Patent ID: 8194961

Claim:
A method of obtaining a computed tomography image of an object, the method comprising: obtaining object dual-energy projection data of the object; obtaining average attenuation coefficients and non-linear beam hardening coefficients; determining, for the object dual-energy projection data, a pair of line integral equations that, upon introducing the average attenuation coefficients, are reorganized into a pair of reorganized line integral equations including linear terms and non-linear beam hardening terms; obtaining initial solutions of the reorganized line integral equations by setting the non-linear beam hardening terms to zero; iteratively solving the reorganized line integral equations starting with the initial solutions to obtain a first basis line integral solution for a first basis material and a second basis line integral solution for a second basis material; and reconstructing the computed tomography image of the object based on the first basis line integral solution for the first basis material and the second basis line integral solution for the second basis material.