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 .
Drawings
The drawings are objected to because Fig. #2 has a structure on the surface without assignment on the specification or drawing.. 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.
Specification
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because it starts phrases that implies such as “Described the system”. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
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.
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.
Claims 1-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Collins et al. (US 2020/0230554 A1) (“Collins” herein) and further in view of Katz (US 2019/0060834 A1) (“Katz” herein)
Claim 1
Collins discloses a system for targeted waterflooding in an oil field, comprising:
a target area in the oil field, the target area having a plurality of injection wells (i.e. 20, 20’, …)located at the periphery of a plurality of production wells; (i.e. 21, 21’…) (Figs. 1 & 2)) [0023-0027, 0099-0111]
a plurality of reverse osmosis units at various locations of the target area, [0101-0102]
each reverse osmosis unit connected with source water, wherein each reverse osmosis units generates fresh water from the source water, the fresh water having a salinity lower than the source water; [0106-0109] and
an injection manifold connected with the one or more the plurality of reverse osmosis units, wherein the injection manifold distributes the fresh water into one or more of the plurality of injection wells, [0040-0042, 0110-0111]
creating an underground buffer zone of diluted formation brine (i.e. drive fluid zone between inject well 20, 20’… and production wells 21, 21’..) at the periphery of each producing well, [011, 0013, 0097, 0100] and
wherein the fresh water is stored in the underground buffer zone prior to use in
the plurality of production wells. [0066-0070, 0097, 0110-0111]
Collins however does not explicitly disclose mobile reverse osmosis.
Katz teaches the above limitation (See paragraphs 0052, 0019, & 0187 → Katz teaches this limitation in that FIG. 27 is a schematic showing a water purification system on a single skid embodiment. In this embodiment, the system comprises an apparatus comprising at least one device to purify the water wherein a purified component is separated from a saline component; wherein the device can achieve a specific density of the saline component; at least one energy recapture device and the at least one reverse osmosis membrane in a coordinated manner. In one embodiment, the entire operations section of the apparatus can fit on a mobile skid usable within the scope of the present disclosure. Specifically, all equipment including the SCADA control system 402 can be located on a single skid such as, a mobile trailer or modified truck.) for the purpose of providing quickly and efficiently uses energy such as, temperature, pressure from the produced water at a wellhead to purify water using membrane filters through processes such as, nano-filtration and/or reverse osmosis to remove impurities from the produced water. [0055]
Accordingly, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filling date of the claimed invention to modify Collins, with the above limitation, as taught by Katz, in order to the produce water at a wellhead to purify water using membrane filters through processes such as, nano-filtration and/or reverse osmosis.
Claim 2
Collins discloses the system of claim 1, wherein the fresh water is stored in between the plurality of injection wells and the one or more plurality of production wells. [0011, 0013, 0097]
Claim 3
Collins discloses the system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the plurality of reverse osmosis units are connected with the source water via at least one first pipeline
within the oil field, and wherein the injection manifold is connected with one or more
of the plurality of reverse osmosis units via at least one second pipeline. [0066-0070] Collins however does not explicitly disclose mobile reverse osmosis. (Same as claim 1)
Claim 4
Collins discloses the system of claim 3, further comprising an inline mixer positioned in the at least one second pipeline. [0066-0070]
Claim 5
Collins discloses the system of claim 4, wherein the inline mixer is configured for mixing
the fresh water with seawater or produced water to generate an injection water, and wherein the injection water is stored in the underground buffer zone prior to use in the plurality of production wells. [0066-0070, 0110-0111]
Claim 6
Collins discloses the system of claim 1, wherein the source water is produced water or seawater. [0006, 0066-0067, 0097-0098]
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Al-Otaibi et al. (US 2019/0367801 A1) IN-SITU SALINITY ADJUSTMENT TO IMPROVE WATERFLOODING PERFORMANCE IN OIL-WET CARBONATE RESERVOIRS teaches A composition for increased hydrocarbon production from a hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir. The composition includes a saltwater solution suitable for injection into the hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir for water flooding, the saltwater solution having a salinity; and a plurality of nanocapsules, where the nanocapsules are operable to be suspended amongst the saltwater solution, where the nanocapsules have an overall positively charged outer surface at respective outer shells of the nanocapsules, where the nanocapsules encapsulate water molecules within the nanocapsules, and where the nanocapsules are operable to release the water molecules in the hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir proximate overall negatively charged zones., Al-Otaibi et. Al (US 2023/0236164 A1) PH MONITORING IN POROUS MEDIA DURING WATERFLOODING EXPERIMENTS teaches Provided is a coreflood system that comprises a housing including an inlet end and an outlet end, an inlet positioned at the inlet end, and an outlet positioned at the outlet end. The system includes two chambers positioned within the housing between the inlet and the outlet, configured to retain porous media. The two chambers are in series along a fluid flow pathway through the coreflood system, and Willingham et al. (US 2012/0125604 A1) Systems And Methods For Enhanced Waterfloods teaches Methods and systems for enhancing oil recovery from a subterranean formation comprising at least a first region and a second region are provided. An exemplary method includes creating an injection stream by adding a salt to a water stream to increase a concentration of an ion and injecting the injection stream into the subterranean formation through a first injection well in the first region of the subterranean formation. Fluid is produced from the subterranean formation and separated to generate an aqueous stream comprising at least a portion of the ion. The salt is added to the aqueous stream to adjust the concentration of the ion in the aqueous stream to a desired level.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SILVANA C RUNYAN whose telephone number is (571)270-5415. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 7:30-4:30.
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/SILVANA C RUNYAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3674 01/27/2026