Patent ID: 6327549
Filing Date: 2001-12-04
Classification: G01T

Abstract:
A spectroscopy system comprising:a detector for detecting radiation pulses emitted from a sample being analyzed, said detector producing an output signal representative of a measured amplitude of each said detected radiation pulse;a true timer for measuring a true time period corresponding to a differential data acquisition cycle;a live timer for measuring a live time period corresponding to the differential data acquisition cycle minus a period of time while each said output signal is processed;a processing device electrically connected to said true timer and said live timer, said processing device for calculating a true-to-live ratio of said first time period and said second time period;a signal processor in electrical communication with said detector, said signal processor for conditioning said output signal as a processed signal;an analog-to-digital converter in electrical communication with said signal processor for producing a digital representation of said processed signal, said digital representation serving as a pointer; anda plurality of histogram memories electrically connected to said processing device and said detector, said plurality of histogram memories including at least a first histogram memory being incremented by said true-to-live ratio at a memory location addressed by said pointer and a second histogram memory being incremented by said true-to-live ratio squared at the memory location addressed by said pointer.