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 office action is in response to amendment filed 06/30/2026 in which the claims 1-10 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see pages 5-8, filed 06/30/2026 with respect to the rejections of claims have been fully considered and amended claims are moot in view of a new grounds of rejection made in view of Joshi et al. (US 2014/0362917 A1).
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is withdrawn since the claims amended are patentably distinct from copending application 19/559,215 in view of Zhao.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 1, 9, 10 recites wherein the predetermined value is determined in units of pictures”, is unclear since the limitation “determining whether a size of the current block is less than a predetermined value” measures the size in blocks instead of full pictures.
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 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.
Claims 1-7, 9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al. (US 2016/0219290 A1) in view of Joshi et al. (US 2014/0362917 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Zhao discloses an image decoding method, comprising: obtaining, from a bitstream, related information relating to additional transforms (para[0143] teaches the transforms subsets are formed from 16 transforms (i.e., eight DCTs and eight DSTs). However, the techniques described in this disclosure are not so limited. Additional examples of transforms include the KLT transforms. Accordingly, the transform subsets may include one or more transforms from the eight DCTs, eight DSTs, KLT transforms, and other transform examples. Solely for ease of description, the examples are described with respect to the eight DCTs and eight DSTs); determining whether the additional transforms are supported for a current block based on the related information (Para[0162] –[0163] teaches as a summary, signaling of the transforms to be used for each TU can be done in TU level when the current CU utilizes the additional transforms are used, e For example, video encoder 20 may send one flag for each CU indicating whether the TUs within it are coded with additional transforms (e.g., using transforms other than those in HEVC). Alternatively or additionally, such indication may be signaled at LCU level (CTU level), CU level, PU level, TU or any other block level). Para[0170] teaches [0170] When a CU has additional transforms enabled (e.g., meaning more the limited choices of HEVC), for each TU, video encoder 20 may signal and video decoder 30 may receive indices to the transforms from candidate transforms (of a set or subset) as described above. Alternatively or additionally, video encoder 20 may signal such information and video decoder 30 may receive such information at LCU level, CU level, PU level, or any other block level. When video encoder 20 signals the indicator is at LCU level, CU level, PU level or any other block level, all the included TUs within that level may use the same pair of transforms);
Zhao does not explicitly disclose determining whether a size of the current block is less than a predetermined value; determining whether a transform process for the current block is omitted when the size of the current block is less than the predetermined value; and transforming the current block based on the determined results, wherein the predetermined value is determined in units of pictures. However Joshi discloses determining whether a size of the current block is less than a predetermined value (Para[0106] teaches For instance, in the current HEVC specification, for lossy coding, but where quantization is still performed (e.g., transform-skip coding), video encoder 20 may apply transform-skip only to TUs of size 4.times.4)); determining whether a transform process for the current block is omitted when the size of the current block is less than the predetermined value (Para[0075] teaches for lossless case, transform is skipped for all TU sizes whereas for the lossy case, transform can be skipped only for 4.times.4 blocks. Also, in some examples, for intra blocks, horizontal or vertical scans may be used, but may be restricted to 4.times.4 and 8.times.8 block sizes, para[0107] teaches The restriction that RDPCM may only be applied to residual blocks for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case may also restrict the application of residual DPCM, by video encoder 20 or video decoder 30, in the lossless cases to those block sizes for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case. Currently transform may be skipped for 4.times.4 blocks; however, it may be possible to allow transform skip for other block sizes such as 8.times.8 (e.g., in future versions of HEVC), para[0114] teaches For example, for lossy mode, the size limit on residual DPCM may be (and in some examples, must be) less than or equal to the block size at which transform may be skipped for lossy coding. Para[0251] teaches currently, the transformation can be omitted for 4x4 blocks; however, it may be possible to allow the omission of the transformation for other block sizes such as 8x8 (for example, in future versions of HEVC); and transforming the current block based on the determined results, wherein the predetermined value is determined in units of pictures (para[0102] teaches video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may apply a horizontal scan or a vertical scan only for residual blocks with block sizes less than or equal to a threshold size (e.g., 8.times.8). In these examples, video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may determine whether a size of the residual block is less than or equal to the threshold size. Video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may determine the scan order for the residual block based on the RDPCM direction (e.g., horizontal or vertical) and whether the size of the residual block is less than or equal to the threshold size. [0106] teaches for instance, in the current HEVC specification, for lossy coding, but where quantization is still performed (e.g., transform-skip coding), video encoder 20 may apply transform-skip only to TUs of size 4.times.4. In some examples, video encoder 20 may be configured to apply residual DPCM to residual blocks generated from intra-prediction, inter-prediction, or intra-BC prediction only to residual blocks for which transform may be skipped in lossy case (e.g., restrict the application of residual DPCM to intra or inter blocks for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case). Because video decoder 30 performs generally the inverse of the process of video encoder 20, video decoder 30 may similarly be configured to apply residual DPCM to residual blocks generated from intra-prediction, inter-prediction, or intra-BC prediction only to residual blocks for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case (e.g., restrict the application of residual DPCM to intra or inter blocks for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case, para[0155] teaches entropy decoding unit 150 may be configured to perform the RDPCM to reconstruct the residual block, where the residual block has been encoded with transform-skip, lossy, or lossless. Para[0178] & Fig. 6 teaches residual DPCM may only be applied when transform is skipped or bypassed for the residual block. Para[0265] teaches this size restriction can be configured independently for lossless and lossy modes, and can be signaled by the video encoder 20 for later retrieval by the video decoder 30, or the video decoder 30 can be preconfigured with information indicating the size restriction for lossless and lossy modes. For example, for lossy mode, the size limit in residual DPCM can be (and in some examples, must be) less than or equal to the block size at which the transformation for lossy encoding can be omitted. For lossless mode, the size limit can be (and in some examples, must be) greater than or equal to the smallest TU size.[0267] in these examples, for lossy mode, video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may not apply residual DPCM if the residual block size is larger than the block size at which the transformation can be omitted for lossy encoding). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in at art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the method of select transform subsets and determine transforms from the selected transform subsets that are used for determining a coefficient block from a transform block for video encoding or a transform block from a coefficient block for video decoding of Zhao with the method of using transform-skip coding of predetermined block sizes of Joshi in order to provide a utilize residual DPCM only if the residual block is transform-bypass or transform-skip encoded so that the residual DPCM may result in a reduction in the amount of data the video encoder needs to signal, thereby promoting bandwidth efficiency.
Regarding claim 2, Zhao discloses the image decoding method of claim 1, wherein a number of the one or more additional transforms is 2 or more (Para[0241] teaches firstly, a transform set is defined as a collection of transform types, for example, an example transform set can be defined as {DCT-II, DST-VII}, which includes two types of transforms, i.e., DCT-II and DST-VII. Based on two given transform sets, different transform methods can be generated by selecting one transform type from the first transform set as the horizontal transform, and another transform type from the second transform set as the vertical transform. For example, when the transform set 0 {DCT-II, DST-VII} is used for horizontal transform, and the transform set 1 {DCT-VIII, DST-VII} is used for vertical transform, totally four transform methods can be generated & Table 1 ).
Regarding claim 3, Zhao discloses the image decoding method of claim 1, wherein the related information are obtained from a sequence level or a picture level of the bitstream (Para[0179] teaches Video encoder 20 may signal (e.g., generate in the bitstream) and video decoder 30 may receive the number of candidate transforms in each subset, as described above with respect to the pre-selection from three or more candidate transforms, at slice header, picture parameter set (PPS), sequence parameter set (SPS) or any other places).
Regarding claim 4, Zhao discloses the image decoding method of claim 1, wherein an additional transform, among the additional transforms, performed on the current block is determined based on a block partition mode of the current block (Para[0091] teaches the quadtree transform is applied for both Intra and Inter residual blocks. Typically the DCT-II transform of the same size of the current residual quadtree partition is applied for a residual block. However, if the current residual quadtree block is 4×4 and is generated by Intra prediction, the above 4×4 DST-VII transform is applied. Para[0120] teaches in addition to the DCT-II based transform used in HEVC, for each residual block generated by an intra-prediction mode, video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may select the transforms from two or more candidate transforms from DCT and DST families. As one example, the candidate transforms may belong to the total 16 transforms based on different types of the DCT and DST families, and may include, but are not limited to the DCT-I˜DCT-VIII, DST-I˜DST-VIII. Alternatively or in addition, video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may use other sinusoidal unitary transforms, or even other KLT transforms may be used. For each TU, the horizontal and vertical transforms (e.g., right and left transforms) may be the same type. For example, the candidate transforms are DST-VII, DCT-VIII, DST-I and DST-V.).
Regarding claim 5, Zhao discloses the image decoding method of claim 1, wherein an additional transform, among the additional transforms, performed on the current block is determined based on an encoding mode of the current block (Para[0151] teaches techniques described in this disclosure may be applicable to both intra-prediction and inter-prediction. In HEVC, for a transform block generated from inter-prediction, only the DCT-II based transform was available. In some examples, in addition to the conventional DCT-II based transform as in HEVC, for each residual block generated by an Inter prediction mode, video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may select the transforms from two or more candidate transforms methods from DCT and DST families or other transforms, e.g., KLT, in addition to that a subset of left transforms and a subset of right transforms are created. Similar to the above example for intra-prediction, video encoder 20 may signal (e.g., generate in the bitstream) and video decoder 30 may receive in the bitstream an index to the subset of left transforms and an index to the subset of right transforms for each TU to determine the left and right transforms.).
Regarding claim 6, Zhao discloses the image decoding method of claim 1, wherein an additional transform, among the additional transforms, performed on the current block is determined based on an intra prediction mode of the current block (Para[0242] teaches for Intra prediction residual, totally three transform subsets are defined, including: Transform Subset 0: {DST-VII, DCT-VIII}, Transform Subset 1: {DST-VII, DST-I}, and Transform Subset 2: {DST-VII, DCT-V}. The selection on the transform set for horizontal and vertical transforms is dependent on the Intra prediction mode, as shown in Table 2 below, [0243] teaches for example, for Intra mode 10, the candidate transform types for horizontal(right) transform are from transform set 0 including DST-VII and DCT-VIII, and the candidate transform types for vertical(left) transform are from transform set 2 including DST-VII and DCT-V. Therefore, the additional candidate transform list for intra mode 10 is finally constructed as shown in Table 3 in which totally four transform methods are generated. Para[0299] & FIG. 9 teaches For example, prediction processing unit 152 may select the first and second transform subsets based on the intra-prediction mode information signaled in the video bitstream or based on a position of the video block being decoded as a few example ways to determine the transform subsets.).
Regarding claim 7, Zhao discloses the image decoding method of claim 1, wherein an additional transform, among the additional transforms, performed on the current block is determined based on information obtained from a block level of a bitstream (Para[0162] teaches as a summary, signaling of the transforms to be used for each TU can be done in TU level when the current CU utilizes the additional transforms are used, e.g., as described above. For example, video encoder 20 may send one flag for each CU indicating whether the TUs within it are coded with additional transforms (e.g., using transforms other than those in HEVC). Alternatively or additionally, such indication may be signaled at LCU level (CTU level), CU level, PU level, TU or any other block level).
Regarding claim 9, Zhao discloses an image encoding method, comprising:
determining whether to perform additional transforms on a current block Para[0241] teaches the following describes examples of constructing an additional candidate transform list. Besides a default transform method which always applies DCT-II for all the included TUs, for each TU, additional candidate transform methods can be constructed given selected transform sets. In one example, the additional candidate transform list for Intra and Inter prediction residuals is constructed as follows: Firstly, a transform set is defined as a collection of transform types, for example, an example transform set can be defined as {DCT-II, DST-VII}, which includes two types of transforms, i.e., DCT-II and DST-VII. Based on two given transform sets, different transform methods can be generated by selecting one transform type from the first transform set as the horizontal transform, and another transform type from the second transform set as the vertical transform. For example, when the transform set 0 {DCT-II, DST-VII} is used for horizontal transform, and the transform set 1 {DCT-VIII, DST-VII} is used for vertical transform, totally four transform methods can be generated. Table [0244] teaches According to Table 2, for each TU, given an Intra prediction mode, totally four transform methods can be generated. For Inter prediction residual, the same transform set {DST-VII, DCT-VIII} is used for both horizontal and vertical transforms. Therefore, for each TU, the additional candidate transform list is constructed as shown in Table 4.)); encoding, into a bitstream, related information specifying whether the additional transforms are supported Para[0162] teaches as a summary, signaling of the transforms to be used for each TU can be done in TU level when the current CU utilizes the additional transforms are used, e For example, video encoder 20 may send one flag for each CU indicating whether the TUs within it are coded with additional transforms (e.g., using transforms other than those in HEVC). Alternatively or additionally, such indication may be signaled at LCU level (CTU level), CU level, PU level, TU or any other block level). Para[0170] teaches when a CU has additional transforms enabled (e.g., meaning more the limited choices of HEVC), for each TU, video encoder 20 may signal and video decoder 30 may receive indices to the transforms from candidate transforms (of a set or subset) as described above. Alternatively or additionally, video encoder 20 may signal such information and video decoder 30 may receive such information at LCU level, CU level, PU level, or any other block level. When video encoder 20 signals the indicator is at LCU level, CU level, PU level or any other block level, all the included TUs within that level may use the same pair of transforms
Zhang does not explicitly disclose determining whether a size of the current block is less than a predetermined value; and encoding, into the bitstream, information specifying whether a transform process for the current block is omitted when the size of the current block is less than the predetermined value, wherein the predetermined value is determined in units of pictures. However Joshi discloses determining whether a size of the current block is less than a predetermined value (Para[0106] teaches For instance, in the current HEVC specification, for lossy coding, but where quantization is still performed (e.g., transform-skip coding), video encoder 20 may apply transform-skip only to TUs of size 4.times.4)); and encoding, into the bitstream, information specifying whether a transform process for the current block is omitted when the size of the current block is less than the predetermined value, wherein the predetermined value is determined in units of pictures (Para[0075] teaches for lossless case, transform is skipped for all TU sizes whereas for the lossy case, transform can be skipped only for 4.times.4 blocks. Also, in some examples, for intra blocks, horizontal or vertical scans may be used, but may be restricted to 4.times.4 and 8.times.8 block sizes, para[0102] teaches video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may apply a horizontal scan or a vertical scan only for residual blocks with block sizes less than or equal to a threshold size (e.g., 8.times.8). In these examples, video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may determine whether a size of the residual block is less than or equal to the threshold size. Video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may determine the scan order for the residual block based on the RDPCM direction (e.g., horizontal or vertical) and whether the size of the residual block is less than or equal to the threshold size. para[0107] teaches The restriction that RDPCM may only be applied to residual blocks for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case may also restrict the application of residual DPCM, by video encoder 20 or video decoder 30, in the lossless cases to those block sizes for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case. Currently transform may be skipped for 4.times.4 blocks; however, it may be possible to allow transform skip for other block sizes such as 8.times.8 (e.g., in future versions of HEVC), para[0114] teaches For example, for lossy mode, the size limit on residual DPCM may be (and in some examples, must be) less than or equal to the block size at which transform may be skipped for lossy coding. Para[0251] teaches currently, the transformation can be omitted for 4x4 blocks; however, it may be possible to allow the omission of the transformation for other block sizes such as 8x8 (for example, in future versions of HEVC(para[0106] teaches for instance, in the current HEVC specification, for lossy coding, but where quantization is still performed (e.g., transform-skip coding), video encoder 20 may apply transform-skip only to TUs of size 4.times.4. In some examples, video encoder 20 may be configured to apply residual DPCM to residual blocks generated from intra-prediction, inter-prediction, or intra-BC prediction only to residual blocks for which transform may be skipped in lossy case (e.g., restrict the application of residual DPCM to intra or inter blocks for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case). Because video decoder 30 performs generally the inverse of the process of video encoder 20, video decoder 30 may similarly be configured to apply residual DPCM to residual blocks generated from intra-prediction, inter-prediction, or intra-BC prediction only to residual blocks for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case (e.g., restrict the application of residual DPCM to intra or inter blocks for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case, para[0155] teaches entropy decoding unit 150 may be configured to perform the RDPCM to reconstruct the residual block, where the residual block has been encoded with transform-skip, lossy, or lossless. Para[0178] & Fig. 6 teaches residual DPCM may only be applied when transform is skipped or bypassed for the residual block. Para[0265] teaches this size restriction can be configured independently for lossless and lossy modes, and can be signaled by the video encoder 20 for later retrieval by the video decoder 30, or the video decoder 30 can be preconfigured with information indicating the size restriction for lossless and lossy modes. For example, for lossy mode, the size limit in residual DPCM can be (and in some examples, must be) less than or equal to the block size at which the transformation for lossy encoding can be omitted. For lossless mode, the size limit can be (and in some examples, must be) greater than or equal to the smallest TU size.[0267] in these examples, for lossy mode, video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may not apply residual DPCM if the residual block size is larger than the block size at which the transformation can be omitted for lossy encoding). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in at art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the method of select transform subsets and determine transforms from the selected transform subsets that are used for determining a coefficient block from a transform block for video encoding or a transform block from a coefficient block for video decoding of Zhao with the method of using transform-skip coding of predetermined block sizes of Joshi in order to provide a utilize residual DPCM only if the residual block is transform-bypass or transform-skip encoded so that the residual DPCM may result in a reduction in the amount of data the video encoder needs to signal, thereby promoting bandwidth efficiency.
Regarding claim 10, Zhao discloses a method for transmitting a bitstream, comprising: determining whether to perform additional transforms on a current block (Para[0241] teaches the following describes examples of constructing an additional candidate transform list. Besides a default transform method which always applies DCT-II for all the included TUs, for each TU, additional candidate transform methods can be constructed given selected transform sets. In one example, the additional candidate transform list for Intra and Inter prediction residuals is constructed as follows: Firstly, a transform set is defined as a collection of transform types, for example, an example transform set can be defined as {DCT-II, DST-VII}, which includes two types of transforms, i.e., DCT-II and DST-VII. Based on two given transform sets, different transform methods can be generated by selecting one transform type from the first transform set as the horizontal transform, and another transform type from the second transform set as the vertical transform. For example, when the transform set 0 {DCT-II, DST-VII} is used for horizontal transform, and the transform set 1 {DCT-VIII, DST-VII} is used for vertical transform, totally four transform methods can be generated. Table [0244] teaches According to Table 2, for each TU, given an Intra prediction mode, totally four transform methods can be generated. For Inter prediction residual, the same transform set {DST-VII, DCT-VIII} is used for both horizontal and vertical transforms. Therefore, for each TU, the additional candidate transform list is constructed as shown in Table 4); encoding, into the bitstream, related information specifying whether the additional transforms are supported para[0162] teaches as a summary, signaling of the transforms to be used for each TU can be done in TU level when the current CU utilizes the additional transforms are used, e For example, video encoder 20 may send one flag for each CU indicating whether the TUs within it are coded with additional transforms (e.g., using transforms other than those in HEVC). Alternatively or additionally, such indication may be signaled at LCU level (CTU level), CU level, PU level, TU or any other block level). Para[0170] teaches when a CU has additional transforms enabled (e.g., meaning more the limited choices of HEVC), for each TU, video encoder 20 may signal and video decoder 30 may receive indices to the transforms from candidate transforms (of a set or subset) as described above. Alternatively or additionally, video encoder 20 may signal such information and video decoder 30 may receive such information at LCU level, CU level, PU level, or any other block level. When video encoder 20 signals the indicator is at LCU level, CU level, PU level or any other block level, all the included TUs within that level may use the same pair of transform);
Zhao does not explicitly disclose determining whether a size of the current block is less than a predetermined value; encoding, into the bitstream information specifying whether a transform process for the current block is omitted when the size of the current block is less than the predetermined value; and transmitting the bitstream, wherein the predetermined value is determined in units of pictures. However Joshi discloses determining whether a size of the current block is less than a predetermined value (Para[0106] teaches For instance, in the current HEVC specification, for lossy coding, but where quantization is still performed (e.g., transform-skip coding), video encoder 20 may apply transform-skip only to TUs of size 4.times.4); encoding, into the bitstream information specifying whether a transform process for the current block is omitted when the size of the current block is less than the predetermined value (Para[0075] teaches for lossless case, transform is skipped for all TU sizes whereas for the lossy case, transform can be skipped only for 4.times.4 blocks. Also, in some examples, for intra blocks, horizontal or vertical scans may be used, but may be restricted to 4.times.4 and 8.times.8 block sizes, para[0107] teaches The restriction that RDPCM may only be applied to residual blocks for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case may also restrict the application of residual DPCM, by video encoder 20 or video decoder 30, in the lossless cases to those block sizes for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case. Currently transform may be skipped for 4.times.4 blocks; however, it may be possible to allow transform skip for other block sizes such as 8.times.8 (e.g., in future versions of HEVC), para[0114] teaches For example, for lossy mode, the size limit on residual DPCM may be (and in some examples, must be) less than or equal to the block size at which transform may be skipped for lossy coding. Para[0251] teaches currently, the transformation can be omitted for 4x4 blocks; however, it may be possible to allow the omission of the transformation for other block sizes such as 8x8 (for example, in future versions of HEVC, para[0102] teaches video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may apply a horizontal scan or a vertical scan only for residual blocks with block sizes less than or equal to a threshold size (e.g., 8.times.8). In these examples, video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may determine whether a size of the residual block is less than or equal to the threshold size. Video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may determine the scan order for the residual block based on the RDPCM direction (e.g., horizontal or vertical) and whether the size of the residual block is less than or equal to the threshold size.); and transmitting the bitstream, wherein the predetermined value is determined in units of pictures ((para[0106] teaches for instance, in the current HEVC specification, for lossy coding, but where quantization is still performed (e.g., transform-skip coding), video encoder 20 may apply transform-skip only to TUs of size 4.times.4. In some examples, video encoder 20 may be configured to apply residual DPCM to residual blocks generated from intra-prediction, inter-prediction, or intra-BC prediction only to residual blocks for which transform may be skipped in lossy case (e.g., restrict the application of residual DPCM to intra or inter blocks for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case). Because video decoder 30 performs generally the inverse of the process of video encoder 20, video decoder 30 may similarly be configured to apply residual DPCM to residual blocks generated from intra-prediction, inter-prediction, or intra-BC prediction only to residual blocks for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case (e.g., restrict the application of residual DPCM to intra or inter blocks for which transform may be skipped in the lossy case, para[0155] teaches entropy decoding unit 150 may be configured to perform the RDPCM to reconstruct the residual block, where the residual block has been encoded with transform-skip, lossy, or lossless. Para[0178] & Fig. 6 teaches residual DPCM may only be applied when transform is skipped or bypassed for the residual block. Para[0265] teaches this size restriction can be configured independently for lossless and lossy modes, and can be signaled by the video encoder 20 for later retrieval by the video decoder 30, or the video decoder 30 can be preconfigured with information indicating the size restriction for lossless and lossy modes. For example, for lossy mode, the size limit in residual DPCM can be (and in some examples, must be) less than or equal to the block size at which the transformation for lossy encoding can be omitted. For lossless mode, the size limit can be (and in some examples, must be) greater than or equal to the smallest TU size.[0267] in these examples, for lossy mode, video encoder 20 and video decoder 30 may not apply residual DPCM if the residual block size is larger than the block size at which the transformation can be omitted for lossy encoding). It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in at art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the method of select transform subsets and determine transforms from the selected transform subsets that are used for determining a coefficient block from a transform block for video encoding or a transform block from a coefficient block for video decoding of Zhao with the method of using transform-skip coding of predetermined block sizes of Joshi in order to provide a utilize residual DPCM only if the residual block is transform-bypass or transform-skip encoded so that the residual DPCM may result in a reduction in the amount of data the video encoder needs to signal, thereby promoting bandwidth efficiency.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhao et al. (US 2016/0219290 A1) in view of Joshi et al. (US 2014/0362917 A1) and Lu (US 2016/0105673 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Zhao in view of Joshi discloses the image decoding method of claim 1. Zhao in view of Joshi does not explicitly disclose, further comprising: deriving a quantization parameter prediction value for the current block based on a quantization parameter set at a unit higher than the current block or a quantization parameter set at the same unit as the current block; and deriving the transform coefficient based on the quantization parameter prediction value and a quantization parameter difference value for the current block, wherein the quantization parameter difference value is obtained from a bitstream based on first information included in the bitstream.
However Lu discloses, further comprising: deriving a quantization parameter prediction value for the current block based on a quantization parameter (para[0004]-[0008], para[0021] teaches quantization parameter predictor is determined using multiple quantization parameters from previously coded neighboring portions. A difference between the current quantization parameter and the quantization parameter predictor is encoded for signaling to a corresponding decoder. k) set at a unit higher than the current block (Para[0005] the quantization parameter values can be adjusted on a slice or macroblock (MB) level., para. 1 and 11, the QP is signaled at a slice or block level and QP adjustment is performed at a block level or a quantization parameter set at the same unit as the current block (Para[0068] teaches adjusting quantization parameters on a block level, where the block can be a macroblock, a large block, or a coding unit); and deriving the transform coefficient (para[0086] teaches we can apply the QP adjustment at the transform unit) based on the quantization parameter prediction value and a quantization parameter difference value for the current block (para[0006]-[0008] teaches QPY (QP of current block)=QPY, PREV + qp-delta (2) wherein QPY, PREV is the quantization parameter of the previous macroblock in the decoding order in the current slice), wherein the quantization parameter difference value is obtained from a bitstream based on first information included in the bitstream (para[0016] teaches qp_delta is the difference between the quantization parameter for the current coding unit and the slice. Fig. 4 teaches the video decoder for inputting bitstream ).It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to use the method of select transform subsets and determine transforms from the selected transform subsets that are used for determining a coefficient block from a transform block for video encoding or a transform block from a coefficient block for video decoding and using transform-skip coding of predetermined block sizes Zhao in view of Joshi with the method for determining quantization parameter predicted value from multiple adjacent quantization parameters of Lu in order to provide a system that reduces overhead cost in signaling the quantization parameter difference so as to improve quantization parameter predictor performance. The quantization parameter meets target bit rate or adapt to the content so as to improve visual quality.
Conclusion
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/ROWINA J CATTUNGAL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2425
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