Digital mammography with a mosaic of CCD arrays
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
InventorsAntony Jalink, Jr., James A. McAdoo
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Abstract
A digital mammography device uses a mosaic of electronic digital imaging arrays to scan an x-ray image. The mosaic of arrays is repositioned several times to expose different portions of the image, until the entire image is scanned. The data generated by the arrays during each exposure is stored in a computer. After the final exposure, the computer combines data of the several partial images to produce a composite of the original x-ray image. An aperture plate is used to reduce scatter and the overall exposure of the patient to x-rays.
Claims26
An apparatus for producing a digital mammogram of a patient comprising:
- a CCD/readout electronics subsystem having a plurality of CCD arrays for converting radiation into digital image data,
- means for exposing the CCD/readout electronics subsystem to a portion of a radiated image a plurality of times,
- means for repositioning the CCD/readout electronics subsystem after each exposure until the entire radiated image is exposed to the CCD/readout electronics subsystem,
- means for transferring data generated at each exposure to a data storage means, and
- means for combining the stored data which was generated at each exposure to form data corresponding to the radiated image.
A method of producing a digital mammogram comprising the steps of:
- exposing a CCD/readout electronics subsystem having a plurality of CCD arrays for converting radiation into digital data to a portion of a radiated image a plurality of times,
- repositioning the CCD/readout electronics subsystem after each exposure until the entire radiated image is exposed to CCD/readout electronics subsystem,
- transferring data generated at each exposure to a data storage means, and
- combining the stored data which was generated at each exposure to form data corresponding to the radiated image.
A digital mammography device comprising:
- x-ray means having a plurality of x-ray point sources for creating a radiated image,
- CCD/readout electronics subsystem having a plurality of CCD arrays for converting radiation into digital data,
- means for exposing the CCD/readout electronics subsystem to a portion of the radiated image a plurality of times,
- means for sequentially energizing the point sources after each exposure until the entire image is exposed to the CCD/readout electronics subsystem,
- means for transferring data which was generated at each exposure to a data storage means, and
- means for combining the stored data which was generated at each exposure to form data corresponding to the radiated image.
A method of producing a digital mammogram comprising the steps of:
- exposing a CCD/readout electronics subsystem having a plurality of CCD arrays for converting radiation into digital data to a portion of a radiated image a plurality of times,
- sequentially energizing a plurality of x-ray point sources after each exposure until the entire image is exposed to the CCD/readout electronics subsystem,
- transferring data generated at each exposure to a data storage meab ns, and
- combining the stored data which was generated at each exposure to form data corresponding to the radiated image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.