Patent ID: 7362847

Claim:
A computed tomography scanner comprising: a housing; a conveyor disposed at least partially within the housing and configured to move an object to be scanned through the housing along a direction of travel; a gantry connected to the housing and configured to receive the object to be scanned; an x-ray source attached to the gantry and configured to provide an x-ray beam that extends along a length in the direction of travel; a plurality of detector arrays attached to the gantry and configured and disposed to receive and detect x-rays from the x-ray source, the detector arrays being displaced relative to each other, in the direction of travel, by an array spacing distance such that a geometric efficiency of the arrays is less than about 80%; and a processor coupled to the conveyor and the gantry to control the conveyor and move the object through the housing at a first speed, and to control the rotation of the gantry at a second speed, such that the object will move a distance substantially equal to the array spacing distance during a time the gantry rotates an angle approximately equal to 180° divided by a quantity of detector arrays.