System for image reconstruction

• US 7,881,514 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2006
• Issued: 02/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ultraspect Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Ultraspect Ltd.
• Inventors: Cohen Shwartz, Shoulamit, Oaknin, Jacob
• Primary Examiner(s): Ahmed; Samir A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bayat; Ali
• Application Number:
  US11/913,392
• Publication Number:
  US 20090220129A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,737 Days
• Field of Search: 382/128, 382/130, 382/131, 382/265, 382/270, 382/205, 382/190, 382/275, 250/363.02, 250/363.03, 250/363.04, 250/208.1, 717/159, 714/785, 378/4, 378/21, 702/181
• US Class Current: 382/128
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/037 Emission tomography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4291 the detector being combined with a grid or grating
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/541 involving acquisition triggered by a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/006 Inverse problem, transformation from projection-space into object-space, e.g. transform methods, back-projection, algebraic methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2211/424 Iterative

Abstract

A method for imaging, including counting quanta of energy emitted into a range of angles from particles of an energy emitter distributed over a volume in a body, thereby generating a set of counts. The method further includes defining a probability distribution expression that specifies a local concentration of the particles of the energy emitter over the volume as a function of the set of counts, the function being defined in terms of respective coefficients of a plurality of different scales of the local concentration, including at least a first and a second scale. A dependence of the coefficients of the first scale on the coefficients of the second scale is specified, and the local concentration over the volume is computed by applying the probability distribution expression to the set of counts subject to the specified dependence.

Claims

1. A method for imaging, comprising:

counting quanta of energy emitted into a range of angles from particles of an energy emitter distributed over a volume in a body, thereby generating a set of counts;

defining a probability distribution expression that specifies a local concentration of the particles of the energy emitter over the volume as a function of the set of counts, the function being defined in terms of respective coefficients of a plurality of different scales of the local concentration, comprising at least a first and a second scale;

specifying a dependence of the coefficients of the first scale on the coefficients of the second scale; and

computing the local concentration over the volume by applying the probability distribution expression to the set of counts subject to the specified dependence,

the dependence being given by;

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the dependence comprises a first cardinality of the first scale.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the dependence comprises a second cardinality of the second scale.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first scale and the second scale comprise sequential scales.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein an argument of the function comprises a term:

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the probability distribution expression comprises a term

−

log[P(X)],

wherein

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the probability distribution expression comprises a term

−

log[P(Y|X)],

wherein

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein

Δ

_b=max(y_b,B),

wherein B is a constant.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the probability distribution expression comprises a term having a distribution chosen from a Poisson distribution, a Laplacian distribution, and a non-white Gaussian distribution.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the coefficients comprise wavelet coefficients of a Haar wavelet.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein computing the local concentration comprises performing an iteration on the probability distribution expression to find a maximum value of a probability distribution comprised in the expression.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the local concentration comprises a plurality of time-dependent-local-concentrations comprising a first time-dependent-local-concentration measured at a region of the volume during a first time slot and a second time-dependent-local-concentration, different from the first time-dependent-local-concentration, measured at the region during a second time slot, and wherein the probability distribution expression comprises a time-dependent regularization function relating the first time-dependent-local-concentration and the second time-dependent-local-concentration.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the time-dependent regularization function comprises a Fourier transform of a sequence of time-dependent-local-concentrations at the region, the sequence comprising the first time-dependent-local-concentration and the second time-dependent-local-concentration.

16. The method according to claim 14, and comprising synchronizing at least one of the first time slot and the second time slot in response to a time-dependent signal received from the body.

17. The method according to claim 14, wherein computing the time-dependent-local-concentrations comprises iteratively computing partial sums of the time-dependent-local-concentrations.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of different scales comprises a number of scales chosen from between three and seven scales.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the number of scales comprises five scales.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein the probability distribution expression comprises a conditional expectation.

21. Imaging apparatus, comprising:

a camera which is arranged to count quanta of energy emitted into a range of angles from particles of an energy emitter distributed over a volume in a body, thereby generating a set of counts; and

a processing unit which is configured to;

define a probability distribution expression that specifies a local concentration of the particles of the energy emitter over the volume as a function of the set of counts, the function being defined in terms of respective coefficients of a plurality of different scales of the local concentration, comprising at least a first and a second scale,

specify a dependence of the coefficients of the first scale on the coefficients of the second scale, and

compute the local concentration over the volume by applying the probability distribution to the set of counts subject to the specified dependence,

the dependence being given by;

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the local concentration comprises a plurality of time-dependent-local-concentrations comprising a first time-dependent-local-concentration measured at a region of the volume during a first time slot and a second time-dependent-local-concentration, different from the first time-dependent-local-concentration, measured at the region during a second time slot, the apparatus comprising:

a detector which detects a time-dependent signal from the body and which conveys the time-dependent signal to the processing unit so as to synchronize at least one of the first time slot and the second time slot.

23. A computer software product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium for imaging, comprising the computer-readable medium having computer program instructions recorded therein, which instructions, when read by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive counts of quanta of energy emitted into a range of angles from particles of an energy emitter distributed over a volume in a body, thereby generating a set of counts,

define a probability distribution expression that specifies a local concentration of the particles of the energy emitter over the volume as a function of the set of counts, the function being defined in terms of respective coefficients of a plurality of different scales of the local concentration, comprising at least a first and a second scale,

specify a dependence of the coefficients of the first scale on the coefficients of the second scale, and

compute the local concentration over the volume by applying the probability distribution expression to the set of counts subject to the specified dependence,

the dependence being given by;