Radiation detector for counting or integrating signals

A medical imaging apparatus, comprising:

• a radiation source that emits radiation that traverses the examination region;
• and
• a detector array that detects radiation that traverses the examination region, the detector array including:
• a photo sensor that detects radiation and generates an electrical signal indicative thereof;
• a digitizer that produces a digital output that include a digital representation of the electrical signal;
• and
• a signal analyzer that energy bins and counts the digital representation of the electrical signal in the digital output when the signal analyzer is able to identify the digital representation of the electrical signal in the digital output and integrates the digital output when the signal analyzer is unable to identify the digital representation of the electrical signal in the digital output.

A method, comprising:

• determining whether digitized pulses in a digitized signal are identifiable from each other, wherein each digitized pulse corresponds to the energy of a detected photon from a radiation beam emitted by a medical imaging system;
• energy-resolving the digitized pulses when the digitized pulses are identifiable from each other;
• and
• integrating the digital signal when the digitized pulses are not identifiable from each other.