DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Double Patenting
2. Claim 1 of this Application is patentably indistinct from claims 1 of the issued Patent No. US 11,936,911, (of Application No. 17/689,277), and of the claim 1 of the issued patent US 12,273,563 (of Application No. 18/414,206), pursuant to 37 CFR 1.78(f) or pre-AIA 37 CFR 1.78(b).
When two or more applications filed by the same applicant contain patentably indistinct claims, elimination of such claims from all but one application may be required in the absence of good and sufficient reason for their retention during pendency in more than one application. Applicant is required to either cancel the patentably indistinct claims from all but one application or maintain a clear line of demarcation between the applications. See MPEP § 822
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 double patenting rejection is appropriate where the claims at issue 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).
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 reference 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. A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other, where the first, second and third transform set indices refer to specific angular intra mode ranges in the conflicting patent where the selected intra directional prediction modes groups are directly indicated by a transform set index value, therefore being determined that the matter of the instant claim 1 is fully encompassed within the extended conflicting patent claim 1.
Specifically, the instant claim 1 is fully encompassed within the claims of the conflicting patents by representing the same scope of invention, though not recited in the same order and where the last limitations reciting;
“wherein a first bin for a bin string of a syntax element for the transform index is decoded based on first context information, and
a second bin for the bin string of the syntax element for the transform index is decoded based on second context information.”,
are interpreted to represent a bin string of a syntax element for the transform index of a first context which may refer to transform sets below the threshold index 56, along with the second bin for the bin string of the syntax element for the transform index greater or equal to 56, as the bin contexts representing the conflicting patents limitation reciting;
“ wherein the transform set is determined, based on the intra prediction mode being greater than or equal to 56, as the second transform set index value.“.
See reference to Hyeongmun Jang et al.,: “Adaptive NSST Kernel Size Selection”, JVET-E0047, Geneva , CH, Jan.2017 (Ch.1 Introduction, Table 1), or Chen et al.,: (EP 4 007 277A1) (Par[0019]).
Claims 2 and 3 are analyzed over the same rationale hence applying the same statute.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied 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.
This application does not currently name joint inventors.
3. Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Man- Ching-Yeh Chen et al., (hereinafter Chen) (EP 4 007 277A1) and Dong San Jun et al., (hereinafter Jun) (US 2020/0366900) in view of Xin Zhao et al., (hereinafter Zhao) (US 2017/0094314).
Re Claim 1. Chen discloses, an image decoding method performed by a decoding apparatus (a decoder in Par.[0019], Fig.8), the method comprising:
deriving quantized transform coefficients for a target block from a bitstream (deriving the quantized transform coefficients, Par.[0094] Fig.8, step 810, Par.[0062]);
deriving transform coefficients through dequantization based on the quantized transform coefficients for the target block (deriving the transform coefficients after dequantization, Fig.8 step 820-830 Par.[0062]) ;
deriving modified transform coefficients based on an inverse secondary transform for the transform coefficients (a secondary transform at step 840 Fig.8 Par.[0062], and secondary transform NSST Fig.9A Par.[0063]);
deriving residual samples for the target block based on an inverse primary transform for the modified transform coefficients (deriving residuals at step 910a and 920 a, Fig.9A Par.[0063]); and
generating a reconstructed picture based on the residual samples for the target block (generating the reconstructed block, at step 860, Fig.8, Par.[0024]),
wherein the deriving of the modified transform coefficients comprises:
deriving a transform kernel matrix (Par.[0020, 0048]), and
performing a matrix operation of the transform coefficients (performing inverse transform on the reduced/modified coefficient matrix, Par.[0024]) and the transform kernel matrix (and a transform kernel Par.[0040, 0048]),
wherein the transform kernel matrix is derived based on a transform index and a transform set (being derived based on the transform sets index, Par.[in NSST, Par.[0018, 0040, 0048] and Table 2),
wherein the transform index represents at least one of first index information, second index information, and third index information (using adaptive NSST kernel selection, Par.[0019, 0050, 0055-0056]),
the first index information indicating the inverse secondary transform being not applied to the target block (parsing a first index for whether NSST is applied Par.[0041],[ 0048],[0050]),
the second index information indicating a first transform kernel matrix as the transform kernel matrix for the inverse secondary transform (the second index inverse NSST nsst_krnl_siz_flag =0, a NSST is applied using 4x4 kernel, Par.0020], Fig.6, 7), and
the third index information indicating a second transform kernel matrix as the transform kernel matrix for the inverse secondary transform (a third index, if nsst_krnl_siz_flag =1, a NSST is applied using 4x4 kernel, Par.0020], Fig.6, 7),
wherein the transform set is determined based on an intra prediction mode of the target block (for intra prediction a plurality of transform sets are determined Par.[0015] Table 2, or per in step 820 Fig.8, Par.[0062]),
wherein the intra prediction mode of the target block is mapped to one of four transform sets (four different transforms, Par.[0016, 0018] and mapping from intra prediction mode to transform set index, at Table 2),
In an analogous art, Jun teaches in detail about,
wherein the transform kernel matrix is derived based on a transform index and a transform set, wherein the transform index represents at least one of first index information, second index information, and third index information (three index information syntax per Table 1, Par.[0554]),
the first index information indicating the inverse secondary transform being not applied to the target block (the secondary transform may be omitted, Par.[0547]),
the second index information indicating a first transform kernel matrix as the transform kernel matrix for the inverse secondary transform (a secondary transform index, Par.[0136]), and
the third index information indicating a second transform kernel matrix as the transform kernel matrix for the inverse secondary transform (a third transform index, Par.[0136]),
wherein the transform set is determined, based on the intra prediction mode being equal to 0 or 1, as a first transform set index value (per Fig.4 the index 0 is planar intra mode and index 1 is the DC mode, Par.[0191-0192),
The ordinary skilled in the art would have found obvious before the effective filing date of the invention to associate the enhanced multiple transform, EMT and non-separable secondary transform NSST, disclosed by Chen, with the detailed teachings in Jun, indicating the application of the index to selecting the transform kernels, in order to improve coding efficiency by the application of multiple transform schemes, (Chen [0001],[0017]), thus deeming the combination predictable.
Regarding the transform sets determination, the art to Zhao, teaches the limitations regarding the four transform sets being selected within specific angular intra prediction modes,
wherein the transform set is determined, based on the intra prediction mode being greater than or equal to 2 and smaller than or equal to 12, as a second transform set index value,
wherein the transform set is determined, based on the intra prediction mode being greater than or equal to 13 and smaller than or equal to 23, as a third transform set index value,
wherein the transform set is determined, based on the intra prediction mode being greater than or equal to 24 and smaller than or equal to 44, as a fourth transform set index value,
wherein the transform set is determined, based on the intra prediction mode being greater than or equal to 45 and smaller than or equal to 55, as the third transform set index value,
wherein the transform set is determined, based on the intra prediction mode being greater than or equal to 56, as the second transform set index value, and
(where, according to the directional prediction diagram extending from indices values set for horizontal direction mode prediction (IPM), from index 2 to 34 and from vertical prediction direction mode being from 35 to 66, having the claimed ranges of 2-12, 13-23, 24-44 and 45-55 along with the extended greater than 56 range, are encompassed within the prediction range depicted in Fig.7B and Par.[0186] with the benefit of the advantage obtained from the non-separable transform in IPM, by the symmetric modes 18 and 50, obtaining a reduction of the non-separable transform sets greater than 34, the same transform sets of 68-IPM may be used and the transform coefficient may be transposed after the secondary transform, thus obtaining similar advantages with those herein claimed. Also the intra prediction mode transform set indices are separated in four index modes and mapped at the Table in Fig.7A, Par.[0184-0186])
wherein a first bin for a bin string of a syntax element for the transform index is decoded based on first context information (the entropy encoder may binarize the secondary transform i.e., non-separable secondary transform (NSST) as a unary truncated code, to associate with the respective context information, i.e., a first context information, Par.[0151]), and
a second bin for the bin string of the syntax element for the transform index is decoded based on second context information (the entropy encoder may binarize the secondary transform i.e., non-separable secondary transform (NSST) as a unary truncated code, to associate with the respective context information, i.e., a second context information, Par.[0151]).
According to the common coding application of the enhanced multiple transform (EMT) process along with using the non-separable secondary transform (NSST) for video intra-prediction mode disclosed in Chen, with the detailed teachings in Jun, indicating the application of the index to selecting the transform kernels, in order to improve coding efficiency by the application of multiple transform schemes, (e.g., Chen [0001],[0017]) and to further identify analogous intra-prediction modes differentiated in multiple regions of selective prediction indices taught by Zhao at (Par.[0109, 0127, 0142]) in order to improve the transform efficiency by having the different intra prediction modes by non-separable secondary transforms by providing superior coding gain, at (Par.[0044-0045, 0116]) which may have become obvious to the ordinary skilled in the art before the effective filing date of invention to find the combination of said arts predictable.
Re Claim 2. This claim represents the image encoding method performed by an image encoding apparatus at the prediction loop, according to each and every limitation at Claim 1, hence it is rejected under the same evidentiary probe mutatis mutandis.
Re Claim 3. This claim represents a transmission method of data for an image, the method generating a bitstream for the image, wherein the bitstream is generated based on deriving residual samples for a target block is transmitted at a decoder, per Chen: (at Par.[0005-0006, 0014]) according to each and every limitation at Claim 2, hence it is rejected under the same evidentiary probe mutatis mutandis.
Conclusion
4. The prior art made of record and not relied upon, is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2018/0103252; US 2020/0221075; US 2020/0177889; US 2016/0219290;
See PTO-892 form. Applicant is required under 37 C.F.R. 1.111(c) to consider these references when responding to this action.
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/DRAMOS KALAPODAS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2487