Abstract: An improved method that performs downhole fluid analysis of the fluid properties of a reservoir of interest and that characterizes the reservoir of interest based upon such downhole fluid analysis.

Abstract: A method (and corresponding apparatus) for downhole fluid analysis of petroleum formation fluids. The method includes capturing in a chamber of a downhole tool at least two immiscible formation fluids in a generally segregated state (the fluids including petroleum), activating a fluid mixing means to mix the fluids in the chamber to create an emulsion therefrom, and allowing the emulsified fluids to segregate while measuring light transmittance through the segregating fluids in order to calculate a transition time period based on the light transmittance through the fluids in the chamber. The transition time period is preferably bounded by the time required for the light transmittance values measured by the light detector to reach a baseline light transmittance. The transition time period characterizes the stability of an emulsion formed by the captured fluids. The methods and apparatus can also be used for other fluid testing applications beyond downhole formation fluid testing.

Abstract: A method and system for characterizing asphaltene gradients of a reservoir of interest and analyzing properties of the reservoir of interest based upon such asphaltene gradients. The analysis employs a correlation that relates insoluble asphaltene concentration to spectrophotometry measurement data measured at depth.

Abstract: Viscosity of heavy oil is determined in situ in a formation by making nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements in the formation, and then calculating viscosity according to an equation of the form T 2 ? LM = a + b ? ( ? T ) c , where T is the temperature of the heavy oil sample, ? is the viscosity, T2LM is the logarithmic mean of the T2 distribution spectrum of the sample, and a, b, and c are non-zero constants. Typically, constant b has a value between 5 and 7 and constant c has a value between ?0.7 and ?0.5.

Abstract: An improved method and system for characterizing the compositional components of a hydrocarbon reservoir of interest and analyzing fluid properties of the reservoir of interest based upon its compositional components.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus that are suitable for use in production of hydrocarbons from subterranean heavy oil deposits employ a subterranean cavity in communication with a borehole. The cavity is preferably formed along a U-tube borehole by coiled tubing reaming operations and/or radial drilling and explosive blasting.

Abstract: A method and system are provided for characterizing a reservoir of interest by comparing measured downhole fluid analysis measurement data with predicted downhole fluid analysis measurement data for the corresponding depth within the reservoir. The downhole fluid analysis measurement data may comprise the results of compositional analysis, gas-oil ratio measurements, and spectrophotometry measurements. The compositional analyses may be delumped to characterize the compositional components of the downhole fluid and equations of state may be used to predict compositional gradients and fluid properties with depth. The method and system enable the user to characterize a reservoir as to its states of compartmentalization and equilibrium.

Abstract: An apparatus (and corresponding method) for characterizing the fluid properties of a two phase fluid includes a restriction element (e.g., orifice plate or nozzle) along the flow path of the two phase fluid. At least one temperature sensor measures temperature of the two phase fluid flowing through the restriction element. A pressure sensor measures the pressure downstream of the restriction element. Time-of-flight measurements of pulses passing through the two phase fluid are made. The speed of sound within the two phase fluid is calculated from the time-of-flight measurements. At least one fluid property (e.g., a vapor phase fraction) of the two phase fluid is calculated from the measured pressure, the measured temperature, and the calculated speed of sound.

Abstract: A method and corresponding system is provided for determining fluid properties of a two phase fluid flowing through various portions of a wellbore. Specifically, the method and corresponding system determines fluid properties (e.g. enthalpy flux) of the two phase fluid flowing upstream of the injector portion of the wellbore as well as fluid properties (e.g., mass flow rate and enthalpy flux) of the two phase fluid at various measurement locations along the injector.

Abstract: Methods, systems, and apparatus that are suitable for use in production of hydrocarbons from subterranean heavy oil deposits employ a subterranean cavity in communication with a borehole. The cavity is preferably formed along a U-tube borehole by coiled tubing reaming operations and/or radial drilling and explosive blasting.

Abstract: A method for generating and characterizing an emulsion. The method provides a Couette device having first and second cylindrical members that define an annulus between them. The second cylindrical member is rotatably driven with respect to the first cylindrical member. Two or more substances each in a non-emulsified state are injected into the annulus. The Couette device is operated in a first mode to generate an emulsion from the two or more substances. The Couette device is also operated in a second mode to measure various attributes of the emulsion.

Abstract: An improved command handler (and database system utilizing the improved command handler) interfaces to a datastore storing item data for a plurality of items and bi-directional modifier data, corresponding to a relation between at least one first item and at least one second item, that represents first text characterizing semantics of a relationship of the at least one first item to the at least one second item, and represents second text characterizing semantics of a relationship of the at least one second item to the at least one first item. The command handler operates, in response to receiving a first-type query command that specifies at least one given item, to access the datastore to identify i) at least one related item that is related to the given item, and identify ii) either the first text or the second text characterizing semantics of the relation between the given item and the at least one related item.

Abstract: A method and system for displaying information characterizing the semantics of relations between objects. For each given relation between at least one subject object and at least one direct object, bi-directional modifier data is stored in a separate table and characterizes the semantics of a relationship between objects of different type. A bi-directional modifier is stored in distinct tables and comprises arbitrary text strings defined by user input. Test is linked to a relation between at two different object types and represents text. The present invention may be used in a wide assortment of software applications, including enterprise applications.

Abstract: A reflection liquid crystal display of the multilayered interference film type with both sufficient color purity and sufficient white level is provided using interference films having a large difference in refractive index, &Dgr;n, between two kinds of dielectric. In this reflection type liquid crystal display, at least two combinations of a transparent substrate, a multilayered film, and a light transmission layer, each for a different color, are stacked on a plane of the display. It is desirable that the difference between refractive indexes of the two different kinds of dielectric layers is &Dgr;n>1.2.

Abstract: Computer systems may be used to generate and display objects represented by triangles defined by coordinates of vertices. The present invention generates coordinates of a simplified vertex based upon coordinates of vertices adjacent to a first vertex and to a second vertex that define an edge of the triangles. First, a set of triangles that are adjacent to the edge is identified, Second, a first volume associated with the set of triangles is calculated. Finally, the coordinates of the simplified vertex are calculated such that a second volume associated with the simplified vertex corresponds to the first volume.

Abstract: A gate dielectric layer comprising a carbon film aligned to, and continuously covering, the gate electrode. The carbon dielectric film adheres to a wide variety of gate metals and is readily etched using etch processes which do not etch into the gate metal. In a preferred embodiment, the self-aligned carbon gate dielectric is deposited by plasma deposition, followed by deposition of a redundant gate dielectric.

Abstract: In a panoramic scene represented by a first environment map comprising a plurality of elements each associated with a color value representing color of the corresponding element, hotlink areas in the scene are defined by a second environment map comprising a plurality of elements. The elements of the second environment map correspond to the elements of said first environment map according to a mapping function. At least one element of the second environment map is associated with hotlink data identifying an action to be performed upon user selection of at least one element of the first environment map that correspond to the at least one element of the second environment map.

Abstract: A magnetic-field-detecting and/or generating apparatus comprises a non-ferromagnetic tip with a longitudinal member of ferromagnetic material embedded in the tip. Further, magnetic-shield means is arranged around the tip. At the end of the longitudinal member a magnetic-field device is arranged. The same principle can be applied to read/write heads for use in magnetic-storage devices.

Abstract: A computer processing unit is provided that includes an apparatus for generating an address of the next instruction to be completed. The apparatus includes a first table for storing a plurality of entries each corresponding to a dispatched instruction, each entry comprising an identifier that identifies the corresponding instruction and a status bit that indicates if the corresponding instruction is completed; a second table for storing a plurality of entries each corresponding to dispatched branch instructions, each entry comprising the same identifier stored in the first table, a target address of the dispatched branch instruction and a resolution status field that indicates at least if the corresponding branch instruction has been resolved taken or has been resolved not taken; program counter update logic that, in each machine cycle, updates a program counter to store and output the address of the next instruction to be completed according to the entries stored in the first table and the second table.

Abstract: A computer implemented representation and a method for encoding and decoding sequences of changes of a manifold triangular mesh. The representation is composed of a base manifold triangular mesh and a succession of specialized mesh surgery operations that may be of a different type. The methods encode or decode any sequence of mark, move, cut, delete, close, fill, or add operations. The mark operation specifies a type of mark and a set of marked elements. The move operation determines a set of displaced vertices from a set of marked elements, and applies a set of vertex displacements to the set of displaced vertices. The cut operation cuts the changing mesh through a set of marked edges. The close operation is applied to one or more boundaries that are determined when the type of mark is a boundary type, and the one or more boundaries are determined by a marked elements variable.