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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 5/19/2026 has been entered.
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 1-6, 8-9 and 11-19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Buerger, U.S. Patent No. 10,900,343 B1 (‘343), in view of Astrid, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0252664 A1 (‘664).
As per claim 1, ‘343 in view of ‘664 disclose a method for optimising at least one drilling parameter during an ongoing drilling process, the drilling being carried out by a percussive drilling machine, the drilling machine being set to drill at an operating point, the operating point of the drilling being determined by a setting of a plurality of control parameters (e.g., See ‘343; C3 L7-32 and C9 L23 – C10 L19, which disclose a method for optimizing drilling during an ongoing percussive drilling process by setting drilling control parameters), the method comprising:
determining a first plurality of drilling machine operating points, the first plurality of drilling machine operating points being set by the plurality of control parameters, wherein the first plurality of drilling machine operating points is determined based on a difference in parameter values relative to an initial drilling machine operating point of parameters being controlled (e.g., Although ‘343 discloses, in C9 L23 – C10 L48, varying percussive drilling control setpoints, ‘343 does not specifically disclose determining a first plurality of setpoints based on differences in parameters values relative to an initial operating point. ‘664 discloses this missing feature in [0091] – [0093] by varying manipulated variable setpoints from an existing setpoint during an optimization scanning procedure, thereby determining multiple setpoints based on parameter values from differences relative to an initial setpoint);
performing percussive drilling at each of the first plurality of drilling machine operating points (e.g., See ‘343; C9 L23 – C10 L48, which discloses drilling while applying the varied drilling setpoints);
evaluating at least one resulting drilling parameter for each of the plurality of drilling machine operating points (e.g., See ‘343; C9 L23 – C10 L48, which discloses evaluating drilling outcomes, including rate of penetration and mechanical specific energy);
determining a new plurality of drilling machine operating points to be drilled based on the evaluation (e.g., See ‘343; C9 L51 – C10 L48, which discloses selecting new setpoints based on optimization results; also see ‘664; [0102] – [0107], which discloses deciding, based on evaluated optimization results, whether and how to change drilling setpoints); and
drilling the new plurality of drilling machine operating points (e.g., See ‘343; C9 L51 – C10 L48, which discloses drilling using the selected setpoints; also See ‘664; [0107], which discloses implementing the new setpoints so drilling continues under the changed operating conditions).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have incorporated the teachings of ‘664 into ‘343 for the purpose of testing different drilling settings, evaluating how the drilling process responds to those settings, selecting settings that produce better drilling results, and continuing the drilling using those selected settings to achieve more efficient drilling conditions and improved drilling performance.
As per claim 2, ‘343’s combined system (‘343 in view of ‘664) further discloses (1) continuously determining the first plurality of drilling machine operating points during ongoing drilling based on evaluation of drilled operating points (e.g., See ‘343; C9 L51 – C10 L48, which discloses continuously changing drilling settings during drilling based on results from previously tested drilling settings), and (2) continuously drilling and evaluating the determined first plurality of drilling machine operating points (e.g., See ‘343; C9 L23 – C10 L48, which discloses continuously drilling and checking results while using different drilling settings; also see ‘664; [0099] – [0101] and [0107]).
As per claim 3, ‘343’s combined system further discloses that when evaluating at least one drilling parameter for each of the drilled plurality of drilling machine operating points, evaluating a plurality of drilling parameters for each of the first plurality of drilling machine operating points (e.g., See ‘343; C9 L23 – C10 L48, which discloses checking multiple drilling results, including rate of penetration and mechanical specific energy, for each tested drilling setting).
As per claim 4, ‘343’s combined system further discloses assigning different weights and/or priorities to the plurality of drilling parameters in the evaluation (e.g., See ‘343; C6 L48 – C7 L20, which discloses co-optimizing drilling performance by using selectable weights to balance rate of penetration and mechanical specific energy).
As per claim 5, ‘343’s combined system further discloses that when determining the new plurality of drilling machine operating points, selecting the new plurality of operating points starting from a drilling machine operating point of the drilled plurality of drilling machine operating points being considered the most optimal drilling machine operating point of the drilled plurality of drilling machine operating points (e.g., See ‘343; C10 L20 – C10 L48, which discloses choosing the best sampled drilling setting after testing different settings during the optimization procedure).
As per claim 6, ‘343’s combined system further discloses continuing optimisation of the drilling machine operating point by determining a new plurality of drilling machine operating points to be drilled at least for as long as a more optimal drilling machine operating point is identified among the new plurality of drilling machine operating points (e.g., See ‘343; C9 L51 – C10 L48, which discloses continuing the optimization search by testing drilling settings until the best setting is selected).
As per claim 8, ‘343’s combined system further discloses that prior to evaluating a drilling machine operating point, performing percussive drilling for at least a predetermined number of percussions and/or a predetermined period of time at the drilling machine operating point to be evaluated (e.g., See ‘343; C10 L33-48, which discloses drilling at each tested setting for a set time before evaluating the drilling result).
As per claim 9, ‘343’s combined system further discloses (1) evaluating a drilling machine operating point while the drilling machine operating point is being drilled (e.g., See ‘664; [0087] – [0091], which discloses evaluating drilling results during a scanning procedure at different setpoints), (2) determining whether drilling at the drilling machine operating point being evaluated is to be aborted (e.g., See ‘664; [0099] – [0101], which discloses determining whether changing drilling conditions affect the current drilling evaluation), and (3) switching drilling to a previously drilled, or subsequent drilling machine operating point to be drilled, prior to finishing the predetermined number of percussions and/or period of time of drilling when the evaluation deems that drilling at the current drilling machine operating point is to be aborted (e.g., See ‘664; [0099] – [0101] and [0107], which disclose terminating or interrupting a scanning cycle when drilling conditions change, evaluating whether setpoint changes are required, and implementing new manipulated variable setpoints so drilling proceeds at another setpoint).
As per claim 11, ‘343’s combined system further discloses that when drilling is to be performed at a particular drilling machine operating point, (1) determining control parameter settings to be used when drilling at the particular drilling machine operating point (e.g., See ‘343; C9 L51 – C10 L12-19, which discloses determining control settings to use for a particular drilling operating point), (2) setting the drilling control parameters to the determined control parameter settings (e.g., See ‘343; C9 L23 – C10 L12-19, which discloses setting drilling control parameters , including WOB, hammer pressure, and rotary speed) and (3) performing drilling at the particular drilling machine operating point following setting of the drilling control parameters (e.g., See ‘343; C9 L50 – C10 L48, which discloses drilling after the drilling control parameters are set).
As per claim 12, ‘343’s combined system further discloses that prior to determining a plurality of drilling machine operating points to be drilled based on a previously drilled operating point, determining whether a difference in control parameter values between drilling machine operating points is to be increased or decreased prior to generating a new plurality of drilling machine operating points (e.g., See ‘343; C10 L20 – C10 L48, which discloses using a golden section search that repeatedly narrows the search interval to find the best drilling setting).
As per claim 13, ‘343’s combined system further discloses that when drilling is commenced, selecting an initial operating point as a drilling machine operating point previously being used as an optimal drilling machine operating point in an earlier drilling session, the drilling machine operating point set by an operator of a drill rig or an empirically determined drilling machine operating points (e.g., See ‘343; C9 L51 – C10 L48, which discloses using existing or previously determined drilling settings as starting points for finding improved drilling settings during the optimization search).
As per claim 14, ‘343’s combined system further discloses optimising drilling by maximising at least one drilling parameter and/or minimising at least one drilling parameter (e.g., See ‘343; C6 L14 – C6 L23 and C9 L23 – C10 L4, which discloses optimizing drilling by minimizing MSE and/or maximizing ROP).
As per claim 15, ‘343’s combined system further discloses that the plurality of control parameters comprises two or more from the group: rotation pressure, percussion pressure, feed pressure, and flush flow (e.g., See ‘343; C9 L23 – C10 L19, which discloses control parameters including WOB, hammer pressure, and rotary speed).
As per claim 16, ‘343’s combined system further discloses that (1) when determining a plurality of drilling machine operating points to be drilled starting from a drilling machine operating point being considered the most optimal drilling machine operating point of a drilled plurality of operating points (e.g., See ‘343; C9 L51 – C10 L48, which discloses determining new drilling settings from the best tested drilling setting), selecting higher and/or lower values of control parameters in relation to the drilling machine operating point being considered the most optimal drilling machine operating point (e.g., See ‘343; C10 L20 – C10 L48, which discloses using a golden search to test higher and lower drilling settings during the optimization search and then selecting the best setting).
As per claim 17, ‘343’s combined system further discloses respecting maximum and/or minimum limitations of the at least one drilling parameter when determining a subsequent plurality of drilling machine operating points to be drilled (e.g., See ‘343; C7 L22 – C8 L6 and C8 L59 - C9 L2; also ‘664; [0019], which discloses limiting drilling settings using anti-stall control and operational parameter limits during drilling optimization).
As per claims 18 and 19, the rational as applied with respect to the rejection of claim 1, from above, is applied herein because the claimed control unit or control system is configured to perform the same drilling parameter optimization steps as recited in claim 1. Also see ‘343; C8 L59 – C9 L23-50.
Claim 7 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Buerger, U.S. Patent No. 10,900,343 B1 (‘343), in view of Astrid, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0252664 A1 (‘664), as applied to claim 6, from above, and further in view of Wang, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0066471 A1 (‘471).
As per claim 7, ‘343’s combined system does not specifically disclose that when evaluation of a drilled plurality of operating points does not identify a more optimal drilling machine operating point in relation to the optimal drilling machine operating point from which the drilled plurality of operating points was determined, determining at least one further plurality of drilling machine operating points to be drilled from a previously drilled operating point that has not formed basis for determining a new set of drilling machine operating points.
Although ‘343’s combined system discloses iterative drilling optimization using evaluated drilling results to determine further operating setpoints, ‘343’s combined system does not specifically disclose determining new setpoints from a previously drilled setpoint when a more optimal setpoint is not identified.
‘471 adequately discloses this feature by disclosing, in [0075] – [0078], that when optimization results are insufficient or drilling conditions change, additional drilling settings are tested using new setpoints to continue the optimization search for improved drilling conditions.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have incorporated the teachings of ‘471 into ‘343’s combined system for the purpose of continuing to test drilling settings when optimization results are insufficient so additional drilling data can be collected to find improved drilling conditions.
Claim 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Buerger, U.S. Patent No. 10,900,343 B1 (‘343), in view of Astrid, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0252664 A1 (‘664), as applied to claim 9, from above, and further in view of Keskiniva, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0251049 A1 (‘049).
As per claim 10, ‘343’s combined system does not specifically disclose determining at least one drilling parameter by measuring a reflected stress wave caused by an incident stress wave generated by at least one percussive impact by an impact device of the drilling machine on a drill string of a drill rig.
‘049 discloses these features by disclosing, in [0001] and [0006] – [0008], adjusting drilling impact energy based on tensile stress that is reflected back from the rock through the drilling tool.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to have incorporated the teachings of ‘049 into ‘343’s combined system for the purpose of protecting the drilling tool by reducing harmful reflected stress during the drilling.
References Considered but Not Relied Upon
The following references were considered but were not relied upon with respect to any prior art rejections:
(1) US 7921936 B2, which discloses a method for controlling a drilling apparatus comprising the steps of applying a rotation force to a drilling part of the drilling apparatus, applying a feed force to the drilling part with the feed force comprising a predetermined modulating frequency signal and predetermined feed force, wherein optimum predetermined feed force is determined periodically from sensed data relating to at least one of the rotation force and feed force to optimize the penetration rate of the drilling apparatus.;
(2) US 11073009 B2, which discloses a method for drilling a well includes applying energy input to a drill string (31) by at least one of rotating the drill string (31) from surface and operating a drilling motor (41) disposed in the drill string (31) to operate a drill bit (2) at a bottom of the drill string (31); an amount of the applied energy not consumed in drilling formations caused by at least one of motion, deformation, and interaction of the drill string (31) is calculated; an amount of the applied energy used to drill formations below the drill bit (2) is calculated; and at least one drilling operating parameter is adjusted based on energy calculation before or during drilling operation.;
(3) US 8954304 B2, which discloses a method of optimizing a drilling tool assembly including inputting well data into an optimization system, the optimization system having an experience data set and an artificial neural network, wherein the method further including comparing the well data to the experience data set and developing an initial drilling tool assembly based on the comparing the well data to the experience data, wherein the drilling tool assembly is developed using the artificial neural network, wherein additionally, the method including simulating the initial drilling tool assembly in the optimization system and creating result data in the optimization system based on the simulating.;
(4) US 8799198 B2, which discloses a method of optimizing a drilling operating parameter or a drilling system parameter for a drilling assembly employing at least first and second distinct cutting structures includes entering at least one design parameter for each of the cutting structures into a trained artificial neural network, wherein at least one of the design parameters of the first cutting structure may be optionally combined with at least one of the design parameters of the second cutting structure, wherein the combined design parameter may also be entered into the artificial neural network.;
(5) US 8121971 B2, which discloses an information integration environment identifies the current drilling sites, and drilling equipment and processes at those current drilling sites, wherein based upon that identification, and upon data received from the drilling sites, servers access and configure software agents that are sent to a host client system at the drilling site; these software agents operate at the host client system to acquire data from sensors at the drilling site, to transmit that data to the information integration environment, and to derive the drilling state and drilling recommendations for the driller at the drilling site, wherein these software agents include one or more rules, heuristics, or calibrations derived by the inference engine, and called by the information integration environment, wherein in addition, the software agents sent from the information integration environment to the host client system operate to display values, trends, and reliability estimates for various drilling parameters, whether measured or calculated.;
(6) US 20100025106 A1, which discloses a method for controlling a rock drilling process, in which an impulse-generating device comprising an impact element transmits a shock wave to a tool connected to the impulse-generating device, whereby a portion of the energy of the shock wave is transmitted to the rock by means of the tool and a portion of the energy of the shock wave is reflected and brought back to the impulse-generating device as reflected energy, wherein the method comprises steps of generating at least one parameter value representing the reflected energy, and regulating the interaction of said impact element with said tool at least partially based on said value or values to control the rise time and/or length of said shock wave, wherein the invention also relates to a regulation device, an impulse-generating device and a drilling rig.; and
(7) AU 782390 B2, which discloses an apparatus and method is provided for substantially continuously drilling and disposing of drill cuttings and dust to minimize airborne contamination while providing protection against overload using enhanced computer control, wherein a drill stem with a bit is used to form the drill hole, wherein a flushing mechanism utilizes vacuum or pressurized water to create a bailing fluid flow for flushing the cuttings and dust from the drill hole for disposal, wherein a transducer monitors at least one first parameter of the bailing fluid flow, and a sensor may also monitor at least one second parameter of a flow of a driving fluid under pressure for feeding the drill stem and bit into the earth, wherein a controller is utilized to regulate the rate of feed and/or driving of the stem and bit dependent on the levels of the parameters being monitored.
Conclusion
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/RONALD D HARTMAN JR/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2119 May 28, 2026
/RDH/
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