DETAILED ACTION
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 12 August 2026 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 12 August 2026 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. Applicant argues that Labriola does not disclose the amended limitation of claims 1 and 12. Examiner respectfully disagrees as Labriola discloses the limitation as discussed below.
The 112(b) rejections are withdrawn due to amendments.
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.
Claims 1, 4-7, 9-12, 15-18, 20-22 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Labriola (WO 2022/016207).
With respect to claims 1 and 12: Labriola discloses a method performed by a system for determining one or more parameters to use for drilling a second hole in a rock to approach a target, wherein the target is related to a subsequent blasting of the rock (¶ [0039, 0042-50, 0058-59, 0064]), the method comprising:
drilling a first hole in the rock (¶ [0042, 0059]; Fig. 1);
collecting data relating to the rock (¶ [0040, 0042]; Fig. 1), which data is collected from a drill rig solely during drilling of the first hole in the rock (¶ [0040, 0042, 0059]; Fig. 1), wherein the data comprises one or more parameter indicative of geological conditions, rock mass conditions, and/or drilling conditions (¶ [0040, 0042, 0059]);
determining at least one drilling parameter for the second hole, based on the collected data of from the first hole (¶ [0042, 0045-46, 0048-50]); and
drilling the second hole in the rock using the at least one drilling parameter, thereby approaching the target (¶ [0039, 0048, 0058-59, 0064]; Fig. 1).
Examiner notes that the claim language does not define the term “data.” Therefore, it is only the data collected while drilling a first hole that is considered “data” and the rest of the information used by Labriola is additional data that can be used in the determining step since the claim does not limit what data/information can be used.
Labriola further discloses a processor and memory storing instructions that can be executed by the processor (devices that store and use the data connected to the user interface and runs the trained model; ¶ [0045, 0047-48, 0065-66, 0069]).
With respect to claims 4 and 15: Labriola further discloses:
determining at least one charging parameter, based on the collected data of the rock (¶ [0045, 0048-50]);
determining at least one firing parameter, based on the collected data of the rock (¶ [0045]; “blast initiation timing”), and wherein the at least one charging parameter and/or the at least one firing parameter is used when blasting to approach the target (¶ [0048-50, 0059]).
With respect to claims 5 and 16: Labriola further discloses:
determining whether the target is achieved, based on whether a result of a blasting fulfils one or more criteria (¶ [0039, 0046, 0059, 0064-65]), wherein the result of the blasting is based on the determined first hole and the determined second hole (¶ [0039, 0046, 0059, 0064-65]; Fig. 1), and wherein the criteria is associated to a predicted blasting result (¶ [0039, 0046, 0059, 0064-65]; Fig. 1).
With respect to claims 6 and 17: Labriola further discloses:
when the result of the blasting does not fulfil the one or more criteria, adapting the at least one drilling parameter, until the one or more criteria are fulfilled (¶ [0039, 0046, 0059, 0064-65]; Fig. 1), and
when the result of the blasting does fulfil the one or more criteria, continuing drilling the rock by using the determined at least one drilling parameter (¶ [0039, 0046, 0059, 0064-65]; Fig. 1).\
Examiner notes that the results of the blasting are always used to improve the subsequent drilling/blasting (Fig. 1). Therefore, under BRI the results of the blasting always either adapt the at least one drilling parameter or maintain the at least one drilling parameter.
With respect to claims 7 and 18: Labriola further discloses:
when the result of the blasting does not fulfil the one or more criteria, adapting the at least one charging parameter and/or the at least one firing parameter, until the one or more criteria are fulfilled (¶ [0039, 0045-46, 0048-50, 0059, 0064-65]; Fig. 1), and
when the result of the blasting does fulfil the one or more criteria, continuing drilling the rock by using the determined at least one drilling parameter, and blasted with the at least one charging parameter and/or at least one firing parameter (¶ [0039, 0045-46, 0048-50, 0059, 0064-65]; Fig. 1).
Examiner notes that the results of the blasting are always used to improve the subsequent drilling/blasting (Fig. 1). Therefore, under BRI the results of the blasting always either adapt the at least one drilling parameter (i.e., charging parameter and/or firing parameter as discussed with respect to claims 4 and 15) or maintain the at least one drilling parameter (i.e., charging parameter and/or firing parameter as discussed with respect to claims 4 and 15).
With respect to claims 9 and 20: 9 Labriola further discloses the target is related to one or more of: a size and/or a size distribution of one or more fragmented rocks, a reduction of ground vibrations, a reduction of blasting movements, a reduction of fly-rocks and a reduction of carbon dioxide emission (¶ [0058-59]).
With respect to claims 10 and 21: Labriola further discloses the collected data of the rock and the target are used as input to a calculation model (¶ [0010, 0045, 0059, 0068-70]), and wherein the calculation model determines the at least one drilling parameter to use when drilling the second hole (¶ [0010, 0049, 0059, 0069]).
With respect to claims 11 and 22: Labriola further discloses:
determining at least one second drilling parameter based on the collected data of the rock (¶ [0039, 0042, 0045-46, 0048-50]; Fig. 1); and
drilling a third hole in the rock using the at least one second drilling parameter (¶ [0039, 0048, 0058-59, 0064]; Fig. 1); and
wherein the result of the blasting is based on the determined first hole and the determined second hole (¶ [0039, 0059]; “subsequent drilled holes”; Fig. 1).
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.
Claims 2 and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Labriola as applied to claims 1 and 12 above, and further in view of Ayris (US 2024/0141775).
With respect to claims 2 and 13: Labriola discloses all aspects of the claimed invention except for collecting supplemental data relating to the rock, which data is collected from the drill rig when pulling up a drill after drilling but before completing the first hole in the rock.
Ayris teaches it is known in the art to collect data relating to a rock, which data is collected from a drill rig when pulling up a drill after the drilling but before completing a first hole in the rock (¶ [0033]). It would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to combine the data collection while removing the drill of Ayris with the invention of Labriola with a reasonable expectation of success since doing so would allow further surveying to improve survey accuracy (Ayris ¶ [0033]).
Claims 3 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Labriola as applied to claims 1 and 12 above, and further in view of Zagre (US 2021/0148214).
With respect to claims 3 and 14: Labriola further discloses collecting additional data relating to the rock (¶ [0040, 0042-43]), wherein the collected additional data comprises information about a shock wave propagation, a chemical analysis and/or one or more physical properties of material flow from the drilling (¶ [0040, 0042-43]) and wherein determining the at least one drilling parameter is based on the collected additional data of the rock (¶ [0042, 0045-46, 0048-50]). Labriola does not disclose additional data is probe data (i.e., data collected by a probe).
Zagre teaches collecting data (i.e., probe data) using a probe (¶ [0027]). It would be obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing data to combine the use of a probe to collect data of Zagre with the invention of Labriola with a reasonable expectation of success since doing so would allow the wellbore to be assessed further after the drill has been removed without the need to reinsert the drill into the wellbore.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KRISTYN A HALL whose telephone number is (571)272-8384. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9:00-5:00.
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/KRISTYN A HALL/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3672
