Appeal No. 1999-0486
Application No. 08/633,389
balance adjustment circuit 13 (Fig. 3), is deemed to teach the limitations of claim 1 at
issue. The reference describes analog circuitry for encoding a composite video signal.
The white balance adjustment circuit 2 (Fig. 1) “is adapted to provide a gain inherent in
the respective one of the color component signals (R, G and B) to equalize the average
level of each of the color component signals (R, G and B) such that the white color of a
white-colored object can be reproduced on a reproduced scene.” Nakakuki at col. 1, ll.
29-34. The digital version of the white balance adjustment circuit is described at
column 3, line 42 et seq. of the reference.
However, we do not find equalizing the average level of each of the color
component signals suggestive of the claim 1 requirement of adjusting the digitized
signals of the image signal according to digitized signals corresponding to the light
reflected from a test region. In view of the text following the description of the white
balance adjustment circuits, Nakakuki serves as evidence that the artisan was familiar
with the use of a brightness signal in the encoding of composite video signals.
However, we do not find suggestion for the proposed combination in the objective
teachings of the prior art, as represented by Webb and Nakakuki.
Moreover, Webb discloses adjusting effective light levels based on a brightness
signal corresponding to light reflected from a test region. Webb’s solution (Figs. 5 and
9) is to effect control of the light source levels and, potentially, to modify parameters of
the A/D converter. Even if the teachings, combined with Nakakuki, may have
suggested use of a line sensor having an array of R, G, B sensing elements, and
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