Appeal No. 2006-3032 9
Application No. 09/969,040
out that Smith teaches a method in which the frequency of lighting
fluctuations can be identified by processing data from a single frame of
information [id.]. Appellants point to fig. 3 of Smith that shows the pixel
values of each row of the frame are averaged to yield row-averaged
captured image data over time [id.]. Appellants further note that Smith
discloses (at col. 6, lines 40-45) if more than one frame is captured and
assuming that the inter-frame gap is equal to zero (i.e., frames are captured
successively without a pause), the horizontally averaged image data can be
“stitched” together to form a continuous series of horizontally averaged
input data [id.]. Appellants note that Smith discloses stitching the data from
the two frames together instead of incorporating a subtractor to obtain
difference data as taught by Oyama [id., emphasis added]. Appellants
assert that the advantage of Smith’s “stitching” is apparent because the
stitching of the averaged information for two frames doubles the information
and doubles the length of time [brief, page 11]. Appellants assert that there
are no apparent advantages to substituting Oyama’s subtractor for Smith’s
“stitcher” or combining stitching and differencing [id.]. Appellants conclude
that subtracting an averaged row value of a first image frame from the
corresponding averaged row value of the second image frame will lead to
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