Method, apparatus, device and storage medium for digitizing flicker pulses

Abstract

The application discloses a scintillation pulse digitization method, device, equipment and storage medium. The method comprises the following steps: obtaining an expression function of a scintillation pulse, wherein the expression function comprises one or more parameters to be fitted; presetting one or more threshold values, sampling the scintillation pulse based on the threshold values, and obtaining multiple pieces of sampling point data; determining at least one target threshold value from the one or more threshold values, wherein the pulse width corresponding to the target threshold value is not less than a preset width, and the number of the sampling point data corresponding to the target threshold value is greater than or equal to the number of the parameters to be fitted; and determining the one or more parameters to be fitted of the expression function based on the sampling point data corresponding to the target threshold value. The application can realize real-time processing of the scintillation pulse under the condition of extremely low resource occupation, and can prevent the occurrence of spectrum breakage.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the field of data processing, and in particular, to a scintillation pulse digitization method and device, equipment and storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0002] Multi-Voltage Threshold (MVT) is a promising method for scintillation pulse digitization. By digitizing the time when the scintillation pulse crosses the set threshold, a series of threshold-time pair sampling data is obtained. Based on the prior information of the scintillation pulse shape, the sampling data is processed by pulse fitting method to obtain accurate particle energy deposition information. Levenberg-Marquardt method is the current pulse fitting optimization algorithm, and is also the most widely used nonlinear least squares iteration algorithm. It is a nonlinear optimization method that uses gradient to find the maximum (minimum) value, and is between Newton method and gradient descent method, and has the advantages of gradient method and Newton method.

[0003] However, this method requires setting an iteration of usually 100-1000 times. In the algorithm process, the parameter value calculated after each iteration needs to be evaluated, and the result of this iteration is sent to the next iteration. Therefore, 100-1000 iterations will undoubtedly slow down the calculation speed, and cannot be applied in some scenarios that require calculation time. The fitting method cannot be further improved by hardware or software methods. Even using a higher speed CPU or multi-thread processing cannot make up for the time consumption caused by too many iterations. If FPGA, ASIC and other hardware circuits are used for fitting, it will be difficult to complete due to excessive hardware resource consumption and excessive clock cycle calculation.

[0004] At the same time, due to the limitation of the current fitting algorithm which must be implemented in software, the sampling data obtained by sampling is output by hardware circuit, and then transmitted to the computer through serial port, Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and other transmission channels for software processing. The transmission of these data will occupy more transmission bandwidth. In some application scenarios that require ultra-long distance information transmission, in order to ensure stable and reliable transmission of information, sampling information must be sent to the computer through carrier communication and other methods. At this time, the bandwidth for transmitting information is very limited. The existing method will result in low count rate due to the limitation of transmission bandwidth.

[0005] In addition, in order to cope with the sampling of the flicker pulse in a wide dynamic range (which can also be understood as an energy range), an effective strategy of using a non-fixed threshold number of MVT methods can be used. However, the final fitting result may be over-fitted due to the fact that the peak of the flicker pulse is too close to the highest threshold, thereby causing the energy spectrum to be broken. Although this situation can be improved by a large number of iterative calculations, it cannot fundamentally solve the problem. At the same time, using iterative fitting consumes a large amount of computing resources and occupies a large amount of time, and cannot meet the real-time data processing requirements. SUMMARY

[0006] The technical problem to be solved by the embodiments of the present application is how to reduce the resource consumption and time consumption in the processing of the flicker pulse, and prevent the energy spectrum from being broken in the processing result.

[0007] In order to solve the above problems, the present application discloses a flicker pulse digitization method, device, equipment and storage medium.

[0008] According to a first aspect of the present application, a flicker pulse digitization method is provided. The digitization method comprises: obtaining an expression function of a flicker pulse, wherein the expression function comprises one or more fitting parameters; presetting one or more thresholds, and sampling the flicker pulse based on the thresholds to obtain multiple pieces of sampling point data; determining at least one target threshold from the thresholds, wherein the pulse width corresponding to the target threshold is not less than a preset width, and the number of the sampling point data corresponding to the target threshold is greater than or equal to the number of the fitting parameters; and determining the fitting parameters based on the sampling point data corresponding to the target threshold.

[0009] According to some embodiments of the present application, the determination of the at least one target threshold comprises: determining whether the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold in the thresholds is greater than the preset width; if yes, determining all the thresholds as the target thresholds; and if no, determining the thresholds other than the maximum threshold as the target thresholds.

[0010] According to some embodiments of the present application, the determination of the at least one target threshold comprises: discarding the maximum threshold in the thresholds, and determining the other thresholds as the target thresholds.

[0011] According to some embodiments of the present application, the determination of the at least one target threshold comprises: determining at least one target threshold from the thresholds other than the maximum threshold.

[0012] According to some embodiments of the present application, the determining the at least one target threshold value comprises: determining whether a pulse width corresponding to a maximum threshold value in the threshold values is greater than a preset width; if yes, determining the maximum threshold value as one of the target threshold values; and if no, determining at least one of the target threshold values from other threshold values excluding the maximum threshold value.

[0013] According to some embodiments of the present application, the determining the at least one target threshold value comprises: determining at least one of the target threshold values from the threshold values based on a number of the parameters to be fitted.

[0014] According to some embodiments of the present application, the determining the at least one target threshold value comprises: when a pulse width corresponding to a maximum threshold value in the threshold values is not less than a preset width, determining the maximum threshold value, a minimum threshold value and the threshold values near a median value between the maximum threshold value and the minimum threshold value as the target threshold values.

[0015] According to some embodiments of the present application, the determining the at least one target threshold value comprises: when a pulse width corresponding to a maximum threshold value in the threshold values is less than a preset width, determining a sub-maximum threshold value in the threshold values, a minimum threshold value and the threshold values near a median value between the sub-maximum threshold value and the minimum threshold value as the target threshold values.

[0016] According to some embodiments of the present application, the preset width is 5 ns, 10 ns, 15 ns or 20 ns.

[0017] According to some embodiments of the present application, the expression function comprises an exponential function, a linear-exponential function, a double-exponential function, a triangular wave function, a sine function or a cosine function.

[0018] According to some embodiments of the present application, the expression function is determined by whether a waveform of a scintillation pulse reflected based on prior information of the scintillation pulse conforms to a function model.

[0019] According to some embodiments of the present application, the scintillation pulse comprises an electric pulse, an acoustic pulse, a thermal pulse or a pressure pulse.

[0020] According to some embodiments of the present application, the determining the parameters to be fitted is performed by a direct solution method or an iterative method.

[0021] According to a second aspect of the present application, a scintillation pulse digitizing device is provided. The digitizing device comprises: an obtaining module configured to obtain an expression function of a scintillation pulse, wherein the expression function comprises one or more parameters to be fitted; a sampling module configured to preset one or more thresholds and sample the scintillation pulse based on the thresholds to obtain a plurality of sampling point data; a determining module configured to determine at least one target threshold from the thresholds, wherein the pulse width corresponding to the target threshold is not less than a preset width, and the number of sampling point data corresponding to the target threshold is greater than or equal to the number of the parameters to be fitted; and a calculating module configured to determine the parameters to be fitted based on the sampling point data corresponding to the target threshold.

[0022] According to some embodiments of the present application, to determine the at least one target threshold, the determining module is configured to: determine whether the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold is greater than the preset width; if yes, determine all the thresholds as the target thresholds; and if no, determine the thresholds other than the maximum threshold as the target thresholds.

[0023] According to some embodiments of the present application, to determine the at least one target threshold, the determining module is configured to: discard the maximum threshold and determine the other thresholds as the target thresholds.

[0024] According to some embodiments of the present application, to determine the at least one target threshold, the determining module is configured to: determine the at least one target threshold from the thresholds other than the maximum threshold.

[0025] According to some embodiments of the present application, to determine the at least one target threshold, the determining module is configured to: determine whether the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold is greater than the preset width; if yes, determine the maximum threshold as one of the target thresholds; and if no, determine the at least one target threshold from the thresholds other than the maximum threshold.

[0026] According to some embodiments of the present application, to determine the at least one target threshold, the determining module is configured to: determine the at least one target threshold from the thresholds based on the number of the parameters to be fitted.

[0027] According to some embodiments of the present application, to determine the at least one target threshold, the determining module is configured to: when the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold is not less than the preset width, determine the maximum threshold, the minimum threshold, and the thresholds near the median of the maximum threshold and the minimum threshold as the target thresholds.

[0028] According to some embodiments of the present application, to determine the at least one target threshold, the determining module is configured to: when a maximum threshold among the thresholds corresponds to a pulse width less than a preset width, determine a second maximum threshold among the thresholds, a minimum threshold, and the thresholds around a median of the second maximum threshold and the minimum threshold as the target thresholds.

[0029] According to some embodiments of the present application, the preset width is 5 ns, 10 ns, 15 ns, or 20 ns.

[0030] According to some embodiments of the present application, the expression function obtained by the obtaining module includes an exponential function, a linear-exponential function, a double-exponential function, a triangular wave function, a sine function, and a cosine function.

[0031] According to some embodiments of the present application, the obtaining module determines the expression function by determining whether a waveform of the scintillation pulse reflected based on prior information of the scintillation pulse conforms to a function model.

[0032] According to some embodiments of the present application, the scintillation pulse collected by the sampling module includes an electrical pulse, an acoustic pulse, a thermal pulse, and a pressure pulse.

[0033] According to some embodiments of the present application, the calculating module determines the to-be-fitted parameter by a direct solution method or an iterative method.

[0034] According to a third aspect of the present application, a digitizing device is provided. The digitizing device includes the digitizing apparatus of the scintillation pulse as described above.

[0035] According to a fourth aspect of the present application, a digitizing device is provided. The device includes a processing circuit board configured to perform a sampling operation on the scintillation pulse and implement the digitizing method of the scintillation pulse as described above.

[0036] According to a fifth aspect of the present application, a digitizing device is provided. The digitizing device includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor. The computer program, when executed by the processor, implements the steps of the method as described above.

[0037] According to a sixth aspect of the present application, a computer readable storage medium is provided. The storage medium stores a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method as described above.

[0038] The scintillation pulse digitization method, device, equipment and storage medium disclosed by the application can realize online solving of complex functions with extremely low computing resource occupation. The computing result can be obtained without a large amount of computing resource and a large amount of computing time, the requirement for computing resource in the computing process can be greatly reduced, and the power consumption is also reduced. Meanwhile, the spectrum breakage in the computing result can be prevented. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0039] The application will be further described in the manner of exemplary embodiments, which will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are not restrictive, and in the embodiments, the same reference numbers represent the same structures, in which:

[0040] Figure 1 is an exemplary flowchart of a scintillation pulse digitization method according to some embodiments of the application;

[0041] Figure 2 is an exemplary relationship diagram of a scintillation pulse and a threshold according to some embodiments of the application;

[0042] Figure 3 is an exemplary module diagram of a scintillation pulse processing system according to some embodiments of the application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] In order to make the above objectives, features and advantages of the application more apparent and understandable, the specific embodiments of the application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, a large number of specific details are set forth in order to fully understand the application. However, the application can be implemented in many different ways other than those described herein, and those skilled in the art can make similar improvements without departing from the spirit of the application, so the application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

[0044] It should be noted that when an element is referred to as being "fixed" to another element, it can be directly fixed to the other element or there can be a middle element. When an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or there can be a middle element. The terms "vertical", "horizontal", "left", "right", and similar expressions used herein are for illustrative purposes only.

[0045] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the application belongs. The terminology used in the description of the application herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used herein, the term "and / or" or "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0046] Some preferred embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the following description is for the purpose of illustration and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application.

[0047] Figure 1 is an exemplary flowchart of a method of digitizing a scintillation pulse according to some embodiments of the present application. In some embodiments, the method of digitizing a scintillation pulse 100 can be performed by the first data processing system 300. For example, the method of digitizing a scintillation pulse 100 can be stored in the form of a program or instructions in a storage device (such as a self-provided storage unit of the data processing system 300 or an external storage device), which, when executed, can implement the method of digitizing a scintillation pulse 100. As shown, the method of digitizing a scintillation pulse 100 can include the following steps. Figure 1

[0048] Step 110, obtaining an expression function of the scintillation pulse.

[0049] In some embodiments, the expression function can be a function used to describe the shape of the scintillation pulse. The function can be a linear-exponential function, a double-exponential function, a triangular wave function, a sine wave function, a cosine wave function, etc. By comparing whether the waveform of the scintillation pulse reflected based on the prior information of the scintillation pulse conforms to each type of function model, the expression function can be determined. For example, the expression of the function model to which the waveform of the scintillation pulse conforms can be taken as the expression function. The expression function can include one or more fitting parameters. For example, when the expression function is an exponential function y = ae bx , the fitting parameters are a and b. In some embodiments, the expression function can be represented as the following equation 1:

[0050] y(t) = f(a1, a2, …, a n , t) (1)

[0051] wherein t is a variable, representing a sampling time, y(t) is a function of t, representing the amplitude of the scintillation pulse at the sampling time. a1, a2, …, a n represent fitting parameters. By solving the expression function using the sampling data obtained by sampling the scintillation pulse, the fitting parameters can be determined.

[0052] In some embodiments, the prior information can be obtained by prior information collection of the scintillation pulse by a digital oscilloscope. When collecting the prior information of the scintillation pulse, the digital oscilloscope can filter out noise through a low-frequency filter circuit, and convert noise that cannot be filtered out into white noise through a high-frequency filter circuit, so that the collected prior information is more accurate.

[0053] ​In some embodiments, the expression function can be predetermined. For example, the digitization method 100 can be executed with the expression function determined beforehand, which can be stored in a storage unit of the data processing system 300 or an external storage device. The expression function can be obtained through communication and transmission.

[0054] At step 120, one or more thresholds are preset, and sampling points are obtained by sampling the flicker pulse based on the thresholds.

[0055] In some embodiments, one or more thresholds can be used to compare with the flicker pulse to determine the time points when the flicker pulse crosses the thresholds. When the flicker pulse crosses a threshold (including crossing and exceeding from bottom to top, and crossing and being less than from top to bottom), the corresponding time point information can be collected. The time point and the corresponding threshold can constitute a threshold-time pair, which can also be referred to as a sampling point data in this application. One threshold can correspond to two threshold-time pairs, that is, two sampling point data. When all threshold comparisons are completed, the two sampling point data corresponding to each threshold constitute multiple sampling data.

[0056] In some embodiments, the size of one or more thresholds is within the amplitude of the flicker pulse. The flicker pulse crosses all the thresholds.

[0057] Referring to Figure 2 , Figure 2 is an exemplary relationship diagram of a flicker pulse and thresholds according to some embodiments of the present application. As shown in Figure 2 , a typical flicker pulse is given. The flicker pulse 200 includes a fast rising rising edge 210 and a slow falling falling edge 220. 230-1, 230-2, 230-3, 230-4 represent four different thresholds. These thresholds are within the amplitude of the flicker pulse 200, and data sampling can be performed by detecting the time when the flicker pulse 200 crosses the above four thresholds. Figure 2 In the case where the flicker pulse is an electrical pulse, the four thresholds can correspond to voltage thresholds.

[0058] It should be noted that the flicker pulse can have various forms, such as an electrical pulse, an acoustic pulse, a thermal pulse, a pressure wave pulse, etc. The energy representation of the flicker pulse can be voltage, current, energy, heat, sound intensity, etc. Correspondingly, the threshold can be a voltage threshold, a current threshold, an energy threshold, a sound intensity threshold, etc. In addition, Figure 2 The flicker pulse shown in the figure is a discrete signal, but this does not limit the flicker pulse in this application to be a continuous signal. For example, the continuous signal can be a discrete signal arranged in a certain period as shown in Figure 2 The present application does not make any limitation.

[0059] The following continues based on Figure 2 The sampling process is described below. During the rising phase of the scintillation pulse 200, the scintillation pulse 200 first crosses the voltage threshold 230-1 (also referred to as V1) from bottom to top, and the corresponding time is t1. Subsequently, the scintillation pulse 200 crosses the voltage threshold 230-2 (also referred to as V2) from bottom to top, and the corresponding time is t2. Similarly, the scintillation pulse 200 crosses the voltage threshold 230-3 (also referred to as V3) from bottom to top at t3, and crosses the voltage threshold 230-4 (also referred to as V4) from bottom to top at t4. During the falling phase, the scintillation pulse 200 first crosses the voltage threshold 230-4 (also referred to as V5, 55 = V4) from top to bottom, and the corresponding time is t5. Subsequently, the scintillation pulse 200 crosses the voltage threshold 230-3 (also referred to as V6, V6 = V3) from top to bottom, and the corresponding time is t6. By analogy, the scintillation pulse 200 crosses the voltage threshold 230-2 from top to bottom at t7 (for ease of distinction, it can also be called V7, V7 = V2), and crosses the voltage threshold 230-1 from top to bottom at t8 (for ease of distinction, it can also be called V8, V8 = V1). The voltage threshold-time pairs consisting of the above voltage thresholds and corresponding times can be expressed as (y(t1), t1), (y(t2), t2), ..., (y(t8), t8). Among them, y(t1) = V1, y(t2) = V2, ..., y(t8) = V8. The above series of data can be eight sampling point data corresponding to four thresholds.

[0060] It should be understood that in actual sampling, the waveform of the scintillation pulse is not as Figure 2 The smoothness shown in the figure will be more volatile, which is actually Figure 2 The waveform shown fluctuates upward or downward within the upper and lower ranges. Figure 2 The smoothed waveforms shown are for ease of illustration. Therefore, during actual sampling, the waveform may cross the same threshold multiple times within a very short period of time at either the rising or falling edge. In actual sampling, the average time of multiple crossings of the threshold within a certain time window or time period can be used as the time at which the threshold is crossed. This is readily accomplished by those skilled in the art based on the teachings of this application and will not be further elaborated upon here.

[0061] In some embodiments, the magnitude of the one or more thresholds may not all be within the amplitude of the scintillation pulse. For example, the one or more thresholds may be a plurality of thresholds set according to predetermined threshold intervals, such as in the form of an arithmetic progression. When the scintillation pulse is compared with these thresholds, the scintillation pulse may exceed some of the thresholds. Return to reference Figure 2, it is assumed that there are multiple other threshold values above the voltage threshold 230-4. The flicker pulse only crosses four different threshold values. The threshold value crossed by the flicker pulse can be referred to as a trigger threshold value. When sampling the flicker pulse based on the one or more threshold values, the flicker pulse is actually sampled based on the trigger threshold value.

[0062] Step 130, determining at least one target threshold value from the one or more threshold values.

[0063] In some embodiments, the sampling point data corresponding to the target function can be used in other parts of the digitization method 100. For example, it can be used to determine one or more fitting parameters of the expression function. The number of sampling point data corresponding to the target threshold value needs to be greater than or equal to the number of parameters to be fitted. For equation 1, if it is to be solved in a way that does not consume a lot of computing resources and does not take a lot of computing time to achieve the purpose of fast real-time calculation, the direct solving method is a better choice. By substituting the sampling data (for example, (y(t1), t1), (y(t2), t2), …, (y(t8), t8) in the above example) into equation 1, a system of equations is formed. Solving the system of equations can determine a1, a2, …, a n However, the solution of the system of equations needs to satisfy that the number of equations is greater than or equal to the number of parameters to be solved. That is, to solve n parameters, it needs to be greater than or equal to n parts of sampling point data. Therefore, the number of sampling point data corresponding to the target threshold value needs to be greater than or equal to the number of fitting parameters.

[0064] In some embodiments, the target threshold value can be determined from the threshold values crossed by the flicker pulse. The target threshold value can or can not include the maximum threshold value in the target threshold value.

[0065] In some embodiments, it can be determined whether the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold value is greater than a preset width. The pulse width can refer to the time interval between the time points at which the flicker pulse crosses the same threshold value twice. Continuing to refer to the above example, the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold value is the time interval between the time points at which the flicker pulse crosses the maximum threshold value twice. The preset width can be a predetermined value. For example, the preset width can be 0.5 ms. Figure 2, the maximum threshold value of the four voltage threshold values is the voltage threshold value 230-4, and the times at which the flicker pulse 200 crosses the voltage threshold value 230-4 twice are t4 and t5, respectively. The corresponding pulse width can be t5-t4. When the pulse width is less than the preset width, it can be considered that the maximum threshold value is too close to the peak of the flicker pulse. At this time, when the sampling point data corresponding to the maximum threshold value is applied to the subsequent processing process (for example, determining one or more threshold values to be fitted of the expression function), it can cause the occurrence of poor results (for example, the function fitting result is too large or too small, resulting in a broken energy spectrum). Conversely, the above situation does not occur. Therefore, when the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold value is greater than the preset width, the threshold values can all be determined as the target threshold values. When the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold value is less than the preset width, in order to avoid the final occurrence of a broken energy spectrum, the threshold values other than the maximum threshold value can be determined as the target threshold values. It can be understood that the method for determining the target threshold values described in the present application can be referred to as scheme one.

[0066] In some embodiments, the preset width can be 5 ns, 10 ns, 15 ns, 20 ns, etc. Alternatively or preferably, the preset width can be 10 ns. The preset width can also be adjusted according to actual conditions. For example, according to the flicker pulse waveform shape presented according to the prior information of the flicker pulse. Different flicker pulse waveform shapes can have different preset widths. The present application does not limit this.

[0067] In some embodiments, the maximum threshold value can be discarded directly, and the threshold values other than the maximum threshold value can be determined as the target threshold values. Since the maximum threshold value close to the peak of the flicker pulse can cause the last energy spectrum to be broken, the maximum threshold value in the threshold values can be discarded directly without determining the relationship between the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold value and the preset width. It should be noted that when the maximum threshold value is discarded, the number of threshold values is greater than or equal to two. The method for determining the target threshold values described in the present application can be referred to as scheme two. It can be understood that after the maximum threshold value is discarded directly, other threshold values corresponding to the pulse width can be less than the preset width. Therefore, the size relationship between the pulse width corresponding to these threshold values and the preset width can be determined, and the threshold value corresponding to the pulse width greater than the preset width can be determined as the target threshold value.

[0068] In some embodiments, the target threshold values can be a limited number of threshold values selected from the threshold values, and the number of the sampling point data corresponding to the target threshold values is greater than or equal to the number of the parameters to be fitted.

[0069] Similarly or alike, whether the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold is greater than the preset width can be determined. When the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold is greater than the preset width, the maximum threshold can be determined as one of the target thresholds. Other target thresholds can be determined from the other thresholds except the maximum threshold. For example, the minimum threshold among the thresholds can be selected, and a threshold near the median of the maximum threshold and the minimum threshold can be selected. When the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold is less than the preset width, the maximum threshold can be discarded. The target thresholds can be determined from the other thresholds except the maximum threshold. For example, the second maximum threshold, the minimum threshold, and a threshold near the median of the second maximum threshold and the minimum threshold can be selected as the target thresholds. In this application, the above method for determining the target threshold can be referred to as scheme three.

[0070] It should be noted that the above scheme one, scheme two and scheme three can be independent of each other and have certain correlation. For example, scheme one, scheme two or scheme three can be selected when determining the target threshold. In some cases, scheme one, scheme two and scheme three can be integrated with each other and converted for use. For example, assuming that the expression function of the scintillation pulse includes 3 parameters to be fitted, at this time more than or equal to 3 pieces of sampling point data are required to solve. The number of thresholds crossed by the scintillation pulse is 2, and 4 pieces of sampling point data are collected. If the larger value of the 2 thresholds is discarded according to scheme two, the 2 pieces of sampling point data corresponding to the remaining 1 threshold cannot meet the requirements. At this time, the pulse width corresponding to the larger threshold needs to be determined according to scheme one. If it is greater than the preset width, the larger threshold can be discarded, and the 4 pieces of sampling point data corresponding to the 2 thresholds are used to solve the expression function of the scintillation pulse.

[0071] In step 140, one or more parameters to be fitted of the expression function are determined based on the sampling point data corresponding to the target threshold.

[0072] In some embodiments, the parameters to be fitted of the expression function can be determined based on a direct solving method. For example, the method of solving the equation set is used to solve the equation set including N parameters by using more than or equal to N pieces of sampling point data. The sampling point data corresponding to the target threshold can be directly brought into equation 1 to obtain an equation set. The parameters to be fitted can be determined by solving the equation set. Using the direct solving method for calculation can save a lot of computing resources and time. Using very few computing resources can complete the calculation and obtain the results in real time.

[0073] In some embodiments, the parameters to be fitted of the expression function can be determined based on an iterative method. For example, the parameters to be fitted can be initially assigned, and then the sampling point data corresponding to the target threshold and the expression function with the assigned parameters can be brought into the Levenberg-Marquardt fitting function for fitting. After completion, one or more parameters of the expression function can be determined.

[0074] In some embodiments, the parameter-determined expression function can be integrated to obtain an energy value corresponding to the scintillation pulse. The energy value can be used for image reconstruction (e.g., PET image reconstruction) or substance confirmation (e.g., confirming the element composition of a geological layer in geological exploration) or different kinds of radiation detection (e.g., distinguishing gamma rays from neutron rays according to energy).

[0075] It should be noted that the above description of each step in Figure 1 is merely for example and illustration, and does not limit the scope of the present specification. Those skilled in the art can make various modifications and changes to each step in Figure 1 under the guidance of the present specification. However, these modifications and changes are still within the scope of the present specification. For example, the expression function of the scintillation pulse can be determined in advance.

[0076] The exemplary digitization method 100 disclosed in the present application can be implemented on a device with a large amount of computing resources (e.g., a computer, a server, cloud computing, etc.) or on a device with limited computing resources (e.g., an FPGA chip board, an ASIC chip board, etc. hardware circuit).

[0077] The digitization method of the scintillation pulse disclosed in the present application can be implemented to solve complex functions online with minimal computing resource occupation. The calculation result can be obtained without a large amount of computing resources and a large amount of computing time, which greatly reduces the requirement for computing resources in the calculation process and also contributes to reducing power consumption. At the same time, it can prevent the occurrence of energy spectrum break in the calculation result.

[0078] Figure 3 is an exemplary module diagram of a data processing system according to some embodiments of the present specification. The data processing system can implement real-time processing of scintillation pulses with low computing resources. As shown in the figure, the data processing system 300 can include an acquisition module 310, a sampling module 320, a determination module 330, and a calculation module 340.

[0079] The acquisition module 310 can be used to acquire the expression function of the scintillation pulse as described in step 110 above. The expression function can be a function used to describe the shape of the scintillation pulse. By comparing whether the waveform of the scintillation pulse based on the prior information of the scintillation pulse conforms to various function models, the expression function can be determined. The expression function can be determined in advance. For example, the digitization method 100 has been determined before execution, and is stored in the self-provided storage unit or external storage device of the data processing system 300. The acquisition module 310 can obtain the expression function by communicating with the storage unit or external storage device.

[0080] The sampling module 320 can be configured to preset one or more thresholds as described in step 120, and sample the flicker pulse based on the thresholds to obtain a plurality of pieces of sampling point data. The sampling module 320 can compare the thresholds with the flicker pulse to determine a time point when the flicker pulse crosses the threshold. The time point and the corresponding threshold can constitute a threshold-time pair, also referred to as a piece of sampling point data.

[0081] The determining module 330 can be configured to determine at least one target threshold from the thresholds as described in step 130. The sampling point data corresponding to the objective function can be used to solve the fitting parameters of the expression function, for example. The number of pieces of sampling point data corresponding to the target thresholds needs to be greater than or equal to the number of parameters to be fitted.

[0082] The determining module 330 can be configured to determine whether the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold is greater than a preset width. When the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold is greater than the preset width, the first determining module 330 can determine that all the thresholds are target thresholds. When the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold is less than the preset width, the first determining module 330 can determine that the thresholds other than the maximum threshold are target thresholds. The preset width can be 5 ns, 10 ns, 15 ns, 20 ns, etc. Alternatively or preferably, the preset width can be 10 ns.

[0083] The determining module 330 can directly discard the maximum threshold and determine the other thresholds as target thresholds. The determining module 330 can determine at least one of the target thresholds from the thresholds other than the maximum threshold.

[0084] The determining module 330 can select a limited number of thresholds from the thresholds as target thresholds. Similarly or similarly, the first determining module 330 can determine whether the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold is greater than a preset width. When the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold is greater than the preset width, the first determining module 330 can determine that the maximum threshold is one of the target thresholds. When the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold is less than the preset width, the first determining module 330 can discard the maximum threshold and select a limited number of thresholds other than the maximum threshold as target thresholds.

[0085] The calculating module 340 can be configured to determine one or more parameters to be fitted of the expression function based on the sampling point data corresponding to the target thresholds as described in step 140. The first calculating module 340 can determine the parameters to be fitted of the expression function based on a direct solving method. The first calculating module 340 can also determine the parameters to be fitted of the expression function based on an iterative method.

[0086] The data processing system 300 can further include other modules, such as a post-processing module and / or a storage module. The post-processing module can be configured to integrate the expression function after the fitting of the parameters to obtain the energy value corresponding to the scintillation pulse. Based on the energy value, image reconstruction (e.g., PET image reconstruction) or substance confirmation (e.g., confirming the element composition of a geological layer in geological exploration) or different kinds of radiation detection (e.g., distinguishing gamma rays or neutron rays according to energy) can be performed. The storage module can be configured to store the output of the above modules for later calling.

[0087] Further description of the above modules can be found in other parts of the present application, such as Figure 1 .

[0088] It should be understood that Figure 3 The system and its modules shown can be implemented in various ways. For example, in some embodiments, the system and its modules can be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware. The hardware part can be implemented by special logic; the software part can be stored in a memory and executed by a suitable instruction execution system, such as a microprocessor or a specially designed hardware. Those skilled in the art can understand that the above-mentioned methods and systems can be implemented using computer executable instructions and / or included in processor control code, such as provided on a carrier medium, such as a magnetic disk, CD or DVD-ROM, a programmable memory, such as a read-only memory (firmware), or a data carrier, such as an optical or electronic signal carrier. The system and its modules of the present application can not only be implemented by hardware circuitry, such as very large scale integrated circuits or gate arrays, semiconductors, such as logic chips, transistors, or programmable hardware devices, such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable logic devices, etc., but also by software, for example, executed by various types of processors, and also by a combination of the above-mentioned hardware circuitry and software (e.g., firmware).

[0089] It should be noted that the above description of the modules is for the convenience of description and cannot limit the scope of the present application to the embodiments described. It can be understood by those skilled in the art that after understanding the principle of the system, the modules can be combined or connected to other modules to form a subsystem without departing from the principle. For example, the modules can share a storage module, and each module can have its own storage module. Such variations are within the scope of the present application. The data processing system disclosed in the present application can include devices with a large amount of computing resources (e.g., computers, servers, cloud computing, etc.), or devices with limited computing resources (e.g., FPGA chip boards, ASIC chip boards, etc.).

[0090] The scintillation pulse digitization method provided in the present application can be specifically used in photon detection, and can be applied to various fields, such as medical imaging technology, high-energy physics, laser radar, automatic driving, precision analysis, optical communication, and the like. In a specific example, the scintillation pulse digitization method and device, detector, electronic device and storage medium provided in the present application can be applied to positron emission computed tomography (PET). In a PET system, image reconstruction can be performed after collecting photon data by using the scheme according to the embodiments of the present application. In other specific examples of the present application, the scintillation pulse digitization method and device, detector, electronic device and storage medium provided in the present application can be applied to various digitization devices, such as a CT device, an MRI device, a radiation detection device, a petroleum detection device, a weak light detection device, a SPECT device, a security inspection device, a gamma camera, an X-ray device, a DR device, and other devices using high-energy ray conversion principle, and other photoelectric conversion application devices.

[0091] The basic concepts have been described herein, and it is obvious that the above detailed disclosure is only used as an example and does not limit the present specification. Although the modifications, improvements and corrections of the present specification are not explicitly described by those skilled in the art, such modifications, improvements and corrections are suggested in the present specification, and therefore such modifications, improvements and corrections still belong to the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of the present specification.

[0092] Meanwhile, specific words are used in the present specification to describe the embodiments of the present specification. As "one embodiment", "an embodiment", and / or "some embodiments" means a certain feature, structure or characteristic related to at least one embodiment of the present specification. Therefore, it should be emphasized and noted that the "one embodiment" or "one embodiment" or "one alternative embodiment" mentioned in different positions in the present specification does not necessarily mean the same embodiment. In addition, some features, structures or characteristics in one or more embodiments of the present specification can be properly combined.

[0093] Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various aspects of the disclosure can be illustrated and described in connection with a number of various kinds of systems or circumstances, including any new and useful processes, machines, products, or compositions of matter, or any new and useful improvements thereof, as defined by the plain language of the claims. Accordingly, the various aspects of the disclosure can be implemented in whole or in part any number of hardware, software codes, firmware codes, and / or other programming codes. Such hardware, software codes, firmware codes, and / or other programming codes can be referred to as a "data block", "module", "engine", "unit", "component", or "system". In addition, aspects of the disclosure can be embodied as a computer program product on one or more computer readable media (moving or physical) having computer readable program code embodied therein.

[0094] Computer storage media can include a propagated data signal with the computer program code embodied therein, e.g., in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal can take any of a variety of forms, including but not limited to electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Computer storage media can be any media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer storage media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or any other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired computer program code in the form of computer-readable program code means, computer-readable program code, or the like. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer storage medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, or twisted pair, as exemplary signal bearing media, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, or twisted pair are computer storage media that transmits the program. Computer storage media can also comprise computer program code embodied in one or more computer readable media for use with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer-based system, processor- based system, or a related entity preferably in a virtual computing environment.

[0095] Computer program code embodied on a computer storage medium can be for execution, and / or can be directly executable, and / or can be used as a command language, e.g., preprocessor, assembler, interpreter, etc. The described hardware and software codes can be embodied within one or more computer-readable storage media for execution by, for example, one or more electronic central processing units (CPUs), one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), and / or other processors.

[0096] Furthermore, the order of the processing elements and sequences described in this specification are not intended to be construed as a limitation, unless specifically stated, but are included to provide a complete description of one or more embodiments of the present specification. Regardless of the particular sequence of processing elements and sequences, however, the description herein of a process should be understood to include any and all combinations of one or more elements, and sequences that can be perceived as either open-ended or specific.

[0097] Similarly, it is to be noticed that the term "comprising", used in the description, should not be interpreted as being restricted only to the means listed thereafter. It is to be understood that the term "comprising" means "including, but not limited to". Furthermore, it is to be noted that the terms "a", "an" and "the" are not intended to exclude the plural, but rather to mean "one or more". The use of the term "about" in relation to a numerical value preferably means ±20% of the value.

[0098] Some embodiments use numerical values to describe components, quantities of ingredients. It is to be understood that such numerical values used in the description of the embodiments are, in some examples, modified by the adjectives "about", "approximately", or "substantially". Unless otherwise stated, "about", "approximately", or "substantially" indicate that the described numerical value allows for a ±20% variation. Accordingly, numerical values used in the specification and claims are approximations that can vary depending upon the desired properties sought to be obtained by the individual embodiment. In some embodiments, numerical values are determined without considering significant digits before or after the decimal point. Although the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of the embodiments of the specification are approximations, the numerical values set forth in the specific embodiments are reported as precisely as possible. Any numerical value, however, can contain certain errors associated with testing measurements errors.

[0099] Each patent, patent application, publication, document, article, book, specification, and other material cited in this specification is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes to the same extent as if each individual publication, document, article, book, specification or other material were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference in its entirety for its cited and pertinent teachings. For contrary or inconsistent definitions or teachings of the incorporated material with the content of this specification, the description, definitions, and / or terms set forth in this specification control. For contrary or inconsistent application histories of the incorporated material with the content of this specification, the application history of this specification controls.

[0100] Finally, it should be understood that the embodiments described herein are only given by way of example and that other modifications can occur to persons skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope of the present description is not intended to be limited to the embodiments described herein but is only limited by the claims that follow.

Claims

1. A method of digitizing a scintillation pulse, comprising: The digitalization method comprises: acquiring an expression function of the scintillation pulse, wherein the expression function comprises one or more parameters to be fitted; presetting one or more threshold values and sampling the scintillation pulse based on the threshold values to acquire multiple pieces of sampling point data; determining at least one target threshold value from the threshold values, wherein the pulse width corresponding to the target threshold value is not less than a preset width, the number of pieces of sampling point data corresponding to the target threshold value is greater than or equal to the number of the parameters to be fitted, and the number of the target threshold values is less than the preset number of threshold values; determining the parameters to be fitted based on the sampling point data corresponding to the target threshold values.

2. The method of digitizing a scintillation pulse according to claim 1, wherein, The determination of the at least one target threshold value comprises: determining whether the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold value in the threshold values is greater than the preset width; if yes, determining all the threshold values as the target threshold values; if no, determining the threshold values other than the maximum threshold value as the target threshold values.

3. The method of digitizing a scintillation pulse according to claim 1, wherein, The determination of the at least one target threshold value comprises: discarding the maximum threshold value in the threshold values and determining the threshold values other than the maximum threshold value as the target threshold values.

4. The method of digitizing a scintillation pulse of claim 1, wherein, The determination of the at least one target threshold value comprises: determining at least one target threshold value from the threshold values other than the maximum threshold value.

5. The method of digitizing a scintillation pulse of claim 1, wherein, The determination of the at least one target threshold value comprises: determining whether the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold value in the threshold values is greater than the preset width; if yes, determining the maximum threshold value as one of the target threshold values; if no, determining at least one target threshold value from the threshold values other than the maximum threshold value.

6. The method of digitizing a scintillation pulse of claim 1, wherein, The determination of the at least one target threshold value comprises: determining at least one target threshold value from the threshold values based on the number of the parameters to be fitted.

7. The method of digitizing a scintillation pulse according to claim 5, wherein, The determination of the at least one target threshold value comprises: when the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold value in the threshold values is not less than the preset width, determining the maximum threshold value, the minimum threshold value and the threshold values near the median of the maximum threshold value and the minimum threshold value as the target threshold values.

8. The method of digitizing a scintillation pulse according to claim 5, wherein, The determination of the at least one target threshold value comprises: when the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold value in the threshold values is less than the preset width, determining the threshold values near the median of the maximum threshold value and the minimum threshold value as the target threshold values.

9. The method of digitizing a scintillation pulse according to any one of claims 1-8, wherein, The preset width is 5 ns, 10 ns, 15 ns or 20 ns.

10. The method of digitizing a scintillation pulse of claim 1, wherein, The expression function comprises an exponential function, a straight line-exponential function, a double exponential function, a triangular wave function, a sine function or a cosine function.

11. The method of digitizing a scintillation pulse of claim 1, wherein, The expression function is determined by whether the waveform of the scintillation pulse reflected based on prior information of the scintillation pulse conforms to a function model.

12. The method of digitizing a scintillating pulse of claim 1, wherein, The scintillation pulse comprises an electric pulse, an acoustic pulse, a thermal pulse or a pressure pulse.

13. The method of digitizing a scintillating pulse of claim 1, wherein, The determination of the parameters to be fitted is performed by a direct solution method or an iterative method.

14. A scintillation pulse digitizer comprising: The digitalization device comprises: an acquisition module configured to acquire an expression function of the scintillation pulse, wherein the expression function comprises one or more parameters to be fitted; a sampling module configured to preset one or more threshold values and sample the scintillation pulse based on the threshold values to acquire multiple pieces of sampling point data; determining at least one target threshold from the thresholds, wherein the target threshold corresponds to a pulse width not less than a preset width, the target threshold corresponds to a sampling point data fraction greater than or equal to the number of the to-be-fitted parameters, and the number of the target thresholds is less than the preset number of thresholds; calculating the to-be-fitted parameters based on the sampling point data corresponding to the target thresholds.

15. The scintillation pulse digitizer of claim 14, wherein, To determine at least one target threshold, the determining module is configured to: determine whether the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold in the thresholds is greater than the preset width; if yes, determine all the thresholds as the target thresholds; if no, determine the thresholds other than the maximum threshold as the target thresholds.

16. The scintillation pulse digitizer of claim 14, wherein, To determine at least one target threshold, the determining module is configured to: discard the maximum threshold in the thresholds, and determine the other thresholds as the target thresholds.

17. The scintillation pulse digitizer of claim 14, wherein, To determine at least one target threshold, the determining module is configured to: determine at least one target threshold from the thresholds other than the maximum threshold.

18. The scintillation pulse digitizer of claim 14, wherein, To determine at least one target threshold, the determining module is configured to: determine whether the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold in the thresholds is greater than the preset width; if yes, determine the maximum threshold as one of the target thresholds; if no, determine at least one target threshold from the thresholds other than the maximum threshold.

19. The device of claim 14, wherein, To determine at least one target threshold, the determining module is configured to: determine at least one target threshold from the thresholds based on the number of the to-be-fitted parameters.

20. The scintillation pulse digitizing device of claim 18, wherein, To determine at least one target threshold, the determining module is configured to: when the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold in the thresholds is not less than the preset width, determine the maximum threshold, the minimum threshold, and the thresholds near the median of the maximum threshold and the minimum threshold as the target thresholds.

21. The scintillation pulse digitizing device of claim 18, wherein, To determine at least one target threshold, the determining module is configured to: when the pulse width corresponding to the maximum threshold in the thresholds is less than the preset width, determine the second maximum threshold, the minimum threshold, and the thresholds near the median of the second maximum threshold and the minimum threshold in the thresholds as the target thresholds.

22. The scintillation pulse digitizer of any of claims 14-21, wherein, The preset width is 5 ns, 10 ns, 15 ns, or 20 ns.

23. The device of claim 14, wherein, The expression function obtained by the obtaining module includes an exponential function, a straight line-exponential function, a double exponential function, a triangular wave function, a sine function, and a cosine function.

24. The device of claim 14, wherein, The obtaining module determines the expression function by determining whether the waveform of the scintillation pulse reflected based on the prior information of the scintillation pulse conforms to the function model.

25. The method of digitizing a scintillation pulse of claim 14, wherein, The scintillation pulse collected by the sampling module includes an electric pulse, an acoustic pulse, a thermal pulse, and a pressure pulse.

26. The method of digitizing a scintillation pulse of claim 14, wherein, The to-be-fitted parameters are determined by the calculating module through a direct solution method or an iterative method.

27. A digitizer device, comprising: The device includes a processing circuit board configured to perform a sampling operation on the scintillation pulse and implement the scintillation pulse digitization method according to any one of claims 1-13. The device includes a processing circuit board configured to perform a sampling operation on the scintillation pulse and implement the scintillation pulse digitization method according to any one of claims 1-13.

28. A digitizer device, comprising: ​ 29. A digitizer device, comprising: ​ - a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory and runable on the processor, which, when executed by the processor, implement the steps of the digitization method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

30. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, - a storage medium storing a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, implement the steps of the digitization method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

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