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 .
Detailed Action
This office Action is in response to an application filed on 06/16/2025 is a CON of 18/462,005 filed on 09/06/2023 (PAT 12335468), which is a CON of 17/356,749 filed on 06/24/2021 (PAT 11785212), which is a CON of 16/511,626 filed on 07/15/2019 (PAT 1109588), which has a PRO 62/742,252 filed on 10/05/2018, in which claims 1-20 are pending and are being examined.
Information Disclosure Statement
This information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 06/16/2025 and 07/10/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
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 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); 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 nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP §§ 706.02(l)(1) - 706.02(l)(3) for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claims 1, 8, 15 and similar dependent claims are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1 of Conflicting Patent PAT US 11,095,885 B2. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the subject matter claimed in the instant application is anticipated by the Conflicting Patent and is covered by the Patent since the Patent and the application are claiming common subject matter, below is a list of limitations that perform the same function, however, different terminology may be used in both sets to describe the limitations, as follows, Claim 1 is used as an example to analyze the common subject matter:
Conflicting Patent No. US 11,095,885 B2
Instant Application:-19/239,334
1. A method of signaling an intra prediction mode used to encode a current block in an encoded video bitstream using at least one processor, the method comprising: generating a first most probable mode (MPM) list corresponding to a zero reference line of the current block, wherein the first MPM list comprises a first plurality of intra prediction modes; generating a second MPM list corresponding to one or more non-zero reference lines of the current block, wherein the second MPM list comprises a second plurality of intra prediction modes, the second plurality of intra prediction modes comprising a subset of the first plurality of intra prediction modes; signaling a reference line index indicating a reference line used to encode the current block from among the zero reference line and the one or more non-zero reference lines; and signaling an intra mode index indicating the intra prediction mode, wherein, based on the reference line index indicating that the reference line is the zero reference line, the intra mode index indicates the intra prediction mode within the first MPM list, or based on the reference line index indicating that the reference line is one from among the one or more non-zero reference lines, the intra mode index indicates the intra prediction mode within the second MPM list, wherein based on the reference line index indicating that the reference line is the zero reference line, the intra mode index is signaled using 5 bins.
1. A method of encoding a current block in a video bitstream using at least one processor, the method comprising: generating a bitstream of visual media data according to an encoding process, the bitstream of the visual media data comprising a syntax element indicating a reference line index and an intra mode index indicating an intra prediction mode, and the encoding process comprising: determining whether the current block is encoded from a zero reference line or from one or more non-zero reference lines based on the reference line index; determining a first most probable mode (MPM) list corresponding to the zero reference line of the current block, wherein the first MPM list comprises a first plurality of intra prediction modes; determining a second MPM list corresponding to the one or more non-zero reference lines of the current block, wherein the second MPM list comprises a second plurality of intra prediction modes, the second plurality of intra prediction modes comprising a subset of the first plurality of intra prediction modes; and predicting the current block based on the first MPM list or the second MPM list, wherein based on the reference line index indicating that the reference line is the zero reference line, the intra mode index is signaled using 5 bins, and transmitting the generated bitstream of the visual media data.
As demonstrated, the claim of US patent US 11,095,885 B2 anticipate the features of the claim of instant application 19/239,334. Similar rejection could be presented for US Patents, US 12,335,468 B2, US 11,785,212 B2, US 11,405,638 B2, US 11,032,551 B2, US 11,570,445 B2, and, US 10,771,778 B2.
A nonstatutory type (35 U.S.C. 101) double patenting rejection can be overcome by amending the conflicting claims so they are no longer coextensive in scope or filing of a terminal disclaimer.
Examiner’s Note
Claims 1-7 refer to "A method of encoding a current block”, Claims 8-14 refer to "A device for encoding a current block”, and, Claim 15-20 refers to "A non-transitory computer-readable medium”. Claims 8-20 are similarly rejected in light of rejection of claims 1-7, any obvious combination of the rejection of claims 1-7, or the differences are obvious to the ordinary skill in the art. It is well known in the art that encoding and decoding are reverse processes of video coding method/system.
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.
Claims 1-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Liu et al. (US 20180332284 A1), hereinafter Liu, in view of Chen et al., (“Algorithm Description of Joint Exploration Test Model 3”, Joint Video Exploration Team (JVET) of ITU-T SG 16 WP 3 and ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG 11 3rd Meeting: Geneva, CH, 26 May – 1 June 2016, JVET-C1001_v3, pp. 6-7), hereinafter Chen, further in view of Lee et al. (US 20200029077 A1), hereinafter Lee.
Regarding claim 1, Liu discloses a method of encoding a current block in a video bitstream using at least one processor, the method comprising: generating a bitstream of visual media data according to an encoding process, the bitstream of the visual media data comprising a syntax element indicating a reference line index and an intra mode index indicating an intra prediction mode, and the encoding process comprising (Abstract): determining whether the current block is encoded from a zero reference line or from one or more non-zero reference lines based on the reference line index; determining a first most probable mode (MPM) list corresponding to the zero reference line of the current block (Fig. 7, Fig. 9); wherein the first MPM list comprises a first plurality of intra prediction modes (Fig. 9); determining a second MPM list corresponding to the one or more non-zero reference lines of the current block, wherein the second MPM list comprises a second plurality of intra prediction modes ([0099], [0101]); wherein based on the reference line index indicating that the reference line is the zero reference line, the intra mode index is signaled using 5 bins ([0055], [0058], [0084], [0103], [0196]); and transmitting the generated bitstream of the visual media data ().
Liu discloses all the elements of claim 1 but Liu does not appear to explicitly disclose in the cited section the plurality of intra prediction modes comprising a subset of the first plurality of intra prediction modes.
However, Chen from the same or similar endeavor teaches the plurality of intra prediction modes comprising a subset of the first plurality of intra prediction modes (Section 2.2.1, pruning process).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Liu to incorporate the teachings of Chen to improve capability of compression (Chen, Abstract). Similar reasoning/motivation of modification can be applied/extended to the other related/dependent claims.
Liu in view of Chen discloses all the elements of claim 1 but they do not appear to explicitly disclose in the cited section and predicting the current block based on the first MPM list or the second MPM list.
However, Lee from the same or similar endeavor teaches and predicting the current block based on the first MPM list or the second MPM list ([0662]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify Liu in view of Chen to incorporate the teachings of Lee to improve efficiency and accuracy (Lee, [0006]). Similar reasoning/motivation of modification can be applied/extended to the other related/dependent claims.
Regarding claim 2, Liu in view of Chen further Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the zero reference line comprises a nearest reference line from among a plurality of reference lines of the current block (Liu, Fig. 12).
Regarding claim 3, Liu in view of Chen further Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the second MPM list is smaller than the first MPM list (Liu, [0101]).
Regarding claim 4, Liu in view of Chen further Lee discloses the method of claim 3, wherein a number of modes of the first MPM list is six, and a number of modes of the second MPM list is four (Chen, Section 2.2.1).
Regarding claim 5, Liu in view of Chen further Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the reference line index is signaled before the intra mode index (Liu, Fig. 10).
Regarding claim 6, Liu in view of Chen further Lee discloses the method of claim 5, wherein the reference line index indicates the reference line used to encode the current block from among the zero reference line and the one or more non-zero reference lines, and wherein the reference line index indicates whether the intra prediction mode from within the first MPM list is used or the intra prediction mode from the second MPM list is used (Liu, Fig. 7-10, Chen, Section 2.2.1, Lee, [0662]).
Regarding claim 7, Liu in view of Chen further Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the first MPM list includes at least one of a DC mode and a planar mode, and wherein the second MPM list includes all modes of the first MPM list except for the at least one of the DC mode and the planar mode (Liu, Fig. 9, [0111]).
Regarding claim 8-20, See Examiner’s Note.
Conclusion
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/Mohammad J Rahman/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2487
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