IP Library Granted Patent US 7,012,987
Granted Patent B1
US 7,012,987 · App. 11/039,460 · Granted Mar 14, 2006

Method for preventing higher density regions of an object from degrading the lower density focused regions of a laminography image

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 7,012,987
App. No.
11/039,460
Granted
Mar 14, 2006
Kind
B1
Abstract

A method for substantially reducing the contribution of dense regions of an object while less dense regions of the object are being processed in a laminography blurring system. The method comprises the steps of positioning an x-ray source with a moving fan beam on one side of the object; positioning a row of x-ray detectors on the side of the object opposite that of the x-ray source; sequentially emitting a plurality of x-ray fan beams along an x-ray source line and directed through a focused pixel of the object to the row of x-ray detectors; sampling the x-ray detectors once for each of the fan beams for a total of it samples of intensity I i ; determining the maximum intensity I max from the samples I i ; choosing a parameter P greater than one; retaining only those samples I i that are greater than or equal to I max /P; summing the retained samples; and normalizing the resultant sum. Normalizing can include multiplying the sum by the total number of samples divided by the number of retained samples.

Claims (12)

1. A method for substantially reducing the contribution of dense regions of an object while less dense regions of said object are being processed in a laminography blurring system, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) positioning an x-ray source with a moving fan beam on one side of said object;

(b) positioning a row of x-ray detectors on the side of said object opposite that of said x-ray source;

(c) sequentially emitting a plurality of x-ray fan beams along an x-ray source line and directed through a focused pixel of said object to said row of x-ray detectors;

(d) sampling said x-ray detectors once for each of said plurality of fan beams for a total of it samples of intensity I i ;

(e) determining the maximum intensity I max from said samples I i ;

(f) choosing a parameter P greater than one;

(g) retaining only those of said samples I i that are greater than or equal to I max /P, the number of said retained samples being i inc ;

(h) summing said retained samples; and

(i) normalizing the resultant sum.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said normalizing includes multiplying said sum by i t /i inc .

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said x-ray source line is parallel to said row of x-ray detectors.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 24, 2010
From: MARTIN ANNIS PATENT TRUST - 2009
To: REVEAL IMAGING TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 024424/0942 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 8, 2010
From: ANNIS, MARTIN
To: MARTIN ANNIS PATENT TRUST - 2009
Reel/Frame 023905/0374 →