Formation testing with digital image analysis

A method for determining the uniformity of a medium comprising the steps of:

• illuminating said medium;
• generating digital data corresponding to the intensity level of data points in a two dimensional array of data points on said illuminated medium;
• dividing said digital data into a plurality of two dimensional windows;
• generating an index representing the uniformity of said data as a function of the intensity levels in a plurality of said two dimensional windows;
• wherein said step of dividing includes the step of dividing said digital data into a plurality of relatively large two dimensional windows and subdividing each of said relatively large windows into a plurality of smaller windows;
• determining the average intensity of the data points in at least one large window, and determining the average intensity of the data points in at least one of the smaller windows within the large window;
• storing the difference between said large window average intensity and said smaller window average intensity for a plurality of windows;
• organizing the average intensity difference value into a set of difference value storage bins;
• and
• generating said index based on the values in a predetermined number of selected storage bins, wherein said selected storage bins include the highest quantities of difference values and wherein said step of generating an index includes the step of averaging the intensity values of the predetermined number of selected storage bins and dividing said average value by a predetermined constant.

A method for determining the uniformity of a medium comprising the steps of:

• illuminating said medium by transmitting light through the medium;
• generating digital data corresponding to the intensity level of data points in a two dimensional array of data points on said illuminated medium;
• dividing said digital data into a plurality of large two dimensional windows;
• subdividing each of said plurality of large two dimensional windows into a plurality of smaller windows;
• generating an index representing the uniformity of said data as a function of the difference in intensity levels between data points in at least one of said smaller windows and its associated large window;
• wherein said step of generating said index includes:
• determining the uniformity of the background illumination prior to illuminating the medium to be tested;
• storing data relating to said background illumination;
• and
• compensating said generated digital data relating to said illuminated medium based on said stored background illumination data.

Apparatus for determining the uniformity of a medium comprising:

• means for illuminating said medium by transmitting light through the medium;
• means for generating digital data corresponding to the intensity level of data points in a two dimensional array of data points on said illuminated medium;
• means for dividing said digital data into a plurality of relatively large two dimensional windows and for subdividing each relatively large window into a plurality of smaller windows;
• means for determining the average intensity of the data points in at least one large window and for determining the average intensity of the data points in at least one of the smaller windows within the associated large window;
• means for determining the difference in the average intensity level between at least one smaller window and its associated large window;
• and
• means for generating an index representing the uniformity of said data as a function of the difference in intensity levels between data points in said at least one of the smaller windows and its associated large window.

Apparatus for determining the uniformity of a medium comprising:

• means for illuminating said medium;
• means for generating digital data corresponding to the intensity level of data points in a two dimensional array of data points on said illuminated medium;
• means for dividing said digital data into a plurality of relatively large two dimensional windows and for subdividing each relatively large window into a plurality of smaller windows;
• means for generating an index representing the uniformity of said data as a function of the intensity levels in a plurality of said two dimensional windows;
• wherein said means for dividing said digital data into a plurality of windows further includes means for defining a set of overlapping windows;
• means for determining the average intensity of the data points in at least one large window and for determining the average intensity of the data points in at least one of the smaller windows within the large window;
• means for storing the difference between said large window average intensity and said smaller window average intensity for each of a plurality of windows;
• and
• means for organizing the average intensity difference values into a set of difference value storage bins;
• wherein said index is based on the values in a predetermined number of selected storage bins, wherein said selected storage bins include the highest quantities of difference values;
• and wherein said means for generating said index includes means for averaging the intensity values of the predetermined number of selected storage bins and dividing the average by a predetermined constant.

Apparatus for determining the uniformity of a medium comprising:

• means for illuminating said medium by transmitting light through the medium;
• means for generating and storing digital data corresponding to the intensity level of data points in a two dimensional array of data points on said illuminated medium;
• means for dividing said digital data into a plurality of large two dimensional windows, said means for dividing including means for subdividing each of said plurality of large windows into a plurality of smaller windows;
• means for generating an index representing the uniformity of said data as a function of the difference in intensity levels between data points in at least one of said smaller windows and its associated large window;
• said means for generating an index further including:
• means for determining the uniformity of the background illumination prior to illuminating the medium to be measured;
• means for storing a two dimensional reference image of data relating to said background illumination;
• and
• means for compensating said generated digital data relating to said illuminated medium based on the differences of said stored background illumination data and said generated digital data.

A method for determining the uniformity of the physical distribution of solid constituents forming a medium comprising the steps of:

• obtaining digital data indicative of the physical distribution of solid constituents forming said medium;
• dividing said digital data into a plurality of relatively large two dimensional windows;
• subdividing each of said large two dimensional windows into smaller windows;
• and
• generating an index representing the uniformity of said data as a function of the difference between the average of the data in at least one of said large two dimensional windows and the average of data in at least one associated smaller windows.

A method for determining the uniformity of data representing a predetermined phenomena comprising the steps of:

• dividing said digital data into a plurality of relatively large two dimensional windows;
• subdividing each of said large two dimensional windows into smaller windows;
• generating an index representing the uniformity of said data as a function of the difference between the average of the data in at least one of said large two dimensional windows and the average of data in at least one associated smaller windows;
• storing the difference between said large window average and said smaller window average for a plurality of windows;
• organizing the average difference values into a set of difference value storage bins;
• wherein said generated index is based on the values in a predetermined number of selected storage bins, wherein said selected storage bins include the highest quantities of difference values and;
• wherein said step of generating an index include the step of averaging the values of the predetermined number of selected storage bins and dividing the average by a predetermined constant.