The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 19, 2021
Filed:
May. 08, 2019
United States of America As Represented BY the Administrator of Nasa, Washington, DC (US);
Rajiv Gupta, Greenbelt, MD (US);
Wolfgang Krull, Boxford, MA (US);
Jake Hecla, Cambridge, MA (US);
Avilash Cramer, Cambridge, MA (US);
Steven Kenyon, Greenbelt, MD (US);
Zaven Arzoumanian, Greenbelt, MD (US);
Keith Gendreau, Greenbelt, MD (US);
United States of America as represented by the Administrator of NASA, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
The present invention relates to a novel, non-rotating tomographic imaging system, including a multi-source x-ray imaging module which includes multiple x-ray sources within a vacuum manifold, each equipped with a non-thermionic cathode which can reduce image scan time (and hence, motion artifacts), or delivered radiation dose, through under-sampled acquisition sequences, and without adding additional sources. The non-thermionic nature of the cathode enables rapid on/off switching of x-rays without concern as to the thermal mass or the thermal time-constant of the cathode. The modules can be flexibly interconnected to each other to allow configuration as part of a distributed ring of sources, or in other x-ray imaging geometries. Modularity provides the present invention an advantage in making it easier to debug and repair a distributed-source imaging system, such as a computed tomographic (CT) system.