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 .
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-2, 4-5, 7-8, 14 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jhang et al. (US 20200104623 A1) in view of Kalva et al. (US 20250324067 A1).
Concerning claim 1, Jhang et al. (hereinafter Jhang) teaches method of video decoding, comprising:
receiving a coded video bitstream comprising at least coded information of a current picture, the current picture comprising at least a first block that satisfies an overlapping requirement with a region of interest (ROI), the overlapping requirement requiring an overlapping to the ROI to be less than a threshold (¶¶0029-0034: determining the ROI status of a block based on coverage by a spatially corresponding first block; fig. 3: steps 302-304);
determining the ROI based on the coded information of the current picture (fig. 2; ¶¶0029-0034);
determining that the first block satisfies the overlapping requirement based on the ROI (¶¶0029-0034: determining the ROI status of a block based on coverage by a spatially corresponding first block; fig. 3: steps 302-304). Not explicitly taught is the method obtaining at least a first block level syntax of the first block according a default value that is defined for blocks that satisfies the overlapping requirement; and reconstructing the first block based on the default value of the first block level syntax.
Kalva et al. (hereinafter Kalva), in the same field of endeavor, teaches
obtaining at least a first block level syntax of the first block according a default value that is defined for blocks that satisfies the overlapping requirement (¶¶0031-0032; ¶0035: the decoder uses syntax information for the frame region information and replaces background pixels (e.g., non-ROI) with black or another solid color (i.e., default value)); and
reconstructing the first block based on the default value of the first block level syntax (figs. 4B-4D; ¶¶0031-0032). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features of Kalva to the Jhang invention and reconstruct the first block based on the default value in order to increase compression efficiency.
Concerning claim 2, Jhang in view of Kalva teaches the method of claim 1. Kalva further teaches the method, wherein the determining comprises: determining the region of interest according to one or more signals in the coded video bitstream that define at least one of a position, a shape and/or a size of the ROI (¶0027).
Concerning claim 4, Jhang in view of Kalva teaches the method of claim 1. Jhang teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining that an overlap of a second block to the ROI exceeds the threshold (Jhang, ¶¶0029-0034: blocks fully covered by a spatially corresponding first block are considered exceeding the threshold and are considered to be a part of the ROI); and
parsing, from the coded video bitstream, at least a second block level syntax of the second block when the second block fails to satisfy the overlapping requirement (Kalva, ¶¶0031-0032; ¶0035: pixels considered to be part of the ROI are not replaced).
Concerning claim 5, Jhang in view of Kalva teaches the method of claim 1. Jhang teaches the method, further comprising at least one of:
setting the threshold to a default threshold value (¶0019: predetermined threshold); and/or
extracting, from a high level syntax in the coded video bitstream, a signaled value of the threshold.
Concerning claim 7, Jhang in view of Kalva teaches the method of claim 1. Kalva further teaches the method, wherein the reconstructing comprises:
residuals of the first block to a default residual value (¶¶0031-0032; ¶0035: the background pixels (e.g., non-ROI) with black or another solid color (i.e., default value)).
Concerning claim 8, Jhang in view of Kalva teaches the method of claim 1. Kalva further teaches the method, wherein the reconstructing comprises:
setting reconstruction samples of the first block to a default sample value (¶¶0031-0032; ¶0035: the background pixels (e.g., non-ROI) with black or another solid color (i.e., default value)).
Concerning claim 14, Jhang in view of Kalva teaches the method of claim 1. Jhang further teaches the method, wherein the determining comprises:
deriving the ROI from the coded information of the current picture when the coded video bitstream lacks signals that define a position, a shape and/or a size of the ROI (¶0019: selecting blocks belonging to the ROI based on a probability of them being associated with the ROI.).
Concerning claim 20, Jhang et al. (hereinafter Jhang) teaches method of video processing, comprising:
processing the bitstream of video data according to a format rule, wherein:
the bitstream includes coded information of a picture, the picture comprising at least a first block that satisfies an overlapping requirement with a region of interest (ROT), the overlapping requirement requiring an overlapping to the ROT to be less than a threshold (¶¶0029-0034: determining the ROI status of a block based on coverage by a spatially corresponding first block; fig. 3: steps 302-304);
the format rule specifies that:
the ROI is determined based on the coded information of the current picture (fig. 2; ¶¶0029-0034);
the first block is determined to satisfy the overlapping requirement based on the ROI (¶¶0029-0034: determining the ROI status of a block based on coverage by a spatially corresponding first block; fig. 3: steps 302-304).
Not explicitly taught is at least a first block level syntax of the first block is obtained according a default value that is defined for blocks that satisfies the overlapping requirement; and the first block is reconstructed based on the default value of the first block level syntax.
Kalva et al. (hereinafter Kalva), in the same field of endeavor, teaches
at least a first block level syntax of the first block is obtained according a default value that is defined for blocks that satisfies the overlapping requirement (¶¶0031-0032; ¶0035: the decoder uses syntax information for the frame region information and replaces background pixels (e.g., non-ROI) with black or another solid color (i.e., default value)); and
the first block is reconstructed based on the default value of the first block level syntax (figs. 4B-4D; ¶¶0031-0032). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to add the features of Kalva to the Jhang invention and reconstruct the first block based on the default value in order to increase compression efficiency.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 19 is allowed.
Claims 3, 6, 9-13 and 15 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JAMES M ANDERSON II whose telephone number is (571)270-1444. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 10AM-6PM.
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/James M Anderson II/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2425