Scintillation camera with improved light diffusion

Claim 2

In a device for producing a display representative of the spatial distribution of incident radiation stimuli from the subject under investigation, the combination of: a. a light-emitting mechanism for emitting flashes of light in response to incident stimuli; b. light amplification and integrating means for producing dots of light of a brightened intensity at locations corresponding to the locations of flashes in said mechanism and for integrating the dots to produce an image of spatial distribution of radioactivity in a subject under investigation; c. a light-conducting material interposed between the mechanism and the light amplification means; d. said material having an input surface oriented toward a light responsive portion of said light-amplification means; e. a plurality of masks interposed between said mechanism and said light responsive portion of the light amplification means; and, f. said masks being arranged in an array with each mask in one portion of an array of an area different than each mask of another portion of the array and still different than yet another portion of the array.

Claim 3

The device of claim 1 wherein the array includes a central mask and a ring of masks around the central mask and wherein the area of the central mask is greater than the area of each mask in the ring.

Claim 4

The device of claim 1 wherein the array includes a central mask and a ring of masks around the central mask and wherein the area of the central mask is lesser than the area of each mask in the ring.

Claim 5

In a device for producing a display representative of the spatial distribution of incident stimuli from the subject under investigation including a light-emitting mechanism for emitting flashes of light in response to such incident stimuli and a plurality of light-responsive components each of which emits electrical signals in response to light signals incident upon it, such signals being porportional to the intensity of the light signal responded to, an improved light conductor forming at least a portion of an optical coupling between the mechanism and the components comprising: a. a sheet of light-conducting material having input and output surfaces; b. the input surface of the sheet being oriented toward the mechanism; c. the output surface of the sheet being oriented toward said light-responsive components; d. a plurality of masks interposed between said mechanism and said components and preventing the direct transmission of a portion of the light from a point where a flash of light occurs in said mechanism to a light-responsive component, when said flash occurs in an area masked by said masks; and, e. the area of a central one of the masks being different than the area of an inner ring of masks perimetral of it.

Claim 6

In a device for producing a display representative of the spatial distribution of incident stimuli from the subject under investigation including a light-emitting mechanism for emitting flashes of light in response to such incident stimuli and a plurality of light-responsive components each of which emits electrical signals in response to light signals incident upon it, such signals being porportional to the intensity of the light signal responded to, an improved light conductor forming at least a portion of an optical coupling between the mechanism and the components comprising: a. a sheet of light-conducting material having input and output surfaces; b. the input surface of the sheet being oriented toward the mechanism; c. the output surface of the sheet being oriented toward said light-responsive components; d. a plurality of masks interposed between said mechanism and said components and preventing the direct transmission of a portion of the light from a point where a flash of light occurs in said mechanism to a light-responsive component, when said flash occurs in an area masked by said masks; and, e. the area of a central one of the masks being different than the area of an inner ring of masks perimetral of it.

Claim 7

The device of claim 4 wherein each of the masks is aligned with one of said components.

Claim 8

The device of claim 5 wherein the area of the central mask is greater than the area of each perimetral mask.

Claim 9

The device of claim 5 wherein the area of the central mask is lesser than the area of each perimetral mask.

Claim 10

In a gamma imagining device, the improved detector comprising: a. a housing; b. a collimator connected to the housing; c. a scintillation crystal carried by the housing inwardly of the collimator; d. a plurality of phototubes within the housing and adapted to emit electrical signals in response to light which results from scintillations occurring in the crystal; e. a crystal housing around the crystal and including an input window between the crystal and the phototubes, said window being essentially transparent to scintillations; f. a light conductor optically connecting the window to the phototube and having a planar input surface in tight juxtaposed optical couplIng with said window; g. said light conductor having output surface portions in juxtaposed relationship with said phototubes with at least some of said phototubes being in a common plane; h. a plurality of masks applied to at least one of the surfaces of the light conductor and inhibiting the direct transmission of light in masked areas from the center of a scintillation to the phototubes; i. each of the masks being aligned with a phototube; and, j. the mask aligned with the central phototube of an array being of an area different than the masks of an inner ring of masks perimetral of the central mask.

Claim 11

In a gamma imagining device, the improved detector comprising: a. a housing; b. a collimator connected to the housing; c. a scintillation crystal carried by the housing inwardly of the collimator; d. a plurality of phototubes within the housing and adapted to emit electrical signals in response to light which results from scintillations occurring in the crystal; e. a crystal housing around the crystal and including an input window between the crystal and the phototubes, said window being essentially transparent to scintillations; f. a light conductor optically connecting the window to the phototube and having a planar input surface in tight juxtaposed optical couplIng with said window; g. said light conductor having output surface portions in juxtaposed relationship with said phototubes with at least some of said phototubes being in a common plane; h. a plurality of masks applied to at least one of the surfaces of the light conductor and inhibiting the direct transmission of light in masked areas from the center of a scintillation to the phototubes; i. each of the masks being aligned with a phototube; and, j. the mask aligned with the central phototube of an array being of an area different than the masks of an inner ring of masks perimetral of the central mask.

Claim 12

The device of claim 8 wherein the central mask and the masks of said ring each include a hub-like portion disposed in axial alignment with its associated phototube and a plurality of radially extending spoke portions extending generally radially outwardly from the hub and wherein certain of said masks include further portions spaced from their associated hub portions and extending laterally of the nearest spoke portions.

Claim 13

For use in a scintillation camera of the type having an array of phototubes or the like arranged in a geometric array, the improved light conductor comprising: a. a sheet of light conducting material having generally parallel input and output faces; b. a plurality of masks of light reflective material fixed to at least one of said faces; c. said masks being arranged in a mask array corresponding at least in part to said geometric array; and, d. certain of said masks each having a hub portion and a plurality of radially extending spoke portions extending generally radially outwardly from the hub and leg portions extending laterally from certain of the spoke portions.

Claim 14

For use in a scintillation camera of the type having an array of phototubes or the like arranged in a geometric array, the improved light conductor comprising: a. a sheet of light conducting material having generally parallel input and output faces; b. a plurality of masks of light reflective material fixed to at least one of said faces; c. said masks being arranged in a mask array corresponding at least in part to said geometric array; and, d. certain of said masks each having a hub portion and a plurality of radially extending spoke portions extending generally radially outwardly from the hub and leg portions extending laterally from certain of the spoke portions.

Claim 15

The light conductor of claim 10 wherein each leg portion extends continuously between an adjacent pair of spoke portions.

Claim 16

The light conductor of claim 11 wherein the leg portions extend between alternate pairs of spoke portions.

Claim 17

The light conductor of claim 11 wherein the leg portions extend between each adjacent pair to form an endless substantially circular ring concentric with the hub of the same mask.

Claim 20

In a device for producing a display representative of the spatial distribution of incident radiation stimuli from the subject under investigation, the combination of: a. a light-emitting mechanism for emitting flashes of light in response to incident stimuli; b. light amplification and integrating means for producing dots of light of a brightened intensity at locations corresponding to the locations of flashes in said mechanism and for integrating the dots to produce an image of spatial distribution of radioactivity in a subject under investigation; c. a light-conducting material interposed between the mechanism and the light amplification means; d. said material having an input surface oriented toward a light responsive portion of said light-amplification means; e. a plurality of masks interposed between said mechanism and said light responsive portion of the light amplification means; f. masking material providing an apertured and otherwise a light impervious shield; and g. said masks being aligned with said apertures and including portions extending to edges of said apertures.

Claim 21

In a device for producing a display representative of the spatial distribution of incident radiation stimuli from the subject under investigation, the combination of: a. a light-emitting mechanism for emitting flashes of light in response to incident stimuli; b. light amplification and integrating means for producing dots of light of a brightened intensity at locations corresponding to the locations of flashes in said mechanism and for integrating the dots to produce an image of spatial distribution of radioactivity in a subject under investigation; c. a light-conducting material interposed between the mechanism and the light amplification means; d. said material having an input surface oriented toward a light responsive portion of said light-amplification means; e. a plurality of masks interposed between said mechanism and said light responsive portion of the light amplification means; f. masking material providing an apertured and otherwise a light impervious shield; and g. said masks being aligned with said apertures and including portions extending to edges of said apertures.

Claim 22

The device of clAim 15 wherein each of said masks includes a hub and a plurality of spoke portions and where certain of the spokes extend beyond the edges of said apertures.

Claim 23

The device of claim 15 wherein each of the masks includes a hub and a plurality of the spokes and certain of the spokes terminate inwardly of the edges of said apertures.

Claim 24

The device of claim 15 wherein certain of the masks have hub portions and extending spoke portions and wherein certain of the spoke portions are connected by leg portions.

Claim 25

The method of claim 14 wherein there is a central component and a ring of components around the central component and wherein said step of providing masking in selected areas includes masking areas in alignment with selected ones of said ring components, which selected areas were unmasked in the operated detector.

Claim 26

The method of claim 14 wherein there is a central component and a ring of components around the central component and wherein said step of providing masking in selected areas includes masking areas near the central component, which selected areas were unmasked in the operated detector.

Claim 27

The method of claim 14 wherein the operated detector had masking interposed between said member and said components, and said step of providing masking in selected areas includes unmasking other selected areas which were masked in the operated detector.

Claim 28

The method of claim 14 wherein the operated detector had a central component and a ring of components around said central component and was provided with masking both near said central component and near said ring of components, and the step of providing masking in selected areas includes adjusting the relative areas of masking near said central component and said ring of components.

Claim 29

The method of claim 22 wherein said step of adjusting the relative areas of masking includes decreasing the masking in one of said areas and increasing the masking in the other of said areas.

Claim 30

The method of claim 22 wherein said step of adjusting the relative areas of masking includes increasing the masking in one of said areas.

Claim 31

In a device for producing an output signal representative of the spatial distribution of incident radiation stimuli from a subject under investigation, the combination of: a. secondary radiation emitting means for emitting secondary radiation in response to incident radiation stimuli; b. a plurality of secondary radiation responsive means for receiving secondary radiation and generating an output signal representative of the spatial distribution of said secondary radiation, said radiation responsive means being arranged in an array with at least one centrally disposed radiation responsive means surrounded by at least one ring of other radiation responsive means; c. a plurality of masks interposed between selected ones of said secondary radiation emitting means and said secondary radiation responsive means, said masks being opaque, at least in part, to said secondary radiation; and, d. such of said masks as are aligned with said centrally disposed radiation responsive means having a different radiation opaque area than such of said masks as are aligned with the adjacent surrounding ring of radiation responsive means.

Claim 32

In a device for producing an output signal representative of the spatial distribution of incident radiation stimuli from a subject under investigation, the combination of: a. secondary radiation emitting means for emitting secondary radiation in response to incident radiation stimuli; b. a plurality of secondary radiation responsive means for receiving secondary radiation and generating an output signal representative of the spatial distribution of said secondary radiation, said radiation responsive means being arranged in an array with at least one centrally disposed radiation responsive means surrounded by at least one ring of other radiation responsive means; c. a plurality of masks interposed between selected ones of said secondary radiation emitting means and said secondary radiation responsive means, said masks being opaque, at least in part, to said secondary radiation; and, d. such of said masks as are aligned with said centrally disposed radiation responsive means having a different radiation opaque area than such of said masks as are aligned with the adjacent surrounding ring of radiation responsive means.

Claim 33

The device of claim 25 wherein said centrally disposed masks have a greater radiation opaque area than do said adjacent ring masks.

Claim 34

The device of claim 25 wherein said centrally disposed masks have a lesser radiation opaque area than do said adjacent ring masks.

Claim 35

The device of claim 25 wherein: a. said centrally disposed masks comprise a single mask; and, b. said single mask includes radially extending portions which extend in directions toward each of said adjacent ring masks.

Claim 36

The device of claim 28 wherein: a. said adjacent ring masks each include a plurality of radially extending regions extending outwardly from a central hub; and, b. selected ones of said radially extending regions which arE aligned with said radially extending portions are of lesser length than are others of said radially extending regions.

Claim 37

The device of claim 28 wherein: a. said single mask further includes radially extending projections which point in directions other than toward said adjacent ring masks; and, b. said radially extending projections are of greater length than are said radially extending portions.