Patent · US Expired

Method for determining seismic data traveltime fields on a massively parallel computer

US5991695A · kind A · utility

18Cited by
6References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 20, 1998
Grant dateNov 23, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 20, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01V1/301
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A method of determining traveltime fields for use in processing geophysical data. The method is implemented on a computer having massively parallel processors. The input to the method is a three-dimensional velocity model of a volume of the subsurface of the earth. The method assigns the traveltime calculations to groups of processors, which calculate traveltimes for individual shots. A preliminary simulation of the traveltime calculation process is performed to determine the number of processors required in each group. The groups of processors perform the traveltime calculations independent of the other groups. Calculations are performed in spherical coordinates, with traveltimes interpolated to a rectangular grid for storage and subsequent use. The final traveltimes are compressed in a differential format to reduce data storage and transfer requirements. A control processor is used to dynamically assign calculation tasks to processor groups, thereby ensuring load balance across all groups and maximizing throughput of the massively parallel processors.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.