Detector framing node architecture to communicate image data

• US 6,970,586 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2001
• Issued: 11/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Wodnicki, Robert Gideon, Van Stralen, Nick Andrew, Dixon, Walter Vincent, Staver, Daniel Arthur, Baertsch, Richard Dudley
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehta, Bhavesh M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): AZARIAN, SEYED H
• Application Number:
  US09/774,530
• Publication Number:
  US 20030020964A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,763 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 382/128, 382/129, 382/130, 382/131, 382/132, 382/133, 382/134, 250/208.1, 219/121.6, 378/98.4, 378/98.2, 378/98.8, 378/98.9, 378/98.12, 378/4, 378/6, 378/21, 378/23, 378/29, 378/27, 378/28, 378/44, 378/46, 378/50, 345/30, 345/618
• US Class Current: 382/132
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/002 Monitoring the patient using a local or closed circuit, e.g. in a room or building A61B5/0017 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/20 for computer-aided diagnosis, e.g. based on medical expert systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/30 for generating image signals from X-rays
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/32 Transforming X-rays cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from X-rays H04N23/30; circuitry of SSIS for transforming X-rays into image signals H04N25/30

Abstract

A detector framing node controls generation of radiation and radioscopic image detection Radioscopic image data is acquired and communicated independently of a host computer operating system. The detector framing node controls events in real time according to an event instruction sequence and receives the image data by way of an image detection interface into a memory unit. The image data is output from the memory unit to host memory of the host computer through a computer communication interface and under the control of a control unit. The detector framing node selects a flat panel detector from a plurality of different flat panel detectors and the image data is selectively reordered according to parameters of the selected flat panel detector before communication to host memory.

Claims

1. A detector framing node to communicate image data with a host memory of a host computer, comprising:

first and second clocks respectively operating at first and second clock frequencies;

an image detection interface receiving image data at the first clock frequency;

a control unit controlling communication of the image data from the image detection interface within the detector framing node; and

a computer communication interface communicating the image data to the host memory at the second clock frequency.

2. The detector framing node according to claim 1, wherein said image detection interface is a fiber optic interface receiving the image data from an image detection system over an optical fiber data link.

3. The detector framing node according to claim 2, wherein the image data is received in real time.

4. The detector framing node according to claim 2, wherein the image data is transmitted from the image detection system to the fiber optic interface serially at a rate of at least 1 Gbit/sec.

5. The detector framing node according to claim 1, further comprising:

a memory unit to receive and store the image data received by the image detection interface,

wherein the control unit reads out the stored image data from the memory unit during communication to the host memory.

6. The detector framing node according to claim 5, wherein the memory unit comprises a plurality of frame buffer memory units.

7. The detector framing node according to claim 6, wherein the detector framing node is a PCI card, and each of the frame buffer memory units is comprised of a pair of random access memory chips alternately disposed on alternate sides of the PCI card.

8. The detector framing node according to claim 1, further comprising:

a third clock respectively operating at a third clock frequency, wherein the control unit controls communication of the image data from the image detection interface to the computer communication interface at the third clock frequency.

9. The detector framing node according to claim 8, wherein the first, second, and third clocks are respectively controlled by oscillations from a single clock oscillator.

10. The detector framing node according to claim 1,

said image detection interface being a fiber optic interface receiving the image data in real time from an image detection system over an optical fiber data link, the detector framing node further comprising:

a memory unit to receive and store the image data received by the fiber optic interface,

wherein the control unit reads out the stored image data from the memory unit and transfers the image data to the computer communication interface during communication of the image data to the host memory.

11. The detector framing node according to claim 1, wherein the host computer runs a non-real time operating system.

12. The detector framing node according to claim 1, wherein the host computer runs a real time operating system.

13. The detector framing node according to claim 1, wherein the host computer runs a task based operating system.

14. The detector framing node according to claim 1, wherein the image data is radioscopic image data and the image detection system is an x-ray detection system.

15. A detector framing node card to communicate image data with a host memory of a host computer, comprising:

an image detection interface to receive image data from an image detection system;

a plurality of frame buffer memory units to receive the image data from the image detection interface, each of the frame buffer memory units comprised of a pair of random access memory chips alternately disposed on alternate sides of the detector framing node card;

a computer communication interface communicating the image data from the plurality of frame buffer memory units to the host memory; and

first and second clocks respectively operating at first and second clock frequencies; and

,

a control unit controlling communication of the image data from the plurality of frame buffer memory units to the computer communication interface at the first clock frequency,

wherein the communication interface communicates the image data to the host memory at the second clock frequency.

16. The detector framing node card according to claim 15, wherein said image detection interface is a fiber optic interface receiving the image data from the image detection system over an optical fiber data link.

17. The detector framing node card according to claim 16, wherein the image data is received in real time.

18. The detector framing node card according to claim 16, wherein the image data is transmitted from the image detection system to the fiber optic interface serially at a rate of at least 1 Gbit/sec.

19. The detector framing node card according to claim 15, further comprising:

a third clock respectively operating at a third clock frequency, wherein the image data is communicated from the plurality of frame buffer memory units to the computer communication interface at the third clock frequency.

20. The detector framing node card according to claim 19, wherein the first, second, and third clocks are respectively controlled by oscillations from a single clock oscillator.

21. The detector framing node card according to claim 15, wherein the detector framing node card is a PCI card, and the computer communication bus is a PCI bus operating at a frequency of at least 33 MHz.

22. The detector framing node card according to claim 15, wherein the host computer runs a non-real time operating system.

23. The detector framing node according to claim 15, wherein the host computer runs a real time operating system.

24. The detector framing node according to claim 15, wherein the host computer runs a task based operating system.

25. The detector framing node according to claim 15, wherein the image data is radioscopic image data and the image detection system is an x-ray detection system.

26. A detector framing node to communicate image data with a host memory of a host computer, comprising:

an image detection interface receiving image data from an image detection system;

a control unit controlling communication of the image data from said image detection interface within the detector framing node;

a computer communication interface communicating the image data to the host memory; and

,

first, second, and third clocks respectively operating at first, second, and third clock frequencies,

wherein the image data is received by the image detector interface at the first clock frequency and stored in a plurality of frame buffer memory units, the computer communication interface communicates the image data to the host memory at the second clock frequency, and the image data is communicated from the plurality of frame buffer memory units to the computer communication interface at the third clock frequency.

27. The detector framing node according to claim 26, wherein said image detection interface is a fiber optic interface receiving the image data from the image detection system over an optical fiber data link.

28. The detector framing node according to claim 26, wherein the image data is transmitted from the image detection system to the fiber optic interface serially at a rate of at least 1 Gbit/sec.

29. The detector framing node according to claim 26, wherein the image data is received in real time.

30. The detector framing node according to claim 26, further comprising:

a memory unit to receive and store the image data received by the image detection interface,

wherein the control unit reads out the stored image data from the memory unit during communication to the host memory.

31. The detector framing node according to claim 30, wherein the image data is transmitted from the image detection system as a plurality of image frames, and wherein the memory unit comprises a plurality of frame buffer memory units each of sufficient size to hold an image frame of the plurality of image frames.

32. The detector framing node according to claim 31, wherein the detector framing node is a PCI card, and each of the frame buffer memory units is comprised of a pair of random access memory chips alternately disposed on alternate sides of the PCI card.

33. The detector framing node according to claim 26,

said image detection interface being a fiber optic interface receiving the image data in real time from the image detection system over an optical fiber data link, the detector framing node further comprising:

a memory unit to receive and store the image data received by the fiber optic interface,

wherein the control unit reads out the stored image data from the memory unit and transfers to image data to the computer communication interface during communication to the host memory.

34. The detector framing node according to claim 26, wherein the host computer runs a non-real time operating system.

35. The detector framing node according to claim 26, wherein the host computer runs a real time operating system.

36. The detector framing node according to claim 26, wherein the host computer runs a task based operating system.

37. The detector framing node according to claim 26, wherein the image data is radioscopic image data and the image detection system is an x-ray detection system.