Method and apparatus for acquiring radiation data

A detector array comprising:

• a plurality of solid state crystals forming a matrix of pixels and having a radiation detection field for sensing radiation events;
• and
• a photon-counting device coupled to at least one of the plurality of pixels, the photon-counting device configured to
• count photons received at the detector array that are above a first energy threshold using a first counter;
• count photons received at the detector array that are above a different second energy threshold that is higher than the first energy threshold using a second counter;
• and
• calculate a pile-up estimate using the photon counts from the first counter when the photon counts from the first counter are less than a corrected value of the detector array or the photon counts from the second counter and not the first counter when the photon counts from the first counter are equal to or greater than the corrected value, wherein the corrected value is a value within a predetermined amount of a maximum count rate for the detector array, wherein the maximum count rate corresponds to a value at which the pixels experience saturation.

A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions to instruct a computer to:

• count photons received at the detector array that are above a first energy threshold using a first counter;
• count photons received at the detector array that are above a different second energy threshold that is higher than the first energy threshold using a second counter;
• and
• calculate a pile-up estimate using the photon counts from the first counter when the photon counts from the first counter are less than the corrected value or the photon counts from the second counter and not the first counter when the photon counts from the first counter are equal to or greater than the corrected value, wherein the maximum corrected value is a value within a predetermined amount of a maximum count rate for the detector array, wherein the maximum count rate corresponds to a value at which pixels experience saturation.

A method for acquiring photon count information, said method comprising:

• receiving photons at a detector array having a plurality of pixels;
• determining a corrected value for the detector array based upon a value at which the pixels experience saturation;
• counting the photons that are above a first energy threshold using a first counter;
• counting the photons that are above a different second energy threshold using a second counter;
• and
• calculating a pile-up estimate using the photon counts from only the first counter when the photon counts from the first counter are below a first threshold, using the photon counts from the first counter and the second counter when the photon counts from the first counter are above the first threshold but below a second threshold, and using the photon counts from only the second counter when the photon counts from the first counter are above the second threshold, wherein the second threshold is set at the corrected value, wherein the corrected value is within a predetermined amount of a maximum count rate corresponding to the value at which the pixels experience saturation.

A method for acquiring photon count information, said method comprising:

• receiving photons at a detector array having a plurality of pixels;
• determining a maximum corrected value for the detector array, wherein the maximum corrected value is equal to 80% of the maximum count rate for the detector array;
• counting the photons that are above a first energy threshold using a first counter;
• counting the photons that are above a different second energy threshold using a second counter;
• and
• calculating a pile-up estimate using the photon counts from the first counter when the photon counts from the first counter are less than the maximum corrected value or the photon counts from the second counter when the photon counts from the second counter are equal to or greater than the maximum corrected value.