Rockburst & Seismic Monitoring Patents: Who Leads, Gaps 2026
- One applicant pair dominates the citation graph. BILAK ROMAN and DUSSEAULT MAURICE B co-file together 15 times, the strongest co-assignee link in the dataset, well ahead of the next pairing at 3.
- Filing sits at the intersection of geophysics and drilling. G01V (geophysics/gravity surveying) and E21B (earth and rock drilling) each cover roughly half of the 45 records in scope, with AI-classed filings (G06N) a distant third at 13.3%.
- Activity peaked in 2022 and has not yet been overtaken. The trend runs from 4 filings in 2017 to a high of 8 in 2022; the most recent years understate true activity because publication lags filing by about 18 months.
What this landscape covers
Rockburst and seismic monitoring patents cover the instrumentation, processing methods and early-warning systems used to detect and manage sudden stress release in underground mines and boreholes. The search spans microseismic monitoring, destress blasting, event location accuracy and seismic moment magnitude alongside broader stress-redistribution and hazard-assessment claims, so it pulls in both mining-specific ground-control filings and oilfield seismic-monitoring technology that shares the same sensing and processing methods.
The 45 records in scope run from 2015 through the 2026 data cut-off and mix hardware claims — sensor arrays, festoon systems, borehole tools — with data-processing claims for event location and hazard scoring. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the tail end of the trend understates current filing activity rather than signalling a slowdown.
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Filing trend and technology composition
The dataset totals 45 published records with an assignee ranking of 22 companies, receiving offices concentrated in the United States, and technology composition split across geophysics, drilling and computing classes.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings rise from 4 in 2017 to a peak of 8 in 2022; the 2026 figure of 0 reflects the partial year and publication lag rather than a drop in activity. With fewer than four complete years once lag is accounted for, a growth rate cannot be stated reliably from this evidence.
IPC subclass composition
G01V (geophysics and gravity surveying) and E21B (earth and rock drilling) anchor the field at 48.9% and 42.2% of the 45 records respectively. G06N-classed AI methods appear in 13.3% of records, G06F digital processing in 8.9%, and mine-support classes E21F and E21D each sit under 7% — a signal that ground-support integration and video-based monitoring (H04N, 4.4%) remain comparatively thin relative to core sensing and drilling claims.
Shares are the percentage of the 45 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Rockburst and Seismic Monitoring with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about rockburst and seismic monitoring and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative filing
US12203373B2 — Automatic microseismic monitoring-intelligent rockburst early warning integrated system for TBM-based construction
The system pairs a guide-rail-mounted sensor festoon and trolley festoon with a collaborative robot for clamping removable anchoring devices, tying microseismic sensing hardware directly to an automated rockburst early-warning method for tunnel boring machine construction.Filed by the Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences; published 2025-01-21.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20150330950A1 | Structural fatigue crack monitoring system and method | 223 |
| 2 | US20150129211A1 | Multi-stage fracture injection process for enhanced resource production from shales | 43 |
| 3 | US20130284438A1 | Multi-stage fracture injection process for enhanced resource production from shales | 39 |
| 4 | WO2016074075A1 | Multi-stage fracture injection process for enhanced resource production from shales | 24 |
| 5 | US10001003B2 | Multl-stage fracture injection process for enhanced resource production from shales | 23 |
| 6 | US8978764B2 | Multi-stage fracture injection process for enhanced resource production from shales | 18 |
| 7 | US20240020442A1 | Method and system for simulating contact and interaction between support member and chamber surrounding rock … | 12 |
| 8 | WO2012083463A1 | Multi-stage fracture injection process for enhanced resource production from shales | 11 |
| 9 | US20180095184A1 | Crosswell microseismic system | 10 |
| 10 | US20230128787A1 | Automatic microseismic monitoring-intelligent rockburst early warning integrated system and method for tunnel… | 9 |
Citation counts inside a searched corpus favour older filings; treat the ranking as a signal of influence on later work, not of current commercial importance. Several of the top-cited records share the same shale fracture-injection family across US, WO and continuation filings.
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Three patterns stand out once the filing trend, IPC composition and citation graph are read together.
One applicant pair anchors the field
BILAK ROMAN leads the ranked assignees with 16 filings, and pairs with DUSSEAULT MAURICE B in a 15-strong co-filing relationship — by far the densest link in the co-assignee network. Fifth place holds 5 filings and tenth place just 2, pointing to a long tail of smaller or single-filing entrants behind the lead pair.
Geophysics and drilling dominate, AI methods trail
Geophysics and gravity surveying (G01V) and earth/rock drilling (E21B) together anchor the field, each present in roughly four or two out of every five records. G06N-classed AI methods appear in only 13.3% of records, suggesting most current claims still describe sensing and hardware rather than learned inference on the seismic signal.
Activity has not yet been overtaken since its 2022 peak
The filing trend climbs from 4 in 2017 to 8 in 2022, the highest single year recorded. Later years, including the partial 2026 figure of 0, understate real activity because of the roughly 18-month gap between filing and publication.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to rockburst and seismic monitoring, with the prior art for and against each one.
| Assignee | Co-assignee | Shared families |
|---|---|---|
| BILAK ROMAN | DUSSEAULT MAURICE B | 15 |
| Geoquest Systems B.V. | Schlumberger | 3 |
| BILAK ROMAN | DUSSEAULT MAURICE B WATERLOO | 1 |
| Schlumberger Technology Corporation | Schlumberger Canada Limited | 1 |
| Schlumberger Technology Corporation | Schlumberger | 1 |
| Schlumberger Technology Corporation | Geoquest Systems B.V. | 1 |
| Geoquest Systems B.V. | Schlumberger Canada Limited | 1 |
| Schlumberger | Schlumberger Canada Limited | 1 |
Nine co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset; the BILAK ROMAN / DUSSEAULT MAURICE B pairing at 15 dwarfs the next strongest link at 3, indicating most other collaboration in this space is occasional rather than structural.
Assignee landscape
The ranked list covers 22 companies across the 45 records in scope. A single applicant pair holds the lead position by a wide margin, with a long tail of entrants holding a handful of filings each.
BILAK ROMAN
Leads the ranked assignees and anchors the dataset's strongest co-filing relationship, with DUSSEAULT MAURICE B appearing alongside in 15 of those filings.
Schlumberger group entities
Several related entities — Schlumberger Tech Corp, Services Petroliers Schlumberger, and Geoquest Systems — appear as separate assignees in the ranking, reflecting how oilfield seismic-monitoring IP is often filed through multiple corporate vehicles rather than one single name.
Mid-ranked academic and research filers
China University of Mining & Technology and other research-affiliated assignees sit further down the ranking, reflecting steady but smaller-volume filing focused on mine-specific monitoring and early-warning systems rather than broad sensor-hardware portfolios.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| BILAK ROMAN | 0 | — |
| DUSSEAULT MAURICE B | 0 | — |
| Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Schlumberger Technology Corporation | 0 | — |
| Geoquest Systems B.V. | 0 | — |
| Schlumberger | 0 | — |
| China University of Mining and Technology | 0 | -100% |
| Wuhan Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences | 0 | — |
Where to take this
The filing pattern points to specific next steps depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio strategy, or spotting where to file next.
Check freedom-to-operate against the lead pair
The BILAK ROMAN / DUSSEAULT MAURICE B filings and the Schlumberger-linked entities cover a large share of core sensing and drilling claims; any new filing in that space should be checked against their specific claim scope before drafting.
Run a freedom-to-operate checkExplore the thinner IPC branches
AI-driven event location, video-based detection and tunnel-support integration all sit under 15% of records; a first claim combining one of these with core microseismic sensing has more open space than a straight sensor-array filing.
Explore white space with EurekaCommon questions
In this dataset, BILAK ROMAN leads the ranked assignees with 16 filings, well ahead of the fifth-ranked assignee at 5 and the tenth-ranked at 2. BILAK ROMAN also co-files heavily with DUSSEAULT MAURICE B, the strongest co-assignee relationship in the data at 15 shared filings. Several Schlumberger-related entities also appear separately in the ranking, reflecting oilfield seismic-monitoring activity filed through more than one corporate name. The ranking covers 22 companies total, not a top-50 or top-100 cut.
Most filings sit in two IPC subclasses: G01V, geophysics and gravity surveying, at 48.9% of the 45 records, and E21B, earth and rock drilling, at 42.2%. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC codes, these shares add to more than 100%. Smaller shares cover AI-based computing methods (G06N, 13.3%), general digital data processing (G06F, 8.9%), mine safety and ventilation (E21F, 6.7%), and tunnel/shaft support (E21D, 4.4%), showing that hardware and sensing claims still outnumber learned-inference claims on the seismic signal.
The recorded trend rises from 4 filings in 2017 to a peak of 8 in 2022, the highest single year in the dataset. A reliable growth rate cannot be stated because fewer than four complete years remain once the roughly 18-month publication lag is accounted for. The apparent drop toward 2026 reflects that lag rather than an actual decline in filing activity, since recent filings have not yet all published.
US12203373B2 claims an integrated system that combines a guide-rail-mounted sensor festoon, a trolley festoon bracket, and a collaborative robot for clamping anchoring devices, tied to an automatic microseismic monitoring and rockburst early-warning method for tunnel boring machine construction. It was filed by the Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and published 2025-01-21. It is specific to that mechanical integration of sensing hardware with an automated anchoring robot on a TBM, so it constrains that particular hardware combination rather than microseismic monitoring or rockburst early-warning generally.
Relative to the dominant G01V and E21B classes, filing density is thin in video-based monitoring (H04N, 4.4%), gyroscope-assisted positioning (G01C, 2.2%), and integration of microseismic arrays with tunnel and shaft support systems (E21D, 4.4%). AI-driven event-location and hazard-scoring methods (G06N, 13.3%) are present but far from saturated compared with core sensing hardware. These branches are candidates for a first claim that pairs an established sensing method with one of these thinner application areas.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.