Spotlight On Recent Patents

Typical x-ray images provide merely a two-dimensional shadow projection of denser objects between an x-ray source and a film or a detector.

To obtain three-dimensional information on the contents of an enclosed volume, our client American Science and Engineering, Inc. (AS&E) has developed a technique whereby x-rays that are scattered deep inside a suitcase can be used to determine the properties of material distributed throughout the volume. This is accomplished by considering how the surrounding material attenuates the scattered x-rays on their way to detectors distributed around the inspected volume.

Figure 4 of the patent that we prepared shows x-ray beams coming in from the left, and scattered up and down into detectors.

This innovative approach will enable a user to detect dangerous items that might otherwise be hidden and elude detection. This Scatter Attenuation Tomography method is a subject of US Patent No. 7,551,718, issued June 23, 2009, and one of the recent additions to AS&E’s comprehensive portfolio of patents in the field of x-ray inspection.

Explore previously spotlighted patents