Patent ID: 8873336

Claim:
A seismic data transmission system, comprising: a plurality of seismic data acquisition units that acquire and transmit seismic data from an acoustic signal that propagates into earth and is reflected by subsurface lithologic formations or fluid layers of the earth, each of the plurality of seismic data acquisition units comprising: a transmitter; a receiver; a local clock; a local memory; and a processor; the system further comprising: a control station; a geophone associated with each of the plurality of seismic data acquisition units; a plurality of concentrators, each of the plurality of concentrators being a different type of device than each of the plurality of seismic data acquisition units and comprising a transmitter, a receiver, mass memory, a local clock, and a processor, a first of the plurality of concentrators connected to the control station by a data communications cable; at least one of the plurality of concentrators in a wireless transmission range of at least one of the plurality of seismic data acquisition units; wherein the plurality of seismic data acquisition units acquire the seismic data responsive to propagation of the acoustic signal into the earth and reflections of the acoustic signal by the subsurface lithologic formations or fluid layers of the earth, the seismic data including information relating to the subsurface lithologic formations or fluid layers; and the plurality of seismic data acquisition units transmit the seismic data to the control station via: a first short range wireless transmission, during a time period, using a first transmission parameter, of at least a first portion of the seismic data from a first of the plurality of seismic data acquisition units to a second of the plurality of seismic data acquisition units; a second short range wireless transmission, during the time period, using a second transmission parameter, of at least a second portion of the seismic data from a third of the plurality of seismic data acquisition units to a fourth of the plurality of seismic data acquisition units, wherein the third of the plurality of seismic data acquisition units and the fourth of the plurality of seismic data acquisition units are different data acquisition units than the first of the plurality of seismic data acquisition units and the second of the plurality of seismic data acquisition units; wherein the first transmission parameter and the second transmission parameter substantially prevent communication interference between the first short range wireless transmission and the second short range wireless transmission during the time period; and a third short range wireless transmission of at least the first portion of the seismic data from the second of the plurality of seismic data acquisition units to the first of the plurality of concentrators; and the first of the plurality of concentrators transmits at least the first portion of the seismic data to the control station via the data communications cable.