Ex Parte Sonoda - Page 9

              Appeal 2007-1809                                                                     
              Application 09/774,013                                                               
                                                                                                  
              those areas of the defect signature of Scan B that qualify as defects or             
              blemishes (i.e., areas to be corrected on the image obtained from Scan A).           
                    Additionally, Stavely’s image processing function eliminates                   
              blemishes on the image obtained from Scan A in accordance with defect                
              information obtained via the image produced by Scan B – an image that was            
              “preprocessed” to identify the normal image’s defective areas.  Such image           
              processing fully meets performing “blemish elimination processing” of the            
              image of Scan A – an image obtained by photoelectrically reading the image           
              on the film.                                                                         
                    In sum, Stavely discloses every feature of representative claim 7              
              except for the preprocessing to comprise edge enhancement processing.                
              But, we see no reason why the skilled artisan could not have applied such            
              edge enhancement for the images produced by Scans A and B in Stavely in              
              view of the teachings of Yajima.  Yajima notes that patterns obtained from           
              input devices can be blurry where (1) the characteristics of the image pickup        
              equipment are inferior, or (2) photographing conditions are inferior (Yajima,        
              col. 1, ll. 14-21).  Yajima therefore provides a system that enhances the edge       
              of a line without being influenced by noises (e.g., smears and stains).  To          
              this end, Yajima utilizes an edge enhancement processor 1 in conjunction             
              with a noise suppressor 3 (col. 3, l. 54 – col. 4, l. 13; col. 5, ll. 37-45; Fig. 4).
              Such a system produces a good quality pattern from a blurred pattern                 
              (Yajima, col. 2, ll. 40-47).                                                         
                    Although Yajima’s edge enhancement technique is used for optical               
              character recognition of printed and handwritten characters, we see no               
              reason why such edge enhancement techniques would not be applicable in               
              an image acquired from a film scanner such as that disclosed by Stavely.             

                                                9                                                  

Page:  Previous  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  Next

Last modified: September 9, 2013