Ex Parte Sonoda - Page 7

              Appeal 2007-1809                                                                     
              Application 09/774,013                                                               
                                                                                                  
              normal image, but the defective image itself is not corrected (Br. 11; Reply         
              Br. 5-6).                                                                            
                    The Examiner notes that Stavely initially identifies specific areas of         
              the defective image as blemishes.  Such a process, the Examiner argues,              
              fully meets “preprocessing” in accordance with the term’s plain meaning              
              (Answer 5).  The Examiner emphasizes that this “preprocessing” in Stavely            
              is performed on the defective image by locating surface defects via Scan B           
              (the infrared scan).  According to the Examiner, following this “preprocess,”        
              Stavely eliminates blemishes on the normal image (i.e., the image obtained           
              via Scan A) by processing this normal image in accordance with the                   
              blemishes identified in the defective image (i.e., the “preprocessing” stage)        
              (Answer 6-7).                                                                        
                    Appellant also argues that the secondary reference, Yajima, does not           
              disclose edge enhancement preprocessing performed on the defective image             
              as claimed (Br. 13-14; Reply Br. 7).  Appellant adds that combining Yajima           
              with Stavely is not obvious since, among other things, edge enhancement              
              emphasizes sudden changes in image signals.  According to Appellant,                 
              providing such processing on the defective image in Stavely would                    
              emphasize small scattered points of low intensity and noise in the infrared          
              scan “to an unignorable level.”  Such an emphasis, Appellant contends,               
              would lead to a failure in limiting image correction to larger features of the       
              image (Br. 14; Reply Br. 7-8).                                                       
                    The Examiner responds that since Yajima specifically teaches                   
              enhancing edges without undue influence from outside noise, providing such           
              edge enhancement in Stavely’s infrared scan would not emphasize noise                
              (Answer 8).                                                                          

                                                7                                                  

Page:  Previous  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  Next

Last modified: September 9, 2013