Configurable coincidence pairing and filtering system and method for positron emission tomography

1. A method of processing positron emission tomography (PET) information obtained from a PET detector having a plurality of detector regions, each detector region having at least one detector module and a corresponding regional collector, the method comprising:

receiving PET event information for a single PET event, the PET event information including energy information and crystal position information of the single PET event;

receiving non-detector event information;

generating an event list that includes (1) a single PET event entry, the single PET event entry including a fine time stamp, the energy information, and the crystal position information, and (2) a non-detector event entry that includes the received non-detector event information; and

transmitting the generated event list to a computer for off-line processing.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating step comprises generating the event list, the event list including coarse time stamp entries at regular, periodic positions within the event list.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating step comprises generating the event list that includes the single PET event entry, the single PET event entry including an entry type.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of receiving the non-detector event information comprises receiving the non-detector event information including at least one of bed location information, angular position of a detector, cardiac EKG information, respiratory gating signal information, events from another detector, and other physiological information.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing, in a pipeline mode, event pairing and reconstruction based on information included in the event list.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the performing step comprises performing event pairing using at least two different coincidence windows based on the information included in the event list.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

temporarily storing the received PET event information in a temporary events buffer until availability of communication bandwidth to the computer is available.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

temporarily storing the transmitted event list in a memory associated with the computer until processing time of the computer is available.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

temporarily excluding the single PET event from the event list if a condition of memory overflow is detected.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein fine time stamp has a resolution small enough accommodate time-of-flight information.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating stop comprises generating the event list, which includes a plurality of single PET event entries; and

the transmitting step is performed prior to performing coincidence pairing for the plurality of single PET event entries.

12. A system for collecting and processing positron emission tomography (PET) information, comprising:

a plurality of detector modules arranged in a plurality of detector regions;

a plurality of regional event collectors corresponding to the plurality of detector regions, each regional event collector configured to receive PET event information from each detector module in the corresponding detector region; and

a global event collector configured to receive (1) the PET event information from each of the plurality of regional event collectors, the PET event information including energy information and crystal position information of a single PET event, and (2) non-detector event information, the global event collector further configured to generate an event list that includes (i) a single PET event entry, the single PET event entry including a fine time stamp, the energy information, and the crystal position information, and (ii) a non-detector event entry that includes the received non-detector event information, and to transmit the generated event list to a computer for off-line processing.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the global event collector is configured to generate the event list, the event list including coarse time stamp entries at regular, periodic positions within the event list.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the global event collector is configured to generate the event list that includes the single PET event entry, the single PET event entry including an entry type.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the global event collector is configured to receive the non-detector events information including at least one of bed location information, angular position of a detector, cardiac EKG information, respiratory gating signal information, events from another detector, and other physiological information.

16. The system of claim 12 , further comprising:

the computer configured to receive the event list and to perform, in a pipeline mode, event pairing and reconstruction based on information included in the event list.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the computer is configured to perform event pairing using at least two different coincidence windows based on the information included in the event list.

18. The system of claim 12 , further comprising:

a temporary events buffer temporarily storing the received PET event information until availability of communication bandwidth to the computer is available.

19. The system of claim 12 , further comprising:

a data collect server configured to temporarily store the transmitted event list until processing time of the computer is available.

20. The system of claim 12 , wherein the global event collector is configured to temporarily exclude the single PET event from the event list if a condition of memory overflow is detected.

21. A computer-readable medium storing a computer program that when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform a method of processing positron emission tomography (PET) information obtained from a PET detector having a plurality of detector regions, each detector region having at least one detector module and a corresponding regional collector, the method comprising:

receiving PET event information for a single PET event, the PET event information including energy information and crystal position information of the single PET event;

receiving non-detector event information;

generating an event list that includes (1) a single PET event entry, the single PET event entry including a fine time stamp, the energy information, and the crystal position information, and (2) a non-detector event entry that includes the received non-detector event information; and

transmitting the generated event list to a computer for off-line processing.