Scintillation camera

Claim 2

A DISPLAY APPARATUS FOR USE IN A CAMERA FOR PRODUCING A DISPLAY REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF INCIDENT STIMULI FROM A SUBJECT UNDER INVESTIGATION, THE CAMERA INCLUDING A LIGHT-EMITING ELEMENT FOR EMITING FLASHES OF LIGHT IN RESPONSE TO SUCH INCIDENT STIMULI AND A PLURALITY OF LIGHTRESPONSIVE COMPONENTS, EACH OF WHICH EMITS ANALOG ELECTRICAL SIGNALS IN RESPONSE TO LIGHT FLASHES INCIDENT UPON IT WITH SUCH ANALLG ELECTRICAL SIGNALS EACH HAVING AN AMPLITUDE WHICH IS A FUNCTION OF THE POSITION OF THE LIGHT FLASH RESPONDED TO, SAID DISPLAY APPARATUS COMPRISING: A. AN ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER FOR CONVERTING SAID ANALOG ELECTRICAL SIGNALS TO DIGITAL SIGNALS INDICATIVE OF POSITIONS OF SAID FLASHES OF LIGHT IN SAID LIGHT-EMITING ELEMENT, B. RECORDING MEANS FOR RECEIVING AND RECORDING SAID DIGITAL SIGNALS, C. PLAYBACK MEANS FOR PLAYING BACK THE RECORDED DIGITAL DIGNALS, D. S DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER CONNECTED TO SAID PLAYBACK MEANS FOR RECEIVING AND CONVERTNG SAID DIGITAL SIGNALS INTO SECOND ANALOG SIGNALS, AND, E. DISPLAY APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A VISUAL DISPLAY OF SAID RADIATION STIMULI REPRESENTED BY SAID SECOND ANALOG SIGNALS IN POSITIONS THAT CORRESPOND TO LOCATIONS OF SAID STIMULI IN SAID SUBJECT TO PROVIDE AN IMAGE OF THE STIMULI FROM SAID SUBJECT.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1, further including a smoothing generator connected to said digital-to-analog converter means for modifying said second analog signals to present a continuous visual display on said display means.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 1, further including an angular displacement adjustment ciricuit interposed between said digital-to-analog converter and said display apparatus for adjustably angularly displacing said image on said display apparatus by a predetermined angular displacement about a predetermined axis in order to render the image more easily viewed.

Claim 5

In a scintillation camera for producing a visual display representative of the spatial distribution of incident radiation stimuli of at least two different energy levels from a subject under investigation, said camera including a light emitting mechanism capable of emitting flashes of light locatable over a two dimensional region in response to such incident stimuli while said light emitting mechanism is stationary with respect to the subject, said flashes having brightness which is a function of the intensity of the energy levels of said radiation stimuli in response to which such flashes are generated, and a plurality of light responsive components for emitting groups of analog electrical signals in respone to said flashes, each of said signal groups having a combined amplitude which is a function of the brightness of the flash in response to which said signal group is generated, said signal groups each bearing analog information describing the location of the flash in response to which said signal group is emitted, the improvement comprising: a. at least two discriminating circuits each connected to sense the combined amplitude of each of said analog electrical signal groupS, each of aid discriminating circuits being responsive to only those groups of analog electrical signals having a combined amplitude in a different predetermined range to produce an actuation signal; b. an indicator circuit responsive to said actuation by one of said discriminating circuits to provide an indication associated with each of said analog signal groups to which said one discriminating circuit is responsive; and c. a display apparatus connected to receive and maintain said signal groups and being responsive to said analog signal groups and said indication for providing a separate visual representation of the spatial location of said radiation stimuli in response to which said analog signal groups having an indication associated therewith are generated and a separate visual representation of the spatial location of said radiation stimuli in response to which said analog signal groups having no indication associated therewith are generated.

Claim 6

In a scintillation camera for producing a visual display representative of the spatial distribution of incident radiation stimuli of at least two different energy levels from a subject under investigation, said camera including a light emitting mechanism capable of emitting flashes of light locatable over a two dimensional region in response to such incident stimuli while said light emitting mechanism is stationary with respect to the subject, said flashes having brightness which is a function of the intensity of the energy levels of said radiation stimuli in response to which such flashes are generated, and a plurality of light responsive components for emitting groups of analog electrical signals in respone to said flashes, each of said signal groups having a combined amplitude which is a function of the brightness of the flash in response to which said signal group is generated, said signal groups each bearing analog information describing the location of the flash in response to which said signal group is emitted, the improvement comprising: a. at least two discriminating circuits each connected to sense the combined amplitude of each of said analog electrical signal groupS, each of aid discriminating circuits being responsive to only those groups of analog electrical signals having a combined amplitude in a different predetermined range to produce an actuation signal; b. an indicator circuit responsive to said actuation by one of said discriminating circuits to provide an indication associated with each of said analog signal groups to which said one discriminating circuit is responsive; and c. a display apparatus connected to receive and maintain said signal groups and being responsive to said analog signal groups and said indication for providing a separate visual representation of the spatial location of said radiation stimuli in response to which said analog signal groups having an indication associated therewith are generated and a separate visual representation of the spatial location of said radiation stimuli in response to which said analog signal groups having no indication associated therewith are generated.

Claim 7

The improvement of claim 4, wherein each of said discriminating circuits comprises a pulse height analyzer to enable the selective response of said discriminating circuit to only those analog signal groups having a combined amplitude lying within said predetermined range.

Claim 8

The improvement of claim 4, wherein said indicator circuit comprises: a flag signal generator connected to one of said discriminating circuits for providing a flag signal associated with only those analog signals groups to which said one of said discriminating circuits is responsive to indicate the amplitude range in which said associated analog signal groups lie.

Claim 9

The improvement of claim 4, wherein said display apparatus comprises: a. two portions, and b. means for separating the analog signal groups to which each of said discriminating circuits is respectively responsive for displaying said visual representations of the stimuli corresponding to said separated analog signal groups on different ones of said portions of said display apparatus.

Claim 10

The improvement of claim 6, wherein said display apparatus is responsive to one of the presence and absence of said flag signal associated with each said analog signal group to control said visual representation of said energy level of said stimulus in response to which said analog signal group is generated.

Claim 11

The improvement of claim 4, further comprising: an analog to digital converter interposed between said discriminator circuits and said display apparatus for converting said analog signal groups to digital signals.

Claim 12

The improvement of claim 9, wherein: said analog to digital converter includes a height to time converter.

Claim 13

The improvement of claim 9, wherein said display apparatus comprises: a. a shift register connected to store said converted digital signals; and b. digital display means connected to said shift register to provide a visual display representative of said digital signals.

Claim 14

The improvement of claim 9, wherein said display apparatus comprises: a. a digital to analog converter connected to said analog to digital converter for reconverting said digital signals to analog form; and b. a display device connected to said digital to analog converter to display a visual representation of said reconverted digital signals.

Claim 15

The improvement of claim 12, further comprising: angular displacement circuitry connected to said display screen for rotating the visual representation on the screen by a predetermined amount to assist in viewing the display.

Claim 16

The improvement of claim 4, further comprising: a gating circuit connected between said discriminating circuits to prevent the simultaneous operation of more than one of said discriminating circuits.

Claim 17

The improvement of claim 4, further including a calibration system for said light responsive components comprising: a. a selector circuit for sampling the output of each of a plurality of said light-responsive components and b. an attenuaTor circuit having an output and means for varying at its said output the level of the output from each of said plurality of said light responsive component.

Claim 18

A dual-isotope imaging scintillation camera for producing a visual display representative of the spatial distribution of incident radiation stimuli of at least two different energy ranges emanating from a subject under investigation, said camera comprising: a. a light emitting mechanism for emitting flashes of light locatable over a two dimensional region in response to the occurrence of said incident stimuli while said light emitting mechanism is stationary with respect to the subject, said flashes having a brightness which is a function of the intensity of the energy level of said radiation stimuli in response to which such flashes are generated, b. a plurality of light responsive components optically coupled to said light emitting mechanism for emitting groups of analog electrical signals in response to said flashes, each of said signal groups having a combined amplitude which is a function of the brightness of the flash in response to which said signal group is generated, and said signal groups each bearing analog information describing the location over said two-dimensional region of the flash in response to which said signal group is emitted, c. at least two discriminating circuits each connected to sense the combined amplitude of each of said analog electrical signal groups, one of said discriminating circuits being responsive to only those groups of analog electrical signals having a combined amplitude in a predetermined range to generate an actuation signal, d. an indicator circuit responsive to said actuation signal by one of said discriminating circuitis to provide an indication associated with each of said analog signal groups to which said one discriminating circuit is responsive, and e. a display apparatus connected to said control circuit output and being responsive to said analog signal groups and said indication for providing a separate visual representation of the spatial location of said radiation stimuli in response to which said analog signal groups having an indication associated therewith are generated and a second separate visual representation of the spatial location of said radiation stimuli in response to which said analog signals having no indication associated therewith are generated.

Claim 19

A dual-isotope imaging scintillation camera for producing a visual display representative of the spatial distribution of incident radiation stimuli of at least two different energy ranges emanating from a subject under investigation, said camera comprising: a. a light emitting mechanism for emitting flashes of light locatable over a two dimensional region in response to the occurrence of said incident stimuli while said light emitting mechanism is stationary with respect to the subject, said flashes having a brightness which is a function of the intensity of the energy level of said radiation stimuli in response to which such flashes are generated, b. a plurality of light responsive components optically coupled to said light emitting mechanism for emitting groups of analog electrical signals in response to said flashes, each of said signal groups having a combined amplitude which is a function of the brightness of the flash in response to which said signal group is generated, and said signal groups each bearing analog information describing the location over said two-dimensional region of the flash in response to which said signal group is emitted, c. at least two discriminating circuits each connected to sense the combined amplitude of each of said analog electrical signal groups, one of said discriminating circuits being responsive to only those groups of analog electrical signals having a combined amplitude in a predetermined range to generate an actuation signal, d. an indicator circuit responsive to said actuation signal by one of said discriminating circuitis to provide an indication associated with each of said analog signal groups to which said one discriminating circuit is responsive, and e. a display apparatus connected to said control circuit output and being responsive to said analog signal groups and said indication for providing a separate visual representation of the spatial location of said radiation stimuli in response to which said analog signal groups having an indication associated therewith are generated and a second separate visual representation of the spatial location of said radiation stimuli in response to which said analog signals having no indication associated therewith are generated.

Claim 20

The scintillation camera of claim 16, wherein each of said discriminating circuits comprises a pulse height analyzer to enable the selective response of said discriminating circuit to only those analog signal groups having a combined amplitude lying within said predetermined range.

Claim 21

The scintillation camera of claim 16, wherein said indicator circuit comprises: a flag signal generator connected to at least one of said discriminating circuits for providing a flag signal associated with only those analog signal groups to which said at least one of said discriminating circuits is responsive to indicate the amplitude range in which said associated analog signal groups lie.

Claim 22

The scintillation camera of claim 16, wherein said display apparatus comprises two portions, and means for separating the analog signal groups to which each of said discriminating circuits is respectively responsive for displaying said visual representations of the stimuli corresponding to said separated analog signal groups corresponding to the respective ones of said discriminating circuits on different ones of said portions of said display apparatus.

Claim 23

The scintillation camera of claim 16, wherein said display apparatus is responsive to said flag signal to separately display a representation of the stimuli represented by those signal groups having said flag signal associated therewith and a representation of the stimuli represented by those signal groups not having said flag signal associated therewith.

Claim 24

The scintillation camera of claim 16, further comprising: an analog To digital converter interposed between said discriminating circuit and said display apparatus for converting said signal groups to digital signals.

Claim 25

The scintillation camera of claim 21, wherein; said analog to digital converter is a height to time converter.

Claim 26

The scintillation camera of claim 21, wherein said display apparatus comprises: a. a shift register connected to store said converted digital signals; and b. digital display means connected to said shift register to provide visual display representative of said digital signals.

Claim 27

The scintillation camera of claim 21, wherein said display apparatus comprises: a. a digital to analog converter connected to said analog to digital converter; and b. a display screen connected to said digital to analog converter to display representation of said reconverted digital signals.

Claim 28

The scintillation camera of claim 24, further comprising: angular displacement circuitry connected to said display screen for rotating the visual representation on the screen by a predetermined amount to assist in viewing the display.

Claim 29

The scintillation camera of claim 16, further comprising: a gating circuit connected between said discriminating circuits to prevent the simultaneous operation by more than one of said discriminating circuits.

Claim 30

The camera of claim 16, further including a calibration system for said light responsive components comprising: a. a selector circuit for sampling the output of at least one of said light-responsive components, and b. an attenuator having an output and connected to said light responsive components for varying at its said output the level of the output from said light responsive component.

Claim 33

The method of claim 28, wherein the step of generating an indication comprises generating a flag signal to indicate the combined amplitude range of said signals with which such flag signal is associated.

Claim 34

The method of claim 28, wherein said signals are analog in form, said method further comprising the step of: converting said signals from analog to digital form before generating said visual display thereof.

Claim 35

The method of claim 30 further comprising the step of: reconverting said digital converted signals to analog form, and displaying said reconverted analog signals on a display screen.

Claim 36

The method of claim 31 further comprising angularly displacing the visual representation of said reconverted analog signals by a predetermined amount about a predetermined axis in order to assist in rendering the display more easily viewable.

Claim 37

A discriminator for an apparatus for producing a visual display representative of the spatial distribution of incident radiation stimuli of at least two different energy ranges emanating from a subject under investigation, said discriminator comprising: a. A signal generator for producing signals in response to said radiation stimuli, each of said signals having an amplitude which is a function of the radiation level of the stimulus in response to which said signal is generated, said signals each further bearing information describing the location of the radiation stimulus in response to which said signal is generated; b. an indication generator connected to receive said signals to sense the amplitude of each of said signals and to provide an indicator signal associated with each of said signals the amplitude of which lies within a predetermined range, and c. a display apparatus connected to receive said signals and said indicator signal and being responsive to said signals and said indicator signal for providing a visual representation of the spatial location of said radiation stimuli in response to which said signals having an indicator signal associated therewith are generated and a second visual representation of the spatial location of said radiation stimuli in response to which said signals having no indicator signal associated therewith are generated.

Claim 38

A discriminator for an apparatus for producing a visual display representative of the spatial distribution of incident radiation stimuli of at least two different energy ranges emanating from a subject under investigation, said discriminator comprising: a. A signal generator for producing signals in response to said radiation stimuli, each of said signals having an amplitude which is a function of the radiation level of the stimulus in response to which said signal is generated, said signals each further bearing information describing the location of the radiation stimulus in response to which said signal is generated; b. an indication generator connected to receive said signals to sense the amplitude of each of said signals and to provide an indicator signal associated with each of said signals the amplitude of which lies within a predetermined range, and c. a display apparatus connected to receive said signals and said indicator signal and being responsive to said signals and said indicator signal for providing a visual representation of the spatial location of said radiation stimuli in response to which said signals having an indicator signal associated therewith are generated and a second visual representation of the spatial location of said radiation stimuli in response to which said signals having no indicator signal associated therewith are generated.

Claim 39

The discriminator of claim 33, wherein said indication generator comprises a pulse height analyzer for sensing whether the amplitudes of said signals lies within said predetermined range.

Claim 40

The discriminator of claim 33, wherein said indication generator is a flag signal generator for generating flag signals to indicate the amplitude range in which said associated signals lie.

Claim 41

The discriminator of claim 33, further comprising a first converter connected to receive said signals to convert said signals to digital form prior to the display of said visual representations of said signals.

Claim 42

The discriminator of claim 36, wherein said display apparatus further comprises: a. a digital to analog converter connected to said first converter, to reconvert said digital signals to analog form, and b. a display screen connected to said digital to analog converter to display a visual representation of said reconverted analog signals.

Claim 43

The discriminator of claim 37, further comprising: angular displacement circuitry conducted to said display screen for rotating the visual representation on the screen by a predetermined amount about a predetermined axis.