Appeal No. 2004-0706
Application No. 09/777,982
THE INVENTION
The invention relates to “flexible circuits utilized in the
automotive industry which can additionally incorporate the
terminals of surface mounted devices as contacts for various
electrical components” (specification, page 1). Representative
claim 1 reads as follows:
1. An arrangement of a flex circuit comprising:
a first substrate;
a first conductive membrane connected with said first
substrate, said first membrane having a first gap;
a second substrate spaced away from said first substrate, at
least one of said first or second substrates being flexible;
a second conductive membrane connected with said second
substrate; and
a first surface mounted substrate-based electrical device
with and end cap termination, said first surface mounted device
bridging over said first gap in said first conductive membrane,
said end cap termination electrically connecting with said second
conductive membrane to complete an electrical circuit between
said first and second conductive membranes when said substrates
are displaced toward one another.
THE PRIOR ART
The references relied on by the examiner to support the
rejections on appeal are:
Wafer 4,445,732 May 1, 1984
McClure 5,501,009 Mar. 26, 1996
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