Appeal No. 2001-2575
Application No. 09/074,545
components (col. 3, lines 44-67). Kuroshima, on the other hand,
addresses the problem of storing large amounts of image data by
converting the data to a lower resolution before storage (col. 3,
lines 1-6 and col. 7, lines 1-9). However, as stated by
Appellant (brief, page 7), a reduction in resolution is not the
same as a reduction in size or chrominance data values.
In fact, none of the references recognize the importance of
compression of small amounts of image data, as recited in the
claims. Therefore, contrary to the Examiner’s position,
transforming small image data to chrominance and luminance data
values, reducing the number of chrominance data values and
compression of the reduced values cannot be derived from the
combination of the references.
We also disagree with the Examiner’s stated reasons for
combining Hirano with Normile and Kuroshima. There is no
indication in Normile or Kuroshima that the compression of images
using their chrominance data values or storage of a lower
resolution image data, in addition to the run length encoding
compression, may benefit the image search and retrieval of
Hirano. Notwithstanding the Examiner’s arguments that the
combination is based on the selection and compression of any
reduced size image (answer, page 15), we agree with Appellant
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