This technology is analogous to medical Ultrasound, MRI, CAT & PET scan technologies, that image “objects” inside opaque human bodies.

Examples of Internal “Objects” are organs, tumors, fetuses, areas of nerve cell activity and inactivity. None are considered to be “layers”.

U.S. PATENTED 3-D SEISMIC PROCESS

Patent #5,671,136 was issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office to Louis E. Willhoit, Jr. (an Exclusive License is held by VTV, Incorporated) on September 23, 1997, for a 3D seismic acquisition, imaging and interpretation procedure, called the

Diagnostic 3-Dimensional Seismic Process (D3DSP)

     The D3DSP is a U.S. patent-protected method that treats the subsurface as a collection of "objects" in direct analogy with the way medical Ultrasound and Computerized Tomographic (CT) scans view the internal organs of a human body.  The patent contends that both 2D and 3D seismic data are acquired and processed under the traditional assumptions of a layered-earth model (e.g., composed of beds or strata) and under this assumption reflection "continuity" is a necessary characteristic of "good", noise-free seismic recordings.

     The D3DSP makes few layered-earth assumptions, and focuses on assembling high vertical- and high lateral-resolution 3D images of subsurface Common-impedance Objects (three-dimensional CIOs), some of which are porous petroleum reservoirs. Modern digital computers and the D3DSP can now be used with software similar to that used medically (for non-invasive diagnoses) to process, display and assist in the interpretation of valuable CIOs buried in the real 3D earth. This new tool for exploration, development and reservoir management holds enormous promise for reducing the financial risks associated with drilling into the earth.

VIEW HERE: D3DSP Patent Manuscript and Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4, Figure 5, Figures 6-7b