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 .
This communication is responsive to the correspondence filled on 09/26/2025.
Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
IDS Considerations
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/26/2025 is/are being considered by the examiner as the submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1-2, 9-10 and 15-16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xinwei (U.S. Pub. No. 20250330569 A1).
Regarding to claim 1, 9 and 15:
1. Xinwei teach a non-transitory machine-readable medium of an electronic device storing one or more computer-executable instructions for decoding video data, the one or more computer- executable instructions, when executed by at least one processor of the electronic device, causing the electronic device to: (Xinwei [0174-0176]) receive the video data; (Xinwei [0058] In a decoding process 150, a VVC-standard decoder configures one or more processors of a computing system to receive, as input, one or more coded pictures from a bitstream) determine a chroma block location of a chroma block unit from an image frame of the video data; (Xinwei [0029] A VVC-standard encoder configures one or more processors of a computing system to subdivide a picture into coding tree units (“CTUs”), the luma and chroma components of which may be further subdivided into coding tree blocks (“CTBs”) which are further subdivided into coding units (“CUs”). Alternatively, a VVC-standard encoder configures one or more processors of a computing system subdivide a picture into units of N×N pixels, which may then be further subdivided into subunits. Each of these largest subdivided units of a picture may generally be referred to as a “block” for the purpose of this disclosure. [0030] A CU is coded using one block of luma samples and two corresponding blocks of chroma samples, where pictures are not monochrome and are coded using one coding tree.)
determine a guiding block vector for the chroma block unit; (Xinwei [0014] FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B illustrate a reference area in the luma and chroma channels, respectively, according to a block-vector guided CCM (“BVG-CCCM”) mode. [0114] ECM further provides a block-vector guided CCM (“BVG-CCCM”) mode. When the co-located luma prediction is coded with IBC or IntraTMP in Intra slices, the BVG-CCCM mode can be used. In this mode, the block vectors of the co-located luma blocks, coded in IBC or intraTMP modes, are used to determine the reference area for calculating the CCCM parameters. The prediction is performed using uses the calculated model parameters and co-located luma samples. FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B illustrate a reference area in the luma and chroma channels, respectively, according to BVG-CCCM.)
determine a guided reference block from the image frame based on the guiding block vector; (Xinwei [0014] FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B illustrate a reference area in the luma and chroma channels, respectively, according to a block-vector guided CCM (“BVG-CCCM”) mode. [0114] ECM further provides a block-vector guided CCM (“BVG-CCCM”) mode. When the co-located luma prediction is coded with IBC or IntraTMP in Intra slices, the BVG-CCCM mode can be used. In this mode, the block vectors of the co-located luma blocks, coded in IBC or intraTMP modes, are used to determine the reference area for calculating the CCCM parameters. The prediction is performed using uses the calculated model parameters and co-located luma samples. FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B illustrate a reference area in the luma and chroma channels, respectively, according to BVG-CCCM.)
derive a first cross-component prediction (CCP) filter based on a plurality of first neighboring samples, neighboring the guided reference block, as a first on-the-fly CCP candidate (Xinwei [0143] The on-the-fly derived candidates are obtained using the neighboring reconstructed samples of the current block. At most one on-the-fly derived candidate (single-model CCCM) is added to the CCP merge candidate list for low-delay pictures.) of the chroma block unit; (Xinwei [0143] After the CCP merge candidate list is constructed, the CCP merge candidates in the CCP merge candidate list having lowest template costs are selected to predict the chroma block. Similar to interCCCM mode, the chroma prediction block obtained by using the selected CCP model is blended with chroma prediction block obtained by the inter mode to yield the final chroma prediction block)
determine a CCP merge list of the chroma block unit, the CCP merge list including a plurality of CCP merge candidates of the chroma block unit and the first on-the-fly CCP candidate of the chroma block unit, (Xinwei [0143] If the inter-CCP merge mode is used, a CCP merge candidate list is constructed in a similar way as that for chroma intra blocks except that additional shifted temporal candidate and on-the-fly derived candidates are included in the CCP merge candidate list.)
wherein the plurality of CCP merge candidates of the chroma block unit is used to reconstruct a plurality of chroma coding units prior to reconstructing the chroma block unit; (Xinwei [0147] For a chroma block coded by a CCP mode, the used CCP model is stored [used to reconstruct] and can be used for later-coded chroma blocks [prior to reconstructing] coded by a CCP merge mode. However, the CCP model derived by the template or inherited from coded blocks is not necessarily the optimal model to describe the relationship between luma and chroma of the current block. [0141] The positions and inclusion order of the spatial adjacent and non-adjacent candidates are the same as those defined in ECM for regular inter merge prediction candidates. Temporal candidates are selected from the collocated picture. The position and inclusion order of the temporal candidates are, likewise, the same as those defined in ECM for regular inter merge prediction candidates. The shifted temporal candidates are also selected from the collocated picture. The position of temporal candidates is shifted by a selected motion vector which is derived from motion vectors of neighboring blocks. [0140] Furthermore, a cross-component prediction (“CCP”) merge mode for intra block (“intra-CCP merge”) is provided. For chroma coding, a flag is signaled to indicate whether a CCP mode (including the CCLM, CCCM, GLM and their variants) or non-CCP mode (conventional chroma intra prediction mode, chroma fusion mode) is used. If the CCP mode is selected, one more flag is signaled to indicate how to derive the CCP type and parameters, i.e., either from a CCP merge list or signaled/derived on-the-fly. In intra-CCP merge mode, the CCP models including the models from CCLM, MMLM, CCCM, GLM, chroma fusion and CCP merge modes are stored and used in constructing a CCP merge candidate for the later-coded chroma intra blocks.)
and reconstruct the chroma block unit based on the CCP merge list of the chroma block unit. (Xinwei [0143] After the CCP merge candidate list is constructed, the CCP merge candidates in the CCP merge candidate list having lowest template costs are selected to predict the chroma block)
Xinwei teach more robust system than the currently claimed invention. However, it would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to implement on Xinwei [0143] on-the-fly derived candidate (single-model CCCM) is added to the CCP merge candidate using the block vector guided derivation of BVG-CCCM as per Xinwei [0114-0117] because Xinwei [0140] expressly list the CCP mode eligible for merge-list construction as including CCLM, CCCM, GLM and their variants. In short, Xinwei teach every feature and claimed limitation is one of the obvious variations to be implemented with predictable results.
Regarding to claim 2, 10 and 16:
2. Xinwei teach the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor of the electronic device, further cause the electronic device to: (Xinwei [0174-0176]) determine a CCP merge index of the chroma block unit from the video data; (Xinwei [0142] A flag is signaled to indicate whether the intra-CCP merge mode is applied or not. If intra-CCP merge mode is applied, an index is signaled to indicate which candidate model is used by the current block.) and select a CCP prediction candidate from the CCP merge list of the chroma block unit by using the CCP merge index of the chroma block unit, (Xinwei [0142] A flag is signaled to indicate whether the intra-CCP merge mode is applied or not. If intra-CCP merge mode is applied, an index is signaled to indicate which candidate model is used by the current block. In addition, intra-CCP merge mode is not allowed for the current chroma coding block when the current CU is coded by intra sub-partitions (ISP) with one coding tree, or the current chroma coding block size is less than or equal to 16.) wherein: reconstructing the chroma block unit based on the CCP merge list of the chroma block unit comprises reconstructing the chroma block unit based on the selected CCP prediction candidate, and when the selected CCP prediction candidate is the first on-the-fly CCP candidate of the chroma block unit, (Please see the rejection of claim 1)
reconstructing the chroma block unit based on the CCP merge list of the chroma block unit comprises reconstructing the chroma block unit by using the first CCP filter and a plurality of luma guided samples that is included in the guided reference block. (Xinwei [0014] FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B illustrate a reference area in the luma and chroma channels, respectively, according to a block-vector guided CCM (“BVG-CCCM”) mode. [0114] ECM further provides a block-vector guided CCM (“BVG-CCCM”) mode. When the co-located luma prediction is coded with IBC or IntraTMP in Intra slices, the BVG-CCCM mode can be used. In this mode, the block vectors of the co-located luma blocks, coded in IBC or intraTMP modes, are used to determine the reference area for calculating the CCCM parameters. The prediction is performed using uses the calculated model parameters and co-located luma samples. FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B illustrate a reference area in the luma and chroma channels, respectively, according to BVG-CCCM. [0096] CCCM implements a convolutional 7-tap filter, composed of a cross-shaped 5-tap spatial component, a nonlinear term, and a bias term. The input to the spatial 5-tap component of the filter includes of a center (“C”) luma sample which is collocated with the chroma sample to be predicted and its above/north (“N”), below/south (“S”), left/west (“W”) and right/east (“E”) neighbors as illustrated by FIG. 5.)
Claims 3, 11 and 17 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xinwei (U.S. Pub. No. 20250330569 A1), in view of Guichun (U.S. Pub. No. 20240022739 A1).
Regarding to claim 3, 11 and 17:
3. Xinwei teach the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor of the electronic device, further cause the electronic device to: (Xinwei [0174-0176]) determine a chroma guided block and a luma guided block, both of which being included in the guided reference block, wherein the luma guided block is indicated by the guiding block vector from the luma collocated block; (Xinwei [0014] FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B illustrate a reference area in the luma and chroma channels, respectively, according to a block-vector guided CCM (“BVG-CCCM”) mode. [0114] ECM further provides a block-vector guided CCM (“BVG-CCCM”) mode. When the co-located luma prediction is coded with IBC or IntraTMP in Intra slices, the BVG-CCCM mode can be used. In this mode, the block vectors of the co-located luma blocks, coded in IBC or intraTMP modes, are used to determine the reference area for calculating the CCCM parameters. The prediction is performed using uses the calculated model parameters and co-located luma samples. FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B illustrate a reference area in the luma and chroma channels, respectively, according to BVG-CCCM. [0096] CCCM implements a convolutional 7-tap filter, composed of a cross-shaped 5-tap spatial component, a nonlinear term, and a bias term. The input to the spatial 5-tap component of the filter includes of a center (“C”) luma sample which is collocated with the chroma sample to be predicted and its above/north (“N”), below/south (“S”), left/west (“W”) and right/east (“E”) neighbors as illustrated by FIG. 5.)
determine a plurality of chroma neighboring samples in a chroma neighboring region, neighboring the chroma guided block; and determine a plurality of luma neighboring samples in a luma neighboring region, neighboring the luma guided block, wherein the plurality of chroma neighboring samples and the plurality of luma neighboring samples are included in the plurality of first neighboring samples. (Xinwei [0116] The input to the spatial 5-tap component of the filter includes a center (“C”) luma sample which is collocated with the chroma sample to be predicted and its above/north (“N”), below/south (“S”), left/west (“W”) and right/east (“E”) neighbors as illustrated previously with reference to FIG. 5. The nonlinear term P is represented as power of two of the corresponding luma sample and B is the bias term. Please also see the rejection of claim 1)
Xinwei do not explicitly teach determine a luma collocated block from the image frame, the luma collocated block collocated with the chroma block unit and reconstructed by using the guiding block vector;
However Guichun teach determine a luma collocated block from the image frame, the luma collocated block collocated with the chroma block unit and reconstructed by using the guiding block vector; (Guichun [0202] FIG. 17 shows an example of corresponding luma area for a chroma block for a chroma subsampling format 4:2:0. In the FIG. 17, the chroma block (1710) is generated according to the chroma subsampling format 4:2:0. The corresponding luma area (1720) includes one or more luma blocks, such as 5 luma blocks (1721)-(1725). In some examples, the luma blocks (1721)-(1725) can be referred to be collocated luma blocks of the chroma block (1710). The luma blocks (1721)-(1725) can have respective luma BVs, such as shown by BV.sub.0, BV.sub.1, BV.sub.2, BV.sub.3 and BV.sub.4 in FIG. 17. In some examples, when a luma BV is selected to derive the BV predictor or a BV predictor candidate for the chroma block, the luma BV is suitably converted to a chroma BV for example according to Eq. (1), Eq. (2) and Table 1.)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Xinwei, further incorporating Guichun in video/camera technology. One would be motivated to do so, to incorporate determine a luma collocated block from the image frame, the luma collocated block collocated with the chroma block unit and reconstructed by using the guiding block vector. This functionality will improve efficiency with predictable results.
Claims 7 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xinwei (U.S. Pub. No. 20250330569 A1), in view of Wang (U.S. Pub. No. 20240388734 A1).
Regarding to claim 7 and 20:
7. Xinwei teach the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, the first on-the-fly CCP candidate of the chroma block unit is allowed to be added to the CCP merge list of the chroma block unit. (Xinwei [0143] The on-the-fly derived candidates are obtained using the neighboring reconstructed samples of the current block. At most one on-the-fly derived candidate (single-model CCCM) is added to the CCP merge candidate list for low-delay pictures. Xinwei [0143] After the CCP merge candidate list is constructed, the CCP merge candidates in the CCP merge candidate list having lowest template costs are selected to predict the chroma block. Similar to interCCCM mode, the chroma prediction block obtained by using the selected CCP model is blended with chroma prediction block obtained by the inter mode to yield the final chroma prediction block. Xinwei [0143] If the inter-CCP merge mode is used, a CCP merge candidate list is constructed in a similar way as that for chroma intra blocks except that additional shifted temporal candidate and on-the-fly derived candidates are included in the CCP merge candidate list.)
Xinwei do not explicitly teach wherein when the image frame is one of a random-access picture, an all-intra picture, and a gradual decoder refresh picture.
However Wang teach wherein when the image frame is one of a random-access picture, an all-intra picture, and a gradual decoder refresh picture. (Wang [0092] GDR [gradual decoder refresh picture] may provide several desirable features, such as bitrate smoothing, maintaining intra data bitrate under control, low delay, and natural error resilience that limits a temporal error propagation along frames. For manufacturers (or designers) of a video encoder, the feature of the natural error resilience may be considered as a mandatory for real-life applications.)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to modify Xinwei, further incorporating Wang in video/camera technology. One would be motivated to do so, to incorporate the image frame is one of a random-access picture, an all-intra picture, and a gradual decoder refresh picture. This functionality will improve quality with predictable results.
Allowable subject matter
Regarding to claim 4-6, 8, 12-14 and 18-19:
Claims 4-6, 8, 12-14 and 18-19 is/are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims because the limitations of these dependent claims are not obvious from the prior art search when all the limitations of independent and intervening claims are taken into account.
Regarding to claim 4, 12 and 18:
4. Xinwei teach the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein determining the guided reference block from the image frame based on the guiding block vector comprises: determining, from the image frame, wherein: the guiding block vector starts from a luma collocated block, and the luma collocated block, collocated with the chroma block unit and included in the image frame, is reconstructed by using the guiding block vector; (Please see the rejection of claim 1. Xinwei FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B and [0114] teach co-located luma block being “coded with IBC or IntraTMP” means that block was itself reconstructed using its own block vector, which is precisely the “reconstructed by using the guiding block vector” condition)
Prior art do not teach a first luma relocated block that is indicated by the guiding block vector, and when the first luma relocated block is reconstructed by using a first relocated block vector, determining the guided reference block from the image frame based on the first relocated block vector.
Regarding to claim 6 and 14:
6. Xinwei teach the non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 4, wherein determining the guided reference block from the image frame based on the first relocated block vector comprises: determining the guided reference block from the image frame based on the second relocated block vector. (Xinwei [0014] FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B illustrate a reference area in the luma and chroma channels, respectively, according to a block-vector guided CCM (“BVG-CCCM”) mode. [0114] ECM further provides a block-vector guided CCM (“BVG-CCCM”) mode. When the co-located luma prediction is coded with IBC or IntraTMP in Intra slices, the BVG-CCCM mode can be used. In this mode, the block vectors of the co-located luma blocks, coded in IBC or intraTMP modes, are used to determine the reference area for calculating the CCCM parameters. The prediction is performed using uses the calculated model parameters and co-located luma samples. FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B illustrate a reference area in the luma and chroma channels, respectively, according to BVG-CCCM.)
Prior art do not teach determining, from the image frame, a second luma relocated block that is indicated by the first luma relocated vector, the first luma relocated vector starting from the first luma relocated block; and when the second luma relocated block is reconstructed by using a second relocated block vector,
Regarding to claim 8:
8. Xinwei teach he non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the one or more computer-executable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor of the electronic device, further cause the electronic device to: neighboring a luma relocated block, as a second on-the-fly CCP candidate of the chroma block unit, wherein the luma relocated block is indicated from the guided reference block by a relocated block vector of the guided reference block; (Xinwei [0143] The on-the-fly derived candidates are obtained using the neighboring reconstructed samples of the current block. At most one on-the-fly derived candidate (single-model CCCM) is added to the CCP merge candidate list for low-delay pictures. Xinwei [0143] After the CCP merge candidate list is constructed, the CCP merge candidates in the CCP merge candidate list having lowest template costs are selected to predict the chroma block. Similar to interCCCM mode, the chroma prediction block obtained by using the selected CCP model is blended with chroma prediction block obtained by the inter mode to yield the final chroma prediction block. Xinwei [0143] If the inter-CCP merge mode is used, a CCP merge candidate list is constructed in a similar way as that for chroma intra blocks except that additional shifted temporal candidate and on-the-fly derived candidates are included in the CCP merge candidate list.)
Prior art do not teach derive a second CCP filter based on a plurality of second neighboring samples, and add the second on-the-fly CCP candidate of the chroma block unit to the CCP merge list of the chroma block unit, wherein the number of the on-the-fly CCP candidates of the chroma block unit in the CCP merge list of the chroma block unit is greater than one.
The rest of the claims are allowed because of dependency.
Closely related prior art
Examiner notes teaching of U.S. Pub. No. 20250119528 A1 is/are pertinent to the independent claim(s) because it teaches cross-component prediction, however is not used because dependent claims are better covered by cited reference.
Conclusion
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, William F Kraig can be reached on (571) 272-8660. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is (571) 273-8300.
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/NASIM N NIRJHAR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2896
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