Image reconstruction methods

An imaging method comprising the steps of:

• stepping an electron beam across an x-ray source in a pattern of steps AP.sub.x by AP.sub.y, to generate x-ray beams pass through the object to be imaged before intersecting an array of DET.sub.x by DET.sub.y detectors;
• measuring the x-ray intensity detected by each of the detectors comprising the detector array;
• digitizing the x-ray intensity values from each of the DET.sub.x by DET.sub.y detectors;
• storing, in memory, the equivalent of a two dimensional matrix (SENSOR) of size DET.sub.x by DET.sub.y containing the digitized information indicative of the intensity measured by each detector for each step of the electron beam;
• summing SENSOR(j,i) for j=1 to DET.sub.y and i=1 to DET.sub.x into a destination image pixel array DEST(y-j*FOCUS, x-i*FOCUS) to obtain an output value, where FOCUS is a number between 0.1 and 10.0;
• outputting the output values for analysis.

A method for generating a three dimensional image comprising

• stepping an electron beam across an x-ray source in a pattern of steps AP.sub.x by AP.sub.y, to generate x-ray beams which pass through a plane of the object to be imaged before intersecting an array of DET.sub.x by DET.sub.y detectors;
• measuring the x-ray intensity detected by each of the detectors comprising the detector array;
• storing, in a memory, the equivalent of a data array (IMAGE) of size DET.sub.x by DET.sub.y containing the information indicative of the intensity measured by each detector for each step of the electron beam;
• storing, in memory, the equivalent of a four dimensional array (PIXEL) of size DET.sub.x by DET.sub.y by AP.sub.x by AP.sub.y containing the IMAGE data for each step of the electron beam;
• generating first output values for forming the equivalent of a two dimensional array (OUTIMAGE1) of size IP.sub.x by IP.sub.y, where OUTIMAGE1(x,y) has the value:
• ##EQU10## where FOCUS1 is a number between 0.1 and 10.0 and corresponds to the location of a first plane in the object to be imaged;
• generating second output values for forming the equivalent of a two dimensional array (OUTIMAGE2) of size IP.sub.x by IP.sub.y, where OUTIMAGE2(x,y) has the value:
• ##EQU11## where FOCUS2 is a number between 0.1 and 10.0 and corresponds to the location of a second plane in the object to be imaged;
• outputting the first and second output values for analysis.