Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080303598 | CIRCUIT AND METHOD FOR REDUCING BIAS NOISE IN AMPLIFIER CIRCUITS - An amplifier circuit and method for reducing bias noise is disclosed. The amplifier circuit includes a passive biasing source for supplying a desired bias signal to the amplifier and an active biasing source for energizing the passive biasing source to supply the desired bias signal. The amplifier circuit also includes a decoupler for selectively decoupling the active biasing source from the passive biasing source when the amplifier is configured for amplifying an input signal so that the amplifier remains isolated from electronic noise produced by the active biasing source while still being supplied the desired bias signal by the passive source. | 12-11-2008 |
20090128216 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TIME-TO-VOLTAGE CONVERSION WITH LOCK-OUT LOGIC - An event time stamping system comprising a current source, an integrator comprising an input and an output, and configured to output a voltage proportional to the length of time the current source is coupled to the input, and one or more switches configured to couple the current source to the input of the integrator upon receipt of an event signal and configured to de-couple the current source from the input of the integrator upon receipt of a control trigger. The system further comprises a lock-out signal generator configured to generate a lock-out signal, and a controller coupled to the one or more switches, wherein the controller is configured to generate the control trigger based on the lock-out signal to ensure a minimum integration time. | 05-21-2009 |
20090129537 | DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM FOR PHOTON COUNTING AND ENERGY DISCRIMINATING DETECTORS - A data acquisition system including a readout Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) having a plurality of channels, each channel having a time discriminating circuit and an energy discriminating circuit, wherein the ASIC is configured to receive a plurality of signals from a semiconductor radiation detector. The data acquisition system also includes a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) electrically coupled to the ASIC and configured to provide a reference signal to the ASIC used in the generation of digital outputs from the ASIC, and a controller electrically coupled to the ASIC and to the DAC, the controller configured to instruct the DAC to provide the reference signal to the ASIC. | 05-21-2009 |
20090132789 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CHANNEL-SPECIFIC CONFIGURATION IN A READOUT ASIC - An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) comprising a plurality of channels, each channel having circuitry for time and energy discrimination, a plurality of programmable registers, each programmable register configured to output at least one configuration parameter for the circuitry, and a channel-select register configured to identify a channel of the plurality of channels to be configured. The ASIC further includes a configuration-select register configured to identify the programmable register to be used for channel configuration, and a communications interface configured to transmit instructions received from a controller to one of the channel-select register, the configuration-select register, and the plurality of programmable registers. | 05-21-2009 |
20100013560 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REDUCING FLICKER NOISE FROM CMOS AMPLIFIERS - A technique is provided for acquiring data with reduced correlated low frequency noise interference via a data acquisition circuit. The data acquisition circuit includes a plurality of data channels comprising a plurality of amplifiers and a biasing circuit for providing bias voltages to the plurality of amplifiers. The biasing circuit is configured to generate the bias voltages and establish a relationship between the bias voltages so as to reduce correlated low frequency noise in the plurality of amplifiers. | 01-21-2010 |
20100215146 | LOW-NOISE DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM FOR MEDICAL IMAGING - According to embodiments of the present technique, a system and a method for obtaining low-noise measurements for a wide range of analog signal strengths is provided. According to aspects of the present technique, a low-gain measurement of an input pixel charge is performed, wherein the input pixel charge is distributed to two feedback capacitors, which together provide a relatively low integrator gain. After the low-gain measurement, a high-gain measurement is performed, wherein one of the capacitors is remove from the feedback loop and the charge is redistributed to the remaining capacitor. | 08-26-2010 |
20100329425 | READOUT ELECTRONICS FOR PHOTON COUNTING AND ENERGY DISCRIMINATING DETECTORS - A data acquisition system includes a charge-sensitive amplifier (CSA) configured to receive a charge from an x-ray detector, the CSA includes a high-gain electronic voltage amplifier, an electrical energy storage device coupled with the amplifier, and an electrical resistor coupled with the amplifier. The data acquisition system includes a baseline sampling circuit configured to receive an output from the CSA and to sample a baseline signal from the CSA, at least one discriminator coupled to an output of the CSA and to an output of the baseline sampling circuit, the at least one discriminator configured to output a voltage if the output of the CSA exceeds a threshold, and a counter coupled to an output of the discriminator and configured to output a digital signal indicative of a photon count received at the x-ray detector and based on the output from the CSA and on the signal from the CSA. | 12-30-2010 |
20130170622 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REGULATING DATA ACQUISTION - A method for regulating the acquisition of an analog input signal from a digital X-ray panel is provided. The method includes opening a switch disposed between an integrator and the digital X-ray panel prior to an integrator event or upon detection of a fault in the digital X-ray panel to decouple the integrator from the digital X-ray panel, wherein the integrator is configured to integrate the analog input signal from the digital X-ray panel. Also, a system for data acquisition is provided. Further, a method for fault protection of the digital X-ray panel is provided. | 07-04-2013 |
20150108328 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR COMPENSATING DARK CURRENT - A compensating current is applied at one or more points in a signal processing path to compensate for one or both of a dark or offset current present in an input signal. In certain implementations, the dark or offset current is present in a signal generated by a photomultiplier device. The dark or offset current may be monitored in an output of the signal processing path and, the monitoring being used to determine how much compensation is needed in the signal processing path and to allocate where in the signal processing path the compensation current will be applied. | 04-23-2015 |
20150144797 | ACTIVE PULSE SHAPING OF SOLID STATE PHOTOMULTIPLIER SIGNALS - Photomultipliers are disclosed which comprise circuitry for detecting photo electric events and generating short digital pulses in response. In one embodiment, the photomultipliers comprise solid state photomultipliers having an array of microcells. The microcells, in one embodiment, in response to incident photons, generate a digital pulse signal having a duration of about 2 ns or less. | 05-28-2015 |
20160084970 | SOLID STATE PHOTOMULTIPLIER - Embodiments of a solid state photomultiplier are provided herein. In some embodiments, a photosensor may include a sensing element; and readout electronics, wherein the sensing element is AC coupled to the readout electronics. In some embodiments, a solid state photomultipler may include a microcell having; a sensing element; and readout electronics, wherein the sensing element is AC coupled to the readout electronics. | 03-24-2016 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120209107 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENHANCING NEEDLE VISUALIZATION IN ULTRASOUND IMAGING - A method of enhancing needle visualization in ultrasound imaging is provided. The method includes reducing overall gain in needle frames, and applying a nonlinear mapping to the needle frames, wherein the nonlinear mapping is configured to make strong signals stronger and make weak signals weaker after mapping. | 08-16-2012 |
20130072785 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENHANCING NEEDLE VISUALIZATION IN ULTRASOUND IMAGING - A method of enhancing needle visualization in ultrasound imaging is provided. The method includes reducing overall gain in needle frames, and applying a nonlinear mapping to the needle frames, wherein the nonlinear mapping is configured to make strong signals stronger and make weak signals weaker after mapping. | 03-21-2013 |
20130261432 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR NEEDLE VISUALIZATION - A method for needle visualization for an ultrasound imaging device, the method comprising alternately acquiring a tissue frame followed by a needle frame at a temporal spacing to form a frame sequence, spatially compounding the frame sequence, and outputting an image frame resulting from spatial compounding. | 10-03-2013 |
20150374329 | METHOD APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR ENHANCING NEEDLE VISUALIZATION IN MEDICAL ULTRASOUND IMAGING - The present invention discloses a method, apparatus and system for enhancing needle visualization in ultrasound imaging, said method comprising: a setting step for setting a scanning depth corresponding to a depth of a part or tissue target in a patient's body; and a determining step for automatically determining a needle frame steering angle and an ultrasound working frequency for needle frame collection based on the scanning depth. In the embodiments of the present invention, the needle frame steering angle and ultrasound working frequency for needle frame collection and the filter kernel for enhancing edge filtering of the collected needle frame are both dependent upon the scanning depth, and thereby can achieve enhancing needle visualization in ultrasound imaging for scanning at different depths without participation of the user or extra change of hardware. | 12-31-2015 |