Methods, systems, and computer program products for multiplexing computed tomography
View Patent ↗Methods, systems, and computer program products for multiplexing computed tomography are disclosed. According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein can include illuminating an object with a plurality of x-ray beams from a plurality of viewing angles, wherein each x-ray beam has a distinct waveform; detecting the x-ray intensities of the plurality of pulsed x-ray beams as a function of time, and extracting individual projection image data from the detected x-ray intensities based on the distinct waveforms of the x-ray beams for combining the projection image data to generate three-dimensional tomographic image data of the object.
1. A method of multiplexing computed tomography for simultaneous recording of a plurality of projection images of an object, the method comprising:
(a) illuminating an object with a plurality of x-ray beams from a plurality of viewing angles, wherein each x-ray beam has a distinct waveform;
(b) detecting the x-ray intensities of the plurality of x-ray beams as a function of time; and
(c) extracting individual projection image data from the detected x-ray intensities based on the distinct waveforms of the x-ray beams for combining the projection image data to generate three-dimensional image data of the object, wherein extracting individual projection image data from the detected x-ray intensities comprises:
(i) performing temporal Fourier transformation of the intensity versus time data;
(ii) determining the intensity contribution from each of the x-ray beams based on a spectrum in a frequency space; and
(iii) constructing the projection image data from each of the x-ray beams based on the extracted x-ray intensity from the frequency space.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein illuminating the object with a plurality of x-ray beams comprises illuminating the object with a plurality of x-ray beams individually controllable to emit x-ray beams simultaneously and in any time sequence, and are controllable to vary the frequency, duty cycle, and intensity of the waveforms of the x-ray beams.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein illuminating the object with a plurality of x-ray beams comprises illuminating the object with a plurality of x-ray beams emitted from a plurality of focal spots arranged such that x-ray images of the object are formed from 360 degree viewing angles.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein illuminating the object with a plurality of x-ray beams comprises illuminating the object with a plurality of x-ray beams generated by an x-ray generating device including a plurality of electron emitting pixels comprising carbon nanotubes or nanowires.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein extracting individual projection image data from the detected x-ray intensities for combining the data to generate three-dimensional tomographic image data of the object is performed by an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and an image reconstruction algorithm.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein extracting individual projection image data from the detected x-ray intensities for combining the data to generate three-dimensional tomographic image data of the object comprises displaying a three-dimensional image of the object based on the generated three-dimensional image data of the object.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the x-ray intensities are detected at a frame rate equal to at least twice the frequency of the x-ray beam with the highest frequency.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the distinct waveform of each x-ray beam comprises a distinct temporal waveform comprising a periodic function with a distinct frequency.
9. A computer program product comprising computer executable instructions embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium for performing steps comprising:
(a) illuminating an object with a plurality of x-ray beams from a plurality of viewing angles, wherein each x-ray beam has a distinct waveform;
(b) detecting the x-ray intensities of the plurality of x-ray beams as a function of time; and
(c) extracting individual projection image data from the detected x-ray intensities based on the distinct waveforms of the x-ray beams for combining the projection image data to generate three-dimensional image data of the object, wherein the projection image data comprises intensity versus time data for each of the x-ray beams, and wherein extracting individual projection image data from the detected x-ray intensities comprises:
(i) performing temporal Fourier transformation of the intensity versus time data;
(ii) determining the intensity contribution from each of the x-ray beams based on a spectrum in a frequency space; and
(iii) constructing the projection image data from each of the x-ray beams based on the extracted x-ray intensity from the frequency space.
10. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein illuminating the object with a plurality of x-ray beams comprises illuminating the object with a plurality of x-ray beams individually controllable to emit x-ray beams simultaneously and in any time sequence, and are controllable to vary the frequency, duty cycle, and intensity of the waveforms of the x-ray beams.
11. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein illuminating the object with a plurality of x-ray beams comprises illuminating the object with a plurality of x-ray beams emitted from a plurality of focal spots arranged such that x-ray images of the object are formed from 360 degree viewing angles.
12. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein extracting individual projection image data from the detected x-ray intensities for combining the data to generate three-dimensional tomographic image data of the object is performed by an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).
13. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the distinct waveform of each x-ray beam comprises a distinct temporal waveform comprising a periodic function with a distinct frequency.