Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080253640 | Method and System for Pet Image Reconstruction Using a Surogate Image - A method and system for use in positron emission tomography, wherein a first processor element ( | 10-16-2008 |
20080317194 | Pet Imaging Using Anatomic List Mode Mask - A method and apparatus are provided for reconstructing list mode data acquired during a positron emission tomography scan of an object, the data including information indicative of a plurality of detected positron annihilation events. Detected events occurring in a region of interest are identified; the identified events are reconstructed using an iterative reconstruction technique which includes a ray tracing operation to generate volumetric data indicative of the region of interest, wherein the ray tracing operation traces only image matrix elements located in the region of interest; and a human readable image indicative of the volumetric data is generated. In another aspect an image mask and a projection mask are defined correlating to the region of interest; image matrix elements located in the region of interest are determined by applying the image mask; and detected events occurring in a region of interest are identified by applying the projection mask. | 12-25-2008 |
20090123042 | OPTIMAL CONVERSION OF 3D IMAGE SETS BETWEEN DIFFERENT SPACES - A multi-modality system ( | 05-14-2009 |
20090238337 | CONCURRENT RECONSTRUCTION USING MULTIPLE BED FRAMES OR CONTINUOUS BED MOTION - In an imaging system ( | 09-24-2009 |
20100272335 | IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION USING DATA ORDERING - Methods, systems and apparatuses for processing data associated with nuclear medical imaging techniques are provided. Data is ordered in LUT's and memory structures. Articles of manufacture are provided for causing computers to carry out aspects of the invention. Data elements are ordered into a plurality of ordered data groups according to a spatial index order, and fetched and processed in the spatial index order. The data elements include sensitivity matrix elements, PET annihilation event data, and system and image matrix elements, the data grouped in orders corresponding to their processing. In one aspect geometric symmetry of a PET scanner FOV is used in ordering the data and processing. In one aspect a system matrix LUT comprises total number of system matrix elements equal to a total number of image matrix elements divided by a total number of possible third index values. | 10-28-2010 |
20100303319 | PET LOCAL TOMOGRAPHY - A positron imaging apparatus ( | 12-02-2010 |
20130129176 | IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION USING DATA ORDERING - Methods, systems and apparatuses for processing data associated with nuclear medical imaging techniques are provided. Data is ordered in LUT's and memory structures. Articles of manufacture are provided for causing computers to carry out aspects of the invention. Data elements are ordered into a plurality of ordered data groups according to a spatial index order, and fetched and processed in the spatial index order. The data elements include sensitivity matrix elements, PET annihilation event data, and system and image matrix elements, the data grouped in orders corresponding to their processing. In one aspect geometric symmetry of a PET scanner FOV is used in ordering the data and processing. In one aspect a system matrix LUT comprises total number of system matrix elements equal to a total number of image matrix elements divided by a total number of possible third index values. | 05-23-2013 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120093380 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MEASURING AND COMPENSATING FOR PATIENT PALLET DEFLECTION - A PET imaging system includes a measurement subsystem, a data acquisition subsystem, and a reconstruction subsystem. The measurement subsystem detects deflection in a patient pallet, and generates deflection information based on the detected deflection. The data acquisition subsystem receives the deflection information from the measurement subsystem and PET measurement data corresponding to a plurality of coincidence events from a PET scanner, and communicates the received deflection information and PET measurement data to the reconstruction subsystem. The reconstruction subsystem includes a processor that reconstructs a PET scan image using the deflection information and the PET measurement data communicated by the data acquisition subsystem. | 04-19-2012 |
20120104263 | POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY SYSTEM WITH HYBRID DETECTION GEOMETRIES AND SAMPLING - A gamma ray detection system includes a plurality of detector modules having a same length, where each detector module is configured to detect gamma rays generated from positron annihilation events. A first detector module of the plurality of detector modules is shifted by a predetermined distance in an axial direction from a second detector module of the plurality of detector modules that is adjacent to the first detector module, where the predetermined distance is less than the length of the detector modules. | 05-03-2012 |
20120141001 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRIANGULAR INTERPOLATION IN IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION FOR PET - A method of interpolating positron emission tomography (PET) data for reconstructing a PET image, including acquiring PET event data, which was obtained by scanning an object using a PET scanner; generating a two-dimensional line-of-response (LOR) sinogram from the acquired PET event data; determining a plurality of triangles connecting sampling points within the LOR sinogram, wherein adjacent sampling points are connected horizontally row-by-row within the LOR sinogram to determine the plurality of triangles; and determining a uniformly sampled sinogram from the LOR sinogram using the determined plurality of triangles. | 06-07-2012 |
20120278034 | ANALYTICAL COMPUTATION OF A GEOMETRIC NORMALIZATION FACTOR FOR TOF-PET - A method, including: determining a line of response for an imaging apparatus, the line of response being defined by respective locations of a pair of detector crystals of the imaging apparatus; defining an array of emission points corresponding to the determined line of response; determining, for each point in the array of emission points corresponding to the line of response, a solid angle subtended by surfaces of the pair of detector crystals that define the line of response; averaging the determined solid angles to generate an average solid angle; determining a depth of interaction factor dependent upon penetration of a gamma ray in the pair of detector crystals of the imaging apparatus; and calculating a geometric corrective factor for the determined line of response by multiplying a reciprocal of the average solid angle by the determined depth of interaction factor. | 11-01-2012 |
20120316837 | SYSTEM FOR ONLINE/OFFLINE SINGLES-PAIRING WITH KEEPING/REJECTING MULTI-COINCIDENCES FOR POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY - A method of processing, by a processor of a computer, positron emission tomography (PET) information obtained from a PET detector, including the steps of obtaining a singles event list that includes a plurality of single event entries, each entry corresponding to a single event detected by the PET detector and including a timestamp, energy information, and crystal position information; and determining, based on the timestamp and the crystal position information of each entry and a predetermined coincidence time period, all event pairs within the plurality of single event entries, each event pair consisting of two single events whose respective timestamps differ by less than the predetermined coincidence time period, wherein the determining step determines that an event pair exists when at least two, but no more than k, single events are found within a given time window, wherein k is an integer value greater than or equal to two. | 12-13-2012 |
20120321158 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CALCULATING VOXELS DEFINING A TUBE-OF-RESPONSE USING A CENTRAL-RAY-FILLING ALGORITHM - A method and device for calculating voxels defining a tube-of-response (TOR) within a reconstruction space of a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) apparatus having a plurality of crystals, the voxels within the reconstruction space having a predetermined size. The method includes selecting a center on each of two crystals defining a line of response, determining intersected voxels within the reconstruction space that intersect a straight line connecting the centers of the two crystals, calculating neighboring voxels of the intersected voxels, based on an expansion direction and an expansion distance, merging the intersected voxels and the neighboring voxels to form a merged set of voxels, and deleting duplicate voxels in the merged set of voxels to generate the voxels defining the TOR. | 12-20-2012 |
20130066589 | METHOD, DEVICE, AND SYSTEM FOR CALCULATING A GEOMETRIC SYSTEM MODEL USING AN AREA-SIMULATING-VOLUME ALGORITHM IN THREE DIMENSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION - A method, device, and system for calculating first and second distance ratios used to calculate a geometric probability between a voxel and a tube-of-response (TOR). The method includes determining a first-edge-line including a first-middle-point, determining a second-edge-line including a second-middle-point, determining a middle line of the TOR, projecting a first point of a first surface of the voxel to the middle line, projecting a second point of a second surface of the voxel to the middle line, calculating a first distance between one of the first and second middle-points and the first-projected-point, and a second distance between the one of the first and second middle-points and the second-projected-point, and determining a first distance ratio based on the first and second distances. The method calculates the second distance ratio similarly to the first distance ratio. The geometric probability is proportional to the product of the first and second distance ratios. | 03-14-2013 |
20130304386 | RANDOM ESTIMATION IN POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY WITH TANGENTIAL TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASK - A method of estimating random events in positron emission tomography list mode data, including obtaining time-of-flight (TOF) list mode count data that includes TOF information; converting the obtained TOF list mode count data into four-dimensional (4D) raw sinogram count data, without using the TOF information, wherein the 4D raw sinogram count data includes random count values; interpolating the 4D raw sinogram count data to generate 4D interpolated sinogram count data; low-pass filtering the 4D interpolated sinogram count data to remove noise; converting the low-pass filtered 4D interpolated sinogram count data into filtered 4D raw sinogram count data; and generating, by a processor, five-dimensional (5D) TOF raw sinogram count data from the filtered 4D raw sinogram count data by effectively applying a TOF mask filter to the filtered 4D raw sinogram count data. | 11-14-2013 |
20130308873 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SMOOTHING RANDOM EVENT DATA OBTAINED FROM A POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY SCANNER - A method and apparatus for smoothing random event data obtained from a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner. The method includes obtaining initial random event data u(s, φ, t=0)=u | 11-21-2013 |
20130311142 | RANDOM COINCIDENCE REDUCTION IN POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY USING TANGENTIAL TIME-OF-FLIGHT MASK - A method and apparatus for reducing random events in positron emission tomography (PET) list mode data, the method including the steps of obtaining, for a PET scanner having a given reconstruction field of view (FOV), time-of-flight (TOF) prompt list-mode count data that includes TOF information, the TOF prompt list-mode count data including a plurality of entries; and filtering the obtained prompt list-mode count data by removing those entries in the obtained prompt list-mode count data that represent emission points lying outside a tangential TOF mask to obtain filtered list-mode count data. | 11-21-2013 |
20140095106 | FIELD-OF-VIEW-DEPENDENT COINCIDENCE WINDOW FOR POSITRON EMISSION TOMOGRAPHY - A method and apparatus for determining a coincidence window for imaging a region of interest of an object using a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner. The method includes determining a diameter of a transverse field of view (FOV) for imaging the region of interest of the object; and calculating the coincidence window based on the determined diameter, a ring diameter of the PET scanner, an axial length of the PET scanner, and a time-of-flight resolution of the PET scanner. | 04-03-2014 |
20140103200 | TWO-AXIS APPARATUS WITH STATIONARY POSITIONING, ROTATING AND/OR SCANNING MOTION OF POINT OR LINE SOURCES - An apparatus and method for simulating a radiation phantom so as to calibrate or measure performance of a gamma detection system. The apparatus includes a line bar configured to rotate around an axis of rotation, a source carriage configured to move linearly along the line bar and to hold an attached radiation source, and a fixture assembly configured to support the line bar, the fixture assembly being configured to attach to a patient bed. | 04-17-2014 |