DETAILED ACTION
1. This communication is being filed in response to the submission having a mailing date
of (01/15/2025) in which a (3) month Shortened Statutory Period for Response has been set.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
2. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the
first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Acknowledgements
3. Upon initial entry, three (3) parallel running independent claims (1 -3) appear pending on this application.
Information Disclosure Statement
4. The Information Disclosure Statement (IDS) that was/were submitted on (01/15/2025) is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the IDS has/have been considered by the examiner.
Specification
5. 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.
Drawings
6. The submitted Drawings on date (01/15/2025) has been accepted and considered under the 37 CFR 1.121 (d).
Claim rejection section
Double Patenting
7. 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 obviousness-type 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); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
7.1. 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 a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
7.2. Individuals associated with the filing and prosecution of the instant patent application have a duty to disclose information within their knowledge as to other copending United States applications which are "material to patentability" of the application in question. See MPEP §2001.06(b) for more details.
7.3. The three (3) parallel running independent claims (1 -3) in the instant Application 19/021,693, directed to: Device, CRM and Methodology of the same, employing MV refinement and correction in the process …; being rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obvious-type double patenting as being unpatentable over the analogous Claims of parent Appls. 18/180,041 (now US 12,137,210 B2; 17/437,991 (now US 11,627,311 B2). Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other, because the claims use similar scope of the invention, and/or similar variations of the same claim language.
Instant Appl.
19/021,693
Reference: 18/180,041
(now US 12,137,210 B2
Reference: 17/437,991
(now US 11,627,311 B2)
Claim 1. An image decoding device, comprising:
a motion vector decoding unit that decodes a motion vector from encoded data;
a refinement unit that performs refinement processing to correct the decoded motion vector, wherein the refinement processing comprises: performing a search with integer pixel precision using a search image generated from information of the motion vector;
determining a corrected motion vector at integer pixel interval positions through the search;
and performing a motion vector search using non-integer pixel precision, and
a predictive signal generation unit that generates a predictive signal on the basis of the corrected motion vector outputted from the refinement unit, wherein the predictive signal generation unit determines whether or not to perform BDOF processing for each sub-block to which the refinement processing is to be performed, on the basis of information calculated in the course of the refinement processing, the sub-block is generated by splitting a block, the predictive signal generation unit determines, for each of the sub-blocks, that the BDOF processing is not to be performed when a minimum search cost of the refinement processing is less than or equal to a predefined threshold value, the predictive signal generation unit provides a decoded image, and the refinement unit performs the refinement processing for each sub-block.
Claim 2. An image decoding method, comprising the steps of:(A) decoding a motion vector from encoded data;(B) performing refinement processing to correct the decoded motion vector, wherein the refinement processing comprises: performing a search with integer pixel precision using a search image generated from information of the motion vector; determining a corrected motion vector at integer pixel interval positions through the search; and performing a motion vector search using non-integer pixel precision, and(C) generating a predictive signal on the basis of the corrected motion vector outputted from the refinement unit, wherein it is determined in the step (C), for each sub-block to which the refinement processing is to be performed, whether or not to perform BDOF processing, on the basis of information calculated in the course of the refinement processing, the sub-block is generated by splitting a block, it is determined in the step (C), for each sub-block, that the BDOF processing is not to be performed when a minimum search cost of the refinement processing is less than or equal to a predefined threshold value, the predictive signal is a decoded image, and in the step (B), the refinement processing is performed for each sub-block.
Claim 3. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions comprising executable code, which when executed by at least one processor, cause a computer to execute the steps of:(A) decoding a motion vector from encoded data;(B) performing refinement processing to correct the decoded motion vector, wherein the refinement processing comprises: performing a search with integer pixel precision using a search image generated from information of the motion vector; determining a corrected motion vector at integer pixel interval positions through the search; and performing a motion vector search using non-integer pixel precision, and(C) generating a predictive signal on the basis of the corrected motion vector outputted from the refinement unit, wherein it is determined in step (C), for each sub-block to which the refinement processing is to be performed, whether or not to perform BDOF processing, on the basis of information calculated in the course of the refinement processing, the sub-block is generated by splitting a block, it is determined in the step (C), for each sub-block, that the BDOF processing is not to be performed when a minimum search cost of the refinement processing is less than or equal to a predefined threshold value, the predictive signal is a decoded image, and the refinement unit performs the refinement processing for each sub-block.
Claim 1. An image decoding device, comprising:
a motion vector decoding unit that decodes a motion vector from encoded data;
a refinement unit that performs refinement processing to correct the decoded motion vector, wherein the refinement processing comprises: performing a search with integer pixel precision using a search image generated from information of the motion vector;
determining a corrected motion vector at integer pixel interval positions through the search;
and performing a motion vector search using non-integer pixel precision, and
a predictive signal generation unit that generates a predictive signal on the basis of the corrected motion vector outputted from the refinement unit, wherein the predictive signal generation unit determines whether or not to perform BDOF processing for each sub-block to which the refinement processing is to be performed, on the basis of information calculated in the course of the refinement processing,
the sub-block is generated by splitting a block, the predictive signal generation unit determines, for each of the sub- blocks, that the BDOF processing is not to be performed when a minimum search cost of the refinement processing is less than or equal to a predefined threshold value, and the predictive signal generation unit provides a decoded image.
Claim 1. An image decoding device, comprising:
a motion vector decoding unit that decodes a motion vector from encoded data;
a refinement unit that performs refinement processing to correct the decoded motion vector, wherein the refinement processing comprises: performing a search with integer pixel precision using a search image generated from information of the motion vector;
determining a corrected motion vector at integer pixel interval positions through the search;
and performing a motion vector search using non-integer pixel precision; and
a predictive signal generation unit that generates a predictive signal on the basis of the corrected motion vector outputted from the refinement unit, wherein the predictive signal generation unit determines whether or not to perform BDOF processing for each block to which the refinement processing is to be performed,
on the basis of information calculated in the course of the refinement processing, the predictive signal generation unit determines, for each of the blocks, that the BDOF processing is not to be performed when a minimum search cost of the refinement processing is less than or equal to a predefined threshold value, and the predictive signal generation unit provides a decoded image.
7.4. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, at the time the invention was made/filed, to combine the instant 19/021,693 with the cited above reference(s) because although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other, the claim language uses similar scope of the invention, and/or a similar variation of the same claim language.
Claim Objection section
8. The three parallel running independent claims (1 -3) are objected to, because of the judicially created Double patent doctrine, as rejected in section (7) above, but they may be considered for allowance if properly rewritten, and/or if a Terminal Disclaimer is timely filed, in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d).
Prior Art Citations
9. The following List of prior art, made of record and not relied upon, is/are considered
pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
9.1. Patent Literature:
US 10,798,385 B2 Lee; et al. H04N19/105; H04N19/159; H04N19/176;
US 11,889,099 B2 Chen; et al. H04N19/159; H04N19/105; H04N19/132;
US 11,627,311 B2 Unno; et al. H04N19/577; H04N19/513; H04N19/521;
US 12,137,210 B2 Unno; et al. H04N19/537; H04N19/176; H04N19/513;
9.2. Non-Patent Literature:
_ Bi-Directional Optical flow for Improving Motion Compensation; Alshin - 2010.
_ Bi-directional Optical Flow for Inter-layer Texture Prediction; Alshin et al. - 2013.
_ Complexity reduction and bit-width control for bi-directional optical flow; Oct-2018.
_ Co-existing analysis for DMVR with BDOF; Jan-2019.
CONCLUSIONS
10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LUIS PEREZ-FUENTES (luis.perez-fuentes@uspto.gov) whose telephone number is (571) 270 -1168. The examiner can be normally be reached on Monday-Friday 8am-5pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, WILLIAM VAUGHN can be reached on (571) 272-3922. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 272 -3922. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published Applic. may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call (800) 786 -9199 (USA OR CANADA) or (571) 272 -1000.
/LUIS PEREZ-FUENTES/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2481.