Patent ID: 6950492

Claim:
A method of obtaining multi-spectral projection and image data through and determining constituents of a body, the method comprising steps of: (a) projecting X-ray radiation along paths through a body by scanning a beam of X-ray radiation with respect to the body in synchronicity with system configuration for selective emission of the X-ray radiation having M sets of spectral characteristics, the paths extending from an X-ray source to a detector; (b) detecting the X-ray radiation with a plurality of detectors that each define an X-ray path terminus; (c) generating a plurality of signals representative of attenuation of the X-ray radiation on the X-ray paths, the plurality of signals allocated to one of T sets of measurements; (d) iterating through the above steps (a) through (c) to acquire measurements for substantially the same X-ray paths through the body, each measurement taken from differentiated source spectra in consequence of the projecting step (a) to provide multispectral projection data in M sets comprising T sets of measurements; and (f) processing the multispectral projection data in M sets to obtain image data decomposed onto basis functions representative of body constituents, and to obtain analytical results indicative of a diagnostic condition.