Apparatus and method for trend analysis in graphical information involving spatial data
First Claim
1. A graphic tool displayed on a computer display along with spatial data representing seismic events also displayed thereon as a plurality of points, and the graphic tool is used by an operator of the computer for defining parameters to be used in searching for trends in the seismic events spatial data, said graphic tool comprising:
- a plurality of search parameter indicators set by the operator, and to which said computer is responsive, to be used in searching for trends in the seismic event spatial data; and
a first indicator used by the operator to indicate to said computer to perform a trend search using the operator set parameters and display a trend line on said display between the ones of said plurality of points identified in the trend search.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus are disclosed for testing a large plurality of displayed data points of recorded spatial data to determine and display trends created by different sets of the data points within the recorded spatial data. An analysis operator interactively uses an onscreen graphic tool called a widget to set trend search parameters after studying the displayed data points, and uses a pop-up menu to set other search and display parameters for the trend search. The onscreen graphic tool permits the user to easily see on-screen, and manually set, search parameters indicating the direction of a search from a user selected starting point, how far each step of a search will be performed for adjacent data points in a fault line, within what angle the search will be performed on either side of the user indicated search direction, and if trend searches being performed are in one or both directions from the user selected starting point in the recorded spatial data.
53 Citations
43 Claims
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1. A graphic tool displayed on a computer display along with spatial data representing seismic events also displayed thereon as a plurality of points, and the graphic tool is used by an operator of the computer for defining parameters to be used in searching for trends in the seismic events spatial data, said graphic tool comprising:
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a plurality of search parameter indicators set by the operator, and to which said computer is responsive, to be used in searching for trends in the seismic event spatial data; and
a first indicator used by the operator to indicate to said computer to perform a trend search using the operator set parameters and display a trend line on said display between the ones of said plurality of points identified in the trend search. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. Apparatus for searching for trends in recorded spatial data representing seismic events displayed on a display, said apparatus comprising:
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means for storing recorded seismic event spatial data;
means for displaying said recorded seismic event spatial data and a graphical tool used by an operator of said apparatus to specify trend search parameters (widget); and
means for searching the recorded seismic event spatial data responsive to said operator specified trend search parameters and causing said displaying means to display trends in said recorded seismic event spatial data. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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17. A method for interactively interfacing with a computer and recorded spatial data representing seismic events displayed as a plurality of points on a display that is part of said computer for specifying parameters to be used in a search of the recorded seismic event spatial data for automatically identify trends in said spatial data, said method comprising the steps of:
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displaying a graphical tool on said display along with said seismic event spatial data;
indicating a number of parameters to be used in searching for trends in the seismic event spatial data displayed on said display using said graphical tool; and
performing a trend search using the indicated parameters. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
selecting a first point in said spatial data to be used as the starting point for a trend search by placing the mouse cursor on said first point and operating a mouse button; and
re-displaying said graphical tool centered on said first point.
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25. The method in accordance with claim 24 wherein said direction for a trend search is indicated by a needle displayed as part of the graphic tool and said direction indicating step comprises the steps of:
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placing the mouse cursor on said needle and operating a mouse button;
moving the mouse cursor to a new direction and releasing the mouse button; and
re-displaying said graphic tool with said needle pointing in the new direction.
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26. The method in accordance with claim 25 wherein said graphical tool includes a displayed circle only in which said trend search is performed and said step of indicating a distance within which to search for an adjacent point in a trend comprises the steps of:
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placing the mouse cursor on said circle and operating a mouse button;
moving the mouse cursor to a new position within or without said circle and releasing the mouse button; and
re-displaying said graphic tool with its circle having a new radius as indicated when the mouse button was released.
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27. The method in accordance with claim 26 wherein said graphical tool includes a pie shaped segment displayed within the circle of the tool, with the apex of the pie shaped segment being on said first point, and said step indicating an angle of search about said search direction comprises the steps of;
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placing the mouse cursor on the side of said pie shaped segment and operating a mouse button;
moving the mouse cursor to a new position within or without said pie shaped segment and releasing the mouse button; and
re-displaying said graphic tool with the pie shaped segment having a new angle as indicated when the mouse button was released.
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28. The method in accordance with claim 27 wherein said step of performing a search in the opposite direction from the direction set by the step of indicating a direction comprises the steps of:
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providing an indication to the computer that a trend search should be performed in a direction opposite to that previously performed; and
performing a trend search in said opposite direction.
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29. The method in accordance with claim 23 wherein said step of indicating a number of parameters to be used in searching for trends in the spatial data further comprises the step of removing the trend line displayed between points identified in the most recently generated trend search.
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30. The method in accordance with claim 29 wherein said step of indicating a number of parameters to be used in searching for trends in the spatial data further comprises the step of removing all trend lines displayed on said display between points identified during trend searches.
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31. The method in accordance with claim 30 wherein said step of indicating a number of parameters to be used in searching for trends in the spatial data further comprises the step of displaying midpoints in a trend line displayed between the ones of said plurality of points identified in a trend search.
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32. The method in accordance with claim 31 wherein said step of indicating a number of parameters to be used in searching for trends in the spatial data further comprises the step of terminating the display of said graphic tool on said computer display.
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33. A program storage device (CDROM, tape, diskette) adapted for storing instructions, said instructions adapted to be executed by a processor of a computer, the instructions when executed by the processor conducting a process for searching for trends in seismic data comprising the steps of:
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displaying a graphical tool on said display along with seismic event spatial data;
indicating a number of parameters to be used in searching for trends in the seismic event spatial data displayed on said display using said graphical tool; and
performing a trend search using the indicated parameters. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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Specification