# US 9,435,903 B2 · System and method for regularizing seismic data > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,435,903 B2 - Document ID: US9435903B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/051,774 - Filed: 2013-10-11 - Published: 2015-04-16 - Granted: 2016-09-06 - Earliest claimed: 2013-10-11 - Assignees: Chevron U.S.A. Inc. - Applicants: Dennis George Bones; Kendall Bong Hu Louie; Shoujian Jane Huang - Inventors: Dennis George Bones; Kendall Bong Hu Louie; Shoujian Jane Huang - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9435903B2 ## CPC - G01V 1/30: Analysis (G01V1/50 takes precedence) - G01V 1/32: Transforming one recording into another {or one representation into another} - G01V: GEOPHYSICS; GRAVITATIONAL MEASUREMENTS; DETECTING MASSES OR OBJECTS; TAGS (means for indicating the location of accidentally buried, e.g. snow-buried, persons A63B29/02) ## Abstract A system and method for regularizing irregularly sampled 5D seismic data by assigning each trace to a common midpoint bin and mapping each trace to an offset vector tile (OVT) with a calculated center azimuth; assembling an azimuth sector with all offsets of interest and a narrow range of the center azimuths from the OVTs; rotating the azimuth sector to align with an inline direction and a crossline dimension; selecting a subset of traces with a single crossline value to create an irregular 3D volume; regularizing the irregular 3D volume; and repeating as necessary to generate a regularly sampled seismic dataset. The regularization may include interpolation by an algorithm such as an anti-leakage Fourier interpolator. The regularly sampled seismic dataset may be used to characterize the subsurface by further processing such as tomography. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer-implemented method for characterizing a subsurface volume of interest from an irregularly sampled seismic dataset, the method comprising: a. receiving, at a computer processor, the irregularly sampled seismic dataset with at least five dimensions including a first spatial dimension, a second spatial dimension, an offset dimension, an azimuth dimension, and a time or depth dimension; b. assigning, by the computer processor, each trace of the irregularly sampled seismic dataset to a representative bin; c. mapping, by the computer processor, each of the traces of the irregularly sampled seismic dataset to an offset vector tile (OVT) with a calculated center azimuth; d. assembling, by the computer processor, an azimuth sector with all offsets of interest and a narrow range of the center azimuths from the OVTs; e. rotating, by the computer processor, the azimuth sector from an original orientation to align the first spatial dimension and the second spatial dimension with an inline direction and a crossline dimension determined from a seismic acquisition geometry for the irregularly sampled seismic dataset; f. selecting, by the computer processor, a subset of traces from the rotated azimuth sector based on a single crossline value to create an irregular 3D volume; g. regularizing, by the computer processor, the irregular 3D volume; h. repeating operations (f) and (g) for all crossline values to generate a regularly sampled azimuth sector; i. rotating, by the computer processor, the regularly sampled azimuth sector back to the original orientation; j. repeating operations (d)-(i) for all azimuth sectors to transform the irregularly sampled seismic dataset to a regularly sampled seismic dataset; and k. processing, by the computer processor, the regularly sampled seismic dataset to characterize the subsurface volume of interest. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the regularizing is accomplished by interpolation. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the narrow range of the center azimuths comprises a range of 45 degrees or less. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the offsets of interest include all offsets. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the irregularly sampled seismic dataset was acquired with irregular acquisition geometry. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the processing is tomography. ### Claim 7 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2 wherein the regularizing and interpolation is done with an anti-leakage Fourier interpolation. ### Claim 8 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5 wherein the irregular acquisition geometry includes coil shooting. ### Claim 9 An article of manufacture including a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable code on it, the computer readable code being configured to implement a method for characterizing a subsurface volume of interest from an irregularly sampled seismic dataset, the method comprising: a. receiving, at a computer processor, the irregularly sampled seismic dataset with at least five dimensions including a first spatial dimension, a second spatial dimension, an offset dimension, an azimuth dimension, and a time or depth dimension; b. assigning each trace of the irregularly sampled seismic dataset to a representative bin; c. mapping each of the traces of the irregularly sampled seismic dataset to an offset vector tile (OVT) with a calculated center azimuth; d. assembling an azimuth sector with all offsets of interest and a narrow range of the center azimuths from the OVTs; e. rotating the azimuth sector from an original orientation to align the first spatial dimension and the second spatial dimension with an inline direction and a crossline dimension determined from a seismic acquisition geometry for the irregularly sampled seismic dataset; f. selecting a subset of traces from the rotated azimuth sector based on a single crossline value to create an irregular 3D volume; g. regularizing the irregular 3D volume; h. repeating operations (f) and (g) for all crossline values to generate a regularly sampled azimuth sector; i. rotating the regularly sampled azimuth sector back to the original orientation; j. repeating operations (d)-(i) for all azimuth sectors to transform the irregularly sampled seismic dataset to a regularly sampled seismic dataset; and k. processing the regularly sampled seismic dataset to characterize the subsurface volume of interest.