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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted on 7/1/2025, is being considered by the examiner.
Objections
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, “the third syntax element is a merge_subblock_flag”, “the fourth syntax element is a merge_subblock_idx” must be shown or the feature must be canceled from the claims 23, 29, 35. No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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 claims at issue 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 reference 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. 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/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 http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claim 5 of the instant application is rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over related claims of the U.S. Patent 12382088 B2. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the instant claims are broader than the claims in the US Patent12382088 B2.
Table 1: Comparison of claims in the instant Application 19257041 vs. the U.S. Patent 12382088 B2.
Instant Application 19257041
U.S. Patent 12382088 B2
5. A method of decoding video data, comprising:receiving, at a sequence parameter set level, from a bitstream, a first syntax element that is used to define a Motion Estimation Region (MER), wherein construction of a merge candidate list of a coding unit in the MER is independent of other coding units in the MER;receiving a plurality of second syntax elements from the bitstream, wherein at least one of the plurality of second syntax elements indicates whether a subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) mode is enabled for the coding unit; andin accordance with a determination that the coding unit is in a sub-block merge mode and the SbTMVP mode is enabled for the coding unit:determining whether both a first spatial neighboring block used to determine a temporal vector of the coding unit and the coding unit are within the same MER,wherein in accordance with the determination that both the first spatial neighboring block and the coding unit are within the same MER, the temporal vector of the coding unit is equal to zero,wherein the plurality of second syntax elements includes a third syntax element indicating whether the coding unit is in the sub-block merge mode,wherein the method further comprises: receiving a fourth syntax element indicating which subblock-based merge candidate is used to reconstruct the coding unit in a case that the coding unit is in the sub-block merge mode, and wherein the third syntax element is merge subblock flag and the fourth syntax element is merge_subblock_idx.
1. A method of decoding video data, comprising:
receiving, from a bitstream, a first syntax element that is used to define a Motion Estimation Region (MER),
wherein construction of a merge candidate list of a
coding unit in the MER is independent of other coding units in the MER;
receiving a plurality of second syntax elements from the bitstream, wherein at least one of the plurality of second syntax elements indicates whether a subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) mode is enabled for the coding unit; and
in accordance with a determination that the coding unit is in a sub-block merge mode and the SbTMVP mode is enabled for the coding unit:
determining whether both a first spatial neighboring block used to determine a temporal vector of the coding unit and the coding unit are within the same MER,
wherein in accordance with the determination that both the first spatial neighboring block and the coding unit are within the same MER, the temporal vector of the coding unit is equal to zero,
wherein the plurality of second syntax elements includes a third syntax element indicating whether the coding unit is in the sub-block merge mode,
wherein the method further comprises: receiving a fourth syntax element indicating which sub block-based merge candidate is used to reconstruct the coding unit in a case that the coding unit is in the sub-block merge mode, and
wherein the third syntax element is a merge_subblock_flag and the fourth syntax element is a merge_subblock_idx.
Chen et al. (US Patent 12382088 B2) further meets the different claim limitations as follow:
at a sequence parameter set level (Or, additional syntax elements can be signaled at different levels ( e.g. sequence level, picture level, slice level, tile level, CTU level and/or block level) to indicate the size (e.g. width and height) of the PMER) [Chen: col. 5, line 13-16].
Claim Rejection – 35 U.S.C. § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(B) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claims contain subject matters, which were not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably enable a person skilled in the art to make to the invention commensurate in scope with the claims. To satisfy the written description requirement, the specification must describe the claimed invention in sufficient details that one skilled in the art can reasonably conclude that the inventors had possession of the claimed invention. Original claims fail to satisfy the written description requirement when the invention is claimed and described in functional language but the specification does not sufficiently identify how the invention achieves the claimed function. In this application, there are limitations that are not explained in sufficient details in the specification. For example, claims 1, 5, and 10 recites “construction of a merge candidate list of the coding unit in the MER is independent of other coding units in the MER”. However, there is nowhere in the specification describing about the “construction of a merge candidate list of the coding unit in the MER is independent of other coding units in the MER”. Accordingly, this claim limitation does not satisfy the written description requirement. It is not enough information for one skilled in the art could write a program or implement in an apparatus to achieve the claimed function because the specification must explain how the inventors achieve the claimed function to satisfy the written description requirement. For the reasons discussed above, claims 1, 5, 10 and their dependent claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph.
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 10-13 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lee (US Patent 10,735,720 B2), (“Lee”).
Regarding claim 10, claim 10 directed to a non-transitory computer readable storage medium (CRM) storing a bitstream generated by an encoding method. The claim does not recite that the CRM contains executable instruction, that when executed, implement the encoding method. The bitstream is a product produced by the encoding method. Therefore, the claims are not limited to the recited steps, only the structure implied by the steps (See MPEP 2113 - Product-by-Process claims).
To be given patentable weight, the CRM and the bitstream (i.e. descriptive material) must be in a functional relationship. A functional relationship can be found where the descriptive material performs some function with respect to the CRM to which it is associated. See MPEP §2111.05(I)(A). When a claimed “computer-readable medium merely serves as a support for information or data, no functional relationship exists”. MPEP §2111.05(III).
The CRM storing the claimed bitstream in claim 10 merely services as a support for the CRM of the bitstream and provides no functional relationship between the stored bitstream and the CRM. Therefore, the structure bitstream, which scope is implied by the method steps, is non-functional descriptive material and given no patentable weight. MPEP §2111.05(III).
It is noted that the encoding method steps recited are given patentable weight only to structures in the bitstream that are implied by the steps. However, there is no correlation between the structure of the bitstream and the encoding method steps described in claim 10. Thus, the claim scope is just a storage medium storing data and is anticipated by Ko et al. (US Patent 11,570,443 B2), (“Ko”), which recites a storage medium storing a bitstream (i.e. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a bitstream) [Ko: col. 31, line 57-58].
Regarding claim 11, Ko meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 10. Ko further meets the claim limitations as follow.
in a case where the coding unit is in the sub-block merge mode, determining a plurality of subblock-based merge candidates for the coding unit that are derived from neighboring blocks (i.e. when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block) [Ko: col. 19, line 22-30]).
Regarding claim 12, Ko meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 11. Ko further meets the claim limitations as follow.
wherein the plurality of subblock-based merge candidates includes both SbTMVP (i.e. when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block) [Ko: col. 19, line 22-30]) and affine merge candidates ((i.e. Subblock-based motion compensation may include affine model-based motion compensation (hereinafter, affine motion compensation or affine motion prediction) and subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP)) [Ko: col. 10, line 39-42]; (i.e. FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of a subblock-based affine motion compensation method) [Ko: col. 3, line 51-52; Figs. 6-20]).
Regarding claim 13, Ko meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 12. Ko further meets the claim limitations as follow.
wherein in a case where the subblock-based merge candidate is a SbTMVP candidate, the coding unit is in the SbTMVP mode ((i.e. FIG. 21 shows subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction according to an embodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment of the present invention, sub block-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) may also be referred to as advanced temporal motion vector prediction (ATMVP)) [Ko: col. 19, line 13-18; Fig. 21]; (i.e. when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block) [Ko: col. 19, line 22-30]).
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 of this title, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a), the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned at the time any inventions covered therein were made absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and invention dates of each claim that was not commonly owned at the time a later invention was made in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(c) and potential pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102(e), (f) or (g) prior art under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a).
Claims 1-14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Ko et al. (US Patent 11,570,443 B2), (“Ko”), in view of Chen et al. (US Patent 11,477,477 B2), (“Chen”), in view of Jang et al. (US Patent 11,570,443 B2), (“Jang”).
Regarding claim 1, Ko meets the claim limitations as follow.
A method of encoding video data (i.e. a method and apparatus for processing a video signal using subblock-based motion compensation) [Ko: col. 1, line 22-24], comprising:
determining (i.e. template matching may be performed to determine) [Ko: col. 21, line 43-44] whether a subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) mode is enabled for a coding unit (i.e. FIG. 23 shows a second embodiment of inter prediction using SbTMVP. According to the second embodiment of the present invention, when performing SbTMVP, a prediction subblock may be generated by dynamically using inter prediction and intra prediction for each subblock) [Ko: col. 20, line 63-67; Fig. 23];in a case where the coding unit is in a sub-block merge mode and the SbTMVP mode is enabled for the coding unit (i.e. FIG. 23 shows a second embodiment of inter prediction using SbTMVP. According to the second embodiment of the present invention, when performing SbTMVP, a prediction subblock may be generated by dynamically using inter prediction and intra prediction for each subblock. Conventionally, when intra prediction is performed on at least some of subblocks in a merge candidate block, the merge candidate block cannot be used for SbTMVP. However, according to an embodiment of the present invention, even when intra prediction is performed on an arbitrary number of sub blocks
within a merge candidate block, the merge candidate block may be used for SbTMVP) [Ko: col. 20, line 63 – col. 21, line 7], determining whether both the coding unit and a spatial neighboring block used to determine a temporal vector of the coding unit are within a same Motion Estimation Region (MER) (i.e. when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block. For example, the neighboring block may include at least one of a left block L, an upper block A, a lower left block BL, an upper right block AR, or an upper left block AL adjacent to the current block and search may be performed in the order listed above. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, a neighboring block to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include a left block L and a lower left block BL of the current block. The decoder obtains a merge candidate block of the current block based on the motion shift information obtained from the neighboring block) [Ko: col. 19, line 19-45] – Note: The left block L, the upper block A, the lower left block BL, the upper right block AR, and the upper left block AL are adjacent to the current block. They are in the same Motion Estimation Region), wherein in a case where both the coding unit and the spatial neighboring block are within the same MER (i.e. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block. For example, the neighboring block may include at least one of a left block L, an upper block A, a lower left block BL, an upper right block AR, or an upper left block AL adjacent to the current block and search may be performed in the order listed above. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, a neighboring block to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include a left block L and a lower left block BL of the current block. The decoder obtains a merge candidate block of the current block based on the motion shift information obtained from the neighboring block) [Ko: col. 19, line 19-45], the temporal vector of the coding unit is equal to zero (i.e. When temporal motion vector prediction (TMVP) is performed, the decoder predicts the motion vector of the current block using the temporal motion vector of the collocated block of the current block. However, when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block) [Ko: col. 19, line 19-30] – Note: Ko teaches that the SbTMVP can be calculated by a temporal vector or a spatial vector (i.e. a motion shift from neighboring block). As a result, when the spatial vector is used, the temporal vector is not used. Hence the temporal vector can be considered as zero);transmitting a first syntax element and a plurality of second syntax elements (i.e. The motion estimation unit 154a transmits motion information (reference picture index, motion vector information, etc.) on the reference region to the entropy coding unit 160. The motion compensation unit 154b performs motion compensation using the motion vector value transmitted from the motion estimation unit 154a) [Ko: col. 5, line 49-54; Fig. 1],
wherein the first syntax element ((i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30]; (i.e. Information is a term including all values, parameters, coefficients, elements, etc.) [Ko: col. 4, line 45-46]) is used to define the MER (i.e. The motion estimation unit 154a refers to a specific region of the reconstructed reference picture to obtain a motion vector value of the current region. The motion estimation unit 154a transmits motion information (reference picture index, motion vector information, etc.) on the reference region to the entropy coding unit 160. The motion compensation unit 154b performs motion compensation using the motion vector value transmitted from the motion estimation unit 154a) [Ko: col. 5, line 47-54; Fig. 1], and construction of a merge candidate list of the coding unit in the MER (i.e. wherein the processor obtains an indicator indicating a motion vector information set to be referenced to derive a motion vector of each subblock of the current block, and obtains control point motion vectors of the control point motion vector set with reference to the motion vector information set indicated by the indicator. The obtaining of the control point motion vector set further comprises generating a candidate list composed of one or more motion vector information set candidates, wherein the control point motion vectors are obtained by referring to a motion vector information set selected based on the indicator in the candidate list) [Ko: col. 2, line 24-37] is independent of other coding units in the MER ((i.e. According to an embodiment of the present invention, such template matching may be performed within a predetermined range 80 from the first reference subblock of the current subblock 62 obtained by affine motion prediction.) [Ko: col. 16, line 19-23]; (i.e. Referring to FIG. 16, after affine motion prediction is performed, a local search may be additionally performed within a predetermined range 81 to find a reference subblock 74 for the first subblock 64 of the current block) [Ko: col. 17, line 8-11; Fig. 16]; (i.e. Referring to FIG. 18, among CPMVs v0, v1, and v2 included in the CPMV set of the current block, v2 may be calculated based on v0 and v1. According to an embodiment, a local search for the subblock 66 closest to the location corresponding to v2 may be performed. That is, by performing a local search additionally within a predetermined range 83 from the reference subblock 76, v2', which is a purified CPMV, may be obtained. The decoder may use the purified CPMV v2' to obtain the motion vector of the subblock 68 of the current block. That is, the motion vector of the subblock 68 is calculated based on v2', v0 and v1) [Ko: col. 17, line 61 – col. 18, line 8; Fig. 18] – Note: Ko discloses that the candidate motion vector is only considered of certain blocks within a motion estimation region (MER). For example, Fig. 18 illustrates that the merge candidate list only includes v0, v1, and v2. Hence the merge candidate list is independent from other coding units in the MER), wherein the plurality of second syntax elements includes a third syntax element ((i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30]; (i.e. Information is a term including all values, parameters, coefficients, elements, etc.) [Ko: col. 4, line 45-46]) indicating whether the coding unit is in the sub-block merge mode (i.e. wherein the processor obtains an indicator indicating a motion vector information set to be referenced to derive a motion vector of each subblock of the current block, and obtains control point motion vectors of the control point motion vector set with reference to the motion vector information set indicated by the indicator. The obtaining of the control point motion vector set further comprises generating a candidate list composed of one or more motion vector information set candidates, wherein the control point motion vectors are obtained by referring to a motion vector information set selected based on the indicator in the candidate list) [Ko: col. 2, line 24-37], wherein the method further comprises (i.e. a method and apparatus for processing a video signal using subblock-based motion compensation) [Ko: col. 1, line 22-24]: transmitting a fourth syntax element (i.e. The motion estimation unit 154a transmits motion information (reference picture index, motion vector information, etc.) on the reference region to the entropy coding unit 160. The motion compensation unit 154b performs motion compensation using the motion vector value transmitted from the motion estimation unit 154a) [Ko: col. 5, line 49-54; Fig. 1] indicating which subblock-based merge candidate is used to reconstruct the coding unit in a case that the coding unit is in the sub-block merge mode (i.e. when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block) [Ko: col. 19, line 22-30], wherein the third syntax element ((i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30]; (i.e. Information is a term including all values, parameters, coefficients, elements, etc.) [Ko: col. 4, line 45-46]) is merge_subblock_flag and the fourth syntax element ((i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30]; (i.e. Information is a term including all values, parameters, coefficients, elements, etc.) [Ko: col. 4, line 45-46]) is merge_subblock_idx.
In the same field of endeavor, Chen further discloses the claim limitations as follows:
a determination that both the first spatial neighboring block and the coding unit are within the same MER ((i.e. motion compensated prediction is performed with transmitted motion vector differences (MVDs) that can be used together with Motion Vector Predictors (MVPs) for deriving motion vectors (MVs)) [Chen: col. 7, line 21-25]; (i.e. the Skip and Merge modes utilize motion inference methods (MV=MVP+MVD where MVD is zero) to obtain the motion information from spatially neighboring blocks (spatial candidates) or a temporal block (temporal candidate) located in a co-located picture where the co-located picture is the first reference picture in list 0 or list 1, which is signaled in the slice header) [Chen: col. 7, line 38-44] – Note: It is clear to one with ordinary skill in the arts that when the motion vector difference MVD = 0, that means the spatial block and the temporal vector are in the same location), the temporal vector of the coding unit is equal to zero (((i.e. There are three types of derived candidates: 1. Combined bi-predictive merge candidate (derived candidate type 1). 2. Scaled bi-predictive merge candidate (derived candidate type 2). 3. Zero vector merge/ AMVP candidate (derived candidate type 3)) [Chen: col. 8, line 5-12; Fig. 9]; (i.e. For derived candidate type 3, zero vector candidates are created by combining zero vectors and reference indices. If a created zero vector candidate is not a duplicate, it is added to the merge/AMVP candidates list. FIG. 9 illustrates an example in which zero vector candidates are added to a merge candidates list or an AMVP candidates list) [Chen: col. 8, line 41-46; Fig. 9]; (i.e. The concept of the ATMVP is summarized as follows: 1. The vector in the first stage can be derived from spatial and temporal neighboring blocks of the current PU. 2. This process may be achieved as activating a merge candidate among all the other merge candidates. Applicable to single-layer coding and sub-PU temporal motion vector prediction, a PU or CU may have motion refinement data to be conveyed on top of the predictors. Several design aspects of the 61/883,111 application are highlighted as follows: 1. The first stage of vector derivation can also be simplified by just a zero vector) [Chen: col. 33, line 20-32]; (i.e. If after removing redundancy, the number of available MVPs is less than two, zero vector candidates are added to the candidates list) [Chen: col. 7, line 59-61; Fig. 9]; (i.e. When the merge list is not full after pair-wise average merge candidates are added, the zero MVPs are inserted in the end until the maximum merge candidate number is encountered) [Chen: col. 18, line 60-63; Fig. 20]; (i.e. The concept of the ATMVP is summarized as follows: 1. The vector in the first stage can be derived from spatial and temporal neighboring blocks of the current PU. 2. This process may be achieved as activating a merge candidate among all the other merge candidates. Applicable to single-layer coding and sub-PU temporal motion vector prediction, a PU or CU may have motion refinement data to be conveyed on top of the predictors. Several design aspects of the 61/883,111 application are highlighted as follows: 1. The first stage of vector derivation can also be simplified by just a zero vector) [Chen: col. 33, line 20-32]).
It would have been obvious to one with an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Ko with Chen to program the system to implement of Chen’s method.
Therefore, the combination of Ko with Chen will enable the system to simplify the computation for the ATMVP [Chen: col. 33, line 20-32].
Ko and Chen do not explicitly disclose the following claim limitations (Emphasis added).
merge_subblock_flag and merge_subblock_idx.
However in the same field of endeavor Jang further discloses the deficient claim limitations as follows:
merge_subblock_flag and merge_subblock_idx (The present disclosure may also generate and encode the candidate index information using the syntax elements (e.g., merge_subblock_flag and merge_subblock_idx) for the candidate
in units of sub-block) [Chen: col. 40, line 61-65; Table 23]).
It would have been obvious to one with an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Ko and Chen with Jang to program the system to implement of Jang’s method.
Therefore, the combination of Ko and Chen with Jang will enable the system improving the
performance and efficiency of the inter-prediction [Jang: col. 2, line 40-43].
Regarding claims 2, 7, and 11, Ko meets the claim limitations as set forth in claims 1, 6, and 10. Ko further meets the claim limitations as follow.
in a case where the coding unit is in the sub-block merge mode, determining a plurality of subblock-based merge candidates for the coding unit that are derived from neighboring blocks (i.e. when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block) [Ko: col. 19, line 22-30]).
Regarding claims 3, 8, and 12, Ko meets the claim limitations as set forth in claims 2, 7, and 11. Ko further meets the claim limitations as follow.
wherein the plurality of subblock-based merge candidates includes both SbTMVP (i.e. when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block) [Ko: col. 19, line 22-30]) and affine merge candidates ((i.e. Subblock-based motion compensation may include affine model-based motion compensation (hereinafter, affine motion compensation or affine motion prediction) and subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP)) [Ko: col. 10, line 39-42]; (i.e. FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of a subblock-based affine motion compensation method) [Ko: col. 3, line 51-52; Figs. 6-20]).
Regarding claims 4, 9, and 13, Ko meets the claim limitations as set forth in claims 3, 8, and 12. Ko further meets the claim limitations as follow.
in a case where the subblock-based merge candidate is a SbTMVP candidate, the coding unit is in the SbTMVP mode ((i.e. FIG. 21 shows subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction according to an embodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment of the present invention, sub block-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) may also be referred to as advanced temporal motion vector prediction (ATMVP).) [Ko: col. 19, line 13-18; Fig. 21]; (i.e. when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block) [Ko: col. 19, line 22-30]).
Regarding claim 5, Ko meets the claim limitations as follow.
A method of decoding video data (i.e. an apparatus that performs decoding (decoding) of a video signal bitstream to reconstruct a video signal) [Ko: col. 4, line 40-42], comprising:
receiving ((i.e. wherein the processor obtains an indicator indicating a motion vector information set to be referenced to derive a motion vector of each subblock of the current block, and obtains control point motion vectors of the control point motion vector set with reference to the motion vector information set indicated by the indicator. The obtaining of the control point motion vector set further comprises generating a candidate list composed of one or more motion vector information set candidates, wherein the control point motion vectors are obtained by referring to a motion vector information set selected based on the indicator in the candidate list) [Ko: col. 2, line 24-37]; (i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30]), from a bitstream (i.e. an apparatus that performs decoding (decoding) of a video signal bitstream to reconstruct a video signal) [Ko: col. 4, line 40-42], at a sequence parameter set level (i.e. Meanwhile, information necessary for decoding a video signal bitstream may be 25 transmitted through an upper level set of Raw Byte Sequence Payload (RBSP) such as Picture Parameter Set (PPS), Sequence Parameter Set (SPS), Video Parameter Set (VPS), and the like) [Ko: col. 6, line 23-28], a first syntax element that ((i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30]; (i.e. Information is a term including all values, parameters, coefficients, elements, etc.) [Ko: col. 4, line 45-46]) defines a Motion Estimation Region (MER) (i.e. The motion estimation unit 154a refers to a specific region of the reconstructed reference picture to obtain a motion vector value of the current region. The motion estimation unit 154a transmits motion information (reference picture index, motion vector information, etc.) on the reference region to the entropy coding unit 160. The motion compensation unit 154b performs motion compensation using the motion vector value transmitted from the motion estimation unit 154a) [Ko: col. 5, line 47-54; Fig. 1], and construction of a merge candidate list of the coding unit in the MER (i.e. wherein the processor obtains an indicator indicating a motion vector information set to be referenced to derive a motion vector of each subblock of the current block, and obtains control point motion vectors of the control point motion vector set with reference to the motion vector information set indicated by the indicator. The obtaining of the control point motion vector set further comprises generating a candidate list composed of one or more motion vector information set candidates, wherein the control point motion vectors are obtained by referring to a motion vector information set selected based on the indicator in the candidate list) [Ko: col. 2, line 24-37] is independent of other coding units in the MER ((i.e. According to an embodiment of the present invention, such template matching may be performed within a predetermined range 80 from the first reference subblock of the current subblock 62 obtained by affine motion prediction.) [Ko: col. 16, line 19-23]; (i.e. Referring to FIG. 16, after affine motion prediction is performed, a local search may be additionally performed within a predetermined range 81 to find a reference subblock 74 for the first subblock 64 of the current block) [Ko: col. 17, line 8-11; Fig. 16]; (i.e. Referring to FIG. 18, among CPMVs v0, v1, and v2 included in the CPMV set of the current block, v2 may be calculated based on v0 and v1. According to an embodiment, a local search for the subblock 66 closest to the location corresponding to v2 may be performed. That is, by performing a local search additionally within a predetermined range 83 from the reference subblock 76, v2', which is a purified CPMV, may be obtained. The decoder may use the purified CPMV v2' to obtain the motion vector of the subblock 68 of the current block. That is, the motion vector of the subblock 68 is calculated based on v2', v0 and v1) [Ko: col. 17, line 61 – col. 18, line 8; Fig. 18] – Note: Ko discloses that the candidate motion vector is only considered of certain blocks within a motion estimation region (MER). For example, Fig. 18 illustrates that the merge candidate list only includes v0, v1, and v2. Hence the merge candidate list is independent from other coding units in the MER), receiving a plurality of second syntax elements ((i.e. wherein the processor obtains an indicator indicating a motion vector information set to be referenced to derive a motion vector of each subblock of the current block, and obtains control point motion vectors of the control point motion vector set with reference to the motion vector information set indicated by the indicator. The obtaining of the control point motion vector set further comprises generating a candidate list composed of one or more motion vector information set candidates, wherein the control point motion vectors are obtained by referring to a motion vector information set selected based on the indicator in the candidate list) [Ko: col. 2, line 24-37]; (i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30] ; (i.e. Information is a term including all values, parameters, coefficients, elements, etc.) [Ko: col. 4, line 45-46]) from the bitstream (i.e. a video signal bitstream) [Ko: col. 4, line 41], wherein at least one of the plurality of second syntax elements (i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30] indicates whether a subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) mode is enabled for the coding unit ((i.e. A candidate list including the obtained motion vector information set candidate may be generated, and an indicator indicating one motion vector information set of the candidate list may be signaled. According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the candidate list may include a motion vector information set candidate for inter prediction of other methods. For example, the candidate list may include a motion vector information set candidate for subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP)) [Ko: col. 13, line 31-49]; (i.e. when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block) [Ko: col. 19, line 22-30]); andin accordance with a determination that the coding unit (i.e. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine) [Ko: col. 19, line 28-29] is in the SbTMVP mode is enabled for the coding unit ((i.e. According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the candidate list may include a motion vector information set candidate for inter prediction of other methods. For example, the candidate list may include a motion vector information set candidate for subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP)) [Ko: col. 13, line 34-39]; (i.e. i.e. Subblock-based motion compensation may include affine model-based motion compensation (hereinafter, affine motion compensation or affine motion prediction) and subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP). Hereinafter, various embodiments of affine motion compensation and SbTMVP will be described with reference to each drawing) [Ko: col. 10, line 39-45]): determining (i.e. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine) [Ko: col. 19, line 28-29] whether both a first spatial neighboring block used to determine a temporal vector of the coding unit and the coding unit are within the same MER (i.e. when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block. For example, the neighboring block may include at least one of a left block L, an upper block A, a lower left block BL, an upper right block AR, or an upper left block AL adjacent to the current block and search may be performed in the order listed above. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, a neighboring block to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include a left block L and a lower left block BL of the current block. The decoder obtains a merge candidate block of the current block based on the motion shift information obtained from the neighboring block) [Ko: col. 19, line 19-45] – Note: The left block L, the upper block A, the lower left block BL, the upper right block AR, and the upper left block AL are adjacent to the current block. They are in the same Motion Estimation Region), wherein in accordance with the determination that both the first spatial neighboring block and the coding unit are within the same MER (i.e. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block. For example, the neighboring block may include at least one of a left block L, an upper block A, a lower left block BL, an upper right block AR, or an upper left block AL adjacent to the current block and search may be performed in the order listed above. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, a neighboring block to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include a left block L and a lower left block BL of the current block. The decoder obtains a merge candidate block of the current block based on the motion shift information obtained from the neighboring block) [Ko: col. 19, line 19-45], the temporal vector of the coding unit is equal to zero (i.e. When temporal motion vector prediction (TMVP) is performed, the decoder predicts the motion vector of the current block using the temporal motion vector of the collocated block of the current block. However, when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block) [Ko: col. 19, line 19-30] – Note: Ko teaches that the SbTMVP can be calculated by a temporal vector or a spatial vector (i.e. a motion shift from neighboring block). As a result, when the spatial vector is used, the temporal vector is not used. Hence the temporal vector can be considered as zero),
wherein the plurality of second syntax elements includes a third syntax element ((i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30]; (i.e. Information is a term including all values, parameters, coefficients, elements, etc.) [Ko: col. 4, line 45-46]) indicating whether the coding unit is in the sub-block merge mode (i.e. wherein the processor obtains an indicator indicating a motion vector information set to be referenced to derive a motion vector of each subblock of the current block, and obtains control point motion vectors of the control point motion vector set with reference to the motion vector information set indicated by the indicator. The obtaining of the control point motion vector set further comprises generating a candidate list composed of one or more motion vector information set candidates, wherein the control point motion vectors are obtained by referring to a motion vector information set selected based on the indicator in the candidate list) [Ko: col. 2, line 24-37], wherein the method further comprises (i.e. a method and apparatus for processing a video signal using subblock-based motion compensation) [Ko: col. 1, line 22-24]: receving a fourth syntax element ((i.e. wherein the processor obtains an indicator indicating a motion vector information set to be referenced to derive a motion vector of each subblock of the current block, and obtains control point motion vectors of the control point motion vector set with reference to the motion vector information set indicated by the indicator. The obtaining of the control point motion vector set further comprises generating a candidate list composed of one or more motion vector information set candidates, wherein the control point motion vectors are obtained by referring to a motion vector information set selected based on the indicator in the candidate list) [Ko: col. 2, line 24-37]; (i.e. The motion estimation unit 154a transmits motion information (reference picture index, motion vector information, etc.) on the reference region to the entropy coding unit 160. The motion compensation unit 154b performs motion compensation using the motion vector value transmitted from the motion estimation unit 154a) [Ko: col. 5, line 49-54; Fig. 1]) indicating which subblock-based merge candidate is used to reconstruct the coding unit in a case that the coding unit is in the sub-block merge mode (i.e. when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block) [Ko: col. 19, line 22-30], wherein the third syntax element ((i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30]; (i.e. Information is a term including all values, parameters, coefficients, elements, etc.) [Ko: col. 4, line 45-46]) is merge_subblock_flag and the fourth syntax element ((i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30]; (i.e. Information is a term including all values, parameters, coefficients, elements, etc.) [Ko: col. 4, line 45-46]) is merge_subblock_idx.
In the same field of endeavor, Chen further discloses the claim limitations as follows:
a determination that both the first spatial neighboring block and the coding unit are within the same MER ((i.e. motion compensated prediction is performed with transmitted motion vector differences (MVDs) that can be used together with Motion Vector Predictors (MVPs) for deriving motion vectors (MVs)) [Chen: col. 7, line 21-25]; (i.e. the Skip and Merge modes utilize motion inference methods (MV=MVP+MVD where MVD is zero) to obtain the motion information from spatially neighboring blocks (spatial candidates) or a temporal block (temporal candidate) located in a co-located picture where the co-located picture is the first reference picture in list 0 or list 1, which is signaled in the slice header) [Chen: col. 7, line 38-44] – Note: It is clear to one with ordinary skill in the arts that when the motion vector difference MVD = 0, that means the spatial block and the temporal vector are in the same location), the temporal vector of the coding unit is equal to zero (((i.e. There are three types of derived candidates: 1. Combined bi-predictive merge candidate (derived candidate type 1). 2. Scaled bi-predictive merge candidate (derived candidate type 2). 3. Zero vector merge/ AMVP candidate (derived candidate type 3)) [Chen: col. 8, line 5-12; Fig. 9]; (i.e. For derived candidate type 3, zero vector candidates are created by combining zero vectors and reference indices. If a created zero vector candidate is not a duplicate, it is added to the merge/AMVP candidates list. FIG. 9 illustrates an example in which zero vector candidates are added to a merge candidates list or an AMVP candidates list) [Chen: col. 8, line 41-46; Fig. 9]; (i.e. The concept of the ATMVP is summarized as follows: 1. The vector in the first stage can be derived from spatial and temporal neighboring blocks of the current PU. 2. This process may be achieved as activating a merge candidate among all the other merge candidates. Applicable to single-layer coding and sub-PU temporal motion vector prediction, a PU or CU may have motion refinement data to be conveyed on top of the predictors. Several design aspects of the 61/883,111 application are highlighted as follows: 1. The first stage of vector derivation can also be simplified by just a zero vector) [Chen: col. 33, line 20-32]; (i.e. If after removing redundancy, the number of available MVPs is less than two, zero vector candidates are added to the candidates list) [Chen: col. 7, line 59-61; Fig. 9]; (i.e. When the merge list is not full after pair-wise average merge candidates are added, the zero MVPs are inserted in the end until the maximum merge candidate number is encountered) [Chen: col. 18, line 60-63; Fig. 20]; (i.e. The concept of the ATMVP is summarized as follows: 1. The vector in the first stage can be derived from spatial and temporal neighboring blocks of the current PU. 2. This process may be achieved as activating a merge candidate among all the other merge candidates. Applicable to single-layer coding and sub-PU temporal motion vector prediction, a PU or CU may have motion refinement data to be conveyed on top of the predictors. Several design aspects of the 61/883,111 application are highlighted as follows: 1. The first stage of vector derivation can also be simplified by just a zero vector) [Chen: col. 33, line 20-32]).
It would have been obvious to one with an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Ko with Chen to program the system to implement of Chen’s method.
Therefore, the combination of Ko with Chen will enable the system to simplify the computation for the ATMVP [Chen: col. 33, line 20-32].
Ko and Chen do not explicitly disclose the following claim limitations (Emphasis added).
merge_subblock_flag and merge_subblock_idx.
However in the same field of endeavor Jang further discloses the deficient claim limitations as follows:
merge_subblock_flag and merge_subblock_idx (The present disclosure may also generate and encode the candidate index information using the syntax elements (e.g., merge_subblock_flag and merge_subblock_idx) for the candidate
in units of sub-block) [Chen: col. 40, line 61-65; Table 23]).
It would have been obvious to one with an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Ko and Chen with Jang to program the system to implement of Jang’s method.
Therefore, the combination of Ko and Chen with Jang will enable the system improving the
performance and efficiency of the inter-prediction [Jang: col. 2, line 40-43].
Regarding claim 6, Ko meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 1. Ko further meets the claim limitations as follow.
An electronic apparatus comprising (i.e. a method and apparatus for processing a video signal using subblock-based motion compensation) [Ko: col. 1, line 22-24]:one or more processing units (i.e. a processor) [Ko: col. 31, line 28-36];memory coupled to the one or more processing units (i.e. The software code can be stored in memory and driven by a processor. The memory may be located inside or outside the processor, and may exchange data with the processor by various means already known) [Ko: col. 31, line 28-36]; anda plurality of programs stored in the memory that, when executed by the one or more processing units, cause the electronic apparatus to perform the method according to claim 1 (i.e. In the case of implementation by firmware or software, the method according to embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in the form of a module, procedure, or function that performs the functions or operations described above. The software code can be stored in memory and driven by a processor. The memory may be located inside or outside the processor, and may exchange data with the processor by various means already known) [Ko: col. 31, line 28-36].
Regarding claim 10, Ko meets the claim limitations as follow.
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a bitstream (i.e. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a bitstream) [Ko: col. 31, line 57-58] generated by a method comprising (i.e. a method and apparatus for processing a video signal using subblock-based motion compensation) [Ko: col. 1, line 22-24]:
determining (i.e. template matching may be performed to determine) [Ko: col. 21, line 43-44] whether a subblock-based temporal motion vector prediction (SbTMVP) mode is enabled for a coding unit (i.e. FIG. 23 shows a second embodiment of inter prediction using SbTMVP. According to the second embodiment of the present invention, when performing SbTMVP, a prediction subblock may be generated by dynamically using inter prediction and intra prediction for each subblock) [Ko: col. 20, line 63-67; Fig. 23];in a case where the coding unit is in a sub-block merge mode and the SbTMVP mode is enabled for the coding unit (i.e. FIG. 23 shows a second embodiment of inter prediction using SbTMVP. According to the second embodiment of the present invention, when performing SbTMVP, a prediction subblock may be generated by dynamically using inter prediction and intra prediction for each subblock. Conventionally, when intra prediction is performed on at least some of subblocks in a merge candidate block, the merge candidate block cannot be used for SbTMVP. However, according to an embodiment of the present invention, even when intra prediction is performed on an arbitrary number of sub blocks
within a merge candidate block, the merge candidate block may be used for SbTMVP) [Ko: col. 20, line 63 – col. 21, line 7], determining whether both the coding unit and a spatial neighboring block used to determine a temporal vector of the coding unit are within a same Motion Estimation Region (MER) (i.e. when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block. For example, the neighboring block may include at least one of a left block L, an upper block A, a lower left block BL, an upper right block AR, or an upper left block AL adjacent to the current block and search may be performed in the order listed above. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, a neighboring block to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include a left block L and a lower left block BL of the current block. The decoder obtains a merge candidate block of the current block based on the motion shift information obtained from the neighboring block) [Ko: col. 19, line 19-45] – Note: The left block L, the upper block A, the lower left block BL, the upper right block AR, and the upper left block AL are adjacent to the current block. They are in the same Motion Estimation Region), wherein in a case where both the coding unit and the spatial neighboring block are within the same MER (i.e. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block. For example, the neighboring block may include at least one of a left block L, an upper block A, a lower left block BL, an upper right block AR, or an upper left block AL adjacent to the current block and search may be performed in the order listed above. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, a neighboring block to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include a left block L and a lower left block BL of the current block. The decoder obtains a merge candidate block of the current block based on the motion shift information obtained from the neighboring block) [Ko: col. 19, line 19-45], the temporal vector of the coding unit is equal to zero (i.e. When temporal motion vector prediction (TMVP) is performed, the decoder predicts the motion vector of the current block using the temporal motion vector of the collocated block of the current block. However, when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block) [Ko: col. 19, line 19-30] – Note: Ko teaches that the SbTMVP can be calculated by a temporal vector or a spatial vector (i.e. a motion shift from neighboring block). As a result, when the spatial vector is used, the temporal vector is not used. Hence the temporal vector can be considered as zero);transmitting a first syntax element and a plurality of second syntax elements (i.e. The motion estimation unit 154a transmits motion information (reference picture index, motion vector information, etc.) on the reference region to the entropy coding unit 160. The motion compensation unit 154b performs motion compensation using the motion vector value transmitted from the motion estimation unit 154a) [Ko: col. 5, line 49-54; Fig. 1],
wherein the first syntax element ((i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30]; (i.e. Information is a term including all values, parameters, coefficients, elements, etc.) [Ko: col. 4, line 45-46]) is used to define the MER (i.e. The motion estimation unit 154a refers to a specific region of the reconstructed reference picture to obtain a motion vector value of the current region. The motion estimation unit 154a transmits motion information (reference picture index, motion vector information, etc.) on the reference region to the entropy coding unit 160. The motion compensation unit 154b performs motion compensation using the motion vector value transmitted from the motion estimation unit 154a) [Ko: col. 5, line 47-54; Fig. 1], and construction of a merge candidate list of the coding unit in the MER (i.e. wherein the processor obtains an indicator indicating a motion vector information set to be referenced to derive a motion vector of each subblock of the current block, and obtains control point motion vectors of the control point motion vector set with reference to the motion vector information set indicated by the indicator. The obtaining of the control point motion vector set further comprises generating a candidate list composed of one or more motion vector information set candidates, wherein the control point motion vectors are obtained by referring to a motion vector information set selected based on the indicator in the candidate list) [Ko: col. 2, line 24-37] is independent of other coding units in the MER ((i.e. According to an embodiment of the present invention, such template matching may be performed within a predetermined range 80 from the first reference subblock of the current subblock 62 obtained by affine motion prediction.) [Ko: col. 16, line 19-23]; (i.e. Referring to FIG. 16, after affine motion prediction is performed, a local search may be additionally performed within a predetermined range 81 to find a reference subblock 74 for the first subblock 64 of the current block) [Ko: col. 17, line 8-11; Fig. 16]; (i.e. Referring to FIG. 18, among CPMVs v0, v1, and v2 included in the CPMV set of the current block, v2 may be calculated based on v0 and v1. According to an embodiment, a local search for the subblock 66 closest to the location corresponding to v2 may be performed. That is, by performing a local search additionally within a predetermined range 83 from the reference subblock 76, v2', which is a purified CPMV, may be obtained. The decoder may use the purified CPMV v2' to obtain the motion vector of the subblock 68 of the current block. That is, the motion vector of the subblock 68 is calculated based on v2', v0 and v1) [Ko: col. 17, line 61 – col. 18, line 8; Fig. 18] – Note: Ko discloses that the candidate motion vector is only considered of certain blocks within a motion estimation region (MER). For example, Fig. 18 illustrates that the merge candidate list only includes v0, v1, and v2. Hence the merge candidate list is independent from other coding units in the MER), wherein the plurality of second syntax elements includes a third syntax element ((i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30]; (i.e. Information is a term including all values, parameters, coefficients, elements, etc.) [Ko: col. 4, line 45-46]) indicating whether the coding unit is in the sub-block merge mode (i.e. wherein the processor obtains an indicator indicating a motion vector information set to be referenced to derive a motion vector of each subblock of the current block, and obtains control point motion vectors of the control point motion vector set with reference to the motion vector information set indicated by the indicator. The obtaining of the control point motion vector set further comprises generating a candidate list composed of one or more motion vector information set candidates, wherein the control point motion vectors are obtained by referring to a motion vector information set selected based on the indicator in the candidate list) [Ko: col. 2, line 24-37], wherein the method further comprises (i.e. a method and apparatus for processing a video signal using subblock-based motion compensation) [Ko: col. 1, line 22-24]: transmitting a fourth syntax element (i.e. The motion estimation unit 154a transmits motion information (reference picture index, motion vector information, etc.) on the reference region to the entropy coding unit 160. The motion compensation unit 154b performs motion compensation using the motion vector value transmitted from the motion estimation unit 154a) [Ko: col. 5, line 49-54; Fig. 1] indicating which subblock-based merge candidate is used to reconstruct the coding unit in a case that the coding unit is in the sub-block merge mode (i.e. when SbTMVP is performed, the decoder obtains a merge candidate block by applying a motion shift before fetching the temporal motion vector of the collocated block. Here, the motion shift information may be obtained from a motion vector of one of the spatial neighboring blocks of the current block. The decoder sequentially searches neighboring blocks of the current block to determine a neighboring block from which motion shift information is obtained. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the neighboring blocks to be searched to obtain motion shift information may include at least one of a left neighboring block and an upper neighboring block of the current block) [Ko: col. 19, line 22-30], wherein the third syntax element ((i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30]; (i.e. Information is a term including all values, parameters, coefficients, elements, etc.) [Ko: col. 4, line 45-46]) is merge_subblock_flag and the fourth syntax element ((i.e. a set of motion vector information referenced to obtain motion vectors for each subblock) [Ko: col. 3, line 29-30]; (i.e. Information is a term including all values, parameters, coefficients, elements, etc.) [Ko: col. 4, line 45-46]) is merge_subblock_idx.
In the same field of endeavor, Chen further discloses the claim limitations as follows:
a determination that both the first spatial neighboring block and the coding unit are within the same MER ((i.e. motion compensated prediction is performed with transmitted motion vector differences (MVDs) that can be used together with Motion Vector Predictors (MVPs) for deriving motion vectors (MVs)) [Chen: col. 7, line 21-25]; (i.e. the Skip and Merge modes utilize motion inference methods (MV=MVP+MVD where MVD is zero) to obtain the motion information from spatially neighboring blocks (spatial candidates) or a temporal block (temporal candidate) located in a co-located picture where the co-located picture is the first reference picture in list 0 or list 1, which is signaled in the slice header) [Chen: col. 7, line 38-44] – Note: It is clear to one with ordinary skill in the arts that when the motion vector difference MVD = 0, that means the spatial block and the temporal vector are in the same location), the temporal vector of the coding unit is equal to zero (((i.e. There are three types of derived candidates: 1. Combined bi-predictive merge candidate (derived candidate type 1). 2. Scaled bi-predictive merge candidate (derived candidate type 2). 3. Zero vector merge/ AMVP candidate (derived candidate type 3)) [Chen: col. 8, line 5-12; Fig. 9]; (i.e. For derived candidate type 3, zero vector candidates are created by combining zero vectors and reference indices. If a created zero vector candidate is not a duplicate, it is added to the merge/AMVP candidates list. FIG. 9 illustrates an example in which zero vector candidates are added to a merge candidates list or an AMVP candidates list) [Chen: col. 8, line 41-46; Fig. 9]; (i.e. The concept of the ATMVP is summarized as follows: 1. The vector in the first stage can be derived from spatial and temporal neighboring blocks of the current PU. 2. This process may be achieved as activating a merge candidate among all the other merge candidates. Applicable to single-layer coding and sub-PU temporal motion vector prediction, a PU or CU may have motion refinement data to be conveyed on top of the predictors. Several design aspects of the 61/883,111 application are highlighted as follows: 1. The first stage of vector derivation can also be simplified by just a zero vector) [Chen: col. 33, line 20-32]; (i.e. If after removing redundancy, the number of available MVPs is less than two, zero vector candidates are added to the candidates list) [Chen: col. 7, line 59-61; Fig. 9]; (i.e. When the merge list is not full after pair-wise average merge candidates are added, the zero MVPs are inserted in the end until the maximum merge candidate number is encountered) [Chen: col. 18, line 60-63; Fig. 20]; (i.e. The concept of the ATMVP is summarized as follows: 1. The vector in the first stage can be derived from spatial and temporal neighboring blocks of the current PU. 2. This process may be achieved as activating a merge candidate among all the other merge candidates. Applicable to single-layer coding and sub-PU temporal motion vector prediction, a PU or CU may have motion refinement data to be conveyed on top of the predictors. Several design aspects of the 61/883,111 application are highlighted as follows: 1. The first stage of vector derivation can also be simplified by just a zero vector) [Chen: col. 33, line 20-32]).
It would have been obvious to one with an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Ko with Chen to program the system to implement of Chen’s method.
Therefore, the combination of Ko with Chen will enable the system to simplify the computation for the ATMVP [Chen: col. 33, line 20-32].
Ko and Chen do not explicitly disclose the following claim limitations (Emphasis added).
merge_subblock_flag and merge_subblock_idx.
However in the same field of endeavor Jang further discloses the deficient claim limitations as follows:
merge_subblock_flag and merge_subblock_idx (The present disclosure may also generate and encode the candidate index information using the syntax elements (e.g., merge_subblock_flag and merge_subblock_idx) for the candidate
in units of sub-block) [Chen: col. 40, line 61-65; Table 23]).
It would have been obvious to one with an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teachings of Ko and Chen with Jang to program the system to implement of Jang’s method.
Therefore, the combination of Ko and Chen with Jang will enable the system improving the
performance and efficiency of the inter-prediction [Jang: col. 2, line 40-43].
Regarding claim 14, Ko meets the claim limitations as set forth in claim 1. Ko further meets the claim limitations as follow.
performing the method according to claim 1 ((i.e performing encoding) [Ko: col. 4, line 38]; (i.e. a method and apparatus for processing a video signal using subblock-based motion compensation) [Ko: col. 1, line 22-24]; (i.e. In the case of implementation by firmware or software, the method according to embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in the form of a module, procedure, or function that performs the functions or operations described above. The software code can be stored in memory and driven by a processor. The memory may be located inside or outside the processor, and may exchange data with the processor by various means already known) [Ko: col. 31, line 29-36; Fig. 1]) to generate a bitstream (i.e. generating a video signal bitstream by performing encoding) [Ko: col. 4, line 38]; and storing the bitstream (i.e. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a bitstream) [Ko: col. 31, line 57-58].
Reference Notice
Additional prior arts, included in the Notice of Reference Cited, made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
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