Patent ID: 6957145

Claim:
A method of determining at least one characteristic of an earth formation surrounding a borehole comprising: detecting energy from the formation with a detector during a plurality of sample periods to produce a plurality of samples corresponding to the sample periods; measuring the standoff of the detector from the wall of the borehole in at least one sample period; sorting a plurality of the samples into groups, each group covering an azimuthal sector of the borehole; within a group, mathematically weighting at least one of the samples according to standoff; within a group, mathematically summing a plurality of the samples to achieve a sample total for an azimuthal sector; within a group, dividing the sample total by the total duration of sample periods in the group that have been mathematically summed to determine a detection rate for the sector; and transforming the detection rate for at least one group into a representation of at least one formation characteristic.