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:
Aug. 05, 2008
Filed:
Jun. 26, 2006
Alan Proctor, Knoxville, TN (US);
Alan Proctor, Knoxville, TN (US);
Nucsafe, Inc., Oak Ridge, TN (US);
Abstract
Methods and an apparatus for reducing the effect of background ionizing radiation depression in vehicle and container monitoring systems due to shielding effects from components of the vehicle or container or modifications thereof. The methods utilize measurements of background radiation in two spectral regions of interest to calculate a normalization constant, and then utilize the normalization constant to normalize measurements in the same regions of interest when a vehicle or container is tested for the presence of a relevant ionizing radiation source such asCs andGa. Subtracting the two measurements to calculate a net difference provides a substantially valid measure of radiation counts in one spectral region of interest. Preferably the regions of interest abut or overlap, and preferably the spectral widths of the regions of interest are selected so that the attenuation of radiation counts due to background shielding effects in the two regions of interest is substantially equal.