Appeal No. 96-3624
Application No. 08/293,104
clearly fails to suggest any such display membrane, Hunter
providing a separate dedicated display for each definable
function key. Thus, the only reference left which could
possibly disclose a display membrane is Koike. But Koike
discloses a transparent sheet 5 through which to view indicia,
an indicia sheet 6 which provides groups of indicia, some of
which will be masked and some of which will be visible,
elastic members 3 and a rigid board 2 on which key contacts 1
are located. The best that could be considered an overlay
display membrane in Koike is the indicia sheet 6. Yet, Koike
discloses nothing which may be considered the claimed
programmable display membrane which is interactive with the
keyboard such that display elements to be illuminated are
addressed and a processor connected to both the keyboard and
the membrane causes the display, on the membrane, of
positional and functional indicia. Neither Hunter nor
Polaroid is of any help in this regard since only Hunter shows
an interaction between definable function keys F1-F5 and
dedicated displays 31-35 but clearly fails to suggest anything
like the claimed programmable template display membrane, which
covers the keyboard switches and interacts with the keyboard
8
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Last modified: November 3, 2007