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, 6, 10-12, and 17-20 have been amended.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 3/30/2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1-2, 20 under 35 U.S.C. 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of CHUANG (US 20170374369 A1).
Applicant’s arguments, filed 3/30/2026, with respect to the rejection of claim 18 under 35 U.S.C. 102 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of claim 18 has been withdrawn.
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 1-2, 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over TSAI (US 20250254292 A1) in view of CHUANG (US 20170374369 A1).
Regarding claim 1, TSAI teaches a video processing method, performed by a computer device, the method comprising:
performing decoder-side intra mode derivation processing on a current block in a video bitstream, to obtain a decoder-side intra mode derivation result for the current block ([0014] an initial intra prediction mode derived using DIMD (Decoder Side Intra Mode Derivation).),
the video bitstream comprising correction indication information for the decoder-side intra mode derivation for the current block ([0014] One or more syntaxes associated with a delta angle are signalled in the bitstream or parsing from the bitstream. Examiner note: delta angle is mapped to correction information), and
the current block being a coding unit in the video bitstream for decoding processing (The current block is encoded or decoded using a final intra prediction mode [0014]);
correcting the decoder-side intra mode derivation result for the current block according to the correction indication information ([0014] The current block is encoded or decoded using a final intra prediction mode, wherein the delta angle corresponds to a difference between the final intra prediction mode and the initial intra prediction mode.); and
predicting an intra prediction mode of the current block based on a corrected decoder-side intra mode derivation result, to obtain a predicted value for the current block, the predicted value for the current block being for reconstructing a decoded image corresponding to the current block (The current block is encoded or decoded using a final intra prediction mode, wherein the delta angle corresponds to a difference between the final intra prediction mode and the initial intra prediction mode. [0014]).
TSAI does not explicitly disclose the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, CHUANG teaches the decoder-side intra mode derivation result for the current block comprising a derivation mode of the decoder-side intra mode derivation, the derivation mode of the decoder-side intra mode derivation comprises at least one of:
two luminance derivation modes of the decoder-side intra mode derivation,
a luminance derivation mode of the decoder-side intra mode derivation and a chrominance derivation mode of the decoder-side intra mode derivation, or
a mode index (Note on interpretation: “at least one of” as recited in the amended claim only requires one element to be taught by the prior art. CHUANG in [0063] teaches DIMD with a mode index)
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 CHUANG and apply them to TSAI. One would be motivated as such to refine a coarse grain intra prediction mode
Regarding claim 2, TSAI in view of CHUANG teaches the method according to claim 1. TSAI teaches wherein the correction indication information comprises a correction flag bit, the correction flag bit being for indicating whether the decoder-side intra mode derivation result for the current block needs to be corrected ( a delta angle between a final intra prediction mode and a DIMD derived mode is signalled or parsed.); and
the decoder-side intra mode derivation result for the current block is to be corrected when the correction flag bit is a first preset value, and the decoder-side intra mode derivation result for the current block is not to be corrected when the correction flag bit is a second preset value (One or more syntaxes associated with a delta angle are signalled or parsed from a bitstream in step 1530. [0121] a flag is used to indicate if DIMD is used to derive the final intra angular mode. [0111]),
the correction flag bit being set in a related syntactic element of the current block ((One or more syntaxes associated with a delta angle are signalled or parsed from a bitstream in step 1530. [0121])).
Regarding claim 20, TSAI teaches a video processing apparatus, comprising:
a memory operable to store computer-readable instructions ([0125]); and
a processor circuitry operable to read the computer-readable instructions, the processor circuitry when executing the computer-readable instructions (a number of functions to be performed by a computer processor, a digital signal processor, a microprocessor [0125]) is configured to:
perform decoder-side intra mode derivation processing on a current block in a video bitstream, to obtain a decoder-side intra mode derivation result for the current block ([0014] an initial intra prediction mode derived using DIMD (Decoder Side Intra Mode Derivation).),
the video bitstream comprising correction indication information for the decoder-side intra mode derivation for the current block ([0014] One or more syntaxes associated with a delta angle are signalled in the bitstream or parsing from the bitstream. Examiner note: delta angle is mapped to correction information), and
the current block being a coding unit in the video bitstream for decoding processing (The current block is encoded or decoded using a final intra prediction mode [0014]);
correct the decoder-side intra mode derivation result for the current block according to the correction indication information ([0014] The current block is encoded or decoded using a final intra prediction mode, wherein the delta angle corresponds to a difference between the final intra prediction mode and the initial intra prediction mode.); and
predict an intra prediction mode of the current block based on a corrected decoder-side intra mode derivation result, to obtain a predicted value for the current block, the predicted value for the current block being for reconstructing a decoded image corresponding to the current block (The current block is encoded or decoded using a final intra prediction mode, wherein the delta angle corresponds to a difference between the final intra prediction mode and the initial intra prediction mode. [0014]).
TSAI does not explicitly disclose the following limitations, however, in an analogous art, CHUANG teaches the decoder-side intra mode derivation result for the current block comprising a derivation mode of the decoder-side intra mode derivation, the derivation mode of the decoder-side intra mode derivation comprises at least one of:
two luminance derivation modes of the decoder-side intra mode derivation,
a luminance derivation mode of the decoder-side intra mode derivation and a chrominance derivation mode of the decoder-side intra mode derivation, or
a mode index (Note on interpretation: “at least one of” as recited in the amended claim only requires one element to be taught by the prior art. CHUANG in [0063] teaches DIMD with a mode index)
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 CHUANG and apply them to TSAI. One would be motivated as such to refine a coarse grain intra prediction mode.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 18-19 allowed.
Claims 3-17 are 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:
Prior art defines a more general post DIMD modification to improve the DIMD prediction accuracy. Instant claims 3-17 and 19 define correction indication information not taught by the prior art.
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 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.
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, 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.
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.
/HESHAM K ABOUZAHRA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2486
Prosecution Insights