DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Applicant's election with traverse of group I (claims 1-15) in the reply filed on 04/15/2026 is acknowledged. The traversal is on the ground(s) that the Examiner has not met initial burden of establishing distinctness invention and serious burden for examination all groups together. This is not found persuasive because the examiner has stated that the combination of group I does not require the particular of the subcombination group II. In addition, the subcombination has clearly separated utility, such as utility absent of a helmet mount assembly. Further, the examiner has demonstrated a “serious burden” by showing a separate classification for the two groups; in order to for the Applicant to present a cogent argument relative to there being no showing of a “serious burden”, he must demonstrate that the Examiner’s separate classification is in error.
The requirement is still deemed proper and is therefore made FINAL.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 09/20/2024 was filed and considered by the examiner.
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.
Drawings
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 first/second/third plurality of power contacts in electrical communication with the flexible circuit board and disposed at first/second/third angular position(s) on the housing 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.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1, 2 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Applicant’s submitted prior art, Bowen et al., US 6,288,386, in view of Spencer, US 2006/0165400 A1.
Regarding claim 1, Bowen et al. disclose a monocular assembly (figs 1-3) comprising:
. a housing 50 having an interior (fig 2)
. an objective lens assembly 42
. an eyepiece assembly 30
. an image intensifier tube 20,
. a power contact circuit board flex assembly 25/28 disposed within the housing (fig. 3)
. the power contact circuit board flex assembly comprising a flexible circuit board (FCB) 25, wherein the FCB extends around the image intensifier tube within the interior of the housing (fig 3)
Bowen et al., however, do not disclose first/second/third plurality of power contacts in electrical communication with the FCB and disposed at first/second/third angular position on the housing, respectively, wherein each of the first, second, and third plurality of power contacts in electrical communication with the image intensifier tube. Spencer discloses a mounting device for use with an optical system (figs. 1-4) including first/second/third plurality of power contacts in electrical communication with an FCB and disposed at first/second/third angular positions on a housing (e.g., first/second/fifth pairs of the five electrical contact pins 28 are in electrical communication with a flexible printed circuit board 30 via a contact holder 35 of the inner tube 31 and are disposed at a first angular position on the surface, [0016-0018]), and third solo power contact (contact pin 28) of the of power contacts in electrical communication with the FCB 30 and wherein the FCB extends around the inner tube 31 within the interior of the housing (figs. 2-4). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the optical art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to employ first/second/third power contacts at first/second/third angular position over the Bowen et al. housing, as shown by Spencer to protect an FCB and an electrical contacting purposes.
Re claims 2, Bowen et al. further disclose a lower power contact (figs 5A-5B) and the modification to Bowen et al. would result the lower power contact covers with at a plurality of openings through which the third plurality of power contacts extend (Spencer, figs 2-4, [0016]-[0018]).
Re claim 13, Bowen et al. also disclose a lower circuit board 76 secured to the housing 50 (figs 5A-5B) and the modification to Bowen et al. would result the low circuit board 30 secured to the housing at the third angular position, contact pin 28, and the lower circuit board having the third plurality of power contacts thereon (Spencer, figs 2-4).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-12 and 14-15 are 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.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DUNG T NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2297. The examiner can normally be reached 8:00 - 5:00.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jennifer Carruth can be reached at 571-272-9791. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/DUNG T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2871
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