DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Response to Amendment
The present office action is made in response to the amendment filed by applicant on 08/13/2025. It is noted that in the amendment, applicant has made changes to the claims. There is not any change being made to the abstract, the drawings and the specification.
Regarding the claims, applicant has canceled claims 7-20.
Election/Restrictions
In response to the Election/Restriction mailed to applicant on 02/13/2025, applicant has made an election without traverse of Invention I in the reply filed on 08/13/2025.
As a result of applicant’s election, claims 1-6 are examined in the present office action.
Drawings
The drawings contain five sheets of figures 1-5 were received on 07/18/2022. These drawings are objected by the examiner for the following reason(s).
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the feature regarding an alignment of a center line of the main body housing (housing body?) and a center bore axis of a weapon as recited in claim 1 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
The Summary of the Invention is objected to because it contains numerous details of the invention. Applicant needs provide a brief technical description of the invention in the Summary and moves other detailed descriptions to the section of “DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS”. Appropriate correction is required.
The disclosure is objected to because of the following informalities: a) The use of language to describe/name an element throughout the specification is not consistent. For instance, the specification uses both terms “main housing body” and “main body housing” for element (105), see paragraph [0050], see also paragraphs [0051]-[0053]. It is suggested that the specification should be amended so that the language being used is consistent throughout the specification; b) the use of reference numbers for same element is not consistent, see paragraphs [0054] and [0066] which use the reference numbers (120, 122) for the battery caps and for the battery covers and the reference (105) for a device and a housing in paragraphs [0050] and [0056]. There are still some grammatical and idiomatic errors in the specification. Applicant should carefully proofread the specification. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Objections
Claims 1-6 are objected to because of the following informalities. Appropriate correction is required.
a) The use of claimed language in claims is not consistent. In particular, while the claims recite “main housing body” in claim 1 on lines 2 and 3 and claim 5 on line 2; however, the claims also use the terms thereof “main body housing” in claim 1 on lines 4 and 8 and claim 6 on line 2. It is suggested that the claims should be amended so that the claimed language is consistent throughout the claims.
b) The remaining claims are dependent upon the objected base claim and thus inherit the deficiency thereof.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
a) Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for the following reasons:
a1) the feature thereof “the illuminator” (line 9) lacks a proper antecedent basis; and
a2) it is unclear about the structure of the illuminato device as recited in the claim. In particular, it is unclear whether claim 1 is directed to an illuminator device only or directed to a combination of an illuminator device and a weapon based on the feature thereof “wherein the main body housing … the illuminator is mounted” (lines 8-9).
For the purpose of examination, claim 1 is understood as a combination of an illumination device and a weapon wherein the illumination device is mounted on the weapon.
b) Claim 4 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite by the feature thereof “the tactile activation buttons … photon emitters” (lines 1-3). What does applicant mean by “an intensity of emissions” (line 2)? What kind of “emission” does applicant imply here?
c) Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite because the feature thereof “the tactile activation buttons” (line 1) lacks a proper antecedent basis. Applicant should note that the mentioned feature has an antecedent basis in claim 2, not claim 1.
d) The remaining claims are dependent upon the rejected base claim and thus inherit the deficiencies thereof.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-4 and 6, as best as understood, are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Kennair, Jr..
Kennair, Jr. discloses an illumination device mounted on a weapon.
a) Regarding present claim 1, the illumination device mounted on a weapon as described in paragraphs [0026]-[0036] and shown in figs. 1-9 comprises the following features:
a1) a main housing body (1);
a2) a plurality of photo emitters (3, 4) mounted at least one of on or in the main housing body (1), see paragraphs [0030], [0032];
a3) at least a power source within the main housing body for proving electric power to at least one of the plurality of photon emitters, see paragraph [0033];
a4) plurality of control components (8) for controlling operations of one or more of the plurality of photon emitters, see paragraph [0036]; and
a5) the main housing body (1) is mounted on a weapon wherein a centerline configured to align with a center bore axis of the weapon, see figs. 1, 6 and 8, for example.
b) Regarding present claims 2-4 and 6, the plurality of control components are in the form of buttons and located on each of the right and left sides of the main housing body (1) to facilitate ambidextrous activation of the one or more plural buttons, see paragraph [0036] and figs. 5 and 9. It is noted that the button(s0 is/are used to control the on/off and intensity of light emitted by one or more of the photon emitters, see paragraph [0036].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim 5, as best as understood, is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kennair, Jr. in view of Park (US Publication No. 2005/0012717).
It is noted that while Kennair, Jr. discloses an illumination device mounted on a weapon wherein the illumination device comprises a plurality of buttons for controlling the operations of the photo emitters; however, Kennair, Jr. does not mention that the plurality of buttons having different heights as recited in the claim 5.
However, a device having a plurality of buttons wherein the buttons are used to control operations of the device and the buttons have different heights is known to one skill in the art as can be seen in the device provided by Park, see paragraphs [0029]-[0030] and fig. 1. Thus, it would have been obvious to one skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to modify the illumination device mounted on a weapon as provided by Kennair, Jr. by making the buttons being used to control the photo emitters with different heights as suggested by Park for the purpose of prevention the buttons from being erroneously clicked/pushed.
Conclusion
The US Patent No. 11,009,315 and the US Publication No. 2018/0142991 each is cited as of interest in that each discloses an illumination device mounted on a weapon wherein the illumination device comprises a plurality of photo emitters and buttons for controlling the operation of the photon emitters which operations comprises a turn ON/OFF and adjustment of light intensity of one or more of the photon emitters.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THONG Q NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2316. The examiner can normally be reached M - Th: 6:00 ~ 17:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, STEPHONE B. ALLEN can be reached at (571) 272-2434. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/THONG Q NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2872