Patent ID: 6923374
Filing Date: 2005-08-02
Classification: G02B,G06K,H01S

Abstract:
1. A pulsed fast neutron analysis (PFNA) based object scanning-tunnel system for automatically acquiring and linking object identity and attribute information about each object transported through said PFNA object scanning-tunnel system while bearing a bar code symbol and/or identifying graphical indicia on the exterior surface thereof, said PFNA based object scanning-tunnel system comprising: a scanning-tunnel housing having an input port and an output port, through which one or more objects can be transported; a planar light illumination and imaging (PLIIM) based subsystem, integrated within said scanning-tunnel housing, and including a PFNA scanning subsystem mounted within said scanning-tunnel housing, for producing a neutron energy beam for scanning the interior and/or contents of each object transported through said scanning tunnel, and automatically producing PFNA images of said interior and/or contents; and an information linking computer subsystem programmed for automatically linking (i) PFNA images of the interior and/or contents of each said transported object produced by said PFNA scanning subsystem, with (ii) object identification information produced by said PLIIM-based subsystem, for storage within a relational database management system (RDBMS) for subsequent access and retrieval.