Abstract: A method of updating velocity whereby corresponding reflections are identified from P-P and P-S near-offset waves received from a seismic source and reflected by a subsurface layer to form P-P and P-S depth consistent image gathers. A joint velocity inversion in depth is performed on the P-P and P-S depth consistent image gathers to estimate a vertical depth zo, vertical P-wave velocity vpo, and vertical S-wave velocity vso of the subsurface layer. An isotropic depth migration of P-P depth consistent image gathers is determined based upon the depth zo, P-wave velocity vpo, and S-wave velocity vso to estimate a vertical isotropic depth zpp of the subsurface layer. Anisotropic parameters &dgr; and &sgr; are calculated based upon the depth zpp, P-wave velocity vp0, and S-wave velocity vso. The above steps are repeated, beginning with the joint velocity inversion, until the P-wave velocity vpo and S-wave velocity vso are substantially unchanged.

Abstract: In one embodiment, the invention includes a method for estimating seismic signal propagation raypaths from seismic source locations through a subsurface formation to seismic receiver locations. Raypaths are determined which minimize the value of an expression which is a function of travel time and distance between a source location and a receiver location. The value of the expression depends on the value of a parameter which balances the weighting of travel time and distance in the expression.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for producing at least one signal (oscillation signal), which indicates an oscillation in an electrical power supply system. In order to allow the oscillation behavior of an electrical power system to be detected safely and reliably at all times, an oscillation model is used which is formed from previous impedance values associated with the oscillation, or from variables dependent on these impedance values. A check is carried out to determine whether a further impedance value formed at that time or a variable which is dependent on this further impedance value differs from the oscillation model, and any occurrence of a further impedance value or of a variable dependent on this impedance value which differs from the oscillation model is assessed as the oscillation having stopped.

Abstract: An environmentally mitigated navigation system includes a thermal isolating chamber, an inertial measurement unit that can include individual gyroscopes and accelerometers for making inertial measurements, and a temperature control system; the temperature control system includes a thermoelectric cooling system, which in a powered mode maintains the inertial measurement unit at a substantially predetermined temperature, and a phase change device for maintaining the inertial measurement unit or inertial sensors at substantially a predetermined temperature in an unpowered mode; the phase change device substantially maintains the predetermined temperature by changing phase to define a stable temperature window for the inertial measurement unit or individual sensors to make inertial measurements during the unpowered mode as well as during the powered mode.

Abstract: Estimation method for obtaining estimation results of meteorological quantities in a specified area during a specified future period, including steps of: provisionally creating a meteorological time-series model from historical data of the meteorological quantities observed in the specified area; adjusting parameters of the created time-series model on the basis of long-range weather forecast data for wider area, which contains future meteorological tendency relative to normal years, to adjust the created time-series model; and conducting simulation using the adjusted time-series model to obtain the estimation results.

Abstract: A method of monitoring the quality of data is disclosed. The method includes sampling a first acquired data trace to determine the amplitude of the trace at a plurality of sampling times; and determining first and second attributes for the acquired first data trace from the sampled amplitudes of the first acquired data trace, the first and second attributes being indicative of the noise content of the first acquired data trace.

Abstract: A remote maintenance system has a center server that is located in a service center for performing maintenance of an electrical appliance and a home server that is located in a house and monitors a status of the electrical appliance 102 in the house which are connected via a communication network. The home server includes an electrical appliance management unit that acquires a status value of the electrical appliance, a communication unit that receives from the center server a failure model which is information defining a method of deriving a decision whether the electrical appliance has failed or not from the status value, and a failure deciding unit that decides whether the electrical appliance has failed or not based on the acquired status value and the received failure model using qualitative reasoning. The center server includes a failure model updating unit that updates a failure model and sends the updated failure model to the home server via a communication unit.

Abstract: A method and system is disclosed for interactively displaying estimated stability of rock surrounding a wellbore. The display shows a three-dimensional representation of the orientation of a portion of the wellbore and the associated estimation of stability of the rock surrounding the wellbore. The user can alter the orientation of the portion of the wellbore, after which in real time the stability estimation is recalculated and redisplayed. The method and system can be used for planning or modifying a well plan, either before or during the drilling process. The method and system can also be used for diagnosis of stability problems. The method and system can also be used for displaying and analyzing the estimated stability of perforations surrounding a wellbore and for planning and arranging such perforations.

Abstract: A system and method for estimating an amount of substance released into an ambient thereby creating a plume includes at one sensor adapted to be positioned at the plume and making multiple concentration measurements of the released substance at multiple times. A computer-based analyzer system is programmed with an algorithm. The analyzer receives concentration measurements from the at least one sensor and the algorithm generates an estimate of amount of substance released as a function of the multiple concentration measurements and the time of the measurements.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and apparatus for locating the position of a lightning strike free of topography-dependent error by calculating a ground point having a difference in propagation distance at receiving stations (R1, R2 and R3) in at least three different locations. The difference in horizontal distance that would result in arrival time differences at the receiving stations is calculated using the horizontal coordinates of the respective stations. The ground point is taken as the tentative lightning strike position (X). The tentative lightning strike position is then corrected to a lightning strike position obtained by evaluating the arrival time difference in terms of the creepage distances (Ls) following depressions and elevations in the ground surface. The depressions and elevations in the ground surface are smoothed to a spatial wavelength that is comparable to the wavelength of the lightning electromagnetic waves.

Abstract: A seismic data set is processed by selecting a set of gathers in the seismic data set. A frequency independent constraint matrix is calculated in a first gather. A model solution in at least one second gather is calculated by using the constraint matrix in a high-resolution Radon transform.

Abstract: A graphical user interface of a well logging display program for editing data records included in well logging data includes multiple windows and controls for user interaction. The well logging data includes measurements of logging variables collected at successive depths to define the data records. The multiple windows include a first window for displaying depth versus time measurements, a second window for defining a logging variable, a third window for selecting and displaying a first set of instances of the logging variable, and a fourth window for selecting and displaying a second set of instances of the logging variable. The multiple controls include a bar line for selecting a splice point, and an interface button for instructing the program to edit the data records. The edited data records include measurements corresponding to the first and second set of instances being spliced in accordance with a predefined function.

Abstract: A method for determining the composition of a fluid by using measured properties of the fluid. One embodiment of the method of the current invention generally comprises: selecting a fluid property that has a response to fluid composition that is linear, or can be approximated as linear; measuring the selected fluid property at a series of specific time intervals; and plotting the measured property as a function of the selected property. In effect, plotting the measured property as a function of fluid composition in an arbitrary set of units. This allows for a in-situ qualitative evaluation of fluid composition by measuring a fluid property that has a known linear relationship to fluid composition. Another embodiment of the present invention further comprises, establishing the endpoints of contamination and plotting the measured properties through these endpoints. Once the endpoints have been established a quantitative evaluation of the fluid composition can be performed.

Abstract: Methods and systems for characterizing and managing plots of land is provided. Information related to elevation, soil conductivity, crop yield, and grower history is organized into profiles to generate a management zone profile. The management zone profile divides the plot of land into agronomy zones having attributable characteristics related to the elevation, soil conductivity, crop yield, and grower history information. The management zone profile is utilized to create a variable prescription of items, such as fertilizer, seed and pesticides, to be applied to the plot of land.

Abstract: The invention is a method for attenuating noise in seismic data traces, in which at least a portion of the noise is noncoherent in the common-shot domain but coherent in the common-receiver domain, the coherent noise having a move-out velocity different from the move-out velocity of the data signal in the seismic data traces. The method comprises sorting the seismic data traces into common-receiver order and using the difference in move-out velocities to separate the coherent noise from the data seismic signal. This method is useful in suppressing noise in two and four-component ocean bottom cable data.

Abstract: System and method for analyzing seismic data from a formation. Stacked seismic data are provided, including a plurality of stack traces, e.g., by collecting seismic data from source and receiver locations and stacking the collected seismic data to produce the stacked seismic data. 3-dimensional (3-D) prestack traces are generated from the plurality of stack traces, e.g., by performing inverse moveout of stack traces, e.g., in a specified neighborhood, at common-depth-points, e.g., by inverse normal moveout, ray tracing, spike synthesis, etc. The inverse moveout corrected traces are convolved to compute predicted multiples which are useable in analyzing the formation. The multiples may be adaptively subtracted from the stacked seismic data, or optionally, from prestack data, to generate processed seismic data useable in analyzing the formation, e.g., for petroleum production potential.

Abstract: A hydrophone assembly is provided that has a frequency response that matches that of an accelerometer. In a preferred implementation, the frequency response resembles that of a differentiator in combination with a pair of simple lags.

Abstract: A method for preserving edges in an image data set utilizing a modified anisotropic diffusion technique which can be applied multiple times to the image data to improve edge definition. The modified anisotropic diffusion technique may be applied to a filtered data set as well.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for processing a 3-D measurement data set provided with seismic attributes, by means of a neural network, whereby a self-organizing map is trained with selected training data, and the data to be examined are classified according to the self-organizing map. In this connection, the measurement data are processed by way of sub-volumes comprising a spatial environment of each sample. The classification is stored in a result data set, and displayed, for example in a two-dimensional map (FIG. 3).

Abstract: A method for interpolating the environment and geological age at all levels in a borehole from information provided by a limited number of depths and the use of a synthetic stratigraphic cross-section for the interval between these depths. In hydrocarbon exploration, a borehole provides a suite of logs, plus estimates of geologic age at a number of spaced markers. This method uses a sea-level cycle chart, a calculation of subsidence from the thickness of the interval, and postulated values for several variables. If it is known that the supply of sediment always exceeded the available accommodation during deposition, the corresponding synthetic cross-section may then be optimized for geological plausibility (as gauged by visual observation or quantitative criteria) by perturbing the postulated variables and iterating the calculations.