Seismic measuring system including GPS receivers
First Claim
1. A seismic measurement system including:
- a plurality of digitizer units and associated geophones for collecting data relating to seismic activities;
a base GPS receiver and an associated antenna with a substantial view of the sky, the base GPS receiver acquiring and tracking GPS satellite signals and producing range information;
a plurality of slave GPS receivers, one at the location of each digitizer unit, with one or more of the slave GPS receivers operating in locations in which at various times the sianals from GPS satellites in certain sky locations are unavailable, weakened or corrupted by multipath at the one or more slave GPS receivers, the slave GPS receivers acquiring and tracking GPS satellite signals and producing range information; and
a data recording and control center forcollecting the range information from the base receiver and the slave receivers over an extended period of time and batch processing the information to calculate the positions of the respective slave GPS receivers and associated digitizer units, andcollecting and analyzing the data provided by the respective digitizer units to produce seismic measurements.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for analyzing three-dimensional seismic data includes a plurality of digitizer units, each with a configuration of geophones, a data recording and control center, a base GPS receiver with an associated antenna with a substantially unrestricted view of the sky and at the respective digitizer units low-power slave GPS receivers that acquire and track GPS satellite signals using tracking assistance information provided by the base GPS receiver. The slave GPS receivers use the tracking assistance information to acquire and track GPS satellite signals from which the slave GPS receivers produce associated range information. The system batch processes the range information provided by the slave GPS receivers over an extended period of time to determine the precise positions of the respective slave GPS receivers. The system provides the position information to the slave GPS receivers, and the receivers locally produce associated timing signals that are based on the GPS codes. If a particular slave GPS receiver cannot, at a given time, track any GPS satellite signals, a nearby slave GPS receiver supplies timing information required for the geophone data gathering operations.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A seismic measurement system including:
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a plurality of digitizer units and associated geophones for collecting data relating to seismic activities; a base GPS receiver and an associated antenna with a substantial view of the sky, the base GPS receiver acquiring and tracking GPS satellite signals and producing range information; a plurality of slave GPS receivers, one at the location of each digitizer unit, with one or more of the slave GPS receivers operating in locations in which at various times the sianals from GPS satellites in certain sky locations are unavailable, weakened or corrupted by multipath at the one or more slave GPS receivers, the slave GPS receivers acquiring and tracking GPS satellite signals and producing range information; and a data recording and control center for collecting the range information from the base receiver and the slave receivers over an extended period of time and batch processing the information to calculate the positions of the respective slave GPS receivers and associated digitizer units, and collecting and analyzing the data provided by the respective digitizer units to produce seismic measurements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A seismic measurement system including:
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a plurality of digitizer units and associated geophones for collecting data relating to seismic activities; one or more base GPS receivers with substantial views of at least portions of the sky, the one or more base GPS receivers providing tracking assistance information relating to GPS satellites in view; a plurality of slave GPS receivers at the remaining locations of the digitizer units with one or more of the slave GPS receivers operating in locations in which at various times the signals from GPS satellites in certain sky locations are unavailable, weakened or corrupted by multipath at the one or more slave GPS receivers, the slave GPS receivers utilizing the tracking assistance information to acquire and track signals from the GPS satellites and produce timing signals that are tied to the timing of the codes in the tracked GPS satellite signals to control the timing of data collection by the digitizer units; and a data recording and control center for collecting and analyzing the data provided by the respective digitizer units. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A seismic measurement system including:
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a plurality of digitizer units and associated geophones for collecting data relating to seismic activities; a base receiver and an associated antenna with a substantial view of the sky, the base receiver acquiring and tracking satellite signals and producing range information; a plurality of slave receivers, one at the location of each digitizer unit and one or more of the slave receivers operating in locations in which at various times the signals from the satellites in certain sky locations are unavailable, weakened or corrupted by multipath at the one or more slave receivers, the slave receivers acquiring and tracking satellite signals and producing range information; a data recording and control center for collecting the range information from the base receiver and the slave receivers over an extended period of time and batch processing the information to calculate the positions of the respective slave receivers and associated digitizer units, sending the calculated positions to the slave receivers, and collecting and analyzing the data provided by the respective digitizer units to produce seismic measurements; and the slave receivers using the calculated positions to aid in acquiring and tracking the satellite signals. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. A method of making seismic measurements, the method including the steps of:
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A. collecting data relating to seismic activities at a plurality of seismic measurement locations; B. acquiring and tracking satellite signals and producing range information at the plurality of seismic locations with one or more of the locations having restricted views of the sky; C. acquiring and tracking satellite signals and producing range information from one or more base locations that have substantially clear views of at least respective portions of the sky; D. collecting the range information from the locations with restricted views of the sky and the base locations over an extended period of time and batch processing the information to calculate the positions of the respective seismic measurement locations from which the range information was collected; E. collecting and analyzing the seismic activity data to produce seismic measurements associated with the respective seismic measurement locations; and F. storing the calculated positions and the seismic measurements for processing to determine the seismic activity at given locations. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for making seismic measurements, the method including The steps of:
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collecting data relating to seismic activities at a plurality locations; at one or more locations with substantial views of at least portions of the sky producing tracking assistance information relating to satellites in view and providing the tracking assistance information to the other locations; utilizing the tracking assistance information at restricted view locations in which at various times the signals from satellites in certain sky locations are unavailable, weakened or corrupted by multipath to acquire and track signals from the satellites and produce timing signals that are tied to the timing of the codes in the tracked satellite signals to control the timing of data collection by the digitizer units; collecting and analyzing the seismic activity data to produce seismic measurement data; and storing the seismic measurement data for processing to determine seismic activities at the locations. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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Specification