Encoding for nuclear medical imaging block detectors

摘要

Signals generated by radiation sensors can be encoded to reduce the number of cables needed to transport information from a nuclear imaging apparatus to a processor for reconstruction. For example, signals from 16 radiation sensors can be encoded into three signals: T (top), L (left), and E (energy). This method of encoding signals can be capable of substantially reducing the number of signals, thereby reducing costs. In addition, reducing the number of signals could improve system timing performance by eliminating cable time-skew and facilitate the filter design by downgrading the circuit accuracy requirements such as group-delay error and filter signal skews.

主权项

1. A nuclear imaging apparatus comprising:
an array of radiation sensors, each sensor providing a sensor signal in response to a scintillation event incident on said array; and a front-end encoder configured to receive, for each incident scintillation event, the sensor signals from the array of radiation sensors and to convert the sensor signals into a plurality of encoded signals for calculation of a spatial location of the scintillation event on said array, wherein said plurality of encoded signals is smaller in number than the sensor signals provided by said array.