Patent ID: 8431904

Claim:
An application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) useful in a positron emission tomography (PET) system to transfer and process analog signals between a two-dimensional array of photodetectors and a digital processing board; said array of photodetectors comprising rows and columns of photodetectors arranged in a grid, with each photodetector in the array having a common bias voltage; and said ASIC being configured to perform the following functions: (I) sum single-ended analog signals from the array of photodetectors in row, column, and diagonal operations; (II) provide bandwidth amplification of a bias signal from the common bias voltage, said bias signal being useful as a common timing signal for the photodetectors in the array; (III) provide bandwidth amplification for single-ended signals from each photodetector in the array; (IV) produce a total summed signal from the signals from the array; (V) provide a gain adjustment of up to +/−30% for each photodetector prior to summing the signals; (VI) provide bias voltage adjustment for each photodetector in the array; (VII) provide differential signal outputs compatible with analog-to-digital converters on the digital processing board; and (VIII) provide individual addressing of a single photodetector in the array with all other photodetectors excluded.