Ex Parte Alsam

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

Feb 24, 2016

12556183 (P.T.A.B. Feb. 24, 2016)

UNITED STA TES p A TENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
APPLICATION NO. FILING DATE
12/556, 183 0910912009
22879 7590 02/26/2016
HP Inc,
3390 E. Harmony Road
Mail Stop 35
FORT COLLINS, CO 80528-9544
FIRST NAMED INVENTOR
AliAlsam
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www .uspto.gov
ATTORNEY DOCKET NO. CONFIRMATION NO.
82243490 2030
EXAMINER
LIEW, ALEX KOK SOON
ART UNIT PAPER NUMBER
2668
NOTIFICATION DATE DELIVERY MODE
02/26/2016 ELECTRONIC
Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.
The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.
Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address( es):
ipa.mail@hp.com
barbl@hp.com
yvonne.bailey@hp.com
PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
Ex parte ALI ALSAM
Appeal2014-002754
Application 12/556, 183
Technology Center 2600
Before BRUCE R. WINSOR, JOHN F. HORVATH, and
AARON W. MOORE, Administrative Patent Judges.
HORVATH, Administrative Patent Judge.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Appellant seeks our review under 35 U.S.C. § 134(a) of the
Examiner's rejection of claims 1-20. We have jurisdiction under 35 U.S.C.
§ 6(b ).
We REVERSE.
Appeal2014-002754
Application 12/556,183
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention is directed to conversion of a color image to a
monochrome image. Spec. i-f 1.
Claim 1, reproduced below, is illustrative of the claimed subject
matter:
1. A method of obtaining a monochrome image from a color
image, said color image comprising a plurality of color pixels,
and having at least two color channels, each pixel of said
plurality of color pixels comprising a value for each color
channel of said at least two color channels, said monochrome
image comprising a plurality of monochrome pixels, each
monochrome pixel having a value for a monochrome channel,
the method comprising:
calculating a local weighting factor for each color channel
of each pixel of said color image;
calculating said value of said monochrome channel for
each pixel as a sum over said at least two color channels of
products of said local weighting factor and said value for each
color channel.
Hasuo
Bala
Li
REFERENCES
us 5,434,649
US 2005/0207 641 A 1
US 2007 /0263009 Al
REJECTIONS
July 18, 1995
Sept. 22, 2005
Nov. 15, 2007
Claims 1and8 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 102(b) as anticipated
by Bala. Final Act. 4.
Claims 2---6, 9-11, and 16-19 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a)
as unpatentable over Bala and Li. Final Act. 5.
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Appeal2014-002754
Application 12/556,183
Claims 7 and 12 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as
unpatentable over Bala in view of Official Notice. Final Act. 7.
Claims 13-15 stand rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable
over Bala and Hasuo. Final Act. 8.
Claim 20 stands rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a) as unpatentable
over Bala, Li, and Official Notice. Final Act. 8.
ISSUES AND ANALYSIS
We have reviewed the Examiner's rejections in light of Appellant's
arguments that the Examiner has erred. Because we are persuaded by one of
Appellant's arguments pertaining to all of the independent claims, we
reverse the Examiner's rejections of all pending claims. We highlight the
following for emphasis.
Claims 1-20
The Examiner finds Bala' s filtered luminance and chrominance values
(Lhp, ahp, and bhp) are local weighting factors for each of a pixel's color
channels. Final Act. 5 (citing Bala Fig. 1 ). The Examiner further finds Bala
discloses calculating a value for each pixel's monochrome channel as a sum
of products of the local weighting factors and each pixel's color channel
values because "each weighting factors ahp, bhp, and Lhpfrom each color
channel contribute to determining the final monochrome channel." Id.
Appellant argues Bala teaches calculating a combination of the
chrominance components of the image, Chp, that is "then multiplied by a
weight factor w that is a function of the high-pass luminance signal Lhp."
App. Br. 12 (citing Bala i-fi-121, 23). Appellant further argues that Bala
teaches "the result of multiplying W with Chp is then added to Ln (the
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Appeal2014-002754
Application 12/556,183
luminance component)." Id. at 13 (citing Bala, Fig. 1 ). Consequently,
Appellant argues, Bala "at best teaches that a weighted value (not a number
of weighted values for each color channel) is added to a luminance
component and not that each of the before mentioned products are added
together." Id. at 13.
We are persuaded by Appellant's arguments. Claim 1 recites
calculating the value of a pixel's monochromatic channel as a sum over
color channels of the product of each color channel's color value and a local
weighting factor. Bala teaches "adjusting [the] luminance component of [a]
color image based upon [a] high pass filtered chrominance component."
Bala, Abstract. Thus, in Bala, the luminance or monochromatic channel
values have already been calculated, and are adjusted or modified based on
values in the chrominance or color channels. Bala's modified luminance
value is given by the expression:
See Bala i-fi-1 21-23; Fig. 1. Thus, the adjusted or modified luminance Laut is
not a sum over the color channels of the product of each color channel's
color value and a weighting factor as recited in claim 1.
Accordingly, we do not sustain the Examiner's rejection of claim 1.
Appellant argues independent claims 8 and 16 are patentable for the same
reasons as claim 1. App. Br. 17 and 21-22. We agree. Appellant argues
dependent claims 2-7, 9-15, and 17-20 are patentable for the same reasons
as independent claims 1, 8, and 16 from which they respectively depend. Id.
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Appeal2014-002754
Application 12/556,183
at 13, 17, and 22. We agree. Accordingly, we do not sustain the Examiner's
rejections of claims 2-20.
DECISION
The Examiner's rejections of claims 1-20 are reversed.
REVERSED
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