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 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)(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.
(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 1-3 and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Zhang et al. US 2020/0257017.
Regarding claim 1, Zhang discloses a method comprising: conveying a geological logging tool (fig. 1 #102) within a subterranean formation (fig. 1 #106); acquiring elemental data using the geological logging tool (para. 0030 “In various embodiments, the characterization 200 may be provided from one or more downhole logging operations, such as the BHGE Formation Lithology eXplorer™ (FLeX™) elemental spectroscopy wireline logging tool, a pulsed neutron spectroscopy tool, or any other tool that provides “low resolution” (LR) logging data” at least one embodiment of the logging tool provides elemental data); calculating mineralogy of the subterranean formation based at least on the elemental data (fig. 2 para. 0030); and calculating lithology of the subterranean formation based at least on the mineralogy calculated from at least the elemental data acquired by the geological logging tool (para. 0030, 0033-0035).
Regarding claim 2, Zhang discloses wherein the calculating mineralogy and the calculating lithology is performed in real time while the geological logging tool is still conveyed into the subterranean formation (para. 0033).
Regarding claim 3, Zhang discloses wherein the geological logging tool comprises at least one geological logging tool selected from the group consisting of pulsed neutron logging wireline tool, pulsed neutron logging-while-drilling tool, neutron-induced gamma ray spectroscopy tool with chemical sources, and any combination thereof (para. 0021-0022, 0030).
Regarding claim 12, Zhang discloses a method comprising: conveying a geological logging tool (fig. 1 #102) within a subterranean formation (fig. 1 #106), wherein the geological logging tool comprises at least one geological logging tool selected from the group consisting of pulsed neutron logging wireline tool, pulsed neutron logging-while-drilling tool, neutron-induced gamma ray spectroscopy tool with chemical sources, and any combination thereof (para. 0021-0022, 0030);
acquiring elemental data using the geological logging tool (para. 0030 “In various embodiments, the characterization 200 may be provided from one or more downhole logging operations, such as the BHGE Formation Lithology eXplorer™ (FLeX™) elemental spectroscopy wireline logging tool, a pulsed neutron spectroscopy tool, or any other tool that provides “low resolution” (LR) logging data” at least one embodiment of the logging tool provides elemental data);
calculating mineralogy of the subterranean formation based at least on the elemental data (fig. 2 para. 0030) in real time while the geological logging tool is still conveyed in the subterranean formation (para. 0033); and
calculating lithology of the subterranean formation based at least on the mineralogy calculated from at least the elemental data acquired by the geological logging tool (para. 0030, 0033-0035).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4-11 and 13-20 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:
Regarding claim 4, the prior art of record does not disclose or suggest calculating the mineralogy of the subterranean formation based at least on the elemental data comprises calculating anhydrite and residuals contents, then calculating dolomite and residuals contents, then calculating calcite content based at least in part on remaining calcium content, then calculating pyrite content based at least in part on a minimum of remaining iron and remaining sulfur, and then calculating chlorite content from minimum of remaining magnesium and remaining iron and residuals, along with other claim limitations.
Claims 5-11 are dependent on claim 4 so they are allowable for the same reason.
Regarding claim 13, the prior art of record does not disclose or suggest wherein calculating the mineralogy of the subterranean formation based at least on the elemental data comprises calculating anatase from titanium after accounting for titanium in clays using a concentration of aluminum, along with other claim limitations.
Claims 14-20 are dependent on claim 13 so they are allowable for the same reason.
Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Richard Toohey whose telephone number is (703)756-5818. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 7:30am – 5pm.
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/RICHARD O TOOHEY/Examiner, Art Unit 2884
/UZMA ALAM/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2884