Storage phosphor reader apparatus and calibration method

Abstract: Laser imaging apparatus, such as a storage phosphor reader (10), which minimizes image artifacts in a detected electronic image signal caused by nonuniform light collection efficiency across the length of the scanned image light collector. A laser (12), such as a gas laser, produces a laser beam (14) having a stimulating (scanning) light at a first wavelength and additional spontaneous emission light at a second wavelength. The stimulating light is scanned in a line scan direction across a storage phosphor (18) having a latent image to stimulate the storage phosphor (18) to emit a light image. A light collector (20) collects the light image and a photodetector (22) detects the collected light and produces an image signal. In a calibration step before main scanning, the additional light is scanned in a line scan direction across a diffuse reflector. The light collector (20) collects the reflected light and the photodetector (22) produces an image correcting signal. The image signal and image correcting signal produce a corrected image signal representative of the latent image.

Description: This invention relates in general to laser imaging apparatus and, more particularly, to a technique for calibrating a laser imaging apparatus such as a storage phosphor reader having a laser image scanner. In a storage phosphor imaging system, as described in US-A-Re-31,847, a storage phosphor is exposed to an image-wise pattern of short wavelength radiation, such as x-ray radiation, to record a latent image pattern in the storage phosphor. The latent image is read out by stimulating the storage phosphor with a relatively long wavelength stimulating radiation, such as red or infrared. Upon stimulation, the storage phosphor releases emitted radiation of an intermediate wavelength, such as blue or violet light in proportion to the quantity of short wavelength radiation that was received. To produce a signal useful in electronic image processing, the storage phosphor is scanned in a raster pattern by a beam of light produced by a laser deflected by a oscillating or rotating polygon mirror. The emitted radiation is sensed by a photodetector, such as a photomultiplier, to produce an electronic image signal. The electronic image signal may then be digitized and stored in memory, displayed on a video monitor or reproduced on film by a laser printer or multiformat camera. In one type of scanning apparatus, the storage phosphor is placed on a translation stage and is translated in a page scan direction past a laser beam that is repeatedly deflected in a line scan direction to form the scanning raster. In order to optimize the signal-to-noise ratio of the imaging system, it is desirable to collect as much of the emitted light as possible and to direct it to the photodetector. Typically, the light collector includes a tubular member extending the width of the storage phosphor and having a slot adjacent to the storage phosphor for receiving the emitted light. The internal surface of the collector tube is either specularly or diffusely reflective to reflect the emitted light to one or more photodetectors in communication with the collector tube. Because of the nonuniform reflectivity across the length of the light collection tube, the electronic image signal must be corrected to prevent streaks and other low spatial frequency image artifacts in the final read out image. Normally, this can be accomplished by scanning a storage phosphor having a uniform x-ray exposure and determining appropriate correction factors that are required to correct the final image signal. Such a technique is disclosed in European Patent Application 0138024. As disclosed in this patent, a storage phosphor image scanning readout apparatus includes a system for scanning a latent image in a storage phosphor and for obtaining an analog image signal. The latter signal is converted by means of an analog-to-digital converter to a digital signal. The analog-to-digital conversion system is provided with a function of normalizing the analog image signal by use of a standard correction image signal. The correction signal is detected in advance by scanning a uniformly exposed storage phosphor, digitally converting the analog image signal associated with this uniform field exposure, and storing the signal as the standard correction image signal. The correction system disclosed in this patent is disadvantageous because it requires a prescan step involving uniform x-ray exposure of the storage phosphor which is time consuming, expensive and requires access to an x-ray device. It is known to monitor the laser beam during the scanning operation in order to correct for fluctuations in the intensity of the laser beam (see US-A-4,507,562; US-A-4,410,799; and US-A-4,896,222). Another correction system is disclosed in US-A-4,977,322, which discloses a method of minimizing image signal noise, including the steps of feeding an image signal to a high frequency component decreasing device for arbitrarily decreasing a high-frequency component, detecting the level of the image signal, and decreasing the high frequency component of the image signal by the high frequency component decreasing device in accordance with a decrease in the level of the image signal. It is also known that, in order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of a storage phosphor reader, background noise at the photodetector must be minimized. One such source of background noise is the spontaneous emission of light associated with the individual component gases in the laser tube. In a Helium Neon laser, for example, a low pressure mixture of primarily helium and neon as well as other trace gases are contained in a narrow cylindrical glass tube. A longitudinal DC electrical discharge is maintained in this cylinder creating a plasma. This excitation of the gases produces spontaneous emission at many different wavelengths including some light in the blue or violet regions of the spectrum which overlap the wavelength spectrum of the storage phosphor stimulated emission. While the optical cavity design of the laser typically maximizes the gain at a particular wavelength, .6328 microns for Helium Neon, some of the spontaneous emission light manages to propagate collinear with the main lasing beam. If this spontaneous emission light propagates through the entire optical system, then the spontaneous emission laser light will be diffusely reflected from the storage phosphor and collected by the light collector and detected by the photodetector simultaneously with the storage phosphor stimulated emission. The stimulated emission signal representative of the latent image in the storage phosphor would then be indistinguishable from the background signal created by the diffusely reflected spontaneous emission light from the laser. It is for this reason that a high pass or notch optical filter is typically placed in the laser beam path prior to where the laser beam stimulates the storage phosphor in order to block this unwanted background signal and consequently improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the storage phosphor reader. However, since a portion of this spontaneous emission light falls in the same wavelength region as the storage phosphor emission, it can also be used to create a calibrated correction signal. If the spontaneous emission light is allowed to propagate through the optical system and is directed by the scanning optics to the image plane, where a diffusely reflecting surface exists, then the diffuse reflectance of this spontaneous emission light collected by the light collector and detected by the photodetector will mimic the stimulation and collection of light from a laser scanned storage phosphor. Therefore, a calibrated correction signal can be created without the need for scanning a uniformly x-ray exposed storage phosphor. According to the present invention, there is provided a storage phosphor reader, which minimizes image artifacts in a detected electronic image signal, caused by nonuniform collection efficiency across the length of a scanned image light collector. According to an aspect of the invention, a storage phosphor reader includes a gas laser which produces a laser beam having stimulating light at the design wavelength of the laser and additional light created by the laser source due to spontaneous emission associated with the excitation of the individual component gases in the plasma of the laser tube. An optical high pass or notch filter is located in the beam path to absorb or block the spontaneous emission portion of the light so that only the stimulating light laser beam scans a storage phosphor which has been exposed to an x-ray image. Prior to scanning a latent image on a storage phosphor, this high pass or notch filter is removed from the laser beam path and the spontaneous emission light is scanned in a line scan direction across a diffusely reflecting substrate. A light collector collects the diffusely scattered light, a bandpass optical filter absorbs the stimulating laser light and passes the spontaneous emission signal light in the blue or violet wavelength range to a photodetector which produces an electronic image signal characteristic of the light collection efficiency across the length of the light collector. In one embodiment of the present invention, an unexposed storage phosphor may be used as the diffuse reflector, in yet another embodiment, a diffuse reflectance substrate other than a storage phosphor may be used, and in yet another embodiment, a diffuse reflectance strip may be prearranged at the image plane. FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a storage phosphor reader incorporating an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a graphical representation of components of light produced by an exemplary gas laser used in the embodiment of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a signal diagram useful in explaining the operation of the present invention. FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are respective further embodiments of the present invention. FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 are signal diagrams useful in explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 6. Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described herein with respect to a storage phosphor reader having a laser scanning system, it will be understood that the present invention is applicable to other laser scanning systems, such as film digitizers, document scanners and the like. Referring to FIG. 1 there is shown a storage phosphor reader incorporating an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, during a reading operation of a storage phosphor having a latent x-ray image, storage phosphor reader 10 includes a laser 12 (such as a Helium-Neon gas laser) which produces a beam 14 of light. Beam 14 includes both stimulating light at a first wavelength λ, and spontaneous emission light at a second wavelength λ 2 (Fig. 2). Beam 14 passes through a high pass absorption filter 11 which is movable in the direction of arrow 13 into and out of the path of beam 14. Filter 11 filters out the spontaneous emission light and passes the stimulating light. Beam 14 is scanned in a line scan direction by oscillating mirror 16 (driven by galvo 15) and folding mirror 17 across storage phosphor 18 after beam 14 has passed through focusing lens 50 which focuses beam 14 to the image plane represented by storage phosphor 18. Storage phosphor 18 is translated in a page scan direction 19 by a suitable translation mechanism (not shown). Other mechanisms, such as a drum, rollers, belt, or flat bed device, may also effect movement in direction 19. Storage phosphor 18 has a latent image, such as a latent x-ray image which is stimulated by laser beam 14 to emit light of a wavelength in the region of the spontaneous emission light at second wavelength λ 2 . A light collector 20 of the type, for example, disclosed in commonly assigned US Patent 5 107 116, collects the emitted light and reflects it to photodetector 22. Bandpass filter 44 passes emitted light of wavelength λ 2 and rejects stimulating light of wavelength λ 1 . Photodetector 22 converts the emitted light image into a electronic image signal which is applied to reader circuit 24. Collector 20 includes a vertical mirror 26, opposing angled mirrors 28 and 30, and apex mirror 31, which have specularly reflecting inner surfaces. Mirror 26 forms with mirrors 28 and 30, upper and lower slots 32 and 34 which allow passage of laser scanning beam 14 to stimulate storage phosphor 18 and allow entry of emitted radiation from storage phosphor 18 into collector 20. According to the present invention, nonuniform collection efficiency across the length of a scanned light collector 20 is corrected prior to scanning a latent image on a storage phosphor. Prior to image scanning, high pass filter 11 is moved in direction 13 out of the path of laser beam 14 and both the stimulating light of wavelength λ 1 and the spontaneous emission light of wavelength λ 2 are scanned in a line direction across a diffusely reflecting substrate. Collector 20 collects the diffusely scattered light of both wavelengths, but only the spontaneous emission light is passed by filter 44 to photodetector 22. The correcting signal produced by photodetector 22 is supplied to reader circuit 24 where it is used to correct the image signal produced later. As shown in FIG. 3, the correcting signal has the same shape as the image signal. One method for correcting the image signal is by inverting the correcting signal and subtracting it from the image signal. A corrected signal is produced which is uniform across the scan width. According to one embodiment of the present invention, when doing a scan for generation of a correction signal, filter 11 is removed from laser beam path 14 and both stimulating laser light and spontaneous emission light is allowed to propagate along laser beam path 14. An unexposed storage phosphor 18 is scanned in a line direction to produce the correcting signal. The correcting signal may be produced from a single line scan of storage phosphor 18 or from a full page scan by repeatedly scanning phosphor 18 as it is translated in the direction of arrow 19. In the latter case, the line scans are averaged to produce the correcting signal. In another embodiment storage phosphor 18 can be replaced with a substrate coated with a diffusely reflecting material such as Eastman White (product of Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, New York) or Duraflect (product of Labsphere Inc.) or any diffuse coating exhibiting high reflectance in the blue wavelength region. This sheet may then be scanned as described in the preceding embodiment. In a preferred embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 4, a strip of diffuse reflectance material 36 is located near the image plane of the scan line and adjacent to lower slot 34 of collector 20. With filter 11 positioned so that it is not blocking the spontaneous emission light of beam 14, repeated line scans of the stationary diffuse reflectance strip 36 yield the correcting signal. Storage phosphor sheet 11 can then be scanned by moving blocking filter 13 (FIG. 1) into the beam path 14 and transporting the storage phosphor between lower slot 34 of collector 20 and over the stationary diffuse reflectance strip 36. In yet another preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a flat bed translation stage 38 has a diffuse reflectance strip 37 attached to stage 38. When the stage 38 is at the storage phosphor loading position the diffuse reflectance strip 37 is under the lower slot 34 of collector 20. Therefore, prior to loading or prior to scanning, a correcting signal scan may be acquired. Thus, through the use of the spontaneous emission blue light from a gas laser, the necessity of performing a prescan of a uniformly x-ray irradiated storage phosphor 18 is eliminated. This increases the number of storage phosphors which can be read by reader 10 in a given period and eliminates the inconvenience of pre-exposing a storage phosphor to x-ray radiation prior to actual exposure. Turning now to FIG. 6, the present invention will be described with respect to another type of light collector. As shown, the light collector includes generally a rectangular slab of transparent material 60, having a thickness t greater than 20 mm. A light-receiving face 62 of the slab 60 is arranged adjacent to the scan line 64 of a laser beam 66 that moves in the direction of arrow A to scan a storage phosphor 68. At an opposite face 69 of the slab 60 are arranged a plurality (such as five shown) of photomultiplier tubes 70 in optical contact with the face 69 of the slab 60. A filter 72 which transmits at the emitted wavelength and spontaneous emission wavelength, and does not transmit at the stimulating wavelength, is located between the light receiving faces of photomultiplier tubes, and the transparent slab 60, and in optical contact therewith. An elongated reflector 74 is positioned opposite the light receiving face 62 of the transparent slab 60 to reflect emitted light into the light receiving face 62. FIG. 7 is a graphical representation of the stimulated (emitted) light signal from each individual PMT 70 and the combined signal from all of the PMTs 70 produced by scanning a storage phosphor uniformly exposed to x-ray radiation. FIG. 8 is a graphical representation of the reflected light (spontaneous emission) signal from each individual PMT 70 and the combined signal from all of the PMTs 70 produced by scanning an unexposed storage phosphor with the spontaneous emission signal from a gas laser. FIG. 9 is a graphical representation of the reflected light (spontaneous emission) signal from each individual PMT 70 and the combined signal from all of the PMTs 70 produced by scanning a diffuse reflecting material (Eastman White) such as in the embodiments of FIG. 4 or FIG. 5, with the spontaneous emission signal from a gas laser. A comparison of the emitted light signal represented in FIG. 7 and the reflected spontaneous light signal represented in FIG. 8 or FIG. 9 shows their substantial similarity so that the correcting signal techniques of FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 are substantially equivalent to the correcting signal technique of FIG. 7. The latter technique is more expensive, more complex and more time consuming. Industrial Applicability The present invention has industrial application in laser image scanners, such as laser scanning storage phosphor readers, for producing scanned images which are free from image artifacts in a reflected or emitted image.

Claims: A storage phosphor reader apparatus (10) comprising a laser (12) for producing a laser beam (14) including stimulating light of a first wavelength, and light of at least one second wavelength; filter means (11) in the beam path of said laser beam (14) for blocking said at least one second wavelength; means (16) for scanning said stimulating light of said laser beam (14) in a line scan direction across a storage phosphor (18) having a latent image, to stimulate the storage phosphor to emit light at an emitting light wavelength, according to a latent image stored in said storage phosphor; light collector means (20) for collecting said emitted light; and photodetector means (22) for detecting the light collected by said light collector means (20) and for producing an image signal, said apparatus being characterized by: diffuse reflector means (36,37) provided to said light collector means (20); means (13) for selectively moving said filter means (11) out of the beam path of said laser beam (14) when an image correcting signal is to be produced, so that said scanning means (16) scans the light of said first and second wavelength across said diffuse reflector means (36,37) and said light collector means collects reflected light from said reflector means and said photodetector means (22) detects reflected light of said second wavelength to produce an image correcting signal; and means (24) for receiving said image signal and said image correcting signal to produce a corrected image signal representative of said latent image. The storage phosphor reader apparatus of claim 1 wherein said laser (12) is a gas laser which produces stimulating light of said first wavelength and spontaneous emission light of said at least one second wavelength. The storage phosphor reader apparatus of claim 1 wherein said storage phosphor (18) emits light in the same wavelength region as said laser light of said second wavelength and including filter means (44) associated with said photodetector means (22) for passing light of said second wavelength and of said emitted light wavelength to said photodetector means (22) and for keeping stimulating light of said first wavelength from said photodetector means (22). The storage phosphor reader apparatus of claim 1 wherein an unexposed storage phosphor (18) is provided to said light collector means (20) as a diffuse reflector. The storage phosphor reader apparatus of claim 1 wherein a stationary diffuse reflectance means (36) is provided to said light collector means (20) for receiving and reflecting said scanning light of said second wavelength. The storage phosphor reader apparatus of claim 1 including means (38) for supporting said storage phosphor (18) for movement past said scanning beam, wherein said supporting means (38) has a diffuse reflectance means (37) for receiving and reflecting said light of said second wavelength and which is moved past said scanning light of said second wavelength. A calibration method for a storage phosphor reader apparatus (10) that comprises a laser (12) for producing a laser beam (14) containing stimulating light of a first wavelength, and light of at least one second wavelength; filter means (11) in the beam path of said laser beam (14) for blocking said at least one second wavelength; means (16) for scanning said stimulating light of said laser beam in a line scan direction across a storage phosphor (18) having a latent image, to stimulate the storage phosphor to emit light at an emitting light wavelength, according to a latent image stored in said storage phosphor; light collector means (20) for collecting said emitted light; and photodetector means (22) sensitive to said emitted light for detecting the light collected by said light collector means (20) and for producing an image signal, said calibrating method being characterized by the steps of: providing a diffuse reflecting means (36,37) to said light collector means (20); selectively moving said filter means (11) out of the beam path of said laser beam (14) when an image correcting signal is to be produced so that light of said second wavelength is contained in the spectrum of said laser beam; scanning said light of said laser beam across said diffuse reflecting means (36,37); collecting reflected light from said diffuse reflecting means by said collector means (20); detecting said reflected light of said second wavelength by said photodetector means (22); and producing an image correcting signal from said reflected light of said second wavelength which correcting signal is used to correct said image signal later-on to produce a corrected image signal representative of said latent image. The calibration method of claim 7 wherein said laser (12) is a gas laser which produces stimulating light of said first wavelength and spontaneous emission light of said at least one second wavelength. The calibration method of claim 7 wherein said laser light of said second wavelength is in the same wavelength region as the emitted light from said storage phosphor (18) and said calibration method further comprising the steps of: blocking the stimulating light of said first wavelength reflected by said diffuse reflecting means (36,37) from reaching said photodetector means (22) by filter means (44) associated with said photodetector means; and passing light of said second wavelength and of said emitted light wavelength through said filter means (44) to said photodetector means (22). The calibration method of claims 7 or 9 further comprising the step of providing an unexposed storage phosphor as a diffuse reflector to said light collector means (20). The calibration method of claims 7 or 9 further comprising the step of providing a stationary diffuse reflectance means (36) to said light collector means (20) for receiving and reflecting said scanning light of said second wavelength. The calibration method of claims 7 or 9 further comprising the step of supporting a diffuse reflectance means (37) adjacent to said storage phosphor (18) for movement past said light collector means (20) for receiving and reflecting said scanning light of said second wavelength.

Inventors: KULPINSKI ROBERT W, WHITING BRUCE RAYMOND, KULPINSKI, ROBERT W., WHITING, BRUCE RAYMOND, Kulpinski, Robert W., c/o EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY, Whiting, Bruce Raymond, c/o Eastman Kodak Company
Applicants: EASTMAN KODAK CO, EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
Application year: 1993
Main classification: G01T1
IPC codes: H04N1, G02B26, G01T1