Ex parte HAYASHI - Page 8




          Appeal No. 1999-1587                                                       
          Application 08/601,751                                                     


          case of obviousness.  Note In re Oetiker, 977 F.2d 1443, 1445,             
          24 USPQ2d 1443, 1444 (Fed. Cir. 1992).  If that burden is met,             
          the burden then shifts to the applicant to overcome the prima              
          facie case with argument and/or evidence.  Obviousness is then             
          determined on the basis of the evidence as a whole and the                 
          relative persuasiveness of the arguments.  See Id.; In re                  
          Hedges, 783 F.2d 1038, 1039, 228 USPQ 685, 686 (Fed. Cir.                  
          1986); In re Piasecki, 745 F.2d 1468, 1472, 223 USPQ 785, 788              
          (Fed. Cir. 1984); and In re Rinehart, 531 F.2d 1048, 1052, 189             
          USPQ 143, 147 (CCPA 1976).  Only those arguments actually made             
          by appellant have been considered in this decision.  Arguments             
          which appellant could have made but chose not to make in the               
          briefs have not been considered [see 37 CFR § 1.192(a)].                   





          With respect to representative, independent claim 6,                       
          the examiner finds that Ikeuchi teaches the invention of claim             
          6 except for the smoothing filter.  The examiner cites Kawai               
          as teaching the desirability of smoothing image data, and the              
          examiner finds that it would have been obvious to use a                    
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