Appeal No. 2001-1556
Application 09/333,322
cites Haghiri-Tehrani and asserts that it would have been obvious
to the artisan to modify LeMaire with Haghiri-Tehrani because it
would use up less space and create a thinner smart card [final
rejection, pages 2-3, incorporated into answer, page 3].
Appellants argue that neither LeMaire nor Haghiri-Tehrani
teaches a step on only one side of the connection and a chip
which is physically disposed on the connection in the region of
reduced thickness. Appellants also argue that the examiner has
not pointed to anything in the references which would have
motivated the artisan to combine the teachings of these
references [brief, pages 10-14].
The examiner further explains the rejection by noting
that “only the step-like portion of the connector 10 of LeMaire
et al. (see fig. 9) will be considered for combination with only
the portion of the connection leads 5 of Haghiri-Tehrani et al.
that lie flush against the main surface of the carrier element
and only the physical orientation of the semiconductor chip 4
with relation to the connection leads 5. The resulting modified
invention would have a stepped portion on inner sides of the
connectors (i.e. sides which face one another) and a flat portion
on the outer sides of the connectors (i.e. step on only one side
-6-
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