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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on January 16th, 2024 has been considered by the examiner.
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 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Prendergast (US 2007/0012830).
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Regarding claim 1, Prendergast discloses a bridge assembly (Figs. 30-34, 288) for a monocular optical device ([0068], “ENVG between a user's left eye and right eye”, examiner interprets the ENVG to be the monocular device), the bridge assembly comprising:
a mounting shoe (examiner labeled Fig. 31);
a stem portion attached to the mounting shoe (examiner labeled Fig. 31);
a sliding arm member slidably coupled to the stem portion (element 404); and
an adapter plate (element 20, 22) slidably coupled to the sliding arm member (as shown in Figs. 30a-30b, 20 slides along 404), the adapter plate includes an attachment interface to which the monocular optical device is coupled (as shown in Fig. 31, element 24 has an attachment interface for the monocular device);
wherein:
the adapter plate is configured to be laterally displaced between a first position that places the monocular optical device in front of a first eye of a user and a second position that places the monocular optical device in front of a second eye of the user ([0068], “As shown in FIG. 30a, the socket assembly containing ENVG may be in a left-eye view position. In order to shift to a right-eye view position, … Then, a lateral force may be applied to the ENVG which allows the socket assembly 20 to slide along the shuttle from the left side to the right side”).
Regarding claim 2, Prendergast further discloses wherein the sliding arm member comprises an upper portion that includes a dovetail rail and a lower portion that includes a dovetail rail ([0068], “The shuttle 404 is adapted to be slidably attached to a monorail 288 (described in more detail below) and also to the socket assembly 20, by using, for example, a dovetail joint”), the dovetail rail on the upper portion is slidably coupled to a rail receiving receptacle on an underside of the stem portion (as shown in examiner labeled Fig. 31, the stem portion has a receptacle that couples to a receiving end of 404), and the dovetail rail on the lower portion is slidably coupled to a rail receiving receptacle on a top side of the adapter plate (as shown in Fig. 31, 404 has a bottom rail for receptacle on 22).
Regarding claim 3, Prendergast further discloses wherein the rail receiving receptacle on the stem portion includes a pair of parallel engagement members (examiner labeled Fig. 31) configured to cooperate with the dovetail rail on the upper portion of the sliding arm member (examiner labeled Fig. 31); the rail receiving receptacle on the adapter plate includes a pair of parallel engagement members (examiner labeled Fig. 31) configured to cooperate with the dovetail rail on the lower portion of the sliding arm member (examiner labeled Fig. 31).
Regarding claim 4, Prendergast further discloses wherein the sliding arm member further comprises a longitudinally extending detent track on a top side of the sliding arm member (as shown in Fig. 31, there are two indentations on a top surface of 404) and a longitudinally extending detent track on a bottom side of the sliding arm member (as shown in Fig. 30b, there are indentations ); the stem portion includes a ball plunger assembly disposed within a bore in a downwardly facing surface of the rail receiving receptacle, a spring-loaded ball of the ball plunger assembly is in operational contact with the longitudinally extending detent track on the top side of the sliding arm member ([0068], “a detent ball 410 and a detent spring 412 system fix the socket assembly 20 in its position at either end of the shuttle 404 until a force sufficient to overcome the detent ball and spring system is applied to the socket assembly”, as shown in Fig. 31, examiner interprets the ball and spring system to correspond to indents 206); the adapter plate includes a ball plunger assembly disposed within a bore in an upwardly facing surface of the rail receiving receptacle, a spring-loaded ball of the ball plunger assembly is in operational contact with the longitudinally extending detent track on the bottom side of the sliding arm member ([0068], “a detent ball 410 and a detent spring 412 system fix the socket assembly 20 in its position at either end of the shuttle 404 until a force sufficient to overcome the detent ball and spring system is applied to the socket assembly”, as shown in Fig. 30b, the ball and spring system contacts the bottom side of slide member).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 5 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: with respect to the allowable subject matter, none of the prior art either alone or in combination disclose or teach of the claimed combination of limitations to warrant a rejection under 35 U.S.C. 102 or 103.
Specifically, with respect to claim 5, none of the prior art either alone or in combination disclose or suggest wherein the sliding arm member further comprises a first slot and a second slot; the first slot extends through the sliding arm member, between the top side and the bottom side thereof, and includes an interior annular ledge that divides the first slot into a top groove and a bottom groove, an overtravel stop is slidably positioned within the bottom groove of the first slot and fixed in position by a fastener nested within the top groove; the second slot extends through the sliding arm member, between the top side and the bottom side thereof, and includes an interior annular ledge that divides the second slot into a top groove and a bottom groove, an overtravel stop is slidably positioned within the bottom groove of the second slot and fixed in position by a fastener nested within the top groove; the overtravel stop in the first slot and the overtravel stop in the second slot define the first position and the second position, respectively, of the adapter plate.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon are considered pertinent to applicant’s disclosure. Tal (US 2016/0227866), Zavracky (US 2001/0054989), Fan (US 5,815,126), Dor (US 5,331,459) teach a bridge assembly for a monocular optical device, the bridge assembly comprising: a mounting shoe; a stem portion attached to the mounting shoe; a sliding arm member slidably coupled to the stem portion; and an adapter plate slidably coupled to the sliding arm member.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MATTHEW Y LEE whose telephone number is (571)272-3526. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Pinping Sun can be reached at (571) 270 - 1284. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MATTHEW Y LEE/Examiner, Art Unit 2872 11 December 2025
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