CTNF 19/218,998 CTNF 95808 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. 12-151 AIA 26-51 12-51 Status of Claims The following is a Non-Final Office Action in response to the correspondence filed on 05/27/2025. Claims 1-20 are considered in this Office Action. Claims 1-20 are currently pending. Information Disclosure Statement The IDS(s) received on date 06/11/2026 and 05/27/2025 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97, being reviewed and considered by the Examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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 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. 07-23-aia AIA The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows: 1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art. 2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue. 3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art. 4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1- 6, 10- 16 and 19-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huo Junyan (WO 2021134627 A1) (hereinafter Junyan) in view of Yucheng Sun (US 20230262211 A1) (hereinafter Sun): Regarding Claim 1, Junyan teaches a decoding method, applied to a decoder (decoding and encoding method [0004]; [0017]) , comprising: decoding a bitstream to determine information of at least one motion vector of a current block (decoding the bitstream to get the block’s motion vector [0018];[0088]) , and at least one of a type indication parameter or a geometrical mode parameter of the current block (the geometrical mode from the bitstream [0019]; [0078]); determining at least one reference prediction value of the current block according to the information of at least one motion vector (using the motion vectors to produce the part ion prediction [0012]; [0088]) , and determining a prediction value of the current block based on the at least one reference prediction value and the at least one weight parameter (generating the current block’s prediction value by weighted fusion of prediction values and weighted values[0157]- [0162]). Junyan does not explicitly teach the following limitations; however, in an analogous art, Sun teaches determining at least one weight parameter for the current block according to at least one of the type indication parameter or the geometrical mode parameter (determining the per-pixel weight value as a function of the geometrical mode [0182];[0214]). It would have been obvious to the person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify encoder and decoder for predicting the content of a block using inter prediction in a GEO mode.as disclosed by Junyan to add the teachings of Sun as disclosed above to improve compression efficiency. (Sun [0029]; [0033]). Regarding Claim 2, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of claim 1. Junyan further teaches wherein, the geometrical mode parameter comprises one or more of: gradient mode information, gradient slope information, change direction information, change start position information, change center position information, change end position information, change range width information, or change segment information (GEO parameters include a fixed slop angle. [0081][0086] Note: the fixed slop angle is the gradient slope information ). Regarding Claim 3, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of claim 1. Sun further teaches wherein the information of at least one motion vector comprises at least one of a forward motion vector or a backward motion vector (motion information points to List0 (forward) or List1 (backward) [0429]; [0432]). It would have been obvious to the person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify encoder and decoder for predicting the content of a block using inter prediction in a GEO mode.as disclosed by Junyan to add the teachings of Sun as disclosed above to improve compression efficiency. (Sun [0029]; [0033]). Regarding Claim 4, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of claim 1. Sun further teaches wherein the at least one reference prediction value comprises at least one of a forward reference value or a backward reference value (predicting a value from a forward or backward reference [0433]; [0434]) . It would have been obvious to the person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify encoder and decoder for predicting the content of a block using inter prediction in a GEO mode.as disclosed by Junyan to add the teachings of Sun as disclosed above to improve compression efficiency. (Sun [0009]; [0029]; [0033]). Regarding Claim 5, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of claim 2. Junyan further teaches wherein the at least one weight parameter comprises at least one sample weight value (computing a weight value for each pixel (sample) [0117]- [0118]). Regarding Claim 6, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of claim 5. Junyan further teaches determining the at least one sample weight value (computing a weight value for each pixel (sample) [0117]- [0118]). according to position information of a sample in the current block (weight index from which the sample weight is derived is computed from the pixel coordinates[0194]; [0196]) and the geometrical mode parameter (weight index ss determined using the angle index information [0176]; [0178]). Regarding Claim 10, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of claim 1. Junyan further teaches wherein decoding the bitstream to determine an inter prediction mode parameter of the current block (parsing the bitstream to get the predictive decoding parameter [0018]; [0031]); and when the inter prediction mode parameter indicates that a sample-level weight value is used to determine an inter prediction value of the current block , performing a process of determining at least one of the type indication parameter or the geometrical mode parameter (the predictive decoding parameter indicates the GEO mode used, the GEO mode derives the per pixel weight [0019]; [0243]) . Regarding Claim 11, Junyan teaches A encoding method, applied to an encoder, (encoding method [0009]; [0067]) , comprising: determining information of at least one motion vector of a current block (the encoder determines the first and second motion information [0088]- [0099]) , and at least one of a type indication parameter or a geometrical mode parameter of the current block (the geometrical mode from the bitstream [0019]; [0078]); determining at least one reference prediction value of the current block according to the information of at least one motion vector (using the motion vectors to produce the part ion prediction [0012]; [0088]) , and determining a prediction value of the current block based on the at least one reference prediction value and the at least one weight parameter (generating the current block’s prediction value by weighted fusion of prediction values and weighted values[0157]- [0162]). Junyan does not explicitly teach the following limitations; however, in an analogous art, Sun teaches determining at least one weight parameter for the current block according to at least one of the type indication parameter or the geometrical mode parameter (determining the per-pixel weight value as a function of the geometrical mode [0182];[0214]). It would have been obvious to the person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify encoder and decoder for predicting the content of a block using inter prediction in a GEO mode.as disclosed by Junyan to add the teachings of Sun as disclosed above to improve compression efficiency. (Sun [0029]; [0033]). Regarding Claim 12, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of Claim 11. Junyan further teaches wherein, the geometrical mode parameter comprises one or more of: gradient mode information, gradient slope information, change direction information, change start position information, change center position information, change end position information, change range width information, or change segment information (GEO parameters include a fixed slop angle. [0081][0086] Note: the fixed slop angle is the gradient slope information). Regarding Claim 13, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of Claim 11. Sun further teaches wherein the information of at least one motion vector comprises at least one of a forward motion vector or a backward motion vector (motion information points to List0 (forward) or List1 (backward) [0429]; [0432]). It would have been obvious to the person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify encoder and decoder for predicting the content of a block using inter prediction in a GEO mode.as disclosed by Junyan to add the teachings of Sun as disclosed above to improve compression efficiency. (Sun [0029]; [0033]). Regarding Claim 14, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of Claim 11. Sun further teaches wherein the at least one reference prediction value comprises at least one of a forward reference value or a backward reference value (predicting a value from a forward or backward reference [0433]; [0434]) . It would have been obvious to the person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify encoder and decoder for predicting the content of a block using inter prediction in a GEO mode.as disclosed by Junyan to add the teachings of Sun as disclosed above to improve compression efficiency. (Sun [0009]; [0029]; [0033]). Regarding Claim 15, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of claim 12. Junyan further teaches wherein the at least one weight parameter comprises at least one sample weight value (computing a weight value for each pixel (sample) [0117]- [0118]). Regarding Claim 16, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of claim 15. Junyan further teaches determining the at least one sample weight value (computing a weight value for each pixel (sample) [0117]- [0118]). according to position information of a sample in the current block (weight index from which the sample weight is derived is computed from the pixel coordinates[0194]; [0196]) and the geometrical mode parameter (weight index ss determined using the angle index information [0176]; [0178]). Regarding Claim 19, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of Claim 11. Junyan further teaches determining an inter prediction mode parameter of the current block (parsing the bitstream to get the predictive decoding parameter [0018]; [0031]); and when the inter prediction mode parameter indicates that a sample-level weight value is used to determine an inter prediction value of the current block , performing a process of determining at least one of the type indication parameter or the geometrical mode parameter (the predictive decoding parameter indicates the GEO mode used, the GEO mode derives the per pixel weight [0019]; [0243]) . Regarding Claim 20, Junyan teaches A decoder (decoder [0240]) , comprising: a processor (processor [0240]); and a memory storing instructions executable by the processor (memory storing instruction executed by the processor [0240]), wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor (memory storing instruction executed by the processor [0240]) , implement following operations: decoding a bitstream to determine information of at least one motion vector of a current block (decoding the bitstream to get the block’s motion vector [0018];[0088]) , and at least one of a type indication parameter or a geometrical mode parameter of the current block (the geometrical mode from the bitstream [0019]; [0078]); determining at least one reference prediction value of the current block according to the information of at least one motion vector (using the motion vectors to produce the part ion prediction [0012]; [0088]) , and determining a prediction value of the current block based on the at least one reference prediction value and the at least one weight parameter (generating the current block’s prediction value by weighted fusion of prediction values and weighted values[0157]- [0162]). Junyan does not explicitly teach the following limitations; however, in an analogous art, Sun teaches determining at least one weight parameter for the current block according to at least one of the type indication parameter or the geometrical mode parameter (determining the per-pixel weight value as a function of the geometrical mode [0182];[0214]). It would have been obvious to the person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify encoder and decoder for predicting the content of a block using inter prediction in a GEO mode.as disclosed by Junyan to add the teachings of Sun as disclosed above to improve compression efficiency. (Sun [0029]; [0033]) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 7- 9, and 17- 18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huo Junyan (WO 2021134627 A1) (hereinafter Junyan) in view of Yucheng Sun (US 20230262211 A1) (hereinafter Sun) further in view of Lien-Fei Chen (US 20230345023 A1) (hereinafter Chen): Regarding Claim 7, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of claim 6. Sun further teaches presetting the upper limit weight and the lower limit weight (a pre-agreed minimum weight of 0 and maximum weight of 8 [0142]); It would have been obvious to the person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify encoder and decoder for predicting the content of a block using inter prediction in a GEO mode.as disclosed by Junyan to add the teachings of Sun as disclosed above to improve compression efficiency. (Sun [0029]; [0033]). Sun does not explicitly teach the following limitations; however, in an analogous art, Chen teaches determining a first distance according to the position information of the sample in the current block and the change start position information (determining the displacement of the sample relative to the start boundary (- theta) [0081]- [0083]). determining a second distance according to the position information of the sample in the current block and the change end position information (the sample’s displacement relative to the end boundary (Theta)[0084]); and determining the at least one sample weight value according to the first distance, the second distance, the lower limit weight, and the upper limit weight ( computing the sample weight from the displacement, clipped between lower limit and upper limit, and the distance between the start and end positions [0082]- [0086]). It would have been obvious to the person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify encoder and decoder for predicting the content of a block using inter prediction in a GEO mode.as disclosed by Junyan in view of Sun to further add the teachings of Chen as disclosed above to improve the coding performance. (Chen [0103]). Regarding Claim 8, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of claim 6; however, do not explicitly teach determining a lower limit weight and an upper limit weight according to the gradient mode information, the gradient slope information, the change direction information, and the change center position information under a requirement of a predefined calculation accuracy, and determining a weight for a change center position according to the upper limit weight and the lower limit weight; determining a third distance according to the position information of the sample in the current block and the change center position information; and determining the at least one sample weight value according to the third distance and the weight for the change center position. However, in an analogous art, Chen teaches determining a lower limit weight and an upper limit weight according to the gradient mode information, the gradient slope information, the change direction information, and the change center position information under a requirement of a predefined calculation accuracy (defines a maximum weight and minimum weight whose ramp slope depends on the slop and blending size, oriented by the partition edge angle (direction) about the block center and quantizes the ramp with a fixed shift [0069]; [0086]; [0102]), and determining a weight for a change center position according to the upper limit weight and the lower limit weight (the reference’s weight (4) at the center lies between lower limit (0) and upper limit (8) [0082];[0085]); determining a third distance according to the position information of the sample in the current block and the change center position information (computing the distance between the sample position and the enter position [0184]); and determining the at least one sample weight value according to the third distance and the weight for the change center position (computing the per-sample weight from the displacement about the center [0085]; [0082]). It would have been obvious to the person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify encoder and decoder for predicting the content of a block using inter prediction in a GEO mode.as disclosed by Junyan in view of Sun to further add the teachings of Chen as disclosed above to improve the coding performance. (Chen [0103]). Regarding Claim 9, Junyan in view of Sun and Chen teach the method of claim 7. Junyan further teaches wherein the sample weight value comprises a first prediction weight (first weight value for each pixel [0101]; [0103]) and a second prediction weight (second weight value for each pixel [0143] ;[0166]), and the method further comprises: determining a value of a sum of weights according to the lower limit weight and the upper limit weight ( The sum of weight is a total of 8 which is the sum of the lower and upper limits [0093]; [0103]; [0119]); and determining the second prediction weight based on the first prediction weight and the value of the sum of the weights (the second prediction weight is determined based on the subtraction of the first weight from the sum weight [0103]; [0127]; [0138]). Regarding Claim 17, Junyan in view of Sun teach the method of claim 16. Sun further teaches presetting the upper limit weight and the lower limit weight (a pre-agreed minimum weight of 0 and maximum weight of 8 [0142]); It would have been obvious to the person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify encoder and decoder for predicting the content of a block using inter prediction in a GEO mode.as disclosed by Junyan to add the teachings of Sun as disclosed above to improve compression efficiency. (Sun [0029]; [0033]). Sun does not explicitly teach the following limitations; however, in an analogous art, Chen teaches determining a first distance according to the position information of the sample in the current block and the change start position information (determining the displacement of the sample relative to the start boundary (- theta) [0081]- [0083]), and determining a second distance according to the position information of the sample in the current block and the change end position information (the sample’s displacement relative to the end boundary (Theta)[0084]); and determining the at least one sample weight value according to the first distance, the second distance, the lower limit weight, and the upper limit weight ( computing the sample weight from the displacement, clipped between lower limit and upper limit, and the distance between the start and end positions [0082]- [0086]). It would have been obvious to the person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify encoder and decoder for predicting the content of a block using inter prediction in a GEO mode.as disclosed by Junyan in view of Sun to further add the teachings of Chen as disclosed above to improve the coding performance. (Chen [0103]). Regarding Claim 18, Junyan in view of Sun and Chen teach the method of claim 17. Junyan further teaches wherein the sample weight value comprises a first prediction weight (first weight value for each pixel [0101]; [0103]) and a second prediction weight (second weight value for each pixel [0143] ;[0166]), and the method further comprises: determining a value of a sum of weights according to the lower limit weight and the upper limit weight ( The sum of weight is a total of 8 which is the sum of the lower and upper limits [0093]; [0103]; [0119]); and determining the second prediction weight based on the first prediction weight and the value of the sum of the weights (the second prediction weight is determined based on the subtraction of the first weight from the sum weight [0103]; [0127]; [0138]). Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MAHMOUD KAMAL ABOUZAHRA whose telephone number is (703)756-1694. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /MAHMOUD KAMAL ABOUZAHRA/Examiner, Art Unit 2486 /JAMIE J ATALA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/218,998 Page 2 Art Unit: 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/218,998 Page 3 Art Unit: 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/218,998 Page 4 Art Unit: 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/218,998 Page 5 Art Unit: 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/218,998 Page 6 Art Unit: 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/218,998 Page 7 Art Unit: 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/218,998 Page 8 Art Unit: 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/218,998 Page 9 Art Unit: 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/218,998 Page 10 Art Unit: 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/218,998 Page 11 Art Unit: 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/218,998 Page 12 Art Unit: 2486
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