Patent Document ID: 20070116340
Application ID: 11610717
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. Imaging method involving exposing a body to radiation, for example X-rays, infra-red light beams, ultrasound beams or magnetic pulses, and processing the signal so as to obtain representative images of values associated with each point or zone of an area of the body, in which, with the aid of an imaging device, for example medical imaging device, comprising a source, for example an X-ray source, and a detector, different scannings of the body are carried out along different directions of the beams or pulses, a variation of intensity of the radiation, of the infra-red light beams, of the ultrasound beams or of the magnetic pulses between the source and the detector is measured along p scanning profiles, and with the aid of a suitably programmed computer, i) p values are calculated, for example of the coefficients of attenuation of the X-rays, associated with p points or zones of the area of the body, and an initial image of the area of the body, a so-called low definition image, is constructed from an initial matrix of the calculated values, wherein, in order to obtain a so-called high definition image, a first and a second series of supplementary scannings are carried out, the scannings of the first series being crossed with respect to the scannings of the second series, a variation of intensity of the radiation, of the infra-red light beams, of the ultrasound beams or of the magnetic pulses between the source and the detector is measured along respectively n and m scanning profiles, and with the aid of the suitably programmed computer, ii) a so-called expanded rectangular matrix is constructed from the initial matrix, comprising n lines and m columns of values estimated by interpolation between two points, values associated with these two points, or by dividing a zone up into micro-zones and distributing in the micro-zones the value associated with this zone, in which the m values of the n lines correspond to the m interpolated points or to the m micro-zones along n scanning profiles derived from the first scanning series, and in which the n values of the m columns correspond to the n interpolated points or to the n micro-zones along the m scanning profiles obtained from the second scanning series, iii) n and m line and column boundary values of the expanded matrix are calculated, representative of the sought high definition image, in which a line boundary value is the sum of the m turns of a line and in which a column boundary value is the sum of the n terms of a column, and iv) each of the n times m terms of the expanded matrix is adjusted using a least squares method of adjustment, taking into account the line and column constraints relating to the boundaries of the expanded matrix, in which the n line constraints are determined by the variation of intensity of the radiation, of the infra-red light beams, of the ultrasound beams or of the magnetic pulses along the n scanning profiles derived from the first scanning series, and in which the m column constraints are determined by the variation in intensity of the radiation, of the infra-red light beams, of the ultrasound beams or of the magnetic pulses along the m scanning profiles derived from the second scanning series, and by using the following formula: Cij = Bij + ( 1 n ) * ( ρ ⁢ ⁢ j - ∑ 1 n ⁢ Bij ) + ( 1 m ) * ( ci - ∑ j = 1 m ⁢ Bij ) - ( 1 n ⁢ ⁢ m ) * ( ∑ j = 1 m ⁢ ρ ⁢ ⁢ j - ∑ ijBij ) where, in this formula, Cij is the sought value Bij is the initially estimated value (n) is the number of lines of the rectangle matrix (m) is the number of columns of the rectangle matrix ∑ i = 1 n ⁢ Cij = ρ ⁢ ⁢ j for all the values of i, the constraint of the column j ∑ j = 1 m ⁢ Cij = ci for all the values of j, the constraint of the line, so as to obtain the n times m values representative of the so-called high definition image by a number of supplementary scanning profiles limited to n plus m and thereby reduce the exposure of the body to radiation, infra-red light beams, ultrasound beams or magnetic pulses, while increasing the definition of the sought image.