Ct system having a modular x-ray detector and data transmission system for transmitting detector data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016256129-A1
Application number	US-201615044221-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 16, 2016
Priority date	Mar 3, 2015
Publication date	Sep 8, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A CT system is disclosed. In an embodiment, the CT system includes a stationary part, including a stationary part, including a plurality of non-rotating components; a rotatable part configured to rotate about a system axis during operation, including at least one x-ray detector, the at least one x-ray detector being modular in design and including a plurality of detector modules, the detector modules each including a plurality of detector pixels; a wireless data transmission system, to transmit at least detector information relating to a measured x-ray radiation from the rotatable part to the stationary part, the wireless data transmission system including at least one radio unit with a transmitter/receiver and at least one radio antenna, integrated in a plurality of the detector modules, to transmit at least the detector information; and at least one radio unit including a radio antenna and a receiver/transmitter, arranged on the stationary part.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A CT system, comprising:
a stationary part, including a plurality of non-rotating components; a rotatable part configured to rotate about a system axis during operation, including at least one x-ray detector, the at least one x-ray detector being modular in design and including a plurality of detector modules, the detector modules each including a plurality of detector pixels; a wireless data transmission system, to transmit at least detector information relating to a measured x-ray radiation from the rotatable part to the stationary part, the wireless data transmission system including at least one radio unit with a transmitter/receiver and at least one radio antenna, integrated in a plurality of the detector modules, to transmit at least the detector information; and at least one radio unit including a radio antenna and a receiver/transmitter, arranged on the stationary part.

2 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of detector modules is equipped with at least one radio unit.

3 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein the radio unit is arranged on a carrier ceramics for the sensor material in the form of an ASIC.

4 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of radio antennae are arranged on the stationary part.

5 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein the radio antennae are arranged in the x-ray detector at equal angular intervals in the direction of rotation.

6 . The CT system of claim 4 , wherein the radio antennae on the stationary part are arranged at the same angular distances or an integer multiple or an integer fraction of the angular intervals of the radio antennae in the x-ray detector.

7 . The CT system of claim 2 , wherein all radio units are embodied for communication at a common frequency.

8 . The CT system of claim 2 , wherein at least two radio units are embodied for communication at different frequencies.

9 . The CT system of claim 2 , further comprising:
a time slot controller to transmit and receive times of the radio units, wherein the time slot is triggered by the relative angular position of the rotating part in relation to the stationary part.

10 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein at least two radio antennae, offset in the system axis direction, are provided per detector module.

11 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein a set of several radio antennae are arranged at regular angular intervals about the system axis on the stationary part in at least two different positions of the system axis.

12 . The CT system of claim 11 , wherein the stationary angular positions of the radio antennae of the sets comprising a number of radio antennae are arranged angularly offset relative to one another on the stationary part.

13 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein at least one antenna array with a controller of the antenna directional characteristics exists per detector module.

14 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein an apparatus to compensate for a Doppler shift in the radio transmission exists between the antennae moved relative to one another during operation.

15 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one radio unit includes a plurality of radio units, and wherein the plurality of radio units on the detector modules are embodied exclusively to transmit detector data.

16 . The CT system of claim 15 , further comprising:
at least one slip ring data transmission system, to primarily transmit control data between the stationary and the rotatable part.

17 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein the at least detector information includes control data and detector data, at least one radio unit being embodied on at least one detector module to transmit the control data in addition to the detector data.

18 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein the at least detector information includes non-detector data and detector data, the CT system further comprising:
at least one additional radio unit, embodied to exclusively transmit non-detector data, preferably exclusively control data, for the rotating part.

19 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein the detector is equipped with a direct-converting sensor material, to count impacting x-ray photons, pixel by pixel, in an energy-resolved manner during operation.

20 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one radio unit integrated in a plurality of the detector modules includes a plurality of radio units, and wherein all of the radio units are embodied for communication at a common frequency.

21 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one radio unit integrated in a plurality of the detector modules includes a plurality of radio units, and wherein at least two of the radio units are embodied for communication at different frequencies.

22 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one radio unit integrated in a plurality of the detector modules includes a plurality of radio units, the CT system further comprising:
a time slot controller to transmit and receive times of the plurality of radio units, wherein the time slot is triggered by the relative angular position of the rotating part in relation to the stationary part.

23 . The CT system of claim 2 , wherein a set of several radio antennae are arranged at regular angular intervals about the system axis on the stationary part in at least two different positions of the system axis.

24 . The CT system of claim 23 , wherein the stationary angular positions of the radio antennae of the sets comprising a number of radio antennae are arranged angularly offset relative to one another on the stationary part.

25 . The CT system of claim 1 , wherein the non-detector data includes control data, the CT system further comprising:
at least one additional radio unit, embodied to exclusively transmit control data for the rotating part.

Assignees

• Siemens Ag

Inventors

• Ergler Thorsten
• Hosemann Michael

Classifications

• A61B6/56 Primary

  Details of data transmission or power supply, e.g. use of slip rings · CPC title

• A61B6/4411

  the apparatus being modular (A61B6/4283 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61B6/4266

  characterised by using a plurality of detector units (A61B6/4014 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61B6/032

  Transmission computed tomography [CT] · CPC title