Appeal No. 2000-0404
Application No. 08/626,433
of each of the input image signals. Claim 1 is illustrative of
the claimed invention, and it reads as follows:
1. A digital image processing system for automatically
classifying a set of input image signals into a combination of at
least three predetermined classes of imagery and producing output
image signals in accordance with the classes, the set of input
image signals forming part of a video image generated by an image
input terminal, comprising:
a mixing circuit;
a data buffer for receiving the set of input image signals;
a classification circuit for characterizing properties of
each of the input signals, said classification circuit producing,
as a function of the properties of each of the input image
signals, a plurality of non-zero probability values, each non-
zero probability value representing a likelihood that one of the
input image signals of the set of input image signals is a member
of a respective one of the at least three predetermined classes
of imagery, and transmitting probability signals indicative
thereof to said mixing circuit; and
a plurality of image processing circuits receiving the set
of input image signals from the data buffer, each of said
plurality of image processing circuits being adapted to process
the input image signals in accordance with a process identified
for one of the at least three predetermined classes of imagery,
said mixing circuit combining the signals from at least two of
said plurality of image processing circuits in accordance with
the probability signals received from said classification circuit
to form a single set of output image signals, wherein a subset of
the output image signals, representing input image signals from a
transition zone where there is no high degree of certainty
associated with any of the predetermined classes of imagery,
comprise signals processed by the at least two of said plurality
of image processing circuits so as to account for gradual shifts
between regions of the input image representing the different
classes of imagery.
The prior art references of record relied upon by the
examiner in rejecting the appealed claims are:
2
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