Dynamic tomography angle selection

1. A method for determining a projection angle for use in tomographic imaging, the method comprising:

obtaining projection data comprising at least one projection view from at least one projection angle, the at least one projection view being generated by scanning of a test object with a tomographic imaging device;

providing a plurality of candidate projection angles;

for each candidate projection angle, calculating a function value indicative of an amount of information that may be gained by adding to said projection data a further projection view generated by scanning of the test object with the tomographic imaging device from said candidate projection angle, wherein the function value is calculated without specific prior knowledge of the test object, the specific prior knowledge being a blueprint image or model for the test object;

selecting a candidate projection angle from the plurality of candidate projection angles taking into account said function values.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein said calculating comprises generating a plurality of intermediate reconstructed images.

3. A method according to claim 2 , wherein said generating comprises reconstructing said obtained projection data with an iterative tomographic reconstruction algorithm, in which said iterative tomographic reconstruction algorithm iteratively refines a reconstruction image.

4. A method according to claim 3 , wherein, in a first iteration of said iterative tomographic reconstruction algorithm, said reconstruction image initially comprises random data or data generated using a pseudorandom number generator algorithm.

5. A method according to claim 2 , wherein said calculating further comprises computing a plurality of intermediate projection data for the plurality of intermediate reconstructed images, the projection data for each intermediate reconstructed image comprising a projection view from the candidate projection angle.

6. A method according to claim 5 , wherein said calculating comprises calculating and combining a measure for each of the at least one intermediate projection data.

7. A method according to claim 6 , wherein said calculating and combining comprises determining a measure indicative of an upper bound to a hypervolume, in the sense of a metric space defined over binary images, encompassing all binary images that adhere to a set of known projections for each of the at least one intermediate projection data.

8. A method according to claim 1 , wherein each projection view comprises at least one observation value obtained at least one detection location.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when implemented on a processing unit, cause the processing unit to perform a method for determining a projection angle for use in tomography imaging, the method comprising

obtaining projection data comprising at least one projection view from at least one projection angle, the at least one projection view being generated by scanning of a test object with a tomographic imaging device;

providing a plurality of candidate projection angles;

for each candidate projection angle, calculating a function value indicative of an amount of information that may be gained by adding to said projection data a further projection view generated by scanning of the test object with the tomographic imaging device from said candidate projection angle, wherein the function value is calculated without specific prior knowledge of the test object, the specific prior knowledge being a blueprint image or model for the test object;

selecting a candidate projection angle from the plurality of candidate projection angles taking into account said function values.

10. A data carrier storing a computer program product according to claim 9 .

11. A method comprising the step of transmitting the instructions stored on the computer-readable medium of claim 9 over a wide area network or local area network, which, when implemented on a processing unit, cause the processing unit to perform the method for determining the projection angle for use in tomography imaging.

12. A processor for determining a projection angle for use in tomographic imaging, the processor comprising

an input means configured for obtaining projection data comprising at least one projection view from at least one projection angle, the at least one projection view being generated by scanning of a test object with a tomographic imaging device, candidate-projection-angle obtaining means configured for obtaining a plurality of candidate projection angles,

a calculator configured for, for each candidate projection angle, calculating a function value indicative of an amount of information that may be gained by adding to said projection data a further projection view generated by scanning of the test object with the tomographic imaging device from said candidate projection angle, wherein the function value is calculated without specific prior knowledge of the test object, the specific prior knowledge being a blueprint image or model for the test object, and

a selector configured for selecting a candidate projection angle from the plurality of candidate projection angles taking into account said function values.

13. A processor according to claim 12 , the processor furthermore being configured for performing a method for determining a projection angle including:

obtaining projection data comprising at least one projection view from at least one projection angle, the at least one projection view being generated by scanning of a test object with a tomographic imaging device;

providing a plurality of candidate projection angles;

for each candidate projection angle, calculating a function value indicative of an amount of information that may be gained by adding to said projection data a further projection view generated by scanning of the test object with the tomographic imaging device from said candidate projection angle, wherein the function value is calculated without specific prior knowledge of the test object;

selecting a candidate projection angle from the plurality of candidate projection angles taking into account said function values.

14. A tomographic imaging device for tomographic imaging of objects, the tomographic imaging device comprising a processor according to claim 12 configured for determining a projection angle for use in the tomographic imaging.