System and method for cabinet x-ray systems with near-infrared optical system

A cabinet x-ray and near-infrared (NIR) system for obtaining x-ray images and NIR images of a specimen, the system comprising:

• a cabinet including a walled enclosure surrounding an interior chamber, a door configured to cover the interior chamber and a sampling chamber within the interior chamber for containing the specimen;
• a display;
• an x-ray system including:
• an x-ray source;
• an x-ray detector;
• and
• a specimen platform:
• an NIR image system configured to capture an NIR image of the specimen, wherein the NIR image system is external to the walled enclosure, the NIR image system including:
• an NIR camera/detector;
• and
• an NIR excitation light;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• selectively energize the x-ray source to emit x-rays through the specimen to the x-ray detector;
• control the x-ray detector to collect a projection x-ray image of the specimen when the x-ray source is energized;
• selectively display the x-ray image on the display;
• control the NIR image system to capture and collect the NIR image of the specimen;
• and
• selectively display the NIR image on the display.

A cabinet x-ray, near-infrared (NIR) and optical camera system for obtaining x-ray images, projection x-ray images, reconstructed tomosynthetic x-ray images, NIR images and optical images of a specimen, the system comprising:

• a cabinet defining an interior chamber and an equipment enclosure;
• a display;
• an x-ray system including:
• an x-ray source positioned in the interior chamber;
• an x-ray detector positioned in the interior chamber;
• a specimen platform positioned in the interior chamber and which is a protective cover of and in physical contact with the x-ray detector;
• and
• a motion control mechanism positioned in the interior chamber and configured for moving the x-ray source to or along a plurality of positions within the interior chamber relative to the specimen disposed on the specimen platform;
• an optical camera positioned in the interior chamber configured to capture an optical image of the specimen;
• an NIR image system configured to capture an NIR image of the specimen, the NIR image system including:
• an NIR camera/detector;
• and
• an NIR excitation light;
• and
• a controller positioned in the equipment enclosure and configured to:
• selectively energize the x-ray source to emit x-rays through the specimen to the x-ray detector at selected positions of the x-ray source relative to the specimen such that the isocenter of the emitted x-rays at the selected positions is located at a surface of the x-ray detector;
• control the x-ray detector to collect projection x-ray images of the specimen when the x-ray source is energized at the selected positions, wherein one of the projection x-ray images is a two-dimensional x-ray image taken at standard imaging angle of approximately 0°;
• create a tomosynthetic x-ray image reconstructed from a collection of projection x-ray images;
• process the collection of the projection x-ray images in the controller into one or more reconstructed tomosynthetic x-ray images representing a volume of the specimen and relating to one or more image planes that are selectively the same or different from that of the two-dimensional x-ray image;
• control the optical camera to capture and collect the optical image of the specimen;
• control the NIR image system to capture and collect the NIR image of the specimen;
• and
• selectively display the NIR image and at least one of the two-dimensional x-ray image, the one or more reconstructed tomosynthetic x-ray images and the optical image on the display.