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 .
Specification
The Abstract is objected to because it contains legal phraseology. The phrase, “[t]his application discloses […],” is legal phraseology requiring the reader to go into the specification for further detail. Correction is required. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
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 of this title, 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, 8-9 & 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chong et al. (US 2019/0373264 A1) (hereinafter Chong) in view of Shiodera et al. (US 2012/0121012 A1) (hereinafter Shiodera).
Regarding claim 1, Chong discloses an encoding method [Paragraph [0228], dedicated software modules or hardware modules configured for encoding], comprising:
inputting an image into an encoding network to obtain a feature map of the image [Paragraph [0061]-[0062], [0108], Fig. 3, 12A, input image 320, 1201, input into convolutional network and coding engine(s) to obtain feature maps 322 and 1203], wherein the feature map comprises a plurality of elements [Paragraph [0070]-[0080], Fig. 4A-5, feature maps containing elements]; and
performing variable-length code encoding on the first element [Paragraph [0187], the residual data can be stored as the compressed activation data 1236, without further compressing the residuals data using the compression engine 1234. Examples of coding techniques that can be applied by the compression engine 1234 include entropy coding (e.g., run-length coding with variable length codes (VLC)].
However, does not disclose determining a boundary value of a first element of the plurality of elements in the feature map; judging whether the first element is in a target range corresponding to the first element, wherein the target range is determined based on the boundary value of the first element; and in response to determining that the first element is in the target range corresponding to the first element, performing entropy encoding on the first element; or in response to determining that the first element is outside the target range corresponding to the first element, marking the first element as an out-of-bounds element.
Shiodera teaches determining a boundary value of a first element of the plurality of elements in the feature map [Paragraph [0108]-[0109], Determining coefficients as elements in the coefficient block as feature map, to determine bit length of 1 bit as boundary value];
judging whether the first element is in a target range corresponding to the first element, wherein the target range is determined based on the boundary value of the first element [Paragraph [0108]-[0109], Determining coefficients to be using first variable-length vs second variable-length based upon being more or less than bit length of 1 bit, as target range is between 0 to 1 bit]; and
in response to determining that the first element is in the target range corresponding to the first element, performing entropy encoding on the first element; or in response to determining that the first element is outside the target range corresponding to the first element, marking the first element as an out-of-bounds element and performing variable-length code encoding on the first element [Paragraph [0108]-[0118] & [0140]-[0154] & [0189]-[0219], Determining coefficients to be using first variable-length vs second variable-length based upon being more or less than bit length of 1 bit, wherein CodingMethodFlag marks whether coefficient is using first variable-length coding as entropy encoding, or second variable-length coding as variable-length code encoding].
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 method disclosed by Chong to integrate and implement the variable-length coding scheme in Shiodera as above, for the coding performance in arithmetic coding can be improved by applying the first variable-length coding unit 123 and the second variable-length coding unit 124 having different transition of context and switching therebetween by the switching unit 122 for each coefficient position (Shiodera, Paragraph [0158]). Furthermore one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that applying the known technique of Shiodera would have yielded predictable results and resulted in an improved method. It would have been recognized that applying the technique of Shiodera to the teachings of Chong would have yielded predictable results because the level of ordinary skill in the art demonstrated by the references applied shows the ability to incorporate such arithmetic entropy encoding methods into similar methods and systems. Further, applying variable-length coding schemes to Chong with feature maps generated accordingly, would have been recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art as resulting in an improved method that would allow more efficiently coded feature maps based upon the element values.
Regarding claim 2, Chong and Shiodera disclose the method according to claim 1, , and are analyzed as previously discussed with respect to the claim.
Furthermore, Shiodera teaches wherein marking the first element as the out-of-bounds element comprises: encoding, into a bitstream, flag information indicating that the first element is the out-of-bounds element [Paragraph [0108]-[0118] & [0140]-[0154] & [0189]-[0219], Determining coefficients to be using first variable-length vs second variable-length based upon being more or less than bit length of 1 bit, wherein CodingMethodFlag marks whether coefficient is using first variable-length coding as entropy encoding, or second variable-length coding as variable-length code encoding].
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 method disclosed by Chong to integrate and implement the variable-length coding scheme in Shiodera as above, for the coding performance in arithmetic coding can be improved by applying the first variable-length coding unit 123 and the second variable-length coding unit 124 having different transition of context and switching therebetween by the switching unit 122 for each coefficient position (Shiodera, Paragraph [0158]). Furthermore one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that applying the known technique of Shiodera would have yielded predictable results and resulted in an improved method. It would have been recognized that applying the technique of Shiodera to the teachings of Chong would have yielded predictable results because the level of ordinary skill in the art demonstrated by the references applied shows the ability to incorporate such arithmetic entropy encoding methods into similar methods and systems. Further, applying variable-length coding schemes to Chong with feature maps generated accordingly, would have been recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art as resulting in an improved method that would allow more efficiently coded feature maps based upon the element values.
Regarding claim 8-9, claims (8-9) are drawn to a decoding method having limitations similar to the encoding method of using the same as claimed in claims (1-2) treated in the above rejection. Therefore, method claims (8-8) correspond to method claims (1-2) and are rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used above.
Furthermore, Chong discloses of a decoding method [Paragraph [0189]-[0208], Fig. 12B decompression engine 1238].
Regarding claims (15-16), decoder claim (15-16) is drawn to the decoder using/performing the same method as claimed in claims (8-9). Therefore decoder claims (15-16) corresponds to method claims (8-9), and is rejected for the same reasons of obviousness as used above.
Further Chong discloses a decoder, comprising: one or more processors; and a computer-readable storage medium coupled to the one or more processors [Paragraphs [0006]-[0007] & [0219]-[0222], one or more microprocessors, executing code that may be stored on a computer-readable or machine-readable storage medium, for example, in the form of a computer program comprising a plurality of instructions executable by one or more processors. The computer-readable or machine-readable storage medium may be non-transitory]
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-7, 10-15 & 18-20 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:
The various claimed limitations mentioned in the claims are not taught or suggested by the prior art taken either singly or in combination, with emphasize that it is each claim, taken as a whole, including the interrelationships and interconnections between various claimed elements make them allowable over the prior art of record.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DANIEL CHANG whose telephone number is (571)272-5707. The examiner can normally be reached M-Sa, 12PM - 10 PM.
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/DANIEL CHANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2487
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