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 .
Claim Objections
Claim 15 is objected to because of the following informalities:
Please end the claim with a period.
Appropriate correction is required.
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, 2, 5-9, 11-16, 19, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by WO2020131996 (Molla).
Regarding claim 1, Molla disclose a tool for estimating the saturates, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes (SARA) fractions of a reservoir fluid, comprising:
a flowbore housing (Fig. 1 and 2, 230);
a filter array spectrometer coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, FILTER ARRAY SPECTROMETER);
a fluorescence detector coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, FLUORESCENCE DETECTOR);
a grating spectrometer coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, GRATING SPECTROMETER);
a pressure and temperature gauge coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, P/T GAUGE);
a resistivity sensor coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, RESISTIVITY SENSOR); and
a viscosity sensor coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, DENSITY/VISCOSITY SENSOR).
Regarding claim 2, Molla disclose the tool of claim 1, wherein the filter array spectrometer includes a light source (232), a filter array (236), and a detector array (236).
Regarding claim 5, Molla disclose the tool of claim 1, wherein the grating spectrometer include a light source, a diffraction grating, and a detector, light source emits a light toward the diffraction grating, causing the light to diffract and specific angles based on wavelength [0024], and the detector measures the intensity of light at each wavelength, the intensity of light at each wavelength indicating a specific chemical in wellbore fluid [0020].
Regarding claim 6, Molla disclose the tool of claim 1, wherein the pressure and temperature gauge measures a force exerted by a fluid on a surface within the flowbore housing and a temperature of fluid within the flowbore housing (Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 7, Molla disclose the tool of claim 1, wherein the resistivity sensor measures the electrical conductivity of fluid in the fluidbore housing (Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 8, Molla disclose a method for estimating the saturates, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes (SARA) fractions of a reservoir fluid, comprising:
receiving first measurements for reservoir fluid (Fig. 3a, [0030]);
training a regression model using a first subset of the first measurements (Fig. 3a, [0030]);
testing the regression model using a second subset of the first measurements (Fig. 3a, [0030]);
pumping wellbore fluid from a wellbore into a tool for analyzing reservoir fluid ([0033]-[0034]);
receiving, from the tool, second measurements for reservoir fluid ([0033]-[0034]);
inputting the second measurements into the regression model ([0033]-[0034]); and
outputting SARA fraction levels from the regression model (Fig. 6, [0020], ([0033]-[0034]).
Regarding claim 9, Molla disclose the method of claim 8, wherein the first measurements and second measurements include measurements of pressure, temperature, methane, ethane, propane, butane, pentane, hexanes, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide (Fig. 6, [0020], ([0033]-[0034]).
Regarding claim 11, Molla disclose the method of claim 8, wherein the tool for analyzing reservoir fluid comprises:
a flowbore housing (Fig. 1 and 2, 230);
a filter array spectrometer coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, FILTER ARRAY SPECTROMETER);
a fluorescence detector coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, FLUORESCENCE DETECTOR);
a grating spectrometer coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, GRATING SPECTROMETER);
a pressure and temperature gauge coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, P/T GAUGE);
a resistivity sensor coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, RESISTIVITY SENSOR); and
a viscosity sensor coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, DENSITY/VISCOSITY SENSOR).
Regarding claim 12, Molla disclose the method of claim 11, wherein the filter array spectrometer, fluorescence detector, and grating spectrometer record wavelength and intensity measurements, and wherein the method further comprises identifying particles in the reservoir fluid based on the wavelength and intensity measurements [0020].
Regarding claim 13, Molla disclose the method of claim 8, wherein the pressure and temperature gauge measures a force exerted by a fluid on a surface within the flowbore housing and a temperature of fluid within the flowbore housing (Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 14, Molla disclose the method of claim 8, wherein the resistivity sensor measures the electrical conductivity of fluid in the fluidbore housing (Fig. 2).
Regarding claim 15, Molla disclose a system for estimating the saturates, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes (SARA) fractions of a reservoir fluid, comprising:
a tool for analyzing reservoir fluid (Fig. 1 and 2), comprising:
a flowbore housing (Fig. 1 and 2, 230);
a filter array spectrometer coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, FILTER ARRAY SPECTROMETER);
a fluorescence detector coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, FLUORESCENCE DETECTOR);
a grating spectrometer coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, GRATING SPECTROMETER);
a pressure and temperature gauge coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, P/T GAUGE);
a resistivity sensor coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, RESISTIVITY SENSOR); and
a viscosity sensor coupled to the flowbore housing (Fig. 2, DENSITY/VISCOSITY SENSOR).
a pump ([0019], [0022], [0034]);
tubing inserted into a wellbore and coupled to the pump and the tool for analyzing reservoir fluid ([0019], [0022], [0034]).
Regarding claim 16, Molla disclose the system of claim 15, wherein the filter array spectrometer includes a light source (232), a filter array (236), and a detector array (236).
Regarding claim 19, Molla disclose the system of claim 15, wherein the grating spectrometer include a light source, a diffraction grating, and a detector, light source emits a light toward the diffraction grating, causing the light to diffract and specific angles based on wavelength [0024], and the detector measures the intensity of light at each wavelength, the intensity of light at each wavelength indicating a specific chemical in wellbore fluid [0020].
Regarding claim 20, Molla disclose the system of claim 15, wherein the pressure and temperature gauge measures a force exerted by a fluid on a surface within the flowbore housing and a temperature of fluid within the flowbore housing (Fig. 2).
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(s) 3, 4, 10, 17, and 18 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WO2020131996 (Molla).
Regarding claim 3, Molla disclose the tool of claim 2, but fail to explicitly teach wherein the detector array is one of a charge-coupled device sensor and a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor sensor, thereby allowing for that which is known in the art.
However, CCD and CMOS are the most conventional array detector architectures in spectrometers. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to elect commercially available imaging sensor technology to provide compact, low-power, and high-resolution detection.
Regarding claim 4, Molla disclose the tool of claim 2, but fails to explicitly teach wherein the fluorescence detector includes an ultra-violet (UV) light emitter and a detector, the UV light emitter emits UV light that excites particles in fluid passing through the flowbore housing, and the detector measures the intensity and wavelength of light emitted by the excited particles.
However, since Molla disclose analyzing hydrocarbon components, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to include a UV excitation source. One would have been motivated to include a UV Source because hydrocarbons fluoresce strongly under UV excitation, thereby improving detection sensitivity and selectivity.
Regarding claim 10, Molla disclose the method of claim 8, but is silent with respect to wherein the regression model is one of a mean squared error, a mean absolute error, a root mean squared error, and an R-squared model, thereby allowing for that which is known in the art.
Molla disclose training a regression model [0040] to predict fluid properties based on measured data. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to implement the regression model as one based on MSE< MAE< RMSE, or R-squared metrics because these are well-known and routinely used statistical formulations and evaluation measures for regression modeling for predictive accuracy. One would have been motivated to select a predictable design choice for improving or assessing model performance.
Regarding claim 17, Molla disclose the system of claim 16, but fail to explicitly teach wherein the detector array is one of a charge-coupled device sensor and a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor sensor, thereby allowing for that which is known in the art.
However, CCD and CMOS are the most conventional array detector architectures in spectrometers. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to elect commercially available imaging sensor technology to provide compact, low-power, and high-resolution detection.
Regarding claim 18, Molla disclose the system of claim 16, but fails to explicitly teach wherein the fluorescence detector includes an ultra-violet (UV) light emitter and a detector, the UV light emitter emits UV light that excites particles in fluid passing through the flowbore housing, and the detector measures the intensity and wavelength of light emitted by the excited particles.
However, since Molla disclose analyzing hydrocarbon components, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to include a UV excitation source. One would have been motivated to include a UV Source because hydrocarbons fluoresce strongly under UV excitation, thereby improving detection sensitivity and selectivity.
Conclusion
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/DANI FOX/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2884