Patent ID: 7176465

Claim:
A scanning device for radiographic media comprising: (a) a rotatable vacuum drum comprising an external surface, and wherein the drum rotates about a longitudinal axis; (b) a radiographic media disposed on the external surface; (c) a moveable scan bar mounted on a first and second translation rod adjacent the drum; (d) at least a first scan module and a second scan module mounted on the moveable scan bar, each scan module comprises: (1) a housing comprising a channel; a cylindrical center chamber in communication with the channel comprising a mirrored surface, wherein the mirrored surface is an elliptical reflector comprising an overall length between 15 mm and 30 mm and a degree of curvature of the resulting chamber between 20 degrees and 30 degrees; a first opening communicating with the cylindrical chamber; and a second opening communicating with the cylindrical chamber; (2) a laser is disposed in the housing and adapted to generate a beam of stimulating electromagnetic radiation through the channel and the first opening to stimulate an area of the photo-stimulatable radiographic media, and wherein the stimulated area emits light and reflected light to enter the first opening and the cylindrical chamber; (3) a light detector disposed in the second opening for receiving light emitted and reflected into the cylindrical chamber; and (4) a filter disposed at the second opening of the housing for selectively passing only the emitted light from the stimulated area of the photo-stimulatable radiographic media to the light detector; (e) a translation drive connected to the moveable scan bar for moving the moveable scan bar parallel to the longitudinal axis; (f) an analog to digital converter in communication with the scan modules for receiving scanned signals from the scan modules; (g) a control process unit for receiving scanned signals; and (h) an output device for writing the received scanned signals onto diagnostic media.