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 § 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.
Claim(s) 18 and 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Berger et al. (11891858 - Berger).
Berger discloses a tool, comprising:
Re claim 18:
an outer cylinder 210 (i.e., fig. 2) with an axially extending hollow cavity formed therein, wherein the outer cylinder has a first end and a second end; and
a differential assembly 230 (an inner passage of 230 is smaller than an inner passage of 240 like a nozzle, thus a fluid pressure will increase when fluid flows through it), a downhole rock core cleaning assembly 222 (fluid pass through it, down arrow, reaches /cleans bottom a core 25), pressure-preserving inner cylinder assembly 220 and a seal assembly 201 that are arranged from top to bottom in the hollow cavity in series, wherein the pressure-preserving inner cylinder assembly as an inner cylinder assembly for accommodating a rock core, and an upper joint and a lower joint respectively connected to two ends of the glass fiber tube,
wherein the downhole rock core cleaning assembly is arranged to clean the rock core 250 contained in the inner cylinder assembly 220 (i.e., see down arrow 261, fig. 3, by injecting a fluid (i.e., down arrow) into the inner cylinder assembly when driven by the differential assembly, and moves the pressure-preserving inner cylinder assembly toward the first end of the outer cylinder after completing cleaning (i.e., cleaning bottom of the core 250), the seal assembly 201 is arranged to close an accommodating space of the inner cylinder assembly at the second end of the outer cylinder after the pressure-preserving inner cylinder assembly moves (i.e., from fig. 2 to fig. 3) toward the first end of the outer cylinder.
Berger is silent on the inner cylinder assembly comprises a glass fiber tube, the upper joint and the lower joint are non-ferromagnetic alloy parts, and injecting a cleaning solvent. However, they are all well-known materials. Thus, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the present application to try the tool of Berger with a glass fiber tube (corrosion resistance, light weight strength and durability, versatility), non-ferromagnetic alloy parts (resistance to rust, lightweight properties), and cleaning solvent (fast evaporation, versatility, residue-free cleaning) for an optimal performance of the tool, since it has been held to be within the general skill of a worker in the art to select a known material on the basis of its suitability for the intended use as a matter of obvious design choice. In le Leshin, 125 USPQ 416. This also applies to claim 23 since it is directed to a known material (perfluoro solvent).
Note that Examiner withdrawn claims 32 and 33 from further consideration since they are directed to different invention.
Claim 32 is directed to a reservoir analysis system that comprises the pressure-preserving inner cylinder assembly and the seal assembly are arranged to be integrally placed in the nuclear magnetic resonance analyzer for testing, without generating magnetic attraction to the pressure-preserving inner cylinder assembly and the seal assembly, and claim 32 is directed to a reservoir analysis method that comprises taking out the pressure-preserving inner cylinder assembly and the seal assembly integrally from the pressure-preserved coring tool, while preserving the pressure in the accommodating space of the inner cylinder assembly, and placing the pressure-preserving inner cylinder assembly and the seal assembly in combination in a nuclear magnetic resonance analyzer for testing.
Applicant must withdraw or cancel claims 32 and 33 to avoid a formal restriction/election requirement.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 19-22 and 24-31 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. The cited prior art made all show similar features to those of the claimed invention.
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/YONG-SUK (PHILIP) RO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3676