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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7-10, 13-15, 18-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over US 2025/0373846 A1 (“Astola”) in view of US 2025/0386037 A1 (“Bordes”).
Regarding claim 1, Astola discloses a method for decoding video data, comprising:
obtaining a video block from a bitstream (e.g. see coding unit including block of luma samples and two corresponding blocks of chroma samples, e.g. see paragraphs [0078]-[0082], is obtained from an image of a video that is encoded into a compressed representation suited for storage/transmission by an encoder such as shown in Fig. 4a; the compressed representation, i.e. a bitstream, is received by a decoder, e.g. Fig. 4b, to reconstruct the coding unit and ultimately the image/video, paragraphs [0055]-[0059]);
obtaining internal luma sample values of the video block (e.g. see luma samples, e.g. see at least 2Nx2N luma in Fig. 7), external luma sample values and external chroma sample values of an external region of the video block (e.g. see reference sample areas consisting of reconstructed luma and chroma samples illustrated in Fig. 7, i.e. above and left reference sample area, paragraphs [0191]-[0200]);
determining, by using values based on the external luma sample values and the external chroma sample values, a set of weighting coefficients corresponding to a filter shape (e.g. see filter coefficients corresponding to a filter shape shown in Fig. 8 are derived using reference sample areas consisting of reconstructed luma and chroma samples illustrated in Fig. 7, i.e. above and left reference sample area, paragraphs [0191]-[0200]), wherein the filter shape and the set of weighting coefficients are configured for predicting a chroma sample value based on a plurality of corresponding luma sample values (e.g. see calculate predicted chroma block by convolving the down-sampled luma samples with the filter kernel with a shape such as shown in Fig. 8 and derived filter coefficients, paragraphs [0191]-[0200]), and the values based on the external luma sample values and the external chroma sample values comprise non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values in a format, or the non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values along with a downsampled value of at least one of the external luma sample values (e.g. see six lines above and left of 2Nx2N luma in Fig. 7 that is shown as down-sampled for 4:2:0 chroma but is optional, paragraphs [0191]-[0200]; also see 4:4:4, paragraphs [0073]-[0075]);
predicting, with the filter shape and the set of weighting coefficients, internal chroma sample values of the video block based on the internal luma sample values (e.g. see calculate predicted chroma block by convolving the down-sampled luma samples with the filter kernel with a shape such as shown in Fig. 8 and derived filter coefficients, paragraphs [0191]-[0200]); and
obtaining predicted video block using the predicted internal chroma sample values (e.g. see predicted image block P’n in Fig. 4b, paragraphs [0055]-[0059]).
Although Astola discloses the values based on the external luma sample values and the external chroma sample values comprise non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values in a format, or the non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values along with a downsampled value of at least one of the external luma sample values, it is noted Astola differs from the present invention int hat it fails to particularly disclose the values based on the external luma sample values and the external chroma sample values comprise non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values in a 4:2:0 or 4:2:2 format, or the non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values along with a downsampled value of at least one of the external luma sample values. Bordes however, teaches the values based on the external luma sample values and the external chroma sample values comprise non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values in a 4:2:0 or 4:2:2 format, or the non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values along with a downsampled value of at least one of the external luma sample values (e.g. see at least avoids applying a down-sampling of luma samples, paragraphs [0017]-[0018], [0038]; also see at least no luma down-sampling is applied and the cross-component prediction uses the reconstructed luma samples at their original sampling resolution, paragraphs [0248]-[0252]).
Therefore, given the teachings as a whole, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the references of Astola and Bordes before him/her, to modify the Apparatus, Method and Computer Program for Video Coding and Decoding of Astola with the teachings of Bordes in order to reduce memory footprint and amount of calculations and to give more flexibility for the application of cross component coding tools.
Regarding claim 2, Astola further discloses wherein the at least one of the external luma sample values comprises a center luma sample value that is collocated with an external chroma sample value (e.g. see co-located reference sample areas shown in Fig. 7 and see center C in Fig. 8, paragraphs [0191]-[0200]).
Regarding claim 3, Astola further discloses wherein the non-downsampled values of the external luma samples comprise at least one of a non-downsampled luma sample value of the center luma sample value, a non- downsampled luma sample value above the center luma sample value, a non-downsampled luma sample below the center luma sample value, a non-downsampled luma sample value on left of the center luma sample value, or a non-downsampled luma sample value on right of the center luma sample value (e.g. see six lines above and left of 2Nx2N luma in Fig. 7 that is shown as down-sampled for 4:2:0 chroma but is optional and see center, north (above), east (right), etc. in Fig. 8, paragraphs [0191]-[0200]).
Regarding claim 4, Astola further discloses wherein the non-downsampled values of the external luma samples comprise at least one of a non-downsampled luma sample value of the center luma sample value, a non- downsampled luma sample value on below-left of the center luma sample value, a non-downsampled luma sample value on below-right of the center luma sample value, a non-downsampled luma sample value below the center luma sample value, a non-downsampled luma sample value on the left of the center luma sample value, or a non-downsampled luma sample value on right of the center luma sample value (e.g. see six lines above and left of 2Nx2N luma in Fig. 7 that is shown as down-sampled for 4:2:0 chroma but is optional and see center, north (above), east (right), etc. in Fig. 8, paragraphs [0191]-[0200]).
Regarding claim 7, Astola discloses a method for encoding video data, comprising:
obtaining a video block (e.g. see coding unit including block of luma samples and two corresponding blocks of chroma samples, e.g. see paragraphs [0078]-[0082], is obtained from an image of a video that is encoded into a compressed representation suited for storage/transmission by an encoder such as shown in Fig. 4a; the compressed representation, i.e. a bitstream, is received by a decoder, e.g. Fig. 4b, to reconstruct the coding unit and ultimately the image/video, paragraphs [0055]-[0059]);
obtaining internal luma sample values of the video block (e.g. see luma samples, e.g. see at least 2Nx2N luma in Fig. 7), external luma sample values and external chroma sample values of an external region of the video block (e.g. see reference sample areas consisting of reconstructed luma and chroma samples illustrated in Fig. 7, i.e. above and left reference sample area, paragraphs [0191]-[0200]);
determining, by using values based on the external luma sample values and the external chroma sample values, a set of weighting coefficients corresponding to a filter shape (e.g. see filter coefficients corresponding to a filter shape shown in Fig. 8 are derived using reference sample areas consisting of reconstructed luma and chroma samples illustrated in Fig. 7, i.e. above and left reference sample area, paragraphs [0191]-[0200]), wherein the filter shape and the set of weighting coefficients are configured for predicting a chroma sample value based on a plurality of corresponding luma sample values (e.g. see calculate predicted chroma block by convolving the down-sampled luma samples with the filter kernel with a shape such as shown in Fig. 8 and derived filter coefficients, paragraphs [0191]-[0200]), and the values based on the external luma sample values and the external chroma sample values comprise non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values in a format, or the non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values along with a downsampled value of at least one of the external luma sample values (e.g. see six lines above and left of 2Nx2N luma in Fig. 7 that is shown as down-sampled for 4:2:0 chroma but is optional, paragraphs [0191]-[0200]);
predicting, with the filter shape and the set of weighting coefficients, internal chroma sample values of the video block based on the internal luma sample values (e.g. see calculate predicted chroma block by convolving the down-sampled luma samples with the filter kernel with a shape such as shown in Fig. 8 and derived filter coefficients, paragraphs [0191]-[0200]); and
generating a bitstream comprising encoded video block by using the predicted internal chroma sample values (e.g. see entropy encoding E in Fig. 4a outputs the generated bitstream including the encoded predicted representation of an image block P’n to the decoder as shown in Fig. 4b, paragraphs [0055]-[0059]).
Although Astola discloses the values based on the external luma sample values and the external chroma sample values comprise non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values in a format, or the non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values along with a downsampled value of at least one of the external luma sample values, it is noted Astola differs from the present invention int hat it fails to particularly disclose the values based on the external luma sample values and the external chroma sample values comprise non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values in a 4:2:0 or 4:2:2 format, or the non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values along with a downsampled value of at least one of the external luma sample values. Bordes however, teaches the values based on the external luma sample values and the external chroma sample values comprise non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values in a 4:2:0 or 4:2:2 format, or the non-downsampled values of the external luma sample values along with a downsampled value of at least one of the external luma sample values (e.g. see at least avoids applying a down-sampling of luma samples, paragraphs [0017]-[0018], [0038]; also see at least no luma down-sampling is applied and the cross-component prediction uses the reconstructed luma samples at their original sampling resolution, paragraphs [0248]-[0252]).
Therefore, given the teachings as a whole, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, having the references of Astola and Bordes before him/her, to modify the Apparatus, Method and Computer Program for Video Coding and Decoding of Astola with the teachings of Bordes in order to reduce memory footprint and amount of calculations and to give more flexibility for the application of cross component coding tools.
Regarding claim 18, Astola further discloses an electronic apparatus, comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more storage devices storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electronic apparatus to perform the method according to claim 7 (e.g. see software stored on memory executable by processor, paragraph [0291], and the mapping of claim 7 above).
Regarding claim 20, Astola further discloses a method of storing a bitstream, comprising:
performing the method according to claim 7 to generate a bitstream (e.g. see the mapping of claim 7 above); and
storing the bitstream (e.g. see storage, e.g. 1530 in Fig. 12, paragraph [0275]).
Regarding claims 8-10, 13-15, 19, the claims recite analogous limitations to the claims above and are therefore rejected on the same premise.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 5-6, 11-12, 16-17 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.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-20 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
US 2025/0220156 A1, Lim, Image encoding/decoding method and apparatus
US 20240276012 A1, Ye et al., BIAS VALUE DETERMINATION FOR CHROMA-FOR-LUMA (CFL) MODE
US 20230050376 A1, Filippov et al., Method And Apparatus Of Sample Fetching And Padding For Downsampling Filtering For Cross-Component Linear Model Prediction
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FRANCIS G GEROLEO whose telephone number is (571)270-7206. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00 am - 3:30 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Anna M Momper can be reached at (571) 270-5788. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/Francis Geroleo/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3619
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