US8194953B2 — Method and system of material identification usin…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 141 words

A material identification and imaging method using binocular steroscopic and multi-energy transmission images comprise the following steps: 1) causing two angled X-ray beams to penetrate through objects under examination so as to obtain data of left and right transmission images, segmenting said left and right transmission images and matching the results of said segmentation; 2) creating a depth plane along the depth direction of the transmission images; 3) repeating the above process on transmission images of variation energy to obtain a depth plane of each depth plane for the variation energy; 4) merging the depth planes for different energy levels at the same position to obtain a depth plane for each depth plane and energy of a predetermined group of energy levels; 5) identifying the material of the objects for each of which a grey reconstruction in said depth plane succeeds.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 141 words

A material identification and imaging method using binocular steroscopic and multi-energy transmission images comprise the following steps: 1) causing two angled X-ray beams to penetrate through objects under examination so as to obtain data of left and right transmission images, segmenting said left and right transmission images and matching the results of said segmentation; 2) creating a depth plane along the depth direction of the transmission images; 3) repeating the above process on transmission images of variation energy to obtain a depth plane of each depth plane for the variation energy; 4) merging the depth planes for different energy levels at the same position to obtain a depth plane for each depth plane and energy of a predetermined group of energy levels; 5) identifying the material of the objects for each of which a grey reconstruction in said depth plane succeeds.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 28 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the segmentation of said left and right transmission images in the step 1) is implemented according to an edge extraction algorithm.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 55 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the segmentation of said left and right transmission images in the step 1) further comprises steps of: 1) extracting edges in each of the said left and right transmission images; 2) obtaining enclosed edges in these images; and 3) segmenting these images according to the obtained enclosed edges.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 33 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the matching of the results of said segmentation in the step 1) is implemented according to the geometric characteristics of the left and right segmentation results.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 41 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the matching of the results of said segmentation in the step 1 further comprises steps of: 1) creating objects for the segmentation results; 2) allocating corresponding weights to the property set of the objects.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 33 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the creating in the step 2) is implemented based on a matched result of the left and right images as well as the corresponding absolute parallax.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 92 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein a reconstruction of grey value for template planes is implemented by peeling off grey value plane by plane from the outermost to the innermost, in particular, a grey value for the matched object on the outermost lay immediately adjacent to the background region is first reconstructed and peeled off from the image, the object on the second outermost lay is then processed in the same way, and this procedure is repeated until the grey value reconstruction has been performed on all of the matched objects.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 126 words

The method of claim 1 , includes reconstructing of a grey value for template planes comprises steps of: 1) establishing a candidate object set for grey value reconstruction by using objects; 2) retrieving properties of one of said objects; 3) determining whether the retrieved object has an edge adjacent to the background; 4) reconstructing the grey value for the object if the retrieved object has an edge adjacent to the background, and, if the object is overlaid by another object, reconstructing the grey value for the overlapping object as well; 5) removing the object from the image; and for each object in the object set, the steps 2) to 5) are repeated until the grey value reconstruction has been performed on all of the matched objects.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 24 words

The method of claim 3 , wherein said edge extraction in the image is conducted by using Sobel and Canny edge detection operator simultaneously.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 50 words

The method of claim 9 , wherein, for each pixel in an digital image {f(i,j)}, said Sobel edge detection operator calculates a weighted grey difference between the pixel and its neighbor pixels, with the nearer neighbor pixel having a larger weight and the farther neighbor pixel having a smaller weight.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 65 words

The method of claim 9 , wherein the edge extraction by using said Canny edge detection operator comprises steps of: 1) smoothing an image with a Gauss filter; 2) calculating the magnitude and direction of gradient by use of finite difference of one-order partial derivative; 3) applying non-maximum suppression to the magnitude of gradient; and 4) detecting and connecting edges via a double threshold algorithm.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 32 words

The method of claim 4 , includes obtaining of enclosed edges such that two edge pixels are connected based on the similarity between them in terms of gradient magnitude or gradient direction.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 64 words

The method of claim 8 , wherein the grey value is reconstructed for the object retrieved in the step 3) if the object has an edge adjacent to the background, and, if the object is overlaid by another object, the grey value is reconstructed at the same time for the overlapping object; then, the object is removed from the object set and the image.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 81 words

The method of claim 1 , further comprising: performing grey reconstruction, object removal from the original image and generation of reconstructed grey images of each object with respect to the binocular steroscopic transmission images for one energy level, so as to complete the grey image reconstruction for one energy level; and selecting another energy level to repeat the steps of grey image reconstruction, and finally combining the reconstructed grey images of the object for all the energy levels into one set.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 84 words

The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying in step 5) further comprises: performing sequentially analysis of grey difference, material identification and generation of colored image on each of the objects for which the left and right views have been matched and the grey reconstruction for all the energy levels has been completed; and combining the processing results of all the objects in order of depth planes into a set of identification effect images for the objects at each of the depth planes.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 299 words

A binocular stereoscopic and multi-energy scanning radiographic imaging system comprising a radiation source, a left detector array, a right detector array, a left image acquisition system, a right image acquisition system and a computer processing system, wherein: said radiation source is an X-ray generator for generating X-rays of different energy levels; said left detector array receives the X-rays of different energy levels and converts them into electric signals to be inputted to said left image acquisition system; said right detector array receives the X-rays of different energy levels and converts them into electric signals to be inputted to said right image acquisition system; said left image acquisition system receives the electric signals sent by said left detector array and acquires left image data from the electric signals; said right image acquisition system receives the electric signals sent by said right detector array and acquires right image data from the electric signals; and said computer processing system receives said left and right image data from the left and right image acquisition systems respectively, processes said left and right image data at different energy levels to identify the material of an object at a specific depth plane wherein: said computer processing system segments said left and right image data at different energy levels and matches the results of said segmentation so as to create depth planes of transmission images of the different energy levels in the depth direction, reconstructs grey values of the depth planes to obtain a depth plane of each depth plane for each different energy level, merges the depth planes for different energy levels at the same position to obtain a depth plane for each depth plane and energy of a predetermined group of energy levels, and identifies the material of each matched object in each depth plane.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 299 words

A binocular stereoscopic and multi-energy scanning radiographic imaging system comprising a radiation source, a left detector array, a right detector array, a left image acquisition system, a right image acquisition system and a computer processing system, wherein: said radiation source is an X-ray generator for generating X-rays of different energy levels; said left detector array receives the X-rays of different energy levels and converts them into electric signals to be inputted to said left image acquisition system; said right detector array receives the X-rays of different energy levels and converts them into electric signals to be inputted to said right image acquisition system; said left image acquisition system receives the electric signals sent by said left detector array and acquires left image data from the electric signals; said right image acquisition system receives the electric signals sent by said right detector array and acquires right image data from the electric signals; and said computer processing system receives said left and right image data from the left and right image acquisition systems respectively, processes said left and right image data at different energy levels to identify the material of an object at a specific depth plane wherein: said computer processing system segments said left and right image data at different energy levels and matches the results of said segmentation so as to create depth planes of transmission images of the different energy levels in the depth direction, reconstructs grey values of the depth planes to obtain a depth plane of each depth plane for each different energy level, merges the depth planes for different energy levels at the same position to obtain a depth plane for each depth plane and energy of a predetermined group of energy levels, and identifies the material of each matched object in each depth plane.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 40 words

The scanning radiographic imaging system of claim 16 , further comprising: a beam controller for receiving the X-rays emitted by the radiation source and generating two beams of X-rays which are symmetric or asymmetric and have an angle between them.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 17 words

The scanning radiographic imaging system of claim 17 , wherein said beam controller is a double-slit collimator.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 41 words

The scanning radiographic imaging system of claim 18 , wherein two collimation slits are provided in said double-slit collimator to shape the X-rays emitted by said radiation source into two beam sector, either symmetric or asymmetric, with an angle between them.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 17 words

The scanning radiographic imaging system of claim 16 , wherein said detector arrays comprises “L”-type arranged detectors.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 33 words

The scanning radiographic imaging system of claim 16 , wherein said computer processing system can also display the images of the objects under detection, respectively, based on the left and right image data.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2015-06-05	2015-12-05	2016-06-05	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2019-06-05	2019-12-05	2020-06-05	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2023-06-05	2023-12-05	2024-06-05	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Method and system of material identification using binocular steroscopic and multi-energy transmission images

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