Appeal No. 2002-1646
Application No. 09/440,233
Examiner does not make the modification obvious unless the prior
art suggested the desirability of the modification. In re Fritch,
972 F.2d 1260, 1266, 23 USPQ2d 1780, 1783-84 (Fed. Cir. 1992).
It is also our view, that, even assuming, arguendo, that
proper motivation were established for modifying Kobayashi with
Shimura, there is no indication as to how such modification would
address the particulars of the claim language of independent claims
1, 9, and 15. As discussed previously, each of claims 1, 9, and 15
sets forth a specific combination of non-log transform values and
log-transform values which are employed in the conversion of image
pixel values to output image pixel values over a desired output
range. More particularly, the claims require that, after a lower
limit value is determined from a first histogram of non-log
transformed pixel values, the first histogram is transformed into a
second histogram of log-transformed values from which an upper
limit value is determined.
In our view, the proposed combination of Kobayashi and Shimura
would, at best, result in the substitution of the log-transform
processing techniques of Shimura for the non-log transform
processing of Kobayashi, a result which falls far short of the
specific combination set forth in the appealed claims. Given the
factual situation presented to us, it is our opinion that any
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