  A new generation of experiments is expected to shed light on the elusive
parton structure of the bound proton. One of the most promising directions is
incoherent deeply virtual Compton scattering, which can provide a tomographic
view of the bound proton. The first measurement has been recently performed,
using $^4$He targets at Jefferson Lab. In the work presented here, a rigorous
Impulse Approximation analysis of this process is proposed. As ingredients,
state-of-the-art models of the nuclear spectral function and of the parton
structure of the struck proton, together with novel scattering amplitudes
expressions for a bound moving nucleon, have been used. A good overall
agreement with the data is obtained, in particular at high values of the photon
virtuality. The observed big difference between results for the bound proton
and those for the free one turns out to be due in small part to modifications
of the parton structure, and rather it should be related to kinematical nuclear
effects. The analysis demonstrates that the comparison of the results of this
approach, based on a conventional description, with future precise data, has
the potential to expose exotic quark and gluon effects in nuclei.
