The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 22, 2014
Filed:
Dec. 04, 2009
Richard T. Houck, Houston, TX (US);
Graham A. Winbow, Houston, TX (US);
Richard T. Houck, Houston, TX (US);
Graham A. Winbow, Houston, TX (US);
ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company, Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
Techniques are disclosed for performing time-lapse seismic monitor surveys with sparsely sampled monitor data sets. A more accurate 3D representation (e.g., image) of a target area (e.g., a hydrocarbon bearing subsurface reservoir) is constructed using the sparsely sampled monitor data set (). The sparsely sampled monitor data set may be so limited that it alone is insufficient to generate an accurate 3D representation of the target area, but accuracy is achieved through use of certain external information (). The external information may include information accurately identifying a shape of the seismic reflector(s) present in the target area. The shape may be predetermined from a fully sampled base survey, and used to enable an accurate 3D representation () of the target area to be later generated for a monitor survey using a sparsely sampled monitor data set.