Patent ID: 8151904

Claim:
A method for controlling flow in a wellbore formed in a formation, comprising: conveying a drill string into the wellbore; detecting a fluid flow between the formation and the wellbore using a sensor at the surface; transmitting a downlink along the drill string into the wellbore using a surface controller after the sensor detects the fluid flow between the formation and the wellbore, the surface controller being configured to receive an uplink transmitted along the drill string from the wellbore; hydraulically isolating at least a section of the wellbore in response to the signal transmitted from the surface controller by transmitting from a surface location a signal into the wellbore to initiate: (i) sealing a bore of the drill string; and (ii) sealing an annulus between the drill string and a wellbore wall; flowing fluid between the sealed bore of the drill string and the sealed annulus using a valve positioned along the drill string; and circulating a formation fluid below the hydraulically sealed section out of the wellbore.