Apparatus and method for reading radiation images

Abstract

The radiation image reading apparatus includes a reading device of a radiation image recorded in a radiation recording medium, a dose detecting device which detects a dose of radiation applied to record the radiation image, and a computing device by which linearity in radiation image reading is calculated using a plurality of radiation images with varying doses of radiation that have been read, and using detected doses of radiation applied to record the respective radiation images. The radiation image reading method is executed in the apparatus. The apparatus and method can check its linearity by a simple procedure and can adjust the linearity in accordance with the result of checking. The apparatus and method enable consistent outputting of satisfactory diagnostic images with the appropriate contrast. Therefore, the apparatus and method are suitable for use with a radiation imaging system typically using a phosphor sheet.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.