Appeal No. 1997-0594
Application No. 08/448,134
a position to be in close proximity to a zone of said
formation ahead of said bit and which is substantially
uninvaded by drilling fluid during drilling” where “an
instrument is operably connected to said sensor for causing
the emission and receipt of signals with respect to said
zone." Similarly, method claim 11 contains the limitations
“generating electromagnetic wave energy for emission from said
sensor into said uninvaded zone during said drilling” and
receiving reflected electromagnetic wave energy from said
uninvaded zone at said sensor during said drilling” where the
drilling limitation identifies that the sensor is mounted on
the face of the drill bit and the uninvaded zone is an earth
formation ahead of the drill bit.
Turning to the rejection, we find that the combination of
Unterberger et al., Bartel et al., Blondeau and Piety do not
teach or suggest the mounting of a sensor on the drill bit
which emits signals into and receives signals from the
formation ahead of the drill bit. The Examiner’s conclusion
on page 5 of the answer that "it would have been obvious to
one of ordinary skill in relevant art to modify the sensor of
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