DETAILED ACTION
The present Office action is in response to the application filing on 14 APRIL 2025.
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 (IDS) submitted on 04/14/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the Information Disclosure Statement is being considered by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
With regard to claim 14, the claim recites a first method for transmitting a bitstream and a second method for generating a transform coefficient, and it is unclear what the relationship is with the second method and what is required of the second method to infringe on the first method. For instance, there is no step in which a bitstream is generated and even if it were to be implied, the broadest reasonable interpretation does not require the bitstream to be generated based on (i) an obtained residual block, (ii) encoded transform information, or (iii) a generated transform coefficient. Therefore, the steps of the image encoding method do not give “meaning and purpose to the manipulative steps” of transmitting a bitstream. See MPEP § 2111.04(I). In view of the above, the broadest reasonable interpretation of the claim is “transmitting a bitstream generated by an image encoding method” in which the particularities of the image encoding method have no weight.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because claim 13 is directed to “a computer-readable recording medium” that encompasses transitory forms of signal transmission. See MPEP § 2106.03(I). The originally filed specification describes non-transitory computer-readable recording medium embodiments, but does not describe it as the sole embodiment in which transitory signals are excluded. See Specification dated 04/14/2025, ¶ [0203]. For these reasons, claim 13 is interpreted as a transitory signal and thus not one of the four statutory categories.
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) 1-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by U.S. Publication No. 2026/0107015 A1 (hereinafter “Sim”).
Regarding claim 1, Sim discloses an image decoding method performed by an image decoding apparatus ([0001], “a video coding method and an apparatus based on non-separable primary transform”), comprising:
obtaining transform information including information on a non-separable primary transform ([0211], “The video decoding device decodes the NSPT flag from a bitstream (S1702). Here, the NSPT flag indicates whether to apply a non-separable primary transform”);
obtaining a transform coefficient for a current block ([0210], “The video decoding device acquires inversely quantized transform coefficients for a transform block of the current block (S1700)”); and
generating a residual block by inverse-transforming the transform coefficient based on the transform information ([0219], “The video decoding device generates residual signals by applying the non-separable primary inverse transform kernel to the transform coefficients to performs the primary inverse transform (S1708)”).
Regarding claim 2, Sim discloses every limitation of claim 1, as outlined above. Additionally, Sim discloses wherein the transform information includes a non-separable primary transform activation flag indicating whether the non-separable primary transform is available for the current block (FIG. 8, NSPT_flag. [0143], “the inverse transform kernel determiner 610 first parses NSPT_flag to determine whether to apply a non-separable inverse transform”),
wherein based on a value of the non-separable primary transform activation flag being a first value, it indicates that a separable primary transform is available for the current block ([0143], “If NSPT_flag is 0, the inverse transform kernel determiner 610 parses explicit_transform_flag. If the parsed explicit_transform_flag is 0, the horizontal and vertical inverse transform kernels are implicitly determined as DCT-2. On the other hand, if explicit_transform_flag is 1, the horizontal and vertical inverse transform kernels may be explicitly determined. The inverse transform kernel determiner 610 may parse mts_idx to obtain the pair of horizontal and vertical transform kernels indicated by mts_idx.” [0067], “the transformer 140 may perform the transform for the residual block individually in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction. For the transform, various types of transform functions or transform matrices may be used. For example, a pair of transform functions for horizontal transform and vertical transform may be defined as a multiple transform set (MTS).” Note, DCT-2 and MTS are separable primary transforms, as per Applicant’s specification at [0115] and [0122]), and
wherein based on the value of the non-separable primary transform activation flag being a second value, it indicates that one of the non-separable primary transform or the separable primary transform is available for the current block (FIG. 8, NSPT_flag equals 1 retrieves NSPT_idx. [0143], “If NSPT_flag is 1, the inverse transform kernel determiner 610 may further parse NSPT_idx to determine the type of non-separable primary inverse transform kernel”).
Regarding claim 3, Sim discloses every limitation of claim 1, as outlined above. Additionally, Sim discloses wherein based on at least one of a shape of the current block or a size of the current block, the transform information includes a non-separable primary transform application flag indicating whether the non-separable primary transform is applied to the current block ([0170], “if the width and/or height of the current transform block is larger than a specific size maxNTsize, which is predetermined according to an agreement between the video encoding device and the video decoding device, parsing of NSPT_flag and NSPT_idx may be omitted, and non-separable transform/inverse transform may not be performed”).
Regarding claim 4, Sim discloses every limitation of claim 1, as outlined above. Additionally, Sim discloses wherein the transform information includes a kernel index indicating one of a plurality of transform kernels ([0143], “the inverse transform kernel determiner 610 may further parse NSPT_idx to determine the type of non-separable primary inverse transform kernel.” [0143], “The inverse transform kernel determiner 610 may parse mts_idx to obtain the pair of horizontal and vertical transform kernels indicated by mts_idx.” Note, the NSPT_idx is parsed for identifying the kernel for NSPT and the mts_idx is parsed for identifying the kernel for MST), and
wherein the plurality of transform kernels includes at least one non-separable transform kernel and at least one separable transform kernel ([0143], “the inverse transform kernel determiner 610 may further parse NSPT_idx to determine the type of non-separable primary inverse transform kernel.” [0143], “The inverse transform kernel determiner 610 may parse mts_idx to obtain the pair of horizontal and vertical transform kernels indicated by mts_idx.” Note, the NSPT_idx is parsed for identifying the kernel for NSPT and the mts_idx is parsed for identifying the kernel for MST).
Regarding claim 5, Sim discloses every limitation of claim 1, as outlined above. Additionally, Sim discloses wherein the transform information includes a non-separable primary transform application flag indicating whether the non-separable primary transform is applied to the current block (FIG. 8, NSPT_flag. [0143], “the inverse transform kernel determiner 610 first parses NSPT_flag to determine whether to apply a non-separable inverse transform”),
wherein a non-separable transform kernel index indicating one of a plurality of non-separable transform kernels is obtained based on the non-separable primary transform application flag indicating that the non-separable primary transform is applied to the current block (FIG. 8, NSPT_flag equals 1 retrieves NSPT_idx. [0143], “If NSPT_flag is 1, the inverse transform kernel determiner 610 may further parse NSPT_idx to determine the type of non-separable primary inverse transform kernel”), and
wherein a separable transform kernel index indicating one of a plurality of separable transform kernels is obtained based on the non-separable primary transform application flag indicating that the non-separable primary transform is not applied to the current block ([0143], “If NSPT_flag is 0, the inverse transform kernel determiner 610 parses explicit_transform_flag. If the parsed explicit_transform_flag is 0, the horizontal and vertical inverse transform kernels are implicitly determined as DCT-2. On the other hand, if explicit_transform_flag is 1, the horizontal and vertical inverse transform kernels may be explicitly determined. The inverse transform kernel determiner 610 may parse mts_idx to obtain the pair of horizontal and vertical transform kernels indicated by mts_idx.” [0067], “the transformer 140 may perform the transform for the residual block individually in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction. For the transform, various types of transform functions or transform matrices may be used. For example, a pair of transform functions for horizontal transform and vertical transform may be defined as a multiple transform set (MTS).” Note, DCT-2 and MTS are separable primary transforms, as per Applicant’s specification at [0115] and [0122]).
Regarding claim 6, Sim discloses every limitation of claim 4, as outlined above. Additionally, Sim discloses wherein a number of the non-separable transform kernels or the separable transform kernels is obtained based on at least one of whether an intra prediction is applied to the current block, an intra prediction mode, a block size, a neighboring sample value, whether to use a secondary transform or a quantization parameter ([0007], “For the non-separable primary transform, transform kernels may be defined based on the block shape and the intra prediction mode. For example, utilizing the symmetry characteristics of a square block, 35 transform kernels are defined for square blocks depending on the intra prediction mode. Also, 67 transform kernels are defined for rectangular blocks.” [0155], “the kernel sets may be divided into M sets based on the size of the transform block and the intra prediction mode (whether the mode is a directional or non-directional mode and the prediction direction in the case of directional mode)”).
Regarding claim 7, Sim discloses every limitation of claim 1, as outlined above. Additionally, Sim discloses wherein based on the non-separable primary transform being applied to the current block, a secondary transform for the current block is restricted to not being a non-separable transform ([0008], “when the non-separable primary transform is applied, the secondary transform (i.e., Low-frequency Non-separable Transform (LFNST)) may not be performed.” [0173], “if NSPT_flag is 1, the secondary transform flag or secondary transform index may implicitly be derived as 0”).
Regarding claim 8, Sim discloses every limitation of claim 8, as outlined above. Additionally, Sim discloses wherein the information on the non-separable primary transform is parsed before information on a non-separable secondary transform for the current block ([0173], “if NSPT_flag is 1, the secondary transform flag or secondary transform index may implicitly be derived as 0”), and
wherein based on the non-separable primary transform being applied to the current block, parsing of the information on the non-separable secondary transform is skipped ([0173], “if NSPT_flag is 1, the secondary transform flag or secondary transform index may implicitly be derived as 0.” Note, the claim is interpreted as parsing the non-separable secondary transform based on the non-separable primary transform by implicitly deriving the non-separable secondary transform, and the omission constitutes the implicit derivation thereof).
Regarding claim 9, Sim discloses every limitation of claim 1, as outlined above. Additionally, Sim discloses wherein based on a non-separable secondary transform for the current block being applied, a primary transform for the current block is restricted to not being a non-separable transform ([0173], “the secondary inverse transform and the non-separable primary inverse transform may not be performed simultaneously. In other words, if the secondary inverse transform is determined to be performed based on the parsing of the secondary transform flag or the secondary transform index, parsing of NSPT_flag and NSPT_idx may be omitted”).
Regarding claim 10, Sim discloses every limitation of claim 9, as outlined above. Additionally, Sim discloses wherein information on the non-separable secondary transform for the current block is parsed before the information on the non-separable primary transform ([0173], “the secondary inverse transform and the non-separable primary inverse transform may not be performed simultaneously. In other words, if the secondary inverse transform is determined to be performed based on the parsing of the secondary transform flag or the secondary transform index, parsing of NSPT_flag and NSPT_idx may be omitted”), and
wherein based on a non-separable secondary transform being applied to the current block, parsing of the information on the non-separable secondary transform is skipped ([0173], “the secondary inverse transform and the non-separable primary inverse transform may not be performed simultaneously. In other words, if the secondary inverse transform is determined to be performed based on the parsing of the secondary transform flag or the secondary transform index, parsing of NSPT_flag and NSPT_idx may be omitted.” Note, the claim is interpreted as parsing the non-separable primary transform based on the non-separable secondary transform by implicitly deriving the non-separable primary transform, and the omission constitutes the implicit derivation thereof).
Regarding claim 11, Sim discloses every limitation of claim 1, as outlined above. Additionally, Sim discloses wherein the information on the non-separable primary transform is encoded based on characteristics of a residual coefficient ([0170], “if the width and/or height of the current transform block is larger than a specific size maxNTsize, which is predetermined according to an agreement between the video encoding device and the video decoding device, parsing of NSPT_flag and NSPT_idx may be omitted, and non-separable transform/inverse transform may not be performed. Also, if the width and/or height of the current transform block is smaller than minNSPT, parsing of NSPT_flag and NSPT_idx may be omitted, and non-separable transform/inverse transform may not be performed”).
Regarding claim 12, the limitations are the same as those in claim 1; however, written from the encoder perspective instead of the decoder perspective, which describes the same functionalities in reverse. Therefore, the same rationale of claim 1 applies equally as well to claim 12.
Regarding claim 13, Sim discloses every limitation of claim 1, as outlined above. Additionally, Sim discloses a computer-readable recording medium storing a bitstream generated by the image encoding method of claim 12 ([0078], “The video encoding device may store a bitstream of encoded video data in a non-transitory storage medium”).
Regarding claim 14, Sim discloses a method for transmitting a bitstream generated by an image encoding method, the image encoding method comprising […] ([0078], “The video encoding device may store a bitstream of encoded video data in a non-transitory storage medium or transmit the bitstream to the video decoding device through a communication network.” [0199], “The video encoding device may quantize and entropy-encode the first primary transform coefficients to generate a bitstream of the first primary transform coefficients.” Note, the steps of the image encoding method are the same as those in claim 12).
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
U.S. Publication No. 2026/0222624 A1 – Describes enabling NSPT at the SPS header. See [0497].
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/STUART D BENNETT/Examiner, Art Unit 2481
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