DETAILED ACTION
Claims 1-20 are pending for examination.
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 .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim under PCT CN 2021 086534 filed on 4/12/2021.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 14 and 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chong et al, US 2014/0146875 A1 (Chong).
Regarding Claim 1, Chong discloses a method for processing video data, comprising: performing a conversion between a visual media data comprising a video unit and a bitstream of the visual media data according to a rule, wherein the rule specifies that one or more syntax elements being used to indicate whether to use and/or how to use a first filter for modifying reconstructed samples of the video unit, and wherein the first filter modifies the reconstructed samples by applying a statistical computation to the reconstructed samples (Chong Figs. 12-13 – video conversion; [0104] – FIG. 7 is conceptual diagram depicting an ALF at block boundaries. Horizontal block boundary 201 is depicted as a horizontal line and vertical block boundary 202 is depicted as a vertical line. The filled circles (i.e., dots) of filter mask 200 in FIG. 7 represent coefficients (i.e., weights) of the filter, which are applied to pixels of the reconstructed video block in the slice and/or tile. That is, the value of a coefficient of the filter may be applied to the value of a corresponding pixel, such that the value of the corresponding is multiplied by the coefficient value to produce a weighted pixel value).
With regard to claim 18, the claim limitations are essentially the same as claim 1 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject claim 1 is applied to claim 18.
With regard to claim 19, the claim limitations are essentially the same as claim 1 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject claim 1 is applied to claim 19.
With regard to claim 20, the claim limitations are essentially the same as claim 1 but in a different embodiment. Therefore, the rational used to reject claim 1 is applied to claim 20.
Regarding Claim 2, Chong discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the first filter comprises a window or a filter shape, and the statistical computation is based on a mean value or a variance value within the window (Chong Fig.7 [0104] – The filled circles (i.e., dots) of filter mask 200 in FIG. 7 represent coefficients (i.e., weights) of the filter, which are applied to pixels of the reconstructed video block in the slice and/or tile. That is, the value of a coefficient of the filter may be applied to the value of a corresponding pixel, such that the value of the corresponding is multiplied by the coefficient value to produce a weighted pixel value).
Regarding Claim 3, Chong discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the first filter comprises a window, the statistical computation includes applying weights to a center sample inside the window and to a mean value of the window (Chong Fig.7 [0104] – The filled circles (i.e., dots) of filter mask 200 in FIG. 7 represent coefficients (i.e., weights) of the filter, which are applied to pixels of the reconstructed video block in the slice and/or tile. That is, the value of a coefficient of the filter may be applied to the value of a corresponding pixel, such that the value of the corresponding is multiplied by the coefficient value to produce a weighted pixel value).
Regarding Claim 14, Chong discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the rule further specifies that the first filter is applied on the reconstructed samples of the video unit based on a width or a height of the video unit (Chong [0144] – The inverse transform module 78 applies an inverse transform to the inverse quantized transform coefficients. In some examples, the inverse transform module 78 may determine an inverse transform based on signaling from the video encoder 20, or by inferring the transform from one or more coding characteristics such as block size, coding mode, or the like).
Regarding Claim 16, Chong discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the conversion includes encoding the video unit into the bitstream (Chong Fig.12 – 20 Encoder).
Regarding Claim 17, Chong discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the conversion includes decoding the video unit from the bitstream (Chong Fig.13 – 30 Decoder).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-13 and 15 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to AMIR SHAHNAMI whose telephone number is (571)270-0707. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.
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, Joseph Ustaris can be reached on 571-272-7383. 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.
/AMIR SHAHNAMI/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2483