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 .
Priority
Acknowledgement is made of applicant's claim for foreign application number PCT/CN2022/116926 filed on 9/3/22.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 3/6/25 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The title of the invention is not descriptive. A new title is required that is clearly indicative of the invention to which the claims are directed.
The following title is suggested: Method and Apparatus for Video Processing with Geometric Partition Mode and Intra Block Copy.
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
The drawings were received on 3/3/25. These drawings are acceptable.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Chen et al. (US 2023/0034458).
Regarding claim 1, Chen discloses a method of video processing (see 400 in fig. 4), comprising: obtaining, for a conversion between a video unit of a video and a bitstream of the video (see 420 and 430 in fig. 4), a prediction of at least one object of the video unit (see S1730 in fig. 17) by using an intra block copy (IBC) (see S1720 in fig. 17), wherein the video unit is coded with an IBC-geometric partition mode (GPM) (see S1710-S1720 in fig. 17) where the video unit is geometrically divided into a plurality of sub-partitions or the video unit is predicated by a plurality of hypothesizes (see 1524 in fig. 15C); and performing the conversion based on the prediction of the at least one object of the video unit (see 420 and 430 in fig. 4).
Regarding claim 2, Chen further discloses wherein obtaining the prediction comprises: in accordance with a determination that the video unit is geometrically divided into the plurality of sub-partitions (see 1524 in fig. 15C), obtaining the prediction of at least one sub-partition in the video unit by using the IBC (see 1526 in fig. 15C); or
Regarding claim 3, Chen further discloses wherein when the IBC is used to obtain the prediction, at least one of:
Regarding claim 4, Chen further discloses or wherein an intra prediction mode (IPM) candidate list is used and one or more IPMs of the IPM candidate list are used to obtain the prediction of the at least one sub-partition of the video unit (see fig. 1B),
Regarding claim 5, Chen further discloses wherein the IPM candidate list includes one or more IPMs from a primary most probable mode (MPM) list (see fig. 1B; e.g. see ¶ [0017])
Regarding claim 6, Chen further discloses wherein an approach of obtaining a prediction of a first component of the video unit is a same approach as an approach of obtaining a prediction of a second component (see 1522 in fig. 15C).
Regarding claim 7, Chen further discloses or wherein the prediction of the first component is obtained using a specific prediction method except IBC-GPM (see intra prediction in fig. 15C).
Regarding claim 8, Chen further discloses wherein a prediction of an area along a geometric partitioning edge of the video unit is obtained by combining predictions of two sub-partitions of the video unit (see 1526 and 1528 in fig. 15C).
Regarding claim 9, Chen further discloses wherein weights for combining the predictions are derived on-the-fly or pre-defined (e.g. see ¶ [0145]), or
Regarding claim 10, Chen further discloses wherein coding information of the video unit coded with IBC-GPM is stored and used by at least one of: one or more following video units in a current picture, or one or more video units in one or more following pictures (e.g. see ¶ [0145], [0181]).
Regarding claim 11, Chen further discloses wherein the coding information refers to at least one: block vector (BV), intra prediction mode, or motion vector (e.g. see ¶ [0168], [0181]),
Regarding claim 12, Chen further discloses or wherein one or more BVs in a first sub-partition are used (see BVIBC in fig. 15C),
Regarding claim 13, Chen further discloses wherein a determination of whether the video unit is allowed to be coded with IBC-GPM mode depends on coded information (e.g. see ¶ [0160]-[0161]), or
Regarding claim 14, Chen further discloses wherein whether to and/or how to apply IBC-GPM to the video unit are indicated in the bitstream (e.g. see ¶ [0160]-[0161]).
Regarding claim 15, Chen further discloses wherein whether to enable IBC-GPM to the video unit is indicated using one or more syntax elements (e.g. see ¶ [0160]-[0161]), or
Regarding claim 16, Chen further discloses wherein a syntax element is used to indicate whether IBC-GPM is applied to the video unit (e.g. see ¶ [0160]-[0161]), or
Regarding claim 17, Chen further discloses wherein the conversion includes encoding the video unit into the bitstream, or wherein the conversion includes decoding the video unit from the bitstream (see 420 and 430 in fig. 4).
Regarding claim 18, the claim(s) recite an apparatus (see 400 in fig. 4) with analogous limitations to claim 1, and is/are therefore rejected on the same premise.
Regarding claim 19, the claim(s) recite analogous limitations to claim 1, and is/are therefore rejected on the same premise.
Regarding claim 20, Chen discloses a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a bitstream of a video (e.g. see ¶ [0034]) with analogous limitations to claim 1, and is/are therefore rejected on the same premise.
(Note: Claim 20 recites a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a bitstream of a video generated by a method. The claim then recites steps for obtaining the bitstream. These steps do not add any further structure or functional limitation to the “storing a bitstream”. Hence, these steps do not add patentable weight to the claim. It is recommended to either cancel the claim or add any storing instruction related limitation to add structure to the claim).
Citation of Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
1. Chiu et al. (US 2021/0227206), discloses coding/decoding geometric partition and intra block copy.
2. Chen et al. (US 2023/0073917), discloses coding/decoding geometric partition and intra block copy.
3. Chen et al. (US 2023/0079960), discloses coding/decoding geometric partition and intra block copy.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RICHARD T TORRENTE whose telephone number is (571)270-3702. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 6:45-3:15 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jay Patel can be reached at (571) 272-2988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/RICHARD T TORRENTE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2485