Millimetre wave three dimensional holographic scan imaging apparatus and method for inspecting a human body or an article

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9599705-B2
Application number	US-201414247803-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2014
Priority date	Aug 15, 2013
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

A millimeter wave three dimensional holographic scan imaging apparatus and a method for inspecting a human body or an article are disclosed. The apparatus comprises a first millimeter wave transceiver module, a second millimeter wave transceiver module, a first guide rail device to which the first millimeter wave transceiver module is connected in slidable form, a second guide rail device to which the second millimeter wave transceiver module is connected in slidable form, a driver configured to drive the first/second millimeter wave transceiver module to move along the first/second guide rail device, and a constrainer configured to constrain kinematic relation between the first and the second millimeter wave transceiver modules such that they only move in directions opposed to each other. They may increase scan speeds, improve scan stability, reduce scan operations and enhance the reliability of the apparatus.

First claim

What the claims is:

1. A millimeter wave three dimensional holographic scan imaging apparatus, comprising:
a first millimeter wave transceiver module comprising a first millimeter wave transceiver antenna array for transmitting and receiving a first millimeter wave signal;
a second millimeter wave transceiver module comprising a second millimeter wave transceiver antenna array for transmitting and receiving a second millimeter wave signal;
a first guide rail device, to which the first millimeter wave transceiver module is connected in slidable form, such that the first millimeter wave transceiver module is moveable along the first guide rail device to perform a first scan on an object to be inspected;
a second guide rail device, to which the second millimeter wave transceiver module is connected in slidable form, such that the second millimeter wave transceiver module is moveable along the second guide rail device to perform a second scan on the object to be inspected;
a driver configured to drive the first millimeter wave transceiver module to move along the first guide rail device and/or to drive the second millimeter wave transceiver module to move along the second guide rail device; and
a constrainer configured to constrain kinematic relation between the first millimeter wave transceiver module and the second millimeter wave transceiver module such that the first millimeter wave transceiver module and the second millimeter wave transceiver module only move in directions opposed to each other,
wherein the driver comprises a first driver configured to drive the first millimeter wave transceiver module directly, the first millimeter wave transceiver module being connected to the first guide rail device by the first driver, and the driver also comprises a second driver configured to drive the second millimeter wave transceiver module directly, the second millimeter wave transceiver module being connected to the second guide rail device by the second driver, and
wherein the first millimeter wave signal and the second millimeter wave signal have different frequencies from each other during at least 50% of an entire period of scanning the object to be inspected by both the first millimeter wave transceiver module and the second millimeter wave transceiver module.

2. The millimeter wave three dimensional holographic scan imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein,
the constrainer constrains positional relation between the first millimeter wave transceiver module and the second millimeter wave transceiver module such that the first millimeter wave transceiver module and the second millimeter wave transceiver module only move in a same speed.

3. The millimeter wave three dimensional holographic scan imaging apparatus of claim 2 , wherein,
the constrainer is a rigid connecting line or belt for connecting the first millimeter wave transceiver module with the second millimeter wave transceiver module.

4. The millimeter wave three dimensional holographic scan imaging apparatus of claim 3 , wherein,
the first guide device is provided with a first fixed pulley and the second guide device is provided with a second fixed pulley, the connecting line or belt connecting the first millimeter wave transceiver module to the second millimeter wave transceiver module via the first fixed pulley and the second fixed pulley.

5. The millimeter wave three dimensional holographic scan imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein,
the first guide rail device and the second guide rail device are parallel to each other.

6. The millimeter wave three dimensional holographic scan imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein,
the first guide rail device and/or the second guide rail device are/is composed of one rail or a plurality of rails parallel to each other.

7. The millimeter wave three dimensional holographic scan imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein,
the first millimeter wave transceiver module and/or the second millimeter wave transceiver module move in a vertical plane.

8. The millimeter wave three dimensional holographic scan imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein,
it further comprises:
a data processing device communicated by wire or wireless to the first millimeter wave transceiver module and/or the second millimeter wave transceiver module to receive scan data from the first millimeter wave transceiver module and/or the second millimeter wave transceiver module and to generate a millimeter wave holographic image; and
a display device communicated to the data processing device to receive and display the millimeter wave holographic image from the data processing device.

9. The millimeter wave three dimensional holographic scan imaging apparatus of claim 8 , wherein,
the data processing device is configured to generate a control signal and transmit it to the driver to allow the driver to drive the first millimeter wave transceiver module and/or the second millimeter wave transceiver module to move; or the millimeter wave three dimensional holographic scan imaging apparatus further comprises a separate controller with respect to the data processing device, the separate controller configured to generate a control signal and transmit it to the driver to allow the driver to drive the first millimeter wave transceiver module and/or the second millimeter wave transceiver module to move.

10. The millimeter wave three dimensional holographic scan imaging apparatus of claim 1 , wherein,
the time at which the first millimeter wave transceiver antenna array transmits millimeter waves is different from the time at which the second millimeter wave transceiver antenna array transmits millimeter waves, during scanning the object to be inspected by both the first millimeter wave transceiver module and the second millimeter wave transceiver module.

11. A method for inspecting a human body or an article using a millimeter wave three dimensional holographic scan imaging apparatus, comprising:
locating the human body or the article at an inspection position and setting a first millimeter wave transceiver module and a second millimeter wave transceiver module at their scan beginning positions respectively;
driving the first millimeter wave transceiver module and the second millimeter wave transceiver module by a driver to move from their scan beginning positions to their scan end positions along a first guide rail device and a second guide rail device continuously or discontinuously to finish scanning to the human body or the article;
transmitting data sampled by the first millimeter wave transceiver module and the second millimeter wave transceiver module during the scanning to a data processing device, in the scanning and/or after the scanning; and
processing the data received from the first millimeter wave transceiver module and the second millimeter wave transceiver module using the data processing device to generate a millimeter wave holographic image of the human body or the article,
wherein during scanning of the first millimeter wave transceiver module and the second millimeter wave transceiver module, kinematic relation between the first millimeter wave transceiver module and the second millimeter wave transceiver module is constrained by a constrainer such that the first millimeter wave transceiver module and the second millimeter wave transceiver module only move in directions opposed to each other, and
wherein during scanning, driving the first millimeter wave transceiver module and the second millimeter wave transceiver module to move by driving the first millimeter wave transceiver module and the second millimeter wave transceiver module directly, and
wherein a first millimeter wave signal for the first millimeter

Assignees

• Nuctech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Wu Wanlong
• Chen Zhiqiang
• Li Yuanjing
• Zhao Ziran
• Shen Zongjun
• Zhang Li
• Sang Bin
• Zhu Chenguang

Classifications

• G01V8/005 Primary

  operating with millimetre waves, e.g. measuring the black losey radiation · CPC title

• G01S13/887 Primary

  for detection of concealed objects, e.g. contraband or weapons · CPC title

• G01S13/89 Primary

  for mapping or imaging · CPC title

• G01V8/26

  using mechanical scanning systems · CPC title

• G01V3/12

  operating with electromagnetic waves {(operating with millimetre waves G01V8/005)} · CPC title