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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) was/were submitted on 24 March 2025, 2 February 2026, and 12 February 2026. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
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 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); 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 nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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Claims 1-20 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 12262030. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art to provide refined processes improving output thereof.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 Zhao (US 2022/0103807 A1)
Regarding claims 1, 10, and 18, Zhao discloses a method using a CRM for video encoding/decoding, comprising: determining that a Chroma from Luma (CfL) prediction mode is to be applied to a current luma block in a received coded bitstream to derive a prediction for a current chroma block co- located with the current luma block [Zhao: ¶ [0143] For a chroma component, a chroma-only intra prediction mode, referred to as chroma from luma (CfL) mode, models chroma pixels as a linear function of coincident reconstructed luma pixels]; sub-sampling a plurality of reconstructed neighboring luma samples above and to the left of the current luma block to generate an above neighboring luma sample row and a left neighboring luma sample column [Zhao: ¶ [0144] FIG. 16 shows an exemplary multi-line intra prediction using four reference lines adjacent to a coding block unit according to an embodiment of the disclosure. For the multi-line intra prediction, an encoder decides and signals which reference line is used to generate an intra predictor. The reference line index is signaled before intra prediction modes, and only the most probable modes are allowed in case a nonzero reference line index is signaled. In FIG. 16, an example of 4 reference lines is depicted, where each reference line is composed of six segments, i.e., Segment A to F, together with a top-left reference sample. In addition, the reconstructed samples in different reference lines are filled with different patterns in FIG. 16]; generating an average value of at least one or more samples of the above neighboring luma sample row and the left neighboring luma sample column [Zhao: ¶ [0139]: [0139] In some related examples such as AV1, there are 5 non-directional smooth intra prediction modes, which are DC, PAETH, SMOOTH, SMOOTH V, and SMOOTH_H. For DC prediction, an average of left and above neighboring samples is used as a predictor of a block to be predicted]; generating an alternating current (AC) contribution of a plurality of prediction samples of the current chroma block co-located with the current luma block based on the average value and a plurality of subsampled luma samples in the current luma block [Zhao: ¶ [0143]: The CfL prediction can be expressed as follows:
CfL(α)=α×L.sub.AG+DC Eq. (1)
where L.sub.AC denotes an AC contribution of the luma component, a denotes a parameter of the linear model, and DC denotes a DC contribution of the chroma component. In an example, the reconstructed luma pixels are subsampled into a chroma resolution, and then an average value is subtracted to form the AC contribution. To approximate the chroma AC component from the AC contribution, instead of requiring a decoder to calculate scaling parameters as in some related examples, the CfL mode in AC1 determines the parameter a based on original chroma pixels and signals them in a bitstream]; and reconstructing the current chroma block from the received coded bitstream by applying the CfL prediction mode using the plurality of prediction samples [Zhao: ¶ [0123] The reconstruction module (774) is configured to combine, in the spatial domain, the residual as output by the residue decoder (773) and the prediction results (as output by the inter or intra prediction modules as the case may be) to form a reconstructed block, that may be part of the reconstructed picture, which in turn may be part of the reconstructed video].
Regarding Claims 2, 11, and 19, Zhao discloses all the limitations of Claims 1, 10, and 18 respectively, and is analyzed as previously discussed with respect to those claims.
Furthermore, Zhao discloses wherein generating the AC contribution comprises subtracting the average value from the plurality of subsampled luma samples [Zhao: ¶ [0143]: the reconstructed luma pixels are subsampled into a chroma resolution, and then an average value is subtracted to form the AC contribution].
Regarding Claims 3 and 12, Zhao discloses all the limitations of Claims 1 and 10, respectively, and is analyzed as previously discussed with respect to those claims.
Furthermore, Zhao discloses wherein reconstructing the current chroma block comprises: generating a scaled AC contribution by multiplying the AC contribution with a scaling parameter [Zhao: ¶ [0143]: To approximate the chroma AC component from the AC contribution, instead of requiring a decoder to calculate scaling parameters as in some related examples, the CfL mode in AC1 determines the parameter a based on original chroma pixels and signals them in a bitstream]; and adding the scaled AC contribution to a DC contribution of the plurality of prediction samples of the chroma block [Zhao: ¶ [0143]].
Regarding Claims 4, 13, and 20, Zhao discloses all the limitations of Claims 1 and 10, respectively, and is analyzed as previously discussed with respect to those claims.
Furthermore, Zhao discloses wherein the one or more samples in the above neighboring luma sample row and the left neighboring luma sample column for generating the average value are: explicitly indicated via signaling; or implicitly indicated based on coded information [Zhao: ¶ [0139]: For PAETH prediction, top, left, and top-left reference samples are firstly fetched, and then a value which is closest to (top+left−top-left) is set as a predictor for a pixel to be predicted].
Regarding Claims 5 and 14, Zhao discloses all the limitations of Claims 4 and 13, respectively, and is analyzed as previously discussed with respect to those claims.
Furthermore, Zhao discloses wherein the coded information comprises at least one of: an intra prediction mode of the current luma block, a block shape, a block size, or a block aspect ratio [Zhao: ¶ [0077] A first unit is the scaler/inverse transform unit (451). The scaler/inverse transform unit (451) receives a quantized transform coefficient as well as control information, including which transform to use, block size, quantization factor, quantization scaling matrices, etc. as symbol(s) (421) from the parser].
Regarding Claims 6 and 15, Zhao discloses all the limitations of Claims 1 and 10, respectively, and is analyzed as previously discussed with respect to those claims.
Furthermore, Zhao discloses wherein the one or more samples for generating the average value comprise only samples from the above neighboring luma sample row in response to only the above neighboring luma sample row being available [Zhao: ¶ [0079]: The addresses within the reference picture memory (457) from where the motion compensation prediction unit (453) fetches prediction samples can be controlled by MVs, available to the motion compensation prediction unit (453) in the form of symbols (421) that can have, for example X, Y, and reference picture components; and ¶ [0165]: In one embodiment, when one of certain non-directional intra prediction modes (e.g., Planar mode defined in HEVC and VVC, SMOOTH, SMOOTH-H, or SMOOTH-V modes defined in AV1) is performed, and bottom row neighboring samples are not available].
Regarding Claims 7 and 16, Zhao discloses all the limitations of Claims 1 and 10, respectively, and is analyzed as previously discussed with respect to those claims.
Furthermore, Zhao discloses wherein the one or more samples for generating the average value comprise only samples from the left neighboring luma sample column in response to only the left neighboring luma sample column being available [Zhao: ¶ [0079]; and ¶ [0166]: In one embodiment, when one of certain non-directional intra prediction modes (e.g., Planar mode defined in HEVC and VVC, SMOOTH, SMOOTH-H, or SMOOTH-V modes defined in AV1) is performed, and right column neighboring samples are not available].
8 and 17
Regarding Claims 8 and 17, Zhao discloses all the limitations of Claims 1 and 10, respectively, and is analyzed as previously discussed with respect to those claims.
Furthermore, Zhao discloses wherein the one or more samples for generating the average value comprise a set of samples from the above neighboring luma sample row that are only in a nearest above reference line in response to the current luma block being located at a super block boundary [Zhao: ¶ [0128] In some related examples such as AV1 that is proposed by AOMedia, the partition-tree can be expanded to a 10-way structure as shown in FIG. 8, and the largest coding block size (referred to as superblock in VP9/AV1 parlance) is increased to start from 128×128].
Regarding Claim 9, Zhao discloses all the limitations of Claim 1 and is analyzed as previously discussed with respect to that claim.
Furthermore, Zhao discloses wherein the one or more samples for generating the average value are in a nearest adjacent reference line [Zhao: ¶ [0165]: As shown in FIG. 23A, if a bottom-left neighboring sample (marked as BL) is available, then the BL neighboring sample can be directly used or obtained by copying from a nearest neighbor in the left column, and a bottom-right neighboring sample (marked as BR) can be obtained by copying from a nearest neighbor in the right column].
Conclusion
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/JONATHAN R MESSMORE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2482
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