Patent ID: 8639443

Claim:
A system of discriminating a controlled seismic source from a subsurface seismic source, comprising: a seismic sensor positioned proximate to a wellbore, a controlled seismic source to produce a seismic wave; a computer in communication with the seismic sensor; and a set of instructions executable by the computer that, when executed: acquire data received from the seismic sensor; select an event of interest from the acquired data; determine a spectral attribute of the selected event of interest wherein the determined spectral attribute comprises a time-varying spectral estimate comprising a series of amplitude versus frequency and phase versus frequency datasets generated by time-frequency display analysis of seismic waveform data received by the seismic sensor proximate to the borehole, apply a non-linear digital filtering technique to the time-varying spectral estimate; wherein the non-linear filtering technique comprises a median filter and wherein the median filter is applied to an odd number of overlapping time-varying spectral estimates sorted in numerical order; generate an image of the filtered time-varying spectral estimate, wherein the image is color coded to distinguish between overlapping amplitude versus frequency and phase versus frequency datasets; compare the determined spectral attribute of the selected event of interest to a known event category spectral attribute; identify the selected seismic event of interest relative to the known spectral event category attribute; wherein the identified seismic event of interest is an orientation shot generated by an orientation source; analyze acquired data pertaining to the orientation shot, and adjust an orientation of the seismic sensor using acquired data pertaining to the orientation shot.