Appeal No. 96-4183
Application 08/235,625
having a drill bit 14 at its lower end and drilling fluid in the
borehole surrounding the drill string (Fig. 1; Col. 1, lines 15-
18; Col. 3, lines 22-25; Col. 8, line 19). The method steps
include drilling with a data handling sub 15 incorporated into
the drill string 13. Lygas also discloses that the acoustic
signals penetrate the walls of the borehole and enable analysis
of sub-terranian formations ahead of the bit and thus at least
suggests the presence of a receiver. However, Lygas is silent
about the location of the receiver.
The examiner states that measurement of formations
ahead of the drill bit is usually accomplished by keeping the
adjacent receivers in the data handling sub so as not to be
subject to interference by the weathering layer and other strata
between the data handling sub and the earth’s surface (Answer at
page 11). However, the examiner does not have a factual basis
for this statement.
A rejection based on 35 U.S.C. § 103 must rest on a
factual basis, with the facts being interpreted without hindsight
reconstruction of the invention from the prior art. In making
this evaluation, the examiner has the initial duty of supplying
the factual basis for the rejection he advances. He may not,
because he doubts that the invention is patentable, resort to
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Last modified: November 3, 2007