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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The IDS of 12/02/24 has been considered.
Drawings
The drawings are objected to as failing to comply with 37 CFR 1.84(p)(5) because they include the following reference character(s) not mentioned in the description: 344, 615, 619, 621, 631, 641, 651, 661, 2408, 2520. Corrected drawing sheets in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(d), or amendment to the specification to add the reference character(s) in the description in compliance with 37 CFR 1.121(b) 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. 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 § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Independent claims 1 and 19-20 disclose the following limitation:
operating/operate a controller to control one or more of the equipment systems based at least in part on one or more operational sequence times of the in slips partition
The examiner could not find support for this limitation in the applicant’s disclosure.
In the applicant’s original specification, the examiner only found on instance of the phrase, “in slips,” which was in paragraph 00129. Paragraph 00129 states, “For example, as to slips, which are an assembly that can be used to grip a drillstring in a relatively non-damaging manner and suspend the drillstring in a rotary table, WITS/WITSML define operations such as ‘bottom to slips’ time as a time interval between coming off bottom and setting slips, for a current connection; ‘in slips’ as a time interval between setting the slips and then releasing them, for a current connection; and ‘slips to bottom’ as a time interval between releasing the slips and returning to bottom (e.g., setting weight on the bit), for a current connection.”
This section does not appear to disclose “operating/operate a controller to control one or more of the equipment systems based at least in part on one or more operational sequence times of the in slips partition.” Although the applicant’s specification discloses general control throughout its disclosure, the examiner could not find support for the specific type of control that is disclosed in the claimed invention.
The examiner requests that the applicant show where this limitation in question is supported in the disclosure.
All other claims depend on claims 1 and 19-20. They are also rejected, as a result of their dependency.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. The claim(s) does/do not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because the claim is directed to “One or more computer-readable media comprising processor-executable instructions to instruct a computing system.” This could just be a computer program, which is per se ineligible (see MPEP 2106.03). The examiner suggests specifying that the computer-readable media is non-transitory.
Appropriate correction is required.
Please note that claims 1-20 were additionally considered for whether they were directed to a judicial exception. It was determined that the claims were not directed to a judicial exception because of the following limitation:
operating/operate a controller to control one or more of the equipment systems based at least in part on one or more operational sequence times of the in slips partition
Under step 2A, prong two, the limitation would apply any judicial exception with, or by use of, a particular machine (see MPEP 2106.05(b)), which in this case, would be an equipment system that is transformed by the control.
However, as noted above, this limitation is also rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a), and an additional 101 rejection may be necessitated in the future, depending on if/how the above limitation is amended.
Examiner’s Note - Double Patenting
The examiner considered whether a double patenting rejection would be appropriate in view of US Pat 12158555, which stemmed from an allowance of parent application 17/250701. However, the examiner determined that the claims in US Pat 12158555 were distinct from the current claimed invention, despite some areas of overlap.
Unlike the current claimed invention, the claims of US Pat 12158555 do not appear to disclose the following limitations:
and wherein the partitions comprise an in slips partition for a time interval between setting slips and releasing the slips
operating/operate a controller to control one or more of the equipment systems based at least in part on one or more operational sequence times of the in slips partition
From an art perspective, these limitations were not found, taught, suggested, or disclosed in the prior art, as discussed below.
Examiner’s Note - Allowable Subject Matter
With respect to independent claims 1 and 19-20, the following limitations were not found, taught, suggested, or disclosed in the prior art:
and wherein the partitions comprise an in slips partition for a time interval between setting slips and releasing the slips
operating/operate a controller to control one or more of the equipment systems based at least in part on one or more operational sequence times of the in slips partition
The most relevant piece of prior art found was Soos et al (US Pat 10385684). Claim 1 of Soos discloses:
c) receiving the downhole signals with the receiver and converting the pulses into a time series numerical representation of the downhole signals with the receiver
d) correlating a segment of the numerical representation with a group of possible symbols from the symbols
This is similar to the claimed, “automatically segmenting partitions from the time-series data …”
However, the focus of Soos appears to be on communicating downhole signals, while the current claimed invention discloses controlling surface level equipment systems, such as setting and releasing slips. Soos et al does not appear to mention slips.
Please note that the claims cannot be allowed until the above 112 and 101 rejections are overcome. Depending on if/how the claims are amended, an art rejection may later be necessitated.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Saini et al (US Pat 10628435) discloses extracting seasonal, level, and spike components from a time series of metrics data.
Akimov et al (US PgPub 20070112521) discloses real-time imaging while drilling.
Frenkel et al (US PgPub 20170053008) discloses a time series explorer.
Hariharan et al (US PgPub 20170116524) discloses sensor time series data: functional segmentation for effective machine learning.
Sarkar et al (US PgPub 20170124480) discloses an apparatus and method for activity detection and classification from sensor data.
Fox et al (US PgPub 20180012310) discloses creating and executing a well construction/operation plan.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to LEONARD S LIANG whose telephone number is (571)272-2148. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 10:00 AM - 7 PM.
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, ARLEEN M VAZQUEZ can be reached at (571)272-2619. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/LEONARD S LIANG/Examiner, Art Unit 2857 06/27/26
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