Multi-maximum x-ray spectrum systems and multi-layer imaging systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11819348-B2
Application number	US-202016836735-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 31, 2020
Priority date	Feb 14, 2020
Publication date	Nov 21, 2023
Grant date	Nov 21, 2023

Abstract

Some embodiments include an x-ray system, comprising: an x-ray imager including a plurality of imaging layers; an x-ray source configured to generate an x-ray beam; and an x-ray prefilter; wherein: the x-ray prefilter is configured to adjust an energy spectrum of the x-ray beam to create or decrease a level of x-ray fluence of a local minimum between two of a plurality of local maximums.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An x-ray system, comprising:
an x-ray imager including a plurality of imaging layers;
an x-ray source configured to generate an x-ray beam; and
an x-ray prefilter;
wherein:
the x-ray prefilter is configured to adjust an energy spectrum of the x-ray beam to create or decrease a level of x-ray fluence of a local minimum between two of a plurality of local maximums;
the x-ray prefilter includes multiple materials, each having a different k-edge absorption; and
the x-ray prefilter includes a plurality of layers in a stack such that at least part of the x-ray beam passes through each of the layers, each layer including one of the materials of the x-ray prefilter.

2. The x-ray system of claim 1 , wherein the x-ray prefilter includes at least one material having a k-edge absorption between the two local maximums.

3. The x-ray system of claim 1 , wherein the x-ray prefilter includes at least one of a pure material, an alloy, and a powdered material.

4. The x-ray system of claim 1 , wherein:
a first imaging layer of the imaging layers is disposed to receive the x-ray beam before a second imaging layer of the imaging layers;
each of the imaging layers includes an x-ray conversion material associated with a corresponding one of the local maximums;
the x-ray conversion material of the first imaging layer is configured to absorb more of a first local maximum of the two local maximums than the x-ray conversion material of the second imaging layer; and
the x-ray conversion material of the second imaging layer is configured to absorb more of a second local maximum of the two local maximums than the x-ray conversion material of the first imaging layer.

5. The x-ray system of claim 4 , wherein an energy of the first local maximum is less than an energy of the second local maximum.

6. The x-ray system of claim 1 , wherein:
each of the imaging layers includes an x-ray conversion material associated with a corresponding one of the local maximums; and
thicknesses of the x-ray conversion materials of at least two of the imaging layers are different.

7. The x-ray system of claim 1 , wherein an anode of the x-ray source includes at least two materials producing different x-ray spectrums.

8. The x-ray system of claim 1 , further comprising an x-ray filter disposed between at least two of the imaging layers.

9. An x-ray system comprising:
an x-ray source configured to generate an x-ray beam;
a movable x-ray filter including a plurality of filter regions, wherein at least one of the filter regions has an attenuation characteristic that is different from at least one of the other filter regions; and
control logic configured to move the x-ray filter with respect to the x-ray source during an exposure.

10. The x-ray system of claim 9 , wherein:
a first filter region of the filter regions is configured such that the x-ray beam has a first energy peak when filtered by the first filter region;
a second filter region of the filter regions is configured such that the x-ray beam has a second energy peak when filtered by the second filter region; and
an energy of the first energy peak is different from an energy of the second energy peak.

11. The x-ray system of claim 9 , wherein the movable x-ray filter is configured to at least rotate or translate.

12. The x-ray system of claim 9 , wherein the control logic is further configured to control a position of the movable filter such that the x-ray beam passes through more than one of the filter regions during a single exposure.

13. The x-ray system of claim 12 , wherein the control logic is configured to adjust the x-ray source parameters for the generation of the x-ray beam during the single exposure corresponding to the position of the movable filter.

14. The x-ray system of claim 9 , wherein:
the filter regions include a first filter region, a second filter region, and a third filter region;
the first filter region is adjacent to the second filter region;
the second filter region is adjacent to the third filter region;
transmission characteristics of the first filter region and the third filter region are the same; and
transmission characteristics of the second filter region are different from the transmission characteristics of the first and third filter regions.

15. The x-ray system of claim 9 , further comprising control logic configured to control a difference in an amount of time that the x-ray beam passes through a first filter region of the filter regions and an amount of time the x-ray beam passes through a second filter region of the filter regions during the exposure.

16. The x-ray system of claim 9 , further comprising an x-ray imager with one or more imaging layers.

17. An x-ray system, comprising:
means for generating an x-ray beam;
means for filtering the x-ray beam to have a multi-maximum energy spectrum;
means for converting at least a first part of the filtered x-ray beam into a first image;
means for converting at least a second part of the filtered x-ray beam into a second image; and
means for generating a third image based on the first image and the second image.

18. The x-ray system of claim 17 , wherein the means for filtering the x-ray beam includes means for dynamically filtering the x-ray beam during an exposure.

Assignees

• Varex Imaging Corp

Inventors

• Ganguly Arundhuti
• Mollov Ivan P

Classifications

• A61B6/4042 Primary

  K-edge filters · CPC title

• A61B6/4035

  the source being combined with a filter or grating · CPC title

• A61B6/482

  involving multiple energy imaging · CPC title

• G01T1/2006

  using a combination of a scintillator and photodetector which measures the means radiation intensity · CPC title

• G01T1/2014

  Reading out of stimulable sheets, e.g. latent image · CPC title