Appeal 2006-3266
Application 10/418,405
OPINION
Appellants contend (Br. 6-7) that there is no teaching or suggestion to
combine the attention maps of Osberger with the out-of-limit problem areas
of the conventional waveform monitors/vectorscopes of APA to highlight
only problems that occur in high viewer interest areas. The Examiner asserts
(Answer 4-6) that it would have been obvious in view of APA, Osberger,
and Edelson to highlight signal problems that occur in areas of high viewer
interest. The issue, therefore, is whether the Examiner has provided a proper
motivation to combine and, thus, whether the Examiner has established a
prima facie case of obviousness.
Appellants disclose (APA, p. 1) that video waveform monitors and
vectorscopes for determining if a video signal meets various requirements,
such as being within a given amplitude range or within a given color space,
are known. Appellants further disclose (APA, p. 1) that displaying the
signals and highlighting the video signal errors, or the areas outside the
allowable limits, is known.
Appellants (APA, p. 1) disclose a second known concept -- attention
models. An attention model indicates content within a picture that is of
particular interest to viewers, and, thus, areas on which viewers are likely to
focus. Osberger also is directed to a visual attention model. See, for
example, the title. Edelson discloses (Abstract) a video surveillance system
that highlights areas of unexpected or exceptional motion. Edelson teaches
(para. 0007) that by highlighting only the areas of unexpected or exceptional
motion, the system "prevents overload on the operator's attention and only
brings to the operator's attention those situations in the surveilled scene
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