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 .
In response to the restriction requirement, Applicant elected claims 1-3, 5-10, 12-17, and 19-20 for further examination. As a result, claims 4, 11, and 18 are withdrawn from further prosecution.
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) 1-3, 5-10, 12-17, 19-20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Cheng et al. (US 11280931).
Cheng et al. discloses a method comprising:
identifying a plurality of capillary pressure test factors associated with a set of capillary
pressure test data, wherein the set of capillary pressure test data is associated with one or more
rock samples (FIG. 5, steps 502, 504 and column 8, lines 35-45: At step 502 (FIG. 5), receiving one dataset describing fluid particles in the pores, describing a fluid surface relaxivity of each of the particles including mercury injection capillary pressure data obtained from a plurality of samples taken from a subsurface reservoir, wherein the pore throat size distribution (step 504) associates with the received porosity data set including the capillary pressure data (step 502));
identifying a plurality of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) factors associated with a set of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) training data, wherein the set of NMR training data is
associated with the one or more rock samples (FIG. 5, steps 506, 508, 510: The determined T1/T2 ratio distribution (step 510) associates with the received NMR measurements (step 506));
uniquely associating each respective factor of the identified NMR factors with each of the identified capillary pressure test factors determining a plurality of conversion factors that aligns the identified NMR factors with the identified capillary pressure test factors according to a one-to-one correspondence; applying the plurality of conversion factors that aligns the identified NMR factors with the identified capillary pressure test factors according to the one-to-one correspondence to downhole NMR logging data collected at a subterranean rock formation (FIG. 6 shows the association between the T1T2 ratio as NMR factors and the pore body diameter distribution as capillary pressure factors); and
identifying one or more petrophysical parameters of the subterranean rock formation based on the adjusted conversion factors applied to the NMR logging data collected at the subterranean rock formation (FIG. 5, step 514: Determine formation’s property).
Regarding to claims 2-3, 7, 9-10, 14, 16-17: wherein: each of the identified capillary pressure test factors uniquely corresponds to respective pore types of a plurality of pore types of the one or more rock samples, and the plurality of pore types includes a micro pore type, a meso pore type, and a macro pore type, wherein each respective conversion factor of the plurality of conversion factors are associated with a respective pore type of the plurality of pore types based on the one-to-one correspondence, and the micro pore type corresponds to a first range of pore sizes, the meso pore type corresponds to a second range of pore sizes, and a macro pore type corresponds to a third range of pore sizes; wherein the one or more rock samples and the subterranean rock formation include carbonite minerals (column 10, lines 24-27: The two vertical lines are the pore size boundaries to identify microporous, mesoporous, and microporous material layers in carbonates).
Regarding to claims 5-6, 12-13, 19: further comprising initiating operation of an NMR sensing device in a wellbore where the subterranean rock formation is located (column 5, lines 9-12: The NMR logging tool includes NMR components to perform NMR measurements on a sensitive volume in formation), providing a first type of fluid to the wellbore to displace a second type of fluid located at
the subterranean rock formation, wherein the NMR sensing device collects data based on the first
type of fluid displacing the second type of fluid (FIG. 1: The drilling fluid from the pool 124 pumped into the wellbore reads on the claimed first type of fluid).
CONTACT INFORMATION
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LAM S NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571)272-2151.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, DOUGLAS RODRIGUEZ, can be reached on 571-431-0716. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LAM S NGUYEN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2853
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