Radiation video processing device, radiation video capturing device, radiation video capturing system, radiation video processing method and program storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9258464-B2
Application number	US-201414259619-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2014
Priority date	Oct 26, 2011
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

A radiographic video processing device includes: an acquisition section that acquires gradation signals expressing charges; and a control section that, if capture of a video image formed from plural frames is being performed with a radiation detector, and a number of the pixels, from which charges are combined and read by switching elements included in adjacent pixels of the radiation detector, has been increased, effects control such that, from a frame at a time of the increase up until a predetermined frame, the gradation signals distributed in a higher density range than that for frames subsequent to the predetermined frame are used as image data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A radiographic video processing device, comprising:
an acquisition section that acquires gradation signals expressing charges from a radiation detector in which a plurality of pixels are disposed in a matrix formation, each pixel including a sensor portion that generates charges according to irradiated radiation and a switching element that reads charges generated at the sensor portion; and
a control section that, if capture of a video image formed from a plurality of frames is being performed with the radiation detector by switching the switching elements ON and OFF to read the charges and converting the read charges to voltage, and a number of the pixels, from which charges are combined and read by the switching elements included in adjacent pixels, has been increased, effects control such that, from a frame at a time of the increase up until a predetermined frame, the gradation signals distributed in a higher density range than that for frames subsequent to the predetermined frame are used as image data.

2. The radiographic video processing device of claim 1 , wherein if the number of pixels has been increased, the control section effects control such that, from the frame at the time of the increase up until the predetermined frame, dynamic range compression is performed with respect to the gradation signals distributed in the higher density range than that for the frames subsequent to the predetermined frame.

3. The radiographic video processing device of claim 1 , wherein the control section further effects control such that, for the frames subsequent to the predetermined frame, a range of the gradation signals used as image data is gradually shifted to a range lower than the higher density range.

4. The radiographic video processing device of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined frame is a frame at a time immediately before density fluctuations in the gradation signals, due to switching of the number of pixels, stabilize.

5. The radiographic video processing device of claim 1 , wherein detection of whether or not the number of pixels has been increased is detection of satisfaction of a condition of:
a transition from a state in which still image capture is performed by the radiation detector to a state in which video image capture is performed by the radiation detector;
a frame rate of the video image capture has been increased while performing video image capture by the radiation detector; or
a transition from a sequential scanning method in which charges generated in the pixels are read sequentially to a skip scanning method in which charges generated in each of the pixels are read from every other line, per every one line of odd numbered rows or even numbered rows.

6. A radiographic video image capture device, comprising:
a radiation detector in which a plurality of pixels are disposed in a matrix formation, each pixel including a sensor portion that generates charges according to irradiated radiation and a switching element that reads charges generated at the sensor portion; and
the radiographic video processing device of claim 1 .

7. A radiographic video image capture system, comprising:
the radiographic video image capture device of claim 6 ; and
a radiation irradiation section that irradiates radiation through a subject and onto the radiation detector.

8. A radiographic video processing method, comprising:
detecting whether or not a video image formed from a plurality of frames is being captured using a radiation detector in which a plurality of pixels are disposed in a matrix formation, each pixel including a sensor portion that generates charges according to irradiated radiation and a switching element that reads charges generated at the sensor portion, by switching the switching elements ON and OFF to read the charges and converting the read charges to voltage, and detecting whether or not a number of the pixels, from which charges are combined and read by the switching elements included in adjacent pixels, has been increased; and
controlling such that, if it is detected that the number of pixels has been increased, the gradation signals expressing the charges distributed in a higher density range than that for frames subsequent to a predetermined frame are used as image data, from a frame at a time of the increase up until the predetermined frame.

9. The radiographic video processing method of claim 8 , wherein if the number of pixels has been increased, the controlling includes performing dynamic range compression with respect to the gradation signals distributed in the higher density range than that for frames subsequent to the predetermined frame, from the frame at the time of the increase up until the predetermined frame.

10. The radiographic video processing method of claim 8 , wherein the controlling further effects control such that, for the frames subsequent to the predetermined frame, a range of the gradation signals used as image data is gradually shifted to a range lower than the higher density range.

11. The radiographic video processing method of claim 8 , wherein the predetermined frame is a frame at a time immediately before density fluctuations in the gradation signals, due to switching of the number of pixels, stabilize.

12. The radiographic video processing method of claim 8 , wherein the detecting whether or not the number of pixels has been increased includes detecting satisfaction of a condition of:
a transition from a state in which still image capture is performed by the radiation detector to a state in which video image capture is performed by the radiation detector; or
a frame rate of the video image capture has been increased while performing video image capture by the radiation detector; or
a transition from a sequential scanning method in which charges generated in the pixels are read sequentially to a skip scanning method in which charges generated in each of the pixels are read from every other line, per every one line of odd numbered rows or even numbered rows.

13. A non-transitory storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to execute radiographic video processing, the processing comprising:
detecting whether or not a video image formed from a plurality of frames is being captured using a radiation detector in which a plurality of pixels are disposed in a matrix formation, each pixel including a sensor portion that generates charges according to irradiated radiation and a switching element that reads charges generated at the sensor portion, by switching the switching elements ON and OFF to read the charges and converting the read charges to voltage, and detecting whether or not a number of the pixels, from which charges are combined and read by the switching elements included in adjacent pixels, has been increased; and
controlling such that, if it is detected that the number of pixels has been increased, the gradation signals expressing the charges distributed in a higher density range than that for frames subsequent to a predetermined frame are used as image data, from a frame at a time of the increase up until the predetermined frame.

14. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 13 , wherein if the number of pixels has been increased, the controlling includes performing dynamic range compression with respect to the gradation signals distributed in the higher density range than that for frames subsequent to the predetermined frame, from the frame at the time of the increase up until the predetermined frame.

15. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the controlling further effects control such that, for the

Assignees

• Fujifilm Corp

Inventors

• Ohta Yasunori
• Nishino Naoyuki
• Nakatsugawa Haruyasu
• Iwakiri Naoto
• Kitano Kouich

Classifications

• A61B6/487 Primary

  involving fluoroscopy · CPC title

• H04N23/555

  for picking-up images in sites, inaccessible due to their dimensions or hazardous conditions, e.g. endoscopes or borescopes · CPC title

• H04N23/95

  Computational photography systems, e.g. light-field imaging systems · CPC title

• H04N23/30

  for generating image signals from X-rays · CPC title

• A61B6/461

  Displaying means of special interest · CPC title