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
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-3 and 6-13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over the Chinese document to Huo (CN 102720459, hereafter Huo) in view of Marshall et al. (US 2008/0223588, hereafter Marshall).
With regards to claim 1, Huo discloses a packer assembly, comprising: a mandrel (1) comprising a lower ledge (top of 1) and a mandrel tapered surface; a lower tubular (3) comprising an upper ledge; a packer element (2) disposed around the mandrel tapered surface. Huo shows all the limitation of the present invention except, a plurality of packer elements disposed around the mandrel tapered surface; and a plurality of separators disposed between the plurality of packer elements. Marshall discloses a plurality of packer elements (30, 32, 34) disposed around a mandrel (22); and a plurality of separators (36, 38) disposed between the plurality of packer elements. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the packers and separators of Marshall with the apparatus of Huo with a reasonable expectation of success. This would be done to allow for greater control over the expansion of the packer assembly.
With regards to claim 2, Huo discloses an upper mandrel (top of 1) comprising the lower ledge and an upper ledge; and a lower mandrel (4) coupled to the upper mandrel comprising the mandrel tapered surface, an upper ledge, and a lower ledge, wherein a first threaded surface of the upper mandrel is threaded onto a first mating threaded surface (5) of the lower mandrel.
With regards to claim 3, modified Huo discloses the lower ledge of the upper mandrel (top of 1; Huo) abuts a first packer elements of the plurality of packer elements (32; Marshall) and an upper ledge of the lower tubular (3; Huo) abuts a second packer element (34; Marshall) of the plurality of packer elements.
With regards to claim 6, Huo discloses the mandrel (1) is configured to slide axially relative to the lower tubular (3) during actuation of the packer assembly.
With regards to claim 7, modified Huo discloses the plurality of packer elements (30, 32, 34; Marshall) are formed of an elastomeric material (2 of Huo is rubber, while 30, 32 and 34 of Marshal are undisclosed sealing material that is compressible to expand, implying an elastomer) and configured to deform and reform between an actuated position and an unactuated position.
With regards to claim 8, modified Huo does not explicitly disclose the plurality of separators are formed from an elastomeric material configured to transmit an axial compression force uniformly between packer elements. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the elastomeric rubber of Huo with the separators of Marshall with a reasonable expectation of success. This would be done to allow the sliding of the separators over the tapered mandrel of Huo without significant resistance and maintain position between packing elements.
With regards to claim 9, Huo discloses a method of deploying and actuating a packer assembly, comprising: deploying a packer assembly within a casing; applying a force to a mandrel (1) of the packer assembly to move the mandrel relative to a lower tubular (3), wherein applying the force to the mandrel comprises: sliding a mandrel tapered surface of the mandrel within a packer element (2); applying a force to an inner diameter of the packer element; radially outwardly expanding the packer element due to the force on the inner diameter of the plurality of packer elements; and forming a seal between the packer element and the casing; releasing (7) the force from the mandrel; and removing the packer assembly from the casing. Huo shows all the limitation of the present invention except, a plurality of packer elements disposed around the mandrel tapered surface; and a plurality of separators disposed between the plurality of packer elements. Marshall discloses a plurality of packer elements (30, 32, 34) disposed around a mandrel (22); and a plurality of separators (36, 38) disposed between the plurality of packer elements. It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the packers and separators of Marshall with the apparatus of Huo with a reasonable expectation of success. This would be done to allow for greater control over the expansion of the packer assembly.
With regards to claim 10, modified Huo discloses applying a force to the mandrel of the packer (2) assembly further comprises: applying the force to an upper mandrel of the mandrel; and applying the force to a lower mandrel of the mandrel and a first packer element of the plurality of packer elements via the upper mandrel, wherein the lower mandrel is coupled to the upper mandrel.
With regards to claim 11, modified Huo discloses applying the force to the first packer element of the plurality of comprises applying the force from the first packer element to a separator (38; Marshall) and applying a uniform force to a second packer element of the plurality of packer elements via the separator (Fig. 2; Marshall).
With regards to claim 12, modified Huo discloses radially outwardly expanding the plurality of packer elements (30, 32, 34; Marshall) further comprises elastically deforming the plurality of packer elements and a plurality of separators (38; Marshall) disposed between each packer element of the plurality of packer elements.
With regards to claim 13, modified Huo discloses releasing the force from the mandrel (upon shearing of 7; Huo) further comprises reforming the plurality of packer elements (30, 32, 34; Marshall) and the plurality of separators (38; Marshall) disposed between each packer element of the plurality of packer elements (30, 32, 34; Marshall).
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15-20 are allowed.
Claims 4, 5 and 14 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 all show similar features to those of the claimed invention.
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/DANIEL P STEPHENSON/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3676
