Tomodensitometer for image display in the dynamic mode

Claim 3

A method according to claim 1 wherein said producing step is performed substantially simultaneously with said calculating step and said acquiring step.

Claim 4

A method according to claim 1 further including the step of reading out each tomodensitometric image from the corresponding accumulator memory as soon as said tomodensitometric image is produced, and wherein said method is performed repetatively for different planar sections of said body, and wherein each accumulator memory is zeroed as soon as it is read out.

Claim 5

Apparatus for producing in real time a plurality of tomodensitometric images of a planar section of a body under examination, each tomodensitometric image including a plurality of picture elements, comprising: radiating means for radiating said body a plurality M times, said radiating means being angularly displaced with respect to said body for successive radiations; detector array means for acquiring M projections of radiation passing through said body, M being greater than a number N minimum projections required to form a tomodensitometric image of said planar section, M and N being positive integers; processing means for calculating, independently for each acquired projection, a contribution each acquired projection makes to each said plurality of tomodensitometric images, each contribution being allocated to a picture element within each tomodensitometric image to which said contribution is assigned; a plurality of accumulator memory means, one accumulator memory means being allocated to each tomodensitometric image it is desired to observe, each accumulator memory means having an area corresponding to each picture element of the corresponding tomodensitometric image, each accumulator memory means including a read-write memory, an input register, and a summator; multiplexer means for entering each calculated contribution into accumulator memory areas corresponding to picture elements to which said contribution is allocated; sequencer means for transmitting to each input register an address of the corresponding read-write memory to which contributions stored in said input register are sent; and programmer means for controlling said sequencer means.

Claim 6

Apparatus for producing in real time a plurality of tomodensitometric images of a planar section of a body under examination, each tomodensitometric image including a plurality of picture elements, comprising: radiating means for radiating said body a plurality M times, said radiating means being angularly displaced with respect to said body for successive radiations; detector array means for acquiring M projections of radiation passing through said body, M being greater than a number N minimum projections required to form a tomodensitometric image of said planar section, M and N being positive integers; processing means for calculating, independently for each acquired projection, a contribution each acquired projection makes to each said plurality of tomodensitometric images, each contribution being allocated to a picture element within each tomodensitometric image to which said contribution is assigned; a plurality of accumulator memory means, one accumulator memory means being allocated to each tomodensitometric image it is desired to observe, each accumulator memory means having an area corresponding to each picture element of the corresponding tomodensitometric image, each accumulator memory means including a read-write memory, an input register, and a summator; multiplexer means for entering each calculated contribution into accumulator memory areas corresponding to picture elements to which said contribution is allocated; sequencer means for transmitting to each input register an address of the corresponding read-write memory to which contributions stored in said input register are sent; and programmer means for controlling said sequencer means.

Claim 7

Apparatus according to claim 4 further including means for producing real time consecutive tomodensitometric images from said plurality of accumulator memory means, each accumulator memory means corresponding to one tomodensitometric image.

Claim 8

Apparatus according to claim 5 further including means for permanently recording contributions stored in said accumulator memory areas as soon as a tomodensitometric image stored in the corresponding accumulator memory means is complete.