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:
Sep. 23, 2003
Filed:
May. 03, 2001
David T. Nisius, Des Plaines, IL (US);
George P. Roberson, Tracy, CA (US);
David C. Camp, Danville, CA (US);
David Entwistle, Buffalo Grove, IL (US);
Bio-Imaging Research, Inc., Lincolnshire, IL (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus are provided for assaying a waste container. The method includes the steps of forming a plurality of slices through a volume of the waste container, performing a relatively fast passive prescan to measure a level of radioactivity of each of the plurality of slices and identifying at least some slices of the plurality of slices having a relatively high level of radioactivity. In addition, the method includes the steps for performing a relatively fast active prescan of the drum to determine the average attenuation of the plurality of slices. The method further includes the steps of determining an passive assay time for the identified slices based upon the measured radioactivity and average attenuation and performing relatively slow passive and active CT scans of the identified slices based upon the determined passive and active CT assay time to quantify a source of the measured radioactivity by weight.