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 .
Priority
Current application, US Application No. 18/315,880, is filed on 05/11/2023.
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is responsive to the application filed on 05/11/2023. Claims 1-10 and 12-20 are currently pending.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
Claims 1-10 and 12-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
As per claims 1, 10 and 16, claims recite the limitation “the location” in “calculating a residual between the acoustic impedance based on the well log and the initial acoustic impedance volume at the location of the well”. There is insufficient antecedent basis for this limitation in the claim.
Besides, the limitation “a residual between the acoustic impedance based on the well log and the initial acoustic impedance volume at the location of the well” is ambiguous because the acoustic impedance and the initial acoustic impedance volume are not equivalent data type for comparing each other, e.g. scalar versus 1D vector or 3D data matrix, and differentiating two different data types for residual appears not feasible. (see specification - a one dimensional (1D) vector of values representing the acoustic impedance at different depths. A 1D vector of values can be extracted from the initial acoustic impedance volume at the location corresponding to the well representing the initial acoustic impedance at different depths based on the seismic data [0040]).
For the sake of examination, the limitation is interpreted as “a residual between the acoustic impedance of the well log and the initial acoustic impedance extracted from the initial acoustic impedance volume at a location of the well”.
As per claim 2, the limitation “generating a corrected acoustic impedance volume comprises adding the residual volume to the initial acoustic impedance volume” is ambiguous because the limitation covers only one aspect of the residual volume, e.g. corrected acoustic impedance volume size grows from the initial acoustic impedance, and fails to cover the other aspect. For the purpose of examination, the limitation is interpreted as “generating a corrected acoustic impedance volume comprises adjusting the initial acoustic impedance volume with the residual volume”
As per claims 12 and 15, claims depend on non-existing claim 11. For the purpose of examination, claims are interpreted as dependent on claim 10.
As per claims 2-9, 12-15 and 17-20, claims are also rejected because base claims 1, 10 and 16 are rejected.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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, 7, 8, 10, 15, 16 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei (CN 105954803 A), hereinafter ‘We’ in view of Wang (CN 111665547 A), hereinafter ‘Wang’ and Xia (US 20210165119 A1), hereinafter ‘Xia’ best understood by the examiner.
As per claim 1, Wei discloses
A method for geophysical exploration of a subterranean formation, (method, seismic, reservoir [abs], geophysical exploration, seismic exploration [pg. 2 line 2-33]) the method comprising:
acquiring seismic data representing the subterranean formation; (actual seismic data [abs, pg. 2 line 38 – pg. 3 line 16], the logging in data [pg. 2 line 24])
generating an initial acoustic impedance model based on the seismic data; (wave impedance of the initial model, the initial model according to actual seismic data, [abs, pg. 2 line 38 – pg. 3 line 16], the initial model wave impedance is optimized according to actual seismic data with synthetic seismic data [pg. 3 line 24-27], logging sound wave [pg. 9 line 7-11]).
measuring properties of the subterranean formation at one or more wells extending into the subterranean formation using a logging tool; (seismic exploration, seismic source, detector … to obtain seismic records, medium physical properties, lithology, density, porosity [pg. 2 line 5-16], inspection well [pg. 5 line 1-32, Figs. 5-17, test well, well logging data [pg. 9 line 4-11])
Although Wei recites initial impedance model, Wei is not explicit on the impedance volume.
Wang discloses initial acoustic impedance volume, e.g. impedance model space in 3D grid format (acoustic wave impedance [pg. 2 line 33, pg. 15 claim 1], initial … impedance model space [abs, pg. 3 line 18-19], a grid configuration diagram of each physical quantity and medium parameter of the three-dimensional sound wave [pg. 5 line 32-33, Fig. 4]).
Wang is in the same acoustic impedance generation art as Wei.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time when invention is filed before the effective filing date of the current application to modify the teachings of Wei in view of Wang to generate an initial acoustic impedance volume based on the seismic data for constructing a precise well underground modeling using a quantitative geophysical properties analysis (see Wei - improves the inversion precision and realize the quantitative description in reservoir prediction [abs], geophysical exploration, underground physical properties, data processing [pg.2 line 1-37]) (see Wang - the exploration geophysical technology field, shallow modeling technology is always the difficulty of underground medium parameter modeling [pg. 2 line 12-13]).
Wei further discloses measuring properties of the subterranean formation at one or more wells extending into the subterranean formation using a logging tool; (seismic exploration, seismic source, detector … to obtain seismic records, medium physical properties, lithology, density, porosity [pg. 2 line 5-16], inspection well [pg. 5 line 1-32, Figs. 5-17, test well, well logging data [pg. 9 line 4-11]).
However, the combined prior art is silent regarding storing values of the measured properties in a well log for each well.
Xia discloses storing well log data including properties in the well log (comprising: a set of memory resources, for storing data corresponding to upscaled well logs, … properties corresponding to a survey region having at least one well location [claim 7]).
Xia is in the same seismic exploration art as the combined prior art.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time when invention is filed before the effective filing date of the current application to modify the teachings of the combined prior art in view of Xia to store values of the measured properties in a well log for each well for constructing a precise well underground modeling using a quantitative geophysical properties analysis with computational resource optimization.
Wei further discloses
for each well, calculating an acoustic impedance at different depths based on the well log; (collecting … seismic data and well logging data, the depth domain … establish a wave impedance [pg. 9 line 7-11], inspection well [pg. 5 line 1-32, Figs. 5-17, test well, well logging data [pg. 9 line 4-11], implying the process can be repeated for each different well)
for each well, calculating a residual between the acoustic impedance based on the well log and the initial acoustic impedance volume at the location of the well; (calculating the error between synthetic seismic data and the actual seismic data [pg. 3 line 26-27], side note: error is equivalent to residual)
generating a residual volume based on the calculated residuals from the one or more wells; (calculating the j-th modification 34 synthesis error between seismic data and the actual seismic data [pg. 3 line 34-35], implying iteration for each sampling point creating residual volume)
and generating a corrected acoustic impedance volume representing the subterranean formation based on the residual volume and the initial acoustic impedance volume. (the initial model wave impedance is optimized, iterative processing according to the following manner: using a nonlinear global optimization algorithm modifying the initial model of the j-th wave impedance, calculating the j-th modification synthesis error between seismic data and the actual seismic data, j-th modified model of the wave impedance is … optimized wave impedance [pg. 3 line 24-38]).
As per claim 10, Wei discloses
A system for geophysical exploration of a subterranean formation, (seismic, reservoir [abs], geophysical exploration, seismic exploration [pg. 2 line 2-33], system [pg. 17 line 13-19]) the system comprising:
at least one processor; (processor [pg. 17 line 20-29])
and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations (computer program product, computer usable program code of computer usable storage medium [pg. 17 line 13-19], processor of … data processing device, a flow chart, a flow [pg. 17 line 20-29])
Wei in view of Wang and Xia disclose the remaining limitations as shown in claim 1 above.
As per claim 16, Wei discloses
One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage devices storing instructions (computer usable storage medium, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, computer program product [pg. 17 line 13-19]) for geophysical modeling of a subterranean formation, (wave impedance model [pg. 5 line 27, pg. 6 line 1, pg. 15 line 37, pg. 18 claim 4]) the instructions being executable by one or more processing devices to cause performance of operations (computer program product, computer usable program code of computer usable storage medium [pg. 17 line 13-19], processor of … data processing device, a flow chart, a flow [pg. 17 line 20-29])
Wei in view of Wang and Xia disclose the remaining limitations as shown in claim 1 above.
As per claims 7, 15 and 20, Wei, Wang and Xia disclose claims 1, 10 and 16 set forth above.
Wei further discloses repeated corrections of the acoustic impedance by using repeated calculation of residual (using global optimization algorithm, iterative process, the initial model of the actual seismic data envelope to synthetic seismic data envelope optimized wave impedance to obtain a second optimal wave impedance, k-th … impedance, k-th modified model of the wave impedance, iterative processing in the k [pg. 3 line 24-pg. 4 line 33]).
As per claim 8, Wei, Wang and Xia disclose claim 1 set forth above.
The set forth combined prior art discloses the calculation of corrected impedance volume as shown in claim 1 above.
Wei discloses oil production using the seismic data (use seismic data for a subsurface reservoir oil prediction [pg. 2 line 11-12]) and Xia discloses linking impedance with determining hydrocarbon well or reservoir location (estimating … impedance to avoid uncertainty … errors … in a survey region having … hydrocarbon well or reservoir location [0056], produce detailed images of local geology in order to determine the location and size of possible hydrocarbon ‘oil and gas’ reservoirs, and therefore a well location 103 [0072, Fig. 1]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time when invention is filed before the effective filing date of the current application to modify the teachings of the combined prior art to determine a location to produce hydrocarbons from the subterranean formation based at least in part on the corrected acoustic impedance volume for optimizing hydrocarbon production process using a quantitative geophysical properties analysis.
Claims 2-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei, Wang and Xia in view of Stucchi (Stucchi, E., and et al. "Seismic preprocessing and amplitude cross‐calibration for a time‐lapse amplitude study on seismic data from the Oseberg reservoir." Geophysical Prospecting 53, no. 2 (2005): 265-282), hereinafter ‘Stu’ beast understood by the examiner.
As per claim 2, Wei, Wang and Xia disclose claim 1 set forth above.
Wei further discloses generating a corrected acoustic impedance volume comprises adding the residual volume to the initial acoustic impedance volume ((initial impedance model, error, iterative processing, calculating j-th … error, j-th … model of the wave impedance is … optimized [pg. 15 line 34 – pg. 16 line 10]), implying adjusting the residual volume from the initial acoustic impedance volume.
However, Wei is not explicit on adjusting the residual volume to the initial acoustic impedance volume.
Stu discloses generating a corrected acoustic impedance volume comprises adjusting the residual volume to the initial acoustic impedance volume (cross-calibration of different vintage data is an important prerequisite , acoustic impedance, cross-calibration can be considered as … residual correction [abs], cross-calibration, impedance contrast, remove residual [pg. 271 right col par. 3], removed the residual … effects due to the differences in the acquisition [pg. 273 left col par 2], residual … adjustment, a different vintage 3D survey, a decrease in the acoustic impedance [pg. 280 right col par 4-6])
Stu is also in the same acoustic impedance calibration art as the combined prior art.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time when invention is filed before the effective filing date of the current application to modify the teachings of the combined prior art in view of Stu to generate the corrected acoustic volume by adjusting the residual volume to the initial acoustic volume for constructing a precise well underground modeling using a quantitative geophysical properties analysis.
As per claim 3, Wei, Wang and Xia disclose claim 1 set forth above.
Wei further discloses the well log includes a sonic log (well logging data, logging sound wave [pg. 9 line 7-11]), but is silent regarding including a density log.
Stu discloses both sonic and density logs as thew well log (The sonic and density logs from a … well [pg. 267 par. 2, Fig. 3]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time when invention is filed before the effective filing date of the current application to modify the teachings of the combined prior art in view of Stu to include a sonic log or density log as the well log for constructing a precise well underground modeling.
Claims 4-5, 12-13 and 17-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei, Wang and Xia in view of Finke (Finke, P. A., and et al. "Mapping groundwater dynamics using multiple sources of exhaustive high resolution data." Geoderma 123, no. 1-2 (2004): 23-39), hereinafter ‘Finke’ best understood by the examiner.
As per claims 4, 12 and 17, Wei, Wang and Xia disclose claims 1, 10 and 16 set forth above.
The set forth combined prior art is silent regarding wherein generating a residual volume comprises applying a spatial interpolation between calculated residuals of the one or more wells in the subterranean formation.
Finke discloses use a spatial interpolation for residual mapping in the geological region (geographic data, soil type, land use, hydro-geology [pg. 26 right col par. 1-2], spatial interpolation [pg. 30 right col par 1, pg. 32 left col par 1], Kriging standard residuals and error mapping, spatial interpolation, residuals were mapped using simple kriging [pg. 32 right col par. 6 – pg. 33 left col par. 2]).
Finke is in the same subterranean data analysis art as the combined prior art.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time when invention is filed before the effective filing date of the current application to modify the teachings of the combined prior art in view of Finke to apply a spatial interpolation between calculated residuals of the one or more wells in the subterranean formation in generating a residual volume for constructing a precise well underground modeling using a quantitative geophysical properties analysis.
As per claims 5, 13 and 18, Wei, Wang, Xia and Finke disclose claims 4, 12 and 17 set forth above.
Finke discloses using a kriging method for the spatial interpolation (spatial interpolation, residuals were mapped using simple kriging [pg. 32 right col par. 6 – pg. 33 left col par. 2]).
Claim 9 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Wei, Wang and Xia in view of Wang ‘811 (CN 110095811 B), hereinafter “Wang ‘811” best understood by the examiner.
As per clam 9, Wei, Wang, Xia and Wang ‘811 disclose claim 8 set forth above.
Xia discloses hydrocarbons explorations from the subterranean formation. (oil and gas exploration and estimating spots in unconventional shale gas applications [abs], hydrocarbon predictions, subsurface rock properties, subsurface elastic parameters [0005], exploration and reservoir characterizations, subsurface strata [0054], hydrocarbon predictions, subsurface rock properties [0077]), but is not explicit producing hydrocarbons from the subterranean formation.
Wang ‘811 discloses oil extraction from the subterranean formation. (oil extraction field, the oil layer is generally located below the paste layer [pg. 2 line 23]).
Wang ‘811 is in the same geological oil exploring art as the combined prior art.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time when invention is filed before the effective filing date of the current application to modify the teachings of the combined prior art in view of Wang ‘811 to produce hydrocarbons from the subterranean formation with a rationale to apply a quantitative geophysical properties analysis to hydrocarbon exploration.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 6, 14 and 19 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: As per claims 6, 14 and 19, the closest prior art of record Wei (CN 105954803 A), Wang (CN 111665547 A), Xia (US 20210165119 A1) and Finke (Finke, P. A., and et al. "Mapping groundwater dynamics using multiple sources of exhaustive high resolution data." Geoderma 123, no. 1-2 (2004): 23-39), either singularly or in combination, fail to anticipate or render obvious the limitations
“for each well, segmenting the calculated residual based on slopes of the initial acoustic impedance volume at the location of the well;
for each segment of the calculated residual, determining a slope and an intercept by applying a linear regression fit to the calculated residual;
and wherein the kriging method determines the spatial interpolation between calculated residuals of the one or more wells based at least in part on the determined slopes and intercepts of the segments”.
A newly found reference, Chen (CN 106407633 A) discloses generating air pollution regression Kringing model using space-time estimation (aerosol monitoring technology, ground PM2.5 ‘air pollution’ regression Kriging model based on space-time estimation [abs]), but is silent regarding the above allowable limitation.
Another newly found reference, Xiao (H. Xiao, Z. Zhang, L. Chen and Q. He, "An Improved Spatio-Temporal Kriging Interpolation Algorithm and Its Application in Slope," in IEEE Access, vol. 8, pp. 90718-90729, 2020, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2994050), discloses combining the adaptive genetic algorithm with the spatio-temporal Kriging method as a hybrid spatio-temporal interpolation algorithm to monitor the deformation of a slope in a mine (a hybrid spatio-temporal interpolation algorithm was presented by combining the improved adaptive genetic algorithm (IAGA) with the spatio-temporal Kriging interpolation method, and it was applied to monitor the deformation of HP1 slope in Yuebao open-pit mine [abs]), but is silent regarding the above allowable limitation.
Notes with regard to Prior Art
The prior arts made of record below are considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Wang ‘811 also discloses determining a location for hydrocarbon production based on impedance (obtaining absolute wave impedance, establishing the … rock velocity model of the target area … improving the precision of … layer speed model, when exploring oil extracting layer, it can more accurately determine the high point position of the oil extracting layer [abs]).
Hoskins (US 5444619 A) discloses calculation of acoustic impedance volume and residuals for impedance calibration (acoustic impedance estimated … important seismic attribute [ col 1 line 51-56], a 3-D acoustic impedance cube [col 4 line 45-63], using the difference (residuals) between the well-measured properties to the estimated properties from linear calibration [col 6 line 33-36]).
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DOUGLAS KAY whose telephone number is (408) 918-7569. The examiner can normally be reached on M, Th & F 8-5, T 2-7, and W 8-1.
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/DOUGLAS KAY/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2857