Recent Patents in Signal Processing (May 2012) - Geophysical Signal Processing

For the May 2012 edition, we focus on recent patents in geophysical signal processing. These are inventions concerning the processing of seismic signals to determine the nature and composition of the earth's crust, and hyperspectral and multispectral imaging for detection of gases or topographical features. Many of the technical innovations in these inventions are related to the articles in the latest Signal Processing Magazine Issue Special Section on Geophysical Signal Processing.

US 8,165,340, "Methods for gas detection using stationary hyperspectral imaging sensors", by J. Conger and J. Henderson, filed 7 October 2009, issued 24 April 2012, assigned to Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (Livermore, CA).

US 8,144,543, "Seismic data processing method for RMO picking", by R. Siliqi and P. Herrmann, filed 30 June 2010, issued 27 March 2012, assigned to CGG Veritas SA (Massy Cedex, France).

US 8,126,651, "Method for obtaining porosity and shale volume from seismic data", by R. Saltzer, C. Finn and R. Lu, filed 6 June 2006, issued 28 February 2012, assigned to ExxonMobil Upstream Research Co. (Houston, TX).

US 8,103,453, "Method of seismic data interpolation by projection on convex sets", by R. Abma, filed 13 May 2009, issued 24 January 2012, assigned to BP Corporation North America, Inc. (Houston, TX).

US 8,027,517, "Method for stratigraphic interpretation of seismic images", by . Gauthier, M.-C. Cacas, L. Duval, filed 27 November 2007, issued 27 September 2011, assigned to Institut Francais du Petrole (Cedex, FR).

US 8,073,624, "Technique and system to process a seismic signal to determine an attribute of a geological layer", by T. Pierle, filed 12 March 2009, issued 6 December 2011, assigned to Schlumberger Technology Corporation (Sugar Land, TX).

US 8,073,625, "Method for combining seismic data sets", by M. Deffenbaugh and R. Neelamani, filed 16 February 2011, issued 6 December 2011, assigned to ExxonMobil Upstream Research Co. (Houston, TX).

US 8,010,293, "Localized seismic imaging using diplets", by C. Peng, Y. Hu and J. Sheng, filed 12 February 2008, issued 30 August 2011, assigned to WesternGeco L. L. C. (Houston, TX).

US 8,095,345, "Stochastic inversion of geophysical data for estimating earth model parameters", by G. Hoversten,filed 20 January 2009, issued 10 January 2012, assigned to Chevron U.S.A. Inc (San Ramon, CA).

US 7,936,949, "Panchromatic modulation of multispectral imagery", by R. Riley, T. Bakir, A. Peter, and M. Akbari, filed 1 December 2006, issued 3 May 2011, assigned to Harris Corporation (Melbourne, FL).

If you have an interesting patent to share when we next feature patents on geophysical and seismic signal processing, or if you are especially interested in a signal processing research field that you would want to be highlighted in this section, please send email to Shantanu Rane (rane AT merl DOT com).