DETAILED ACTION
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Claims 1-4, 7-9, 12, 29, 34, and 35 in the reply filed on 6/24/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the amended independent claims overcome the prior art and therefore the claims share a novel technical feature. This is not found persuasive because the amended independent claims do not overcome the prior art. The amendment recites that “determining… includes generating.” The technical difference between “determining” and “generating” is not clear and has not been described in the specification.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Claims 5-6, 10-11, 13-14, 16, 36-37 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected sub-group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Applicant timely traversed the restriction (election) requirement in the reply filed on 6/24/2026.
Claims that depend on an allowable base claim shall be rejoined when the generic/linking claim is found to be allowable.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(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) 1-4, 7-9, 12, 29, 34-35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Ko (US PG Publication 2020/0322601).
Regarding Claim 1, Ko (US PG Publication 2020/0322601) discloses a method (method [0117], Figs. 12, 13), comprising:
determining at least one reference sample (determine the unavailable reference sample value [0117], Fig. 12) for at least one first block (current block [0117], Fig. 12) of an image (in the current picture [0063]), wherein determining the at least one reference sample includes generating a value (determining a value [0117]) for the at least one reference sample (unavailable reference sample value [0117], Fig. 12) based on a coding mode derived from (angular mode of a neighboring block [0117]) at least one second block (neighboring block [0117]) previously reconstructed (neighboring block having available reference samples 1202 [0119]) of the image (in the current picture [0063]), the at least one reference sample being located in the image (unavailable samples 1201 is in the same image as the current block, Fig. 12) outside of the at least one second block (unavailable reference 1201 is outside of neighboring block having pixels 1202 that supplies the intra prediction direction for determining unavailable samples 1201 [0117]-[0119]), obtaining a prediction for the at least one first block (unavailable reference samples 1201 is determined [0119], Fig. 12) using the at least one reference sample (using samples 1203 [0119], Fig. 12), and decoding the at least one first block (decoder performs intra prediction on the current block [0077], Fig. 5) based on the prediction (The intra prediction unit 252 generates a prediction block using the intra encoding information and restored samples in the current picture [0063], i.e., determined values for unavailable reference samples 1201 [0117-[0119], Fig. 12).
Regarding Claim 2, Ko (US PG Publication 2020/0322601) discloses an apparatus, comprising one or more processors (implemented in hardware, software, firmware [0222]; by Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs ), Programmable Logic Devices, Field Programmable Gate Arrays, processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors [0223]). The remainder of Claim 2 is rejected on the grounds provided in Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 3, the claim is rejected on the grounds provided in Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 4, the claim is rejected on the grounds provided in Claim 2.
Regarding Claim 7, Ko (US PG Publication 2020/0322601) discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the coding mode is an intra prediction mode (angular mode of a neighboring block [0117]).
Regarding Claim 8, Ko (US PG Publication 2020/0322601) discloses the method of claim 7, wherein determining the at least one reference sample (determine the unavailable reference sample value for pixels 1201 [0117]-[0119], Fig. 12) based on the coding mode derived from the at least one second block previously reconstructed of the image (neighboring block having available reference samples 1202 [0119] in the current picture [0063]) includes filling (determined based on second available reference samples 1203 [0119], Fig. 12) the at least one reference sample with data obtained using a same intra prediction mode as the at least one second block (based on the intra prediction mode of neighboring block having available pixels 1202 [0119], Fig. 12).
Regarding Claim 9, Ko (US PG Publication 2020/0322601) discloses the method of claim 7, wherein determining at least one reference sample for at least one first block of an image (determine the unavailable reference sample value for pixels 1201 [0117]-[0119], Fig. 12), based on a coding mode derived from the at least one second block previously reconstructed of the image (based on the intra prediction mode of neighboring block having available pixels 1202 [0119], Fig. 12; in current picture [0063]) comprises:
responsive to a determination that a direction of the intra prediction mode is among a first set of intra prediction directions (intra prediction mode of the neighboring block is vertical-diagonal [0119]), the at least one reference sample for at least one first block is filled with data obtained using a same intra prediction mode as the at least one second block (reference sample padding based on the vertical-diagonal mode [0119]), otherwise the at least one reference sample for at least one first block is filled using repetitive padding (an unavailable reference sample value may be replaced with a reference sample value that is closest in distance to the unavailable reference sample [0106]).
Regarding Claim 12, Ko (US PG Publication 2020/0322601) discloses the method of claim 7, wherein determining the at least one reference sample (unavailable k-th reference sample value can be determined [0114]) based on the coding mode derived from the at least one second block of the image (neighboring block is coded in planar mode, Fig.11, [0114]) includes adding an offset (
PNG
media_image1.png
34
292
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Greyscale
, equation 1) to a filled at least one reference sample (
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media_image2.png
34
79
media_image2.png
Greyscale
, equation 1), the offset being determined from at least one sample of the at least one second block (
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media_image3.png
28
89
media_image3.png
Greyscale
, equation 1) and at least one sample of the filled at least one reference sample (
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media_image2.png
34
79
media_image2.png
Greyscale
, equation 1).
Regarding Claim 29, Ko (US PG Publication 2020/0322601) discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium storing executable program instructions to cause a computer executing the program instructions (implemented in hardware, software, firmware [0222]; by Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs ), Programmable Logic Devices, Field Programmable Gate Arrays, processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors [0223]). The remainder of Claim 29 is rejected on the grounds provided in Claim 1.
Regarding Claim 34, the claim is rejected on the grounds provided in Claim 7.
Regarding Claim 35, the claim is rejected on the grounds provided in Claim 8.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
US 20140334542 A1 – filling in reference samples using a value
US 10404980 B1 – unavailable reference samples substituted by scanning clockwise
US 20150092844 A1 – layered coder replacing unavailable reference samples from an already coded layer
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHADAN E HAGHANI whose telephone number is (571)270-5631. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9AM - 5PM.
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/SHADAN E HAGHANI/Examiner, Art Unit 2485
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