| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20090092219 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING DUAL-SPECTRUM CT WITH FAST KV MODULATION AT MULTIPLE-VIEW INTERVALS - A CT system includes a rotatable gantry having an opening for receiving a subject to be scanned, a rotatable gantry having an opening for receiving a subject to be scanned, an x-ray source configured to project x-rays having multiple energies toward the subject, and a generator configured to energize the x-ray source to a first voltage and configured to energize the x-ray source to a second voltage, the first voltage distinct from the second voltage. The system further includes a controller configured to cause the generator to energize the x-ray source to the first voltage for a first duration, acquire imaging data for at least one view during at least the first duration, after the first duration, cause the generator to energize the x-ray source to the second voltage for a second duration, and acquire imaging data for two or more views during at least the second duration. | 04-09-2009 |
| 20090161814 | METHOD FOR CALIBRATING A DUAL -SPECTRAL COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY (CT) SYSTEM - A method for calibrating and reconstructing material density images in a dual-spectral computed tomography (CT) system | 06-25-2009 |
| 20110150171 | COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY SYSTEM WITH DATA COMPRESSION AND TRANSFER - A computed tomography (CT) system that includes a rotational gantry and a stationary structure communicatively coupled to the rotational gantry is provided. The rotational gantry includes an X-ray source configured to emit an X-ray beam through a subject, an X-ray detector comprising one or more detector elements that receive incoming X-rays and to convert the incoming X-rays to image signals, and a data acquisition unit that processes the image signals to generate processed image data. The stationary structure is coupled to the rotational gantry via one or more slip rings that transfer the processed image data from the rotational gantry to stationary memory integral with the stationary structure via a bidirectional serial data exchange protocol. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110150174 | MULTIPLE X-RAY TUBE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME - An imaging system includes a rotatable gantry having an opening therein to receive a subject to be scanned and configured to rotate about a central axis in a rotation direction. The imaging system also includes a first x-ray source coupled to the rotatable gantry at a first position, wherein the first position is offset from the central axis of the rotatable gantry by a first distance. Further, the imaging system includes a second x-ray source coupled to the rotatable gantry at a second position, wherein the second position is offset from the central axis of the rotatable gantry by a second distance, wherein the second position is offset from the first position in a direction coincident with the rotation direction, and wherein the second position is offset from the first position in a direction parallel to the central axis. | 06-23-2011 |
| 20110211667 | DE-POPULATED DETECTOR FOR COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME - A system, method, and apparatus includes a computed tomography (CT) detector array having a central region with a plurality of central region detecting cells configured to acquire CT data of a first number of slices during a scan, a first wing along a first side of the central region, and a second wing along a second side of the central region opposite the first side. The first wing includes a plurality of first wing detecting cells configured to acquire CT data of a second number of slices during the scan. The second wing includes a plurality of second wing detecting cells configured to acquire CT data of a third number of slices during the scan. The second and third number of slices are less than the first number of slices. The first wing detecting cells are of a different type than the central region detecting cells. | 09-01-2011 |
| 20120014502 | ASYMMETRIC DE-POPULATED DETECTOR FOR COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME - A computed tomography (CT) detector array includes a central region substantially symmetric about a central axis thereof and includes a first plurality of x-ray detector cells configured to acquire CT data from a first number of detector rows during a scan, wherein the central axis is in a channel direction of the CT detector array and transverse to a slice direction of the CT detector array. A first wing is coupled to a first side of the central region, and a second wing is coupled to a second side of the central region opposite the first side. The first and second wings include respective second and third pluralities of x-ray detector cells and are each configured to acquire CT data from a number of detector rows that is less than the first number of detector rows. The CT detector array is asymmetric about the central axis of the central region. | 01-19-2012 |
| 20120163530 | ANODE TARGET FOR AN X-RAY TUBE AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE X-RAY TUBE - Anode targets for an x-ray tube and methods for controlling x-ray tubes for x-ray systems are provided. One x-ray system includes a field-generator configured to generate a field, an electron beam generator configured to generate an electron beam directed towards a target and a voltage controller configured to control the electron beam generator to produce an electron beam at a first energy level and an electron beam at a second energy level. The x-ray system also includes a field-generator controller configured to control a field to deflect at least one of the electron beams, wherein the electron beam, at the first energy level, impinges on the target at a first contact position and the electron beam, at the second energy level, impinges on the target at a second contact position. The at the first contact position and at the second contact position is configured to filter x-rays. | 06-28-2012 |
| 20120177173 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REDUCING IMAGING ARTIFACTS - A method for reducing imaging artifacts includes preprocessing a computed tomography (CT) projection data set to generate preprocessed CT projection data, filtering the preprocessed CT projection data using a mean-preserving filter (MPF) to reduce electronic noise, generating a sinogram using the filtered CT projection data, performing a minus logarithmic operation on the sinogram to generate a noise corrected image, and displaying the noise corrected image on a display. A imaging correcting module and a multi-modality imaging system are also described herein. | 07-12-2012 |
| 20130058451 | METHOD OF DOSE REDUCTION FOR CT IMAGING AND APPARATUS FOR IMPLEMENTING SAME - A CT system includes an x-ray source configured to project an x-ray beam toward an object, a detector array, and a bowtie filter. The bowtie filter includes a first x-ray filtration region positioned to attenuate x-rays that pass through an isochannel of the detector array, a second x-ray filtration region positioned to attenuate x-rays that pass through channels of the detector array that are offcenter in a channel direction from the isochannel, and an x-ray attenuation material positionable to attenuate the x-rays that pass through the channels of the detector array that are offcenter in the channel direction from the isochannel. The CT system also includes a data acquisition system (DAS) connected to the detector array and configured to receive outputs from the detector array, and a computer programmed to acquire projections of imaging data of the object, and generate an image of the object using the imaging data. | 03-07-2013 |
| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20110282925 | DIRECTIONAL OPTIMIZATION VIA EBW - An optimization system and method includes determining a best gradient as a sparse direction in a function having a plurality of parameters. The sparse direction includes a direction that maximizes change of the function. This maximum change of the function is determined by performing an optimization process that gives maximum growth subject to a sparsity regularized constraint. An extended Baum Welch (EBW) method can be used to identify the sparse direction. A best step size is determined along the sparse direction by finding magnitudes of entries of direction that maximizes the function restricted to the sparse direction. A solution is recursively refined for the function optimization using a processor and storage media. | 11-17-2011 |
| 20110283226 | WINDOW DISPLAY MANAGEMENT IN A GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE - The present invention provides a computer implemented method and data processing system for effectively presenting popup and related windows on a computer GUI. An example system may include a computer processor coupled to the computer readable memory. The computer processor is configured to receive content of a new window for display in the display screen, perform a text analysis on the content of the new window to determine a relevance of the new window to the user, and determine a display position of the new window on the display screen based on the relevance of the new window to the user and a cursor position in the GUI displaying keyboard input such that the new window is displayed on the display screen at the determined display position. | 11-17-2011 |
| 20110304446 | SYSTEM FOR PREVENTING HANDHELD DEVICE USE WHILE OPERATING A VEHICLE - Techniques for preventing a driver of a moving vehicle from using a handheld device while driving. An example system of the invention includes a plurality of biometric sensors configured to receive biometric data from the driver and a user of the handheld device. Contemporaneously with operation of the vehicle and the handheld device, the biometric data is analyzed in order to determine a match between the identity of the vehicle driver and the user of the handheld device. A controller is configured to selectively interrupt operation of the vehicle or handheld device upon detecting the match. | 12-15-2011 |
| 20120016674 | Modification of Speech Quality in Conversations Over Voice Channels - Techniques are disclosed for modifying speech quality in a conversation over a voice channel. For example, a method for modifying a speech quality associated with a spoken utterance transmittable over a voice channel comprises the following steps. The spoken utterance is obtained prior to an intended recipient of the spoken utterance receiving the spoken utterance. An existing speech quality of the spoken utterance is determined. The existing speech quality of the spoken utterance is compared to at least one desired speech quality associated with at least one previously obtained spoken utterance to determine whether the existing speech quality substantially matches the desired speech quality. At least one characteristic of the spoken utterance is modified to change the existing speech quality of the spoken utterance to the desired speech quality when the existing speech quality does not substantially match the desired speech quality. The spoken utterance is presented with the desired speech quality to the intended recipient. | 01-19-2012 |
| 20120078621 | SPARSE REPRESENTATION FEATURES FOR SPEECH RECOGNITION - Techniques are disclosed for generating and using sparse representation features to improve speech recognition performance. In particular, principles of the invention provide sparse representation exemplar-based recognition techniques. For example, a method comprises the following steps. A test vector and a training data set associated with a speech recognition system are obtained. A subset of the training data set is selected. The test vector is mapped with the selected subset of the training data set as a linear combination that is weighted by a sparseness constraint such that a new test feature set is formed wherein the training data set is moved more closely to the test vector subject to the sparseness constraint. An acoustic model is trained on the new test feature set. | 03-29-2012 |
| 20120189878 | Optimizing Battery Usage - Techniques for optimizing battery usage are provided. The techniques include sensing energy level of a battery, comparing the sensed energy level of the battery to a predetermined energy threshold for the battery, and controlling energy flow to and from the battery based on the comparison of the sensed energy level and the energy threshold. | 07-26-2012 |
| 20120210277 | USAGE BASED SCREEN MANAGEMENT - An apparatus and method are provided for a power saving for multi-media output devices that belong to two or more interconnected devices. The method includes receiving a set of predetermined criteria associated with at least one of application type, user behavior, and user characteristics. The method further includes selectively modifying portions of at least one of the multi-media output devices in accordance with the set of predetermined criteria. The one or more portions are less than an entirety of the at least one of the multi-media output devices. | 08-16-2012 |
| 20120215843 | Virtual Communication Techniques - Techniques for facilitating communication are provided. The techniques include using a machine-to-machine communication to facilitate communication between one or more human users of a communicator device and a compatible communicator device, wherein using the machine-to-machine communication to facilitate communication between one or more human users comprises initiating a machine-to-machine communication with a compatible communicator device if the device is within the geographic proximity, wherein the machine-to-machine communication incorporates one or more related items from a user profile of each device automatically extracted by the device initiating the machine-to-machine communication, and conducting the machine-to-machine communication in a manner in which the communication can be monitored by the one or more human users. | 08-23-2012 |
| 20120240237 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IN-PRIVATE BROWSING - A method, system, and computer program product for operating a web browser in an open browsing mode and a private browsing mode. The method may include calculating, by a computer processor, a privacy probability that a website contains information sensitive to the user. The privacy probability may be based, at least in part, on historical use of the private browsing mode by the user. The method may also include comparing the privacy probability to a privacy threshold and automatically switching the browser from the open browsing mode to the private browsing mode for the website if the privacy probability is greater than the privacy threshold. | 09-20-2012 |
| 20120243670 | Automatically Updating Meeting Information - Techniques for automatically providing updated meeting information are provided. The techniques include facilitating receipt of a message pertaining to a meeting, automatically interpreting the message to determine if the message requires that meeting information be changed, automatically updating the meeting information if a change is required from the message, and automatically sending a message to each meeting participant informing each participant of the updated meeting information. | 09-27-2012 |
| 20120253784 | LANGUAGE TRANSLATION BASED ON NEARBY DEVICES - A device, method, and computer program for performing language translation. An example embodiment may include a communications module configured to receive device data from a nearby device. A constraint module is configured to limit a translation domain of the language translation based on the device data. Language translation is performed within the limited translation domain. | 10-04-2012 |
| 20120290299 | Translating Between Spoken and Written Language - Techniques for converting spoken speech into written speech are provided. The techniques include transcribing input speech via speech recognition, mapping each spoken utterance from input speech into a corresponding formal utterance, and mapping each formal utterance into a stylistically formatted written utterance. | 11-15-2012 |
