DETAILED ACTION
This action is in response to application 19/202,760 filed on 05/08/2025.
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 .
Double Patenting
3. The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
4. Claims 1-15 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,323,623 B2 in view of LI et al. (US Pub. No.: 2021/0168369 A1).
Furthermore, although the conflicting claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because U.S. Patent No.: 12,323,623 B2 claims:
Instant Application: 19/202,760
Note: bold and underlined fonts means same features between instant application and conflicting appl.
Conflicting Application: 18/730,266
→ now US Patent No.: 12,323,623 B2
Claim [1]: A coefficient decoding method, comprising: parsing a code stream to obtain coefficient group information of a unit to be decoded, wherein coefficients of the unit to be decoded are divided into one or more coefficient groups, each of the coefficient groups comprises one or more coefficient codes, the coefficient codes in a same coefficient group are fixed-length codes with a same coding length, the coefficient groups comprise a first coefficient group, and the coefficient group information comprises one or more boundary symbols, a coding length and an image bit width of the first coefficient group, and the coding length is configured to represent a length of fixed-length codes corresponding to the first coefficient group; parsing one or more coefficient codes in the first coefficient group into one or more coefficient values; wherein in response to the coding length being greater than or equal to the image bit width, the coefficient codes in the first coefficient group are parsed into the coefficient values by using fixed-length codes with a length equal to the image bit width; and in response to the coding length being smaller than the image bit width, the coefficient codes in the first coefficient group are parsed into the coefficient values by using fixed-length codes with a length equal to the coding length; and determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols; wherein determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols comprises: in response to an absolute extremum being in the first coefficient group, determining that symbols of coefficient values in the first coefficient group whose absolute values are equal to coefficients of the absolute extremum are all positive or all negative according to the boundary symbols, wherein the absolute extremum is the largest absolute value of a fixed-length code value range of the coding length.
Claim [1]: A coefficient decoding method, comprising: parsing a code stream to obtain coefficient group information of a unit to be decoded, wherein coefficients of the unit to be decoded are divided into one or more coefficient groups, each of the coefficient groups comprises one or more coefficient codes, the coefficient codes in a same coefficient group are fixed-length codes with a same coding length, the coefficient groups comprise a first coefficient group, and the coefficient group information comprises one or more boundary symbols of the first coefficient group; parsing one or more coefficient codes in the first coefficient group into one or more coefficient values; and determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols; wherein determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols comprises: in response to an absolute extremum being in the first coefficient group, determining that symbols of coefficient values in the first coefficient group whose absolute values are equal to coefficients of the absolute extremum are all positive or all negative according to the boundary symbols, wherein the absolute extremum is the largest absolute value of a fixed-length code value range of the coding length.
Claim [2]: The coefficient decoding method according to claim 1, further comprising: obtaining a grouping manner and a prediction mode of the unit to be decoded from the code stream; deriving a scanning manner based on the prediction mode; scanning the unit to be decoded according to the scanning manner to obtain one or more scanning results; and extracting the first coefficient group from the scanning results according to the grouping manner; wherein if the prediction mode is a point-by-point prediction mode, the scanning manner is a scanning manner with vertical priority, wherein the scanning manner with vertical priority is a scanning manner from top to bottom and then from left to right.
Claim [7]: The coefficient decoding method according to claim 4, further comprising: determining a grouping manner of the unit to be decoded according to the code stream; obtaining a prediction mode of a current coding unit from the code stream, and deriving a scanning manner according to the prediction mode; scanning the unit to be decoded according to the scanning manner to obtain one or more scanning results; and extracting the first coefficient group from the scanning results according to the grouping manner.
Claim [3]: The coefficient decoding method according to claim 1, wherein the first coefficient group comprises one or more coefficient blocks, and determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols comprises: for any one of the coefficient blocks, in response to an absolute extremum being in the coefficient block, determining that symbols of coefficient values in the coefficient block whose absolute values are equal to coefficients of the absolute extremum are all positive or all negative according to the boundary symbol of the coefficient block.
Claim [3]: The coefficient decoding method according to claim 1, wherein the first coefficient group comprises one or more coefficient blocks, the boundary symbols comprise a boundary symbol of each of the coefficient blocks, and determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols comprises: for any one of the coefficient blocks, in response to an absolute extremum being in the coefficient block, determining that symbols of coefficient values in the coefficient block whose absolute values are equal to coefficients of the absolute extremum are all positive or all negative according to the boundary symbol of the coefficient block.
Claim [4]: The coefficient decoding method according to claim 1, wherein coefficients in the first coefficient group are residual coefficients, transform coefficients, or original pixel values.
Claim [4]: The coefficient decoding method according claim 1, wherein coefficients in the first coefficient group are residual coefficients, transform coefficients, or original pixel values.
Claim [5]: The coefficient decoding method according to claim 1, further comprising: parsing the code stream by using a fixed coding length of 1 to obtain the boundary symbols.
Claim [6]: The coefficient decoding method according to claim 5, wherein the coding length is in a form of a coding length code in the coefficient group information, and the boundary symbols are in a form of a boundary symbol code in the coefficient group information; in response to the coefficient codes in the first coefficient group representing the transform coefficients and the first coefficient group being the DC coefficient group, the coefficient decoding method further comprises: parsing the coding length code by using a fixed-length code to obtain the coding length; parsing a DC coefficient value by using a fixed-length code with a length of the coding length and parsing the boundary symbol code by using a fixed coding length of 1 to obtain the boundary symbols.
Claim [6]: An electronic device, comprising an image decoder, a communication interface and a memory, wherein the image decoder is configured to perform operations comprising: parsing a code stream to obtain coefficient group information of a unit to be decoded, wherein coefficients of the unit to be decoded are divided into one or more coefficient groups, each of the coefficient groups comprises one or more coefficient codes, the coefficient codes in a same coefficient group are fixed-length codes with a same coding length, the coefficient groups comprise a first coefficient group, and the coefficient group information comprises one or more boundary symbols, a coding length and an image bit width of the first coefficient group, and the coding length is configured to represent a length of fixed-length codes corresponding to the first coefficient group; parsing one or more coefficient codes in the first coefficient group into one or more coefficient values; wherein in response to the coding length being greater than or equal to the image bit width, the coefficient codes in the first coefficient group are parsed into the coefficient values by using fixed-length codes with a length equal to the image bit width; and in response to the coding length being smaller than the image bit width, the coefficient codes in the first coefficient group are parsed into the coefficient values by using fixed-length codes with a length equal to the coding length; and determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols; wherein determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols comprises: in response to an absolute extremum being in the first coefficient group, determining that symbols of coefficient values in the first coefficient group whose absolute values are equal to coefficients of the absolute extremum are all positive or all negative according to the boundary symbols, wherein the absolute extremum is the largest absolute value of a fixed-length code value range of the coding length.
Claim [8]: An electronic device, comprising an image decoder, a communication interface and a memory, wherein the image decoder is configured to perform operations comprising: parsing a code stream to obtain coefficient group information of a unit to be decoded, wherein coefficients of the unit to be decoded are divided into one or more coefficient groups, each of the coefficient groups comprises one or more coefficient codes, the coefficient codes in a same coefficient group are fixed-length codes with a same coding length, the coefficient groups comprise a first coefficient group, and the coefficient group information comprises one or more boundary symbols of the first coefficient group; parsing one or more coefficient codes in the first coefficient group into one or more coefficient values; and determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols; wherein determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols comprises: in response to an absolute extremum being in the first coefficient group, determining that symbols of coefficient values in the first coefficient group whose absolute values are equal to coefficients of the absolute extremum are all positive or all negative according to the boundary symbols, wherein the absolute extremum is the largest absolute value of a fixed-length code value range of the coding length.
Claim [7]: The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the operations further comprises: obtaining a grouping manner and a prediction mode of the unit to be decoded from the code stream; deriving a scanning manner based on the prediction mode; scanning the unit to be decoded according to the scanning manner to obtain one or more scanning results; and extracting the first coefficient group from the scanning results according to the grouping manner; wherein if the prediction mode is a point-by-point prediction mode, the scanning manner is a scanning manner with vertical priority, wherein the scanning manner with vertical priority is a scanning manner from top to bottom and then from left to right.
Claim [14]: The electronic device according to claim 11, further comprising: determining a grouping manner of the unit to be decoded according to the code stream; obtaining a prediction mode of a current coding unit from the code stream, and deriving a scanning manner according to the prediction mode; scanning the unit to be decoded according to the scanning manner to obtain a scanning result; and extracting the first coefficient group from the scanning result according to the grouping manner.
Claim [8]: The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the first coefficient group comprises one or more coefficient blocks, and determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols comprises: for any one of the coefficient blocks, in response to an absolute extremum being in the coefficient block, determining that symbols of coefficient values in the coefficient block whose absolute values are equal to coefficients of the absolute extremum are all positive or all negative according to the boundary symbol of the coefficient block.
Claim [10]: The electronic device according to claim 8, wherein the first coefficient group comprises one or more coefficient blocks, the boundary symbols comprise a boundary symbol of each of the coefficient blocks, and determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols comprises: for any one of the coefficient blocks, in response to an absolute extremum being in the coefficient block, determining that symbols of coefficient values in the coefficient block whose absolute values are equal to coefficients of the absolute extremum are all positive or all negative according to the boundary symbol of the coefficient block.
Claim [9]: The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein coefficients in the first coefficient group are residual coefficients, transform coefficients, or original pixel values.
Claim [11]: The electronic device according to claim 8, wherein coefficients in the first coefficient group are residual coefficients, transform coefficients, or original pixel values.
Claim [10]: The electronic device according to claim 6, wherein the operations further comprises: parsing the code stream by using a fixed coding length of 1 to obtain the boundary symbols.
Claim [13]: The electronic device according to claim 12, wherein the coding length is in a form of a coding length code in the coefficient group information, and the boundary symbols are in a form of a boundary symbol code in the coefficient group information; in response to the coefficient codes in the first coefficient group representing the transform coefficients and the first coefficient group being the DC coefficient group, the operations further comprise: parsing the coding length code by using a fixed-length code to obtain the coding length; parsing a DC coefficient value by using a fixed-length code with a length of the coding length and parsing the boundary symbol code by using a fixed coding length of 1 to obtain the boundary symbols.
Claim [11]: A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer instructions, wherein when the computer instructions are run on an electronic device, the electronic device is enabled to perform operations comprising: parsing a code stream to obtain coefficient group information of a unit to be decoded, wherein coefficients of the unit to be decoded are divided into one or more coefficient groups, each of the coefficient groups comprises one or more coefficient codes, the coefficient codes in a same coefficient group are fixed-length codes with a same coding length, the coefficient groups comprise a first coefficient group, and the coefficient group information comprises one or more boundary symbols, a coding length and an image bit width of the first coefficient group, and the coding length is configured to represent a length of fixed-length codes corresponding to the first coefficient group; parsing one or more coefficient codes in the first coefficient group into one or more coefficient values; wherein in response to the coding length being greater than or equal to the image bit width, the coefficient codes in the first coefficient group are parsed into the coefficient values by using fixed-length codes with a length equal to the image bit width; and in response to the coding length being smaller than the image bit width, the coefficient codes in the first coefficient group are parsed into the coefficient values by using fixed-length codes with a length equal to the coding length; and determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols; wherein determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols comprises: in response to an absolute extremum being in the first coefficient group, determining that symbols of coefficient values in the first coefficient group whose absolute values are equal to coefficients of the absolute extremum are all positive or all negative according to the boundary symbols, wherein the absolute extremum is the largest absolute value of a fixed-length code value range of the coding length.
Claim [15]: A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer instructions, wherein when the computer instructions are run on an electronic device, the electronic device is enabled to perform operations comprising: parsing a code stream to obtain coefficient group information of a unit to be decoded, wherein coefficients of the unit to be decoded are divided into one or more coefficient groups, each of the coefficient groups comprises one or more coefficient codes, the coefficient codes in a same coefficient group are fixed-length codes with a same coding length, the coefficient groups comprise a first coefficient group, and the coefficient group information comprises one or more boundary symbols of the first coefficient group; parsing one or more coefficient codes in the first coefficient group into one or more coefficient values; and determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols; wherein determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols comprises: in response to an absolute extremum being in the first coefficient group, determining that symbols of coefficient values in the first coefficient group whose absolute values are equal to coefficients of the absolute extremum are all positive or all negative according to the boundary symbols, wherein the absolute extremum is the largest absolute value of a fixed-length code value range of the coding length.
Claim [13]: The storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the first coefficient group comprises one or more coefficient blocks, and determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols comprises: for any one of the coefficient blocks, in response to an absolute extremum being in the coefficient block, determining that symbols of coefficient values in the coefficient block whose absolute values are equal to coefficients of the absolute extremum are all positive or all negative according to the boundary symbol of the coefficient block.
Claim [17]: The storage medium according to claim 15, wherein the first coefficient group comprises one or more coefficient blocks, the boundary symbols comprise a boundary symbol of each of the coefficient blocks, and determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols comprises: for any one of the coefficient blocks, in response to an absolute extremum being in the coefficient block, determining that symbols of coefficient values in the coefficient block whose absolute values are equal to coefficients of the absolute extremum are all positive or all negative according to the boundary symbol of the coefficient block.
Claim [14]: The storage medium according to claim 11, wherein coefficients in the first coefficient group are residual coefficients, transform coefficients, or original pixel values.
Claim [18]: The storage medium according to claim 15, wherein coefficients in the first coefficient group are residual coefficients, transform coefficients, or original pixel values.
Claim [15]: The storage medium according to claim 11, wherein the operations further comprises: parsing the code stream by using a fixed coding length of 1 to obtain the boundary symbols.
Claim [20]: The storage medium according to claim 19, wherein the boundary symbols are in a form of a boundary symbol code in the coefficient group information; and the operations further comprise: parsing the boundary symbol code by using a fixed coding length of 1 to obtain the boundary symbols.
However, examiner notes that LI et al. (US Pub. No.: 2021/0168369 A1) teaches the unique limitations in the instant application regarding Li discloses a decoding method (see Fig. 5), electronic device (see abstract, fig. 13), and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (see paragraph [0245]) comprising: parsing a code stream (see fig. 5 unit S504) to obtain coefficient group information (see fig. 5 unit S504, e.g., “size of the coefficient group”, paragraph [0141]) of a unit to be decoded (see fig. 5 unit S504, e.g., “decoded block”), wherein coefficients of the unit to be decoded (see paragraph [0327]) are divided into one or more coefficient groups (see fig. 2 unit S206), each of the coefficient groups comprises one or more coefficient codes (see paragraph [0214] and [0220]); parsing one or more coefficient codes in the first coefficient group into one or more coefficient values (see fig. 11 paragraph [0296]); and determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative (see paragraph [0374]).
Therefore, it 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 could recognize the advantage of providing a coefficient decoding method, electronic device and storage medium by modifying Pan’s teachings in the present US Patent No.: 12,323,623 B2 for the purpose of wherein determining whether the coefficient values in the first coefficient group are positive or negative according to the boundary symbols comprises: in response to an absolute extremum being in the first coefficient group, determining that symbols of coefficient values in the first coefficient group whose absolute values are equal to coefficients of the absolute extremum are all positive or all negative according to the boundary symbols, wherein the absolute extremum is the largest absolute value of a fixed-length code value range of the coding length, thereby improving compression efficiency.
Allowable Subject Matter
5. The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Claims 1-15 of the instant application would be allowable provided obviousness type double patenting rejection above is overcome.
Conclusion
6. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Sugahara et al. (US Pub. No.: 2004/0120404 A1) discloses variable length data encoding method, variable length data encoding apparatus, variable length encoded data decoding method, and variable length encoded data decoding apparatus.
Kimura et al. (US Patent No.: 6,798,542 B1) discloses image encoding apparatus.
Miyasaka et al. (US Patent No.: 6,484,142 B1) discloses encoder using Huffman codes.
7. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Richard Carter whose telephone number is (571)270-1220. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8:30 am - 5:00 pm.
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, Jay Patel can be reached on 571-272-2988. 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.
/R.B.C/Examiner, Art Unit 2485
/JAYANTI K PATEL/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2485
August 27, 2026
Prosecution Insights