Synchronous Timing System and Method for Particle Accelerator Therapy Device

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a synchronization timing system and method for a particle accelerator treatment device, including: a client for providing an interface for beam current application, parameter configuration, and data query; a database server for collecting, storing, and managing timestamp marker data generated by synchronization timing, providing a reliable data source for traceability and correlation analysis of data; a clock synchronization switch based on a network switch and White Rabbit for constructing an Ethernet network and a clock synchronization network to achieve data transmission and a unified time reference; an NTP time server for providing time synchronization services to devices accessing the Ethernet; a synchronization timing server for running server-side control software and data analysis software, responding to beam current application requests from the client, executing synchronization timing logic and task scheduling, and generating timing information; a synchronization timing module, based on an embedded specific function program, acting as a master-slave node for clock synchronization, a timing information generation node, a trigger node, and an event timing node.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of particle accelerator control, specifically to the technical field of synchronous timing, and particularly to a synchronous timing system and method for a particle accelerator treatment device. Background Art

[0002] Heavy ion beam radiotherapy for tumors has the advantages of small damage to healthy tissues, high cure rate, good conformal irradiation dose distribution, accurate monitoring of irradiation position and dose, short treatment course, and no obvious toxic and side effects. As an advanced radiotherapy technology, it has been widely used in the field of cancer radiotherapy for many years.

[0003] As a typical particle accelerator treatment device, a heavy ion treatment device is used to generate heavy ion beams for radiotherapy of cancer cells. The heavy ion treatment device consists of systems such as an ion source, a cyclotron, a synchrotron, a medium / high energy transmission system, a treatment terminal, and a treatment plan. The equipment composition is diverse and the equipment layout is scattered. A strict timing mechanism is required to constrain, coordinate, command, and schedule the orderly operation of the equipment related to the entire device, and to periodically complete the entire process of beam injection, acceleration, accumulation, extraction, and treatment. In a heavy ion treatment device, the synchronous timing system plays the role of timing constraint and scheduling, and ensures that the accelerator equipment operates under strict timing logic by providing timing information or trigger signals for each system of the accelerator.

[0004] In the prior art, the case-based timing technology is generally adopted to implement the synchronous timing function. However, to implement synchronous timing based on the case-based timing technology, different types of devices are required, including: case occurrence devices (composed of PXI / PXIE chassis, PXI / PXIE controllers, case cards, etc.), optical fan-outs, electrical fan-outs, case parsers, optoelectronic conversion modules, etc. There are many types of devices, the device working mode is single, and the function integration degree is not high, which increases the detection cycle of the electrical safety and electromagnetic compatibility of medical devices to a certain extent; implementing synchronous timing based on the case-based timing technology essentially broadcasts and distributes the case codes used to trigger device actions to each controlled device, and ensures the synchronization of signals reaching the controlled devices through the equal length of the transmission link. Due to certain delay errors in different devices themselves, the bending degree of the plastic optical fiber, the signal transmission medium, etc. will also cause delays and attenuations to the transmission of optical signals. The cumulative errors caused by various factors will have an important impact on the system synchronization. Moreover, after the system devices are deployed in different areas of the accelerator, it is more difficult to measure and verify the synchronization performance. The system cannot provide a unified absolute time to measure the time of process actions, which is not conducive to the fault location analysis of synchronization problems, nor can it achieve precise start-stop control of devices through absolute time. It only has a trigger function and does not have an absolute time timing function; in addition, during patient treatment, the synchronous timing system needs to perform real-time data interaction with the treatment system to implement functions such as beam application and end control for patient treatment, and beam emergency stop control during fault interlocking. The timing system devices in the existing heavy ion treatment devices cannot provide a unified time reference to accurately mark the time of case actions, which is not conducive to the time traceability analysis of subsequent patient treatment data, nor is it conducive to the correlation analysis of accelerator operation data, and cannot meet the requirements of the medical device informatization and intelligent construction for the time unity of data. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In view of the above technical problems, the present disclosure provides a synchronous timing system and method for a particle accelerator treatment device, which is used to at least partially solve the technical problems such as the single device working mode, low function integration degree, and being not conducive to the fault location analysis, traceability analysis, and correlation analysis of synchronization problems existing in implementing synchronous timing by using the case-based timing technology.

[0006] Based on this, a synchronization timing system for a particle accelerator treatment device is provided in the first aspect of the present disclosure, including: a client for providing an operator with a visual interface for particle beam current application, parameter configuration, and data query; a database server for collecting, storing, and managing timestamp marks generated during the operation of the synchronization timing system, providing a reliable data source for data traceability and correlation analysis; an NTP time server for providing NTP time synchronization services to devices connected to the high-speed Ethernet in the particle accelerator treatment device; a clock synchronization switch based on a network switch and the White Rabbit protocol, the clock synchronization switch being connected to the NTP time server for constructing a high-speed Ethernet network and a clock synchronization network, realizing data transmission of the particle accelerator treatment device and providing a unified time reference for the particle accelerator treatment device; a synchronization timing server for performing data interaction with the client, by running server control software and data analysis software, responding to particle beam current application requests, executing synchronization timing logic and task scheduling, and generating relative time timing information; a synchronization timing module, compatible with the White Rabbit protocol interface and the event timing interface, based on an embedded selectable multi-mode function program, realizing high-precision timing control and timestamp marking of the White Rabbit clock synchronization master and slave nodes, timing information generation nodes, and timing trigger nodes, and functions related to event generation, event fan-out, and event parsing of the event timing nodes.

[0007] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the synchronization timing module is an integrated hardware circuit, including: a White Rabbit clock synchronization module circuit, connected to the clock synchronization switch, for sending and receiving timing information, synchronizing clocks with devices connected to the clock synchronization network, and providing a reference clock, timing information, and time information; an analog / digital interface circuit for the function interface based on event timing; a programmable system-on-chip circuit, including a service control logic unit and an embedded system, for running control logic and embedded system software, realizing timing information generation, timing information parsing, time parsing, trigger output logic control, timestamp mark generation, and output signal generation control.

[0008] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the analog / digital interface circuit adopts a detachable modular circuit structure and is fixedly connected to the bottom circuit base of the synchronization timing module through pin headers.

[0009] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the synchronization timing module implements the functions related to the timing information generation node, the embedded system receives relative time timing information and sends it to the service control logic unit, so that the service control logic unit generates absolute time timing information according to the relative time timing information and broadcasts it to the clock synchronization network; when the synchronization timing module implements the functions related to the timing trigger node, the service control logic unit is configured in the trigger mode, and the embedded system outputs a trigger signal or an analog waveform at the moment agreed by the absolute time timing information according to the trigger signal output parameters configured by the client, and marks a timestamp for the trigger signal or the analog waveform; when the synchronization timing module implements the functions related to the example timing node, the embedded system outputs an example code according to the example code parameters and delay information configured by the client, analyzes the input example signal according to the trigger delay, coincidence pulse width, and beam chopping pulse width configured by the client to output a trigger signal or an analog waveform, and marks timestamps for the example code, the trigger signal, and the analog waveform.

[0010] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the timing information application layer control protocol based on the White Rabbit protocol includes: a start symbol for marking the start of the absolute time timing information; an end symbol for marking the end of the absolute time timing information; a region code for marking the destination device that the absolute time timing information is expected to reach; a function code for marking the function that the absolute time timing information is expected to start; an output content for indicating the waveform number expected to be output; an output count for indicating the number of times of starting the output in a loop; output time information for marking the output order and the absolute time information corresponding to each output; a reserved area for function expansion.

[0011] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the region code includes an ion source cyclotron region code, a beam transport line region code, a synchrotron region code, and a treatment room region code.

[0012] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the function code includes an end all device output code, a start code for starting a single device separately, and a shutdown code for shutting down a single device separately.

[0013] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the time interval between adjacent outputs in the output time information is greater than or equal to the single operation cycle set by the particle accelerator treatment device.

[0014] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the high-speed Ethernet network and the clock synchronization network are multi-layer tree-structured networks.

[0015] The second aspect of the present disclosure provides a beam synchronization timing method based on a synchronous timing system, including: a synchronous timing module for implementing functions related to a timing information generation node receives a beam control instruction configured by a client; in response to the beam control instruction being an end beam instruction, generates absolute time timing information for ending the beam and broadcasts it to other synchronous timing modules accessing the clock synchronization network, so that other synchronous timing modules output signals according to the absolute time timing information to control the controlled device to end beam output; in response to the beam control instruction being a beam extraction instruction, extracts the desired energy number and extraction terminal number from the beam extraction instruction and determines whether the beam extraction condition is satisfied; when the beam extraction condition is satisfied, generates absolute time timing information according to the relative time timing information sent by the synchronous timing server and broadcasts it to other synchronous timing modules accessing the clock synchronization network, so that other synchronous timing modules output signals according to the absolute time timing information to control the controlled device to extract the beam, where the relative time timing information is generated by the synchronous timing server by embedding time stamps in the delay parameters, start device type, and start device order corresponding to the loaded desired energy number and extraction terminal number.

[0016] According to the synchronous timing system and method for a particle accelerator treatment device provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, at least the following beneficial effects are included:

[0017] A high-speed Ethernet network and a clock synchronization network are built using a network switch and a commercial switch based on the White Rabbit protocol to achieve synchronous timing communication, and a distributed architecture is formed by using a synchronous timing module with an embedded specific function program to implement the related functions of the master and slave nodes of clock synchronization, the timing information generation node, the trigger node, and the event timing node, which can effectively improve the synchronous control accuracy and unify the time reference of the treatment device. Moreover, based on the database server, time stamp marking and storage management are performed on the key action information, providing a reliable data source for data analysis and solving the problems of inconsistent time reference and inability to perform time correlation analysis on data.

[0018] Furthermore, during the synchronous timing process, a simplified timing information application layer control protocol based on the White Rabbit protocol is constructed to meet the timing control requirements of the multi-waveform operation of the accelerator, effectively improving the synchronous control accuracy and realizing the synchronous timing control function.

[0019] Even further, an integrated design of the synchronous timing module is adopted to integrate the hardware interface and software functions, taking into account the White Rabbit synchronization protocol and the event timing mechanism, and providing multiple optional working modes to solve the problems of a large variety of timing system devices and single device functions.

[0020] In addition, the interface circuit of the synchronous timing module adopts a flexible pluggable interface design, which can improve the hardware scalability and compatibility. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0021] Through the following description of the embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings, the above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure will become clearer. In the drawings:

[0022] Figure 1 A structural block diagram of a synchronous timing system provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure is schematically shown.

[0023] Figure 2 A structural block diagram of a synchronous timing module provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure is schematically shown.

[0024] Figure 3 A structural diagram of a simplified timing information application layer control protocol based on the White Rabbit protocol provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure is schematically shown.

[0025] Figure 4 A flowchart of a beam synchronization timing method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure is schematically shown. Detailed Description of the Embodiments

[0026] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present disclosure clearer and more understandable, the following further describes the present disclosure in detail with reference to specific embodiments and the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present disclosure. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments in the present disclosure without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

[0027] The terms used herein are only for describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. The terms "including", "comprising", etc. used herein indicate the presence of the described features, steps, operations, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, or components.

[0028] In the present disclosure, unless otherwise clearly defined and limited, the terms "installed", "connected", "connected", "fixed", etc. should be understood in a broad sense. For example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or integrated; it can be a mechanical connection, an electrical connection, or communication with each other; it can be a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium, and it can be the internal communication of two components or the interaction relationship between two components. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present disclosure can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0029] In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the orientation or positional relationship indicated by terms such as "longitudinal", "length", "circumferential", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", etc. is based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings. It is only for the convenience of describing the present disclosure and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the subsystem or component referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operate in a specific orientation. Therefore, it should not be construed as a limitation to the present disclosure.

[0030] Throughout the drawings, the same elements are represented by the same or similar reference numerals. When it may cause confusion in the understanding of the present disclosure, conventional structures or configurations will be omitted. And the shapes, sizes, and positional relationships of the components in the drawings do not reflect the actual sizes, proportions, and actual positional relationships. Additionally, in the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim.

[0031] Similarly, in order to streamline the present disclosure and help understand one or more of the various disclosed aspects, in the above description of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the various features of the present disclosure are sometimes grouped together into a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof. The description with reference to terms such as "one embodiment", "some embodiments", "example", "specific example", or "some examples" means that the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described in connection with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present disclosure. In this specification, the schematic representations of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described can be combined in a suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.

[0032] Furthermore, the terms "first" and "second" are used only for descriptive purposes and cannot be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the quantity of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined with "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of such features. In the description of the present disclosure, the meaning of "a plurality" is at least two, such as two, three, etc., unless otherwise specifically and clearly defined.

[0033] The object of the present disclosure is to provide a synchronous timing system and method applied to a particle accelerator treatment device. Based on the White Rabbit high-precision clock synchronization protocol, a synchronous timing system architecture is constructed by being compatible with the existing event timing mechanism, a timing information protocol for synchronous control is defined, and an integrated synchronous timing module hardware is constructed to solve problems such as the diversification of synchronous timing devices, the single working mode, the low integration level, the non-uniform system time reference, and the inability to achieve absolute time precise control of devices.

[0034] Figure 1The structural block diagram of the synchronization timing system provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure is schematically shown.

[0035] As Figure 1 shown, the synchronization timing system is a typical distributed control system architecture, including a client, a server, a synchronization timing module, and a clock synchronization switching mechanism.

[0036] The client at the top layer includes a central monitoring client, a treatment control client, etc. The client interacts with the synchronization timing system server based on the OPC UA protocol, and provides an operator with a visual beam application, parameter configuration, and data query interface in the debugging mode and the treatment mode. Among them, the treatment control client can be used to configure parameters related to the treatment of the particle accelerator treatment device and control the treatment process, and the central monitoring client can be used to monitor and control the operation process of the entire synchronization timing system.

[0037] The middle layer consists of multiple servers and a synchronization timing module embedded with specific function programs. The multiple servers can include a database server, an NTP time server, and a synchronization timing server.

[0038] Specifically, the database server is used to collect, store, and manage the timestamp marks generated during the operation of the synchronization timing system, providing a reliable data source for data traceability and correlation analysis. The NTP time server is used to provide a time synchronization service for devices connected to the Ethernet in the particle accelerator treatment device, and the time synchronization service can be at the millisecond level. The synchronization timing server is used to interact with the client, respond to the particle beam application request by running the server control software and data analysis software, execute the synchronization timing logic and task scheduling, and generate relative time timing information. The synchronization timing module, based on an embedded selectable multi-mode function program, realizes the high-precision timing control of the White Rabbit clock synchronization master and slave nodes, timing information generation nodes, timing trigger nodes, and functions related to the event generation, event fan-out, and event parsing of the timestamp marking and event timing nodes.

[0039] Specifically, according to different logic control software, programs with corresponding functions are embedded in the synchronization timing module, enabling the synchronization timing module to act as a clock synchronization master node, timing information generation node, data acquisition trigger source, timestamp signal output device, event output device, event parsing device, arbitrary waveform output device, etc., to realize the relevant functions corresponding to each node and device.

[0040] A clock synchronization switch, built based on a network switch and the White Rabbit protocol, is used to construct a high-speed Ethernet network and a clock synchronization network. These networks facilitate data transmission between clients, database servers, NTP time servers, and synchronization timing modules, and provide a unified time base for particle accelerator therapy devices. These networks can be, for example, multi-layer tree-structured networks to better facilitate data transmission within the synchronization timing system.

[0041] Furthermore, in the disclosed embodiments, the synchronization timing module may employ an integrated hardware circuit that is compatible with the White Rabbit protocol interface and the instance timing interface, and can be used to implement instance generation, instance fan-out, and instance parsing based on the instance timing mechanism, and can also be used to implement high-precision timing control and timestamp marking functions based on the White Rabbit protocol.

[0042] Figure 2 The structural block diagram of the synchronization timing module provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure is schematically shown.

[0043] like Figure 2 As shown, the synchronous timing module includes the White Rabbit clock synchronization module circuit, analog / digital interface circuit, and programmable system-on-chip circuit. Its appearance and structure can be a 1U rack-mounted 19-inch standard device and can be powered by DC 12V / 24V.

[0044] The White Rabbit clock synchronization module circuit can be connected to the White Rabbit switch through the external SFP optical module interface. It runs the data communication protocol stack as a master-slave node device to send and receive timing information, synchronize the clock with devices connected to the clock synchronization network, and provide reference clock, timing information and time information for the service control logic unit of the programmable system-on-chip circuit.

[0045] Analog / digital interface circuitry, used for event-based timing functional interfaces. Specifically, this may include: an optical signal output interface for event code generation and output, an optical signal input interface for receiving and parsing event codes, an optical signal output interface for optical signal fan-out, a general-purpose digital input / output interface for receiving interlock signals or outputting trigger acquisition signals, and an analog signal output interface for outputting arbitrary waveforms.

[0046] In the disclosed embodiment, the analog / digital interface circuit can adopt a detachable modular circuit structure and be connected and fixed to the baseboard circuit base of the synchronous timing module through a pin header, so as to facilitate compatibility with different controlled object hardware interfaces and improve the scalability of the hardware interface.

[0047] The programmable system - on - chip circuit, as the core of the synchronous timing module, includes a service control logic unit and an embedded system, which are used to run the control logic and the embedded system software, and generate timing information, parse timing information, parse time, control the trigger output logic, generate timestamp tags and generate output signals according to different application scenario requirements and service control logic, etc. The embedded system runs the embedded system and application programs, conducts data interaction with the host computer control program, receives information such as example codes and delay parameters loaded by the host computer, and sends the timestamp tag data generated by the logic control end to the client for storage and management.

[0048] When the synchronous timing module implements the functions related to the timing information generation node, the embedded system receives the relative - time timing information loaded by the synchronous timing system server and sends it to the service control logic unit, so that the service control logic unit generates absolute - time timing information according to the relative - time timing information and broadcasts it to the clock synchronization network.

[0049] When the timing module implements the functions related to the trigger node, the service control logic unit is configured in the trigger mode. The embedded system outputs a trigger signal or an analog waveform at the moment agreed upon by the absolute - time timing information according to the trigger - signal output parameters configured by the client, and performs timestamp tagging on the trigger signal or the analog waveform. Specifically, when the synchronous timing module is used as the WR timing trigger node, the trigger output control logic module is configured in the "WR trigger mode". In this mode, the embedded - system application program receives the trigger - signal output parameters sent by the client, outputs a given trigger signal at the moment agreed upon by the timing information, and performs timestamp tagging on the input and output signals, outputs the trigger signal or the analog waveform from the "general - purpose IO interface" or the "analog output interface", and performs timestamp tagging on the output trigger signal, which is used to provide a trigger signal for the data acquisition system and provide single - pulse and continuous - pulse signals for the beam chopping system.

[0050] When the timing module implements the related functions of the case timing node, the embedded system outputs case codes according to the case code parameters and delay information configured by the client, analyzes the input case signals according to the trigger delay, coincidence pulse width, and beam chop pulse width configured by the client to output trigger signals or analog waveforms, and performs timestamp marking on the case codes, trigger signals, and analog waveforms. Specifically, when the synchronous timing module is used as the case timing node, the case generation, case analysis, and case fan-out functions of the integrated case timing are integrated. The trigger output control logic module is configured in the "case trigger mode". In this mode, the embedded system application program receives parameters such as case code parameters, delay information, trigger delay, coincidence pulse width, and beam chop pulse width sent by the client, and sequentially outputs case codes from the "optical signal output interface" according to the case code parameters and delay parameters, and performs timestamp marking on the output case codes to implement the case generation function; according to the trigger delay, coincidence pulse width, and beam chop pulse width parameters, analyzes the case signals accessed from the "optical input interface", and outputs trigger signals or analog waveforms from the "general-purpose IO interface" or "analog output interface", and performs timestamp marking on the output trigger signals to provide trigger signals for the data acquisition system and single-pulse and continuous-pulse signals for the beam chop system, implementing the case analysis function; relays and amplifies the optical signals input from the "case input interface" and outputs them from the "optical fan-out interface" to implement the case fan-out function.

[0051] Furthermore, in order to meet the timing control requirements of the accelerator for multi-waveform operation, effectively improve the synchronization control accuracy, and implement the synchronous timing control function, the embodiments of the present disclosure construct a lightweight timing information application layer control protocol based on the White Rabbit protocol.

[0052] Figure 3 Schematically shows the structural diagram of the lightweight timing information application layer control protocol provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure based on the White Rabbit protocol.

[0053] As Figure 3 shown, the timing information application layer control protocol based on the White Rabbit protocol may include a start symbol, an end symbol, a region code, a function code, an output content, an output count, output time information, and a reserved region.

[0054] The start symbol is used to mark the start of the absolute time timing information.

[0055] The end symbol is used to mark the end of the absolute time timing information.

[0056] The area code is used to mark the destination device where the absolute time timing information is expected to reach, and the function code is used to mark the function that the absolute time timing information is expected to start. When both the area code and the function code pre-stored in the controlled device or the synchronization timing module are consistent with the two pieces of information carried in the timing information, this piece of timing information is saved and parsed.

[0057] The output content is used to represent the waveform number expected to be output. The number of output times is used to represent the number of times to start the output in a loop.

[0058] The output time information is used to mark the output order and the absolute time information corresponding to each output. For example, like "sequence number 1 + action time 1", it represents the absolute time for the first output of this waveform. When the actual time is equal to the set "action time 1", the first output action is executed, and it is executed in sequence until the set number of output times is reached. The time interval between two start times is set with reference to the operation cycle of the accelerator, generally greater than or equal to the accelerator operation cycle. In this way, the function of starting in a loop can be realized. Compared with the timing information protocol that broadcasts one start time at a time, this protocol can effectively reduce the failure rate of timing information propagation; during the execution of the output action, when receiving the timing information carrying the "end output" function code, the subsequent output actions are no longer executed to avoid causing safety risks to the particle accelerator treatment device.

[0059] The reserved area is used for function expansion.

[0060] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, according to the distribution characteristics and functions of the heavy ion treatment device equipment, the types of the area code and the function code are as follows: Specifically shown in Table 1:

[0061] Table 1

[0062]

[0063]

[0064] It can be seen from Table 1 that the area code includes the ion source cyclotron area code, the beam transport line area code, the synchrotron area code, and the treatment room area code. The function code includes the code to end all device outputs, the start code to start a single device separately, and the close code to close a single device separately. For example, the start code to start device 1 alone, the close code to close device 1 alone, the start code to start device 2 alone, the close code to close device 2 alone, and so on.

[0065] Based on the same inventive concept, on the basis of the above synchronization timing system, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a beam synchronization timing method for assisting the particle accelerator treatment device to realize beam extraction and end control.

[0066] During the treatment process of a particle accelerator treatment device, the requirements for the beam are divided into two categories: beam extraction request and beam end request. After the treatment preparation work is completed, the treatment control system sends a beam application request to the synchronous timing system, and waits for the synchronous timing system to start the accelerator device to extract the beam to the corresponding treatment room to start the treatment. During the treatment process, when it is necessary to end the treatment in advance due to normal end or abnormal interruption of the treatment, the treatment control system sends a hardware control signal and a software control signal for ending the beam extraction to the synchronous timing system, and waits for the synchronous timing system to control the accelerator to cut off the beam extraction. The specific process is as follows:

[0067] Figure 4 The flowchart of the beam synchronization timing method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure is schematically shown.

[0068] As Figure 4 shown, in the synchronous timing system, the synchronous timing module for implementing the functions related to the timing information generation node receives the beam control instruction configured by the treatment control client, and first determines whether it is an instruction to end the beam extraction, and the execution priority of this instruction is higher than that of the beam extraction instruction.

[0069] When the timing information generation node responds to the beam control instruction as an end beam instruction, it generates absolute time timing information for ending the beam with an embedded timestamp and broadcasts it to other synchronous timing modules accessing the clock synchronization network, so that other synchronous timing modules output signals according to the absolute time timing information to control the controlled device to end the beam output. This other synchronous timing module can be, for example, the synchronous timing module that realizes the trigger node, or an intelligent controller integrated with this synchronous timing module.

[0070] When the timing information generation node responds to the beam control instruction as a beam extraction instruction, it obtains the expected energy number and extraction terminal number of the beam extraction instruction and determines whether the beam extraction conditions are met. The beam extraction conditions can refer to, for example, whether the interlock status of the beam transmission line device is normal, and whether the personal safety interlock status of the corresponding treatment room is normal, etc.

[0071] When the beam extraction conditions are met, the timing information generation node generates absolute time timing information according to the relative time timing information sent by the synchronous timing server and broadcasts it to other synchronous timing modules accessing the clock synchronization network, so that other synchronous timing modules output signals according to the absolute time timing information to control the controlled device to extract the beam. Among them, the relative time timing information is generated by the synchronous timing server by embedding timestamps in the delay parameters corresponding to the loaded expected energy number and extraction terminal number, the type of starting device, and the order of starting devices.

[0072] Among them, the process of controlling the beam extraction of the controlled device according to the signal output by the absolute time timing information can be as follows: The synchronous timing module or the intelligent controller receives the timing information, parses out the expected start time, the expected output content, and the expected number of action executions, and waits for time. When the absolute time parsed by the synchronous timing module or the intelligent controller from the clock synchronization network is equal to the expected start time, it means that the time condition is met, and the output action is started. The corresponding pulse power supply starts to output the specified waveform. The synchronous timing module outputs the signal for triggering the acquisition trigger signal and the timestamp information, and the synchronous timing module outputs the single-pulse and continuous-pulse signals for beam chopping, etc. When the preset number of cycles is consistent with the actual number of action executions, the next output action ends, and the current beam extraction control process ends.

[0073] In addition, when the particle accelerator treatment device is in treatment, it is necessary to control the switching and extraction of multiple energies. The switching process of the energy is realized by the synchronous timing system by sending different timing information. After the current energy extraction is completed, the client re-applies for the beam current. The synchronous timing system repeats the above process, generates new timing information to control the accelerator to extract the beam current to the corresponding treatment room, and so on until all the energies required by the patient are extracted.

[0074] Based on the synchronous timing system and method of the particle accelerator treatment device provided by the above embodiments, it can effectively improve the synchronization control accuracy and unify the time reference of the treatment device; it can provide a reliable data source for data analysis, solve the problem of inconsistent time reference and inability to perform time correlation analysis on data; it can meet the timing control requirements of the multi-waveform operation of the accelerator, effectively improve the synchronization control accuracy, and realize the synchronous timing control function; it can solve the problems of various types of timing system devices and single device functions.

[0075] The specific embodiments described above further elaborate on the purpose, technical solutions, and beneficial effects of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the above are only specific embodiments of the present disclosure and are not used to limit the present disclosure. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure shall be included within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A synchronization timing system for a particle accelerator treatment device, characterized in that, Including: A client for providing an operator with a visual interface for particle beam current application, parameter configuration, and data query; A database server for collecting, storing, and managing timestamp marker data generated during the operation of the synchronization timing system, providing a reliable data source for data traceability and correlation analysis; An NTP time server for providing NTP time synchronization services to devices connected to the high-speed Ethernet in the particle accelerator treatment device; A clock synchronization switch based on a network switch and the White Rabbit protocol. The clock synchronization switch is connected to the NTP time server for constructing the high-speed Ethernet network and the clock synchronization network, realizing data transmission of the particle accelerator treatment device, and providing a unified time reference for the particle accelerator treatment device; A synchronization timing server for performing data interaction with the client. By running server control software and data analysis software, it responds to the particle beam current application request, executes synchronization timing logic and task scheduling, and generates relative time timing information; A synchronization timing module that is compatible with the White Rabbit protocol interface and the event timing interface. Based on an embedded selectable multi-mode function program, it realizes high-precision timing control, timestamp marking of the White Rabbit clock synchronization master and slave nodes, timing information generation nodes, and timing trigger nodes, as well as functions related to event generation, event fan-out, and event parsing of the event timing node.

2. The synchronous timing system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The synchronization timing module is an integrated hardware circuit, including: A White Rabbit clock synchronization module circuit connected to the clock synchronization switch for sending and receiving timing information, synchronizing clocks with devices connected to the clock synchronization network, and providing a reference clock, the timing information, and time information; An analog / digital interface circuit for the function interface based on event timing; A programmable system-on-chip circuit including a service control logic unit and an embedded system for running control logic and embedded system software to realize timing information generation, timing information parsing, time parsing, trigger output logic control, timestamp marking generation, and output signal generation control.

3. The synchronous timing system according to claim 2, characterized in that, The analog / digital interface circuit adopts a detachable modular circuit structure and is fixedly connected to the bottom circuit base of the synchronization timing module through pin headers.

4. The synchronous timing system according to claim 2, wherein When the synchronization timing module realizes the functions related to the timing information generation node, the embedded system receives the relative time timing information and sends it to the service control logic unit, so that the service control logic unit generates absolute time timing information according to the relative time timing information and broadcasts it to the clock synchronization network; When the synchronization timing module realizes the functions related to the timing trigger node, the service control logic unit is configured in the trigger mode. The embedded system outputs a trigger signal or an analog waveform at the moment agreed upon by the absolute time timing information according to the trigger signal output parameters configured by the client, and marks a timestamp on the trigger signal or the analog waveform; When the synchronization timing module implements the relevant functions of the case timing node, the embedded system outputs a case code according to the case code parameters and delay information configured by the client, analyzes the input case signal according to the trigger delay, coincidence pulse width, and beam chopping pulse width configured by the client to output a trigger signal or an analog waveform, and performs timestamp marking on the case code, trigger signal, and analog waveform.

5. The synchronous timing system according to claim 1, characterized in that The timing information application layer control protocol based on the White Rabbit protocol used in the synchronization timing control includes: A start symbol, used to mark the start of the absolute time timing information; An end symbol, used to mark the end of the absolute time timing information; A region code, used to mark the destination device that the absolute time timing information expects to reach; A function code, used to mark the function that the absolute time timing information expects to start; The output content, used to represent the waveform number expected to be output; The number of output times, used to represent the number of times to start the output in a loop; The output time information, used to mark the output order and the absolute time information corresponding to each output; A reserved area, used for function expansion.

6. The synchronous timing system according to claim 5, wherein The region code includes an ion source cyclotron region code, a beam transport line region code, a synchrotron region code, and a treatment room region code.

7. The synchronous timing system according to claim 5, wherein The function code includes an output code for ending the output of all devices, a start code for starting a single device separately, and a shutdown code for shutting down a single device separately.

8. The synchronous timing system according to claim 5, wherein The time interval between adjacent outputs in the output time information is greater than or equal to the single operation cycle set by the particle accelerator treatment device.

9. The synchronous timing system according to claim 1, characterized in that The high-speed Ethernet network and the clock synchronization network are multi-layer tree-structured networks.

10. A beam synchronization timing method based on the synchronization timing system according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that, Including: The synchronization timing module for implementing the relevant functions of the timing information generation node receives the beam control instruction configured by the client; In response to the beam control instruction being an end beam instruction, it generates absolute time timing information for ending the beam and broadcasts it to other synchronization timing modules accessing the clock synchronization network, so that other synchronization timing modules output signals according to the absolute time timing information to control the controlled device to end the beam output; In response to the beam control instruction being a beam extraction instruction, it obtains the expected energy number and extraction terminal number from the beam extraction instruction and determines whether the beam extraction condition is met; When the beam extraction condition is met, it generates absolute time timing information according to the relative time timing information sent by the synchronization timing server and broadcasts it to other synchronization timing modules accessing the clock synchronization network, so that other synchronization timing modules output signals according to the absolute time timing information to control the controlled device to extract the beam, where the relative time timing information is generated by the synchronization timing server embedding timestamps for the delay parameters, start device type, and start device order corresponding to the expected energy number and extraction terminal number loaded in the instruction.

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