Ex Parte Sonoda - Page 10

              Appeal 2007-1809                                                                     
              Application 09/774,013                                                               
                                                                                                  
              First, images obtained from a film scanner could be susceptible to blurring          
              due to a variety of factors including, among other things, the very factors          
              indicated by Yajima (e.g., inferior imaging equipment and operating                  
              conditions).  See Yajima, col. 1, ll. 14-21.  Thus, enhancing the edges of the       
              images obtained from Scans A and B in Stavely would minimize blurring – a            
              benefit that would, in our view, only enhance Stavely’s image defect                 
              correction.  Among other things, such enhancement would more clearly and             
              accurately define the boundaries of respective image areas, including                
              defective areas to be corrected.                                                     
                    Appellant’s argument that such enhancement would emphasize low-                
              intensity points and noise in the infrared scan “to an unignorable level” is         
              merely speculative and lacks evidentiary support.  It is well settled that mere      
              lawyer’s arguments and conclusory statements, which are unsupported by               
              factual evidence, are entitled to little probative value.  In re Geisler, 116        
              F.3d 1465, 1470, 43 USPQ2d 1362, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 1997); In re De Blauwe,             
              736 F.2d 699, 705, 222 USPQ 191, 196 (Fed. Cir. 1984).                               
                    In any event, even if we assume, without deciding, that enhancing an           
              image’s edges could emphasize certain lower-intensity points and noise in            
              and around an image’s boundary region, such emphasis would not                       
              necessarily result in an outright failure to limit image correction to larger        
              features in Stavely as Appellant suggests.  Skilled artisans would recognize         
              that the degree of edge enhancement would be dependent, at least in part,            
              upon the particular resolution desired.  In our view, the skilled artisan would      
              readily adjust the appropriate enhancement parameters to provide a                   
              resolution that would enhance the image’s edges, yet not sacrifice the               



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