Integrated quill position and toolface orientation display

An apparatus adapted for human control during a drilling operation to monitor the relationship between toolface orientation and quill position, the apparatus comprising:

• a drilling apparatus comprising a bit with a steerable motor having a toolface and a top drive adapted to steer the bit during the drilling operation;
• receiving apparatus adapted to recite electronic data on a recurring basis, wherein the electronic data includes quill position data and at least one of gravity-based toolface orientation data and magnetic-based toolface orientation data;
• and
• a display apparatus adapted to display the electronic data on a user-viewable display in a historical format depicting data resulting from a recent measurement and a plurality of immediately prior measurements.

An apparatus for drilling, comprising:

• a drilling apparatus comprising a bottom hole assembly and a top drive, the bottom hole assembly comprising a bit with a steerable motor having a toolface and the top drive being configured to steer the bottom hole assembly;
• and
• a human-machine interface adapted to permit a human operator to monitor the relationship between toolface orientation and quill position of the drilling apparatus during a drilling operation, wherein the interface is in communication with the drilling apparatus and comprises:
• a graphical reference depicting a historical format for recent measurements and a plurality of immediately prior measurements;
• a set of first informational icons representing quill position data in a historical format, the first information icons overlapping the graphical reference;
• and
• a set of second informational icons representing at least one of gravity-based toolface orientation data and magnetic-based toolface orientation data in a historical format, the second information icons overlapping the graphical reference.

An apparatus for drilling, comprising:

• a drilling apparatus comprising a bottom hole assembly and a top drive, the bottom hole assembly comprising a bit with a steerable motor having a toolface, and the top drive being configured to steer the bottom hole assembly;
• and
• a human-machine interface adapted to monitor the relationship between toolface orientation and quill position of the drilling apparatus during a drilling operation, the interface being in communication with the drilling apparatus and the interface comprising:
• a target-like graphical reference comprising a plurality of nested rings depicting a historical format for recent measurements and a plurality of immediately prior measurements, the nested rings having levels representing time or measurement increments;
• data indicating the most recent toolface orientation represented in a center portion of the target-like graphical reference;
• a plurality of quill position data icons arranged in a historical format on the target-like graphical reference, each of the plurality of quill position data icons being disposed at a different level in the nested rings with the relatively more recent quill position data icons being disposed closer to the outer edge of the target-like graphical reference and the relatively less recent quill position data icons being disposed closer to the center of the target-like graphical reference;
• a plurality of toolface orientation data icons arranged in a historical format on the target-like graphical reference, each of the plurality of toolface orientation data icons being disposed at a different level in the nested rings, the relatively more recent toolface orientation data icons being disposed closer to the outer edge of the target-like graphical reference and the relatively less recent toolface orientation data icons being disposed closer to the center of the target-like graphical reference.

A computer readable medium accessible by a processor to graphically display the relationship between a toolface orientation and a quill position of a drilling apparatus, the computer readable medium comprising:

• a memory component having executable instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:
• instructions for receiving electronic data on a recurring basis received from a drilling apparatus that comprises a top drive having a quill and a bottom hole assembly having a tool face, wherein the electronic data includes quill position data and at least one of gravity-based toolface orientation data and magnetic-based toolface orientation data;
• and
• instructions for graphically displaying a portion of the electronic data on a user-viewable display in a historical format depicting data resulting from a recent measurement and a plurality of immediately prior measurements.