PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15923794
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-03
Publication Date: 2018-09
Patent Classification: ["250", "338500"]

Abstract:
Apparatus and methods for rapidly detecting, localizing, imaging, and quantifying leaks of natural gas and other hydrocarbon and greenhouse gases. Scanning sensors, scan patterns, and data processing algorithms enable monitoring a site to rapidly detect, localize, image, and quantify amounts and rates of hydrocarbon leaks. Multispectral short-wave infrared detectors sense non-thermal infrared radiation from natural solar or artificial illumination sources by differential absorption spectroscopy. A multispectral sensor is scanned to envelop an area of interest, detect the presence and location of a leak, and raster scan the area around the leak to create an image of the leak. The resulting absorption image related to differential spectral optical depth is color mapped to render the degree of gas absorption across the scene. Analysis of this optical depth image, with factors including known inline pressures and/or surface wind speed measurements, enable estimation of the leak rate, i.e., emission mass flux of gas.

Claim (Index 1):
An imaging device for detecting hydrocarbon compounds within an environment, comprising:\n a. plural discrete photo-detectors, each responsive to light in a wavelength range of 1.0 to 2.6 microns, each photo-detector having a respective electronic read-out circuit for providing respective outputs; b. plural spectral filters, each spectral filter substantially covering a respective photo-detector and being transmissive to light of wavelengths spanned by a spectral feature of a hydrocarbon compound of interest; c. an optical element for gathering incident illumination at least in a wavelength range spanned by the plural spectral filters and focusing the illumination through the plural spectral filters and onto the respective discrete photo-detectors; d. a scanning actuator for causing the incident illumination to be received from a two-dimensional scan pattern; e. at least one signal integration and conversion circuit in communication with the read-out circuits for selectively integrating, amplifying, and digitizing the read-out circuit outputs; f. at least one scan control circuit in communication with the scanning actuator for controlling the scanning actuator and the at least one signal integration and conversion circuit for generating, by the at least one signal integration and conversion circuit, a sequence of two-dimensional data elements from the integrated, amplified, and digitized readout circuit outputs for each of multiple spectral bands in coordination with the scan pattern; and g. a processor in communication with the at least one signal integration and control circuit for\n i. receiving the generated data elements and a value representative of a distance between the photo-detectors and a reflective calibration target for calibrating the data elements of each spectral band relative to data elements associated with a spectral feature of a hydrocarbon compound of interest, by determining calibration parameters comprising\n 1. a dark level offset for each spectral band, \n 2. a relative gain for data elements of interest between spectral bands, and \n 3. a relative absorption coefficient for each spectral band characterizing the local atmosphere across multiple spectral bands, and \n \n ii. adapting the relative gain across spectral bands, using the generated data elements and the calibration parameters, to spectral reflectivities of background materials within the environment, and determine a differential optical depth among spectral bands for assessing absorption by hydrocarbons along said scan pattern.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 20.0
- Percentile: 90.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.68317
- Patent Class: 250.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['15598052', '14650981', '10444586', '15074840', '10927122']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.6635950139643725
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.5822642420160764
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.6554619367695429
- Mean Citation Score: 240.871566
- Max Citation Score: 494.1758
- Similarity Product: 440.97295338886977

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 1
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 1
- Combined Label: 1
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test