Patent ID: 7715525

Claim:
An extra-oral dental x-ray imaging system, comprising: a) an x-ray source for exposing an object to x-rays so that the object may be imaged during the exposure; b) an x-ray imaging device suitable for producing multiple radiated image frames during at least part of the exposure, the x-ray imaging device having an active area with a long dimension (m) and a short dimension (n), with a ratio of the long dimension to the short dimension being more than or equal to 1.5 (m/n≧1.5); c) a manipulator for moving the imaging device and the x-ray source along a path between plural positions corresponding to plural consecutive radiated image frames during the exposure, the manipulator enabling movement of both the x-ray source and the imaging device by selective translation and selective rotation about at least one rotational axis located between a focal point of the x-ray source and the x-ray imaging device; d) an exposure profile program for producing an image for a sub-volume of interest, said profile defined by having a majority of the points, in said sub-volume of interest, projected in said x-ray imaging device with an angular range β, satisfying the relationship β/α>2.1, where α is the angle of the x-ray imaging device as seen from the x-ray focal spot; e) a controller for controlling the manipulator to follow the exposure profile program; and f) one of i) a computer and ii) a processor for performing the exposure profile program and production of the image for the sub-volume of interest.