Appeal No. 96-2281
Application No. 08/061,225
examiner has failed to present a prima facie case of
obviousness.
Hirota, the reference cited by the examiner for the use
of a manual input panel, does not overcome the shortcomings of
Asada. Hirota discusses masking coefficients in column 7,
line 59-column 8, line 11. However, Hirota discloses that the
"masking coefficient data C =A , B or C , C =Am, Bm or Cm and1 c c C 2
C =Ay, By or Cy [is] generated in accordance with the mode
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data inputted from the CPU," (col. 7, line 66 - col. 8, line
1) or rather according to whether the image is to be in full
color mode or mono color mode. Hirota does not disclose
changing the masking coefficients nor setting the masking
coefficients according to the gradation curve. Accordingly,
as neither Asada nor Hirota discloses any correspondence
between the masking coefficients and the gradation curve, we
find that the combination of the two references is
insufficient to establish a prima facie case of obviousness.
Consequently, we cannot sustain the rejection of claims 1
through 9 over Asada and Hirota.
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