luma prediction sample and a residual block of the current luma block.
The same reasoning applies to claims 9 & 15.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
5. Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 8-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter.
In regards to claims 8-14, the claims recite “a computer-readable storage medium” which appears to cover both transitory and non-transitory embodiments. This is broad and is open to many interpretations such as signal or software. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is required to give claims their broadest reasonable interpretation consistent with the specification during proceeding before the USPTO. See In re Zletz, 893 F.2d 319 (Fed. Cir. 1989) (during patent examination the pending claims must be interpreted as broadly as their terms reasonably allow). The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim drawn to a computer readable medium (also called machine readable medium and other such variations) in light of specification (para: 240 of PGPUB) covers both forms of non-transitory tangible media and transitory propagating signals per se. See MPEP 2111.01. When the broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim covers a signal per se, the claim must be rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 as covering non-statutory subject matter. See ln re Nuijten, 500 F.3d 1346, 1356-57 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (transitory embodiments are not directed to statutory subject matter) and Interim Examination Instructions for Evaluating Subject Matter Eligibility under 35 U.S.C. 101 Aug. 24 2009; p. 2.
Examiner suggests that the Applicant add the limitation “non-transitory” to the computer readable storage medium as recited in the claim(s) in order to properly render the claim(s) in statutory form in view of their broadest reasonable interpretation in light of the originally filed specification.
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zhang et al. US 2017/0366818 A1, e.g. a method for chroma Intra prediction allowing different chroma blocks in a coding unit to use separate chroma Intra prediction modes is disclosed. The method selects chroma Intra prediction modes for a first chroma block and one or more non-first chroma blocks in a current color block, where the first chroma block and at least one non-first chroma block use separate chroma Intra prediction modes.
Deng et al. US 2021/0329248 A1, e.g. devices, systems and methods for digital video coding, which includes matrix-based intra prediction methods for video coding, are described. In a representative aspect, a method for video processing includes performing a first determination that a luma video block of a video is coded using a matrix based intra prediction (MIP) mode in which a prediction block of the luma video block is determined by performing, on previously coded samples of the video, a boundary downsampling operation, followed by a matrix vector multiplication operation.
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/Irfan Habib/ Examiner, Art Unit 2485