DETAILED ACTION.
This Office Action is in response to the application filed on 08/18/2025, wherein claims 1-20 have been examined and are pending.
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 statements (IDSs) were submitted on 08/18/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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.
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.
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
1. Claims 1-2, 4 and 6-15 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being anticipated by Ma et al. (U.S. 2014/0072048) hereinafter Yang, in view of Park et al. (WO 2013/147495 – see translation attached) hereinafter Park.
Regarding claims 1 and 15, Ma discloses a method of processing video data, performed by a decoder, and a decoder, comprising one or more processors; and a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions stored thereon which when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform the method comprising (Ma [0076], [0078], [0005]: decoder):
decoding a bitstream to obtain video data and coding information (Ma [0076], [0078]: decoder for decoding bitstream),
obtaining a picture block based on the video data; upsampling the picture block (Ma [0028]: images are downsampled; [0038], [0040], [0052], [0058], [0065]-[0068]: picture blocks are processed; [0035]-[0038], [0065]: upsampling image to form upsampled image); and
obtaining an enhanced picture block by applying a signal enhancement filter using the filter coefficients, together with the weighting map, to the upsampled picture block (Ma [0065]: decoder filters for upsampled base layer image; [0040]-[0043], [0030]: filter with filter coefficients and spatial weight matrix is used; [0030]-[0038]: Filter is applied after upsampling process to remove ringing artifacts, reduce noise and improve coding efficiency, hence signal enhance filter which calculates enhanced picture block).
Ma does not explicitly disclose the coding information comprising weighting map indication information for defining a weighting map and filter coefficients optimized for the weighting map; determining the weighting map using the weighting map indication information.
However, Park discloses the coding information comprising weighting map indication information for defining a weighting map and filter coefficients optimized for the weighting map; determining the weighting map using the weighting map indication information (Park Page 50: upsampling filter is used. Filter coefficients having weighted coefficient values for low-band and/or high band values; Page 51, last para.: signaling filter information including filter coefficients and tap size which can be configured in a form of a look-up table; Pages 52-55: the encoding device transmits to decoding device an index indicating filter information such as filter coefficients used when upsampling image on a lookup table. Different filter indexes can be used to indicate tab size of the filter as in Page 52. If value of filter index is “00”, filter coefficient A can be indicated. Filter coefficient D can be indicated with filter index “11”. Filter coefficients A, B, C and D are coefficients that assign weights to low-frequency and/or high-frequency values; Pages 56-57: interpolation_filter_indicator indicates the filter information used for upsampling including tab size of the filter and filter coefficients. Hence, coding information comprises indication information for defining a weighting map and filter coefficients).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the system and method, as disclosed by Ma, and further incorporate having the coding information comprising weighting map indication information for defining a weighting map and filter coefficients optimized for the weighting map; determining the weighting map using the weighting map indication information, as taught by Park, to improve coding performance and accuracy (Park Page 5).
Regarding claim 2, Ma and Park disclose all limitations of claim 1.
Ma does not explicitly disclose wherein the weighting map comprises a scalar weighting map (Ma [0041]: spatial weight matrix having weights a, b, and c based on spatial scaling ratio).
Regarding claim 4, Ma and Park disclose all limitations of claim 1.
Ma discloses wherein the weighting map comprises a plurality of weighting values respectively corresponding to values in the upsampled picture block (Ma [0038]-[0050]: applied filter on an NxN block basis with weight matrix w having weights a, b and c which corresponding to values in upsampled block).
Regarding claim 6, Ma and Park disclose all limitations of claim 1.
Ma discloses calculating the weighting map by applying the weighting map function to the upsampled picture block (Ma [0040]-[0043], [0030]: filter with filter coefficients and spatial weight matrix is used; [0030]-[0038]: Filter function is applied after upsampling process to remove ringing artifacts, reduce noise and improve coding efficiency, hence signal enhance filter which calculates enhanced picture block).
Ma does not explicitly disclose wherein determining the weighting map using the weighting map indication information comprises: determining a weighting map function using the weighting map indication information.
Park discloses determining the weighting map using the weighting map indication information comprises: determining a weighting map function using the weighting map indication information; and calculating the weighting map by applying the weighting map function to the upsampled picture block (Park Page 50: upsampling filter is used. Filter coefficients having weighted coefficient values for low-band and/or high band values; Page 51, last para.: signaling filter information including filter coefficients and tap size which can be configured in a form of a look-up table; Pages 52-55: the encoding device transmits to decoding device an index indicating filter information such as filter coefficients used when upsampling image on a lookup table. Different filter indexes can be used to indicate tab size of the filter as in Page 52. If value of filter index is “00”, filter coefficient A can be indicated. Filter coefficient D can be indicated with filter index “11”. Filter coefficients A, B, C and D are coefficients that assign weights to low-frequency and/or high-frequency values; Pages 56-57: interpolation_filter_indicator indicates the filter information used for upsampling including tab size of the filter and filter coefficients. Hence, determining weighting map function using indication information).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the system and method, as disclosed by Ma, and further incorporate determining the weighting map using the weighting map indication information comprises: determining a weighting map function using the weighting map indication information; and calculating the weighting map by applying the weighting map function to the upsampled picture block, as taught by Park, to improve coding performance and accuracy (Park Page 5).
Regarding claim 7, Ma and Park disclose all limitations of claim 6.
Ma does not explicitly disclose wherein the weighting map indication information comprises a weighting map identifier identifying one among a plurality of predefined weighting map functions.
However, Park discloses the weighting map indication information comprises a weighting map identifier identifying one among a plurality of predefined weighting map functions (Park Page 52: filter index can indicate filter information including tap size and coefficients as in Table 1 (Page 22 of original document), hence indication information which is weighting map identifier identifying one among map functions of filters).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the system and method, as disclosed by Ma, and further incorporate having the weighting map indication information comprises a weighting map identifier identifying one among a plurality of predefined weighting map functions, as taught by Park, to improve coding performance and accuracy (Park Page 5).
Regarding claim 8, Ma and Park disclose all limitations of claim 6.
Ma does not explicitly disclose wherein the weighting map indication information comprises parameters for the weighting map function.
Park discloses the weighting map indication information comprises parameters for the weighting map function (Park Page 50: upsampling filter is used. Filter coefficients having weighted coefficient values for low-band and/or high band values; Page 51, last para.: signaling filter information including filter coefficients and tap size which can be configured in a form of a look-up table; Pages 52-55: the encoding device transmits to decoding device an index indicating filter information such as filter coefficients used when upsampling image on a lookup table. Different filter indexes can be used to indicate tab size of the filter as in Page 52. If value of filter index is “00”, filter coefficient A can be indicated. Filter coefficient D can be indicated with filter index “11”. Filter coefficients A, B, C and D are coefficients that assign weights to low-frequency and/or high-frequency values; Pages 56-57: interpolation_filter_indicator indicates the filter information used for upsampling including tab size of the filter and filter coefficients. Hence, weighting map indication information comprises parameters for the weighting map function).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the system and method, as disclosed by Ma, and further incorporate having the weighting map indication information comprises parameters for the weighting map function, as taught by Park, to improve coding performance and accuracy (Park Page 5).
Regarding claim 9, Ma and Park disclose all limitations of claim 1.
Ma discloses wherein the picture block is a prediction block, and wherein obtaining the picture block based on the video data comprises performing a prediction operation using the video data to obtain the prediction block (Ma [0028], [0059]-[0063]: enhancement layer of video bitstream is created by upsampling downsampled base layer applying interlayer prediction. Hence, the picture block being processed is prediction block).
Regarding claim 10, Ma and Park disclose all limitations of claim 9.
Ma discloses wherein the prediction operation is inter-prediction or intra- prediction (Ma [0028], [0059]-[0063]: enhancement layer of video bitstream is created by upsampling downsampled base layer applying interlayer prediction. Hence, the picture block being processed is prediction block wherein inter prediction or intra prediction can be used).
Regarding claim 11, Ma and Park disclose all limitations of claim 1.
Ma discloses wherein the picture block is a reference sample, and the method further comprises performing a prediction operation using the enhanced reference sample to obtain a prediction block (Ma [0035]-[0037], [0059][-0063]: Images after upsampling and filter is used as predictor image to predict a final displayed image, hence, the picture block processed is enhanced reference sample to obtain prediction block by using a prediction operation).
Park also discloses wherein the picture block is a reference sample, and the method further comprises performing a prediction operation using the enhanced reference sample to obtain a prediction block (Park Page 6, second para., Page 9: upsampling to generate samples of a reference picture for inter prediction; Pages 34-36 and 47: inter-prediction using inter-layer which restores image of an enhancement layer of a reference picture and image of a base layer of reference picture, i.e. downsampled picture, wherein the reference picture is a previous picture or subsequence picture of a currently to be decoded picture).
Regarding claim 12, Ma and Park disclose all limitations of claim 11.
Ma broadly discloses the prediction operation comprises inter-prediction, the reference sample corresponds to a first picture of the video data coded in the bitstream, the prediction block corresponds to a second picture of the video data coded in the bitstream, the second picture being temporally spaced from the first picture, and the first picture is coded at a lower resolution than the second picture in the bitstream (Ma [0035]-[0037]: downsampled image of the base layer, which is encoded, has lower resolution than an image before downsampled; [0058]-[0063]: the picture block can be used for inter prediction).
Park discloses the prediction operation comprises inter-prediction, the reference sample corresponds to a first picture of the video data coded in the bitstream, the prediction block corresponds to a second picture of the video data coded in the bitstream, the second picture being temporally spaced from the first picture, and the first picture is coded at a lower resolution than the second picture in the bitstream (Park Page 6, second para., Pages 9, 17 and 22: upsampling to generate samples of a reference picture for inter prediction; Pages 34-36 and 47: inter-prediction using inter-layer which restores image of an enhancement layer of a reference picture and image of a base layer of reference picture, wherein the reference picture is a previous picture or subsequence picture of a currently to be decoded picture. Hence, reference picture is a first picture that has a base layer that is coded at a lower resolution than the current picture, i.e. second picture).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the system and method, as disclosed by Ma, and further incorporate having the prediction operation comprises inter-prediction, the reference sample corresponds to a first picture of the video data coded in the bitstream, the prediction block corresponds to a second picture of the video data coded in the bitstream, the second picture being temporally spaced from the first picture, and the first picture is coded at a lower resolution than the second picture in the bitstream, as taught by Park, to improve coding performance and accuracy (Park Page 5).
Regarding claim 13, Ma and Park disclose all limitations of claim 11.
Ma discloses wherein the coding information indicates to apply a plurality of filters with a plurality of respective weighting maps to the picture block (Ma [0030]: any of a number of filters are used including bi-linear filters and Wiener filters, hence filters with respective weighting maps can be used for the picture block).
Regarding claim 14, Ma and Park disclose all limitations of claim 11.
Ma discloses wherein the coding information indicates to use different weighting maps and/or signal enhancement filters for different picture blocks of a picture (Ma [0030]: any of a number of filters are used including bi-linear filters and Wiener filters, hence different filters with weighting maps can be used for the picture blocks).
2. Claim 3 is rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being anticipated by Ma et al. (U.S. 2014/0072048) hereinafter Yang, in view of Park et al. (WO 2013/147495 – see translation attached) hereinafter Park, further in view of Kaufman et al. (U.S. 6,674,430) hereinafter Kaufman.
Regarding claim 3, Ma and Park disclose all limitations of claim 1.
Ma does not explicitly disclose wherein the weighting map comprises a Sobel magnitude map.
However, Kaufman discloses the weighting map comprises a Sobel magnitude map (Kaufman Col. 36, lines 40-67: Sobel filter can be used).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the system and method, as disclosed by Ma and Park, and further incorporate having the weighting map comprises a Sobel magnitude map, as taught by Kaufman, to improve image quality (Kaufman Col. 4, lines 18-20).
3. Claim 5 is rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being anticipated by Ma et al. (U.S. 2014/0072048) hereinafter Yang, in view of Park et al. (WO 2013/147495 – see translation attached) hereinafter Park, further in view of Sakurai et al. (U.S. 2014/0314159) hereinafter Sakurai.
Regarding claim 5, Ma and Park disclose all limitations of claim 1.
Ma does not explicitly disclose wherein signal enhancement filter indication information indicates to re-use one or more filter coefficients stored in a filter buffer of the decoder for the signal enhancement filter.
However, Sakurai discloses signal enhancement filter indication information indicates to re-use one or more filter coefficients stored in a filter buffer of the decoder for the signal enhancement filter (Sakurai [0151], [0140]-[0141]: decoding device has a buffer for storing filter coefficients whose copy are read from the buffer to be used for the filter process).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the system and method, as disclosed by Ma and Park, and further incorporate having signal enhancement filter indication information indicates to re-use one or more filter coefficients stored in a filter buffer of the decoder for the signal enhancement filter, as taught by Sakurai, to improve coding efficiency (Sakurai [0001]).
4. Claims 16 and 18-20 are rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being anticipated by Ma et al. (U.S. 2014/0072048) hereinafter Yang, in view of Park et al. (WO 2013/147495 – see translation attached) hereinafter Park, further in view of Hannuksela et al. (U.S. 2013/0002816) hereinafter Hannuksela.
Regarding claim 16, Ma discloses a method of processing video data, performed by an encoder, the method comprising:
obtaining original video data; obtaining a downsampled version of the original video data; obtaining a picture block based on the downsampled original video data (Ma [0028]: images are downsampled; [0038], [0040], [0052], [0058], [0065]-[0068]: picture blocks are processed);
upsampling the picture block (Ma [0034]-[0038], [0047]-[0048]: downsampling followed by upsampling image);
obtaining a weighting map from the original video data (Ma [0040]-[0041]: filter and spatial weight matrix is used);
defining a linear equation which represents a signal enhancement filter which calculates an enhanced picture block based on the weighting map, filter coefficients and the upsampled picture block (Ma [0030]-[0038]: filter is linear operation. Filter is applied after upsampling process to remove ringing artifacts, reduce noise and improve coding efficiency, hence signal enhance filter which calculates enhanced picture block; [0040]-[0043], [0030]: filter with filter coefficients and spatial weight matrix is used with equation as in [0043]);
obtaining an enhanced picture block by applying the signal enhancement filter using the optimal filter coefficients, together with the weighting map, to the upsampled picture block (Ma [0034]-[0038]: Filter is applied after upsampling process to remove ringing artifacts, reduce noise and improve coding efficiency, hence signal enhance filter which calculates enhanced picture block); and
encoding the downsampled original video data and coding information into a bitstream (Ma [0028]: the encoder generates a base layer of video bitstream using downsampled images).
Ma does not explicitly disclose the coding information comprising weighting map indication information indicating the weighting map and the calculated filter coefficients.
However, Park discloses the coding information comprising weighting map indication information indicating the weighting map and the calculated filter coefficients (Park Page 50: upsampling filter is used. Filter coefficients having weighted coefficient values for low-band and/or high band values; Page 51, last para.: signaling filter information including filter coefficients and tap size which can be configured in a form of a look-up table; Pages 52-55: the encoding device transmits to decoding device an index indicating filter information such as filter coefficients used when upsampling image on a lookup table. Different filter indexes can be used to indicate tab size of the filter as in Page 52. If value of filter index is “00”, filter coefficient A can be indicated. Filter coefficient D can be indicated with filter index “11”. Filter coefficients A, B, C and D are coefficients that assign weights to low-frequency and/or high-frequency values; Pages 56-57: interpolation_filter_indicator indicates the filter information used for upsampling including tab size of the filter and filter coefficients. Hence, coding information comprises indication information for defining a weighting map and filter coefficients).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the system and method, as disclosed by Ma, and further incorporate having the coding information comprising weighting map indication information indicating the weighting map and the calculated filter coefficients, as taught by Park, to improve coding performance and accuracy (Park Page 5).
Ma does not explicitly disclose applying least-squares optimization on the linear equation to obtain optimal filter coefficients for the weighting map.
Hannuksela discloses applying least-squares optimization on the linear equation to obtain optimal filter coefficients for the weighting map; obtaining an enhanced picture block by applying the signal enhancement filter using the optimal filter coefficients, together with the weighting map, to the upsampled picture block (Hannuksela [0071]-[0076]: filter weight function is used; [0078]: adaptive wiener filtering can be used, which use least mean squares to determine optimal filter coefficients; [0085]: adaptive filtering can be utilized at up-sampling stage of reconstructed image).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the system and method, as disclosed by Ma and Park, and further incorporate applying least-squares optimization on the linear equation to obtain optimal filter coefficients for the weighting map, obtaining an enhanced picture block by applying the signal enhancement filter using the optimal filter coefficients, together with the weighting map, to the upsampled picture block, as taught by Hannuksela, to improve video coding efficiency and quality (Hannuksela [0004], [0086]).
Regarding claim 18, Ma and Park and Hannuksela disclose all limitations of claim 16.
Ma discloses wherein the weighting map comprises a scalar weighting map; or the weighting map comprises a Sobel magnitude map; or the weighting map comprises a plurality of weighting values respectively corresponding to values in the upsampled picture block (Ma [0038]-[0050]: applied filter on an NxN block basis with weight matrix w having weights a, b and c which corresponding to values in upsampled block).
Park discloses the upsampled picture block is an upsampled low resolution picture block which occurs after reference picture upsampling or multi-resolution coding (Park Pages 3 and 8: different resolutions can be used with different layers; Page 6, second para., Pages 9, 17 and 22: upsampling to generate samples of a reference picture for inter prediction; Pages 34-36 and 47: inter-prediction using inter-layer which restores image of an enhancement layer of a reference picture and image of a base layer of reference picture, wherein the reference picture is a previous picture or subsequence picture of a currently to be decoded picture. Hence, reference picture is a first picture that has a base layer that is coded at a lower resolution than the current picture, i.e. second picture).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the system and method, as disclosed by Ma and Park and Hannuksela, and further incorporate having the weighting map comprises a scalar weighting map; or the weighting map comprises a Sobel magnitude map; or the weighting map comprises a plurality of weighting values respectively corresponding to values in the upsampled picture block, as taught by Park, to improve coding performance and accuracy (Park Page 5).
Regarding claim 19, Ma and Park and Hannuksela disclose all limitations of claim 16.
Ma discloses wherein the weighting map indication information and the calculated filter coefficients are quantized and entropy encoded (Ma [0052]: the filter w and parameters are indexed by quantization parameter and are encoded, wherein entropy encoding is well known in the art).
Ma does not explicitly disclose the weighting map indication information and the calculated filter coefficients are explicitly signalled in the bitstream or are to be derived by a decoder from the video data in the bitstream; wherein the weighting map is obtained by: determining a weighting map function using weighting map indication information; and calculating the weighting map by applying the weighting map function to the upsampled picture block.
Park discloses the weighting map indication information and the calculated filter coefficients are explicitly signalled in the bitstream or are to be derived by a decoder from the video data in the bitstream; wherein the weighting map is obtained by: determining a weighting map function using weighting map indication information; and calculating the weighting map by applying the weighting map function to the upsampled picture block (Park Page 9, second para., Pages 16 and 19: entropy encoding unit; Page 50: upsampling filter is used. Filter coefficients having weighted coefficient values for low-band and/or high band values; Page 51, last para.: signaling filter information including filter coefficients and tap size which can be configured in a form of a look-up table; Pages 52-55: the encoding device transmits to decoding device an index indicating filter information such as filter coefficients used when upsampling image on a lookup table. Different filter indexes can be used to indicate tab size of the filter as in Page 52. If value of filter index is “00”, filter coefficient A can be indicated. Filter coefficient D can be indicated with filter index “11”. Filter coefficients A, B, C and D are coefficients that assign weights to low-frequency and/or high-frequency values; Pages 56-57: interpolation_filter_indicator indicates the filter information used for upsampling including tab size of the filter and filter coefficients. Hence, determining a weighting map function using weighting map indication information).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the system and method, as disclosed by Ma and Park and Hannuksela, and further incorporate having the coding information comprising weighting map indication information for defining a weighting map and filter coefficients optimized for the weighting map; determining the weighting map using the weighting map indication information, as taught by Park, to improve coding performance and accuracy (Park Page 5).
Regarding claim 20, Ma and Park and Hannuksela disclose a non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising computer executable instructions and a bitstream stored thereon, and the instructions which, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform the method of claim 16 to generate the bitstream (Ma [0006], [0076]).
5. Claim 17 is rejected under AIA 35 U.S.C. 103 as being anticipated by Ma et al. (U.S. 2014/0072048) hereinafter Yang, in view of Park et al. (WO 2013/147495 – see translation attached) hereinafter Park, in view of Hannuksela et al. (U.S. 2013/0002816) hereinafter Hannuksela, further in view of Sud (U.S. 2017/0168988).
Regarding claim 17, Ma and Park and Hannuksela disclose all limitations of claim 16.
Ma discloses the linear equation is brought into a form of a matrix vector multiplication, wherein the matrix is a symmetric matrix (Ma [0041]: symmetric weighting matrix; [0030]: bi-linear filter and Wiener filters can be used).
Ma does not explicitly disclose wherein the filter coefficients are calculated by calculating partial derivatives which are set to zero.
However, Sud discloses wherein the filter coefficients are calculated by calculating partial derivatives which are set to zero (Sud [0041]: the optimum set of filter coefficients can be obtained by setting the partial derivatives of the cost function to zero).
It would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to use the system and method, as disclosed by Ma and Park and Hannuksela, and further incorporate having the filter coefficients are calculated by calculating partial derivatives which are set to zero, as taught by Sud, to improve coding performance (Sud [0041], [0013], [0032]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KATHLEEN V NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)270-0626. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:00am-6:00pm.
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/KATHLEEN V NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2486
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