Method and arrangement relating to x-ray imaging
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An x-ray apparatus for acquisition of images containing spectral information, comprising:
- a) an x-ray source operable to output a plurality of x-ray photons;
b) a multi-slit collimator having a plurality of openings operable to direct the x-ray photons into a plurality of beams;
a set of line detectors each aligned with one of the openings to receive the x-ray photons of one of the beams each of said line detectors being a linear array of photon counting channels, each of said channels comprising a photon conversion channel element being operatively arranged to directly convert each received x-ray photon to an electric pulse, said pulse having a strength depending on the energy of the x-ray photon converted thereto;
c) a plurality of pulse counters including first counters operable to count said pulses which have a first range of pulse strength and second counters operable to count said pulses which have a second range of pulse strength lower than said first range; and
d) an arrangement for energy subtracting operation.
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Abstract
An X-ray apparatus is provided for acquisition of images containing spectral information. An X-ray source and a collimator having multiple slits are operable together with a set of line detectors, the line detectors including linear arrays of photon counting channels. Each of the channels includes a photon conversion channel element which is operable to convert photons to electric pulses. A plurality of pulse counters are operable to count pulses in a plurality of different ranges of pulse strength, where the strength of a pulse depends on the energy of the photon. Further, an arrangement is included for an energy subtracting operation.
9 Citations
47 Claims
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1. An x-ray apparatus for acquisition of images containing spectral information, comprising:
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a) an x-ray source operable to output a plurality of x-ray photons; b) a multi-slit collimator having a plurality of openings operable to direct the x-ray photons into a plurality of beams; a set of line detectors each aligned with one of the openings to receive the x-ray photons of one of the beams each of said line detectors being a linear array of photon counting channels, each of said channels comprising a photon conversion channel element being operatively arranged to directly convert each received x-ray photon to an electric pulse, said pulse having a strength depending on the energy of the x-ray photon converted thereto; c) a plurality of pulse counters including first counters operable to count said pulses which have a first range of pulse strength and second counters operable to count said pulses which have a second range of pulse strength lower than said first range; and d) an arrangement for energy subtracting operation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of producing an image containing spectral information, comprising the steps of:
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irradiation by an x-ray source an array of channels of photon conversion channel elements, whereby each photon conversion channel element converts photons to electric pulses, counting said pulses in a plurality of parallel counters per channel, reading out values from said counters from essentially all of said channels, constructing an image from said values, and outputting said image, wherein the strength of said pulses depends on the energy of said photons, and at least two of said counters per channel count pulses in different ranges of said strength, and applying an energy subtracting operation, said output being either image display or image export to another system. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. An x-ray apparatus for acquisition of images and energy subtraction, comprising:
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an x-ray source, a multi-slit collimator, a set of line detectors, each of said line detectors comprises a photon conversion volume for conversion of photons of different energies to electric pulses of different strengths, an arrangement for image construction, an arrangement for energy subtraction, a number of pulse counters, comprising a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, each row corresponding to a unique range of photon energy and each column being connected to a unique region in said photon conversion volume, and said counter in each of said columns and each of said rows being operatively arranged to count photons from said region corresponding to said column and in said range corresponding to said row. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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- 33. An x-ray apparatus for producing an image, comprising an array of photon counting channels, and an arrangement for image construction operable to perform an energy subtracting operation when constructing an image, and each of said channels comprises a photon conversion channel element, and a plurality of pulse counters including first counters and second counters, wherein said photon conversion channel element is characterized by conversion of x-ray photons to electric pulses whose strength depends on the energy of said x-ray photons, and furthermore said counters are directly or indirectly connected to said photon conversion channel element, said first counters being operable to count said pulses which have a first range of pulse strength and said second counters being operable to count said pulses which have a second range of pulse strength lower than said first range.
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45. A detector assembly for use in an x-ray apparatus comprising a set of line detectors, each of said line detectors being a linear array of photon counting channels, each of said channels comprising a photon conversion channel element being operatively arranged to convert an x-ray photon incident thereon to an electric pulse, said pulse having a strength depending on the energy of said x-ray photon, and having a connection arrangement for connection to a plurality of pulse counters, said first counters being operatively arranged to count said pulses which have a first range of pulse strength and said second counters being operatively arranged to count said pulses which have a second range of pulse strength lower than said first range.
- 46. A pulse counter arrangement for use in an x-ray apparatus, comprising a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, each row corresponding to a unique range of photon energy and each column connectable to a region in a photon conversion volume, said counter in each of said columns and each of said rows being operatively arranged to count photons from said region corresponding to said column and in said range corresponding to said row.
Specification