Interference No. 103,197
Inc., 40 F.3d 1223, 1227-288, 32 USPQ2d 1915, 1919 (Fed. Cir.
1994), cert. denied, 515 U.S. 1130, 115 S.Ct. 2553
(1995)(citation omitted) (our emphasis). Conception is
complete only when the idea is so clearly defined in the
inventor's mind that only ordinary skill would be necessary to
reduce the invention to practice, without extensive research
or experimentation. Id. An idea that is in constant flux is
not definite and permanent; conception is not complete if the
subsequent course of experimentation, especially experimental
failures, reveals uncertainty that so undermines the
specificity of the inventor's idea that it is not yet a
definite and permanent reflection of the complete invention as
it is to be used in practice. Burroughs Welcome, 40 F.3d at
1229, 32 USPQ2d at 1920. However, conception does not require
a reasonable belief by the inventors that the invention would
work for its intended purpose; the question is whether the
inventors formed the idea of their invention in sufficiently
final form that only the exercise of ordinary skill remains to
reduce it to practice. Burroughs Welcome, 40 F.3d at 1231, 32
USPQ2d at 1922. Because the invention involves two different
technological arts, i.e., fiber optics and pulse oximetry, the
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