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 .
Response to Amendment
Claims 1-14 and 16-20 remain pending, claim 15 was cancelled, and claim 21 is new. The remarks found in the Response to Office Action filed 4/23/26 have been entered.
Applicant’s remarks filed 4/23/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive in light of the new art found during a further search necessitated by amendment of the claims.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 5/7/26 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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) 1-14 and 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Klein et al “Distributed wireless sensing for fugitive methane leak detection”, 2017 IEEE International Conference on Big Data, December 11, 2017, pages 4583-4591, cited by applicant.
Regarding Claim 1: Klein teaches an emissions detector for monitoring methane emissions at one or more industrial facilities (title and abstract), the emissions detector comprising: a gas sensor that is deployed at a fixed location within an industrial facility (fig 3) and configurable or configured to perform time-series measurements of methane concentration in atmospheric gas (fig 5A and II.B); and an RF communication modem, operably coupled to the gas sensor (fig 3A), that is configurable or configured to wirelessly transmit time-series data generated based on the time-series measurements directly to a radio access network, wherein the time-series data comprises a sequence of methane concentration values indexed by time and is representative of methane concentration over time for use in characterizing methane emissions at the industrial facility (introduction, fig 5A).
Regarding Claim 2: Klein teaches the detector of Claim 1 and further teaches wherein the RF communication modem is configurable or configured to wirelessly communicate the time-series data based on the time-series measurements of methane concentration performed by the gas sensor directly to the radio access network for delivery to a cloud computing environment (abstract).
Regarding Claim 3: Klein teaches the detector of Claim 2 and further teaches wherein the RF communication modem and the radio access network are configured to support wireless data communication of the time-series data over at least one direct RF communication link between the RF communication modem and the radio access network, wherein the at least one direct RF communication link implements at least one predefined wireless communication protocol having a range of ten kilometers or less (abstract, II.B, figs 1).
Regarding Claim 4: Klein teaches the detector of Claim 1 and further teaches at least one atmospheric sensor that is configurable or configured to measure properties of atmospheric gas (III, wind direction and speed), wherein the RF communication modem is operably coupled to the at least one atmospheric sensor (IV and V).
Regarding Claim 5: Klein teaches the detector of claim 4 and further teaches wherein the RF communication modem is configurable or configured to wirelessly communicate time-series data based on measurements of the at least one atmospheric sensor directly to the radio access network for delivery to a cloud computing environment (abstract and II.B).
Regarding Claim 6: Klein teaches the detector of Claim 5 and further teaches wherein the RF communication modem and the radio access network are configured to support wireless data communication of the time-series data based on the measurements of the at least one atmospheric sensor over at least one direct RF communication link between the RF communication modem and the radio access network, wherein the at least one direct RF communication link implements at least one predefined wireless communication protocol having a range of ten kilometers or less (abstract, II,B, figs 1).
Regarding Claim 7: Klein teaches the detector of Claim 4 and further teaches wherein the properties of atmospheric gas measured by the at least one atmospheric sensor are selected from the group including: temperature, atmospheric pressure, and humidity (II. B, humidity and temperature).
Regarding Claim 8: Klein teaches the detector of Claim 1 and further teaches at least one environmental sensor that is configurable or configured to measure environmental conditions, wherein the RF communication modem is operably coupled to the at least one environmental sensor (abstract, II.B).
Regarding Claim 9: Klein teaches the detector of Claim 8 and further teaches wherein the RF communication modem is configurable or configured to wirelessly communicate time-series data based on measurements of the at least one environmental sensor directly to the radio access network for delivery to a cloud computing environment (abstract and I).
Regarding Claim 10: Klein teaches the detector of Claim 9, and further teaches wherein the RF communication modem and the radio access network are configured to support wireless data communication of the time-series data based on the measurements of the at least one environmental sensor over at least one direct RF communication link between the RF communication modem and the radio access network, wherein the at least one direct RF communication link implements at least one predefined wireless communication protocol having a range of ten kilometers or less (III, figs 1).
Regarding Claim 11: Klein teaches the detector of Claim 8, and further teaches wherein the environmental conditions measured by the at least one environmental sensor are selected from the group including: wind speed, wind direction, and solar radiation (III, wind direction and speed).
Regarding Claim 12: Klein teaches the detector of Claim 1 and further teaches wherein the RF communication modem is part of acquisition and communication electronics of the emissions detector (fig. 3A).
Regarding Claim 13: Klein teaches the detector of Claim 1, and further teaches at least one solar panel (III).
Regarding Claim 14: Klein teaches a system for monitoring methane emissions at one or more industrial facilities, the system comprising a network of emissions detectors spaced from one another at different locations within an industrial facility (fig 2), wherein each emissions detector of the network includes a gas sensor that is configurable or configured to perform time-series measurements of methane concentration in atmospheric gas at a fixed location (fig 3), and an RF communication modem, operably coupled to the gas sensor, that is configurable or configured for direct RF communication with a radio access network and to wirelessly transmit time-series data generated by the respective emissions detector directly to the radio access network (fig 3A); and a cloud computing environment operably coupled to the network of emissions detectors via the radio access network (fig 2); wherein the network of emissions detectors is configured to perform time-series measurements at different locations within the industrial facility and wirelessly communicate time-series data based on such measurements directly to the radio access network for delivery to the cloud computing environment, wherein the time-series data comprise a sequence of methane concentration values indexed by time, wherein each emissions detector is configured to locally process the time-series data generated by the respective emissions detector prior to transmission, including at least one of filtering or averaging the time-series data (abstract); and wherein the cloud computing environment is configured to receive and process the time- series data to detect and characterize methane emissions at the industrial facility by determining at least a location and an emission rate of the methane emissions using a dispersion model (abstract).
Regarding Claim 17: Klein teaches the system of Claim 14 and further teaches wherein the time-series data represents methane concentration at specific locations within the industrial facility and environmental conditions at specific location(s) within the industrial facility as a function of time (fig 5A); and wherein the cloud computing environment is configured to process the
Regarding Claim 18: Klein teaches the system of Claim 14 and further teaches wherein the cloud computing environment is further configured to generate data related to the methane emission and process such data to automatically generate an alert characterizing the methane emission at the industrial facility (abstract).
Regarding Claim 19: Klein teaches the system of Claim 14 and further teaches wherein the industrial facility comprises an oil and gas facility such as a well site, compressor station, or processing facility (II.A).
Regarding Claim 20: Klein teaches the system of Claim 14 and further teaches wherein the RF communication modems of the respective emissions detectors of the network and the radio access network are each configured to support wireless data communication of the time-series data over at least one direct RF communication link between the RF communication modem and the radio access network, wherein the at least one direct RF communication link implements at least one predefined wireless communication protocol having a range of ten kilometers or less (figs 1).
Claim(s) 14 and 16-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Verbeck (US 2018/0284088).
Regarding Claim 14: Verbeck teaches a system for monitoring methane emissions at one or more industrial facilities (fig 10), the system comprising a network of emissions detectors spaced from one another at different locations within an industrial facility (1060), wherein each emissions detector of the network includes a gas sensor that is configurable or configured to perform time-series measurements of methane concentration in atmospheric gas at a fixed location (para 66), and an RF communication modem, operably coupled to the gas sensor, that is configurable or configured for direct RF communication with a radio access network and to wirelessly transmit time-series data generated by the respective emissions detector directly to the radio access network (1010, para 108); and a cloud computing environment operably coupled to the network of emissions detectors via the radio access network (1080); wherein the network of emissions detectors is configured to perform time-series measurements at different locations within the industrial facility and wirelessly communicate time-series data based on such measurements directly to the radio access network for delivery to the cloud computing environment, wherein the time-series data comprise a sequence of methane concentration values indexed by time, wherein each emissions detector is configured to locally process the time-series data generated by the respective emissions detector prior to transmission, including at least one of filtering or averaging the time-series data (para 115-118); and wherein the cloud computing environment is configured to receive and process the time- series data to detect and characterize methane emissions at the industrial facility by determining at least a location and an emission rate of the methane emissions using a dispersion model (para 118).
Regarding Claim 16: Verbeck teaches the system of Claim 14 and further teaches wherein the dispersion model comprises a Gaussian plume dispersion model (para 118).
Regarding Claim 17: Klein teaches the system of Claim 14 and further teaches wherein the time-series data represents methane concentration at specific locations within the industrial facility and environmental conditions at specific location(s) within the industrial facility as a function of time (para 109, 120); and wherein the cloud computing environment is configured to process the
Regarding Claim 18: Klein teaches the system of Claim 14 and further teaches wherein the cloud computing environment is further configured to generate data related to the methane emission and process such data to automatically generate an alert characterizing the methane emission at the industrial facility (para 147).
Regarding Claim 19: Verbeck teaches the system of Claim 14 and further teaches wherein the industrial facility comprises a well site (para 163).
Regarding Claim 20: Verbeck teaches the system of Claim 14 and further teaches wherein the RF communication modems of the respective emissions detectors of the network and the radio access network are each configured to support wireless data communication of the time-series data over at least one direct RF communication link between the RF communication modem and the radio access network, wherein the at least one direct RF communication link implements at least one predefined wireless communication protocol having a range of ten kilometers or less (para 94).
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.
Claim 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Klein et al “Distributed wireless sensing for fugitive methane leak detection”, 2017 IEEE International Conference on Big Data, December 11, 2017, pages 4583-4591, cited by applicant, in view of Safinya (US 2008/0048881)
Regarding Claim 21: Klein teaches an emission detector for monitoring methane emission at one or more industrial facilities, the emission detector comprising a gas sensor that is deployed at a fixed location within an industrial facility (fig 3) and configurable or configured to perform time-series measurements of methane concentration in atmospheric gas (fig 5A and II.B); and an RF communication modem, operably coupled to the gas sensor (fig 3A), that is configurable or configured to wirelessly transmit time-series data generated based on the time-series measurements directly to a radio access network, wherein the time-series data comprises a sequence of methane concentration values indexed by time and is representative of methane concentration over time for use in characterizing methane emissions at the industrial facility (introduction, fig 5A). Klein does not specifically teach a GNSS module configured to provide location and time information associated with the emissions detector wherein the time-series data is stamped with that information provided by the GNSS module in synchronization with the time-series measurements. However, in a similar field of endeavor, Safinya teaches the use of a GNSS module configured to provide location and time information associated with the emissions detector wherein the time-series data is stamped with that information provided by the GNSS module in synchronization with the time-series measurements (para 19). It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to provide the device of Klein with the GNSS module of Safinya for the purpose of acquiring a globally referenced position (para 19).
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KRISTINA M DEHERRERA whose telephone number is (303)297-4237. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8:30-5 MT.
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/KRISTINA M DEHERRERA/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2855
9/18/26
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