Back to results
US 6,724,007 B2Granted
Radiation image read-out method and apparatus
AssigneeFuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.
InventorSatoshi Arakawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Stimulating rays are linearly irradiated onto an area of a stimulable phosphor sheet, and light emitted by the sheet is detected with a CCD line sensor comprising photoelectric converting sections arrayed along the linear area of the sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays. Accumulated electric charges obtained from each set of n number of the photoelectric converting sections adjacent to one another are read together. The accumulated electric charges, which have thus been read together from the set of the photoelectric converting sections, are taken as an image signal component corresponding to one pixel. The value of n is set in accordance with image recording information and/or diagnostic information.
Claims12
A radiation image read-out method, comprising the steps of:
- i) linearly irradiating stimulating rays onto an area of a stimulable phosphor sheet, on which a radiation image has been stored, with stimulating ray irradiating means, the stimulating rays causing the stimulable phosphor sheet to emit light in proportion to an amount of energy stored thereon during its exposure to radiation,
- ii) receiving light, which is emitted by the stimulable phosphor sheet, with a CCD line sensor comprising a plurality of photo electric converting sections, which are arrayed along the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays, the received light being subjected to photoelectric conversion performed by the CCD line sensor, and
- iii) moving the stimulable phosphor sheet with respect to the stimulating ray irradiating means and the CCD line sensor and in a sub-scanning direction intersecting with a length direction of the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays,
- wherein the improvement comprises the steps of:
- a) reading accumulated electric charges of the CCD line sensor, which accumulated electric charges are obtained from each set of n number of the photoelectric converting sections adjacent to one another in the array direction of the plurality of the photoelectric converting sections, where 2≦n, together such that the value of n is capable of being altered, the accumulated electric charges, which have thus been read together from the set of the photoelectric converting sections, being taken as an image signal component corresponding to one pixel, and
- b) setting the value of n in accordance with image recording information and/or diagnostic information.
3 more elements
A radiation image read-out method, comprising the steps of:
- i) linearly irradiating stimulating rays onto an area of a stimulable phosphor sheet, on which a radiation image has been stored, with stimulating ray irradiating means, the stimulating rays causing the stimulable phosphor sheet to emit light in proportion to an amount of energy stored thereon during its exposure to radiation,
- ii) receiving light, which is emitted by the stimulable phosphor sheet, with a CCD line sensor comprising a plurality of photoelectric converting sections, which are arrayed along the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays and along a sub-scanning direction intersecting with a length direction of the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays, the received light being subjected to photoelectric conversion performed by the CCD line sensor, and
- iii) moving the stimulable phosphor sheet with respect to the stimulating ray irradiating means and the CCD line sensor and in the sub-scanning direction intersecting with the length direction of the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays,
- wherein the improvement comprises the steps of:
- a) reading accumulated electric charges of the CCD line sensor, which accumulated electric charges are obtained from each set of n number of the photoelectric converting sections adjacent to one another in the array direction of the plurality of the photoelectric converting sections along the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays, where 2≦n, and m number of the photoelectric converting sections adjacent to one another in the sub-scanning direction, where 2≦m, together such that the value of n is capable of being altered, the accumulated electric charges, which have thus been read together from the set of the photoelectric converting sections, being taken as an image signal component corresponding to one pixel, and
- b) setting the value of n and the value of m in accordance with image recording information and/or diagnostic information.
3 more elements
A radiation image read-out method, comprising the steps of:
- i) linearly irradiating stimulating rays onto an area of a stimulable phosphor sheet, on which a radiation image has been stored, with stimulating ray irradiating means, the stimulating rays causing the stimulable phosphor sheet to emit light in proportion to an amount of energy stored thereon during its exposure to radiation,
- ii) receiving light, which is emitted by the stimulable phosphor sheet, with a CCD line sensor comprising a plurality of photoelectric converting sections, which are arrayed along the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays, the received light being subjected to photoelectric conversion performed by the CCD line sensor, and
- iii) moving the stimulable phosphor sheet with respect to the stimulating ray irradiating means and the CCD line sensor and in a sub-scanning direction intersecting with a length direction of the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays,
- wherein the improvement comprises the steps of:
- a) performing addition processing on each set of output signal components having been obtained from the CCD line sensor, each of which output signal components corresponds to one of m number of read-out lines standing side by side with respect to the sub-scanning direction, where 2≦m, and which output signal components are adjacent to one another in the sub-scanning direction, such that the value of m is capable of being altered, a sum of the set of the output signal components, which sum has been obtained from the addition processing, being taken as one of image signal components corresponding to one line, and
- b) setting the value of m in accordance with image recording information and/or diagnostic information.
3 more elements
A radiation image read-out method, comprising the steps of:
- i) linearly irradiating stimulating rays onto an area of a stimulable phosphor sheet, on which a radiation image has been stored, with stimulating ray irradiating means, the stimulating rays causing the stimulable phosphor sheet to emit light in proportion to an amount of energy stored thereon during its exposure to radiation,
- ii) receiving light, which is emitted by the stimulable phosphor sheet, with a CCD line sensor comprising a plurality of photoelectric converting sections, which are arrayed along the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays, the received light being subjected to photoelectric conversion performed by the CCD line sensor, and
- iii) moving the stimulable phosphor sheet with respect to the stimulating ray irradiating means and the CCD line sensor and in a sub-scanning direction intersecting with a length direction of the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays,
- wherein the improvement comprises the steps of:
- a) altering a sub-scanning speed of the movement in the sub-scanning direction, and
- b) setting the sub-scanning speed in accordance with image recording information and/or diagnostic information.
3 more elements
A radiation image read-out apparatus, comprising:
- i) stimulating ray irradiating means for linearly irradiating stimulating rays onto an area of a stimulable phosphor sheet, on which a radiation image has been stored, the stimulating rays causing the stimulable phosphor sheet to emit light in proportion to an amount of energy stored thereon during its exposure to radiation,
- ii) a CCD line sensor comprising a plurality of photoelectric converting sections, which are arrayed along the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays, and
- iii) sub-scanning means for moving the stimulable phosphor sheet with respect to the stimulating ray irradiating means and the CCD line sensor and in a sub-scanning direction intersecting with a length direction of the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays,
- wherein the improvement comprises the provision of:
- a) reading means for reading accumulated electric charges of the CCD line sensor, which accumulated electric charges are obtained from each set of n number of the photoelectric converting sections adjacent to one another in the array direction of the plurality of the photoelectric converting sections, where 2≦n, together such that the value of n is capable of being altered, and taking the accumulated electric charges, which have thus been read together from the set of the photoelectric converting sections, as an image signal component corresponding to one pixel, and
- b) control means for setting the value of n in accordance with image recording information and/or diagnostic information.
3 more elements
A radiation image read-out apparatus, comprising:
- i) stimulating ray irradiating means for linearly irradiating stimulating rays onto an area of a stimulable phosphor sheet, on which a radiation image has been stored, the stimulating rays causing the stimulable phosphor sheet to emit light in proportion to an amount of energy stored thereon during its exposure to radiation,
- ii) a CCD line sensor comprising a plurality of photoelectric converting sections, which are arrayed along the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays and along a sub-scanning direction intersecting with a length direction of the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays, and
- iii) sub-scanning means for moving the stimulable phosphor sheet with respect to the stimulating ray irradiating means and the CCD line sensor and in the sub-scanning direction intersecting with the length direction of the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays,
- wherein the improvement comprises the provision of:
- a) reading means for reading accumulated electric charges of the CCD line sensor, which accumulated electric charges are obtained from each set of n number of the photoelectric converting sections adjacent to one another in the array direction of the plurality of the photoelectric converting sections along the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays, where 2≦n, and m number of the photoelectric converting sections adjacent to one another in the sub-scanning direction, where 2≦m, together such that the value of n is capable of being altered, and taking the accumulated electric charges, which have thus been read together from the set of the photoelectric converting sections, as an image signal component corresponding to one pixel, and
- b) control means for setting the value of n and the value of m in accordance with image recording information and/or diagnostic information.
3 more elements
A radiation image read-out apparatus, comprising:
- i) stimulating ray irradiating means for linearly irradiating stimulating rays onto an area of a stimulable phosphor sheet, on which a radiation image has been stored, the stimulating rays causing the stimulable phosphor sheet to emit light in proportion to an amount of energy stored thereon during its exposure to radiation,
- ii) a CCD line sensor comprising a plurality of photoelectric converting sections, which are arrayed along the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays, and
- iii) sub-scanning means for moving the stimulable phosphor sheet with respect to the stimulating ray irradiating means and the CCD line sensor and in a sub-scanning direction intersecting with a length direction of the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays,
- wherein the improvement comprises the provision of:
- a) signal addition processing means for performing addition processing on each set of output signal components having been obtained from the CCD line sensor, each of which output signal components corresponds to one of m number of read-out lines standing side by side with respect to the sub-scanning direction, where 2≦m, and which output signal components are adjacent to one another in the sub-scanning direction, such that the value of m is capable of being altered, and taking a sum of the set of the output signal components, which sum has been obtained from the addition processing, as one of image signal components corresponding to one line, and
- b) control means for setting the value of m in accordance with image recording information and/or diagnostic information.
3 more elements
A radiation image read-out apparatus, comprising:
- i) stimulating ray irradiating means for linearly irradiating stimulating rays onto an area of a stimulable phosphor sheet, on which a radiation image has been stored, the stimulating rays causing the stimulable phosphor sheet to emit light in proportion to an amount of energy stored thereon during its exposure to radiation,
- ii) a CCD line sensor comprising a plurality of photoelectric converting sections, which are arrayed along the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays, and
- iii) sub-scanning means for moving the stimulable phosphor sheet with respect to the stimulating ray irradiating means and the CCD line sensor and in a sub-scanning direction intersecting with a length direction of the linear area of the stimulable phosphor sheet exposed to the linear stimulating rays,
- wherein the improvement comprises the provision of:
- a) means for altering a sub-scanning speed of the movement in the sub-scanning direction, which movement is performed by the sub-scanning means, and
- b) control means for setting the sub-scanning speed in accordance with image recording information and/or diagnostic information.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.