Method and apparatus for transmitting information about a target object between a prescanner and a CT scanner
First Claim
1. A method of screening an item to detect target objects therein, comprising:
- a) passing X-rays through the item at a plurality of energies;
b) detecting X-rays that have passed through the item to produce detected values representative of the intensity of the detected X-rays;
c) analyzing the detected values, without performing a computed tomographic reconstruction thereon, to produce at least one second values that identifies an effective atomic number of at least one region in the item;
d) using the at least one second value to obtain a sinogram representative-of only a portion of a slice through the object; and
e) using a computed tomography computation to reconstruct a partial image of the item based upon the sinogram representative of only a portion of the item.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method or apparatus for analyzing an object includes an X-ray prescanner that performs a prescan of the object to determine prescan information about the object. Then, a CT scanner performs a CT scan on at least one plane of the object based on the prescan information to determine CT information. In one embodiment, if the CT scan of the object includes or is in the vicinity of metal, then metal artifact correction of a reconstructed image from the CT scan is performed based on the prescan information. In another embodiment, a processor analyzes the CT information and the prescan information to determine whether to update the prescan information based on the CT information.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A method of screening an item to detect target objects therein, comprising:
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a) passing X-rays through the item at a plurality of energies;
b) detecting X-rays that have passed through the item to produce detected values representative of the intensity of the detected X-rays;
c) analyzing the detected values, without performing a computed tomographic reconstruction thereon, to produce at least one second values that identifies an effective atomic number of at least one region in the item;
d) using the at least one second value to obtain a sinogram representative-of only a portion of a slice through the object; and
e) using a computed tomography computation to reconstruct a partial image of the item based upon the sinogram representative of only a portion of the item. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. An explosive detection system comprising:
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a) a scanner having an output to provide scan data of an item under inspection;
b) an operator display having an input to receive data representative of an image to display for an operator; and
c) at least one processor coupled to the output of the scanner to receive scan data and coupled to the input of the operator display, the at least one processor being programmed to, based on the scan data;
i) process the scan data to produce data representative of a two dimensional projection of at least a portion of the item;
ii) identify at least one object in the item;
iii) provide to the display data representative of an image that comprises the two dimensional projection;
iv) process the scan data to generate a computed tomographic representation of at least a portion of the item; and
v) augment the data representative of the two dimensional projection based on information obtained from the computed tomographic representation. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method for analyzing an item, comprising acts of:
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a) analyzing scan data that provides a projection of the item to determine a value of at least one first characteristic of at least one object in the item;
b) selecting, based on the projection, a region of the item;
c) performing a computed tomographic reconstruction of the selected region to produce a reconstructed representation of the selected region; and
d) modifying the value determined for the at least one first characteristic of the at least one object in the act (a) based on the reconstructed representation. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification