Patent ID: 7418075

Claim:
A computed tomography apparatus, comprising: an X-ray helical scanning device including an X-ray generator and a two-dimensional X-ray detector arranged in a gantry, the X-ray helical scanning device configured to provide a continuous scan and to obtain projection data of a scanned object arranged on a platform; and a control unit configured to control at least one of the X-ray helical scanning device and the platform so as to generate the continuous scan with a helical pitch that is equal to a height of one detector row of the X-ray detector, wherein the control unit is configured to generate the continuous scan so that a period of time spent imaging a given volume of the object is defined by t cov ⁡ ( z vol ) = ( D - z vol ) · t rot H , in which t cov is time coverage, z vol is the given volume. t rot is time period per gantry rotation, D is the detector height, and H is the helical pitch.