Off-center tomosynthesis
First Claim
1. An apparatus for acquiring off-axis X-ray images of a plurality of regions of interest, comprising:
- a source of radiation, the source producing a beam of radiation;
a surface to support at least a subset of the plurality of regions of interest; and
a X-ray detector located to simultaneously receive portions of the beam that have passed through the subset of the plurality of regions of interest, the X-ray detector producing from the received portions of the beam a plurality of discrete images, each of the plurality of discrete images being associated with a region of interest in the subset of the plurality of regions of interest;
wherein at least one of the source, the surface, and the detector may be moveable to position the regions of interest within the beam.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for acquiring off-axis X-ray images of a plurality of regions of interest. The apparatus includes a source producing a beam of radiation, a surface to support at least a subset of the plurality of regions of interest, and a X-ray detector located to simultaneously receive portions of the beam that have passed through the subset of the plurality of regions of interest. The X-ray detector produces from the received portions of the beam an electronic representation of an image for each region of interest in the subset of the plurality of regions of interest. Any combination of the source, the surface, and the detector may be moveable to position the regions of interest within the beam.
45 Citations
34 Claims
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1. An apparatus for acquiring off-axis X-ray images of a plurality of regions of interest, comprising:
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a source of radiation, the source producing a beam of radiation;
a surface to support at least a subset of the plurality of regions of interest; and
a X-ray detector located to simultaneously receive portions of the beam that have passed through the subset of the plurality of regions of interest, the X-ray detector producing from the received portions of the beam a plurality of discrete images, each of the plurality of discrete images being associated with a region of interest in the subset of the plurality of regions of interest;
wherein at least one of the source, the surface, and the detector may be moveable to position the regions of interest within the beam. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for acquiring off-axis X-ray image data for a plurality of regions of interest, comprising the steps of
locating the plurality of regions of interest within a beam of radiation, at least a portion of the beam passing through the regions of interest; -
simultaneously detecting the portion of the beam for the plurality of regions of interest and producing a plurality of discrete image data, each of said plurality of discrete image data corresponding to each of the regions of interest;
adjusting the location of the plurality of regions of interest, at least a subset of the plurality of regions of interest remaining within the beam;
repeating the step of simultaneously detecting and producing image data; and
combining image data for at least one region of interest to generate a tomosynthetic image of the region of interest. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. An apparatus for acquiring off-axis X-ray images of a plurality of regions of interest, comprising:
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a non-rotatable source of radiation that produces a beam;
a surface to support at least a subset of the plurality of regions of interest; and
a detector located to receive portions of the beam that pass through the subset and to simultaneously produce an electronic representation of an image for each region of interest in the subset;
wherein at least one of the source, the surface, and the detector may be moveable to position the regions of interest within the beam. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An apparatus for acquiring off-axis X-ray images of test objects comprising:
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an X-ray source for producing a steerable electron beam from a number of different positions along a horizontal path perpendicular to a vertical axis, each position being at an angle from the vertical axis; and
a high-resolution detector positioned to receive X-rays that are transmitted through at least two regions of interest of the test object from each of the positions and to produce electronic representations of acquired off-axis images corresponding to the regions of interest. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method for simultaneously acquiring a plurality of off-axis X-ray images comprising:
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placing a test object with at least two regions of interest on an inspection plane;
directing X-ray beams to the regions of interest, the X-ray beams being directed off-axis with respect to a vertical axis through the inspection plane;
receiving on a detector X-rays that are transmitted through the regions of interest; and
simultaneously producing electronic representations of acquired off-axis images corresponding to the regions of interest. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33)
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34. A method for acquiring a plurality of off-axis X-ray images comprising:
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placing a test object with at least two regions of interest on an inspection plane;
producing a steerable X-ray beam from a number of different positions along a horizontal path perpendicular to a vertical axis;
directing an X-ray beam to a first region of interest;
receiving on a detector X-rays that are transmitted through the first region of interest;
directing an X-ray beam to a second region of interest;
receiving on the detector X-rays that are transmitted through the second region of interest; and
producing electronic representations of acquired off-axis images corresponding to the regions of interest.
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Specification