System and method for determining X-ray exposure parameters

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9610057-B2
Application number	US-201414552546-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 25, 2014
Priority date	Jun 16, 2014
Publication date	Apr 4, 2017
Grant date	Apr 4, 2017

Abstract

In accordance with one aspect of the present system, a dual energy X-ray imaging system includes a communication module configured to receive a pre-shot image from a detection circuitry and receive one or more pre-shot parameters from a source controller of the dual energy X-ray imaging system. The dual energy X-ray imaging system further includes an analysis module configured to determine one or more image characteristics of the pre-shot image. The dual energy X-ray imaging system further includes a determination module configured to calculate a first and a second set of main-shot parameters based on the one or more pre-shot parameters and the one or more image characteristics of the pre-shot image. The determination module is further configured to send the one or more main-shot parameters to the source controller of the dual energy X-ray imaging system.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A dual energy X-ray imaging system comprising:
a detection circuitry configured to generate a pre-shot image based on a pre-shot X-ray beam; and
a parameter optimizer communicatively coupled to the detection circuitry and configured to determine a first set of main-shot parameters and a second set of main-shot parameters, the parameter optimizer comprising:
at least one processor;
a communication module stored in a memory and executable by the at least one processor, the communication module configured to receive the pre-shot image from the detection circuitry and receive one or more pre-shot parameters from a source controller of the dual energy X-ray imaging system;
an analysis module stored in the memory and executable by the at least one processor, the analysis module communicatively coupled with the communication module and configured to determine one or more image characteristics of the pre-shot image, wherein the one or more image characteristics includes at least one of a histogram of counts of intensity levels of pre-shot image pixels, a noise level, a signal to noise ratio, a contrast, and a contrast to noise ratio; and
a determination module stored in the memory and executable by the at least one processor, the determination module communicatively coupled with the analysis module and configured to calculate the first and the second set of main-shot parameters based on the one or more pre-shot parameters and the one or more image characteristics of the pre-shot image, and send the first and the second set of main-shot parameters to the source controller of the dual energy X-ray imaging system.

2. The dual energy X-ray imaging system of claim 1 , further comprising an image processing unit configured to receive a first main-shot image corresponding to the first set of main-shot parameters, receive a second main-shot image corresponding to the second set of main-shot parameters, and generate a final image based on the first and the second main-shot images.

3. The dual energy X-ray imaging system of claim 2 , wherein the determination module is further configured to calculate a weighting factor based on at least one of the pre-shot parameters, the one or more image characteristics of the pre-shot image, one or more image characteristics of the first main-shot image, and one or more image characteristics of the second main-shot image.

4. The dual energy X-ray imaging system of claim 3 , wherein the image processing unit is further configured to generate the final image based on the first main-shot image, the second main-shot image, and the weighting factor.

5. The dual energy X-ray imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more pre-shot parameters include at least one of a peak kilovoltage (kVp) of an X-ray source, a pre-shot milliampere seconds (mAs) of the X-ray source, x-ray focal spot size, a patient size, an anatomy, a view, and a distance between the X-ray source and an X-ray detector.

6. The dual energy X-ray imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the first set of main-shot parameters includes at least one of a first main-shot mAs, a first main-shot mA, a first main-shot exposure time, a first main-shot kVp, a first main-shot x-ray focal spot size, and a first main-shot X-ray filter.

7. The dual energy X-ray imaging system of claim 1 , wherein the second set of main-shot parameters includes at least one of a second main-shot mAs, a second main-shot mA, a second main-shot exposure time, a second main-shot kVp, a second main-shot x-ray focal spot size, and a second main-shot X-ray filter.

8. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving a pre-shot image from a detection circuitry of a dual energy X-ray imaging system;
receiving one or more pre-shot parameters from a source controller of the dual energy X-ray imaging system;
determining one or more image characteristics of the pre-shot image includes at least one of a histogram of counts of intensity levels of pre-shot image pixels, a noise level, a signal to noise ratio, a contrast, and a contrast to noise ratio;
calculating a first set of main-shot parameters and a second set of main shot parameters based on the one or more pre-shot parameters and the one or more image characteristics of the pre-shot image; and
sending the first and the second set of main-shot parameters to the source controller of the dual energy X-ray imaging system.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
receiving a first main-shot image corresponding to the first set of main-shot parameters and a second main-shot image corresponding to the second set of main-shot parameters; and
generating a final image based on the first and the second main-shot images.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more pre-shot parameters include at least one of a peak kilovoltage (kVp) of an X-ray source, a pre-shot milliampere seconds (mAs) of the X-ray source, x-ray focal spot size, a patient size, an anatomy, a view, and a distance between the X-ray source and an X-ray detector.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first set of main-shot parameters includes at least one of a first main-shot mAs, a first main-shot mA, a first main-shot exposure time, a first main-shot x-ray focal spot size, a first main-shot kVp, and a first main-shot X-ray filter.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the second set of main-shot parameters includes at least one of a second main-shot mAs, a second main-shot mA, a second main-shot exposure time, a second main-shot x-ray focal spot size, a second main-shot kVp, and a second main-shot X-ray filter.

13. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving a pre-shot image from a detection circuitry of a dual energy X-ray imaging system;
receiving one or more pre-shot parameters from a source controller of the dual energy X-ray imaging system;
determining one or more image characteristics of the pre-shot image includes at least one of a histogram of counts of intensity levels of pre-shot image pixels, a noise level, a signal to noise ratio, a contrast, and a contrast to noise ratio;
calculating a first set of main-shot parameters based on the one or more pre-shot parameters and the one or more image characteristics of the pre-shot image;
sending the first set of main-shot parameters to the source controller of the dual energy X-ray imaging system;
receiving a first main-shot image corresponding to the first set of main-shot parameters from the detection circuitry;
calculating a second set of main-shot parameters based on at least one of the pre-shot parameters, the one or more image characteristics of the pre-shot image, and one or more image characteristics of the first main-shot image; and
sending the second set of main-shot parameters to the source controller of the dual energy X-ray imaging system.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising calculating a weighting factor based on at least one of the pre-shot parameters, the one or more image characteristics of the pre-shot image, the one or more image characteristics of the first main-shot image, and one or more image characteristics of a second main-shot image corresponding to the second set of main-shot parameters.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
receiving the second main-shot image corresponding to the second set of main-shot parameters; and
generating a final image based on the first and the second main-shot images and the weighting factor.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more pre-shot parameters include at least one of a peak kilovoltage (kVp) of an X-ray source, a pre-shot milliamper

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Zou Yun
• Langan David Allen
• Lai Hao
• Saunders Rowland Frederick
• Sabol John Michael
• Sander Guillermo

Classifications

• A61B6/4035

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

• G16H50/30

  for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment · CPC title

• A61B6/563

  involving image data transmission via a network · CPC title

• A61B6/5217

  extracting a diagnostic or physiological parameter from medical diagnostic data · CPC title

• G06T2211/408

  Dual energy · CPC title