Patent · US Expired

Semiconductor gamma-ray camera and medical imaging system

US6194715A · kind A · utility

47Cited by
40References
21Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 5, 1999
Grant dateFeb 27, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 5, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH10F39/195
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A high-energy photon imaging system including an imaging head, a signal processor, a data acquisition system and an image processing computer. The imaging head includes a detector including a plurality of closely-packed detection modules. Each detection module includes a plurality of detection elements mounted to a circuit carrier. The detection elements produce electrical pulses having amplitudes indicative of the magnitude of radiation absorbed by the detection elements. The circuit carrier includes channels for conditioning and processing the signals generated by corresponding detection elements and for preparing the processed signals for further processing by a signal processor. Each conditioning and processing channel stores the amplitudes of the detection element electrical pulses exceeding a predetermined threshold. The detection modules employ a fall-through circuit which automatically finds only those detection elements that have a stored pulse amplitude exceeding the threshold. The fall-through circuit searches for the next detection element and associated channel having a valid event. The signal processor performs diagnostics, gain normalization, and response efficiency …

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.