Object information acquisition method and object information acquisition apparatus

• US 10,444,164 B2
• Filed: 06/02/2015
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Mukaide, Taihei
• Primary Examiner(s): Alkafawi, Eman A
• Application Number:
  US15/312,751
• Publication Number:
  US 20170146468A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,596 Days
• Field of Search: 702 28
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2223/304 electric circuits, signal processing
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2223/419 computed tomograph
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 23/046 using tomography, e.g. computed tomography [CT]
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 23/083 the radiation being X-rays
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 23/207 Diffractometry using detectors, e.g. using a probe in a central position and one or more displaceable detectors in circumferential positions

Abstract

Provided is a method for acquiring information relating to a composition of a detected object from results of a measurement, using radiation, this method including: a step for acquiring by a computer a result of measuring the detected object using radiation; a step for estimating by a computer a chemical composition ratio of the detected object, using an equation that contains a value derived from the measurement result as a constant and contains a value derived from the chemical composition ratio of the detected object as a variable, and then solving the equation; and a step for outputting the estimated chemical composition ratio or a physical property value acquired based on the estimated chemical composition ratio as information relating to the composition of the detected object.

Claims

1. An object information acquisition method for acquiring information relating to a composition of a detected object from results of a measurement using radiation, the method comprising:

a step of acquiring by a computer a result of measuring the detected object using radiation;

a step of estimating by a computer a chemical composition ratio of the detected object, using an equation that contains a value derived from the measurement result as a constant and contains a value derived from the chemical composition ratio of the detected object as a variable, and then solving the equation; and

a step of outputting the estimated chemical composition ratio or a physical property value acquired based on the estimated chemical composition ratio as information relating to the composition of the detected object,

wherein the value derived from the measurement result includes an absorption characteristic value, which is a value relating to absorption characteristics of the detected object with respect to radiation, and a phase characteristic value, which is a value relating to refraction characteristics of the detected object with respect to radiation, and

wherein the step of estimating the chemical composition ratio of the detected object comprises;

a step of setting a plurality of candidates for the chemical composition ratio, and

a step of estimating the chemical composition ratio of the detected object by a procedure in which an approximate solution of the equation is determined from among the plurality of candidates.

2. The object information acquisition method according to claim 1, wherein the physical property value is at least any of mass density, mass absorption coefficient, effective atomic number, mean atomic weight, mean atomic number and electron density.

3. The object information acquisition method according to claim 1, wherein the information relating to the composition of the detected object is output in the form of image data indicating the distribution of chemical composition ratio or physical property values in the detected object.

4. The object information acquisition method according to claim 1, wherein a condition to be satisfied by the chemical composition ratio of the detected object is set in advance, and

in the step of setting the plurality of candidates for chemical composition ratio, chemical composition ratios that do not satisfy the condition are excluded from consideration as candidates.

5. The object information acquisition method according to claim 1, wherein the radiation is in the form of X-rays or y-rays.

6. The object information acquisition according to claim 5, wherein the equation is:

[Math 1]

7. The object information acquisition method according to claim 4, wherein in the step of estimating the chemical composition ratio of the detected object, a chemical composition ratio, in which an evaluation value defined using a difference between the value on the left side of Equation (6) and the value on the right side of Equation (6) is equal to or less than a threshold value, is determined to be the chemical composition ratio of the detected object.

8. The object information acquisition according to claim 5, wherein the equation is:

9. The object information acquisition method according to claim 6, wherein, in the step of estimating the chemical composition ratio of the detected object, a chemical composition ratio, in which an evaluation value defined using a difference between a value on the left side and a value on the right side of Equation (16), an evaluation value defined using a difference between a value of ρ

β

determined in the first equation of Equation (11) and a value of ρ

δ

determined in the second equation of Equation (11), or the sum of these two evaluation values, is equal to or less than a threshold value, is determined to be the chemical composition ratio of the detected object.

10. The object information acquisition method according to claim 1, wherein the procedure is performed using an evaluation function for evaluating errors of the plurality of candidates.

18. The system according to claim 10, wherein the procedure is performed using an evaluation function for evaluating errors of the plurality of candidates.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program that executes, by a computer, each step of an object information acquisition method for acquiring information relating to a composition of a detected object from results of a measurement using radiation, the method comprising:

a step of acquiring by a computer a result of measuring the detected object using radiation;

a step of estimating by a computer a chemical composition ratio of the detected object, using an equation that contains a value derived from the measurement result as a constant and contains a value derived from the chemical composition ratio of the detected object as a variable, and then solving the equation; and

a step of outputting the estimated chemical composition ratio or a physical property value acquired based on the estimated chemical composition ratio as information relating to the composition of the detected object,

wherein the value derived from the measurement result includes an absorption characteristic value, which is a value relating to absorption characteristics of the detected object with respect to radiation, and a phase characteristic value, which is a value relating to refraction characteristics of the detected object with respect to radiation, and

wherein the step of estimating the chemical composition ratio of the detected object comprises;

a step of setting a plurality of candidates for the chemical composition ratio, and

a step of estimating the chemical composition ratio of the detected object by a procedure in which an approximate solution of the equation is determined from among the plurality of candidates.

13. A system comprising:

a measurement apparatus that measures a detected object, using radiation;

the object information acquisition apparatus according to claim 11, which acquires information relating to the composition of the detected object, using the measurement result of the measurement apparatus; and

a display device configured to display a tomographic image relating to the information relating to the composition of the detected object.

14. The object information acquisition apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the procedure is performed using an evaluation function for evaluating errors of the plurality of candidates.

12. An object information acquisition apparatus for acquiring information relating to a composition of a detected object from a result of a measurement using radiation, the apparatus comprising:

an acquisition unit that acquires a result of measuring the detected object, using radiation;

an estimation unit that estimates a chemical composition ratio of the detected object, using an equation that contains a value derived from the measurement result as a constant and contains a value derived from the chemical composition ratio of the detected object as a variable, and then solves the equation; and

an output unit that outputs the estimated chemical composition ratio or a physical property value acquired based on the estimated chemical composition ratio as information relating to the composition of the detected object,

wherein the value derived from the measurement result includes an absorption characteristic value, which is a value relating to absorption characteristics of the detected object with respect to radiation, and a phase characteristic value, which is a value relating to refraction characteristics of the detected object with respect to radiation, and

wherein the estimation unit is configured to set a plurality of candidates for the chemical composition ratio and to perform a procedure in which an approximate solution of the equation is determined from among the plurality of candidates.

15. An object information acquisition method for acquiring information relating to a composition of a detected object from a measurement result of the detected object acquired by irradiating the detected object with X-rays and detecting the X-rays that pass through the detected object, the method comprising:

a step of acquiring by a computer a result of measuring the detected object using X-rays;

a step of estimating by a computer a chemical composition ratio of the detected object, using an equation that contains a value derived from the measurement result as a constant and contains a value derived from the chemical composition ratio of the detected object as a variable, and then solving the equation; and

a step of outputting the estimated chemical composition ratio or a physical property value acquired based on the estimated chemical composition ratio as information relating to the composition of the detected object, and

wherein the step of estimating the chemical composition ratio of the detected object comprises;

a step of setting a plurality of candidates for the chemical composition ratio, and

a step of estimating the chemical composition ratio of the detected object by a procedure in which an approximate solution of the equation is determined from among the plurality of candidates.

16. The object information acquisition method according to claim 15, wherein the procedure is performed using an evaluation function for evaluating errors of the plurality of candidates.

17. A system comprising:

a measurement apparatus that measures a detected object by irradiating the detected object with X-rays and detecting the X-rays that pass through the detected object; and

an object information acquisition apparatus that acquires information relating to a composition of the detected object, using a measurement result of the measurement apparatus,

wherein the object information acquisition apparatus has;

an acquisition unit that acquires the result of measuring the detected object using X-rays;

an estimation unit that estimates a chemical composition ratio of the detected object, using an equation that contains a value derived from the measurement result as a constant and contains a value derived from the chemical composition ratio of the detected object as a variable, and then solves the equation; and

an output unit that outputs the estimated chemical composition ratio or a physical property value acquired based on the estimated chemical composition ratio as information relating to the composition of the detected object, and

wherein the estimation unit is configured to set a plurality of candidates for the chemical composition ratio and to perform a procedure in which an approximate solution of the equation is determined from among the plurality of candidates.