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 59 objected to because of the following informalities: the claim depends on claim 56, however that claim has been cancelled. Appropriate correction is required.
Election/Restrictions
Claims 33, 38-50, 71-74, and 51 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected group, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 7/10/2026.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The claims in this application are given their broadest reasonable interpretation using the plain meaning of the claim language in light of the specification as it would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The broadest reasonable interpretation of a claim element (also commonly referred to as a claim limitation) is limited by the description in the specification when 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is invoked.
As explained in MPEP § 2181, subsection I, claim limitations that meet the following three-prong test will be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph:
(A) the claim limitation uses the term “means” or “step” or a term used as a substitute for “means” that is a generic placeholder (also called a nonce term or a non-structural term having no specific structural meaning) for performing the claimed function;
(B) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is modified by functional language, typically, but not always linked by the transition word “for” (e.g., “means for”) or another linking word or phrase, such as “configured to” or “so that”; and
(C) the term “means” or “step” or the generic placeholder is not modified by sufficient structure, material, or acts for performing the claimed function.
Use of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim with functional language creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites sufficient structure, material, or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Absence of the word “means” (or “step”) in a claim creates a rebuttable presumption that the claim limitation is not to be treated in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph. The presumption that the claim limitation is not interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, is rebutted when the claim limitation recites function without reciting sufficient structure, material or acts to entirely perform the recited function.
Claim limitations in this application that use the word “means” (or “step”) are being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action. Conversely, claim limitations in this application that do not use the word “means” (or “step”) are not being interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112(f) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, except as otherwise indicated in an Office action.
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 35-37, 62, 75-77, 81, 83, 85, and 88-89 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Borg (US 2024/0248225 A1; search report) and Ross (US 2009/0234585 A1; search report).
Regarding claim 35, Borg teaches a method of seismic data acquisition, including:
positioning a plurality of data acquisition units according to claim 62 at spaced surface locations across a ground region [[0114] seismic data acquisition unit 110 is intended to be submerged in a ground mass or region up to the top portion, so that only the antennae 280, 290 project above ground level; [0223] data from multiple data acquisition units 110 distributed and operating over a geographic region of interest; [0224] sampling geophones]; and
operating each of the plurality of data acquisition units to receive vibrations over a plurality of days [[abstract] housing to sense vibration received via a sensing probe; [0156] frequency of recalibration may be around every 1 to 10 hours, or every 3 to 6 hours. The frequency of the recalibration may be increased by processor 1484 in response to changes in external and/or internal temperature, where such temperature information is available to the processor 1484. This can be helpful if the data acquisition unit 110 is in an environment that has large temperature fluctuation cycles, for example; [0136] power source 1330 may be selected to have sufficient power to allow seismic data acquisition unit 110 to be self-contained, so that no external power source is required to supplement the power source over an operation period of at least several months and up to a year or two. In some embodiments, the energy stored in power source 1330 is sufficient for data acquisition unit 110 to perform method 1500 continuously in normal operation for approximately two months, or in low power operation for approximately one year.];
wherein the plurality of data acquisition units are operable to generate and send processed data based on vibrations received by the data acquisition units at the spaced surface locations [[0008] non-volatile memory storing program code executable by a processor of the processing unit to control operation of the data acquisition unit; and volatile memory to store buffered output signals and output data generated from processed output signals; wherein the processing unit is configured to generate data payloads for transmission to the external gateway device based on the processed output signals in response to determination of a seismic event].
Regarding claim 36, Borg teaches the method of claim 35, wherein the operating includes continuous operation of the data acquisition units to receive vibrations [[0047] processing unit may be configured to, after determination of the seismic event (i.e. after the beginning of a seismic event has been determined), continuously process output signals of the geophone assembly and generate data payloads based on the processed output signals for transmission to the external gateway device, until an event end condition is determined to be satisfied.].
Regarding claim 37, Borg teaches the method of claim 36, wherein the operating includes continuous operation of the data acquisition units to receive vibrations for a period of between 4 and 10 days, wherein a power supply or power source of each data acquisition unit is contained within the housing of each data acquisition unit and is configured to supply power for operation of the respective data acquisition unit for more than 10 days [[0136] power source 1330 may be selected to have sufficient power to allow seismic data acquisition unit 110 to be self-contained, so that no external power source is required to supplement the power source over an operation period of at least several months and up to a year or two. In some embodiments, the energy stored in power source 1330 is sufficient for data acquisition unit 110 to perform method 1500 continuously in normal operation for approximately two months, or in low power operation for approximately one year.].
Regarding claim 62, Borg teaches a data acquisition unit for acquiring seismic data for ambient-noise tomography processing at a server system, including:
a housing [[abstract] data acquisition unit includes a housing whose interior volume is defined by an outer wall];
a ground movement data acquisition mechanism configured to measure ground movement [[abstract] geophone assembly in the housing to sense vibration received via a sensing probe; [0114] seismic data acquisition unit 110 is intended to be submerged in a ground mass or region up to the top portion, so that only the antennae 280, 290 project above ground level.];
a processing unit communicatively coupled to the ground movement data acquisition mechanism, a portion for receiving a [radio], and means for communicatively coupling the processing unit to the [radio] [[0099] radio communication link 128 uses radio links to satellites 130 orbiting the earth to communicate data received at a gateway device 120 from the edge device array 115 and receive instructions or configuration information or firmware updates for seismic data acquisition unit 110 or gateway device 120.; [0136] printed circuit board 1300, bearing a processor 1484 and forming part of a processing unit 1402, may be mounted upon the top of inner housing 1000 and geophone assembly 1030 by using spacers 1014 and screws; [0161] if processor 1484 determines that the moving average filter window yields a magnitude greater than a predetermined event trigger magnitude threshold at step 1526, processor 1484 then samples geophones 1033, 1035, and 1037 and places the samples in the event buffer];
wherein the processing unit is configured to receive ground movement data sent from the ground movement data acquisition mechanism, the processing unit further configured to pre-process the ground movement data before transmitting, via the [radio], to a communicatively coupled satellite [[0073] FIG. 15 shows a flow diagram of a method 1500 of data acquisition executed by processor 1484 of the data acquisition unit 110 according to some embodiments.; [fig. 15] shows sampling geophones, filtering, thresholding, and batch enqueueing payload data; [0099]].
Borg does not explicitly teach and yet Ross teaches a satellite modem [[fig. 3] shows communication between seismic stations #300 and satellite #310; [fig. 6] shows seismic sensor #630 coupled to cpu with storage and satellite transceiver #660 as part of seismic station #300].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to substitute the radio communication as taught by Borg, with the satellite communication as taught by Ross so that a cableless system in which a commercial satellite constellation will be used to communicate with each field using low altitude, low cost, high capacity satellite systems so as to provide full time coverage over the remote areas in which seismic surveys tend to be performed (Ross) [[0045]].
Regarding claim 75, Borg teaches the data acquisition unit of claim 62, further including a low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) antenna connection jack in a top portion of the housing for coupling a LPWAN antenna to the processing unit [[fig. 20] shows LPWAN unit #2020 at top of data acquisition unit #110; [0007] data communication unit may be a low power wide area network (LPWAN) unit and the data communication antenna may be a LPWAN antenna, for example.; [0035] geolocation antenna port; [0037] data communication antenna port].
Regarding claim 76, Borg teaches the data acquisition unit of claim 62, wherein the processing unit or processor is configured to buffer payload data for a pre-determined period of time less than 12 hours [[0092] FIG. 34 is a schematic diagram illustrating timing of data capture and buffering of geophone samples.; [0136] operation period of at least several months and up to a year or two.].
Regarding claim 77, Borg does not explicitly teach and yet Ross teaches the data acquisition unit of claim 62, further including the satellite modem, wherein the satellite modem is configured to transmit the data payload to a remote server in near-real time [[0062] because of the large number of receivers that will typically be involved, it is anticipated that all of the stations may not be able to transmit simultaneously. Of course, if the bandwidth is available for the stations to all transmit simultaneously, that would be recommended in order to reduce the potential for downtime due to transmission delays.].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to substitute the radio communication as taught by Borg, with the satellite communication as taught by Ross so that a cableless system in which a commercial satellite constellation will be used to communicate with each field using low altitude, low cost, high capacity satellite systems so as to provide full time coverage over the remote areas in which seismic surveys tend to be performed (Ross) [[0045]].
Regarding claim 81, Borg does not explicitly teach and yet Ross teaches the data acquisition unit of claim 62, further comprising a removable auxiliary memory for storing the data payload for data recovery or re-transmission of one or more of the data payloads upon communication and/or component failure [[abstract] remote seismograph units (seismic data, quality control parameters, status, location, etc.) which would subsequently be retransmitted to a processing center or other surface facility.].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to substitute the radio communication as taught by Borg, with the satellite communication having retransmission as taught by Ross so that if communication fails there may be an attempt to resend the same data.
Regarding claim 83, Borg teaches the data acquisition unit of claim 77, wherein the processing unit generates and stores payloads containing the pre-processed ground movement data, before forwarding, at a pre-determined time, the pre-processed ground movement data to the communications unit or satellite modem for transmission, or wherein the processing unit generates and forwards payloads containing the pre-processed ground movement data to the communications unit or satellite modem for transmission [[0104] store and forward communication may be implemented by the satellite constellation 135 that periodically passes into a range where co1111nunication may be received from a gateway device 120 positioned in a remote location. Satellite 130 may gather data from the gateway device 120 and deliver it back to ground stations 140 that are connected to a network backbone or a network generally accessible over the internet. In some embodiments, the store and forward communication could be implemented by satellites or any type of air, ground or sea vehicles (carrying suitable communication and storage equipment) that intermittently travel within communications range of the gateway device 120. The transfers of data by the store and forward method may be bi-directional. The vehicles or satellites used to implement store and forward communication can be far less numerous than the number of gateway devices 120 that would be needed to cover a designated remote area. Further, vehicles or satellites used to implement store and forward communication can be more rapidly deployed].
Regarding claim 85, Borg teaches the data acquisition unit of claim 62, wherein the processing unit is in the closed housing, and the ground movement data acquisition mechanism is contained in the closed housing [[abstract] housing includes a geolocation unit for processing a time synchronisation signal, a data communication unit for enabling wireless data communication with an external gateway device, a processing unit, a geophone assembly in the housing to sense vibration received via a sensing probe].
Regarding claim 88, Borg teaches the data acquisition unit of claim 62, wherein the ground movement data acquisition mechanism or vibration transducer includes a geophone with a natural frequency of about 2 Hz [[0128] Geophones 1033, 1035, and 1037 may have a natural frequency between about 1 and about 10 Hz or between about 1 Hz and 100 Hz.].
Regarding claim 89, Borg teaches the data acquisition unit of claim 88, wherein the geophone has a frequency sampling window of between about 0.05 Hz and about 10 Hz [[0128] Geophones 1033, 1035, and 1037 may have a natural frequency between about 1 and about 10 Hz or between about 1 Hz and 100 Hz.].
Claims 63 and 92 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Borg (US 2024/0248225 A1) and Ross (US 2009/0234585 A1) as applied to claim 62 above, and further in view of Valero (2019, IEEE; ids).
Regarding claim 63, Borg teaches the data acquisition unit of claim 62, wherein the satellite is a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite, the ground movement sensing module and processing unit being configured to continuously acquire and pre-process ground sensor data and transmit all or almost all the pre- processed data to a remote server system via the LEO satellite [[0047] communicate with a low earth orbit satellite; [0065] “source activation” should be broadly interpreted to include traditional active seismic sources (e.g., dynamite, Vibroseis(R), air guns, etc.) as well as passive or ambient seismic sources. In the event that passive sources are utilized, it is anticipated that much longer recording periods would typically be required.; [fig. 2] vibroseis correlation, vertical sum], the transmitting of the pre-processed data to the LEO satellite being based on a scheduled timing of the satellite reaching a scheduled orbital position [[0047] continuously process; [prior art claim 24] a data acquisition system, including: a plurality of the data acquisition units of claim 4; and a data gateway device configured to communicate each of the data acquisition units and to communicate with a low earth orbit satellite to transmit data received from the data acquisition units to a remote computing system.; [0145] GNSS unit 1494 may enable processor 1484 to communicate with a GNSS satellite 2010 for receiving positioning and timing data. The GNSS satellite may be a global positioning system (GPS) satellite, for example.].
Borg does not explicitly teach and yet Valero teaches for performing ANT [[title] real-time cooperative analytics for ambient noise tomography in sensor networks; [pg. 375, col. 2] mesh network].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the satellite data communication as taught by Borg, with the use of sensor networks for ambient noise tomography as taught by Valero sensor networks and geophysical imaging techniques enables the creation of a system to monitor and analyze seismic data in real time as well as image various subsurface structures, properties, and dynamics (Valero) [[abstract]].
Regarding claim 92, Borg does not explicitly teach and yet Valero teaches use of the data acquisition unit of claim 62 to acquire seismic data suitable for performing ambient noise tomography [[title] real-time cooperative analytics for ambient noise tomography in sensor networks; [pg. 375, col. 2] mesh network].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the satellite data communication as taught by Borg, with the use of sensor networks for ambient noise tomography as taught by Valero sensor networks and geophysical imaging techniques enables the creation of a system to monitor and analyze seismic data in real time as well as image various subsurface structures, properties, and dynamics (Valero) [[abstract]].
Claim 69 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Borg (US 2024/0248225 A1) and Ross (US 2009/0234585 A1) as applied to claim 62 above, and further in view of Bensen (2007, Geophys. J. Int.).
Regarding claim 69, Borg does not explicitly teach and yet Bensen teaches the data acquisition unit of claim 62, wherein pre- processing the ground movement data includes first de-trending the ground movement data [[pg. 1241, col. 1] demeaning, detrending], then decimating the de-trended ground movement data by a pre-determined factor [[figure 7] (a) raw and (b) spectrally whitened amplitude spectra for 1 sample per second vertical component data], then low-pass filtering the decimated ground movement data [[pg. 1243, col. 2] procedure severely down-weights time-series during earthquakes (Fig. 5e), which more effectively removes them from low-pass filtered seismograms (Fig. 5f). Contamination by earthquakes of the cross-correlations, therefore, should be ameliorated.], then spectrally whitening the low-pass filtered ground movement data [[pg. 1244, col. 2] sec. 2.2 spectral normalization or whitening], then performing one-bit normalisation on the spectrally whitened ground movement data [[fig. 3] one-bit normalized waveform, whereby the signal is set to ±1 depending on the sign of the original waveform.; [pg. 1242, col. 1] considered five different methods to identify and remove earthquakes and other contaminants automatically from seismic waveform data. An illustrative example is shown in Fig. 3. The first and most aggressive method is called ‘one-bit’ normalization (Fig. 3b),which retains only the sign of the raw signal by replacing all positive amplitudes with a 1 and all negative amplitudes with a −1. This method has been shown to increase signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) when employed in acoustic experiments in the laboratory (Larose et al. 2004) and has been used in a number of early seismic studies of coda waves and ambient noise (Campillo & Paul 2003; Shapiro & Campillo 2004; Shapiro et al. 2005; Yao et al. 2006).].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the satellite data communication as taught by Borg, with the use of one-bit normalization as taught by Bensen because this method has been shown to increase signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) when employed in acoustic experiments in the laboratory (Larose et al. 2004) and has been used in a number of early seismic studies of coda waves and ambient noise (Campillo & Paul 2003; Shapiro & Campillo 2004; Shapiro et al. 2005; Yao et al. 2006). (Bensen) [[pg. 1242, col. 1]].
Claim 78 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Borg (US 2024/0248225 A1) and Ross (US 2009/0234585 A1) as applied to claim 62 above, and further in view of Radcliffe (US 2004/0121786 A1).
Regarding claim 78, Borg does not explicitly teach and yet Radcliffe teaches the data acquisition unit of claim 62, wherein the processing unit or processor sends the data payload at a randomised time within a scheduled transmission period [[0015] seismic data acquisition; [0032] contention window (FIG. 2) is divided into time slices. Each node that wishes to send a request will send a RTS message in one of the slots in the contention window. The slot is chosen at random using a random number generator. This helps to reduce collisions of RTS messages. If a collision does occur, then the requesting node will not receive a CTS message and will wait for a random back-off period before trying again; [0087] satellite communications; [0110] Vibrator controller].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the satellite data communication as taught by Borg, with use of a random time slot for transmitting seismic data acquisitions as taught by Radcliffe because this helps to reduce collisions of messages (Radcliffe) [[0032]].
Claim 86 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Borg (US 2024/0248225 A1) and Ross (US 2009/0234585 A1) as applied to claim 62 above, and further in view of Xu (Geophys. J. Int., 2021).
Regarding claim 86, Borg does not explicitly teach and yet Xu teaches the data acquisition unit of claim 83, wherein spectrally whitening includes applying an asymmetric Tukey window to the ground movement data [[sec. 3 noise cross-correlation] noise cross-correlation processing shows a great diversity in details of implementation, despite following a common sequence: temporal normalization, spectral whitening, correlation and stacking. For example, at least 4 methods are commonly used for temporal normalization, that is one-bit normalization; [fig. 8] Comparison of phase-velocity measurement methods. (a) Symmetric NCF before (black) and after (red) windowing. A Tukey window of [Δ/5–1, Δ/2 + 1] s is used in this example with Δ = 4.79 km].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the satellite data communication as taught by Borg, with use of a Tukey window as taught by Xu so as to balance the asymmetric distribution of the noise sources. (Xu) [[pg. 887, col. 1]].
Claims 90-91 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Borg (US 2024/0248225 A1) and Ross (US 2009/0234585 A1) as applied to claim 62 above, and further in view of Geobit (S100 Brochure).
Regarding claim 90, Borg does not explicitly teach and yet Geobit teaches the data acquisition unit of claim 88, wherein the geophone has a sensitivity greater than 100 V/m/s [[title] S100 wide band seismometer; high sensitivity 1500V/m/s].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the satellite data communication as taught by Borg, with the 1500 V/m/s seismometer as taught by Geobit so that the sensor used is highly sensitive (Geobit) [[pg. 1]].
Regarding claim 91, Borg does not explicitly teach and yet Geobit teaches the data acquisition unit of claim 90, wherein the geophone has a sensitivity greater than 250 V/m/s [[title] S100 wide band seismometer; high sensitivity 1500V/m/s].
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the invention with a reasonable expectation of success to combine the satellite data communication as taught by Borg, with the 1500 V/m/s seismometer as taught by Geobit so that the sensor used is highly sensitive (Geobit) [[pg. 1]].
Conclusion
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/JONATHAN D ARMSTRONG/ Examiner, Art Unit 3645
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