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Apparatus and method for automatic recognition of concealed objects using multiple energy computed tomography

  • US 6,018,562 A
  • Filed: 05/22/1998
  • Issued: 01/25/2000
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/13/1995
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A system for identifying an object, comprising:

  • a substantially L-shaped source array comprised of a plurality of photon emitting elements for producing a plurality of x-ray photon beams directed towards the object, each photon beam being in a known energy band;

    a substantially L-shaped photon energy measuring detector array including a plurality of detector elements and positioned relative to said source array, such that the object is located between said source array and said detector array, for measuring an energy of individual photons transmitted along said photon beams through the object;

    a multi-channel analyzer circuit responsive to said detector array for determining said energy range of each photon energy and counting the number of photons per energy range per detector element per time interval, in order to generate multiple energy spectral photon counts;

    computed tomography for constructing a spectral transmission by voxels of the object based on said multiple energy spectral photon counts;

    a processor for isolating voxels with a predetermined spectral transmission, evaluating a connectivity of isolated voxels, and grouping interconnectible isolated voxels; and

    wherein said processor further includes a device for determining attenuation coefficient values of known materials and a device for the application of a matched filter to compare said attenuation coefficient values with those of the object, and wherein said processor further includes a device for fusing attenuation coefficient values of neighboring voxels and a device for linking and analyzing voxels having approximately similar attenuation values.

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