Appeal No. 1999-2040
Application No. 08/475,023 Page 23
Appellants acknowledge (brief, page 9) that it is well known in
the prior art to preserve hue values, but assert that it would
not have been obvious to so modify Spaulding because Spaulding
teaches the opposite, i.e., the saturation should remain
constant, and the hue values should be adjusted to perform color
matching. Appellants note (id.) that equations 3-5 of Spaulding
illustrate the manner in which the output hue angle differs from
the input hue angle.
We refer to our findings, supra, with respect to the
teachings of Spaulding and Oshkoshi. The limitation "modifying
saturation values for all colors components of the nominal color
in a proportional value . . ." is not met by Spaulding because
the color values in subset 16 input colors are mapped to output
colors colorimetrically (col.14, lines 14-16). We agree with the
examiner that Spaulding teaches that hue values may be maintained
(figures 17 and 18). However, we find that even though it may be
known in the prior art to proportionally modify all color
components to reduce saturation while preserving hue, we find no
suggestion, and no convincing line of reasoning has been advanced
by the examiner, that would have suggested modifying Spaulding in
such a manner because Spaulding specifically teaches modifying
subset 16 differently from subset 12; see col. 14, lines 8-19).
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