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 .
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or applications the case maybe, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4, 6-11 and 14-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Lin et.al. (US 2026/0214262) (Yu-Cheng Lin).
Regarding Claim 1, Lin (2026/0214262) discloses a method for video processing, comprising: applying [See abstract and Paragraphs 3-7, Figs. 1A-B], for a conversion between a current video block of a video and a bitstream of the video a process to the current video block based on template matching [See Paragraphs 79-91], wherein at least one reference sample of a current template of the current video block is determined based on a block vector (BV) of the current video block during the process; and performing the conversion based on the applying [See abstract and Paragraphs 123-154 and 226-235].
Regarding Claims 2, 17 and 19, Lin discloses wherein the process comprises at least one of: a reordering process, a refinement process, a searching process, or a local illumination compensation (LIC) process [See Paragraphs 283-302 and 305-318].
Regarding Claim 3, Lin discloses wherein the BV of the current video block is in a fractional-pel precision, and the at least one reference sample is determined by an interpolation filter with N-tap, N being an integer larger than one [See Paragraphs 12, 17,305-306].
Regarding Claim 4, Lin discloses wherein N comprises one of: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 [See Paragraphs 12, 17,305-306].
Regarding Claim 6, Lin discloses wherein the process comprises a template matching reordering process for at least one of: a regular intra block copy (IBC) merge candidate list, an IBC advanced motion vector prediction (AMVP) candidate list, an IBC template matching (IBC-TM) merge candidate list, an IBC-TM AMVP candidate list, an IBC merge mode with block vector differences (IBC-MBVD) base candidate list, an IBC-MBVD candidate list, an IBC merge candidate list used in IBC combined intra and inter prediction mode (CIIP), a regular IBC merge candidate list or IBC-TM merge candidate list used in IBC geometric partitioning mode (GPM), a block vector difference (BVD) sign prediction for IBC AMVP mode, a BVD sign prediction for IBC-MBVD mode, a BVD magnitude suffix bins prediction for IBC AMVP mode, a BVD magnitude suffix bins prediction for IBC-MBVD mode, a multi-candidate list construction of intra template matching prediction (IntraTMP), or a further template matching reordering for a block with a BV [See abstract and Paragraphs 79-83 and Figs 9-16].
Regarding Claim 7, Lin discloses wherein the process comprises at least one of: a template matching refinement for intra block copy (IBC) template matching (TM) merge, a template matching refinement for IBC-TM advanced motion vector prediction (AMVP), or a further template matching refinement for a block with a BV [See abstract and Paragraphs 79-83 and Figs 9-16].
Regarding Claim 8, Lin discloses wherein the process comprises at least one of: a template matching searching for intra template matching prediction (IntraTMP), or a further template matching searching for a block with a BV [See abstract and Paragraphs 79-83 and Figs 9-16].
Regarding Claim 9, Lin discloses wherein the process comprises an intra block copy (IBC) local illumination compensation (LIC) process [See Paragraphs 67, 284 and 301-307].
Regarding Claim 10, Lin discloses wherein the block is coded with at least one of: an intra block copy (IBC) mode, or an intra template matching prediction (IntraTMP) mode [See abstract and Paragraphs 2 and 79].
Regarding Claim 11, Lin discloses wherein the BV of the current video block is in a fractional-pel precision, and wherein the method further comprises: updating the BV to an integer-pel precision, the at least one reference sample of the current template being determined based on the updated BV without using an interpolation filter [See Paragraphs 291-304].
Regarding Claim 14, Lin discloses wherein the conversion includes encoding the current video block into the bitstream [See Figs. 1A-B].
Regarding Claim 15, Lin discloses wherein the conversion includes decoding the current video block from the bitstream [See Figs. 1A-B].
Regarding Claim 16, the limitations claimed are substantially similar to claim 1 above, therefore the ground for rejecting claim l also applies here.
Regarding Claim 18, the limitations claimed are substantially similar to claim 1 above, therefore the ground for rejecting claim l also applies here.
Regarding Claim 20, the limitations claimed are substantially similar to claim 1 above, therefore the ground for rejecting claim l also applies here.
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 12-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin et.al. (US 2026/0214262) (Yu-Cheng Lin) in view of Lin et al. (US 2025/0008085) (Po-Han Lin).
Regarding Claim 12, Lin doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein the BV is updated by a rounding up or a rounding down to the integer-pel precision.
However, Lin 2025/0008085 wherein the BV is updated by a rounding up or a rounding down to the integer-pel precision [See Paragraphs 29-30, 85].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at time of invention to modify the system disclosed by Lin to add the teachings in Lin as above, to provide a method that enables improving an overall operation of a video encoder and/or a video decoder and improving performance of a video coding system, thus improving coding efficiency of BV related tools [See Lin 2025/0008085 Paragraph 5].
Regarding Claim 13, Lin doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein a plurality of BVs in a plurality of directions is updated by a plurality of rounding operations, the plurality of rounding operations comprises at least one of: a rounding up, a rounding down, or a rounding to a nearest integer
However, Lin 2025/0008085 wherein a plurality of BVs in a plurality of directions is updated by a plurality of rounding operations, the plurality of rounding operations comprises at least one of: a rounding up, a rounding down, or a rounding to a nearest integer [See Paragraphs 109-112].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at time of invention to modify the system disclosed by Lin to add the teachings in Lin as above, to provide a method that enables improving an overall operation of a video encoder and/or a video decoder and improving performance of a video coding system, thus improving coding efficiency of BV related tools [See Lin 2025/0008085 Paragraph 5].
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lin et.al. (US 2026/0214262) (Yu-Cheng Lin) in view of Lin et al. (US 2025/0008085) (Po-Han Lin) and further in view of Chen et al. (US 2025/0008085) (Chun-Chi Chen),
Regarding Claim 5, Lin and Lin don’t explicitly disclose wherein the interpolation filter comprises a bilinear interpolation filter
However, Chen discloses wherein the interpolation filter comprises a bilinear interpolation filter [See Paragraphs 101-103].
It would have been obvious to the person of ordinary skill in the art at time of invention to modify the system disclosed by Lin and Lin to add the teachings in Chen as above, to provide a method that enables reducing number of bits needed to signal residual data, performing transformation and quantization of the residual data by a video encoder that signals the transformed and quantized residual data in the encoded bitstream [See Chen Paragraph 26].
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TSION B OWENS whose telephone number is (571)272-3934. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 8:00-4:00.
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/TSION B OWENS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2487
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