Patent ID: 8817947

Claim:
An x-ray apparatus for making an image, comprising: an object holder configured to position an object of interest to allow the making of an image of said object; an x-ray source configured to provide a first x-ray beam having a high x-ray fluence rate to illuminate said object of interest along a first axis; at least one peripheral satellite x-ray source configured to provide at least one secondary x-ray beam having lower x-ray fluence rate than said fluence rate of said first x-ray beam, said at least one secondary x-ray beam configured to illuminate said object of interest along a respective axis that is angularly displaced from said first axis; a detector configured to detect x-ray radiation that has passed through said object of interest from said x-ray source and from said at least one peripheral satellite x-ray source, said detector having an output port configured to provide non-volatile signals representative of said detected x-ray radiation that has passed through said object of interest; a controller configured to command the operation of said x-ray source, configured to command the operation of each of said at least one peripheral satellite x-ray source, and configured to command the operation of said detector to generate said non-volatile signals representative of said detected x-ray radiation that has passed through said object of interest; and a computation unit configured to receive said non-volatile signals representative of said detected x-ray radiation from said detector and configured to manipulate said non-volatile signals representative of said detected x-ray radiation to provide at least one image of said object of interest, said computation unit configured to perform at least one action selected from the group of actions consisting of recording said image of said object of interest, displaying to a user said image of said object of interest, and transmitting said image to a data handling system.