Autonomous gamma, X-ray, and particle detector
First Claim
1. A photon detector comprising:
- a semiconductor configured to respond to receipt of at least one photon emission by producing an electrical signal having a timing resolution of smaller than 300 ps;
a clock, configured to generate a clock signal;
a logic circuit configured to digitize the electrical signal and associate the digitized electrical signal with a time of occurrence based on the clock to produce an event record having the timing resolution of smaller than 300 ps;
a memory, configured to store a plurality of the event records;
an automated communication interface; and
an automated processor configured to;
process the stored plurality of event records according to at least one criterion;
synchronize the clock with an external reference, by at least one communication through the automated communication interface; and
selectively transmit at least a subset of the processed plurality of event records through the automated communication interface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for imaging gamma- and x-ray, and charged particles sources employing a three dimensional array of scintillation elements arranged surrounding an emission source. According to a preferred embodiment, each element of the array comprises a scintillator element, a solid-state photon detector, and processing electronics to output an electronic signal. The elements may be efficiently packed in both the X-Y plane and stacked in the Z-axis, to provide depth of interaction information. The elements of the array are preferably hierarchically arranged with control electronics provided together for subarray modules (e.g., an n×m×1 module), and synchronization electronics provided at a larger scale. The modules preferably communicate with a control system through a shared addressable packet switched digital communication network with a control and imaging system, and receive control information from that system through the network.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A photon detector comprising:
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a semiconductor configured to respond to receipt of at least one photon emission by producing an electrical signal having a timing resolution of smaller than 300 ps; a clock, configured to generate a clock signal; a logic circuit configured to digitize the electrical signal and associate the digitized electrical signal with a time of occurrence based on the clock to produce an event record having the timing resolution of smaller than 300 ps; a memory, configured to store a plurality of the event records; an automated communication interface; and an automated processor configured to; process the stored plurality of event records according to at least one criterion; synchronize the clock with an external reference, by at least one communication through the automated communication interface; and selectively transmit at least a subset of the processed plurality of event records through the automated communication interface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A photon detection method, comprising:
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providing a photon detector comprising; a semiconductor configured to respond to receipt of at least one photon emission by producing an electrical signal having a timing resolution of smaller than 300 ps; a clock, configured to generate a clock signal; a logic circuit configured to digitize the electrical signal and associate the digitized electrical signal with a time of occurrence based on the clock to produce an event record having the timing resolution of smaller than 300 ps; a memory, configured to store a plurality of the event records; an automated communication interface; and an automated processor; synchronizing the clock with an external reference, by at least one communication through the automated communication interface; storing a plurality of event records in the memory, each event record comprising at least a time of photon emission; selectively processing the stored plurality of event records with the automated processor according to at least one event record dependent processing criterion; and transmitting at least a subset of the processed plurality of event records through the automated communication interface. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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20. A photon detector, comprising:
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a scintillation element; a detector configured to respond to scintillation by the scintillation element by producing an signal corresponding to at least one photon emitted by the scintillation element, having a timing resolution of a time of emission of the at least one photon of less than 300 ps; a memory; a logic circuit configured to digitize the signal and associate the digitized signal with a time of occurrence of the at least one photon emission to produce an event record having the timing resolution of smaller than 300 ps; a digital packet network communication interface; and an automated processor, configured to; receive control information through the digital packet network communication interface; synchronize a determination of the time of occurrence by communication through the digital packet network communication interface; store a plurality of event records in the memory, each event record comprising at least a time of photon emission having the timing resolution of a time of emission of the at least one photon of less than 300 ps; selectively process the plurality of event records according to at least one event record dependent processing criterion.
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Specification