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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 8-10 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Instant para. 0063 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 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)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Brenne (US 2023/0388012 A1).
Regarding claim 1, Brenne discloses a distributed fiber optic sensing (DFOS) / distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) acoustic antenna system comprising:
a DFOS/DAS system including [[abstract] supporting distributed fiber optic sensing may be configured to support distributed fiber optic sensing via fiber optic cables]]:
a DFOS/DAS interrogator [[fig. 1] shows DFOS interrogators 140-0, 140-1, 140-2, 140-3]; and
an undersea distributed acoustic receiver in optical communication with the DFOS /DAS interrogator [[fig. 1] shows optical cable #101 under the water and attached to DFOS];
wherein the DFOS/DAS interrogator is configured to generate optical interrogator pulses [[0055] pattern-modulated optical signal 332 output by the optical modulator 330 is a pulsed optical signal suitable for DFOS measurements], introduce the generated optical pulses into the undersea distributed acoustic receiver [[0007] optical probe signal for interrogating the second optical fiber line and an optical receiver configured to detect the portion of the optical probe signal backscattered in the second optical fiber line] and receive backscattered signals from the undersea distributed acoustic receiver [[0004] fiber optic cable may be used for localized acoustic or vibrational sensing of conditions; [0005] monitoring of other subsea infrastructure; [0006] distributed fiber optic sensing (DFOS) techniques. DFOS techniques generally use laser light that is backscattered along a section of optical fiber to measure various local environmental properties or detect temporal changes to such properties];
wherein the undersea distributed acoustic receiver is configured to receive acoustic signals such that the undersea distributed acoustic receiver is strained upon receipt [[0006] scattering for providing distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), distributed strain sensing (DSS)];
wherein the strained undersea distributed acoustic receiver affects the backscattered signals [[prior art claim 10] 10. the apparatus of claim 1, wherein the optical fiber interrogator includes: an optical transmitter configured to provide the optical probe signal for interrogating the second optical fiber line; and an optical receiver configured to detect the portion of the optical probe signal backscattered in the second optical fiber line.; [0056] digital samples 372 are used for recording signals of sensed events along the receive optical fiber, the actual signal of the measurand may be reconstructed (e.g., temperature, strain, acoustic signal, vibration signal, and so forth) and, in the case of an acoustic or vibration signal source … detecting localized strain changes].
Regarding claim 2, Brenne teaches the acoustic antenna system of claim 1 wherein the undersea distributed acoustic receiver comprises a length of optical sensor fiber located in an underwater location [[fig. 1] shows a length of optical cable #101 under the water].
Regarding claim 3, Brenne teaches the acoustic antenna system of claim 2 further comprising one or more acoustic transmitters configured to generate the acoustic signals [[0047] acoustic sensing of events near or along the receive optical fiber].
Regarding claim 4, Brenne teaches the acoustic antenna system of claim 3 wherein at least one of the one or more acoustic transmitters is attached to a mobile object [[0004] fiber optic cable may be used for localized acoustic or vibrational sensing of conditions such as natural phenomena (e.g., earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, landslides, ocean currents, and so forth), human activity (e.g., construction activity, boating activity (e.g., anchor drops and drags), fishing activity (e.g., trawls and fishing nets), marine maintenance activity (e.g., boulder relocation, trenching, and ploughing); [0047]].
Regarding claim 5, Brenne teaches the acoustic antenna system of claim 3 wherein at least one of the one or more acoustic transmitters is stationary [[0004][0047]].
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 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brenne (US 2023/0388012 A1) and Wilson (US 2012/0020184 A1).
Regarding claim 6, Brenne does not explicitly teach and yet Wilson teaches the acoustic antenna system of claim 3 wherein the acoustic transmitters generate the acoustic signals in response to sensor input [[abstract] distributed optical acoustic sensor is used to detect acoustic waves generated by at least one acoustic source for positioning of at least one object in relation to the structure; [0014] time of arrival of an acoustic signal at a designated seismic sensors is determined. The travel time of the acoustic signal between an acoustic pinger and the receiving seismic sensor can be determined; [0018] certain parts of the optical fiber may be affected by acoustic waves, such as acoustic waves generated by the acoustic pingers that are part of a streamer, or by other acoustic sources. The acoustic waves cause strain to be applied on portions of the optical fiber, which affect the backscattered optical signals that are reflected back to the optical receiver; [0025] control system 110 can receive signals collected by the survey sensors 106. Also, the control system 110 can control activation of the acoustic pingers 108].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the land and underwater distributed acoustic sensing system as taught by Brenne, with the optical fiber detection and acoustic pingers as taught by Wilson so that the position of a fixed or moving object with the acoustic pingers mounted thereon can be determined [[0025]] (Wilson).
Regarding claim 7, Brenne does not explicitly teach and yet Wilson teaches the acoustic antenna system of claim 3 wherein the generated acoustic signals comprise a modulated carrier signal [[0030] monitoring of acoustic waves by the distributed optical acoustic sensor 112 can be based on coherent Rayleigh backscatter in which a pulse of coherent light is launched into the optical fiber and returned (backscattered) light is analyzed. When the optical fiber is disturbed by an acoustic wave, the modulation of the backscattered optical signal is varied in the vicinity of the disturbance].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the land and underwater distributed acoustic sensing system as taught by Brenne, with the optical fiber detection and acoustic pingers as taught by Wilson so that the position of a fixed or moving object with the acoustic pingers mounted thereon can be determined [[0025]] (Wilson).
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brenne (US 2023/0388012 A1) and Wilson (US 2012/0020184 A1) as applied to claim 6 above, and further in view of Disko (US 2018/0058202 A1).
Regarding claim 8, Brenne does not explicitly teach and yet Disko teaches the acoustic antenna system of claim 6 wherein the sensor input [[0011] at least one sensor communications node is configured to transmit acoustic waves, radio waves, low frequency electromagnetic waves, inductive electromagnetic waves, light, or combinations thereof] is encoded by modulating a carrier signal using a technique selected from the group consisting of: Frequency Shift Keying (FSK), Phase Shift Keying (PSK), and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) [[0237] data transmitted between the nodes is represented by acoustic waves according to a multiple frequency shift keying (MFSK) modulation method. Although MFSK is well-suited for this application, its use as an example is not intended to be limiting. It is known that various alternative forms of digital data modulation are available, for example, frequency shift keying (FSK), multi-frequency signaling (MF), phase shift keying (PSK), pulse position modulation (PPM), and on-off keying (OOK). In one embodiment, every 4 bits of data are represented by selecting one out of sixteen possible tones for broadcast; [0261] methods may include sending an acoustic signal from at least one acoustic telemetry node at a frequency in or below the ultrasound frequency band and recording the acoustic signal sent using the fiber-based sensor system. For example, a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) fiber optic system may be utilized to record passive sound reflections (low frequency or ultrasound) or active echoes or sounds generated from low or high frequency waves generated from a node or piezo transducer that is used to transmit signals that may be useful for characterizing the formation, fractures, well completions, production information, etc].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the land and underwater distributed acoustic sensing system as taught by Brenne, with the distributed acoustic sensing and environment sensor nodes as taught by Disko for monitoring acoustic monitoring [[0019]] (Disko).
Claims 9-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Brenne (US 2023/0388012 A1), Wilson (US 2012/0020184 A1), and Disko (US 2018/0058202 A1) as applied to claim 8 above, and further in view of Englund (US 2020/0209417 A1).
Regarding claim 9, Brenne does not explicitly teach and yet Englund teaches the acoustic antenna system of claim 8 including a plurality of channels, the individual ones of the plurality of channels selected based on data quality [[0056] system and method of distributed acoustic sensing may be used with phased array processing and beam forming techniques. … phased array processing may permit improved signal-to-noise ratios in order to obtain improved long range detection of a marine acoustic source; [0057] Beamforming techniques involve the summation of an acoustic time series from adjacent channels along the fiber cable with varying degrees of time delay across each channel (or spatial position along the cable)].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the land and underwater distributed acoustic sensing system as taught by Brenne, with the channel summation and beamforming techniques as taught by Englund so that signal to noise ratio is improved for long range detection of marine acoustic sources [[0057]] (Englund).
Regarding claim 10, Brenne does not explicitly teach and yet Englund teaches the acoustic antenna system of claim 9 wherein the generated acoustic signals are enhanced by beamforming [[0056][0057]].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention to combine the land and underwater distributed acoustic sensing system as taught by Brenne, with the channel summation and beamforming techniques as taught by Englund so that signal to noise ratio is improved for long range detection of marine acoustic sources [[0057]] (Englund).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JONATHAN D ARMSTRONG whose telephone number is (571)270-7339. The examiner can normally be reached M - F 9am-5pm.
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/JONATHAN D ARMSTRONG/ Examiner, Art Unit 3645