Patent ID: 7046756

Claim:
A beam shaping filter for a CT imaging system, the filter comprising: a first end and a second end, each end having a circular cross-section; a body formed of radiation beam filtering material and extending between the first end and the second end, the body designed to be positioned in a path of x-rays emitted by an x-ray tube during radiographic imaging of a subject; and a pair of depressions formed in the body orthogonal from one another and defining a first body diameter and a second body diameter, wherein the first body diameter defines a minimum radiation beam filtering profile and the second body diameter defines a maximum radiation beam filtering profile and wherein the body further defines a number of radiation beam filtering profiles between the pair of depressions; wherein the pair of depressions defines a pair of filtering profiles and wherein a slope between a maximum point and a minimum point of one filtering profile is larger than a slope between a maximum point and a minimum point of the other filtering profile.