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 .
Receipt and entry of Applicant’s Preliminary Amendment filed on 10/04/2024 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-10 and 20-29 have been canceled. Claims 11-19 have been added. Overall, claims 11-19 are pending in this application.
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 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.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to under 37 CFR 1.83(a). The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims. Therefore, the methods of claims 11-19 must be shown or the feature(s) canceled from the claim(s). No new matter should be entered.
Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d) are required in reply to the Office action to avoid abandonment of the application. Any amended replacement drawing sheet should include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even if only one figure is being amended. The figure or figure number of an amended drawing should not be labeled as “amended.” If a drawing figure is to be canceled, the appropriate figure must be removed from the replacement sheet, and where necessary, the remaining figures must be renumbered and appropriate changes made to the brief description of the several views of the drawings for consistency. Additional replacement sheets may be necessary to show the renumbering of the remaining figures. Each drawing sheet submitted after the filing date of an application must be labeled in the top margin as either “Replacement Sheet” or “New Sheet” pursuant to 37 CFR 1.121(d). If the changes are not accepted by the examiner, the applicant will be notified and informed of any required corrective action in the next Office action. The objection to the drawings will not be held in abeyance.
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.
(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.
2. Claims 11-17 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hohl et al. (Hohl) (U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2017/0306700A1).
Regarding claim 11, Hohl discloses a method of utilizing a fluid motor with a subterranean well, the method comprising: deploying the fluid motor into the well (see abstract and para. [0003]); operating the fluid motor by fluid flow between a rotor 11 (see para. [0024]- para. [0025]) and a stator 6 of the fluid motor; retrieving the fluid motor from the well; and then reversing the stator on the rotor (see para. [0068], para. [0071] to para. [0074]).
Regarding claim 12, Hohl discloses in which the rotor 11 is received into a first end connection (A – see the annotated Fig. 1A below) of a housing 4 of the stator 6 in the deploying, and in which the reversing comprises receiving the rotor 11 into a second end connection (B - see the annotated Fig. 1A below) of the stator housing 4.
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Regarding claim 13, Hohl discloses in which the stator 6 comprises first and second end connections (A, B – see the annotated Fig. 1A above), in the deploying the first end connection being directly connected to a housing surrounding a flexible joint 50 and the reversing comprises directly connecting the second end connection to the housing 4.
Regarding claim 14, Hohl discloses in which the rotor 11 remains connected to the flexible joint during the reversing.
Regarding claim 15, Hohl discloses in which the reversing comprises withdrawing the rotor 11 from a first end connection (A) of a housing of the stator, and inserting the rotor 11 into a second end connection (B) of the housing.
Regarding claim 16, Hohl discloses in which the first end connection (A)is configured the same as the second end connection (B).
Regarding claim 17, Hohl discloses, in which at least one internal helical profile 8 is disposed in the housing 4, the at least one internal helical profile 8 is spaced apart from the first end connection (A) a first distance, the at least one internal helical profile is spaced apart from the second end connection (B) a second distance, and the first and second distances are the same (see the annotated Fig. 1A above).
Regarding claim 19, Hohl discloses, in which the stator 6 comprises a housing having first and second opposite ends (C, D – see the annotated Fig. 1A above), the operating comprises the fluid flow into the second end and out of the first end, and the method further comprises the fluid flow into the first end and out of the second end after the reversing.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
3. Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hohl in view of Schultz ( U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2021/0304596A1).
Hohl discloses, in which at least one internal helical profile 8 is disposed in the housing, the at least one internal helical profile 8 is spaced apart from the first end connection (A) a first distance, the at least one internal helical profile 8 is spaced apart from the second end connection (B) a second distance however, Hohl fails to disclose the first and second distances are different.
As shown in Figs. 3-5, Schultz teaches in which at least one internal helical profile is disposed in the housing, the at least one internal helical profile is spaced apart from the first end connection 38 a first distance (see Figs. 3-4), the at least one internal helical profile is spaced apart from the second end connection 40 a second distance (see Figs. 3 and 5), and the first and second distances are different. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, to have utilized the first and second distances being different, as taught by Schultz in the Hohl apparatus, since they are merely design parameters, depending on the installation of the fluid motor or depending on being used for a particular purpose or solving a stated problem.
Note that the specification fails to disclose any criticality for the claimed limitation (see page 11, 6th paragraph, lines 1-5 of the instant application).
Prior Art
4. The IDS (PTO-1449) filed on Nov. 7, 2024 has been considered. An initialized copy is attached hereto.
5. The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure and consists of two patents:
- Tschirky (U.S. Patent Number 3,982,858) a progressive cavity fluid motor with multiple segment stator elements connected in series; and
- Gruber (U.S. Patent Number 5,195,880) discloses an eccentric screw pump with reversible rotor
6. The examiner cites particular columns and lines numbers in the references as applied to the claims above for the convenience of the applicant. Although the specified citations are representative of the teachings in the art and are applied to the specific limitations within the individual claim, other passages and figures may apply as well. It is respectfully requested that, in preparing responses, the applicant fully consider the references in their entirety as potentially teaching all or part of the claimed invention, as well as the context of the passage as taught by the prior art or disclosed by the examiner.
Communication
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to THERESA TRIEU whose telephone number is (571)272-4868. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 8:30AM-5:00PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Essama Omgba can be reached on 469-295-9278. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/TT/
/Theresa Trieu/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3746
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