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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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.
Claim(s) 14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Von Harrach, et al (U.S. Patent Application Publication 2014/0077080 A1).
Regarding claim 14, Von Harrach discloses an arrangement of an electron microscope and an EDS detector for detecting a signal of energy-dispersed X-ray radiation in the electron microscope (Title) wherein the electron microscope comprises a polepiece (306); wherein the EDS detector comprises a collimator (304; paragraph 0020) attached to the objective polepiece (Fig. 3; paragraph 0027).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-13 are allowed.
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: the prior art at least fails to teach wherein the collimator is attached to the second objective polepiece as in independent claim 1. Mounting the collimator directly to the polepiece could pose disadvantages such as disturbing the magnetic circuit, causing astigmatism, etc., therefore doing so would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art.
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL P MASKELL whose telephone number is (571)270-3210. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10A-6P.
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/MICHAEL MASKELL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2881 07 February 2026
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