Patent ID: 11877377
Assignee: NIKON METROLOGY NV
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A method of setting a filament demand in an x-ray apparatus, the x-ray apparatus comprising:
a filament, through which the passing of a heating current allows thermionic emission of electrons from the filament,
a target, arranged to generate x-rays from the electrons emitted from the filament,
a detector, arranged to detect x-rays generated by the target for forming an x-ray image, and
a controller, wherein the controller is configured to perform a measurement operation of the x-ray apparatus to measure a parameter of the x-ray apparatus; and to set a filament demand for the filament, the filament demand correlating with the current passed through the filament,
the method comprising:
varying the filament demand between a first value corresponding to a lower filament current and a second value corresponding to a higher filament current;
measuring the parameter at a series of values of the filament demand between the first value and the second value;
detecting a knee in the measured parameter;
determining the filament demand corresponding to the detected knee in the parameter; and
setting the filament demand for the x-ray apparatus based on the determined filament demand corresponding to the detected knee in the parameter.