Patent ID: 7831012

Claim:
A method for operating an inspection system, comprising: (a) moving an item under inspection in a first direction relative to and at least partially between at least first and second radiation sources and at least one array of detectors, the array comprising detectors disposed in a first plane, and the first radiation source being positioned in a second plane, separate from and parallel to the first plane, and the second radiation source being positioned outside the second plane; and (b) with the detector array, detecting radiation emitted by each of the first and second radiation sources at each of a plurality of times as the item under inspection moves, with the first source emitting radiation towards the detector array at a first portion of the plurality of times and the second source emitting radiation towards the detector array at a second portion of the plurality of times, the first portion being different than the second portion; and (c) computing a volumetric representation of the item under inspection based on the detected radiation at each of the plurality of times, wherein: the detector array comprises a first detector array and the computing the volumetric representation further comprises computing the volumetric representation based on measurements made with a second detector array, and the first and second detector arrays are substantially spaced apart in the first direction; and the act (b) comprises: detecting radiation emitted by the first radiation source with each of the first and second radiation detector arrays during first periods; and detecting radiation emitted by the second radiation source with at least one of the first and second radiation detector arrays during second periods that are substantially non-overlapping with the first periods.