Method of reconstructing computed tomography (CT) volumes suitable for execution on commodity central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processors, and apparatus operating in accord with those methods (rotational X-ray on GPUs)

A method for computed tomography (CT) for determining an order in which to process voxels during volume reconstruction of an object, the method comprising:

• A. during a precalculation phase, executing the steps of,
• (i) defining a brick size for a plurality of projection images of a volume to be reconstructed, wherein the volume to be reconstructed comprises a plurality of bricks;
• (ii) defining one or more projection sets comprising a sub-set of the plurality of projection images acquired at a plurality of projection locations of the volume to be reconstructed, the projection images in each projection set utilizing an order for processing the bricks;
• (iii) building a table of u-axis and v-axis coordinates at which each brick in the projection images of the volume to be reconstructed is projected onto a resampled detector plane, the u-axis and v-axis being in a plane parallel to the resampled detector plane, wherein the resampled detector plane is in a plane tangential to a resampled circle at each projection position, wherein the resampled circle is a best-fit circle representing a non-circular orbit of a CT scanner based on each projection position;
• determining the order to process the bricks;
• determining an order to process voxels contained in each brick;
• and
• B. during a runtime phase, applying the processing orders determined in the precalculation phase during volume reconstruction of the volume to be reconstructed.

A method for computed tomography (CT) for determining an order in which to process voxels during volume reconstruction of an object, the method comprising:

• A. during a precalculation phase, executing the steps of,
• (i) defining a brick size for a plurality of projection images of a volume to be reconstructed, wherein the volume to be reconstructed comprises a plurality of bricks;
• (ii) defining one or more projection sets comprising a subset of the plurality of projection images acquired at a plurality of projection locations of the volume to be reconstructed, the plurality of projection images in each projection set utilizing an order for processing the bricks;
• (iii) building a table of u-axis and v-axis coordinates at which each brick in the projection images of the volume to be reconstructed is projected onto a detector plane, the u-axis and v-axis being in a plane parallel to the detector plane, wherein the detector plane is in a plane tangential to a circle at each projection position, wherein the circle represents an orbit of a CT scanner based on each projection position;
• (iv) determining the order to process the bricks based at least in part on the proximity of said bricks to one another when projected onto the detector plane;
• (v) determining an order to process voxels contained in each brick;
• and
• B. during a runtime phase, applying the processing orders determined in the precalculation phase during volume reconstruction of the volume to be reconstructed.

A method for computed tomography (CT) for determining an order in which to process the voxels during volume reconstruction of an object, the method comprising:

• A. defining a brick size for a plurality of projection images of a volume to be reconstructed, wherein the volume to be reconstructed comprises a plurality of bricks;
• B. defining one or more projection sets comprising a sub-set of the plurality of projection images acquired at a plurality of projection locations of the volume to be reconstructed, the projection images in each projection set utilizing an order for processing the bricks;
• C. building a table of u-axis and v-axis coordinates at which each bricks in the projection images of the volume to be reconstructed is projected onto a detector plane, the u-axis and v-axis being in a plane parallel to the detector plane, wherein the detector plane is in a plane tangential to a circle at each projection position, wherein the circle represents an orbit of a CT scanner based on each projection position;
• D. determining the order to process the bricks based at least in part on the proximity of said bricks to one another when projected onto the detector plane;
• E. determining an order to process the voxels contained in each brick;
• and
• F. applying the processing orders determined in steps D and E during volume reconstruction of the volume to be reconstructed.

A method for computed tomography (CT) for determining an order in which to process the voxels during volume reconstruction of an object, the method comprising:

• A. defining a brick size for a plurality of projection images of a volume to be reconstructed, wherein the volume to be reconstructed comprises a plurality of bricks;
• B. defining one or more projection sets comprising a sub-set of the plurality of projection images acquired at a plurality of projection locations of the volume to be reconstructed, the projection images in each projection set utilizing an order for processing the bricks;
• C. building a table of u-axis and v-axis coordinates at which each bricks in the projection images of the volume to be reconstructed is projected onto a detector plane, the u-axis and v-axis being in a plane parallel to the detector plane, wherein the detector plane is in a plane tangential to a circle at each projection position, wherein the circle represents an orbit of a CT scanner based on each projection position;
• D. determining the order to process the bricks based at least in part on the proximity of said bricks to one another when projected onto the detector plane;
• E. determining an order to process the voxels contained in each brick based at least in part on selecting a primary axis to occupy consecutive locations in memory of a digital data processor;
• and
• F. applying the processing orders determined in steps D and E during volume reconstruction of the volume to be reconstructed.