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, 4, 8-9, and 12 have been amended. Claims 2-3, 10-11, and 17 have been added. Claims 19-24 have been added. Claims 1, 4-9, 12-16, and 18-24 are pending for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/20/2026 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, filed 08/03/2026, with respect to the rejections of claims 1, 4-9, 12-16 under 35 U.S.C. 102 & 35 U.S.C. 103 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 Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn.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 TERTEROV (US 20190246138 A1).
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, 4-9, 12-16, 18-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by TERTEROV (US 20190246138 A1).
Regarding claim 1, TERTEROV teaches a method for decoding comprising:
obtaining at least one characteristic of a current block comprising a current sample of a picture before a prediction to obtain the current block has started, the at least one characteristic of the current block comprising at least one of an information representative of a shape of the current block, a location of the current block, a sum of bits used to encode all components of the current block, or an information representative of a surface delimited by the current block (Fig. 3: pre processed video information. [0109] At block 306, the encoding complexity is estimated for one or more blocks in the given frame. Encoding complexity (also referred to as video complexity) can be estimated, for example, on a frame by frame basis. By one approach, for each frame a parameter frame_cost (also termed as frame cost) can be assigned. For example, frame_cost can be indicative of frame complexity and can be calculated as follows: First, each frame can be divided into blocks of 16×16 pixels);
determining parameters of a film grain synthesis process to be applied to the current sample from the at least one characteristic (determining (308) a filter strength parameter for the given frame at least based on the encoding complexity, [0108]);
storing the determined parameters with information representative of a location of the current sample (the grain removal activity can further comprise selecting at least one grain filter parameter from a look-up table as a function, at least in part, of grain variance of the video information [0063]... FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary linear model for determining the filter strength parameter based on encoding complexity (e.g., frame cost) as well as other parameters in accordance with certain embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter. For instance, obtaining such video characteristics as the desired bitrate b and the number of frames per second (i.e., frame rate), one can determine parameter bits_per_pixel=1000*b/(n*frame_width*frame_height). Then one can calculate the values zero_filtering_complexity 502 and max_filtering_complexity 504 depending on bits_per_pixel (using, for example, a lookup table).);
reconstructing the current sample (FIG. 7 illustrates an example of film grain filtration and reconstruction); and
applying the film grain synthesis process on the current sample with the determined parameters after reconstructing the current sample ([0135] FIG. 7 illustrates an example of film grain filtration and reconstruction in accordance with certain embodiments of the presently disclosed subject matter. The top frame is the original video frame, the middle frame is the filtered frame with film grain removed resulting from certain embodiments described with reference to FIG. 4, and the bottom frame is the reconstructed frame at the decoder side within which the film grain is restored, as described above.).
Regarding claim 4, TERTEROV teaches the method of claim 1, wherein responsive to the at least one characteristic of the current block comprising an information representative of a shape and a location of the current block, the parameters of a film grain synthesis process are a shape and a location of a block of film grain samples comprising a film grain sample to be applied to the current sample ([0109]-[0110] complexity is based on a 16x16 block shape and are position dependent).
Regarding claim 5, TERTEROV teaches the method of claim 1, wherein applying the film grain synthesis process to the current sample comprises adding a film grain value to a value of the current sample, and wherein the film grain value is obtained by weighting a value obtained using a film grain model by a first weighting factor depending on the value of the current sample or of an average value of samples of the current block ([0155] At block 410, temporal filtration is performed on the remaining frame area. According to certain embodiments, such temporal filtration can be performed by: calculating a filtered pixel value for each given pixel in the remaining frame area based on a weighted summation of pixel values of the given pixel in the remaining frame area and at least one corresponding pixel in at least one motion estimated frame of the given frame).
Regarding claim 6, TERTEROV teaches the method of claim 5, wherein responsive to the at least one characteristic of the current block comprising a sum of bits used to encode all components of the current block, the value obtained using a film grain model is further weighted by a second weighting factor depending on the sum of bits used to encode all components of the current block ([0113] For instance, obtaining such video characteristics as the desired bitrate b and the number of frames per second (i.e., frame rate), one can determine parameter bits_per_pixel=1000*b/(n*frame_width*frame_height). Then one can calculate the values zero_filtering_complexity 502 and max_filtering_complexity 504 depending on bits_per_pixel (using, for example, a lookup table).).
Regarding claim 7, TERTEROV teaches the method of claim 5, wherein responsive to the at least one characteristic of the current block comprising an information representative of a surface delimited by the current block, the value obtained using a film grain model is further weighted by a second weighting factor depending on the surface delimited by the current block ([0161 Flat area of a frame with film grain]).
Regarding claim 8, TERTEROV teaches the method of claim 5,wherein responsive to the at least one characteristic of the current block comprising an information indicating that a prediction residual of the current block comprises at least one non-zero transform coefficient, the value obtained using a film grain model is further weighted by a second weighting factor that depends on the information indicating that the prediction residual of the current block comprises at least one non-zero transform coefficient ( [0037] 7) The calculating an absolute summation can comprise: calculating difference values between pixels of the given frame and a motion-compensated frame thereof, giving rise to a residual frame; splitting the residual frame into a plurality of blocks; and calculating an absolute summation for each given block in the residual frame. [0038] 8) The absolute summation can be a sum of absolute difference values within the given block. [0039] 9) The absolute summation can be the absolute of sum of difference values within the given block. [0040] 10) The performing of spatial filtration can be further configured by setting one or more following parameters used in the spatial filtration: filter size, filter strength, and edge related parameters.).
Regarding claim 18, TERTEROV teaches a non-transitory information storage medium storing program code instructions for implementing the method according to claim 1 (The processor of control circuitry 102 can be configured to execute several functional modules in accordance with computer-readable instructions implemented on a non-transitory computer-readable memory comprised in the processing circuitry. [0068]).
Regarding claims 9 and 12-16, the device of claims 9 and 12-16 are rejected under the same arts and evidence used to reject the method of claims 1, 4-8 and 18.
Regarding claims 19-24, the non-transitory computer readable medium of claims 19-24 are rejected under the same arts and evidence used to reject the method of claims 1, 4-8 and 18.
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.
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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.
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/HESHAM K ABOUZAHRA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2486
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