Processing Sensing Measurements

• US 20080065344A1
• Filed: 07/22/2005
• Published: 03/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sensornet Limited (Nova Holdings LLC)
• Original Assignee: Sensornet Limited (Nova Holdings LLC)
• Inventors: Parker, Tom, Lee, Kin-Wei
• Granted Patent: US 7,813,898 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/127
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 47/00 Survey of boreholes or wells monitoring pressure or flow of drilling fluid E21B21/08
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 7/04 using a separate indicating element for each variable

Abstract

Software (140) for processing measurements from a distributed sensing system (100) receives the measurements, and generates a graphical representation of the measurements indicating their location or time sequence, and a representation of locations of physical features along the path (50), or times of external events, the representations being scaled and associated to provide a visual correlation between the locations of the measurements and locations of the physical features, or between times of measurements and times of external events. The enhanced visual correlation can lead to cost savings if more rapid interpretation of large volumes of measurements can give warning of changes such as subsidence of structures, or of ingress of water into oil wells, for example in time for remedial action to be taken.

Claims

1. Software for causing a computer to process measurements from a distributed sensing system (100) for sensing conditions at any range of locations along a one dimensional path, the processing comprising receiving the measurements (200), and generating (210,220) a graphical representation of the measurements indicating their location, and a representation of locations of physical features along the path, both representations being scaled and associated (230) to provide a visual correlation between the locations of the measurements and locations of the physical features.

2. The software of claim 1, comprising selecting a scale of the representation of distance along the path according to user input.

3. The software of claim 1, the measurements comprising measurements over time for a given location, and the graphical representation showing variations with time.

4. The software of claim 1, arranged to receive measurements from a second sensing system, and generate a third representation scaled and associated with the representation of the physical features.

5. The software of claim 1, the visual correlation being provided by overlaying the representations.

6. The software of claim 1, the visual correlation being provided by having the representations offset such that axes representing distance along the path for each representation are parallel.

7. The software of claim 1, the processing comprising a preliminary step of calibrating (310) the locations of the measurements using a reference measurement at a reference location.

8. The software of claim 1, the processing comprising generating at least a third representation of measurements of a different parameter, scaled and aligned to the first two representations.

9. The software of claim 1, the processing comprising generating graphical symbols for the physical features which are re-proportioned as the distance scale is altered.

10. The software of claim 1, the processing comprising generating a representation in a time axis of external events affecting the path, scaled and aligned with the representation of the measurements over time.

11. The software of claim 1, the processing comprising generating a representation of a region of interest in the measurements.

12. The software of claim 11, the processing comprising marking an indication of the region on the representation of the location of the physical features.

13. The software of claim 1, the representation of the measurements comprising a three or more dimensional view of the conditions, at least one of the dimensions representing time or location.

14. The software of claim 1, the processing comprising generating a graphical representation of a trajectory of the path.

16. A computer comprising an interface to one or more sensing systems and software according to claim 1, and a user interface for presenting the representations to the user, and for receiving user input.

17. A system comprising a distributed sensing system for sensing conditions remotely at substantially all locations along a one dimensional path, and further comprising the computer of claim 16.

15. Software for causing a computer to process measurements from a distributed sensing system for sensing conditions at any range of locations along a one dimensional path, the processing comprising receiving the measurements, and generating a graphical representation of a time series of the measurements, and a representation of external events at given locations along the path, both representations being scaled and associated to provide a visual correlation between the timing of the measurements and the external events.

18. A method of analysing measurements from a distributed sensing system for sensing conditions at any range of locations along a one dimensional path, comprising the steps of selecting (400) a subset of the measurements, causing generation (410) of a graphical representation of the location of the selected measurements along the path with a representation of physical features of the path, scaled and associated to provide a visual correlation, zooming (420) the representations and panning along the path to identify regions of interest using the visual correlation of the measurements and the physical features, selecting (430) a region of interest, and causing generation (440) of a graphical representation of the measurements at different times for the region of interest.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the step of selecting measurements from a second sensing system, and causing generation of a third representation scaled and associated with the representation of the physical features.