Automatic threat detection based on illumination by penetrating radiant energy using histogram processing
First Claim
1. A threat detecting system comprising:
- an illumination source comprising a flying spot of penetrating radiation,conveying means for transporting an object to be inspected through an inspection field swept by said flying spot of penetrating radiation,first radiation detecting means, located between said illumination source and said conveying means, for detecting radiation scattered by an object transported through said inspection field and for developing a sequence of scatter signals representative of a sequence of scattered radiation,processing means responsive to said sequence of scatter signals for determining whether or not said object poses a threat, said processing means including;
distribution means responsive to said sequence of scatter signals for determining scatter signal intensity distribution,means for comparing said scatter signal intensity distribution to a characteristic of limiting signal number at each of a plurality of signal intensities, andalarm means for generating an alarm only if said scatter signal intensity distribution exceeds said characteristic of limiting signal number for an intensity for which said characteristic is defined.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Automatic thread detection in association with imaging with relies on a backscatter detector and illumination by a flying spot source of penetrating radiation. The digital backscatter image is processed to produce a histogram. The histogram is compared to a predetermined threat characteristic and an alarm is sounded if the histogram exceeds the threat characteristic. The threat characteristic is derived in an empirical fashion and automatically modified based on sensing selected parameters associated with the scanning. Operator control over the threat characteristic is also implemented. The flying spot source is also associated with a transmit detector to produce a transmit image. The transmit image is also processed against predetermined parameters for threat assessment. The predetermined parameters are also operator variable.
295 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A threat detecting system comprising:
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an illumination source comprising a flying spot of penetrating radiation, conveying means for transporting an object to be inspected through an inspection field swept by said flying spot of penetrating radiation, first radiation detecting means, located between said illumination source and said conveying means, for detecting radiation scattered by an object transported through said inspection field and for developing a sequence of scatter signals representative of a sequence of scattered radiation, processing means responsive to said sequence of scatter signals for determining whether or not said object poses a threat, said processing means including; distribution means responsive to said sequence of scatter signals for determining scatter signal intensity distribution, means for comparing said scatter signal intensity distribution to a characteristic of limiting signal number at each of a plurality of signal intensities, and alarm means for generating an alarm only if said scatter signal intensity distribution exceeds said characteristic of limiting signal number for an intensity for which said characteristic is defined. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A threat detecting system for detecting concealed threats based on imaging by penetrating radiation comprising:
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an illumination source comprising a flying spot of penetrating radiation, conveying means for transporting an object to be inspected through an inspection field swept by said flying spot of penetrating radiation, first radiation detecting means, located between said illumination source and said conveying means, for detecting radiation scattered by an object transported through said inspection field and for developing a sequence of scatter signals representative of a sequence of scattered radiation, second radiation detecting means located across said conveying means from said illumination source for detecting radiation transmitted by an object transported through said inspection field and for developing a sequence of transmit signals representative of a sequence of transmitted radiation, processing means responsive to said sequence of scatter signals and to said sequence of transmit signals for determining whether or not said object poses a threat, said processing means including; transmit signal processing means for processing said transmit signals against an attenuation threat criterion, scatter signal processing means for processing said scatter signals against a scatter threat criterion, and alarm means enabled if either said transmit processing means or said scatter processing means determines said scanned object meets either said transmit or said scatter threat criterion. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of identifying a concealed threat using penetrating radiant energy comprising the steps of:
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a) scanning an object with a flying spot of penetrating radiant energy, b) developing signals representative of radiant energy scattered by said object in response to the scanning of step a), c) producing an intensity distribution of said signals developed in step b), d) comparing said intensity distribution of step c) to a limiting characteristic defined for plural intensities; e) enabling a first alarm when said intensity distribution exceeds said limiting characteristic for at least one intensity for which said limiting characteristic is defined. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification