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 .
Claim Interpretation
Nonfunctional Descriptive Material
Claim 13 recites “A non-transitory computer readable medium storing bitstream”. There is no recitation of instruction stored on the CRM and when the instructions are executed by processor perform the method—merely data content (bitstream of video data). Under MPEP 2111.05/(III), these claims are merely machine-readable media. The Examiner finds that there is no disclosed or claimed functional relationship between the stored data and medium. Instead, the medium is merely a support or carrier for the data being stored. Therefore, the data stored should not be given patentable weight. See MPEP 2111.05 applying n re Lowry, 32 F.3d 1579, 1583-84, 32 USPQ2d 1031, 1035 (Fed. Cir. 1994) and In re Ngai, 367 F.3d 1336, 70 USPQ2d 1862 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Furthermore, “the bitstream being decoded according to a decoding method, wherein the decoding method comprises:” is merely an intended use of the bitstream by a decoder. As such, claim 13 is subject to a prior art rejection based on any non- transitory computer readable medium known before the earliest effective filing date of the present application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
(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.
Claim(s) 1-2, 4-8 and 10-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang et al (US 20260032232).
As to claim 1, Zhang discloses a decoding device for decoding a video signal (FIG. 8B and 20: Decoder 190), the decoding device comprising a processor (FIG. 20: Processor 2003), wherein the processor is configured to:
obtain a relational expression between a template of at least one reference block referenced by at least one piece of motion information and a template of a current block (FIGS. 5-6B and [0201]-[0202]: template of reference block, block vector, template of current block, predC, filter shape and filter coefficients c0 to c5); and
generate a prediction block, based on the relational expression, the reference block, and the current block (see [0202], The matching block is filtered by using filter coefficients c0 to c5 derived from the template to obtain a first prediction block; see also [0221]-[0223]: The fused prediction block is filtered by using the filter coefficients c0 to c5 derived from the template to obtain the final prediction block for the current block),
wherein the template of the reference block comprises a sample adjacent to the reference block according to a predetermined form (FIGS. 5 and 6B: template region of the reference block), and
wherein the template of the current block comprises a sample adjacent to the current block according to predetermined form (FIGS. 5 and 6B: template region of the current block).
As to claim 2, Zhang further discloses wherein the at least one piece of motion information comprises two or more pieces of motion information (FIG. 5, block vectors), and
wherein the at least one reference block comprises two or more blocks (FIG. 5, reference blocks 1-3), and
wherein the processor is configured to perform a weighted sum of sample values of each of prediction block corresponding to the two or more blocks by using the relational expression (FIG. 5, weighted fusion is performed on blocks 1-3 according to their weight values W1-W3 to obtain the final prediction block; see [0221]-[0223]: Prediction block 1 and prediction block 2 are weighted fused … The fused prediction block is filtered by using the filter coefficients c0 to c5 derived from the template to obtain the final prediction block for the current block).
As to claim 4, Zhang further discloses wherein the relational expression is a relational expression comprising a plurality of filter coefficients (see [0201]-[0202]).
As to claim 5, Zhang further discloses wherein the at least one reference block is included in a current picture comprising the current block (FIG. 5).
As to claim 6, Zhang further discloses wherein the at least one reference block is included in a different picture from a current picture comprising the current block (FIG. 6B).
As to claim 7, Zhang discloses an encoding device for encoding a video signal (FIGS. 8A and 18: Encoder 170), the encoding device comprising a processor (FIG. 18, processor 1803), wherein the processor is configured to:
obtain a relational expression between a template of at least one reference block referenced by at least one piece of motion information and a template of a current block (FIGS. 5-6B and [0201]-[0202]: template of reference block, block vector, template of current block, predC, filter shape and filter coefficients c0 to c5); and
generate a prediction block, based on the relational expression, the reference block, and the current block (see [0202], The matching block is filtered by using filter coefficients c0 to c5 derived from the template to obtain a first prediction block; see also [0221]-[0223]: The fused prediction block is filtered by using the filter coefficients c0 to c5 derived from the template to obtain the final prediction block for the current block),
wherein the template of the reference block comprises a sample adjacent to the reference block according to a predetermined form (FIGS. 5 and 6B: template region of the reference block), and
wherein the template of the current block comprises a sample adjacent to the current block according to predetermined form (FIGS. 5 and 6B: template region of the current block).
As to claims 8 and 10-12, claims 8 and 10-12 recite the same features as those recited in claims 2 and 4-6 and are therefore rejected for the same reasons as used above.
As to claim 13, claim 13 has been interpreted above as nonfunctional descriptive material under MPEP 2111.05(III) and the case law cited therein because they recite "A non-transitory computer readable medium storing data." As such, claim 13 is subject to a prior art rejection based on any non-transitory computer readable medium known before the earliest effective filing date of the present application. In other words, the proper interpretation of claims 13 is merely a machine-readable media in which the media is merely a support or carrier for the data being stored wherein the data stored should not be given patentable weight. Note that “the bitstream being decoded according to a decoding method, wherein the decoding method comprises:” is merely an intended use of the bitstream by a decoder.
Zhang which is an analogous art discloses a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a bitstream (see [0404]-[0405]). As such, Zhang clearly anticipates the non-transitory computer readable medium storing data.
As to claim 14, Zhang discloses a decoding method for decoding a video signal (FIG. 8B), the method comprising:
obtaining a relational expression between a template of at least one reference block referenced by at least one piece of motion information and a template of a current block (FIGS. 5-6B and [0201]-[0202]: template of reference block, block vector, template of current block, predC, filter shape and filter coefficients c0 to c5); and
generating a prediction block, based on the relational expression, the reference block, and the current block (see [0202], The matching block is filtered by using filter coefficients c0 to c5 derived from the template to obtain a first prediction block; see also [0221]-[0223]: The fused prediction block is filtered by using the filter coefficients c0 to c5 derived from the template to obtain the final prediction block for the current block),
wherein the template of the reference block comprises a sample adjacent to the reference block according to a predetermined form (FIGS. 5 and 6B: template region of the reference block), and
wherein the template of the current block comprises a sample adjacent to the current block according to predetermined form (FIGS. 5 and 6B: template region of the current block).
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.
Claim(s) 3 and 9 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhang et al (US 20260032232) in view of MA et al (US 20250343899).
As to claims 3 and 9, Zhang fails to explicitly disclose wherein the at least one reference block comprises a reference block referenced by multi-hypothesis prediction (MHP).
However, MA teaches wherein the at least one reference block comprises a reference block referenced by multi-hypothesis prediction (MHP) (see [0364]).
At the time before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art to modify Zhang using MA’s teachings to include wherein the at least one reference block comprises a reference block referenced by multi-hypothesis prediction (MHP) in order to improve prediction accuracy of the current block and further improve coding performance (MA; [0066]).
Conclusion
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/BOUBACAR ABDOU TCHOUSSOU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2482
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