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 1 (claims 1-19) in the reply filed on 08/10/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal cancelled claim 20 and added claim 21. For the purposes of examination and advancing prosecution, the Examiner accepts the current amendment.
Pending claims: 1-19, 21.
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)(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.
Claims 1-10, 13-14, 17-19, 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102 as being anticipated by Lee (US 2019/0313113 A1).
As per claim 1, Lee discloses a method of video processing (Lee: Abstract.), comprising:
deriving, for a conversion between a video unit of a video and a bitstream of the video, a prediction sample of the video unit (Lee: Para. [0171] discloses “an integer pixel included in the reference block or a non-integer pixel generated by interpolating integer pixels may be generated as a prediction sample [claimed prediction sample] of the current block [claimed video unit]” and Lee: Para. [0213] discloses “p may denote the predicted sample [claimed prediction sample] encoded/decoded [claimed conversion between a video unit of a video and a bitstream of the video] by the intra prediction or the inter prediction”.);
deriving a refined prediction sample of the video unit by applying a refinement process to the prediction sample (Lee: Para. [0212] discloses “illumination compensation for compensating [claimed applying a refinement process to the prediction sample] a prediction sample generated through the intra prediction or the inter prediction” and Lee: Para. [0218] discloses “p′ may denote a weighted prediction sample to which the illumination compensation is applied [claimed refined prediction sample of the video unit]”.); and
performing the conversion based on the refined prediction sample (Lee: Para. [0232] discloses “The illumination compensation may be performed by applying the illumination compensation weight and the offset to a block (e.g., a prediction block) [claimed refined prediction sample] that is encoded/decoded [claimed performing the conversion] in the intra prediction or the inter prediction” and Lee: Para. [0009] discloses “obtain a prediction block by performing inter prediction for the current block, and perform the illumination compensation on the current block using the illumination compensation parameter [claimed performing the conversion based on the refined prediction sample]”).
As per claim 2, Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the prediction sample is derived by intra block copy (IBC) (Lee: Para. [0059] discloses “The motion prediction module may predict a current prediction unit [claimed prediction sample is derived] by changing the motion prediction method. As motion prediction methods, various methods, such as a skip method, a merge method, an AMVP (Advanced Motion Vector Prediction) method, an intra block copy method [claimed intra block copy (IBC)], etc., may be used.” and Lee: Para. [0171] discloses “generated as a prediction sample [claimed prediction sample] of the current block”.).
As per claim 3, Lee discloses the method of claim 2, wherein a function of the refinement process or at least one parameter of the function is derived based on a template of a reference block associated with the video unit, and wherein the reference block is located by a block vector (Lee: Para. [0212] discloses “illumination compensation for compensating a prediction sample [claimed refinement process] … p′=l×p+f [claimed a function of the refinement process]”; Lee: Para. [0227] discloses “The illumination compensation parameter [claimed at least one parameter of the function] may be derived based on an illumination change between a first template area in the current picture and a second template area in the reference picture. The first template area may be adjacent to the current block, and the second template area may be adjacent to a reference block [claimed template of a reference block associated with the video unit]. Here, the reference block is used to generate the prediction block of the current block, and may be specified by a motion vector [claimed block vector] of the current block”; and Lee: Paras. [0059] & [0225] disclose that “an intra block copy method [or] current picture referencing mode represents an inter prediction method in which a current picture including the current block is used as a reference picture [wherein the vector locating the reference block within the current picture is a block vector]”).
As per claim 4, Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the refinement process comprises a local illumination compensation (LIC), and wherein the refined prediction sample is obtained based on an IBC with the LIC (Lee: Para. [0212] discloses “it is possible to consider illumination compensation for compensating a prediction sample [claimed refinement process comprises a local illumination compensation (LIC)] generated through the intra prediction or the inter prediction”; Lee: Para. [0225] discloses “the current picture referencing mode [claimed IBC] represents an inter prediction method in which a current picture including the current block is used as a reference picture”; Lee: Para. [0226] discloses “the illumination compensation of the current block may be performed using the illumination compensation parameter predefined in the encoder/decoder [claimed refined prediction sample is obtained based on an IBC with the LIC]”; and Lee: Para. [0232] discloses “The illumination compensation may be performed by applying the illumination compensation weight and the offset to a block (e.g., a prediction block …) [claimed refined prediction sample is obtained based on an IBC with the LIC]”).
As per claim 5, Lee discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the method comprises:
deriving the prediction sample of the video unit by applying the IBC (Lee: Para. [0059] discloses motion prediction methods including “an intra block copy method [claimed IBC]”; Lee: Para. [0225] discloses “the current picture referencing mode [claimed IBC] represents an inter prediction method in which a current picture including the current block is used as a reference picture. When the current picture referencing mode is used, a prediction block [claimed prediction sample] of the current block [claimed video unit] may be derived from an area reconstructed previous to the current block [claimed deriving the prediction sample of the video unit by applying the IBC]”.); and
deriving the refined prediction sample of the video unit by applying the LIC to compensate the prediction sample of the video unit (Lee: Para. [0226] discloses “the illumination compensation [claimed LIC] of the current block may be performed using the illumination compensation parameter”; Lee: Paras. [0212]-[0213] disclose “illumination compensation [claimed LIC] for compensating a prediction sample [claimed compensate the prediction sample of the video unit] generated through the intra prediction or the inter prediction … p'=l*p+f [claimed deriving the refined prediction sample of the video unit by applying the LIC to compensate the prediction sample of the video unit] … p may denote the predicted sample [claimed prediction sample] … and p' may denote a weighted prediction sample to which the illumination compensation is applied [claimed refined prediction sample]”; and Lee: Para. [0232] discloses “the illumination compensation may be performed by applying the illumination compensation weight and the offset to a block (e.g., a prediction block) [claimed prediction sample] that is encoded/decoded in the intra prediction or the inter prediction [claimed deriving the refined prediction sample of the video unit by applying the LIC to compensate the prediction sample of the video unit]”.).
As per claim 6, Lee discloses the method of claim 4, wherein a linear model is used for the IBC with LIC to compensate the prediction sample of the video unit, or a non-linear model is used for the IBC with LIC to compensate the prediction sample of the video unit, and/or wherein parameters of a model used in the IBC with LIC are derived based on coding information of the video unit (Lee: Paras. [0059] & [0089] disclose motion prediction methods including “an intra block copy method [claimed IBC]” and “an inter block copy mode [claimed IBC]”; Lee: Para. [0212] discloses “it is possible to consider illumination compensation [claimed LIC] for compensating a prediction sample [claimed compensate the prediction sample] generated through the intra prediction or the inter prediction … For example, the illumination compensation prediction may be performed based on Equation 3 below. p'=l*p+f [Equation 3] [claimed a linear model is used for the IBC with LIC to compensate the prediction sample]”; and Para. [0232] discloses “The illumination compensation [claimed LIC] may be performed by applying the illumination compensation weight and the offset to a block (e.g., a prediction block or a reconstruction block) [claimed video unit] that is encoded/decoded in the intra prediction or the inter prediction.”).
As per claim 7, Lee discloses the method of claim 6, wherein the linear model is represented as:
α×p[x]+β (Lee: Para. [0212] discloses p'=l×p+f [Equation 3].),
wherein p[x] represents the prediction sample of the video unit, and a and p represent parameters of the linear model, respectively, and/or wherein a current template comprising neighboring reconstructed samples of the video unit and a reference template are used to derive the parameters (Lee: Para. [0212] discloses “the illumination compensation prediction may be performed based on Equation 3 below. p'=l×p+f [Equation 3] [claimed linear model is represented as: α×p[x]+β] … p may denote the predicted sample [claimed p[x] represents the prediction sample of the video unit] … l denotes the illumination compensation weight, and f denotes the offset [claimed α and β represent parameters of the linear model, respectively]” and Para. [0227] discloses “The illumination compensation parameter [claimed parameters] may be derived based on an illumination change between a first template area in the current picture [claimed current template comprising neighboring reconstructed samples of the video unit] and a second template area in the reference picture [claimed reference template]. The first template area may be adjacent to the current block, and the second template area may be adjacent to a reference block”.).
As per claim 8, Lee discloses the method of claim 7, wherein the reference template is derived using a BV that is used to obtain the prediction sample of the video unit, and/or wherein a portion or all samples of the current template and the reference template are used to derive the parameters, and/or wherein a least square error method is used to derive the parameters (Lee: Para. [0229] discloses “The illumination compensation parameter [claimed parameters] may be calculated based on a difference value between samples included in the first template region [claimed current template] and samples included in the second template region [claimed reference template]. For example, when a neighboring sample of the current block is assumed as yi (i is 0 to N-1) and a neighboring sample of the reference block is assumed as xi (i is 0 to N-1), the illumination compensation weight l and the offset f [claimed parameters] may be derived by calculating the minimum value of E (w, f) in Equation 4. E(w,f)=Σi(pi−(lpi−f))2+λ(w−1)2 [claimed a least square error method is used to derive the parameters]”).
As per claim 9, Lee discloses the method of claim 4, wherein the IBC with LIC is applied to at least one of:
an IBC advanced motion vector prediction (AMVP) mode, or an IBC merge mode, and/or wherein the IBC with LIC is not allowed to be applied to at least one IBC coding tool, and/or wherein at least one syntax element is indicated to indicate whether to and/or an approach to apply the IBC with LIC for at least one of an IBC AMVP mode or an IBC merge mode, and/or wherein whether to and/or an approach to apply the IBC with LIC for an IBC merge mode is inherited, and/or wherein whether to and/or an approach to apply IBC with LIC depends on coding information of the video unit (Lee: Para. [0225] discloses that “whether or not to signal the illumination compensation parameter [claimed whether to and/or an approach to apply IBC with LIC] may be determined according to the encoding mode of the current block [claimed depends on coding information of the video unit] … Alternatively, it is also possible that the encoding mode may indicate one of a skip mode, a merge mode, an AMVP mode, or a current picture referencing mode [claimed IBC], which are inter prediction methods of the current block. Here, the current picture referencing mode represents an inter prediction method in which a current picture including the current block is used as a reference picture [claimed IBC]” and Lee: Para. [0226] discloses “As an example, when the current block is encoded with the skip mode or the current picture referencing mode [claimed IBC], the illumination compensation parameter may not be signaled … If the illumination compensation parameter is not signaled, the illumination compensation [claimed LIC] for the current block may not be performed [claimed IBC with LIC is not allowed to be applied to at least one IBC coding tool]”.).
As per claim 10, Lee discloses the method of claim 9, wherein the IBC AMVP mode comprises at least one of:
a normal IBC AMVP mode, a template matching (TM) based IBC AMVP mode, a reconstruction-reordered IBC (RR-IBC) AMVP mode, a combined IBC and intra prediction (IBC- CIIP) mode, an IBC with geometry partitioning mode (IBC-GPM) mode, or other IBC AMVPmode where a BV predictor is derived and block vector difference (BVD) is indicated or derived, and/or wherein the IBC merge mode comprises at least one of:
a normal IBC merge mode, an IBC-TM merge mode, an IBC- merge mode with block vector difference (MBVD) mode, an IBC-CIIP mode, or an IBC-GPM mode, and/or wherein the at least one IBC coding tool comprises one or more of:
an RR-IBC, an IBC-CIIP, or an IBC-GPM, and/or wherein an inheritance of whether to and/or the approach to apply the IBC with LIC is associated with a merge candidate (Lee: Para. [0225] discloses “Here, the current picture referencing mode [claimed IBC mode] represents an inter prediction method in which a current picture including the current block is used as a reference picture. … Alternatively, the current picture referencing mode may be understood to be one embodiment of a skip mode, a merge mode [claimed normal IBC merge mode], or an AMVP mode [claimed IBC AMVP mode]”, and Lee: Para. [0165] discloses “The motion vector candidate specified by the information may be set as a motion vector prediction value [claimed BV predictor is derived] of the current block, and a motion vector difference value [claimed block vector difference (BVD) is indicated or derived] may be added to the motion vector prediction value to obtain a motion vector of the current block”.).
As per claim 13, Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the refinement process comprises a plurality of LIC models, and the plurality of LIC models is used to compensate the prediction sample of the video unit which is derived using IBC, and/or wherein positions or a shape of a template depends on coding information of the video unit, and/or wherein whether to and/or an approach to apply an IBC with LIC depends on at least one of: a colour format or colour components, and/or wherein an indication of the IBC with LIC mode is indicated based on a condition, and/or wherein whether the video unit is coded with an IBC with LIC mode is indicated using at least one syntax element (Lee: Para. [0227] discloses “The position of the second template area [claimed positions … of a template] may be variably determined in accordance with the reference picture or encoding mode of the current block [claimed depends on coding information of the video unit]”.).
As per claim 14, Lee discloses the method of claim 13, wherein a plurality of LIC types comprises different LIC models with adjustment parameters for one or more existing parameters of LIC, and/or wherein parameters of the plurality of LIC models are derived using different templates, and/or
wherein if left neighboring samples are unavailable, the template only comprises above neighboring samples, and/or wherein if above neighboring samples are unavailable, the template only comprises left neighboring samples, and/or
wherein if left and above neighboring samples are unavailable, the IBC with LIC is not applicable, and/or wherein the template comprises a template of a current block or
a template of a reference block associated with the video unit (Lee: Para. [0011] discloses “the illumination compensation parameter [claimed LIC parameter] is derived based on a first template area adjacent to the current block [claimed template comprises a template of a current block] and a second template area adjacent to a reference block [claimed a template of a reference block] included in a reference picture of the current block [claimed associated with the video unit]”; Lee: Para. [0227] further discloses “The illumination compensation parameter [claimed LIC parameter] may be derived based on an illumination change between a first template area in the current picture [claimed template of a current block] and a second template area in the reference picture [claimed template of a reference block]. The first template area may be adjacent to the current block, and the second template area may be adjacent to a reference block [claimed template comprises a template of a current block or a template of a reference block associated with the video unit]”.).
As per claim 17, Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the conversion includes encoding the video unit into the bitstream, and/or wherein the conversion includes decoding the video unit from the bitstream (Lee: Para. [0097] discloses “the coding unit [claimed video unit] is used as a term representing a unit for encoding [claimed conversion includes encoding the video unit into the bitstream], but the coding unit [claimed video unit] may serve as a unit performing decoding [claimed conversion includes decoding the video unit from the bitstream] as well as encoding”; Lee: Para. [0080] discloses “When a video bitstream [claimed bitstream] is input from the device for encoding a video, the input bitstream may be decoded [claimed decoding the video unit from the bitstream] according to an inverse process of the device for encoding a video”; and Lee: Para. [0056] discloses “prediction mode information, motion vector information, etc. used for prediction may be encoded with the residual value by the entropy encoding module 165 and may be transmitted to a device for decoding a video [claimed encoding the video unit into the bitstream]”.).
As per claims 18-19, the claims recite analogous limitations to claim 1 above, and is/are therefore rejected on the same premise.
As per claim 21, Lee discloses a method for storing a bitstream of a video (Lee: Abstract.), comprising:
deriving a prediction sample of a video unit of the video (Lee: Para. [0171] discloses “an integer pixel included in the reference block or a non-integer pixel generated by interpolating integer pixels may be generated as a prediction sample [claimed deriving a prediction sample] of the current block [claimed video unit of the video]” and Lee: Para. [0011] discloses “obtain a prediction block [claimed deriving a prediction sample] by performing inter prediction for a current block [claimed video unit of the video]”.);
deriving a refined prediction sample of the video unit by applying a refinement process to the prediction sample (Lee: Para. [0212]-[0213] discloses “compensating a prediction sample generated through the intra prediction or the inter prediction [claimed applying a refinement process to the prediction sample] … For example, the illumination compensation prediction may be performed based on Equation 3 below. p'=l*p+f … p may denote the predicted sample [claimed prediction sample] … p' may denote a weighted prediction sample to which the illumination compensation is applied [claimed deriving a refined prediction sample of the video unit]”, Lee: Para. [0010] discloses “performing illumination compensation for the prediction block using the illumination compensation parameter [claimed deriving a refined prediction sample of the video unit by applying a refinement process to the prediction sample]”, and Para. [0232] discloses “The illumination compensation may be performed by applying the illumination compensation weight and the offset to a block (e.g., a prediction block …) [claimed deriving a refined prediction sample of the video unit by applying a refinement process to the prediction sample]”.);
generating the bitstream based on the refined prediction sample (Lee: Para. [0010] discloses “performing illumination compensation for the prediction block using the illumination compensation parameter [claimed refined prediction sample], and encode information [claimed generating the bitstream based on the refined prediction sample]”.); and
storing the bitstream in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium (Lee: Para. [0243] discloses “The above-described embodiments may be implemented in the form of program instructions that may be executed through various computer components and recorded in a computer-readable recording medium [claimed non-transitory computer-readable recording medium] … Examples of computer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tape, optical recording media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, magneto-optical media such as floptical disks, media, and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions such as ROM, RAM, flash memory” and Lee: Paras. [0002]-[0003] disclose “when storing image data by using a conventional storage medium [claimed medium storing a bitstream] … Image data may be effectively compressed by using such image compression technology, and may be transmitted or stored [claimed storing a bitstream of a video]”).
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 11 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Liu et al., hereinafter referred to as Liu (US 2021/0235110 A1).
As per claim 11, Lee discloses the method of claim 10 (Lee: Abstract.),
However, Lee does not explicitly disclose “… wherein the IBC with LIC is disabled when a merge candidate belongs to a target merge type.”.
Further, Liu is in the same field of endeavor and teaches wherein the IBC with LIC is disabled when a merge candidate belongs to a target merge type (Liu: Para. [0365] discloses “i. In one example, if a block is coded with merge mode, for combined merge candidate or average merge candidate, LIC is always disabled [claimed LIC is disabled when a merge candidate belongs to a target merge type]”, Liu: Para. [0378] discloses “that LIC may be used together with intra block copy [claimed IBC with LIC]” and Liu: Para. [0380] discloses “in merge mode, if an IBC coded block inherits motion information from a neighboring block, it may also inherit the LIC flag [claimed wherein the IBC with LIC is disabled when a merge candidate belongs to a target merge type].”.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, and having the teachings of Lee and Liu before him or her, to modify the encoding decoding motion prediction method of Lee to include the IBC with LIC is disabled when a merge candidate belongs to a target merge type feature as described in Liu. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve the performance of current video codec technologies to provide better compression ratios or provide video coding and decoding schemes that allow for lower complexity or parallelized implementations.
Claim 15-16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Chen et al., hereinafter referred to as Chen (US 2024/0214553 A1).
As per claim 15, Lee discloses the method of claim 14 (Lee: Abstract.),
However, Lee does not explicitly disclose “…wherein different sample lines of a template are used for deriving the parameters of the plurality of LIC models, and/or wherein at least one of the followings is used for deriving the parameters of the plurality of LIC models: a left template, an above template, or a left-above template.”.
Further, Chen is in the same field of endeavor and teaches wherein different sample lines of a template are used for deriving the parameters of the plurality of LIC models, and/or wherein at least one of the followings is used for deriving the parameters of the plurality of LIC models: a left template, an above template, or a left-above template (Chen: Para. [0078] discloses “If both above and left spatial neighboring blocks are available, the above and left spatial LIC parameters [claimed parameters of the plurality of LIC models] are derived by separately minimizing the distortions between TA [claimed above template] and T, and TL [claimed left template] and T”, Chen: Paras. [0120]-[0121] discloses “only left or above boundary of a spatial reference block are used as template … For modes belong to horizontal directions … left reference template [claimed left template] is used for spatial LIC parameters estimation; as for modes belong to vertical directions … above reference template [claimed above template] (TA in FIG. 13) is considered … only the reconstructed samples located in left boundary are used to generate the template [claimed left template] … and only the above boundary is considered to generate the template [claimed above template]”, and Chen: Para. [0113] discloses “multi reference lines [claimed different sample lines of a template] of a spatial reference block are used as template … neighboring reconstructed samples located in one additional left and above line are used for generating the template [claimed different sample lines of a template are used for deriving the parameters of the plurality of LIC models]”.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, and having the teachings of Lee and Chen before him or her, to modify the encoding decoding template derivation illumination compensation system of Lee to include the different sample lines of a template and/or left template, above template, or left-above template feature as described in Chen. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve parameter estimation accuracy and to reduce computational complexity by providing a configuration that extends mode options.
As per claim 16, Lee-Chen disclose the method of claim 1 (Lee: Abstract.), further comprising determining whether the video unit is allowed to be coded with an IBC with LIC mode based on coded information of the video unit (Chen: Para. [0074] discloses “a block (or CU) [claimed video unit] level spatial LIC flag [claimed coded information of the video unit] is defined for an inter/intra/IBC block to indicate whether the spatial LIC applies on the block or not [claimed determining whether the video unit is allowed to be coded with an IBC with LIC mode]” and Chen: Para. [0122] discloses “The input to the algorithm is the current IBC CU [claimed video unit] to decode in the current intra picture. It consists in parsing a spatial LIC flag spatial_lic_flag [claimed coded information of the video unit], which indicates the usage of the proposed spatial LIC process in the current CU [claimed determining whether the video unit is allowed to be coded with an IBC with LIC mode] (step 4030)”.)).
Claim 12 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Liu in further view of Ma et al., hereinafter referred to as Ma (US 2025/0247557 A1).
As per claim 12, Lee-Liu disclose the method of claim 11 (Lee: Abstract),
However, Lee-Liu do not explicitly disclose “… wherein the target merge type is an RR-IBC.”.
Further, Ma is in the same field of endeavor and teaches wherein the target merge type is an RR-IBC (Ma: Para. [0242] discloses “A Reconstruction-Reordered IBC (RR-IBC) mode is allowed for IBC coded blocks”, Ma: Para. [0247] discloses “For IBC merge [claimed target merge type], the flip type is inherited from neighbouring blocks [claimed is an RR-IBC]” and Ma: Para. [0394] discloses “the two IBC prediction results can be from the merge candidates coded with RR-IBC mode [claimed target merge type is an RR-IBC]”.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, and having the teachings of Lee-Liu and Ma before him or her, to modify the encoding decoding motion prediction merge type methodology of Lee-Liu to include the RR-IBC feature as described in Ma. The motivation for doing so would have been to improve coding performance by providing a configuration that extends IBC modes.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and can be viewed in the list of references.
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/PEET DHILLON/Primary Examiner
Art Unit: 2488
Date: 09-23-2026
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