# US 2017/0285193 A1 · Determining displacement between seismic images using optical flow

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- Number: US 2017/0285193 A1
- Document ID: US20170285193A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 15/465,861
- Filed: 2017-03-22
- Published: 2017-10-05
- Earliest claimed: 2016-03-31
- Assignees: BP Corporation North America Inc.
- Applicants: BP Corporation North America Inc.
- Inventors: Qie Zhang; Bosen Du
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20170285193A1

## CPC

- G01V 1/30: Analysis (G01V1/50 takes precedence)
- E21B 47/14: using acoustic waves
- E21B 49/00: Testing the nature of borehole walls; Formation testing; Methods or apparatus for obtaining samples of soil or well fluids, specially adapted to earth drilling or wells
- G01V 1/308: {Time lapse or 4D effects, e.g. production related effects to the formation (fluid flow per se E21B47/00)}
- G01V 2210/612: Previously recorded data, e.g. time-lapse or 4D
- G01V 2210/74: Visualisation of seismic data
- G01V: GEOPHYSICS; GRAVITATIONAL MEASUREMENTS; DETECTING MASSES OR OBJECTS; TAGS (means for indicating the location of accidentally buried, e.g. snow-buried, persons A63B29/02)
- E21B: EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS

## Abstract

A method for determining a displacement seismic image between two seismic images may begin with receiving a first seismic image and a second seismic image. The method may then include generating a first scaled image based on the first seismic image and a second scaled image based on the second seismic image and determining a scaled displacement volume between the two scaled images using an optical flow algorithm. The method may then involve calculating a displacement volume based on the scaled displacement volume and a scaling function used to generate the scaled images. The method may then generate a third seismic image by applying the displacement volume to the second seismic image. The method may then involve determining the difference volume between the first seismic image and the third seismic image.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for determining a displacement seismic image between a first seismic image and a second seismic image, comprising:
receiving, via a processor, the first seismic image and the second seismic image, wherein the first seismic image and the second seismic image are representative of one or more geological formations within a subsurface region of the Earth;
generating, via the processor, a first scaled image based on the first seismic image and a second scaled image based on the second seismic image;
obtaining, via the processor, a scaled displacement volume between the first scaled seismic image and the second scaled image;
determining, via the processor, a displacement volume based on the scaled displacement volume and a scaling function used to generate the first and second scaled images based on the first and second seismic images;
generating, via the processor, a third seismic image by applying the displacement volume to the second seismic image, wherein one or more seismic events depicted in the third seismic image are aligned with one or more seismic events depicted in the first seismic image; and
determining, via the processor, an image of a difference volume between the first seismic image and the third seismic image for display on a display or other tangible element, wherein the image represents how production of hydrocarbons in the subsurface region of the Earth has affected the subsurface region of the Earth over time.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, comprising iteratively refining, via the processor, the scaled displacement volume between the first scaled image and the second scaled image based on an optical flow algorithm.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the optical flow algorithm is configured to determine a pattern of motion between the first scaled image and the second scaled image.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2 wherein the optical flow algorithm comprises a Horn-Schunck algorithm or a Lucas-Kanade algorithm.

### Claim 5 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein iteratively refining the scaled displacement volume comprises:
applying, via the processor, the scaled displacement volume to the second scaled image thereby generating a third scaled image;
determining, via the processor, a second scaled displacement volume between the first scaled image and the third scaled image using an optical flow algorithm;
updating, via the processor, the scaled displacement volume based on the second scaled multi-dimensional displacement volume; and
assigning the updated scaled displacement volume as the scaled displacement volume.

### Claim 6 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein iteratively refining the scaled displacement volume comprises:
(a) receiving, via the processor, a number of iterations M;
(b) applying, via the processor, the scaled displacement volume to the second scaled image thereby generating a third scaled image;
(c) determining, via the processor, a second scaled displacement volume between the first scaled image and the third scaled image using an optical flow algorithm;
(d) updating, via the processor, the scaled displacement volume by adding to itself the second scaled displacement volume;
(e) iteratively repeating blocks (b), (c) and (d) M−1 times using a respective second scaled displacement volume and a respective third scaled image, thereby determining an M-number scaled displacement volume; and
(f) assigning the M-number scaled displacement volume as the scaled displacement volume.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the first scaled image is determined from the first seismic image based on a Gaussian pyramid, where the first scaled image comprises a smaller-size and lower-resolution compared to the first seismic image or the first scaled image comprises an identical size and resolution to the first seismic image.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the scaled displacement volume comprises:
determining, via the processor, a first scaled displacement volume at a current scale based on a second scaled displacement volume at a previous scale with respect to the first and second scaled images at a previous scale and the scaling function between the current scale and the previous scale, if the previous scale exists; and
determining, via the processor, a second scaled displacement volume at the current scale using the first scaled image and the second scaled image at the current scale based on an optical flow algorithm, if the previous scale does not exist.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, comprising displaying, via the processor, the image of the displacement volume on the display or the other tangible element.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, comprising:
determining, via the processor, a number of scales L;
generating, via the processor, a first plurality of scaled images of number L based on the first seismic image and the number of scales L and a second plurality of scaled images of number L based on the second seismic image and the number of scales L using a Gaussian pyramid;
for each of the number of scales L:
if a current scale is not equal to the number of scales L, determining, via the processor, a respective scaled displacement volume at a current scale based on the respective previous scaled displacement volume at a previous scale and a respective scaling function between the current scale and the previous scale;
if the current scale is equal to the number of scales L, determining, via the processor, the respective scaled displacement volume at the current scale using the respective first scaled image of the first plurality of scaled images and the respective second scaled image of the second plurality of scaled images at the current scale based on an optical flow algorithm;
iteratively refining, via the processor, the respective scaled displacement volume at the current scale between the respective first scaled image of the first plurality of scaled images and the respective second scaled image of the second plurality of scaled images at the current scale; and
assigning, via the processor, the iteratively refined displacement volume at the current scale as the displacement volume.

### Claim 11

A non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising computer-executable instructions configured to cause a processor to:
receive a first seismic image and a second seismic image, wherein the first seismic image and the second seismic image are representative of one or more geological formations within a subsurface region of the Earth;
determine an displacement volume between the first seismic image and the second seismic image using an optical flow algorithm;
iteratively refine the displacement volume between the first seismic image and the second seismic image based on the optical flow algorithm; and
generate a third seismic image by applying the iteratively refined displacement volume to the second seismic image, wherein one or more seismic events depicted in the third seismic image are aligned with one or more seismic events depicted in the first seismic image.

### Claim 12 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the computer-executable instructions are configured to cause the processor to:
(a) generate a plurality of first scaled images of number L based on the first seismic image and a number of scales L;
(b) generate a plurality of second scaled images of number L based on the second seismic image and the number of scales L;
(c) determine an L-level scaled multi-dimensional displacement volume associated with a scale L between a first L-level scaled image of the plurality of first scaled images and a second L-level scaled image of the plurality of second scaled images using an optical flow algorithm;
(d) iteratively refine the L-level scaled multi-dimensional displacement volume associated with the scale L between the first L-level scaled image and the second L-level scaled image;
(e) determine an (L−1)-level scaled multi-dimensional displacement volume based on the L-level scaled multi-dimensional displacement volume and a scaling function between the first L-level scaled image and an (L−1)-level scaled image of the plurality of first scaled images;
(f) iteratively refine the (L−1)-level scaled multi-dimensional displacement volume associated with the scale L−1 between the first (L−1)-level scaled image and the second (L−1)-level scaled image;
(g) repeating blocks (e) and (f) for each of a remaining number of scales L−2 using the respective levels L and L−1, thereby generating a 1-level displacement volume associated with the first seismic image and the second seismic image; and
(h) assigning the 1-level displacement volume as the iteratively refined displacement volume.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the displacement volume at every scale comprises a scalar or a multi-dimensional vector per voxel.

### Claim 14 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the number of scales L is received via user input.

### Claim 15 (depends on 11)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the processor to predict how the production of hydrocarbons in the subsurface region of the Earth will affect the subsurface region of the Earth over a second period of time based on the iteratively refined displacement volume.

### Claim 16 (depends on 12)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the displacement volume associated with each scale of the number of scales L is determined using an iterative refinement approach that quantifies one or more changes between each respective scaled image of the plurality of first scaled images and each respective scaled image of the plurality of second scaled images.

### Claim 17

A method for drilling into a subsurface region of the Earth, comprising:
analyzing a displacement volume between a first seismic image and a second seismic image associated with the subsurface region; and
performing one or more drilling operations or one or more production operations into the subsurface region based on an analysis of a displacement seismic image, wherein the displacement seismic image is determined by:
receiving, via a processor, the first seismic image and the second seismic image;
generating, via the processor, a first scaled image based on the first seismic image and a second scaled image based on the second seismic image;
obtaining, via the processor, a scaled displacement volume between the first scaled seismic image and the second scaled image;
determining, via the processor, a displacement volume based on the scaled displacement volume and a scaling function used to generate the first and second scaled images based on the first and second seismic images;
iteratively refining, via the processor, the displacement volume between the first and second images based on an optical flow algorithm;
generating, via the processor, a third seismic image by applying the iteratively refined displacement volume to the second seismic image, wherein one or more seismic events depicted in the third seismic image are aligned with one or more seismic events depicted in the first seismic image; and
determining, via the processor, the image of the difference volume based on the first seismic image and the third seismic image.

### Claim 18 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17, wherein the first seismic image is associated with a first set of seismic data acquired by a set of seismic receivers during a marine seismic survey or a land seismic survey.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, wherein the second seismic image is associated with a second set of seismic data acquired by the set of seismic receivers at a time after the first set of seismic data was acquired.

### Claim 20 (depends on 17)

The method of claim 17, wherein the first seismic image is associated with a first set of seismic data acquired by a first set of seismic receivers of a seismic survey, and wherein the second seismic image is associated with a second set of seismic data acquired by a second set of seismic receivers of the seismic survey.

### Claim 21

A method (90) for determining a displacement seismic image between a first seismic image and a second seismic image, comprising:
receiving (92), via a processor (64), the first seismic image and the second seismic image, wherein the first seismic image and the second seismic image are representative of one or more geological formations within a subsurface region (26) of the Earth;
generating (96), via the processor (64), a first scaled image based on the first seismic image and a second scaled image based on the second seismic image;
obtaining (98), via the processor (64), a scaled displacement volume between the first scaled seismic image and the second scaled image;
determining (99), via the processor (64), a displacement volume based on the scaled displacement volume and a scaling function used to generate the first and second scaled images based on the first and second seismic images;
generating (104), via the processor (64), a third seismic image by applying the displacement volume to the second seismic image, wherein one or more seismic events depicted in the third seismic image are aligned with one or more seismic events depicted in the first seismic image; and
determining (106), via the processor (64), an image of a difference volume between the first seismic image and the third seismic image for display on a display or other tangible element, wherein the image represents how production of hydrocarbons in the subsurface region (26) of the Earth has affected the subsurface region of the Earth over time.

### Claim 22 (depends on 21)

The method of claim 21, comprising iteratively refining, via the processor (64), the scaled displacement volume between the first scaled image and the second scaled image based on an optical flow algorithm.

### Claim 23 (depends on 22)

The method of claim 22, wherein the optical flow algorithm is configured to determine a pattern of motion between the first scaled image and the second scaled image.

### Claim 24 (depends on 22)

The method of claim 22 wherein the optical flow algorithm comprises a Horn-Schunck algorithm or a Lucas-Kanade algorithm.

### Claim 25 (depends on 22)

The method of claim 22, wherein iteratively refining the scaled displacement volume comprises:
applying, via the processor (64), the scaled displacement volume to the second scaled image thereby generating a third scaled image;
determining, via the processor (64), a second scaled displacement volume between the first scaled image and the third scaled image using an optical flow algorithm;
updating, via the processor (64), the scaled displacement volume based on the second scaled multi-dimensional displacement volume; and
assigning the updated scaled displacement volume as the scaled displacement volume.

### Claim 26 (depends on 22)

The method of claim 22, wherein iteratively refining the scaled displacement volume comprises:
(a) receiving, via the processor (64), a number of iterations M;
(b) applying, via the processor (64), the scaled displacement volume to the second scaled image thereby generating a third scaled image;
(c) determining, via the processor (64), a second scaled displacement volume between the first scaled image and the third scaled image using an optical flow algorithm;
(d) updating, via the processor (64), the scaled displacement volume by adding to itself the second scaled displacement volume;
(e) iteratively repeating blocks (b), (c) and (d) M−1 times using a respective second scaled displacement volume and a respective third scaled image, thereby determining an M-number scaled displacement volume; and
(f) assigning the M-number scaled displacement volume as the scaled displacement volume.

### Claim 27 (depends on 21)

The method of claim 21, wherein the first scaled image is determined from the first seismic image based on a Gaussian pyramid, where the first scaled image comprises a smaller-size and lower-resolution compared to the first seismic image or the first scaled image comprises an identical size and resolution to the first seismic image.

### Claim 28 (depends on 21)

The method of claim 21, wherein obtaining the scaled displacement volume comprises:
determining, via the processor (64), a first scaled displacement volume at a current scale based on a second scaled displacement volume at a previous scale with respect to the first and second scaled images at a previous scale and the scaling function between the current scale and the previous scale, if the previous scale exists; and
determining, via the processor (64), a second scaled displacement volume at the current scale using the first scaled image and the second scaled image at the current scale based on an optical flow algorithm, if the previous scale does not exist.

### Claim 29 (depends on 21)

The method of claim 21, comprising:
determining, via the processor (64), a number of scales L;
generating, via the processor (64), a first plurality of scaled images of number L based on the first seismic image and the number of scales L and a second plurality of scaled images of number L based on the second seismic image and the number of scales L using a Gaussian pyramid;
for each of the number of scales L:
if a current scale is not equal to the number of scales L, determining, via the processor (64), a respective scaled displacement volume at a current scale based on the respective previous scaled displacement volume at a previous scale and a respective scaling function between the current scale and the previous scale;
if the current scale is equal to the number of scales L, determining, via the processor (64), the respective scaled displacement volume at the current scale using the respective first scaled image of the first plurality of scaled images and the respective second scaled image of the second plurality of scaled images at the current scale based on an optical flow algorithm;
iteratively refining, via the processor (64), the respective scaled displacement volume at the current scale between the respective first scaled image of the first plurality of scaled images and the respective second scaled image of the second plurality of scaled images at the current scale; and
assigning, via the processor (64), the iteratively refined displacement volume at the current scale as the displacement volume.

### Claim 30

A non-transitory computer-readable medium (66), comprising computer-executable instructions configured to cause a processor (64) to:
receive (92) a first seismic image and a second seismic image, wherein the first seismic image and the second seismic image are representative of one or more geological formations within a subsurface region (26) of the Earth;
determine (98) an displacement volume between the first seismic image and the second seismic image using an optical flow algorithm;
iteratively (99) refine the displacement volume between the first seismic image and the second seismic image based on the optical flow algorithm; and
generate (104) a third seismic image by applying the iteratively refined displacement volume to the second seismic image, wherein one or more seismic events depicted in the third seismic image are aligned with one or more seismic events depicted in the first seismic image.

### Claim 31 (depends on 30)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium (66) of claim 30, wherein the computer-executable instructions are configured to cause the processor (64) to:
(a) generate a plurality of first scaled images of number L based on the first seismic image and a number of scales L;
(b) generate a plurality of second scaled images of number L based on the second seismic image and the number of scales L;
(c) determine an L-level scaled multi-dimensional displacement volume associated with a scale L between a first L-level scaled image of the plurality of first scaled images and a second L-level scaled image of the plurality of second scaled images using an optical flow algorithm;
(d) iteratively refine the L-level scaled multi-dimensional displacement volume associated with the scale L between the first L-level scaled image and the second L-level scaled image;
(e) determine an (L−1)-level scaled multi-dimensional displacement volume based on the L-level scaled multi-dimensional displacement volume and a scaling function between the first L-level scaled image and an (L−1)-level scaled image of the plurality of first scaled images;
(f) iteratively refine the (L−1)-level scaled multi-dimensional displacement volume associated with the scale L−1 between the first (L−1)-level scaled image and the second (L−1)-level scaled image;
(g) repeating blocks (e) and (f) for each of a remaining number of scales L−2 using the respective levels L and L−1, thereby generating a 1-level displacement volume associated with the first seismic image and the second seismic image; and
(h) assigning the 1-level displacement volume as the iteratively refined displacement volume.

### Claim 32 (depends on 30)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium (66) of claim 30, wherein the displacement volume at every scale comprises a scalar or a multi-dimensional vector per voxel.

### Claim 33 (depends on 30)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium (66) of claim 30, wherein the number of scales L is received via user input.

### Claim 34 (depends on 30)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium (66) of claim 30, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the processor (64) to predict how the production of hydrocarbons in the subsurface region of the Earth will affect the subsurface region of the Earth over a second period of time based on the iteratively refined displacement volume.

### Claim 35 (depends on 31)

The non-transitory computer-readable medium (66) of claim 31, wherein the displacement volume associated with each scale of the number of scales L is determined using an iterative refinement approach that quantifies one or more changes between each respective scaled image of the plurality of first scaled images and each respective scaled image of the plurality of second scaled images.