CTNF 19/152,289 CTNF 78836 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 1. 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 § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 2. 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 3. 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 – 07-12-aia AIA (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. 07-15-03-aia AIA 4. Claim s 1-4 and 11-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 (a)(2) as being anticipated by Xiu et al. (US 2024/0298009) . Regarding claim 1, Xiu discloses a method for decoding an image (e.g., fig. 1), the method comprising; determining a transform type of a current block (e.g., transform unit in fig. 2, paragraphs 0105,0108-0112,0142), determining a coefficient sign prediction target of the current block based on the transform type (e.g., abstract, paragraphs 0002,0004-0007, etc.), and predicting a sign of a coefficient corresponding to the coefficient sign prediction target (e.g., abstract, paragraphs 0002,0004-0007,0018,0023,0032,0034-0035,0120, etc.), wherein the coefficient sign prediction target is specified as a coefficient sign prediction area or the number of coefficients corresponding to the coefficient sign prediction target (e.g., abstract, paragraphs 0004-0007,0032,0120,0133,014-0149,0219, etc.). Regarding claim 2, Xiu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the transform type of the current block indicates one transform of a separable transform, a non-separable transform, or a combination of a separable transform and a non-separable transform (e.g., fig. 6, paragraphs 0015,0096,claim 6). Regarding claim 3, Xiu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the coefficient corresponding to the coefficient sign prediction target is a coefficient located within the coefficient sign prediction area (e.g., indication of, coefficients associated, e.g., within, with the sign prediction area of the transform block, abstract, paragraphs 0004-0007, etc.). Regarding claim 4, Xiu discloses the method of claim 1, wherein size of the coefficient sign prediction area of the current block is determined based on the transform type of the current block (e.g., paragraphs 0142,0220-0221,0224,0227, etc.). Regarding claims 11-13, the limitations as claimed are substantially similar to claim 1 above, and has been addressed in the above claim 1 . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 5. 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. 07-20-aia AIA 6. 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. 07-21-aia AIA 7. Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xiu et al. (US 2024/0298009) in view of Hsiang (US 2023/0188753). Regarding claim 7, Xiu discloses the method of claim 1, including sign prediction area of the transform block and selecting a hypothesis from the plurality of candidate hypotheses as a set of predicted sign for the set of candidate transform coefficients. Xiu, is silent to explicitly teach wherein the number of coefficients corresponding to the coefficient sign prediction target is determined based on the transform type of the current block . Hsiang, in the same field of endeavor teaches the claimed, number of coefficients corresponding to the coefficient sign prediction target is determined based on the transform type of the current block (e.g., paragraphs 0040,0053,0058-0060,0076). In view of the above, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify the teaching of Hsiang, into the sign prediction coding of Xiu, in order to improve coding efficiency, as suggested by the reference . Allowable Subject Matter 12-151-08 AIA 07-43 12-51-08 8. Claim s 5-6 and 8-10 are 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. Conclusion 07-96 AIA 9. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Xiu et al. (US 2024/0114375) Hsiang (US 2025/0039460) Kim et al. (US 2025/0392743) Contact Information 10. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Behrooz Senfi, whose telephone number is (571)272-7339. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday 10:00-6:00. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's supervisor, Christopher Kelley can be reached on 571 272 7331. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786- 9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571 -272-1000. /BEHROOZ M SENFI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2482 Application/Control Number: 19/152,289 Page 2 Art Unit: 2482 Application/Control Number: 19/152,289 Page 3 Art Unit: 2482 Application/Control Number: 19/152,289 Page 4 Art Unit: 2482 Application/Control Number: 19/152,289 Page 5 Art Unit: 2482
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