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:
Feb. 22, 2005
Filed:
Oct. 08, 1998
Fred Macciocchi, Des Plaines, IL (US);
Fred Macciocchi, Des Plaines, IL (US);
Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., Malvern, PA (US);
Abstract
A positron imaging system includes a pair of scintillation detectors for detecting a pair of gamma rays produced by annihilation of a positron within a distribution field, such as within a patient. An energy level determination circuit determines the energy levels of the detected gamma rays, and timing circuits determine whether the gamma rays have been detected by the scintillation detectors within a predetermined time interval. Only if the determined energy levels of each of the pair of gamma rays meet predetermined magnitude requirements and detection of the pair of gamma rays has occurred within the predetermined time interval, are signals corresponding to said gamma rays inputted to processing circuitry for calculating the spatial location of the positron. According to a further aspect of the invention, a circuit for separating piled-up gamma ray events includes a delay and a controllable attenuator for delaying and simultaneously attenuating a signal outputted by the detector, and a comparator for comparing the delayed signal with the attenuated signal, to thereby output separate electrical pulses representing the separate events.