Positron emission tomography detecting device

A system, comprising:

• a gantry including a detecting area in which an object is scanned;
• a detector configured to receive a plurality of photons that are emitted from the object, the detector comprising:
• a plurality of detection modules, wherein each of the plurality of detection modules includes:
• a scintillator array, the scintillator array interacting with a plurality of photons at respective interaction points to generate a plurality of optical signals;
• one or more photoelectric converters coupled to the scintillator array and configured to convert the plurality of optical signals to one or more electric signals, the one or more electric signals each including an energy signal and a time signal, wherein the one or more photoelectric converters are arranged in M rows and N columns;
• M first energy information determination circuits, wherein each of the M first energy information determination circuits is connected to one of the M rows of photoelectric converters and configured to generate first energy information by summing up first energy signals that are generated by the one of the M rows of photoelectric converters:
• N second energy information determination circuits, wherein each of the N second energy information determination circuits is connected to one of the N columns of photoelectric converters and configured to generate second energy information by summing up second energy signals that are generated by the one of the N columns of photoelectric converters;
• and
• a time information determination circuit connected to the one or more photoelectric converters and configured to generate time information of the interaction between the scintillator array and the plurality of photons based on the one or more time signals;
• and
• a processing engine, configured to generate an image based on the first energy information, the second energy information and the time information,
• wherein the time information determination circuit includes a differential unit connected to the one or more photoelectric converters, the differential unit being configured to:
• sum up the one or more time signals to generate a summation signal, wherein the summation signal is a cyclic signal and includes, in each cycle, a low level section, a high level section, and a transitional section that the summation signal changes from the low level section to the high level section;
• and
• reduce a duration of the transitional section of the summation signal to generate an accelerated time signal.

A method, comprising:

• interacting, by a scintillator array, with a plurality of photons at respective interaction points to generate a plurality of optical signals;
• converting, by one or more photoelectric converters coupled to the scintillator array, the plurality of optical signals to one or more electric signals, the one or more electric signals each including an energy signal and a time signal, wherein the one or more photoelectric converters are arranged in M rows and N columns;
• generating, by each of M first energy information determination circuits connected to one of the M rows of photoelectric converters, first energy information by summing up first energy signals that are generated by the one of the M rows of photoelectric converters;
• generating, by each of N second energy information determination circuits connected to one of the N columns of photoelectric converters, second energy information by summing up second energy signals that are generated by the one of the N columns of photoelectric converters;
• generating, by a time information determination circuit connected to the one or more photoelectric converters, time information of the interaction between the scintillator array and the plurality of photons based on the one or more time signals;
• and
• generating, by a processing engine, an image based on the first energy information, the second energy information and the time information,
• wherein the generating time information of the interaction between the scintillator array and the plurality of photons based on the one or more time signals includes:
• summing up, by a differential unit of the time information determination unit, the one or more time signals to generate a summation signal, wherein the summation signal is a cyclic signal and includes, in each cycle, a low level section, a high level section, and a transitional section that the summation signal changes from the low level section to the high level section;
• reducing, by the differential unit, a duration of the transitional section of the summation signal to generate an accelerated time signal.