US3639764A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Bone-density measuring instrument
Assignee: Revvity Health Sciences Inc
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Filing: 1969-04-02
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Granted: 1972-02-01
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Expires: 1989-04-02
Abstract
Abstract A bone density measuring instrument including a scanning assembly having means for transmitting a radiation beam through a selected bone section. The attenuated radiation beam transmitted through the bone section produces an electrical output signal representing the intensity of the detected beam. The scanning assembly is moved along a predetermined path relative to the bone to scan a selected section of the bone, with the electrical signal varying in accordance with variations in the density of the scanned bone section. The scanning movement is automatically stopped at a preselected stop position, which is adjustable, and the scanning assembly is then automatically returned to a start position, which is also adjustable. Thus the scanning movement of the scanning assembly can be limited to the selected bone section. Means are provided for returning the scanning assembly from the stop position to the start position at a rate substantially faster than the scanning rate. The electrical pulses representing the detected beam intensity are fed into a scaler which counts the pulses, and the counting operation is periodically interrupted for a brief interval to permit the accumulated count to be transferred into a buffer storage. The counting is then resumed, while the data is read out of the buffer storage means at the relatively slow rate required by the output mechanism, such as a printer, tape punch, or the like. A radiograph template is also disposed which permits two different X-rays to be made of the same bone, from two different positions, on a single radiograph film. One radiograph is used to locate the selected bone section on a screen on the front of the instrument, where an illuminated dot indicates the position of the scanning beam, and the other radiograph permits measurement of the thickness of the particular bone section that is canned to permit calculation of the bone density. Various adapters are provided for receiving different body extremities in the instrument, so that a number of different bones can be scanned in the same instrument.
Inventors
- 👤 Robert E Olson
- 👤 Joseph R Toman
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 20:04
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01N; G01N23/00; G01N23/02; G01N23/06; G01N23/083; A; A61; A61B; A61B6/00; A61B6/50; A61B6/505
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 14
Claim 1
Independent Claim
168 words
Apparatus for measuring the density of bones comprising the combination of a scanning assembly including means for transmitting a radiation beam through a selected section of a particular bone, means for detecting the attenuated radiation beam transmitted through said selected bone section and producing an electrical output signal representing the intensity of the detected beam, means for moving said scanning assembly back and forth along a limited predetermined path relative to said bone so as to scan a predetermined portion of the bone thereby varying said electrical output signal in accordance with variations in the density of the scanned portion of the bone, means for stopping said scanning assembly at the opposite end positions of said preselected limited path, and means comprising a visible light source moving in synchronism with said scanning assembly for displaying a visible light spot on a grid for providing a continuous visual indication of the position of said scanning assembly relative to the particular bone being examined to allow accurate scanning path selection.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
168 words
Apparatus for measuring the density of bones comprising the combination of a scanning assembly including means for transmitting a radiation beam through a selected section of a particular bone, means for detecting the attenuated radiation beam transmitted through said selected bone section and producing an electrical output signal representing the intensity of the detected beam, means for moving said scanning assembly back and forth along a limited predetermined path relative to said bone so as to scan a predetermined portion of the bone thereby varying said electrical output signal in accordance with variations in the density of the scanned portion of the bone, means for stopping said scanning assembly at the opposite end positions of said preselected limited path, and means comprising a visible light source moving in synchronism with said scanning assembly for displaying a visible light spot on a grid for providing a continuous visual indication of the position of said scanning assembly relative to the particular bone being examined to allow accurate scanning path selection.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
199 words
Apparatus for measuring the density of bones comprising the combination of a scanning assembly which includes a source of radioactive material, a shutter mechanism associated with said source for controlling the transmission of radiation emitted by said source, means for forming a radioactive beam from said radioactive source, means for transmitting said radiation beam through a selected section of a particular bone, means for detecting the attenuated radiation beam transmitted through said selected bone section and producing an electrical output signal representing the intensity of the detected beam, means for moving said scanning assembly back and forth along a limited predetermined path relative to said bone so as to scan a predetermined portion of the bone thereby varying said electrical output signal in accordance with variations in the density of the scanned portion of the bone, means for stopping said scanning assembly at the opposite end positions of said preselected limited path, means for automatically opening said shutter mechanism in response to the initiation of a scan to expose the selected bone section to a radiation beam, and means for automatically closing said shutter mechanism in response to the arrival of said scanning assembly at said preselected stop position.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
199 words
Apparatus for measuring the density of bones comprising the combination of a scanning assembly which includes a source of radioactive material, a shutter mechanism associated with said source for controlling the transmission of radiation emitted by said source, means for forming a radioactive beam from said radioactive source, means for transmitting said radiation beam through a selected section of a particular bone, means for detecting the attenuated radiation beam transmitted through said selected bone section and producing an electrical output signal representing the intensity of the detected beam, means for moving said scanning assembly back and forth along a limited predetermined path relative to said bone so as to scan a predetermined portion of the bone thereby varying said electrical output signal in accordance with variations in the density of the scanned portion of the bone, means for stopping said scanning assembly at the opposite end positions of said preselected limited path, means for automatically opening said shutter mechanism in response to the initiation of a scan to expose the selected bone section to a radiation beam, and means for automatically closing said shutter mechanism in response to the arrival of said scanning assembly at said preselected stop position.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
169 words
Apparatus for measuring the density of bones comprising the combination of a scanning assembly including means for transmitting a radiation beam through a selected bone section, means for detecting the attenuated radiation beam transmitted through said selected bone section and producing an electrical output pulse representing the intensity of the detected beam, means for moving said scanning assembly along a predetermined path relative to said bone so as to scan said selected bone section, thereby varying said electrical output pulses in accordance with variations in the density of the selected bone section, counting means operatively connected to said detecting means for counting said output pulses, buffer storage means operatively connected to said counting means for periodically receiving the count accumulated in said counting means, and automatic control means for periodically interrupting the transmission of said pulses to said counting means, transferring, the count accumulated in said counting means to said buffer storage means, resetting said countiNg means, and then resuming the transmission of said pulses to said counting means.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
169 words
Apparatus for measuring the density of bones comprising the combination of a scanning assembly including means for transmitting a radiation beam through a selected bone section, means for detecting the attenuated radiation beam transmitted through said selected bone section and producing an electrical output pulse representing the intensity of the detected beam, means for moving said scanning assembly along a predetermined path relative to said bone so as to scan said selected bone section, thereby varying said electrical output pulses in accordance with variations in the density of the selected bone section, counting means operatively connected to said detecting means for counting said output pulses, buffer storage means operatively connected to said counting means for periodically receiving the count accumulated in said counting means, and automatic control means for periodically interrupting the transmission of said pulses to said counting means, transferring, the count accumulated in said counting means to said buffer storage means, resetting said countiNg means, and then resuming the transmission of said pulses to said counting means.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
14 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 3 wherein said counting means is a scaler.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
68 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 3 wherein said automatic control means includes a timer for producing control signals at regular intervals, means for actuating said timer in response to the initiation of said scanning movement of said scanning assembly, and means responsive to said control signals produced by said timer for interrupting the transmission of said pulses to said counting means for a brief count transfer interval.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
80 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 5 wherein said automatic control means includes programmer means operatively connected to said timer for sequentially (1) interrupting the transmission of said pulses to said counting means, (2) transferring the count accumulated in said counting means to said buffer storage means, (3) resetting said counting means, (4) resetting said timer to start a new timing period, and (5) resuming the transmission of said pulses to said counting means to start a new counting period.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
68 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 6 which includes a source of clock pulses and gate means responsive to said control signals from said timer for transmitting said clock pulses to said programmer means to actuate said programmer means, said gate means also being responsive to the resetting of said timer to stop the transmission of said clock pulses to said programmer means to deactuate said programmer means.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
47 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 3 which includes readout control means operatively connected to said buffer storage means and said automatic control means for reading the count out of said buffer storage means each time the transmission of said pulses to said counting means is resumed.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
107 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 8 wherein said buffer storage means includes multiple storage units for different bits of data representing the counts transferred to said buffer storage means from said counting means, and said readout control means includes a ripple counter, means for supplying input pulses to said ripple counter for sequentially producing different combinations of output signals, and a plurality of gates connected between said ripple counter and said buffer storage means with each gate being responsive to a different combination of said output signals for sequentially reading out the different bits of data from the multiple storage units of said buffer storage means.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
186 words
Apparatus for measuring the density of bones comprising the combination of a scanning assembly including means for transmitting a radiation beam through a selected bone section, means for detecting the attenuated radiation beam transmitted through said selected bone section and producing electrical output pulses representing the intensity of the detected beam, means for moving said scanning assembly along a predetermined path relative to said bone so as to scan said selected bone section, thereby varying said electrical output pulses in accordance with variations in the density of the selected bone section, counting means operatively connected to said detecting means for counting said output pulses, buffer storage means operatively connected to said counting means for periodically receiving the count accumulated in said counting means, data transfer control means for interrupting the transmission of said output pulses to said counting means during repetitive data transfer intervals and transferring the count accumulated in said counting means to said buffer storage means during said transfer intervals, and readout control means for reading out the count stored in said buffer storage means during the readout intervals between said data transfer intervals.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
186 words
Apparatus for measuring the density of bones comprising the combination of a scanning assembly including means for transmitting a radiation beam through a selected bone section, means for detecting the attenuated radiation beam transmitted through said selected bone section and producing electrical output pulses representing the intensity of the detected beam, means for moving said scanning assembly along a predetermined path relative to said bone so as to scan said selected bone section, thereby varying said electrical output pulses in accordance with variations in the density of the selected bone section, counting means operatively connected to said detecting means for counting said output pulses, buffer storage means operatively connected to said counting means for periodically receiving the count accumulated in said counting means, data transfer control means for interrupting the transmission of said output pulses to said counting means during repetitive data transfer intervals and transferring the count accumulated in said counting means to said buffer storage means during said transfer intervals, and readout control means for reading out the count stored in said buffer storage means during the readout intervals between said data transfer intervals.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1975-01-31 | 1975-08-02 | 1976-02-01 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1979-01-31 | 1979-08-02 | 1980-02-01 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1983-01-31 | 1983-08-02 | 1984-02-01 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |