Jean-Fran¿ois MacqDownload PDFPatent Trials and Appeals BoardMay 29, 202013517326 - (D) (P.T.A.B. May. 29, 2020) Copy Citation UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE United States Patent and Trademark Office Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS P.O. Box 1450 Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 www.uspto.gov APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE FIRST NAMED INVENTOR ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO. 13/517,326 06/20/2012 Jean-François Macq LUTZ201466 / 802693 1800 48116 7590 05/29/2020 FAY SHARPE/NOKIA 1228 Euclid Avenue, 5th Floor The Halle Building Cleveland, OH 44115-1843 EXAMINER VOLENTINE, REBECCA A ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER 2483 NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE 05/29/2020 ELECTRONIC Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding. The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication. Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the following e-mail address(es): Nokia.IPR@nokia.com docketing@faysharpe.com PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07) UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD Ex parte JEAN-FRANÇOIS MACQ Appeal 2018-007534 Application 13/517,326 Technology Center 2400 Before BRADLEY W. BAUMEISTER, JEREMY J. CURCURI, and IRVIN E. BRANCH, Administrative Patent Judges. BRANCH, Administrative Patent Judge. DECISION ON APPEAL STATEMENT OF THE CASE1 Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 134(a), Appellant2 appeals from the Examiner’s decision to reject claims 1–17. See Final Act. 1. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C. § 6(b). We AFFIRM. 1 We refer to the Specification, filed June 20, 2012 (“Spec.”); Final Office Action, mailed October 18, 2017 (“Final Act.”); Appeal Brief, filed April 24, 2018 (“Appeal Br.”); Examiner’s Answer, mailed May 25, 2018 (“Ans.”); and Reply Brief, filed July 18, 2018 (“Reply Br.”). 2 We use the word Appellant to refer to “applicant” as defined in 37 C.F.R. § 1.42. Appellant identifies the real party in interest as Alcatel Lucent. Appeal Br. 1. Appeal 2018-007534 Application 13/517,326 2 CLAIMED SUBJECT MATTER The claims are directed to a method and arrangement for video coding. Claim 1, reproduced below with disputed limitations emphasized in italics, is illustrative of the claimed subject matter: 1. A method for encoding at least one video stream, said method comprising: receiving said at least one input video stream, constructing of a sequence of predicted pixel blocks, processing said sequence of predicted pixel blocks and corresponding blocks of said at least one input video stream to obtain a sequence of processed residual pixel data, wherein said sequence of predicted pixel blocks is constructed from input encoding structure data comprising sequence, picture, slice headers and pixel prediction data derived from reference input data, said input encoding structure data further undergoing combined entropy encoding with said processed residual pixel data to thereby obtain at least one encoded video stream. REFERENCES The prior art relied upon by the Examiner is: Name Reference Date Nakamura Johar Brown Chatterjee US 2007/0147502 A1 US 2008/0219356 A1 US 2009/0196344 A1 US 2010/0118982 A1 June 28, 2007 Sept. 11, 2008 Aug. 6, 2009 May 13, 2010 REJECTIONS Claims 1–3, 5–7, 9–12, and 14–16 stand rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over the combination of Johar and Chatterjee. Final Act. 7–16. Appeal 2018-007534 Application 13/517,326 3 Claims 4 and 13 stand rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over the combination of Johar, Chatterjee, and Brown. Final Act. 16–17. Claims 8 and 17 stand rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable over the combination of Johar, Chatterjee, and Nakamura. Final Act. 17–19. ANALYSIS We have reviewed the Examiner’s rejections in light of Appellant’s arguments. We have considered in this Decision only those arguments Appellant actually raised in the Briefs. Any other arguments Appellant could have made but chose not to make in the Briefs are deemed to be waived. See 37 C.F.R. § 41.37(c)(1)(iv). To the extent consistent with our analysis herein, we adopt as our own the findings and reasons set forth by the Examiner in (1) the action from which this appeal is taken (Final Act. 7–9) and (2) the Examiner’s Answer in response to Appellant’s Appeal Brief (Ans. 14–20) and concur with the conclusions reached by the Examiner. We highlight the following for emphasis. 35 U.S.C. § 103 Claim 1 recites, in pertinent part, “wherein said sequence of predicted pixel blocks is constructed from input encoding structure data comprising sequence, picture, slice headers and pixel prediction data derived from reference input data, said input encoding structure data further undergoing combined entropy encoding with said processed residual pixel data to thereby obtain at least one encoded video stream.” Appeal 2018-007534 Application 13/517,326 4 In rejecting claim 1, the Examiner primarily cites Johar, but finds as follows: Although Johar discloses in at least Fig.8 encoding the pixel data and the macroblock specifications for efficiently constructing an output video bitstream, Johar does not explicitly disclose said input encoding structure data further undergoing combined entropy encoding with said processed residual pixel data to thereby obtain at least one encoded video stream. In addition, although Johar discloses using various parameters, Johar does not explicitly disclose wherein said sequence of predicted pixel blocks is constructed from input encoding structure data comprising slice headers. Final Act. 8; see id. at 7–9 (citing, inter alia, Johar ¶ 33 (“The entropy encoding module 428 is used for entropy encoding of the quantized transform coefficient.”), ¶ 50 (“the VC1 bitstream is coded by using these refined motion vectors to perform motion compensation and the transformed and quantized prediction error is entropy coded”)). The Examiner cites Chatterjee for the missing elements. See id. at 8– 9 (citing, inter alia, Chatterjee ¶ 55 (“A residual signal, e2(i) is generated by subtracting output of the decoded [macroblock (MB)] processing module 424 and predicted pixel values p2(i). The residual signal e2(i) is then quantized and transformed in module 426 to produce signal v2(i) used for entropy encoding to generate the output video bitstream 104.), ¶ 58 (“exemplary pass-through syntax that may be processed . . . [includes] Slice header and slice data syntax”), ¶ 82 (“The syntax pass-through module 720 may be configured to pass-through header fields, and/or other ‘overhead’ information related to encoding the input video bitstream 102, to the entropy encoder 728 for producing the output bitstream 104.), and Figs. 7–9.). The Examiner reasons as follows: Appeal 2018-007534 Application 13/517,326 5 It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention to combine the method disclosed by Johar with the combined entropy encoding as disclosed by Chatterjee in order to allow for proper signaling of parameters within a transcoding system, thus improving overall efficiency [see Chatterjee ¶0052 and ¶0077–¶0084]. As disclosed by at least these citations of Chatterjee, the encoder using the pass-through information in such a way can save computations by enabling reuse of some syntactical elements from the input video. Id. at 9. Appellant argues “Chatterjee cannot teach the claimed combined entropy encoding of input encoding structure data with processed residual pixel data” because “Chatterjee’s ‘overhead information’ comes from Chatterjee’s input video bitstream 102, and does not come from reference input data.” Appeal Br. 9–10; see Reply Br. 2–3. Appellant further argues that “Chatterjee does not suggest that the features listed in table 1 (e.g. slice header and slice data syntax) would be used for residual pixel data in entropy encode 728.” Appeal Br. 11; see Reply Br. 3. Appellant contends “Johar does not cure the deficiencies of Chatterjee.” Appeal Br. 12; Reply Br. 4. Appellant’s argument are unpersuasive for several reasons. For instance, Appellant’s contention that “Chatterjee cannot teach the claimed combined entropy encoding of input encoding structure data with processed residual pixel data” because “Chatterjee's ‘overhead information’ comes from Chatterjee’s input video bitstream 102, and does not come from reference input data” (Appeal Br. 9–10; see Reply Br. 2–3) is unpersuasive because, as the Examiner points out in the Answer, the Examiner relies on Johar for receiving specification information separate from the input video Appeal 2018-007534 Application 13/517,326 6 bitstream. Ans. 16 (“As disclosed by Johar, the video/pixel data input into the encoder is received separately from the specification information.”); see Final Act. 7–9. Appellant argues in the Reply Brief that “Johar’s macroblock specifications . . . cannot teach the claimed input encoding structure data” because “these macroblock specifications of Johar do not include slice headers” and “these macroblock specifications of Johar are not derived from reference input data; rather, these macroblock specifications of Johar are apparently derived from the input video bit stream (see Johar, paragraph 0032).” Reply Br. 5. This argument does not persuade us of error because the Examiner relies on Chatterjee for “slice headers” (see Final Act. 8) and the claim does not preclude the reference input data being derived from the input video bit stream (see Ans. 18 (“the claim does not have any limitation placing such a requirement on the two pieces of information being received via separate terminals”)). Appellant’s additionally argues, “Chatterjee does not suggest that the features listed in table 1 (e.g. slice header and slice data syntax) would be used for residual pixel data in entropy encode 728.” Appeal Br. 11; see Reply Br. 3. This argument also is unpersuasive. The Examiner correctly determines that “the claim does not include any limitation describing as to how the ‘input encoding structure data’ is used for residual pixel data.” Ans. 18. In view of the foregoing, and because we find no deficiency in the Examiner’s findings regarding Chatterjee, we are not persuaded of error based on Appellant’s argument that “Johar does not cure the deficiencies of Chatterjee.” Appeal Br. 12; Reply Br. 4. Appeal 2018-007534 Application 13/517,326 7 For completeness, we note that Appellant’s arguments do not persuasively rebut the Examiner’s reasoning for combining the teachings of the references. See Final Act. 9 (quoted infra). Our consideration of the references includes the entirety of what they teach and suggest to one skilled in the art, not merely portions specifically cited by the Examiner. See, e.g., In re Hedges 783 F.2d 1038, 1039 (Fed. Cir. 1986) (citing In re Wesslau, 353 F.2d 238, 241 (CCPA 1965)). “Just as piecemeal reconstruction of the prior art by selecting teachings in light of appellant’s disclosure is contrary to the requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 103[,] so is the failure to consider as a whole the references collectively as well as individually.” In re Passal, 426 F.2d 828, 831 (CCPA 1970). Each reference cited by the Examiner must be read, not in isolation, but for what it fairly teaches in combination with the prior art as a whole. In re Merck & Co. Inc., 800 F.2d 1091, 1097 (Fed. Cir. 1986); see also In re Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425 (CCPA 1981) (explaining that when the rejection is based on a combination of references, one cannot show nonobviousness by attacking references individually). The relevant inquiry is whether the claimed subject matter would have been obvious to ordinarily skilled artisans in light of the combined teachings of the references. Moreover, Appellant’s arguments presume a bodily incorporation of Chatterjee into Johar, rather than a consideration of what their combined teachings would have taught or suggested to one of ordinary skill in the art. “The test for obviousness is not whether the features of a secondary reference may be bodily incorporated into the structure of the primary reference. . . . Rather, the test is what the combined teachings of those references would have suggested to those of ordinary skill in the art.” In re Appeal 2018-007534 Application 13/517,326 8 Keller, 642 F.2d 413, 425 (CCPA 1981); In re Nievelt, 482 F.2d 965, 968 (CCPA 1973) (“Combining the teachings of references does not involve an ability to combine their specific structures.”). Further, Appellant has not asserted that the proposed modification would have been beyond the capabilities of a person of ordinary skill in the art. Absent such an assertion, we “take account of the inferences and creative steps that a person of ordinary skill in the art would employ,” and find a person of ordinary skill in the art would overcome those difficulties within their level of skill. KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 418 (2007); see also id. at 421 (“A person of ordinary skill is also a person of ordinary creativity, not an automaton.”). For at least the foregoing reasons, we are not persuaded of error in the Examiner rejection of claim 1. Because Appellant does not argue the remaining claims separately with particularity, we sustain the Examiner’s rejections of all pending claims. DECISION SUMMARY In sum: Claims Rejected 35 U.S.C. § References Affirmed Reversed 1–3, 5–7, 9– 12, 14–16 103 Johar, Chatterjee 1–3, 5–7, 9–12, 14– 16 4, 13 103 Johar, Chatterjee, Brown 4, 13 8, 17 103 Johar, Chatterjee, Nakamura 8, 17 Overall Outcome: 1–17 Appeal 2018-007534 Application 13/517,326 9 TIME PERIOD FOR RESPONSE No time period for taking any subsequent action in connection with this appeal may be extended under 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a). See 37 C.F.R. § 1.136(a)(1)(iv). AFFIRMED Copy with citationCopy as parenthetical citation