DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This office action is a response to an application filed on 10/07/2025, in which claims 111-130 are pending and ready for examination.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d).
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted was filed before the mailing date of the Office Action on the merits. 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 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.
Claims 111, 117, 121, and 127 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Deshpande (US Pub. 20240121443 A1) in view of Ohm (“Meeting Report of the 31st Meeting of the Joint Video Experts Team (JVET)”, Geneva, CH, 07/11/2023).
Regarding claim 111, Deshpande discloses an apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the apparatus at least to (Deshpande; Para. [0007]. A video coding system includes at least memory with instructions executed by a processor to perform video coding.):
generate or amend an information message to include an indication whether the information message activates one or more base filters or one or more updated filters identified by filter identifiers equal to target filter identifiers (Deshpande; Para. [0007]. An information message is generated to indicate whether the message activate at least one base filter or at least one updated filter identified by filter ID’s equal to target filter ID’s.); and
signal the information message to a decoder (Deshpande; Para. [0007]. Information message is signaled to a decoder.).
But it does not specifically disclose wherein the target filter identifiers identify target filters, and wherein the target filters are used for post-processing filtering.
However, Ohm teaches generate or amend an information message to include an indication whether the information message activates one or more base filters or one or more updated filters identified by filter identifiers equal to target filter identifiers (Ohm; Pg. 182-183, Section 4.c. An information message, e.g. base flag, is generated to indicate whether the message activate at least one base filter or at least one updated filter identified by filter ID’s equal to target filter ID’s.), wherein the target filter identifiers identify target filters, and wherein the target filters are used for post-processing filtering (Ohm; Pg. 182-183, Section 4.c. A target filter ID indicates target filters, which is used for post-processing.); and
signal the information message to a decoder (Ohm; Information message for activation is used and signaled to a decoder.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the pertinent before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the video coding system of Deshpande to adapt a post-filtering approach, by incorporating Ohm’s teaching wherein target filter identifiers are employed, for the motivation to enable NNPF SEI message signaling (Ohm; Pg. 178, Section JVET-AE0272.).
Claim 117 is directed to an apparatus comprising at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the apparatus at least to perform a sequence of processing steps that are in symmetric/reverse manner with the steps corresponding to the same as claimed in claim 111 and is non-patentable over the prior art for the same reason as previously indicated.
Claim 121 is directed to a method comprising a sequence of processing steps corresponding to the same as claimed in claim 111, and is non-patentable over the prior art for the same reason as previously indicated.
Claim 127 is directed to a method comprising a sequence of processing steps that are in symmetric/reverse manner with the steps corresponding to the same as claimed in claim 111, and is non-patentable over the prior art for the same reason as previously indicated.
Claims 112-116, 118-120, 122-126, and 128-130 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Deshpande (US Pub. 20240121443 A1) in view of Ohm (“Meeting Report of the 31st Meeting of the Joint Video Experts Team (JVET)”, Geneva, CH, 07/11/2023), as applied to claim 111 above, and further in view of Lin (“AHG9: Signalling of NNPF quality improvement”, 01/11/2023).
Regarding claim 112, modified Deshpande teaches the apparatus (Deshpande; See remarks regarding claim 111 above.).
But it does not specifically teach the apparatus is further caused to: determine whether the one or more base filters or the one or more updated filters are beneficial for filtering one or more consecutive pictures.
However, Lin teaches the apparatus is further caused to: determine whether the one or more base filters or the one or more updated filters are beneficial for filtering one or more consecutive pictures (Lin; Section “3 Proposal option 3: …”. Performance metric is signaled to determine whether base filters or updated filters are beneficial for pictures.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the pertinent before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the modified video coding system of Deshpande to adapt a post-filtering approach, by incorporating Lin’s teaching wherein performance metrics are employed to indicate quality improvement, for the motivation to enable signaling of information of quality improvement with NNPF (Lin; Abstract.).
Regarding claim 113, modified Deshpande teaches the apparatus is further caused to: filter the one or more consecutive pictures with the one or more base filters (Deshpande; Para. [0007]. Pictures are filtered with at least one base filters.);
filter the one or more consecutive pictures with the one or more updated filters (Deshpande; Para. [0007]. Pictures are filtered with at least one updated filters.).
But it does not specifically teach select the one or more base filters or the one or more updated filters based on which one performs better with one or more quality metrics.
However, Lin teaches select the one or more base filters or the one or more updated filters based on which one performs better with one or more quality metrics (Lin; Section “3 Proposal option 3: …”. At least one base filter or one updated filter is selected based on the better quality metrics performed.).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person with ordinary skill in the pertinent before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the modified video coding system of Deshpande to adapt a post-filtering approach, by incorporating Lin’s teaching wherein performance metrics are employed to indicate quality improvement, for the motivation to enable signaling of information of quality improvement with NNPF (Lin; Abstract.).
Regarding claim 114, modified Deshpande teaches the information message comprises a base filter flag, wherein a first value for the base filter flag specifies that one or more target filters comprise one or more base filters with the filter identifiers equal to the target filter identifiers (Ohm; Pg. 188, Section 9.b.ii, 9.b.iii, 9.b.iv. For the base flag being a first value, target filters include base filters with identifier equal to target filter identifiers.), and
wherein a second value for the base filter flag specifies that the one or more target filters are filters specified by a last information message with the filter identifiers equal to the target filter identifiers that precedes a first video coding layer network abstraction layer unit of a current picture in decoding order that is not a repetition of the information message comprising a base filter (Ohm; Pg. 188, Section 9.b.ii, 9.b.iii, 9.b.iv. For the base flag being a second value, target filters are specified by filter identifiers equal to target identifiers preceding a NAL of a current picture in a decoding order without repetition of a message containing a base filter.).
Regarding claim 115, modified Deshpande teaches the first value comprises one and the second value comprises zero (Ohm; Pg. 188, Section 9.b.ii, 9.b.iii, 9.b.iv. A first value includes one and the second value includes zero.).
Regarding claim 116, modified Deshpande teaches the first value comprises zero and the second value comprises one (Ohm; Pg. 188, Section 9.b.ii, 9.b.iii, 9.b.iv. A first value includes zero and the second value includes one.).
Claims 118-120 are directed to an apparatus comprising at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the apparatus at least to perform a sequence of processing steps that are in symmetric/reverse manner with the steps corresponding to the same as claimed in claims 112-116 and is non-patentable over the prior art for the same reason as previously indicated.
Claims 122-126 are directed to a method comprising a sequence of processing steps corresponding to the same as claimed in claims 112-116, and are non-patentable over the prior art for the same reason as previously indicated.
Claims 128-130 are directed to a method comprising a sequence of processing steps that are in symmetric/reverse manner with the steps corresponding to the same as claimed in claims 112-116, and are non-patentable over the prior art for the same reason as previously indicated.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Tan (US Pub. 20260214274 A1) teaches a video coding system that performs NNPF SE message.
Deshpande (US Pub. 20260246976 A1) teaches a video coding system that signals neural network post-filter parameter information for video coding.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ALBERT KIR whose telephone number is (571)272-6245. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday, 8:30am - 5:00pm.
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/ALBERT KIR/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2485
