Appeal No. 1999-2058
Application 08/433,643
indicates that the Examiner is confused about the claim
terminology.
The "image area specifying means" corresponds to the
image area specifying section 80 in Appellants' Fig. 3, which
receives a signal from image density lower limit setting
means 102 setting the lower limit value of image density, a
signal from image density upper limit setting means 104
setting the upper limit value of image density, and a density
changing signal from density changing means 106 setting a
desired density. The image area specifying section 80
data-processes image data stored in the window memory 79 to
specify an image by changing the density of areas whose
density is between the lower and upper limit values of image
density to a predetermined density set by the density changing
means 104 (specification, p. 22, lines 6-19; p. 24, line 14 to
p. 25, line 10). The image areas thus specified to be of a
predetermined density can then be quantitatively analyzed by
means not disclosed. The "image area specifying means" has
nothing to do with specifying an area to be quantitatively
analyzed, which limitation is found in claim 2. Poulsen is
relevant to claim 2, but is not needed for the "image area
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