System and method for producing a detector position map

1. A method of generating a detector position map for an array of detectors, the detector position map comprising a map which maps measured coordinates from a detection event to the detector in the array which detected the detection event, the method comprising the steps of:

illuminating an array of detectors with a source of radiation to generate a histogram, the histogram comprising an event count as a function of two dimensions, the two dimensions corresponding to a face of the array of detectors, wherein the histogram comprises a plurality of first peaks;

modifying the histogram to comprise a plurality of second peaks, wherein the second peaks have a greater degree of isolation from each other than the first peaks; and

for each detector, determining a region on the detector position map which corresponds to the detector, each region being based on a position of one of the second peaks;

wherein the step of modifying the histogram to comprise a plurality of second peaks comprises compressing the histogram by averaging adjacent pixels of the histogram; applying a low pass filter to the compressed histogram to produce a smoothed histogram; applying a Laplacian filter to the smoothed histogram to produce a Laplacian histogram; and modifying regions of the Laplacian histogram having values less than a threshold value to produce a thresholded histogram.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of eliminating a number of the second peaks in excess of the number of detectors in the array.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of eliminating a number of second peaks in excess of the number of detectors in the array comprises the steps of:

(a) determining the number of second peaks in excess of the number of detectors in the array;

(b) identifying the pair of second peaks having the shortest distance between them;

(c) determining which of the pair has a lower value;

(d) deleting the lowest second peak in the pair; and

(e) repeating steps (b), (c) and (d) until the number of remaining second peaks equals the number of detectors in the array.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of assigning each second peak to a detector.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the step of assigning each second peak to a detector comprises the steps of:

sorting the second peaks according to a first of two dimensions;

sorting the second peaks according to a second of two dimensions; and

matching each second peak to a detector.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining a region on the detector position map comprises the step of determining a closest second peak for each coordinate pair.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of mapping an event having a coordinate pair to one of the detectors in the array based on the detector position map.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is executed by a positron emission tomography scanner.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first peaks have a first average cross sectional area which is greater than a second average cross sectional area of the second peaks.

10. A method of generating a detector position map for an array of detectors, the detector position map comprising a map which maps measured coordinates from a detection event to the detector in the array which detected the detection event, the method comprising the steps of:

illuminating an array of detectors with a source of radiation to generate a histogram, the histogram comprising an event count as a function of two dimensions, the two dimensions corresponding to a face of the array of detectors, wherein the histogram comprises a plurality of peaks;

for each of the peaks, determining a pair of coordinates describing the position of the peak;

sorting each of the peaks according to their coordinates such that each of the peaks is associated with one of the detectors; and

for each detector, determining a region on the detector position map which corresponds to the detector;

wherein a Lapacian filter is applied to the histogram to produce a Laplacian histogram and wherein regions of the Laplacian histogram are modified having values less than a threshold value to produce a thresholded histogram.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the sorting step is carried out with a bubble sort routine.

12. A method of generating a detector position map for an array of detectors, the detector position map comprising a map which maps measured coordinates from a detection event to the detector in the array which detected the detection event, the method comprising the steps of:

illuminating an array of detectors with a source of radiation to generate a histogram, the histogram comprising an event count as a function of two dimensions, the two dimensions corresponding to a face of the array of detectors;

modifying the histogram to comprise a plurality of isolated peaks; and

for each detector, determining a region on the detector position map which corresponds to the detector, each region being based on a position of one of the isolated peaks;

wherein a Lapacian filter is applied to the histogram to produce a Laplacian histogram and wherein regions of the Laplacian histogram are modified having values less than a threshold value to produce a thresholded histogram.

13. A method of generating a detector position map for a positron emission tomography scanner, the method comprising the steps of:

illuminating an array of detectors with a source of radiation to generate a histogram, the histogram comprising an event count as a function of two dimensions;

applying a low pass filter to the histogram to produce a smoothed histogram;

applying a Laplacian filter to the smoothed histogram to produce a Laplacian histogram;

applying a threshold criterion to the Laplacian histogram to produce a thresholded histogram;

mapping peaks from the thresholded histogram to respective detectors in the array of detectors; and

generating a detector position map based on locations of the peaks.

14. A system for generating a detector position map for an array of detectors, the detector position map comprising a map which maps measured coordinates from a detection event to the detector in the array which detected the detection event, the system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor which:

receives a plurality of event data packets, each event data packet comprising a coordinate pair;

stores the plurality of event data packets in the form of a histogram in the memory, the histogram comprising an event count as a function of two dimensions, the two dimensions corresponding to a face of the array of detectors, wherein the histogram comprises a plurality of first peaks;

modifies the histogram to comprise a plurality of second peaks, wherein the second peaks have a greater degree of isolation from each other than the first peaks;

for each detector, determines a region on the detector position map which corresponds to the detector, each region being based on a position of one of the second peaks; and

stores each region in the memory to create the detector position map.

15. A system for generating a detector position map for an array of detectors, the detector position map comprising a map which maps measured coordinates from a detection event to the detector in the array which detected the detection event, the system comprising:

a memory; and

a processor which:

receives a plurality of event data packets, each event data packet comprising a coordinate pair;

stores the plurality of event data packets in the form of a histogram in the memory, the histogram comprising an event count as a function of two dimensions, the two dimensions corresponding to a face of the array of detectors, wherein the histogram comprises a plurality of first peaks, the plurality of first peaks having a first average cross section;

modifies the histogram to comprise a plurality of second peaks, wherein the second peaks have a second average cross section which is less than the first average cross section;

for each detector, determines a region on the detector position map which corresponds to the detector, each region being based on a position of one of the second peaks; and

stores each region in the memory to create the detector position map.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the detector position map is adapted to be used with a positron emission tomography scanner.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further adapted to eliminate a number of the second peaks in excess of the number of detectors in the array.