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 .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election with traverse of Group I and Species III of fig. 5A corresponding to claims 1-17 and 20 in the reply filed on 6/15/26 is acknowledged.
Claim(s) 18-19 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b), as being drawn to a nonelected embodiment, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the restricted claims are not a serious examination burden. This is not found persuasive because even though the claims have overlapping language, the search for 1-17 and 20 are directed toward allegedly drawn to filtering based on first and second syntax identifier information, classified in H04N 19/80 and does not require the search for o filtering based on first, second and third rate- distortion cost, classified in H04N 19/147. Similarly, the search for claims 18-19 are directed toward filtering based on first, second and third rate- distortion cost, classified in H04N 19/147. These searches in different classes show a serious search and examination burden to the Examiner.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/8/25 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant's cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Drawings
The drawings were received on 4/8/25. These drawings are acceptable.
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 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)(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) 1-6, 10-17 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Li et al. (US 2025/0119541).
Regarding claim 1, Li discloses a decoding method (see fig. 13), applied to a decoder (see 2900 of fig. 29), and comprising: parsing a bitstream (see 2901 in fig. 29), and determining first syntax element identifier information of a component to-be-filtered of a current frame or a current slice (see 3002 in fig. 30), wherein the first syntax element identifier information is used for determining whether a component to-be-filtered of each block in the current frame or the current slice is filtered (see “NN filter indicated by one or more syntax” in 3002 of fig. 30; e.g. see ¶ [0448]) based on a preset network model (see “partitioning information” in 3002 of fig. 30); in response to the first syntax element identifier information indicating that there are components to-be-filtered of partitioned blocks in the current frame or the current slice that are allowed to be filtered by using the preset network model (see 3002 flow to 3004 in fig. 30; e.g. see ¶ [0448]), determining quantization parameter information of a component to-be-filtered (e.g. see ¶ [0196]), and determining second syntax element identifier information (e.g. see “motion vector” or “prediction mode” or scaling factor” in ¶ [0196]); and filtering, based on the second syntax element identifier information, the quantization parameter information and the preset network model, a current block of the current frame or the current slice, to obtain a filtered and reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block (see “filtered Samples” in fig. 13).
Regarding claim 2, Li further discloses wherein in response to the first syntax element identifier information indicating that there are the components to-be-filtered of the partitioned blocks in the current frame or the current slice that are allowed to be filtered by using the preset network model, determining the quantization parameter information of the component to-be-filtered, and determining the second syntax element identifier information comprises: in response to the first syntax element identifier information indicating that components to-be-filtered of all of the partitioned blocks in the current frame or the current slice are allowed to be filtered by using the preset network model (e.g. see ¶ [0448]), determining the quantization parameter information of the component to-be-filtered from the bitstream (e.g. see ¶ [0196]), and assigning a first value to the second syntax element identifier information (e.g. see “scaling factor in ¶ [0196]).
Regarding claim 3, Li further discloses wherein in response to the first syntax element identifier information indicating that there are the components to-be-filtered of the partitioned blocks in the current frame or the current slice that are allowed to be filtered by using the preset network model, determining the quantization parameter information of the component to-be-filtered, and determining the second syntax element identifier information comprises: in response to the first syntax element identifier information indicating that there is a component to-be-filtered of at least one of the partitioned blocks in the current frame or the current slice that is allowed to be filtered by using the preset network model (e.g. see ¶ [0448]), determining the quantization parameter information of the component to-be-filtered from the bitstream (e.g. see ¶ [0196]), and determining the second syntax element identifier information from the bitstream (e.g. see ¶ [0196]); wherein the at least one of the partitioned blocks is part of the partitioned blocks in the current frame or the current slice (e.g. see ¶ [0196]).
Regarding claim 4, Li further discloses comprising: in response to the first syntax element identifier information indicating that the current frame or the current slice is not allowed to be filtered by using the preset network model (e.g. see ¶ [0448]), assigning a second value to the second syntax element identifier information (e.g. see ¶ [0448], [0449]); and after determining a reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block (see 1200 in fig. 12A), determining the reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block as the filtered and reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block (see 1250 in fig. 12B).
Regarding claim 5, Li further discloses comprising: parsing the bitstream to determine a reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block (see 2901 in fig. 29).
Regarding claim 6, Li further discloses wherein filtering, based on the second syntax element identifier information, the quantization parameter information, and the preset network model, the current block of the current frame or the current slice, to obtain the filtered and reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block comprises: in response to the second syntax element identifier information indicating that the component to-be-filtered of the current block is filtered by using the preset network model, inputting the reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered and a quantization parameter corresponding to the quantization parameter information to the preset network model (see “Filtered Samples” in fig. 13), and filtering the current block of the current frame or the current slice to obtain the filtered and reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block (see 1250 in fig. 12B).
Regarding claim 10, Li further discloses comprising: in response to the first syntax element identifier information indicating that there are the components to-be-filtered of the partitioned blocks in the current frame or the current slice that are allowed to be filtered by using the preset network model (e.g. see ¶ [0448]), and the current frame or the current slice being a first type frame (see 2903 in fig. 29), determining the quantization parameter information of the component to-be-filtered and the second syntax element identifier information (e.g. see ¶ [0196]).
Regarding claim 11, Li further discloses comprising: determining third syntax element identifier information of the component to-be-filtered of the current block from the bitstream (e.g. see ¶ [0196]); in response to the first syntax element identifier information indicating that there are the components to-be-filtered of the partitioned blocks in the current frame or the current slice that are allowed to be filtered by using the preset network model, and the third syntax element identifier information indicating that the component to-be-filtered of the current block comprised in the current frame or the current slice is allowed to be filtered by using the preset network model (e.g. see ¶ [0448]), filtering, based on the quantization parameter information and the preset network model, the current block of the current frame or the current slice to obtain the filtered and reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block; or
Regarding claim 12, Li further discloses comprising: in response to the second syntax element identifier information indicating that the component to-be-filtered of the current block is not filtered by using the preset network model, not performing parsing of third syntax element identifier information (see “N” in fig. 22B).
Regarding claim 13, Li further discloses wherein before filtering, based on the second syntax element identifier information, the quantization parameter information, and the preset network model, the current block of the current frame or the current slice, to obtain the filtered and reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block, the method further comprises: obtaining a reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block and at least one of a prediction value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block, block partition information, and a deblocking filtering boundary strength (see 502-506 in fig. 5); wherein filtering, based on the second syntax element identifier information, the quantization parameter index, and the preset network model, the current block of the current frame or the current slice, to obtain the filtered and reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block comprises filtering, using the preset network model and combining the quantization parameter information and at least one of the prediction value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block, the block partition information, and the deblocking filtering boundary strength, the reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block to obtain the filtered and reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block (see 502-506 in fig. 5 and 1300 in fig. 13).
Regarding claim 14, Li further discloses wherein filtering, based on the second syntax element identifier information, the quantization parameter information, and the preset network model, the current block of the current frame, to obtain the filtered and reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block comprises: filtering, based on the second syntax element identifier information, the quantization parameter information, and the preset network model, the current block of the current frame, to obtain first residual information of the component to-be-filtered of the current block (see 1300 in fig. 13); and determining, based on the first residual information and a reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block, the filtered and reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block (see 502-506 in fig. 5 and 1300 in fig. 13).
Regarding claim 15, Li further discloses wherein before determining the first syntax element identifier information of the component to-be-filtered of the current frame or the current slice, the method further comprises: parsing fourth syntax element identifier information; and in response to the fourth syntax element identifier information indicating that a sequence comprising the current frame or the current slice is allowed to be filtered by using the preset network model, parsing the first syntax element identifier information (e.g. see ¶ [0448] with [0449]).
Regarding claim 16, Li further discloses comprising: traversing each of the partitioned blocks in the current frame or the current slice, sequentially taking each of the partitioned blocks as the current block, and repeatedly performing the operations of parsing the bitstream and determining the filtered and reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block, to obtain a respective filtered and reconstructed value of each component to-be-filtered for each of the partitioned blocks (see 2900 in fig. 29; see 1300 in fig. 13; e.g. see ¶ [0448]); and determining a reconstructed picture of the current frame or the current slice based on the respective filtered and reconstructed values of all of the components to-be-filtered for all of the partitioned blocks (see 2907 in fig. 29).
Regarding claim 17, Li further discloses comprising: traversing all components to-be-filtered of the current block, and repeatedly performing, for each of all components to-be-filtered sequentially, the operations of parsing the bitstream and determining the filtered and reconstructed value of the component to-be-filtered of the current block, to obtain a respective filtered and reconstructed value of each component to-be- filtered (see 2900 in fig. 29; see 1300 in fig. 13; e.g. see ¶ [0448]); wherein each component to-be-filtered corresponds to respective quantization parameter information (e.g. see ¶ [0196]); and determining a filtered and reconstructed value of the current block based on the respective filtered and reconstructed values of all components to-be-filtered of the current block (see 300 in fig. 30; see 2906 in fig. 29).
Regarding claim 20, the claim(s) recite a decoder (see 2600 in fig. 26) analogous limitations to claim 1, and is/are therefore rejected on the same premise.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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 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 of this title, 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.
Claims 8-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li.
Regarding claims 8-9, although Li discloses wherein determining the quantization parameter information of the component to-be-filtered comprises: determine a quantization parameter index of the component to-be-filtered of the current block (e.g. see ¶ [0280]); and determining, based on the quantization parameter index, the quantization parameter information of the component to-be-filtered for the current block from a quantization parameter candidate set (e.g. see ¶ [0196]), it is noted that Li does not provide the particular wherein the quantization parameter index is obtained from parsing the bitstream.
Although it is not explicitly recited, it is conventional in the art for parsing the bitstream to determine a quantization parameter index. The Examiner takes official notice that parsing the bitstream to determine a quantization parameter index is well known in the art. Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to incorporate parsing the bitstream to determine a quantization parameter index for the benefit of obtaining various quantization parameters to properly select appropriate filters to improve quality of coding and decoding.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li in view of Li et al. (US 2022/0329837, hereinafter Li2).
Regarding claim 7, although Li discloses wherein determining the first syntax element identifier information of the component to-be-filtered of the current frame or the current slice comprises: in response to the first syntax element identifier information being a third value, determining the first syntax element identifier information indicating that the current frame or the current slice is not allowed to be filtered by using the preset network model (e.g. see ¶ [0448]); in response to the first syntax element identifier information being a fourth value, determining the first syntax element identifier information indicating that components to-be-filtered of all of the partitioned blocks in the current frame or the current slice are allowed to be filtered by using the preset network model (e.g. see ¶ [0448]), it is noted that Li does not disclose in response to the first syntax element identifier information being a fifth value, determining the first syntax element identifier information indicating that there is at least one of the partitioned blocks in the current frame or the current slice that is allowed to be filtered by using the preset network model.
However, Li2 discloses a neural network filtering determining the first syntax element identifier information indicating that there is at least one of the partitioned blocks in the current frame or the current slice that is allowed to be filtered by using the preset network model (see 1902 in fig. 19).
Given the teachings as a whole, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to incorporate Li2 teachings of video unit network filtering into Li filtering for the benefit of improving quality of coding/decoding include both block level and slice/frame level filtering.
Citation of Pertinent Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
1. Wang et al. (US 2024/0089465), discloses filtering based on deep learning.
2. Deshpande et al. (US 2024/0305829), discloses signaling neural network filtering parameter.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to RICHARD T TORRENTE whose telephone number is (571)270-3702. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 6:45-3:15 pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jay Patel can be reached at (571) 272-2988. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RICHARD T TORRENTE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2485
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