Appeal No. 1997-2566
Application No. 08/330,642
scintillator having a plurality of malleable needle-shaped
protrusions extending therefrom, comprising the steps of:
precisely positioning a coupling surface of said membrane
in a desired position with respect to said light receiving
surface such that the membrane coupling surface is disposed in
contact with at least some of said needle-shaped protrusions
without causing deformation of said protrusions; and
drawing said membrane down over said scintillator light
receiving surface such that portions of said membrane are
conformingly disposed around substantially all of said
protrusions on said scintillator light-receiving surface
without distorting the shape of said protrusions;
the step of drawing said membrane down over said
scintillator further comprising the step of applying a
substantially uniform differential pressure across said pliant
membrane so as to urge said membrane into conformal contact
with said light-receiving surface such that said membrane
partially deforms around said needle-shaped protrusions to be
in intimate contact around each of the malleable needle-shaped
protrusions on said light-receiving surface of said
scintillator.
The examiner relies upon the following references as
evidence of obviousness:
Muller 3,398,811 Aug. 27, 1968
Bennett et al. (Bennett) 3,554,834 Jan. 12, 1971
Bond 3,818,823Jun. 25, 1974
Galves et al. (Galves) 4,398,118 Aug. 9, 1983
Choinski 4,700,474 Oct. 20, 1987
Englert et al. (Englert) 4,720,426 Jan. 19, 1988
Kwasnick et al. (Kwasnick) 5,132,539 Jul. 21, 1992
Appellants' claimed invention is directed to a method of
depositing a thin membrane in conformal contact with the
light-receiving surface of a scintillator, which scintillator
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