System, method and computer program product for detection of seismic events from a network

• US 8,422,334 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2007
• Issued: 04/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Magnitude Spas
• Original Assignee: Magnitude Spas
• Inventors: Maisons, Christophe
• Primary Examiner(s): Hellner, Mark
• Assistant Examiner(s): Murphy, Daniel L
• Application Number:
  US11/935,822
• Publication Number:
  US 20080137475A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,988 Days
• Field of Search: 181/107, 181/122, 736/49, 346/33.C, 346/420, 340/17, 340/601, 340/690, 709/224, 702/15, 367/13, 367/191, 370/390, 250/332, 717/100
• US Class Current: 367/25
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/01 Measuring or predicting earthquakes

Abstract

Disclosed is a system for detecting seismic events, the system including a plurality of seismic receivers, at least one of the receivers in the plurality adapted for: monitoring seismic activity, providing an alert to at least another of the receivers in the plurality upon detection of a seismic event, and triggering the monitoring in the at least another of the receivers in the plurality. A method and computer program product for monitoring seismic events is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A system for detecting seismic events, the system comprising:

a plurality of seismic receivers, at least one of the receivers in the plurality adapted for;

monitoring seismic activity in an earth formation, providing an alert to at least another of the receivers in the plurality upon detection of a seismic event generated within the earth formation, and triggering the monitoring in the at least another of the receivers in the plurality, the at least one of the receivers being positioned at a first location relative to the earth formation and the at least another of the receivers being positioned at a second location that is different than the first location, wherein the at least one of the receivers is at least one deep well receiver, and the at least another of the receivers is a plurality of shallow well receivers, the at least one deep well receiver configured to detect the seismic event and trigger monitoring in the plurality of shallow well receivers.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring in the at least another of the seismic receivers is selected from:

constant monitoring and periodic monitoring.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a buffer in communication with the at least another of the seismic receivers for temporarily storing data during a selected time period.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a collection machine configured for receiving input information and triggering the monitoring of at least one of the receivers, wherein the input information is an indication of a seismic event, the collection machine positioned remotely from the at least one seismic receiver and the at least another seismic receiver.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one deep well receiver is communicatively connected to the collection machine via a direct connection, and the plurality of shallow well receivers is communicatively connected to the collection machine via a wireless connection.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a memory device for storing seismic data, in communication with the at least another of the seismic receivers.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a network coupling at least two of the plurality of seismic receivers to a collector, wherein the coupling comprises at least one of:

a wireless connection, a wire connection, and a fiber optic connection.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a collection machine configured to receive input information from the at least one deep well receiver and trigger the monitoring in the plurality of shallow well receivers.

9. A method for detecting seismic events, the method comprising:

monitoring seismic events in an earth formation with at least one of a plurality of seismic receivers, the plurality of seismic receivers including at least one deep well receiver and a plurality of shallow well receivers;

upon detection of a seismic event generated within the earth formation by the at least one deep well receiver, providing an alert from the at least one deep well receiver to at least one of the plurality of shallow well receivers, the at least one of the plurality of shallow well receivers being positioned at a first location relative to the earth formation and the at least one deep well receiver being positioned at a second location that is different than the first location; and

triggering the monitoring in the plurality of shallow well receivers by the at least one deep well receiver.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the seismic events are generated in the earth formation due to a downhole operation.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein detection of an event comprises detection of seismic event data comprising a value exceeding a threshold value.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein providing an alert comprises providing the alert to a collection machine, and providing the alert from the collection machine to the at least one of the plurality of shallow well receivers, the collection machine positioned remotely from the at least one of the plurality of shallow well receivers and the at least one deep well receiver.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising storing data in the collection machine, the data generated by the plurality of shallow well receivers by the monitoring.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising receiving seismic waves and generating seismic data in the plurality of shallow well receivers, and temporarily storing the seismic data in a temporary buffer device during a selected time period.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein storing comprises storing the seismic data in a first-in/first-out (FIFO) manner.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein triggering the monitoring comprises transferring the temporarily stored data to a memory device, and storing additional seismic data generated after the triggering.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising storing the temporarily stored seismic data and the additional seismic data from the at least another of the receivers in a collection machine.

18. A computer program product comprising machine readable instructions stored on machine readable media, the instructions for detecting seismic events by implementing a method comprising:

monitoring seismic events in an earth formation with at least one of a plurality of seismic receivers, the plurality of seismic receivers including at least one deep well receiver and a plurality of shallow well receivers;

upon detection of an event generated within the earth formation by the at least one deep well receiver, providing an alert from the at least one deep well receiver to at least one of the plurality of shallow well receivers, the at least one of the plurality of shallow well receivers being positioned at a first location relative to the earth formation and the at least one deep well receiver being positioned at a second location that is different than the first location; and

triggering the monitoring in the plurality of shallow well receivers by the at least one deep well receiver.