CTNF 19/301,800 CTNF 92277 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement submitted on 8/15/2025, and 2/13/2026 are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) are being considered by the examiner. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-12-aia AIA (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 application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 07-15-03-aia AIA Claim(s) 1-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhao et al. (US 20250039411 A1) (hereinafter Zhao) . Regarding claim 1 , Zhao discloses: An apparatus for video decoding, comprising: [See Zhao, ¶ 0065-0072 discloses video encoding/decoding.] processing circuitry configured to: [See Zhao, ¶ 00300 discloses application specific integrated circuits.] receive a bitstream that includes a syntax element, [See Zhao, ¶ 0005 discloses receiving a bitstream including syntax elements.] the syntax element indicating whether at least one residual related syntax element is signaled in the bitstream for a current block in a current picture when the current block is coded according to a prediction block in the current picture and an offset between the current block and the prediction block is indicated by a block vector (BV); and [See Zhao, ¶ 0080 discloses that the intra-picture prediction component 117 may generate a residual block from the reference block based on the selected intra-prediction modes determined by intra-picture estimation component 115 when implemented on an encoder or read the residual block from the bitstream when implemented on a decoder. The residual block includes the difference in values between the reference block and the original block, represented as a matrix; See Zhao, ¶ 0140 discloses different matrices and offsets used in the matrix-vector-multiplication may be set according to the intra prediction modes for MIP. Herein, a matrix may be referred to as a (MIP) weighted matrix, and an offset may be referred to as an (MIP) offset vector or (MIP) bias vector. A detailed MIP method will be described later.] when the syntax element indicates that no residual related syntax element is signaled, reconstruct the current block by directly copying values of reconstructed samples in the prediction block. [See Zhao, ¶ 00252 discloses that there may be no residual data for the current video block, for example in a skip mode, and residual generation unit 2907 may not perform the subtracting operation”.] Regarding claim 2 , Zhao discloses all the limitations of claim 1. Zhao discloses: wherein the syntax element is a skip flag of the current block. [See Zhao, ¶ 00144 discloses signaling a skip flag as a syntax element.] Regarding claim 3 , Zhao discloses all the limitations of claim 2. Zhao discloses: wherein the current block is coded with one of an intra block copy (IBC) mode and an intra template matching prediction (IntraTMP) mode. [See Zhao, ¶ 00150 discloses implementing an intra template matching prediction mode.] Regarding claim 4 , Zhao discloses all the limitations of claim 3. Zhao discloses: wherein the current block is coded with the IntraTMP mode and the current block is a luma block. [See Zhao, Fig. 22, ¶ 0136-0138, 00150 discloses implementing an intra template matching prediction mode.] Regarding claim 5 , Zhao discloses all the limitations of claim 4. Zhao discloses: wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine a context of the skip flag of the current block based on a skip flag of an adjacent block of the current block, the adjacent block being coded with one of the IBC mode and the IntraTMP mode; and [See Zhao, ¶ 0085, 00143-00144 discloses determining definitions of encoding contexts for various blocks, in particular with respect to a skip flag of encoded neighboring/adjacent blocks to a current block to be encoded; See Zhao, ¶ 0155-0156 discloses D may be derived based on reconstruction samples in a left column neighboring the template and/or reconstruction samples in an above row neighboring the template (e.g. instead of selected all neighboring samples). The selected samples may be spatially consecutive, spatially non-consecutive, selected by a step function, etc…In an example, wide angle intra prediction includes a set of directional prediction modes that point from a current block to a reference sample used to predict the current block. Wide angle intra prediction can be altered by employing contextual signaling based on whether the block is dyadic or non-dyadic.] determine a value of the skip flag using the determined context. [See Zhao, ¶ 0144, 0155-0156] Regarding claim 6 , Zhao discloses all the limitations of claim 3. Zhao discloses: wherein the current block is a chroma block of a first chroma component in an intra slice, and a luma component and the first chroma component in the intra slice are partitioned separately. [See Zhao, ¶ 0086 discloses defining partitioning for an intra-coded block.] Regarding claim 7 , Zhao discloses all the limitations of claim 6. Zhao discloses: wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: determine a context of the skip flag of the current block based on a skip flag of a co-located luma block of the current block, the co-located luma block being coded with one of the IBC mode and the IntraTMP mode; and [See Zhao, ¶ 0124, 0155-0156 discloses for the luma MPM-list derivation, whenever a neighboring luma block is encountered which uses an ALWIP-mode ptedmode ALWIP, this block is treated as if it was using the conventional intra-prediction mode ptedmode Angular.] determine a value of the skip flag of the current block using the determined context. [See Zhao, ¶ 0144, 0155-0156] Regarding claim 8 , Zhao discloses all the limitations of claim 6. Zhao discloses: wherein the current block is coded in a direct block vector (DBV) mode, and the processing circuitry is configured to determine the BV of the current block from a BV from a co-located luma block of the luma component. [See Zhao, ¶ 0102, 0103 discloses intra prediction modes include a planar mode and a direct current (DC) mode. The directional modes are depicted as solid lines with arrows in diagram 900, along with the planar and DC modes. These denser directional intra prediction modes apply for all block sizes and for both luma and chroma intra predictions.] Regarding claim 9 , this claim recites analogous limitations to claim 1 in the form of “a method” rather than “an apparatus”, and is therefore rejected on the same premise. Regarding claim 10 , this claim recites analogous limitations to claim 2 and is therefore rejected on the same premise. Regarding claim 11 , this claim recites analogous limitations to claim 3 and is therefore rejected on the same premise. Regarding claim 12 , this claim recites analogous limitations to claim 4 and is therefore rejected on the same premise. Regarding claim 13 , this claim recites analogous limitations to claim 5 and is therefore rejected on the same premise. Regarding claim 14 , this claim recites analogous limitations to claim 6 and is therefore rejected on the same premise. Regarding claim 15 , this claim recites analogous limitations to claim 7 and is therefore rejected on the same premise. Regarding claim 16 , this claim recites analogous limitations to claim 8 and is therefore rejected on the same premise. Regarding claim 17 , this claim recites analogous limitations to claim 1 in the form of “a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium” rather than “an apparatus”, and is therefore rejected on the same premise. Please see examiner’s earlier rejection of claim 1 for corresponding motivation statement. Further, claim 17 recites the following limitations which are not explicitly found from claim 1, but are addressed as follows: Zhao discloses: A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform an encoding method comprising: [See Zhao, ¶ 0231 discloses a non-transitory memory with instructions causing a processor to perform a method.] and transmitting the bitstream including the syntax element. [See Zhao, ¶ 0298 discloses transmission of a bitstream.] Regarding claim 18 , this claim recites analogous limitations to claim 2 and is therefore rejected on the same premise. Regarding claim 19 , this claim recites analogous limitations to claim 3 and is therefore rejected on the same premise. Regarding claim 20 , this claim recites analogous limitations to claim 4 and is therefore rejected on the same premise. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to PATRICK E DEMOSKY whose telephone number is (571)272-8799. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 7-4 EST. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jamie Atala can be reached at 5712727384. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /PATRICK E DEMOSKY/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2486 Application/Control Number: 19/301,800 Page 2 Art Unit: 2486
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