Non-ionizing imager
AssigneeKing's College London
InventorsJohn Michael Girkin, Simon Poland, Christopher Longbottom
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A medical imager, primarily for use in oral and dental applications. The imager has a source for providing a plurality of collimated beams of non-ionizing radiation, in particular near-infrared light, and a plurality of correlated detectors. Each detector is arranged to receive unscattered light from one or part of one of said collimated beams and scattered light from one or more other beams. The imager further comprises means for using both the unscattered and scattered light to form an image.
Claims20
A medical imager comprising:
- a source comprising at least one of a fiber array, a pixelated device, a digital mirror that has a plurality of mirror pixels, a plurality of light emitting elements, or at least one LED positioned at the focal point of a collimating lens, configured for providing a plurality of collimated beams of non-ionizing radiation to at least one of a sample of a biological material or a part of a human or animal body;
- a plurality of detectors, wherein each of said plurality of collimated beams is mapped to at least one detector so that each detector is configured to receive only unscattered light from only its mapped beam or scattered light from one or more other beams;
- and
- a computer processor configured to:
- cause the source to provide at least one of one collimated beam or a group of collimated beams selected to avoid cross talk for passing through a sample for detection by the plurality of detectors;
- identify light detected at one or more detectors mapped to the collimated beam or beams as the unscattered light, and identify light at other detectors as the scattered light;
- and
- use both the unscattered and scattered light to form an image.
A method for imaging biological material, said method comprising the steps of:
- illuminating a sample of a biological material using a plurality of collimated beams of non-ionizing radiation;
- detecting the non-ionizing radiation that has passed through the sample using a plurality of detectors, wherein each of said plurality of collimated beams is mapped to at least one detector so that each detector is configured to receive only unscattered light from only its mapped beam or scattered light from one or more other beams;
- selecting, via a computer processor, at least one of one collimated beam or a group of collimated beams configured to avoid cross talk and for passing through a sample for detection by the plurality of detectors;
- identifying, via the computer processor, light detected at one or more detectors mapped to the collimated beam or beams as the unscattered light, and light at other detectors as the scattered light;
- and
- using, via the computer processor, both the unscattered and scattered light to form an image.
A method of diagnosis of a part of a human or animal body, said method comprising the steps of:
- illuminating the part using a plurality of collimated beams of non-ionizing radiation,
- detecting the non-ionizing radiation that has passed through the part using a plurality of detectors, wherein each of said plurality of collimated beams is mapped to at least one detector so that each detector is configured to receive only unscattered light from only its mapped beam or beams and scattered light from one or more other beams,
- selecting, via a computer processor, at least one of one collimated beam or a group of collimated beams configured to avoid cross talk and for passing through the part for detection by the plurality of detectors;
- identifying, via the computer processor, light detected at one or more detectors mapped to the collimated beam or beams as the unscattered light, and light at other detectors as the scattered light;
- using, via the computer processor, both the unscattered and scattered light to form an image, and
- providing a diagnosis of the part of the human or animal body using said image.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.