Patent ID: 8649587

Claim:
A method of estimating scattered radiation in a radiographic projection of an object, the radiographic projection generated by an imaging device irradiated by a radiation source spaced therefrom to provide a space for the object, the imaging device measuring incident radiation at a plurality of pixels at corresponding locations, the radiographic projection comprising a plurality of radiation values corresponding to a plurality of pixel locations of the imaging device, each radiation value comprising a primary radiation amount representative of the radiation reaching the corresponding pixel along a direct path from the radiation source and a scattered radiation amount representative of other radiation reaching the corresponding pixel, the method comprising: obtaining an estimate of a radiation amount associated with a first location of the radiographic projection, the radiation amount comprising one of a radiation amount emitted by the radiation source or the primary radiation amount at the first location; generating an estimate of scattered radiation at a plurality of locations of the radiographic projection using the estimate of the radiation amount at the first location and a kernel that generates a value representative of scattered radiation for a location of the radiographic projection in relation to the distance between that location and the first location, the kernel having a form that is asymmetric about the location of the first pixel location, wherein the two-dimensional array of the imaging device comprises a flat surface, and wherein generating an estimate of scattered radiation further uses a skew correction factor to at least partially correct for skewing of data values due to the projection of the scattered radiation onto a flat surface, wherein the skew correction factor for a second location of the plurality of locations includes: a first term including a first distance along a first dimension x between the first location and the second location, the first distance multiplied by a first angle term including a first angle of a direct path from the radiation source to the first location, the first angle resulting from a projection of the direct path onto a first plane including the first dimension x; a second term including a second distance along a second dimension y between the first location and the second location, the second distance multiplied by a second angle term including a second angle of the direct path from the radiation source to the second location, the second angle resulting from a projection of the direct path onto a second plane including the second dimension y; and storing the estimate of the scattered radiation in a computer-readable medium.