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 .
DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the application 19/004,033 filed on 04/16/2026.
In the instant Amendment, claims 7 and 19 have been amended.
Claims 1 – 20 have been examined and are pending in this application. This action is made Final.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/27/2024 and 05/20/2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 04/16/2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
Applicants argued (page11 of remarks) that Du and Wang either taken alone or combination fails to teach newly added limitation, “obtaining, by the decoder, a filtered motion compensated chroma sample based on the adaptive cross-component filter, the motion compensated chroma sample, and the plurality of motion compensated luma samples”
Applicant's interpretation has been noted; however, Examiner respectfully disagrees with Applicants. Examiner respectfully submits that Du and Wang, by combining these references, as shown in the rejected paragraphs (below), an ordinary skilled person in the art can modify the DU or Wang reference to apply filters on the motion compensated chroma sample based on the adaptive cross-component filter, the motion compensated chroma sample, and the plurality of motion compensated luma samples.
Applicant’s arguments regarding dependent claims have been fully considered but they are not persuasive because of combination of references included the features as explained in all independent claims 1, 7, 13, 19 and 20.
Therefore, in view of above reason, examiner maintains rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(B) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 20 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 20 recites “A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for storing a bitstream generated by the method in claim 7”. Claim 20 is directed to a computer-readable storage medium storing a bitstream clauses that appear to describe how the bitstream is processed or generated. These elements or steps are not performed by an intended computer, and the bitstream is not a form of programming that causes functions to be performed by an intended computer. This shows that the computer-readable medium merely serves as support for storing the bitstream and provides no functional relationship between the steps/elements that describe the generation of the bitstream and intended computer system. Therefore, those claim elements are not given patentable weight. Patentable weight is given to data stored on a computer-readable medium when there exists a functional relationship between the data and its associated substrate. See MPEP 2111.05 III. For example, if a claim is drawn to a computer-readable medium containing programming/ instructions, a functional relationship exists if the programming “performs some function with respect to the computer with which it is associated.” However, if the claim recites that the computer-readable medium merely serves as a storage for information or data that is not meant for being executed, no functional relationship exists and the information or data is not given patentable weight.
The Examiner suggests that the claim be amended so that it is directed to a functional relationship. For example, in this particular case, the claim should instead be recited as “A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program and bitstream, wherein when executed by a processor, the computer program causes the processor to process the bitstream generated by the method in claim 7”.
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.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being by Du et al. (US 2021/0250597 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Du discloses: “a method for decoding an inter coding block [see para: 0006; A video encoder and decoder can utilize techniques from several broad categories, including, for example, motion compensation, transform, quantization, and entropy coding], comprising:
obtaining, by a decoder, a motion compensated chroma sample and a plurality of motion compensated luma samples for a current inter coding block [see para: 0164; FIGS. 18A-18B show exemplary locations of chroma samples relative to luma samples according to embodiments of the disclosure. Referring to FIG. 18A, the luma samples (1801) are located in rows (1811)-(1818). The luma samples (1801) shown in FIG. 18A can represent a portion of a picture. In an example, a luma block (e.g., a luma CB) includes the luma samples (1801). The luma block can correspond to two chroma blocks having the chroma subsampling format of 4:2:0. In an example, each chroma block includes chroma samples (1803). Each chroma sample (e.g., the chroma sample (1803(1)) corresponds to four luma samples (e.g., the luma samples (1801(1))-(1801(4))];
obtaining, by the decoder, an adaptive cross-component filter [see para: 0219; The filter can be any suitable filter, such as cross component filter (CCF), adaptive loop filter (ALF), loop restoration filter, in loop constrained directional enhanced filter (CDEF), and the like]; and
obtaining, by the decoder, a filtered [see para: 0024; In some embodiments, the filter is a cross component filter] motion compensated chroma sample based on the adaptive cross-component filter [see para: 0153; A cross-component filtering process can apply cross-component filters, such as cross-component adaptive loop filters (CC-ALFs)], the motion compensated chroma sample, and the plurality of motion compensated luma samples [see para: 0165; In an example, each chroma block includes chroma samples (1804). The above description with reference to the chroma samples (1803) can be adapted to the chroma samples (1804), and thus detailed descriptions can be omitted for purposes of brevity. Each of the chroma samples (1804) can be located at a center position of four corresponding luma samples, and a chroma sample type of the chroma block having the chroma samples (1804) can be referred to as a chroma sample type 1. The chroma sample type 1 indicates a relative position 1 corresponding to the center position of the four luma samples (e.g., (1801(1))-(1801(4))). For example, one of the chroma samples (1804) can be located at a center portion of the luma samples (1801(1))-(1801(4)); Para: 0166].
Regarding claim 2, Du discloses: “wherein the obtaining, by the decoder, the adaptive cross-component filter comprises: deriving, by the decoder, the adaptive cross-component filter based on neighboring reconstructed luma samples, neighboring reconstructed chroma samples, and motion information of the current inter coding block [Du see para: 0132; The bit depth B can refer to an internal bit depth, a bit depth of reconstructed samples in a CB to be filtered, or the like. In some examples, a table (e.g., a luma table, a chroma table) is obtained using Eq. (12).
AlfClip={round(2BN-n+1N)forn∈[1…N]},Eq.(12)
where AlfClip is the clipping value, B is the bit depth (e.g., bitDepth), N (e.g., N=4) is a number of allowed clipping values, and (n−1) is the clipping value index (also referred to as clipping index or clipIdx). Table 2 shows an example of a table obtained using Eq. (12) with N=4. The clipping index (n−1) can be 0, 1, 2, and 3 in Table 2, and n can be 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Table 2 can be used for luma blocks or chroma blocks].
Regarding claim 5, Du discloses: “wherein the obtaining, by the decoder, the adaptive cross-component filter comprises: receiving, by the decoder, one or more filter coefficients of the adaptive cross-component filter signaled by an encoder, wherein the one or more filter coefficients are signaled at a specific level, wherein the specific level comprises one of following levels: a sequence level, a picture level, or a block level [see para: 0133; In a slice header for a current slice, one or more APS indices (e.g., up to 7 APS indices) can be signaled to specify luma filter sets that can be used for the current slice. The filtering process can be controlled at one or more suitable levels, such as a picture level, a slice level, a CTB level, and/or the like].
Regarding claim 7, 13, 19 and 20, claim 7 is rejected under the same art and evidentiary limitations as determined for the method of claim 1.
Regarding claim 8 and 14, claim 8 and 14 is rejected under the same art and evidentiary limitations as determined for the method of claim 2.
Regarding claim 11 and 17, claim 11 is rejected under the same art and evidentiary limitations as determined for the method of claim 5.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
Claim 3, 4, 6, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16 and 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Du et al. (US 2021/0250597 A1) in view of Wang et al. (WO 2021127534 A1).
Regarding claim 3, Du disclose all the limitation of claim 2 and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to that claim.
Du does not explicitly disclose: “wherein the deriving, by the decoder, the adaptive cross-component filter based on the neighboring reconstructed luma samples, the neighboring reconstructed chroma samples, and the motion information of the current inter coding block comprises:
obtaining, by the decoder, a plurality of motion compensated luma samples of the neighboring reconstructed luma samples and a plurality of motion compensated chroma samples of the neighboring reconstructed chroma samples based on the motion information of the current inter coding block, wherein the neighboring reconstructed luma samples and a corresponding neighboring reconstructed chroma sample are located in a pre-defined neighboring region;
obtaining, by the decoder, an output neighboring chroma sample based on the adaptive cross-component filter, the plurality of motion compensated luma samples of the neighboring reconstructed luma samples, and the plurality of motion compensated chroma samples of the neighboring reconstructed chroma samples; and
deriving, by the decoder, one or more filter coefficients for the adaptive cross-component filter by minimizing difference between the output neighboring chroma sample and the corresponding neighboring reconstructed chroma sample”.
However, Wang, from the same or similar field of endeavor teaches: “wherein the deriving, by the decoder, the adaptive cross-component filter based on the neighboring reconstructed luma samples, the neighboring reconstructed chroma samples, and the motion information of the current inter coding block comprises:
obtaining, by the decoder, a plurality of motion compensated luma samples of the neighboring reconstructed luma samples and a plurality of motion compensated chroma samples of the neighboring reconstructed chroma samples based on the motion information of the current inter coding block, wherein the neighboring reconstructed luma samples and a corresponding neighboring reconstructed chroma sample are located in a pre-defined neighboring region [see para: 0091; Referring to FIG. 6B, in some embodiments, each pixel group 506 has a predefined shape (e.g., a hexagon) that is symmetric with respect to two orthogonal axes 622 and 624 passing a center 626 of the predefined shape. In accordance with the predefined anchoring rule, the anchor luma sample 620 for each pixel group 506 is selected from the set of luma samples 502 and has the closest distance to a center of the respective pixel group than a remainder of the set of luma samples 502. The anchor luma sample 620 is one of two luma samples 502A-2 and 502B-1 that are fully enclosed in the hexagon in Figure 6B. Alternatively, in some embodiments, in accordance with the predefined anchoring rule, the anchor luma sample 620 for each chroma sample is distinct from the set of luma samples 502, and the anchor luminance value of the anchor luma sample 620 is an average of the luminance values of two or more luma samples 502 in the pixel group 506];
obtaining, by the decoder, an output neighboring chroma sample based on the adaptive cross-component filter, the plurality of motion compensated luma samples of the neighboring reconstructed luma samples, and the plurality of motion compensated chroma samples of the neighboring reconstructed chroma samples [see para: 0088; In some embodiments, the cross component filter 602 includes a first cross component filter 602A and a second cross component filter 602 configured to generate a first refinement value 604 A and a second refinement value 604B. Each chroma sample 504 includes a blue-difference chroma component 608 A and a red-difference chroma component 608B that are separately updated using the first and second refinement values 604A and 604B to output a first refined chrominance value 606A and a second refined chrominance value 606B, respectively]; and
deriving, by the decoder, one or more filter coefficients for the adaptive cross-component filter by minimizing difference between the output neighboring chroma sample and the corresponding neighboring reconstructed chroma sample [see para: 0088; After video encoder 20 generates predictive luma, Cb, and Cr blocks for one or more PUs of a CU, video encoder 20 may generate a luma residual block for the CU by subtracting the CU’s predictive luma blocks from its original luma coding block such that each sample in the CU’s luma residual block indicates a difference between a luma sample in one of the CU's predictive luma blocks and a corresponding sample in the CU's original luma coding block. Similarly, video encoder 20 may generate a Cb residual block and a Cr residual block for the CU, respectively, such that each sample in the CU's Cb residual block indicates a difference between a Cb sample in one of the CU's predictive Cb blocks and a corresponding sample in the CU's original Cb coding block and each sample in the CU's Cr residual block may indicate a difference between a Cr sample in one of the CU's predictive Cr blocks and a corresponding sample in the CU's original Cr coding block].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the cross-component filtering system disclosed by Du to add the teachings of Wang as above, in order to provide a means for improving chroma refinement process by obtaining plurality of motion compensated chroma and luma samples of the neighboring reconstructed luma samples of the current inter coding block and obtaining an output neighboring chroma sample based on the adaptive cross-component filter, the plurality of motion compensated chroma and luma samples of the neighboring reconstructed luma samples, and deriving, one or more filter coefficients for the adaptive cross-component filter by reducing difference between the output neighboring chroma sample and the corresponding neighboring reconstructed chroma sample [Wang see para: 0091; 0088].
Regarding claim 4, Du disclose all the limitation of claim 2 and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to that claim.
Du does not explicitly disclose: “wherein the obtaining, by the decoder, the output neighboring chroma sample based on the adaptive cross-component filter, the plurality of motion compensated luma samples of the neighboring reconstructed luma samples, and the plurality of motion compensated chroma samples of the neighboring reconstructed chroma samples comprises:
obtaining, by the decoder, a chroma refinement by applying the adaptive cross-component filter to the plurality of motion compensated luma samples of the neighboring reconstructed luma samples; and
obtaining, by the decoder, the output neighboring chroma sample based on the chroma refinement and the plurality of motion compensated chroma samples of the neighboring reconstructed chroma samples”.
However, Wang, from the same or similar field of endeavor teaches: “wherein the obtaining, by the decoder, the output neighboring chroma sample based on the adaptive cross-component filter, the plurality of motion compensated luma samples of the neighboring reconstructed luma samples, and the plurality of motion compensated chroma samples of the neighboring reconstructed chroma samples comprises:
obtaining, by the decoder, a chroma refinement by applying the adaptive cross-component filter to the plurality of motion compensated luma samples of the neighboring reconstructed luma samples [see para: 0086; The cross component filter 602 is configured to generate a chroma refinement value 604 for the respective chroma sample 504 based on the set of luma samples 502. The respective chroma sample 504 is then updated using the chroma refinement value 604, i.e., a chrominance value of the respective chroma sample 504 is refined with the chroma refinement value 604. And para: 0082; In video encoding or encoding, each of the luma samples 502 and chroma samples 504 are reconstructed from residual blocks of the video frame 500 and filtered by a deblocking filter, an SAO filter, and an ALF filter of an in-loop filter 66 or 94 to remove artifacts]; and
obtaining, by the decoder, the output neighboring chroma sample based on the chroma refinement and the plurality of motion compensated chroma samples of the neighboring reconstructed chroma samples [see para: 0088; In some embodiments, the cross component filter 602 includes a first cross component filter 602A and a second cross component filter 602 configured to generate a first refinement value 604 A and a second refinement value 604B. Each chroma sample 504 includes a blue-difference chroma component 608 A and a red-difference chroma component 608B that are separately updated using the first and second refinement values 604A and 604B to output a first refined chrominance value 606A and a second refined chrominance value 606B, respectively].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the cross-component filtering system disclosed by Du to add the teachings of Wang as above, in order to provide a means for improving chroma refinement process by applying the adaptive cross-component filter to the motion compensated luma samples of the current inter coding block and obtaining the filtered motion compensated chroma sample based on the chroma refinement and motion compensated chroma sample of the current inter coding block. As discussed above, the cross component filter generates a chroma refinement value for the respective chroma sample based on the set of luma samples and each of the luma samples and chroma samples are reconstructed from residual blocks of the video frame and filtered by a deblocking filter, or an SAO filter, and an ALF filter [Wang see para: 0086; 0082].
Regarding claim 6, Du disclose all the limitation of claim 1 and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to that claim.
Du does not explicitly disclose: “wherein the obtaining, by the decoder, the filtered motion compensated chroma sample based on the adaptive cross-component filter, the motion compensated chroma sample, and the plurality of motion compensated luma samples comprises:
obtaining, by the decoder, a chroma refinement by applying the adaptive cross-component filter to the plurality of motion compensated luma samples of the current inter coding block; and
obtaining, by the decoder, the filtered motion compensated chroma sample based on the chroma refinement and the motion compensated chroma sample of the current inter coding block”.
However, Wang, from the same or similar field of endeavor teaches: “wherein the obtaining, by the decoder, the filtered motion compensated chroma sample based on the adaptive cross-component filter, the motion compensated chroma sample, and the plurality of motion compensated luma samples comprises:
obtaining, by the decoder, a chroma refinement by applying the adaptive cross-component filter to the plurality of motion compensated luma samples of the current inter coding block [see para: 0086; The cross component filter 602 is configured to generate a chroma refinement value 604 for the respective chroma sample 504 based on the set of luma samples 502. The respective chroma sample 504 is then updated using the chroma refinement value 604, i.e., a chrominance value of the respective chroma sample 504 is refined with the chroma refinement value 604]; and
obtaining, by the decoder, the filtered motion compensated chroma sample based on the chroma refinement and the motion compensated chroma sample of the current inter coding block [see para: 0051; As noted above, motion compensation unit 44 may generate a motion compensated predictive block from one or more reference blocks of the frames stored in DPB 64. Motion compensation unit 44 may also apply one or more interpolation filters to the predictive block to calculate sub-integer pixel values for use in motion estimation. And see para: 0089; The in-loop filter 600 further includes sample adaptive offset (SAO) filters 610 and adaptive loop filters (ALF) 612 coupled to the SAO filters 610. Before the set of luma samples 502 are applied to generate the chroma refinement value 604 for each chroma sample 504, the SAO filters 610 compensates each of the plurality of luma samples 502 and the plurality of chroma samples 504].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the cross-component filteringsystem disclosed by Du to add the teachings of Wang as above, in order to provide a means for improving chroma refinement process by applying the adaptive cross-component filter to the motion compensated luma samples of the current inter coding block and obtaining the filtered motion compensated chroma sample based on the chroma refinement and motion compensated chroma sample of the current inter coding block. As discussed above, the cross component filter generates a chroma refinement value for the respective chroma sample based on the set of luma samples and motion compensation unit generate a motion compensated predictive block from one or more reference blocks of the frames [Wang see para: 0086; 0051].
Regarding claim 9 and 15, claim 9 and 15 is rejected under the same art and evidentiary limitations as determined for the method of claim 3.
Regarding claim 10, 16, claim 10, 16 is rejected under the same art and evidentiary limitations as determined for the method of claim 4.
Regarding claim 12, 18, claim 12 and 18 is rejected under the same art and evidentiary limitations as determined for the method of claim 6.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Zhang et al (US 2022/0272348 A1)
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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 Masum Billah whose telephone number is (571)270-0701. The examiner can normally be reached Mon - Friday 9 - 5 PM ET.
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/MASUM BILLAH/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2486
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