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US 10,121,817 B2Granted
Radiation detector for use as an image intensifier
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsBiju Jacob, James Zhengshe Liu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A flat panel detector is provided having a circular active area. The flat panel detector is built using complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) tiles. In one implementation, the flat panel detector having a circular active area can be used as a replacement for a conventional image intensifier, including an image intensifier used in a fluoroscopy system.
Claims19
A flat panel radiation detector, comprising:
- a plurality of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) tiles arranged to form a light sensing panel comprising a circular active area;
- and
- a non-imaging ring disposed on the light sensing panel, wherein the circular active area of the light sensing panel is defined by an inner boundary of the non-imaging ring, and
- wherein the non-imaging ring is disposed on the light sensing panel such that portions of outer CMOS tiles of the plurality of CMOS tiles are masked by the non-imaging ring so as to define the circular active area.
1 more element
An X-ray imaging system, comprising:
- an X-ray source configured to emit a beam of X-rays through an imaging volume, wherein the emitted beam of X-rays comprises a circular cross-section;
- a flat panel detector comprising:
- a plurality of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) tiles arranged to form a light sensing panel comprising a circular active area;
- a non-imaging ring disposed on the light sensing panel, wherein the circular active area of the light sensing panel is defined by an inner boundary of the non-imaging ring, and
- wherein the non-imaging ring is disposed on the light sensing panel such that portions of outer CMOS tiles of the plurality of CMOS tiles are masked by the non-imaging ring so as to define the circular active area;
- and
- an image processing unit, wherein the image processing unit is configured to apply a digital mask to an image produced by the flat panel detector to generate a circular shaped X-ray image.
4 more elements
A method of emulating an image intensifier using a flat panel detector, comprising:
- interpreting system commands intended for the image intensifier to commands for the flat panel detector and responses back from the flat panel detector corresponding to those from the image intensifier, wherein the flat panel detector comprises a plurality of complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) tiles arranged to form a light sensing panel comprising a circular active area and a non-imaging ring disposed on the light sensing panel, wherein the circular active area of the light sensing panel is defined by an inner boundary of the non-imaging ring, and wherein the non-imaging ring is disposed on the light sensing panel such that portions of outer CMOS tiles of the plurality of CMOS tiles are masked by the non-imaging ring so as to define the circular active area;
- and
- masking an image generated by the responses from the flat panel detector to a circular shape image corresponding to images generated by the image intensifier.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.