Pulse digitization method, calibration method and device, electronic device, and storage medium

Abstract

A pulse digitization method, calibration method and device, electronic device, and storage medium are provided in this disclosure. The pulse digitization method includes the steps of: providing amplitude-energy mapping data for a plurality of reference pulses; setting up a plurality of energy channel addresses or amplitude channel addresses having characteristic values; determining a channel address corresponding to a plurality of measured pulses based on a comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of a plurality of measured pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of a plurality of channel addresses; and determining energy information for a plurality of measured pulses based on the count of measured pulses in each channel address and the amplitude-energy mapping data or energy characteristic value of the energy channel address. In this disclosure, the complex fitting calculations required in conventional oil exploration processes are avoided, and pulse energy information can be obtained directly and quickly through a threshold comparison method, which significantly reduces the downtime of the acquisition circuit, improves the performance and efficiency of signal acquisition, and is particularly suitable for ultra-high temperature environments.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202311526806.X, filed on 16 November 2023, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] This disclosure relates to the field of signal sampling, and more specifically to pulse digitization methods, calibration methods and devices, electronic devices, and storage media. [Background technology]

[0003] In many applications of detecting high-energy radiation, high-energy rays such as gamma rays are converted into visible light by a scintillation crystal, and this visible light is further converted into a scintillation pulse signal by a photodetector.

[0004] Logging techniques are crucial in the field of oil exploration. They integrate electronic and computer technologies to acquire various physical parameters of rock formations through electrical, acoustic, radiological, and other methods, and further extract information about oil and gas through data analysis. Common logging techniques include electrical logging, acoustic logging, nuclear logging, and nuclear magnetic logging. Nuclear logging is based on the nuclear properties of materials and is used to find coal, oil, and other minerals by examining the geological properties of rocks, their interstitial fluids, and the nuclear physical properties of the open-hole medium. Nuclear logging utilizes the detection of high-energy radiation and employs techniques such as natural gamma-ray logging, density logging, neutron logging, and component logging, along with relevant instruments and devices.

[0005] Pulsed neutron logging is a type of nuclear logging. Its principle involves detecting the energy deposition of pulsed neutrons in gamma-ray emitting geological formations, thereby obtaining information about the corresponding energy and time spectra. The primary method for detecting high-energy radiation involves using a scintillator connected to a photodetector to convert the energy deposited on the scintillator into visible light, which is then converted into an electrical signal through a photoelectron converter, thereby obtaining information about the high-energy radiation. Typically, a photomultiplier tube (PMT), capable of operating at high temperatures, is used to convert the visible light produced by the scintillation crystal into the corresponding scintillation pulses. After digitization and subsequent signal processing, energy information (such as the energy spectrum) and time information (such as the time spectrum) of the gamma rays can be obtained.

[0006] There are two conventional methods for digitizing scintillation pulses. One is direct digitization using a high-speed ADC, which requires first shaping and spreading the electrical pulse signal, and then using a high-speed ADC (e.g., 1 GSps) for digital sampling. Typically, in engineering practice, to obtain accurate energy information, it is necessary to collect multiple (e.g., 20) sampling points to digitize a single pulse while operating at high temperatures (e.g., 175°C). However, at such high temperatures, the sampling rate of ADC chips is usually low, the cost is high, and it is difficult to achieve high-speed digitization of scintillation pulses. As a result, the high-speed ADC direct digitization method faces limitations in its application to oil logging. The other method is peak hold, which uses a peak hold circuit to fix the amplitude of the electrical pulse signal, and then uses an ADC to collect the amplitude and obtain pulse energy information. The peak hold method has a long stop time, usually reaching several hundred microseconds, due to the peak hold fixation establishment process and the peak hold circuit recovery process, which greatly limits the pulse throughput rate of digitization (the number of pulses processed per unit time). In petroleum logging, the number of pulse events often increases exponentially. For example, in typical neutron petroleum logging, the pulse count can reach 100 kCPS, generating one pulse every 10 μs on average. The pause time in peak-hold methods causes a large number of pulse signals to be lost during digitization, leading to inaccuracies in the measurement results.

[0007] In recent years, the direct digitization of scintillation pulses and the replacement of conventional analog circuits for information extraction using software algorithms have shown great potential. As an improved digital processing method for scintillation pulses, multi-voltage threshold (MVT) sampling has been proposed. Currently, the introduction of MVT digitization methods into the field of petroleum exploration is also being proposed.

[0008] Compared to conventional methods such as ADC-based time-interval sampling, MVT digitized sampling uses multiple fixed threshold voltages and digitally samples the time over which a scintillation pulse crosses these threshold voltages, which is beneficial for acquiring multiple sampling points during fast rise edge phases. In practical embodiments, after acquiring a series of time-voltage pair information, pulse fitting methods are then used to achieve accurate acquisition of particle energy deposition information. For example, the Levenberg-Marquardt method is commonly used as a pulse fitting optimization algorithm. This is a widely used nonlinear least-squares iterative algorithm that utilizes gradients to find maximum (minimum) values, and is a nonlinear optimization method that lies between Newton's method and gradient descent while retaining the advantages of both Newton's method and gradient descent.

[0009] However, due to limitations in chip processing power and the complexity of the fitting algorithm, the MVT fitting algorithm may not be executable on embedded chips such as FPGAs, STM32s, or DSPs, which restricts the practical implementation of the MVT fitting algorithm in the field, such as in exploration wells. Therefore, the raw sampling points obtained by the MVT method need to be transmitted via telecommunication methods such as Ethernet, serial communication, or Wi-Fi to a more powerful computing device (called a host computer) located remotely from the field, where this device is responsible for calculating the energy using an iterative algorithm. During oil logging, the generation of scintillation pulses exhibits periodic bursts, resulting in a large amount of raw data that can reach 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps. Furthermore, specific conditions in oil exploration, such as well depths exceeding 10,000 meters and high ambient temperatures, restrict the communication method. For example, carrier communication with a bandwidth of approximately 100 Kbps is often used. Current methods face the contradiction of large amounts of raw data and limited transmission bandwidth, leading to a decrease in the counting rate. Furthermore, when performing fitting on a host computer, the repeated iterations require excessive CPU time for fitting each pulse, which is unacceptable for applications in oil detection.

[0010] In addition, current MVT methods for obtaining energy information from scintillation pulses may have several drawbacks. For example, conventional MVT methods are suitable for obtaining pulses of known types, along with threshold settings based on the energy range of known pulses. As a result, MVT methods require a fixed number and value threshold for sampling. Therefore, conventional MVT methods can usually only provide accurate energy information for pulses within a specific energy range.

[0011] Since MVT requires fitting to calculate accurate energy values, precise time information is needed for each data point. Therefore, multiple time-to-digital converters (TDCs) are typically used in the acquisition circuit to collect time information.

[0012] Furthermore, performing pulse fitting on hardware circuits such as FPGAs or ASICs requires first reconstructing the pulse waveform, then integrating the fitted functions to calculate energy information, and finally plotting the energy spectrum. However, the complexity of the calculations consumes a large amount of hardware resources and increases power consumption. In application scenarios requiring adaptation to high-temperature environments, such as logging equipment, the excessive power consumption resulting from the complex pulse fitting and integration process can further impact the temperature tolerance of the hardware.

[0013] Therefore, there is a need for a strategy that can acquire pulse signal energy information quickly, accurately, and stably, is suitable for implementation in hardware circuits such as FPGAs or DSPs, and achieves at least one of the following technical effects: does not consume large amounts of computing resources or depend on powerful computing devices.

[0014] The background information is provided solely to aid in understanding the background of this disclosure and is not intended to be considered prior art. [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0015] The technical problem to be solved by embodiments of this disclosure is to provide a digitization strategy for pulse signals, particularly scintillation pulse signals, that is suitable for implementation in hardware circuits such as FPGAs or DSPs, which avoids the complex fitting calculations required by conventional methods to acquire energy information of pulses, particularly scintillation pulses, and directly acquires energy information of pulses, particularly scintillation pulses, by simple threshold comparison.

[0016] To solve the above problems, this disclosure discloses a pulse signal digitization method, device, apparatus, electronic device, and storage medium.

[0017] In addition, this disclosure also discloses calibration methods and devices suitable for pulse digitization. [Means for solving the problem]

[0018] In a first embodiment, a pulse digitization method is provided, which is, The steps include providing amplitude-to-energy mapping data for multiple reference pulses, A step of setting up a plurality of channel addresses which are energy channel addresses or amplitude channel addresses, wherein each energy channel address has an energy characteristic value and an amplitude characteristic value determined according to amplitude-to-energy mapping data, and each amplitude channel address has an amplitude characteristic value, The steps include determining the channel address corresponding to multiple measured pulses based on the comparison results between the amplitude values ​​of multiple measured pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of multiple channel addresses, The method includes the steps of determining the energy information of multiple measured pulses based on the count of measured pulses within each channel address and the amplitude-to-energy mapping data or the energy characteristic value of the energy channel address.

[0019] In a second embodiment, a calibration method for pulse digitization is provided, which is: Steps include acquiring amplitude-versus-energy mapping data for multiple reference pulses, A step of obtaining multiple energy channel addresses to be calibrated, wherein each energy channel address to be calibrated has respective energy characteristic values ​​and respective amplitude characteristic values ​​determined according to amplitude-versus-energy mapping data, A step of determining the energy channel addresses to be calibrated corresponding to a plurality of first calibration pulses based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​of a plurality of first calibration pulses with the amplitude characteristic values ​​of a plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, A step of generating an energy spectrum of a first calibration pulse based on the count of first calibration pulses in each energy channel address to be calibrated and the energy characteristic value of the energy channel address to be calibrated, wherein the energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse has a first characteristic peak value; A step of setting up a plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses, wherein the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses are smaller than a plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, and each first calibration energy channel address has respective energy characteristic value and respective amplitude characteristic value determined according to amplitude-versus-energy mapping data, The steps include determining the calibration energy channel addresses corresponding to the multiple second calibration pulses based on the comparison results between the amplitude values ​​of multiple second calibration pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of multiple first calibration energy channel addresses, A step of generating an energy spectrum of a second calibration pulse based on the count of the second calibration pulse in each first calibration energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the calibration energy channel address, wherein the energy spectrum of the second calibration pulse has the first calibration characteristic peak value, The method comprises the step of calibrating the energy characteristic value or amplitude characteristic value of a plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated based on a first difference between a first characteristic peak value and a first calibration characteristic peak value.

[0020] In a third embodiment, a pulse digitization device is provided, which is, A mapping database containing amplitude vs. energy mapping data for multiple reference pulses, A channel address setting unit configured to set a plurality of channel addresses which are energy channel addresses or amplitude channel addresses, wherein each energy channel address has an energy characteristic value and an amplitude characteristic value determined according to amplitude-to-energy mapping data, and each amplitude channel address has an amplitude characteristic value, A channel address determination unit configured to determine the channel address corresponding to multiple measured pulses based on the comparison results of the amplitude values ​​of multiple measured pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of multiple channel addresses, The system includes an energy information acquisition unit configured to determine the energy information of multiple measured pulses based on the count of measured pulses within each channel address and amplitude-versus-energy mapping data or the energy characteristic value of the energy channel address.

[0021] In a fourth embodiment, a calibration device for pulse digitization is provided, which device A first acquisition unit configured to acquire amplitude-versus-energy mapping data of multiple reference pulses, A second acquisition unit configured to acquire multiple energy channel addresses to be calibrated, wherein each energy channel address to be calibrated has an energy characteristic value and an amplitude characteristic value determined according to amplitude-versus-energy mapping data, A first channel address determination unit is configured to determine the energy channel addresses to be calibrated corresponding to a plurality of first calibration pulses based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​of a plurality of first calibration pulses with the amplitude characteristic values ​​of a plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, A first energy spectrum generation unit configured to generate an energy spectrum of a first calibration pulse based on the count of a first calibration pulse in each energy channel address to be calibrated and the energy characteristic value of the energy channel address to be calibrated, wherein the energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse has a first characteristic peak value. A first calibration channel address setting unit configured to set a plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses, wherein the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses are smaller than a plurality of energy channel addresses, and each first calibration energy channel address has an energy characteristic value and an amplitude characteristic value determined according to amplitude-versus-energy mapping data, A second channel address determination unit is configured to determine the calibration energy channel addresses corresponding to a plurality of second calibration pulses based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​of a plurality of second calibration pulses with the amplitude characteristic values ​​of a plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses. A second energy spectrum generation unit configured to generate an energy spectrum of a second calibration pulse based on the count of the second calibration pulse in each first calibration energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the calibration energy channel address, wherein the energy spectrum of the second calibration pulse has the first calibration characteristic peak value. The system includes a calibration unit configured to calibrate the energy characteristic values ​​or amplitude characteristic values ​​of a plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, based on a first difference between a first characteristic peak value and a first calibration characteristic peak value.

[0022] In a fifth embodiment, a pulse digitization apparatus is provided, which comprises a pulse digitization device according to any embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] In a sixth embodiment, an electronic device is provided which comprises memory, a processor, and an executable program stored in the memory and executable by the processor, wherein the executable program, when executed by the processor, performs steps of a method according to any embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] In a seventh embodiment, a storage medium is provided which stores an executable program, and when executed by a processor, the executable program performs steps of a method according to any embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] In other aspects of this disclosure, a method and a device for determining material composition based on scintillation pulses are also provided.

[0026] The optional features and additional effects of the embodiments are partially described below, and the rest can be understood by reading the specification. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0027] To provide a clearer illustration of the technical measures in the embodiments of this disclosure or the prior art, a brief introduction to the drawings referenced in the descriptions of the embodiments or the prior art is provided below. Obviously, the drawings described below are provided only in relation to some embodiments of this disclosure, and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other drawings can be derived from these drawings without any creative work. [Figure 1] This is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] This is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] This is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] This is a diagram of a first module architecture for performing a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 5] This is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] This is a second module architecture diagram for performing a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] This is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] This is a diagram of a third module architecture for performing a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] This is a schematic diagram illustrating how, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the energy channel address corresponding to the pulse amplitude is determined by multi-stage comparison using a bisection method in a pulse digitization method. [Figure 10] This is a fourth module architecture diagram for performing a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 11]This is a schematic diagram of a pulse obtained by multi-stage comparison using a quadrilateral method for determining amplitude in a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, specifically illustrating the first stage of comparison. [Figure 12] This is a fifth module architecture diagram for performing a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 13] This is a sixth module architecture diagram for performing a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 14] This is a diagram of a seventh module architecture for performing a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 15] This is an eighth module architecture diagram for performing a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 16] This is a diagram of a ninth module architecture for performing a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 17] This is a diagram of a tenth module architecture for performing a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 18] This is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 19] This is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 20] This is a diagram of an eleventh module architecture for performing a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 21] This is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 22] This is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 23] This is a diagram of a twelfth module architecture for performing a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 24]This is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 25] This is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 26] This is a diagram of a thirteenth module architecture for performing a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 27] This is a schematic diagram of the time over threshold (TOT) of the measured pulse and the transition signal used to determine the TOT. [Figure 28] This is a diagram of a 14th module architecture for performing a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 29] This is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 30] This is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 31] This is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 32] This is an exemplary flowchart of a calibration method for pulse digitization according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 33] This is an exemplary flowchart of a method for determining material composition based on scintillation pulses according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 34] This is an exemplary flowchart of a method for determining material composition based on scintillation pulses according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 35] This is a schematic module diagram of a pulse digitization device according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 36] This is a schematic module diagram of a calibration device for pulse digitization according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 37]This is a schematic modular diagram of a device for determining material composition based on scintillation pulses, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 38] This is a schematic modular diagram of a device for determining material composition based on scintillation pulses, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0028] A detailed description, along with specific embodiments and accompanying drawings, is provided below to clarify the purpose, features, and advantages of this disclosure. Specific details are described below to facilitate a deeper understanding of this disclosure. It should be noted that this disclosure can be implemented in various ways other than those described herein, and improvements can be made without departing from the essence of the invention by those skilled in the art. Therefore, this disclosure is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

[0029] When an element is referred to as being "fixed to" a further element, it should be noted that it may be directly fixed to the further element, or there may be an intermediate element. When an element is considered to be "connected" to a further element, it may be directly connected to the further element, or there may be an intermediate element. The terms “vertical,” “horizontal,” “left,” “right,” and similar expressions used herein are for illustrative purposes only. In one or more embodiments, the features, structures, or properties described may be combined in any suitable manner. The following description provides numerous specific details to give a full understanding of the embodiments of the disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the technical measures of the disclosure may be practiced without one or more of these specific details, or in conjunction with other methods, components, materials, devices, or operations. In such cases, well-known structures, methods, devices, embodiments, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail.

[0030] The flowcharts shown in the diagrams are merely illustrative examples and do not necessarily include all content and actions / steps, nor do they have to be performed in the order described. For example, some actions / steps may be further divided, while others may be combined or partially combined, so the actual execution order may vary depending on the actual situation.

[0031] The terms “first,” “second,” and so on in the specification, claims, and drawings of this disclosure are used to distinguish different objects, not to describe a specific order. Furthermore, the terms “completion” and “having” and any variations thereof are intended to have non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product, or device comprising a set of steps or units may optionally comprise steps or units not listed, or other steps or units specific to such a process, method, product, or device, but not limited to those listed. The terms “and / or” encompass all combinations of one or more of the listed items.

[0032] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have meanings that are generally understood by those skilled in the art to which this disclosure pertains. The terms used in this disclosure are for the sole purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit this disclosure.

[0033] The following describes some preferred embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the attached drawings. Please note that the following description is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0034] Figure 1 is an exemplary flowchart of a pulse digitization method according to several embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the pulse digitization method 100 may be performed by a pulse digitization device, for example, the pulse digitization device 3200 shown in Figure 32. In some embodiments, the pulse digitization method 100 may be performed by software, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof. In some preferred embodiments, the pulse digitization method 100 may be performed by a hardware circuit, for example, a hardware circuit based on an FPGA, DSP, etc. In one preferred embodiment, the pulse digitization method 100 may be performed by a device comprising an FPGA chip.

[0035] In this document, a pulse signal can be interpreted as any pulse signal that can be sampled. Its essence is a physical quantity that changes suddenly in a short time and immediately returns to its initial value, and this physical quantity has certain characteristics.

[0036] In embodiments of the present disclosure, pulse digitization may involve converting, for example, an analog or physical pulse signal into numerical parameters characterizing the pulse signal, for subsequent reconstruction of a pulse signal image or for other purposes relating to processing, transforming, and transmitting pulse signals. In certain embodiments, pulse digitization may also involve obtaining physical parameter information represented by the pulse signal, and more specifically, it involves obtaining energy information represented by the pulse signal. In some embodiments, the pulse digitization method may therefore specifically involve a pulse energy information determination method.

[0037] In embodiments of this disclosure, pulse digitization can be used in many applications of high-energy radiation detection. As previously mentioned, and not limiting but descriptive, high-energy rays such as gamma rays may be converted to visible light by a scintillator, and the scintillator may be further converted to a scintillation pulse signal by a photoelectron conversion device. In embodiments of this disclosure, the pulse signal may particularly comprise a scintillation pulse. In embodiments of this disclosure, the pulse digitization method may therefore be a scintillation pulse digitization method. Similarly, the pulse digitization device or apparatus in embodiments of this disclosure may be a scintillation pulse digitization device or apparatus.

[0038] Various embodiments are described herein using scintillation pulses as an example, in which the pulse and scintillation pulse may be used interchangeably. For example, in some embodiments, the scintillation pulse typically has a rising edge and a falling edge, and the rising and falling edges may be represented by a function model. For example, since a scintillation pulse corresponding to a gamma photon typically exhibits a relatively fast rising edge and a relatively slow falling edge, the rising edge may be represented by a linear function and the falling edge by an exponential function.

[0039] In some embodiments, the scintillation pulse may be acquired by a detector such as a PET detector, CT detector, neutron detector, or petroleum detector, which typically comprises a scintillator and a photoelectron conversion device connected to each other. The scintillator is used to convert the detected high-energy rays (gamma rays, neutrons, etc.) into a visible light signal, and the photoelectron conversion device (e.g., a photomultiplier tube (PMT), silicon photomultiplier tube (SiPM), etc.) is used to convert the visible light signal into an electrical signal. The electrical signal is output in the form of a scintillation pulse signal through an electronic device connected to the photoelectron conversion device.

[0040] Accordingly, the pulse digitization methods, devices, and / or apparatus according to embodiments of the present disclosure can be used in many applications of high-energy radiation detection based on energy information of scintillation pulse signals. For example, the pulse digitization methods, devices, and / or apparatus according to embodiments of the present disclosure can be used in logging using high-energy radiation detection, such as nuclear logging and, more specifically, pulsed neutron logging. The pulse digitization methods, devices, and / or apparatus according to embodiments of the present disclosure can be used to obtain energy information, such as the energy spectrum of gamma rays emitted by pulsed neutron logging. In addition, the pulse digitization methods, devices, and / or apparatus according to embodiments of the present disclosure can be used in many fields that use high-energy radiation detection, including, but are not limited to, medical imaging technology, high-energy physics, LiDAR, autonomous driving, precision analysis, and optical communications. In certain examples, pulse digitization methods, devices, and / or apparatus according to embodiments of the present disclosure may be used in one or a combination of devices that utilize the principle of high-energy radiation conversion, such as positron emission tomography (PET) systems, CT systems, MRI systems, radiation detectors, petroleum detectors, low-light detectors, SPECT systems, security inspection systems, gamma cameras, X-ray systems, and DR systems.

[0041] In other embodiments, the pulse signal may be a non-scintillation pulse, and the waveform of the pulse signal may appear as a triangular wave, square wave, sine wave, cosine wave, or other wave shape, which are not described in detail here.

[0042] In embodiments of this disclosure, the pulse signal may be in the form of an electrical pulse signal, an acoustic pulse signal, a thermal pulse signal, or a pressure wave signal. For example, when the pulse signal is an electrical pulse signal, the corresponding characteristics may be the voltage and current of the electrical pulse signal; when the pulse signal is an acoustic pulse signal, the corresponding characteristics may be the sound intensity of the acoustic pulse signal, and so on, which will not be described in detail here. Correspondingly, the threshold can take various forms. For example, when the pulse signal is an electrical pulse signal, the corresponding threshold may be a voltage threshold, a current threshold, or an energy threshold; when the pulse signal is an acoustic pulse signal, the corresponding threshold may be a sound intensity threshold, and so on, which will not be repeated here.

[0043] Those skilled in the art should understand that the pulse digitization described herein can also be applied to the digitization of continuous signals. It is sufficient to simply consider the continuous signal as a pulse signal arranged over a certain period. The pulse signal described herein is not a constraint on the signal to be sampled.

[0044] Continuing with reference to Figure 1, a pulse digitization method 100 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is described. In embodiments of the present disclosure, based on a correspondence between the energy and (maximum) amplitude of a pulse, such as a scintillation pulse, several amplitude channel addresses may be set for the amplitude of the pulse, such as a scintillation pulse, or several energy channel addresses may be set for the energy of the pulse, such as a scintillation pulse. The number of pulses in a range within different channel addresses corresponding to amplitude or energy is counted to obtain energy information of the pulse, such as a scintillation pulse. In a particular embodiment, for example, an energy distribution histogram may be drawn according to the pulse count to obtain an energy spectrum (called an energy spectrum). For example, in a particular example such as pulsed neutron saturation logging, for the energy characteristics of a scintillation pulse corresponding to a gamma ray (e.g., generally within 9 MeV), the pulse energy may be quantified to N (e.g., 256) different levels to obtain N (e.g., 256) different energy channel addresses. The number of pulses at different energy levels corresponding to different energy channel addresses is counted, and an energy distribution histogram is drawn to obtain the energy spectrum of the scintillation pulses. In some embodiments described below, 256 channel addresses are used as an example, but other numbers (N ≠ 256) of channel addresses are conceivable, and those skilled in the art will understand that this is within the scope of the disclosure.

[0045] Specifically, as shown in Figure 1, the pulse digitization method 100 may include step S110, which provides amplitude-versus-energy mapping data for a plurality of reference pulses.

[0046] In one embodiment, providing amplitude-versus-energy mapping data for a plurality of reference pulses comprises providing an amplitude-versus-energy lookup table for a plurality of reference pulses.

[0047] Through analysis of the collected a priori information, the inventors discovered a significant linear relationship between pulse energy and (maximum) amplitude. Therefore, pulse energy information can be obtained indirectly by acquiring pulse amplitude information. Accordingly, in embodiments of the present disclosure, an amplitude-versus-energy lookup table for a pulse, such as a scintillation pulse, may be generated based on the pulse's a priori information, and this lookup table may characterize the mapping relationship between pulse amplitude and pulse energy.

[0048] In certain embodiments, an acquisition device such as an oscilloscope may be used to collect data from a number of pulses, such as scintillation pulses, where each pulse is aggregated to obtain its energy value, while the amplitude of the pulse is recorded. Thus, a corresponding mapping relationship between the energy and amplitude of a number of reference pulses, such as reference scintillation pulses, may be obtained, and prior information may be used to generate an amplitude-versus-energy lookup table of pulses, such as scintillation pulses. In some embodiments, these reference pulses may be pulses from the same source as the measured pulse. For example, when applied to nuclear logging to obtain energy information for a measured pulse, the reference pulse may be a scintillation pulse acquired from the same well or the same type of well (such as an oil well) using the same radiation source. However, in some embodiments, these reference pulses may be pulses similar to the measured pulse. For example, when applied to nuclear logging to obtain energy information of a measured pulse, the reference pulse may be a scintillation pulse converted through a scintillator from the same or similar high-energy rays, such as gamma rays, while the reference pulse may not originate from the same well or the same type of well, but from a different type of well (such as a well of a different type of energy).

[0049] Other types of scintillation amplitude-versus-energy mapping data may also be used as an aid or alternative to amplitude-versus-energy lookup tables. For example, a function that can represent a simple linear relationship between pulse energy and pulse (maximum) amplitude may be used. Here, the energy corresponding to at least a portion of the measured pulse amplitude can be obtained by simple linear interpolation based on the linear relationship function.

[0050] In a further embodiment, the pulse digitization method 100 may include step S120 of setting a plurality of channel addresses.

[0051] In this document, the term "channel address" refers to the channel address of a pulse characteristic value of a pulse, such as a scintillation pulse. In embodiments of this disclosure, a plurality of channel addresses may collectively represent a contiguous range of characteristic values, or they may separately represent a set of characteristic values, as will be further explained below.

[0052] In some embodiments, the channel address may be an energy channel address, and each energy channel address has its own energy characteristic value.

[0053] In embodiments of this disclosure, step S120 may include the steps of determining an energy characteristic value corresponding to each energy channel address and determining a pulse amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the energy characteristic value according to amplitude-versus-energy mapping data in order to set up a plurality of energy channel addresses.

[0054] In embodiments of this disclosure, characteristic values ​​can be broadly interpreted to encompass a certain characteristic value interval or discrete characteristic values.

[0055] For example, in one embodiment, the energy channel address (such as the nth energy channel address, where n is a natural number) is the corresponding energy interval [E n ,E n+1) may have, and this energy interval is the energy characteristic value of the corresponding channel address. Therefore, multiple (e.g., N, where N is a natural number) energy channel addresses may have a wider continuous energy range [E1,E N ] can be represented collectively.

[0056] In one alternative embodiment, the energy channel address may have a corresponding discrete energy characteristic value, such as the lower, upper, or midpoint of the energy interval described above. For example, the energy characteristic value of the nth energy channel address is the energy interval [E n ,E n+1 Lower limit E n Here, multiple (N, etc.) energy channel addresses are E1, E2, ..., E N It can represent a series of energy values, such as those mentioned above.

[0057] Specifically, the discrete energy characteristic value corresponding to the energy interval or each energy channel address can be determined according to the energy information of the measured pulse and, if necessary, the number of energy channel addresses to be determined.

[0058] In embodiments of this disclosure, each energy channel address also comprises an amplitude characteristic value that is determined accordingly according to amplitude-versus-energy mapping data.

[0059] Specifically, the amplitude characteristic value of each energy channel address may be determined based on amplitude-to-energy mapping data, such as an amplitude-to-energy lookup table, provided in step S110. Similarly, the amplitude characteristic value may be a pulse amplitude (peak value) interval or a discrete amplitude (peak value) characteristic value. Preferably, when the energy characteristic value is an interval, the amplitude characteristic value is also an interval. In certain embodiments, the pulse amplitude interval of each energy channel address may be obtained by associating the energy interval of each energy channel address with the pulse amplitude (peak value) interval according to a lookup table.

[0060] In certain embodiments, the total number of energy channel addresses may be determined according to actual needs. Based on a provided energy amplitude lookup table of scintillation pulses, different levels of energy (energy intervals) corresponding to different energy channel addresses are mapped to the corresponding pulse peak intervals, so that the energy channel addresses (energy intervals) correspond to pulse peak intervals. In some specific embodiments described below, the exemplary total number of energy channel addresses is 256 (N=256). However, those skilled in the art may conceive that these embodiments may be implemented using other total numbers of channel addresses as needed.

[0061] The pulse amplitudes (peak values) in embodiments of this disclosure include, but are not limited to, current peak values ​​and voltage peak values. In further specific embodiments, taking pulse amplitudes (peak values) with voltage peak values ​​as an example, the pulse voltage amplitudes at one endpoint of the peak interval corresponding to each energy channel address are recorded as V1, V2, V3, ... In some specific embodiments described below, the pulse voltage amplitudes V1, V2, V3, ... at that endpoint are used to determine whether the measured pulse is within the relevant energy channel address. However, those skilled in the art may conceive that these embodiments may be used to determine whether the measured pulse is within the relevant energy channel address based on other types of pulse amplitudes as needed, or based on other values ​​within the interval (such as the other endpoint or midpoint of the interval), or based on discrete amplitude characteristic values ​​as described above.

[0062] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a plurality of channel addresses are equally spaced, that is, the represented interval ranges are equal, or a series of discrete characteristic value intervals are equally spaced. In further specific embodiments, when the channel address is an energy channel address, the energy characteristic values may be (exactly) equally spaced, or the amplitude characteristic values may be (exactly) equally spaced. For example, when the channel address is an energy channel address, the (discrete) energy characteristic value of each nth energy channel address is E n and the (discrete) amplitude characteristic value is V n and in some specific embodiments, E n+2 - E n+1 = E n+1 - E n and in other specific embodiments, V n+2 - V n+1 = V n+1 - V n Here, although there is generally a linear relationship between the pulse energy and the pulse (maximum) amplitude, the energy channel addresses may be equally divided based on the energy characteristic values or the amplitude characteristic values as needed, and it will be understood that both cases are within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0063] A plurality of channel addresses may be unequally spaced, that is, the represented interval ranges are not exactly equal, or not equal at all, or a series of discrete characteristic values are not completely equally spaced, or not equally spaced at all, which will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the teachings of the present disclosure and which will not be detailed here and which those skilled in the art should understand.

[0064] In another embodiment, the channel address may be an amplitude channel address, and each amplitude channel address has its respective amplitude characteristic value.

[0065] In this embodiment, the total number of amplitude channel addresses may be set as needed, and the overall amplitude range collectively represented by multiple amplitude channel addresses may also be determined according to prior information such as the reference pulse or other reference pulses mentioned in step S110. Thus, the total number of amplitude channel addresses and / or the amplitude characteristic value of each amplitude channel address may be set to specifically target the characteristics of the measured pulse. In various pulse digitization schemes, the total number of amplitude channel addresses and / or the amplitude characteristic value of each amplitude channel address will vary. However, in alternative embodiments, a constant total number of amplitude channel addresses and fixed amplitude characteristic values ​​may be provided for various digitization schemes, which is within the scope of this disclosure. For example, a given total number (N) of amplitude channel addresses (N=256, etc.) and a given amplitude characteristic value (V1, V2, V3, etc.) corresponding to each amplitude channel address are provided for various pulse digitization schemes.

[0066] In embodiments relating to setting multiple amplitude channel addresses, the mapping relationship between pulse amplitude and energy may not yet be considered. Therefore, in embodiments relating to setting multiple amplitude channel addresses, in the step of acquiring energy information for multiple measured pulses (step S150), the energy information for the measured pulses may be determined according to the pulse count in the amplitude channel address and the amplitude-to-energy mapping data provided in step S110, as will be further described below. Symmetrically, in embodiments relating to setting multiple energy channel addresses, in the step of acquiring energy information for multiple measured pulses (step S150), the energy information for the measured pulses may be determined directly according to the pulse count (and its corresponding energy characteristic value) in the energy channel address.

[0067] In further specific embodiments, the specific features described above with respect to energy channel addresses may be applied to embodiments relating to setting multiple amplitude channel addresses in a consistent manner when appropriate. In addition, in some specific embodiments described below, such as a particular embodiment of step S140, the description is based on the energy channel address and the corresponding pulse voltage amplitude. These embodiments may also be performed based on amplitude channel addresses, and new embodiments may be obtained thereby, and it will be understood that these are within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0068] Continuing with the reference to Figure 1, the pulse digitization method may further include step S140, which determines the channel address corresponding to a set of channel addresses based on a comparison between the amplitude values ​​of the set of channel addresses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the set of channel addresses.

[0069] In some embodiments, the channel address in which each measured pulse resides can be determined by a dynamic processing scheme. In some specific embodiments, the dynamic processing involves dynamically processing the amplitude of the measured pulses so that the pulse amplitude used for subsequent comparisons can be changed. In other specific embodiments, the dynamic processing involves setting the comparison threshold of comparators to be dynamically variable. In some embodiments of this disclosure, it may be a combination of both.

[0070] In other embodiments, the number of dynamic threshold comparisons can be reduced by pre-selecting the range of channel addresses.

[0071] In some embodiments, the channel address in which each measured pulse resides can also be determined through non-dynamic processing of the gate output.

[0072] In the embodiment of dynamically processing pulses shown in Figure 2, step S140 may include the following: S210: The amplitude of each measured pulse is sequentially compared with the comparison thresholds of multiple comparators. S220: Before comparison, the amplitude of the measured pulses is selectively adjusted according to the comparison results from the previous step. S230: Based on the comparison results of multiple comparators, the channel address corresponding to each measured pulse is determined.

[0073] In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, selective adjustment may be such that the measured pulse amplitude is not adjusted if it is smaller than the comparison threshold of the preceding comparator, and the measured pulse amplitude is reduced if it is greater than or equal to the comparison threshold of the preceding comparator. In a particular embodiment, the reduction value of the measured pulse amplitude is the comparison threshold of the preceding comparator.

[0074] In the embodiment shown in Figure 2, the comparison thresholds of the multiple comparators may be determined according to the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the multiple channel addresses. In a further embodiment, the comparison thresholds of the multiple comparators are a portion of the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the multiple channel addresses. In one preferred embodiment, the comparison thresholds of the multiple comparators are determined by sequentially bisecting the determined channel amplitude characteristic values ​​of the multiple channel addresses (hereinafter referred to as bisecting the channel addresses). In one particular embodiment, for N channel addresses, the comparison thresholds of the multiple comparators are (1 / 2) × N, (1 / 2) until a specific channel address within the measured pulse can be determined through comparison. 2 ×N, (1 / 2) 3 The amplitude characteristic values ​​of ×N, ... can be determined. In one example, if N=256, the comparison thresholds of multiple (e.g., 8) comparators can be determined by the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the 128th, 64th, 32nd, 16th, 8th, 4th, 2nd, and 1st channel addresses, such as V128, V64, V32, V16, V8, V4, V2, and V1.

[0075] Therefore, in the embodiments of this disclosure, the pulses are subjected to dynamic processing, making the amplitude of the pulses input to each level of the comparator variable.

[0076] Specifically, selective and dynamic adjustment (reduction) of the measured pulse amplitude can be achieved by a combination of subtractors or subtraction circuits, gates or gating circuits, and an optional processing unit.

[0077] In a particular embodiment shown in Figure 3, step S220 may include the following: S310: The gate is set according to the comparison result of the previous step, and the gate has a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting the measured pulse. S320: Input the measured pulse to the configured gate. S330: Delay processing is performed on the measured pulse output from the first gate branch. S340: Subtraction is performed on the measured pulse amplitude output from the second gate branch.

[0078] In one optional embodiment, step S310 includes inputting the comparison result of the preceding comparator to the processing unit and setting the gate by the processing unit.

[0079] Referring to Figures 2 through 4, a specific example of dynamic pulse processing is described below. Figure 4 shows a first module architecture diagram for performing dynamic pulse processing. In this specific example, the number of energy channel addresses is 256, and their amplitude characteristics are represented by V1 to V256.

[0080] As shown in Figure 4, the modular architecture, also called the channel address determination unit 400, may comprise a plurality (e.g., eight) of comparators 410, a plurality (e.g., seven) of gates 420, and a processing unit 430 connected to the comparators and gates. Each gate 420 may comprise a first gate branch 421 and a second gate branch 422 for selectively outputting the measured pulse, a delay unit 440 may be set at the first gate branch 421, and a subtractor 450 may be set at the second gate branch 422. As shown in Figure 4, the subtraction value of the subtractor 450 may be set by the processing unit 430, and the subtraction value is equal to the comparison threshold of the preceding comparator 410.

[0081] In the embodiment shown, the multiple comparators 410 are configured as a multi-stage parallel comparator. Before the measured pulse signal is input to the next stage (e.g., n+1 stages), the amplitude of the measured pulse undergoes selectively dynamic adjustment according to the comparison result of the preceding stage (e.g., n stages) of the comparator. In the particular embodiment shown in Figure 4, the selectively dynamic adjustment may be performed by a gate 420 positioned between two adjacent stages of the comparator 410, as well as by delay units 440 and subtractors 450 set at the first gate branch 421 and the second gate branch 422 of the comparator 410, respectively.

[0082] As an example, if the total number of energy channel addresses is 256, the selectively dynamic adjustment execution process can be specifically described as follows, referring to Figures 2 to 4.

[0083] 0) A threshold voltage V that is slightly greater than the maximum amplitude of the noise signal. 00 This may be set for the 0th stage comparator (not shown in Figure 4), and after the 0th stage comparator is triggered, subsequent selectively dynamic adjustments of the pulse signal may be performed to determine the channel address.

[0084] 1) The comparison threshold of the first end (such as the F end) of the first stage comparator is, for example, V 128The amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the 128th channel address (i.e., the channel address determined by bisecting the energy channel address 256 in total) may be set according to the amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the energy channel address, such as the upper limit of the amplitude interval of the energy channel address which can be represented by . When a pulse enters the second end (P end, for example) of the first stage comparator, if the pulse energy is less than the energy characteristic value of the 128th channel address, the pulse amplitude is correspondingly less than the comparison threshold of the 128th channel address, and the comparator outputs result level 0; if the pulse energy is greater than or equal to the energy characteristic value of the 128th channel address, it outputs result level 1.

[0085] 2) Next, the pulse signal enters the second stage comparator, more specifically, the P terminal of the second stage comparator. At this time, the number of channel addresses corresponding to the second stage comparator is determined by bisecting the number of channel addresses corresponding to the previous stage comparator. Here, the comparison threshold at the F terminal of the second stage comparator is, for example, V 64 This can be set according to the amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the 64th channel address (i.e., the channel address determined by bisecting the preceding channel address), such as the upper limit of the amplitude interval of the energy channel address that can be represented by .

[0086] Before the pulse signal enters the second stage comparator, it also undergoes selective dynamic adjustment. Here, when the output level of the first stage comparator is 0, the pulse entering the second stage comparator is the same as the pulse entering the first stage, and when the output result of the first stage comparator is 1, the pulse signal is adjusted according to the comparison threshold of the preceding stage for pulse amplitude, here V 128 It will be reduced by that much.

[0087] Therefore, before the pulse enters the second stage comparator, it first passes through the gate circuit and then through the subtractor or delay circuit. Thus, when the output result of the first stage comparator is 0, the gate chooses to leave the pulse amplitude unprocessed and pass it through the delay unit, and then the pulse enters the second stage comparator, so the arrival time of the pulse entering the second level comparator is stable under the two output states of the gate, and when the output result of the first stage comparator is 1, the gate sets the pulse amplitude to V 128 To reduce it by just that much, we choose to pass the pulse through a subtractor circuit.

[0088] 3) Similarly, the pulse signal continues to enter the third-stage comparator, more specifically, the P terminal of the third-stage comparator. At this time, the number of channel addresses corresponding to the third-stage comparator is determined by bisecting the number of channel addresses corresponding to the previous stage comparator. Here, the comparison threshold at the F terminal of the third-stage comparator is, for example, V 32 This can be set according to the amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the 32nd channel address (i.e., the channel address determined by bisecting the preceding channel address), such as the lower limit of the amplitude interval of the energy channel address that can be represented by .

[0089] Before the pulse signal enters the third stage comparator, it also undergoes selective and dynamic adjustment. Here, when the output level of the second stage comparator is 0, after processing by the delay unit, the pulse entering the third stage comparator is the same as the pulse entering the second stage, and when the output result of the second stage comparator is 1, after processing by the subtractor, the pulse amplitude is set to the comparison threshold of the previous stage, here V 64 It will be reduced by that much.

[0090] 4) Similarly, the measured pulse amplitude may be selectively and dynamically adjusted with reference to steps 2) and 3). When the total number of energy channel addresses is 256, the comparison thresholds of the fourth through eighth stage comparators are, here V 16These may be set according to amplitude characteristic values ​​corresponding to the 16th, 8th, 4th, 2nd, and 1st channel addresses, respectively, such as the upper limit of the amplitude interval of the energy channel addresses that can be represented by V8, V4, V2, and V1.

[0091] 5) The output results of each stage of the comparator are counted to determine the channel address within the measured pulse. For example, when the output of an 8-stage comparator is 00000000 in binary, the energy corresponding to this pulse is the first channel address. Starting from 00000000, each increment of 1 corresponds to an increase of one energy channel address. When the output of an 8-stage comparator is 10000000 in binary, the energy corresponding to the pulse corresponds to the 129th channel address, and when the output of an 8-stage comparator is 11111111 in binary, the energy corresponding to this pulse corresponds to the 256th channel address.

[0092] Further embodiments of the present disclosure are shown by continuing to refer to Figures 5 and 6. In the embodiments shown in Figures 5 and 6, the channel address in which each measured pulse resides can be determined by non-dynamic processing of the gate output.

[0093] In the embodiment shown in Figure 5, step S140 may include the following: S510: Each measured pulse is input to the multi-stage gate array so that it passes sequentially through the gates of each stage of the multi-stage gate array. S520: Before allowing the measured pulse to pass through each stage of the gate array, the measured pulse is compared with a comparator associated with the gate through which it will pass, and the gates are set based on the comparison result to determine which gate branch will output the measured pulse. S530: Based on the output of the multi-stage gate array, determine the channel address corresponding to the measured pulse.

[0094] Embodiments of the present disclosure shown in Figures 5 and 6 provide a specific example in which the channel address within each measured pulse is determined by non-dynamic processing of the gate output. Figure 6 shows a second module architecture diagram for determining the channel address within a measured pulse. In this specific example, the number of energy channel addresses may also be 256, and the amplitude characteristic values ​​V1 to V 256 It is expressed as follows.

[0095] As shown in Figure 6, the modular architecture, which may also be called the channel address determination unit 600, may include a multi-stage gate array, where each of the gates 611, 612, 612', 613, ..., 618 has an associated comparator 621. For simplicity, Figure 6 shows only the comparator 621 associated with the first-stage gate 611. In addition, although not shown in Figure 6, the modular architecture may also include a processing unit.

[0096] As shown in Figure 6, each gate 611, 612, 612', 613, ..., 618 may have a first gate branch 6111 and a second gate branch 6112 for selectively outputting the measured pulse. Each non-final stage gate is connected to the next two gates through the first and second gate branches, and the first gate branch 6181 and the second gate branch 6182 of the final stage gate may become the output of the multi-stage gate array.

[0097] In embodiments of this disclosure, a multistage gate array may be constructed based on a bisection technique. In a further specific embodiment, the first stage gate corresponds to a first channel address determined by bisecting the total number of channel addresses of a plurality of channel addresses, and the two channel address intervals for subsequent gates are defined by the first channel address; each remaining gate corresponds to a second channel address determined by bisecting the channel address interval defined by the upper stage gate to which it is connected, and the two channel address intervals are defined by the second channel address for subsequent gates or outputs. Thus, the comparison threshold of each comparator is determined by the amplitude characteristic value of the channel address corresponding to the gate in question.

[0098] In the specific example shown in Figure 6, the channel address corresponding to the first-stage gate 611 may be determined by bisecting the total number of energy channel addresses, such as the 128th channel address, and accordingly, two channel address intervals for the subsequent gates 612 and 612' are defined, such as from the first channel address to the 128th channel address, i.e., [1,128], and from the 129th channel address to the 256th channel address, i.e., [129,256]. Therefore, the comparison threshold of the comparator 621 associated with the first-stage gate 611 is V 128 This can be determined according to the amplitude characteristic value of the 128th channel address, etc.

[0099] Furthermore, in the embodiment shown in Figure 6, the two channel address intervals may be allocated accordingly according to the gate branch connected to the lower gate. As shown in Figure 6, the second stage gate 612 connected to the first gate branch 6111 of the first stage gate 611 may be assigned a channel address interval from the first channel address to the 128th channel address, and accordingly corresponds to a channel address corresponding to the bifurcation of the channel address interval, such as the 64th channel address. As shown in Figure 6, the second stage gate 612' connected to the second gate branch 6112 of the first stage gate 611 may be assigned a channel address interval from the 129th channel address to the 256th channel address, and accordingly corresponds to a channel address corresponding to the bifurcation of the channel address interval, such as the 192nd channel address. Therefore, the comparison threshold of the comparator (not shown) associated with the second stage gate 612 is V 64 The comparison threshold of the comparator (not shown) associated with the second stage gate 612' may be determined according to the amplitude characteristic value of the 64th channel address, such as V 192 This may be determined according to the amplitude characteristic value of the 192nd channel address, etc.

[0100] Here, the channel address corresponding to the gate at the subsequent level and the comparison threshold of the associated comparator can be determined accordingly.

[0101] Therefore, it will be understood that the two gate branches of the final stage (e.g., the 8th stage) gate may be outputs of a multistage gate, and the channel address in which the measured pulse lies can be determined according to the output of the multistage gate. For example, as shown in Figure 6, when the measured pulse is output by the first gate branch 6181 of the 8th stage gate 618, it means that the measured pulse lies in the first channel address.

[0102] It will be understood that features of the method or modular architecture described in other embodiments may be combined in a non-contradictory manner using the embodiments shown in Figures 5 and 6, as needed.

[0103] In another embodiment, as described above, the channel addresses in which pulses such as scintillation pulses are located can be counted by setting a dynamic comparison threshold.

[0104] In further embodiments, setting dynamic comparison thresholds can be performed by multi-stage or single-stage comparisons.

[0105] In the embodiment shown in Figure 7, a dynamic comparison threshold is set through multi-stage comparison. Specifically, step S140 may include the following: S710: To determine the channel address intervals contained within the measured pulses, the first stage of a multi-stage comparison is performed on the amplitude of each measured pulse, and each stage of the comparison defines at least two channel address intervals by at least one comparison threshold. S720: Until the final stage comparison is complete, subsequent stage comparisons are sequentially performed to determine the channel address intervals contained within the measured pulses, and the comparison threshold for the subsequent comparisons is determined according to the channel address intervals determined by the preceding stage comparisons. S730: Based on the comparison results of the final stage comparison, the channel address within the measured pulse is determined.

[0106] In embodiments of this disclosure, scintillation pulses can be counted according to the energy channel address by assigning a dynamically variable threshold to the comparator.

[0107] As an explanation rather than an limitation, the multi-stage comparisons mentioned above may be performed by different types of multi-stage comparison units, and the channel address determination unit may be a multi-stage comparison unit or comprise one. The modular architecture of the multi-stage comparison unit may or may not have a "physical" multi-stage comparison structure, as long as dynamic threshold-based multi-stage comparisons can be realized. Embodiments of this disclosure are intended to cover both situations.

[0108] For example, in some embodiments, multistage comparison without a “physical” multistage comparison structure may be performed by one or more comparators connected to multiple parallel delay lines, and multiple comparisons in the same stage or comparisons in different stages may be performed by different delays in the delay lines in combination with an adjustable comparator.

[0109] For example, in other embodiments, a “physical” multi-stage comparison structure is provided that corresponds to a multi-stage comparison, where the number of “physical” stages in the multi-stage comparison structure corresponds to the number of stages in the multi-stage comparison. The number of comparators in each stage of the comparison structure corresponds to the number of times in each stage of the comparison.

[0110] An exemplary modular architecture of the above embodiment is described below with reference to the drawings.

[0111] In some preferred embodiments, the number of comparison thresholds in each stage of the comparison is the same, so the number of channel address intervals defined by the comparison thresholds in each stage of the comparison is the same.

[0112] In a further preferred embodiment, the channel address intervals defined by the comparison thresholds of each stage of the comparison are equally divided. Here, in a particular embodiment, the comparison threshold set for the first stage of comparison is configured such that the channel address intervals defined by the comparison thresholds of the first stage of comparison equally divide multiple channel addresses, and the comparison threshold set for the next stage of comparison is configured such that the channel address intervals defined by the comparison thresholds of the next stage of comparison equally divide the channel address intervals determined by the previous stage of comparison.

[0113] Specifically, as an example, the total number of energy channel addresses is N=m n (For example, if N=256, the measured scintillation pulse is the number of m pulses within it.) n To determine an energy channel address among several channel addresses, a dynamic threshold may be set, which may involve (m-1) × n (where m is 2 or greater) threshold comparisons, where n is the number of levels and m is the number of pulse (maximum) amplitude intervals defined by a set of (m-1) comparison thresholds at each level. Given a correspondence between energy channel addresses, energy intervals, and pulse amplitude intervals, embodiments of the present disclosure will be understood to encompass a variety of things equivalent to dividing m amplitude intervals, energy intervals, and / or channel address intervals.

[0114] As mentioned above, the modular architecture of a multi-stage comparison unit does not necessarily have to have a "physical" multi-stage comparison structure, for example, by being implemented with different delays in delay lines combined with adjustable comparators.

[0115] In this embodiment, multistage comparison is performed by a first multistage comparison unit without a physical multistage comparison structure. The first multistage comparison unit may comprise a plurality of parallel delay lines connected to a measured pulse input, adjustable comparators connected to the delay lines, and an arbiter operably connected to the adjustable comparators, wherein at least some of the delay lines have different delay times.

[0116] In a further embodiment, the adjustable comparator may be a single comparator, and the delay times of the multiple parallel delay lines are all different from each other.

[0117] In a further embodiment, for example, the total number of energy channel addresses is N=m n For example, if N=256, then up to (m-1)×n (where m is 2 or greater) threshold comparisons are performed on the measured scintillation pulse, which can be achieved by using (m-1)×n parallel delay lines combined with a single comparator.

[0118] As shown in the embodiments of Figures 8 and 10, a single comparator combined with a delay line is used to perform energy channel address division for a pulse signal. Here, the threshold set at the negative input terminal of the comparator is determined by an arbiter. By configuring corresponding delay lines, different comparison thresholds can be set when pulse signals with different delays are received. Specifically, when a pulse signal is input to a first multi-stage comparison unit, it is transmitted to lines with different delays, and the signals output from some of the lines are ultimately input to the positive input terminal of the same comparator, so that the output pulses are input to the comparator at different time points with time intervals.

[0119] Embodiments of this disclosure extend to different settings of the comparison threshold and the corresponding delay line.

[0120] In the embodiment shown in Figure 8, the number of comparison thresholds in each stage of the comparison is 1, thereby bisecting the two channel address intervals, i.e., m=2.

[0121] As shown in Figure 8, for example, the total number of energy channel addresses is N=m n (For example, if N=256) (Figure 9), the first multistage comparison unit 800 comprises a plurality (8) delay lines 8101-8108 with different delays, an adjustable comparator 820 connected to the delay lines 8101-8108, and an arbiter 830 operably connected to the adjustable comparator 820.

[0122] The comparison process is explained below with respect to Figures 8 and 9.

[0123] When a pulse signal is input to the first-stage comparator unit 800, it is transmitted to a plurality of (eight) delay lines 8101-8108, each with a different delay, and through these eight delay lines 8101-8108, it is input to the positive input terminal of the same adjustable comparator 820. Thus, the pulse is input to the comparator eight different times at time intervals.

[0124] The threshold set at the negative input terminal of the adjustable comparator 820 is determined by the arbiter 830. The arbiter can set the comparison threshold of the adjustable comparator 820 according to the amplitude characteristic value of the set channel address, so that different pulse amplitudes corresponding to different pulse energies can be sequentially input to the negative input terminal of the comparator for comparison with the measured pulse.

[0125] For example, using a multi-stage comparison with a bisection method schematically shown in Figure 9, the total number of energy channel addresses is N=m n (For example, N=256), that is, 2 8If there are 1 channel addresses, the comparison is performed (2-1) × 8 = 8 times. Different delays are schematically shown in Figure 8 by a different number of delay units into which the signal is input, i.e., 8 different delays (achieving the effect of inputting the signal 8 times sequentially). In the embodiments shown in Figures 8 and 9, the 8 stages of comparison are performed with one comparison threshold for each level, but there is no "physical" 8-level comparison structure; instead, a single adjustable comparator is used.

[0126] Continuing with the reference to Figure 9, in the first stage of the comparison, the total number of energy channel addresses is divided into two equal parts, namely, the channel addresses from the 1st to the 128th and the channel addresses from the 129th to the 256th (V1~V 128 and V 129 ~V 256 The following is obtained (which can also be expressed by amplitude intervals such as V). The corresponding comparison threshold is V 128 These are the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the 128th channel address.

[0127] After the first stage of comparison, the pulse signal amplitude is compared to the comparison threshold V. 128 If it can exceed V, the result of the first stage comparison is that the pulse amplitude is V 129 ~V 256 The second stage comparison threshold is determined based on the channel address interval (amplitude interval) within the pulse signal determined by the first stage comparison, for example, V 192 Set to V, and therefore further divided into two equal parts. 129 ~V 192 , V 193 From V 256 Define two channel address intervals (amplitude intervals) for the second stage, such as the one described above.

[0128] After the second stage of comparison, the pulse signal amplitude is compared to the comparison threshold V. 192 If it can exceed V, the result of the second stage comparison is that the amplitude is V 193 ~V 256This means that it lies between these two values. Therefore, the comparison threshold of the third stage may be determined accordingly based on the channel address interval (amplitude interval) determined by the comparison of the second stage, for example, V 224 Set it to this, and then divide it into two equal parts, V 193 ~V 224 and V 225 From V 256 Define two channel address intervals (amplitude intervals) for the third stage, such as the one described above.

[0129] After the third stage of comparison, the pulse signal amplitude is compared to the comparison threshold V. 224 If it can exceed V, the result of the comparison in the third stage is that the amplitude is V 225 ~V 256 This means that it lies between these two values. Therefore, the comparison threshold of the fourth stage may be determined accordingly based on the channel address interval (amplitude interval) determined by the comparison of the third stage, for example, V 240 Set it to this, and then divide it into two equal parts, V 225 ~V 240 and V 241 From V 256 Define two channel address intervals (amplitude intervals) for the fourth stage, such as the one shown.

[0130] After the fourth stage comparison, the pulse signal amplitude reaches threshold V. 240 If it can exceed V, the result of the comparison in the fourth stage is that the amplitude is V 241 ~V 256 This means that it lies between these two values. Therefore, the comparison threshold of the fifth stage may be determined accordingly based on the channel address interval (amplitude interval) determined by the comparison of the fourth stage, for example, V 248 Set it to this, and then divide it into two equal parts, V 241 ~V 248 and V 249 From V 256 Define two channel address intervals (amplitude intervals) for the fifth stage, such as the one shown.

[0131] After the fifth stage comparison, the pulse signal amplitude reaches threshold V. 248 If it can exceed V, the result of the comparison in the fifth stage is that the amplitude is V 249 ~V256 is between them. Therefore, the comparison threshold value of the sixth stage may be appropriately determined based on the channel address interval (amplitude interval) determined by the comparison of the fifth stage. For example, it is set to V 252 , and thereby further bisected to define two channel address intervals (amplitude intervals) of the sixth stage such as V 249 ~V 252 and V 253 to V 256 .

[0132] After the comparison of the sixth stage, if the pulse signal amplitude can exceed the threshold value V 252 , the result of the comparison of the sixth stage is that the amplitude is between V 253 ~V 256 . Therefore, the comparison threshold value of the seventh stage may be appropriately determined based on the channel address interval (amplitude interval) determined by the comparison of the sixth stage. For example, it is set to V 254 , and thereby further bisected to define two channel address intervals (amplitude intervals) for the seventh stage such as V 253 ~V 254 and V 255 to V 256 .

[0133] After the comparison of the seventh stage, if the pulse signal amplitude can exceed the threshold value V 254 , the result of the comparison of the seventh stage is that the amplitude is between V 255 ~V 256 . Therefore, the comparison threshold value of the eighth stage may be appropriately determined based on the channel address interval (amplitude interval) determined by the comparison of the seventh stage. For example, it is set to V 255 , and thereby further bisected to define two channel address intervals (amplitude intervals) for the eighth stage, which are two channel addresses (amplitudes) such as V 255 and V 256 . If the pulse signal amplitude can exceed the comparison threshold value V 255 , the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 255 (not included) and V 256The pulse signal lies within the 256th energy channel address. It can be seen that the energy channel address (amplitude) corresponding to the pulse can be determined by eight comparisons.

[0134] Here, after all pulses on the delay line have passed through the comparator, the specific channel address corresponding to each pulse can be determined according to the output of the comparator.

[0135] In embodiments of this disclosure, the arbiter may be implemented by a microcontroller unit (MCU), and the arbiter may control the change in the comparison threshold through a digital-to-analog converter (DAC).

[0136] As previously mentioned, the conventional MVT method described above uses fixed thresholds and complex fitting calculations, is limited to specific energy ranges, requires precise timing information, and involves downtime. This leads to drawbacks such as low processing efficiency, high hardware resource consumption, and poor high-temperature tolerance. In contrast, these embodiments directly sample unknown pulses and classify them to corresponding energy channel addresses through dynamic threshold setting using simplified processing. This eliminates the need for fitting calculations, TDC, and precise timing information. Compared to conventional methods, this approach simplifies the pulse energy acquisition process, saves hardware resources, reduces FPGA power consumption, and improves high-temperature tolerance. Furthermore, the present invention significantly reduces downtime through threshold comparison and lookup table operation, which can achieve continuous pulse processing and effectively improve system performance.

[0137] In other embodiments, the number of comparison thresholds in each stage of the comparison may be greater than 1.

[0138] In the embodiment shown in Figure 10, the number of comparison thresholds in each comparison stage is 3, thereby dividing the channel address interval into four equal parts, i.e., m=4. Similarly, as an example, the total number of energy channel addresses is N=m n (For example, if N=256, the multi-stage comparison has 4 stages, and each stage has 3 comparison thresholds.)

[0139] Similar to the embodiment shown in Figure 8, in the embodiment shown in Figure 10, a single comparator combined with a delay line is used to perform energy channel address division for the pulse signal, and the threshold set at the negative input terminal of the comparator is determined by an arbiter.

[0140] As shown in Figure 10, the first multistage comparison unit 1000 comprises a plurality (12) delay lines 10101 to 10112 with different delays, an adjustable comparator 1020 connected to the delay lines 10101 to 10112, and an arbiter 1030 operably connected to the adjustable comparator 1020.

[0141] The comparison process is described below with respect to Figures 10 and 11.

[0142] As mentioned above, in the embodiment shown in Figure 10, the modular architecture of the first multistage comparison unit 1000 does not have to have a “physical” multistage comparison structure, and instead may perform multistage comparison using multiple parallel delay lines and a single adjustable comparator.

[0143] In a particular embodiment shown in Figure 10, after the first stage comparison, the channel address interval determined by the first stage comparison is divided into four equal intervals, and the arbiter may sequentially set corresponding comparison thresholds for the second stage comparison, and according to the result of the second stage comparison, the channel address interval determined by the second stage comparison is again divided into four equal intervals, thereby sequentially completing the multi-stage comparison.

[0144] Therefore, depending on the channel address interval within a pulse, if only one comparison threshold needs to be compared at each stage to determine the channel address interval within a pulse, then at least four comparisons are needed to determine the energy channel address. If all three comparison thresholds need to be compared at each stage to determine the channel address interval within a pulse, then up to twelve comparisons are needed to determine the energy channel address. Thus, the absence of a "physical" multi-stage comparison structure allows the aforementioned multiple (12) delay lines 10101-10112 with different delays to be dynamically applicable to various numbers of comparisons in a multi-stage comparison, such as between four and twelve. In the embodiment shown in Figure 10, the comparison thresholds used for comparisons at the same stage are preferably small to large.

[0145] Continuing with the references to Figures 10 and 11, a concrete example is described in which the quarto method is used to divide and define four channel address intervals.

[0146] In the first stage of the comparison, Arbita 1030 was V 64 , V 128 , and V 192 Three comparison thresholds can be set for the first stage of comparison, such as V. Preferably, in the first stage of comparison, 64 , V 128 , and V 192 The comparisons are preferably performed sequentially in ascending order, and once the channel address interval is determined for the pulse, the remaining comparison thresholds may be skipped. For example, in the example shown in Figure 11, the pulse is, for example, V 193 The 193rd channel address is associated with the corresponding amplitude characteristic value expressed as follows: Therefore, the pulse amplitude is the first comparison threshold V of the first stage comparison. 64 , the second comparison threshold V 128 , and the third comparison threshold V 192 It successively exceeds V. Therefore, the amplitude range in which the pulse is located is V 193 ~V 256That is, it can be determined that the pulse is located within the channel address interval of channel addresses from 193 to 256.

[0147] In the second-stage comparison, the arbiter 1030 determines, according to the result of the first-stage comparison, whether the channel address interval (amplitude interval) is located in any of V1(0) to V 64 , V 65 ~V 128 , V 129 ~V 192 , and V 193 ~V 256 (for example, if it is located in V 193 ~V 256 ), and accordingly, sets three comparison thresholds for the second-stage comparison with the channel address interval determined by the first-stage comparison, and may divide the channel address interval determined by the first-stage comparison into four equal parts, thereby sequentially completing all four stages of comparison.

[0148] For example, assume that the pulse amplitude is located between the 1st channel address and the 64th channel address, specifically between the 1st channel address and the 4th channel address (not shown), which is represented as 0 to V 64 (specifically V4).

[0149] First, set the first comparison threshold (minimum threshold) V 64 of the first stage of the comparator. If the first pulse signal input to the comparator cannot exceed the threshold, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between 0 and V 64 .

[0150] Next, set the comparison threshold for the second stage of the comparator. Select to first set the first comparison threshold (minimum threshold) V 16 of the second stage of the comparator. If the second pulse signal input to the comparator after delay cannot exceed the threshold V 16 , the amplitude of the pulse signal is between 0 and V 16 . <​​Next, a comparison threshold for the third stage of the comparator is set, and it is chosen to first set the first comparison threshold (minimum threshold) V4 for the third stage of the comparator. If the third pulse signal input to the comparator after the delay cannot exceed threshold V4, then the amplitude of the pulse signal is between 0 and V4.

[0152] Next, a fourth-stage comparison threshold for the comparator is set, and it is chosen to first set the first fourth-stage comparison threshold (minimum threshold) V1 for the comparator. If the pulse signal input to the comparator after the delay cannot exceed threshold V1, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between 0 and V1, i.e., located within the first energy channel address. If the pulse signal exceeds V1, a second fourth-stage comparison threshold V2 for the comparator is set. If the pulse signal cannot exceed threshold V2, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between V1 and V2, i.e., located within the second energy channel address. If the pulse signal exceeds V2, a third fourth-stage comparison threshold V3 for the comparator is set. If the pulse signal cannot exceed threshold V3, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between V2 and V3, i.e., located within the third energy channel address. If the pulse signal exceeds V3, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between V3 and V4, i.e., located within the fourth channel energy address.

[0153] Therefore, the embodiment using the quadripartition method to determine the comparison threshold shown in Figure 10 has similar advantages to the embodiment shown in Figure 8, which simply uses the bipartition method to determine the comparison threshold. In addition, the embodiment shown in Figure 10 achieves bit-extended dynamic threshold spectrum formation through the use of the quadripartition method, thereby increasing operational efficiency and structural flexibility, and the comparator chain (i.e., the number of comparators in each stage and the number of comparison stages) can be adjusted according to the various needs of the requirement scenario.

[0154] Unlike the embodiment shown in Figure 10, the embodiment shown in Figure 12 uses multiple comparators combined with delay lines to perform energy channel address division of the pulse signal.

[0155] Therefore, in the embodiment shown in Figure 12, there are multiple adjustable comparators, with different comparators connected to different delay lines, and the delay times of all delay lines connected to the same comparator are all different from each other.

[0156] As shown in Figure 12, the first multistage comparison unit 1200 comprises a plurality (12) delay lines 12101-12112 with different delays, a plurality (3) adjustable comparators 1221-1223, and an arbiter 1230 operably connected to the adjustable comparators 1221-1223. The plurality (12) delay lines 12101-12112 with different delays are divided into a plurality of groups of delay lines corresponding to the plurality (3) adjustable comparators 1221-1223, with each group connected to one adjustable comparator. The delay times of delay lines such as 12101-12104, 12105-12108, or 12109-12112 within the same group connected to the same adjustable comparator are different. However, as shown in Figure 12, each group of delay lines may have the same delay configuration as one another.

[0157] Here, references may be made to the embodiments described above with respect to Figures 8 and 10 in order to perform a multi-stage comparison based on a dynamic comparison threshold using the first multi-stage comparison unit 1200 shown in Figure 12, which will not be detailed here.

[0158] In one preferred embodiment, the number of adjustable comparators may correspond to the number of comparison thresholds in each stage of the comparison. For example, in the embodiment shown in Figure 12, the number of adjustable comparators (3) corresponds to the number of comparison thresholds in each stage of the comparison based on the quartic method. In this preferred embodiment, it is possible to compare different comparison thresholds in the same stage simultaneously.

[0159] As described above, the "physical" multi-stage comparison structure corresponding to multi-stage comparison may also be provided to assign dynamically changing thresholds to the comparators, thereby achieving counting of scintillation pulses according to the energy channel address.

[0160] An exemplary modular architecture of an embodiment having a “physical” multistage comparator structure is described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, the multistage comparator is performed by a second multistage comparator unit having a physical multistage comparator structure. The second multistage comparator unit comprises a plurality of comparator subunits connected to a measured pulse input, and an arbiter operably connected to the plurality of comparator subunits, each comparator subunit comprising a single comparator or a plurality of parallel tunable comparators corresponding to one of the multistage comparators, with delay units positioned between adjacent comparator subunits.

[0161] In some preferred embodiments, the number of comparison thresholds in each stage of the comparison is the same, so the number of channel address intervals defined by the comparison thresholds in each stage of the comparison is the same.

[0162] In a further embodiment, for example, the total number of energy channel addresses is N=m n For example, if N=256, it may perform up to (m-1) × n (where m is 2 or greater) threshold comparisons on the measured scintillation pulse, and n-stage comparator subunits (each comparator subunit having (m-1) comparators) combined with delay units between adjacent multi-stage comparator subunits may also be used for implementation.

[0163] In the embodiment shown in Figure 13, a physical multi-stage comparator subunit (8 stages) is configured, with 1 physical comparator in each stage, thereby dividing the channel into two equal parts and defining two channel address intervals, i.e., m=2.

[0164] With respect to multi-stage comparison, the embodiment shown in Figure 13 is the same as the embodiment shown in Figure 8. Referring to Figures 13 and 9, the total number of energy channel addresses is N=m n (For example, if N=256), that is, 2 8 If there are 1 channel addresses, the comparison will be performed (2-1) × 8 = 8 times.

[0165] Therefore, as shown in Figure 13, the second multistage comparator unit 1300 comprises a plurality (8) comparator subunits 1310 connected to the measured pulse input, and an arbiter 1320 operably connected to the plurality of comparator subunits 1310, each comparator subunit 1310 corresponding to one of the multistage (8) comparators and comprising a single adjustable comparator 1311, with a delay unit 1330 positioned between adjacent comparator subunits.

[0166] Continuing with the references to Figures 13 and 9, each stage may use one comparator to compare with the pulse peak voltage. Each comparison then makes a determination between two channel address intervals (amplitude intervals), i.e., whether it is above or below a comparison threshold set by the stage's comparator. After eight stages of comparison, it is possible to determine, for example, which of the 256 channel addresses the pulse is in in order to generate an energy spectrum of 256 channels. In the example shown in Figure 13, the threshold voltage may be input to the negative input terminal of the adjustable comparator of each comparator subunit, and a delay unit may be set between each comparator subunit to form a small delay (e.g., 5 ns), so that pulse signals sequentially input to the positive input terminals of the comparators of the multiple (8) comparator subunits are processed by the multiple (8) comparator subunits with different delay times, and after passing through a final stage such as the eighth stage comparator, the comparator can determine which energy channel the pulse, in particular a scintillation pulse, is in.

[0167] The following provides a specific example of using the second multi-stage comparison unit 1300 shown in Figure 13, based on a bisection method, to determine which energy channel's pulse amplitude interval the input pulse, particularly the scintillation pulse signal, lies within.

[0168] According to the bisection method, the central energy channel address of the energy channel addresses 1 to 256 is the 128th energy channel address. Therefore, a first comparison threshold, i.e., the amplitude characteristic value of the 128th energy channel address, may be set for the comparator of the first stage comparator subunit, and the two channel address intervals may be defined by the comparison threshold, i.e., the energy channel addresses 1 to 128 and the energy channel addresses 129 to 256. By comparing the amplitude of the input pulse signal with the first comparison threshold, it is determined whether the pulse signal is located in the energy channel address interval 1 to 128 or in the pulse peak interval corresponding to the energy channel address interval 129 to 256. If the output of the comparator is 1, it means that the pulse peak value of the input signal exceeds the pulse amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the 128th energy channel address, and therefore the input pulse signal is located in the channel address interval 129 to 256. When the comparator output is 0, it means that the pulse peak value of the input signal does not exceed the pulse amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the 128th energy channel address, and at that time, the pulse peak value of the input signal is located in the channel address interval from 1 to 128. By inputting the comparison result of the comparator of the first stage comparator subunit to the arbiter, the arbiter determines, according to the comparison result, which energy channel address interval, or which pulse amplitude interval corresponding to the energy channel address interval, the input pulse signal is located in, and continues to set the comparison threshold for the comparator of the second stage comparator subunit according to the bisection method based on the energy channel interval, and so on until the comparator of the final stage comparator subunit determines which energy channel address the input scintillation pulse signal is located in. Then, for example, the pulse count in the energy channel address may be incremented by 1 by the counting unit. For example, if 256 energy channel addresses are used as an example, the first channel address may correspond to 00000000, and the 256th channel address may correspond to 11111111.

[0169] When a higher-precision energy spectrum is to be obtained, it will be understood that the length of the comparator chain, i.e., the number of comparators in each stage and the number of stages of comparators, can be increased.

[0170] As described above, the conventional MVT method uses fixed thresholds and complex fitting calculations, is limited to a specific energy range, requires precise time information, and has a stop time, which leads to drawbacks such as low processing efficiency, large consumption of hardware resources, and low high-temperature tolerance. In contrast, these embodiments directly sample unknown pulses and classify them into corresponding energy channel addresses through dynamic threshold setting and a simplified processing process. In this way, fitting calculations, TDC, and precise timing information are not required. Compared with the conventional method, this approach simplifies the pulse energy acquisition process, saves hardware resources, reduces FPGA power consumption, and improves high-temperature tolerance. In addition, the present invention significantly reduces the stop time through threshold comparison and look-up table operations, which can achieve continuous pulse processing and effectively improve system performance.

[0171] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 14, a physical multi-stage comparator subunit (4 stages) is set, and the number of physical comparators in each stage is 3, thereby dividing into four equal parts to define four channel address intervals, i.e., m = 4.

[0172] Regarding multi-stage comparison, the embodiment shown in FIG. 14 is the same as the embodiment shown in FIG. 10. Referring to FIGS. 14 and 11, when the total number of energy channel addresses is N = m n (for example, N = 256), that is, when there are 2 8 channel addresses, 4-level comparison is performed.

[0173] Therefore, as shown in Figure 14, the second multistage comparator unit 1400 comprises a plurality (four) comparator subunits 1410 connected to the measured pulse input, and an arbiter 1420 operably connected to the plurality of comparator subunits 1410, each comparator subunit 1410 corresponding to one stage of a multistage (four) comparator, and comprising a plurality (three) parallel adjustable comparators 1411-1413, with delay units 1430 provided between adjacent comparator subunits.

[0174] It is understood that the features of the embodiments shown in Figures 10 and 13 may be combined with the embodiment in Figure 14 in a non-contradictory manner as required to obtain a new embodiment, which is not described in detail here.

[0175] The following describes a specific example of using the second multi-stage comparison unit 1400 shown in Figure 14, based on a quadruple method, to determine which pulse amplitude interval corresponds to the energy channel address of an input pulse signal, such as a scintillation pulse signal.

[0176] In the specific example shown in Figure 14, a physical four-stage comparator subunit 1410 is provided, each comparator subunit having three physically adjustable comparators, thereby defining four channel address intervals (or expressed as four energy intervals or amplitude intervals). Here, this may also be expressed as n=4 and m=4, meaning there are n=4 stages of comparator, each stage dividing the unknown energy range into m=4 energy intervals.

[0177] Referring to Figures 14 and 11, for example, the negative input terminals of the three comparators of the first stage comparator subunit are, for example, V 64 , V 128 , V 192To determine the three comparison thresholds of the first stage, which are expressed as , they can be set based on the 64th, 128th, and 192nd channel addresses, which are obtained by dividing the 256 channel addresses into four equal parts. The measured pulse amplitude (peak value) is V 64 It exceeds V 128 If it does not exceed this, the arbiter can determine that the pulse energy lies between channel address 64 and channel address 128. Therefore, in the second stage comparison, the arbiter determines V as determined by the previous stage of the comparison. 65 ~V 128 According to the channel address interval, the thresholds of the three comparators in the second stage comparator subunit are set to the interval [V 65 ,V 128 This is set by dividing the ] into four equal parts, and the same process is repeated until all four stages of comparison are completed and the specific channel address in which the pulse lies in the energy spectrum is finally determined.

[0178] Therefore, the embodiment shown in Figure 14, which uses the quadrilateral method to determine the comparison threshold, has the same advantages as the embodiment shown in Figure 13, which simply uses the bilateral method to determine the comparison threshold. In addition, the embodiment shown in Figure 14 performs bit-extended dynamic threshold spectral formation by using the quadrilateral method, thereby increasing operational efficiency and structural flexibility, and the comparator chain (i.e., the number of comparators in each stage and the number of comparison stages) can be adjusted according to the different needs of the application scenario.

[0179] In the embodiments shown in Figures 8 and 14, the comparison threshold of the first-stage comparator is determined according to the total number of channel addresses. However, to reduce the number of comparisons, it is conceivable to determine the comparison threshold of the first-stage comparison according to an intrinsic pulse characteristic or other feature.

[0180] In one embodiment, the comparison threshold for the first stage comparison may be determined according to a given a priori channel address interval. It will be understood that the a priori channel address interval can be a variety of equivalences, including energy intervals, amplitude intervals, and so on.

[0181] In some embodiments, there is a given a priori channel interval, and there is a comparison threshold for the first stage comparison, which is determined according to the amplitude characteristic value of one of the endpoint channel addresses of the a priori channel address interval.

[0182] In one example, for instance, the total number of energy channel addresses is N=m n If, for example, N=256, then the comparison threshold of the first stage can be determined according to the a priori channel address interval, such as if one a priori channel address interval is less than a certain channel address, such as the 64th channel address, as determined according to the pulse characteristics. More specifically, the comparison threshold may be determined according to the endpoint (upper limit) channel address (such as the 64th channel address) of the a priori channel address interval, which is set according to the amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the 64th channel address, for example V 64 It is expressed as follows. It will be understood that the a priori channel address interval can be determined according to different pulse characteristics. For example, in pulsed neutron saturation logging, considering that there are fewer than 64 channel addresses corresponding to the pulse energy of approximately 80% of the scintillation pulse corresponding to gamma rays, the channel address interval is determined to be less than 64 channel addresses. Furthermore, as explained earlier, the comparison threshold for the first comparison is V 64 It will be set to this.

[0183] In embodiments of this disclosure, the first stage of comparison can determine whether a pulse is located in a priori channel address interval (located in the low-energy range) or not (located in the high-energy range). Subsequently, in the later stage of comparison, the comparison threshold can be dynamically set according to the bisection or quarto principle.

[0184] Embodiments for determining the comparison threshold for the first stage of a comparison according to a given priori channel address interval can be carried out in a multistage comparator unit according to embodiments of the present disclosure. That is, it can be carried out based on a modular architecture of delay line and comparator combinations, or based on a “physical” multistage comparator subunit structure, such as the multistage comparator units or similar structures shown in Figures 8, 10, 12, 13, and 14.

[0185] In the following, an embodiment is described in which the comparison threshold for the first stage comparison is determined according to a given priori channel address interval, using the second multistage comparator unit 1500 shown in Figure 15 as an example. In this embodiment, the comparisons other than the first stage are performed using a bisection method. The second multistage comparator unit 1500 shown in Figure 15 is similar to the second multistage comparator unit 1300 shown in Figure 13, except that it has two more comparator subunits, i.e., a total of 10 comparator subunits 1510.

[0186] In addition, in this embodiment, the comparison threshold of the comparator 1511 in the first stage comparator subunit 1510 is set to an endpoint (the 64th channel address) on the a priori channel address interval described above, for example, V 64 This differs from the embodiments described above with respect to Figures 13 and 9 in that it is set according to [the specified method].

[0187] The comparison result of the first stage shows that the pulse energy is located at the a priori channel address interval (located in the low energy range), and the pulse amplitude is 0 and V 64 If it is between, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the second stage comparator subunit is V according to the bisection method. 32 It can be set to the threshold V. 32 Assuming it can exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 32 and V 64 It lies between. Then, according to the bisection method, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the third stage comparator subunit is V48 It is set to the threshold V. The pulse signal amplitude is set to the threshold V. 48 Assuming it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 32 and V 48 It lies between. Then, according to the bisection method, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the fourth stage comparator subunit is V 40 It is set to the threshold V. The pulse signal amplitude is set to the threshold V. 40 Assuming that it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 32 and V 40 It lies between these two points. And, according to the bisection method, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the fifth stage comparator subunit is V 36 It is set to the threshold V. The pulse signal amplitude is set to the threshold V. 36 Assuming it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 32 and V 36 It lies between these two points. And, according to the bisection method, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the sixth stage comparator subunit is V 34 It is set to the threshold V. The pulse signal amplitude is set to the threshold V. 34 Assuming that it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 32 and V 34 It lies between these two points. And, according to the bisection method, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the seventh stage comparator subunit is V 33 It is set to the threshold V. The pulse signal amplitude is set to the threshold V. 33 Assuming it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 32 and V 33 It lies between these two points, meaning it is located at the 33rd energy channel address. It can be seen that the energy channel address corresponding to the pulse amplitude is determined by a 7-stage comparison.

[0188] In an example where approximately 80% of the scintillation pulse energy corresponds to channel addresses less than 64, the number of comparisons is reduced by 1 for 80% of the pulses.

[0189] The comparison results of the first stage show that the pulse energy is located in the high-energy range (i.e., outside the a priori channel address interval), and the pulse amplitude is V 64 and V256 If it is between these two values, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the second stage comparator subunit is V according to the bisection method. 160 It can be set to the threshold V. 160 Assuming it can exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 160 and V 256 It lies between. Then, according to the bisection method, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the third stage comparator subunit is V 208 It is set to the threshold V. The pulse signal amplitude is set to the threshold V. 208 Assuming it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 160 and V 208 It lies between. Then, according to the bisection method, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the fourth stage comparator subunit is V 184 It is set to the threshold V. The pulse signal amplitude is set to the threshold V. 184 Assuming it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 160 and V 184 It lies between. Then, according to the bisection method, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the fifth stage comparator subunit is V 172 It is set to the threshold V. The pulse signal amplitude is set to the threshold V. 172 Assuming it can exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 172 and V 184 It lies between. Then, according to the bisection method, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the sixth stage comparator subunit is V 178 It is set to the threshold V. The pulse signal amplitude is set to the threshold V. 178 Assuming it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 172 and V 178 It lies between. Then, according to the bisection method, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the seventh stage comparator subunit is V 175 It is set to the threshold V. The pulse signal amplitude is set to the threshold V. 175 Assuming it can exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 175 and V 178 It lies between. Then, according to the bisection method, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the 8th stage comparator subunit is V 177 It is set to the threshold V. The pulse signal amplitude is set to the threshold V. 177 Assuming it can exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V177 and V 178 It lies between these, and this is located at the 178th energy channel address. And the pulse signal amplitude is threshold V 177 If it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 175 and V 177 It lies between. Then, according to the bisection method, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the 9th stage comparator subunit is V 176 It may remain set to the threshold V. 176 Assuming it can exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 176 and V 177 It lies between these two points, and this corresponds to the 177th energy channel address. It can be seen that the energy channel address corresponding to the pulse amplitude is determined by a comparison of 8 to 10 stages.

[0190] In an example where approximately 80% of the scintillation pulse energies correspond to channel addresses less than 64, only about 20% of the pulses are located in the high-energy range (i.e., outside the a priori channel address interval). These scintillation pulses require one or two more comparisons, but still a significant reduction in the total number of comparisons for all measured pulses can be obtained.

[0191] Therefore, with the exception of the first-stage comparator subunit, the negative input terminal of the comparator of each subsequent comparator subunit has a threshold voltage set according to the bisection principle based on the energy range divided by the result from the preceding-stage level comparator subunit, determined by the arbiter, and a delay unit is set between each stage comparator subunit to form a small delay (e.g., 5 ns), so that pulse signals sequentially input to the positive input terminals of the comparators of multiple comparator subunits are processed by the multiple comparator subunits with different delay times, so that after passing through the final-stage comparator (determined by the arbiter based on the output result of the preceding-stage comparator), it can be determined which particular energy channel the pulse, in particular a scintillation pulse, lies in.

[0192] The multi-stage comparison in the above embodiment can also be performed by modifying the first multi-stage comparison unit shown in Figure 8, for example by adding two delay lines.

[0193] In addition, in embodiments in which the comparison threshold for the first stage comparison is determined according to a given a priori channel address interval, the quarto method may be used to perform comparisons other than the first stage.

[0194] In the following, an embodiment is described in which the comparison threshold for the first stage comparison is determined according to a given priori channel address interval, using the second multistage comparison unit 1600 shown in Figure 16 as an example. In this embodiment, the quarto method is used to perform the comparisons other than the first stage. The second multistage comparison unit 1600 shown in Figure 16 is similar to the second multistage comparison unit 1400 shown in Figure 14, except that it has one more comparator subunit, i.e., a total of five comparator subunits 1610, except that the first stage comparator subunit has only one comparator.

[0195] In addition, in this embodiment, the comparison threshold of the comparator 1611 in the first stage comparator subunit 1610 is, for example, V 64 This differs from the embodiments described above with respect to Figures 14 and 11 in that it is set according to the upper endpoint (the 64th channel address) of the a priori channel address interval described above.

[0196] If the comparison result of the first stage shows that the pulse energy is located at the a priori channel address interval (located in the low energy section), then the amplitude of the pulse signal is 0 and V 64 It lies between. Then, according to the quarto method, the comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the second stage comparator subunit are V 16 , V 32 , and V 48 It can be set to the threshold V. 16 If it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is 0 and V 16It lies between these two. Then, according to the quadrilateral method, the comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the third stage comparator subunit are V4, V8, and V 12 The following is set. If the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V4, the pulse signal amplitude is between 0 and V4. Then, according to the quadruple method, the comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the fourth stage comparator subunit are set to V1, V2, and V3. If the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V1, the pulse signal amplitude is between 0 and V1, i.e., it lies within the first energy channel address. If the pulse signal exceeds V1 but cannot exceed the threshold V2, the pulse signal amplitude is between V1 and V2, i.e., it lies within the second energy channel address. If the pulse signal exceeds V2 but cannot exceed the threshold V3, the pulse signal amplitude is between V2 and V3, i.e., it lies within the third energy channel address. If the pulse signal exceeds V3, the pulse signal amplitude is between V3 and V4, i.e., it lies within the fourth energy channel address. It can be seen that the energy channel address corresponding to the pulse amplitude is determined by using the four-stage comparison.

[0197] In an example where approximately 80% of the scintillation pulse energy corresponds to channel addresses less than 64, 80% of the pulses require only one comparison in the first stage.

[0198] If the comparison result of the first stage indicates that the pulse energy is located in the high-energy range (i.e., outside the a priori channel address interval), then the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 64 and V 256 It lies between. Then, according to the quadrilateral method, the comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the second stage comparator subunit are V 112 , V 160 , and V 208 It can be set to the threshold V. 112 If it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 64 and V 112It lies between. Then, according to the quadrilateral method, the comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the third stage comparator subunit are V 76 , V 88 , and V 90 The pulse signal is set to a certain value and a delayed pulse signal is input to the comparator. 76 If it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 64 and V 76 It lies between. Then, according to the quadrilateral method, the comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the fourth stage comparator subunit are V 67 , V 70 , and V 73 The pulse signal is set to a certain value and a delayed pulse signal is input to the comparator. 67 If it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 64 and V 67 It lies between. Then, according to the quadrilateral method, the comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the fifth stage comparator subunit are V 65 , V 66 , and V 67 It is set to V. The pulse signal is V 65 If it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 64 and V 65 It lies between, that is, it is located at the 65th energy channel address. The pulse signal is V 65 It exceeds the threshold V 66 If it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 65 and V 66 It lies between, that is, it is located at the 66th energy channel address. The pulse signal is V 66 It exceeds the threshold V 67 If it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 66 and V 67 It lies between these two points, meaning it is located at the 67th energy channel address. It can be seen that the energy channel address corresponding to the pulse amplitude is determined by a five-stage comparison.

[0199] In examples where approximately 80% of the scintillation pulse energies correspond to channel addresses less than 64, only about 20% of the pulses are located in the high-energy range (i.e., outside the a priori channel address interval), and the first stage comparison of the pulse requires only one comparison. Therefore, these scintillation pulses require one more stage, but a significant reduction in the total number of comparisons for all measured pulses can still be obtained.

[0200] The multi-stage comparison of the above embodiment may be performed by modifying the first multi-stage comparison unit shown in Figure 10 or Figure 12, for example by adding another delay line.

[0201] In some embodiments, there is a given a priori channel address interval, and the first stage comparison has two comparison thresholds, which are determined according to the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the two endpoint channel addresses of the a priori channel address interval, respectively.

[0202] In one example, for instance, the total number of energy channel addresses is N=m n If, for example, N=256, then it is determined according to the pulse characteristics that one a priori channel address interval is greater than the first channel address and smaller than the second channel address, for example, 60 to 64 channel addresses, then the comparison threshold of the first stage can be determined according to the a priori interval. More specifically, the comparison threshold may be determined according to the channel addresses of the two endpoints of the a priori channel address interval (e.g., the 60th and 64th channel addresses), for example, according to the amplitude characteristic values ​​corresponding to the 60th and 64th channel addresses, for example, V 60 and V 64It may be set as follows. It will be understood that the a priori channel address interval may be determined according to various pulse characteristics. For example, in pulsed neutron saturation logging, assuming that most of the scintillation pulses corresponding to gamma rays have pulse energies corresponding to channel addresses between 60 and 64, the a priori channel address interval is set to 60 to 64 channel addresses, and furthermore, as explained above, the comparison threshold for the first comparison is V 60 and V 64 It will be set to this.

[0203] In the following, an embodiment is described in which the comparison threshold for the first stage comparison is determined according to a given priori channel address interval, using the second multistage comparison unit 1700 shown in Figure 17 as an example. In this embodiment, the comparisons other than the first stage are performed using a quarto method. The second multistage comparison unit 1700 shown in Figure 17 is similar to the second multistage comparison unit 1600 shown in Figure 16, except that the first stage comparator subunit 1710 in the second multistage comparison unit 1700 shown in Figure 17 has two comparators 1711 and 1712.

[0204] The comparison result of the first stage indicates that the pulse energy is located within the a priori channel address interval (called the intermediate energy interval), that is, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 60 and V 64 If it is between these two values, then according to the quadruple division method, the comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the second stage comparator subunit are V 61 , V 62 , and V 63 It can be set to V. 61 If it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 60 and V 61 It lies between, that is, within the 61st energy channel address. The pulse signal is V 61 It exceeds the threshold V 62 If it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 61 and V 62It lies between, that is, within the 62nd energy channel address. The pulse signal is V 62 It exceeds the threshold V 63 If it cannot exceed V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 62 and V 63 It lies between, that is, within the 63rd energy channel address. The pulse signal is V 63 If it exceeds V, the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 63 and V 64 It lies between these two points, that is, within the 64th energy channel address. The energy channel address corresponding to the pulse amplitude is determined by a two-stage comparison.

[0205] If the majority of the scintillation pulse energy corresponds to channel addresses located at a priori channel address intervals, then in total, only two stages of comparison and two comparisons in the first stage of comparison are required for such pulses, which can result in a significant reduction in the total number of comparisons.

[0206] If the comparison result of the first stage indicates that the pulse energy lies outside the a priori channel address interval, i.e., in the high-energy or low-energy interval, then, in the embodiment described in Figure 16, a quarto method may be used to divide the channel address interval and perform the comparison. Thus, the energy channel address corresponding to the pulse amplitude is determined by a 4-stage or 5-stage comparison.

[0207] The multistage comparison of the above embodiment may be performed by modifying the second multistage comparison unit based on the bisection method shown in Figure 15, for example by setting two comparators in the first stage comparator subunit.

[0208] The multi-stage comparison of the above embodiments may be performed by modifying the first multi-stage comparison unit shown in Figure 8, Figure 10, or Figure 12, for example, by adding a delay line.

[0209] In embodiments where multi-stage comparison is performed based on a delay line combined with a comparator, for example, if the channel address interval determined by the first-stage comparison lies outside the a priori channel address interval, then in subsequent comparisons, the comparison threshold adjacent to the a priori channel interval may be compared first. This feature can offer the benefit of further reducing the number of comparisons, even for pulses outside the a priori channel address interval, because there are more pulses located closer to the a priori channel address interval.

[0210] For example, if we take a given a priori channel address interval as being less than the 64th channel address, and the comparison result of the first stage comparison is that the pulse energy is located in the high-energy interval (i.e., outside the a priori channel address interval), then the amplitude of the pulse signal is V 64 and V 256 It is located between these two points. Then, according to the quadrilateral method, the comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the second stage comparator subunit are V 112 , V 160 , and V 208 It can be set to: When the example is performed through a first multi-stage comparison unit based on a delay line combined with a comparator, in the second stage comparison, the comparison threshold adjacent to the a priori channel interval, i.e., adjacent to the a priori channel interval, i.e., V 64 Adjacent comparison threshold V 112 First, it is compared with the pulse signal from a delay line with a shorter delay (such as a second delay line). This is V 64 ~V 112 This is because the probability of a pulse being located within that channel address interval is higher than the probability of a pulse being located within the other three channel address intervals.

[0211] In some embodiments, there is a given a priori channel address interval of 2 or more (M≧2). Therefore, the number of comparison thresholds for the first stage comparison is 2M, and each is determined according to the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the 2M endpoint channel addresses of the a priori channel address interval.

[0212] In further embodiments, when the measured pulse is a scintillation pulse generated by detecting a substance, particularly when it is a scintillation pulse generated by detecting a substance based on high-energy radiation, the a priori energy channel address may be set based on energy characteristics such as the energy peak value of the high-energy radiation emitted by the components (elements) of the substance.

[0213] In further embodiments, the pulse digitization method further comprises determining M a priori channel address intervals based on the components of the detected substance. In some embodiments, the components of the detected substance may comprise a first component and a second component. In certain embodiments, for example, in logging applications, the components of the detected substance may be, for example, a carbon (C) component and an oxygen (O) component.

[0214] In some embodiments of the present invention, determining M priori channel address intervals, as shown in Figure 18, specifically comprises the following: S1810: Determine M energy windows according to at least two components of the detected substance. As mentioned above, the at least two components may be, for example, a first component and a second component. In some specific embodiments, the energy windows of the first component and the energy windows of the second component may be determined according to the first component and the second component. In some specific embodiments, for example, in C / O spectral logging, there may be two components, for example, a carbon (C) component and an oxygen (O) component. The properties of the material in the oil well can be determined by the ratio of the number of pulses in the energy ranges corresponding to the carbon and oxygen elements, respectively, on the acquired energy spectrum. Thus, the properties of the energy spectra of the carbon and oxygen elements may be used to perform a pulse digitization method according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0215] Specifically, the energy ranges of gamma rays produced by carbon and oxygen atoms are determined according to the accuracy requirements of various application scenarios and prior information or properties of the carbon and oxygen elements, so that the energy windows for carbon and oxygen are obtained.

[0216] S1820: Determines M a priori channel address intervals corresponding to M energy windows.

[0217] In some embodiments, step S1820 may comprise the steps of determining M amplitude ranges corresponding to M energy windows and determining M priori channel address intervals according to the determined M amplitude ranges.

[0218] In some embodiments, the M amplitude ranges corresponding to the M energy windows can be determined in a manner similar to that described in step S110, such as determining the amplitude range corresponding to the energy window of the first component and then determining the amplitude range corresponding to the energy window of the second component.

[0219] In a specific embodiment, for example, in C / O spectral logging, the pulse amplitude range of C corresponding to the energy window of C and the pulse amplitude range of O corresponding to the energy window of O can be determined.

[0220] In one specific example, a large amount of pulse data generated by gamma photons may be collected using a high sampling frequency with a high-speed sampling device such as an oscilloscope, and the pulse data may then be processed to obtain energy information and voltage peak information for each pulse. By plotting the energy scattering diagram and the pulse peak values ​​and fitting them, a linear mapping relationship between energy and peak values ​​can be theoretically obtained.

[0221] In a further specific example, the M amplitude ranges corresponding to the M energy windows can be obtained by interpolating according to a lookup table based on energy versus peak values.

[0222] In other embodiments, when the channel address is an energy channel address, step S1820 may include the steps of directly determining a priori channel address intervals corresponding to M energy windows according to the energy windows and energy characteristic values ​​corresponding to the energy channel address, and correspondingly determining the amplitude range corresponding to the a priori channel address intervals.

[0223] For example, in a particular embodiment, after determining the pulse amplitude range of C corresponding to the energy window of C and the pulse amplitude range of O corresponding to the energy window of O, the multiple comparison thresholds for the first stage comparison in a multistage comparison may be set accordingly with reference to the above, and after performing the first stage comparison, the comparison thresholds for subsequent comparisons are dynamically adjusted according to the channel address interval in which the measured pulses are located, which is not described in detail here.

[0224] In addition, in a preferred embodiment, pulse digitization, i.e., based on the energy spectrum of all pulses, further yields the carbon-oxygen ratio (C / O ratio) used for C / O spectral logging.

[0225] In the embodiment shown in Figure 19, the pulse digitization method further comprises the following: S1910: Determine the count of scintillation pulses within the energy windows of the first and second components, respectively. S1920: Based on this count, determine the ratio of the first component to the second component.

[0226] In certain embodiments, for example, in C / O spectral logging, the carbon-oxygen ratio may be determined by a carbon-oxygen ratio determination unit independent of the channel address determination unit, as shown in Figure 20.

[0227] In the embodiment shown in Figure 20, the carbon-oxygen ratio determination unit 2000 comprises a first carbon comparator 2011, a second carbon comparator 2012, a first oxygen comparator 2021, a second oxygen comparator 2022, a carbon counter 2030, an oxygen counter 2040, a calculation unit 2050, and an optional calibration unit 2060.

[0228] Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in Figure 21, step S1910 may include the following: S2110: Based on a comparison of the amplitude value of the scintillation pulse with the amplitude range, it is determined whether the scintillation pulse is within the amplitude range corresponding to the energy window of the first component or within the amplitude range corresponding to the energy window of the second component. S2120: Performs a count of the first component for scintillation pulses that are within the amplitude range corresponding to the energy window of the first component. S2130: Perform a count of the second component for scintillation pulses that are within the amplitude range corresponding to the energy window of the second component.

[0229] Specifically, the measured pulse is input in parallel to a first carbon comparator, a second carbon comparator, a first oxygen comparator, and a second oxygen comparator. The first carbon comparator sets a comparison threshold based on the lower limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the energy window of C, the second carbon comparator sets a comparison threshold based on the upper limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the energy window of C, the first oxygen comparator sets a comparison threshold based on the lower limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the energy window of O, and the second oxygen comparator sets a comparison threshold based on the upper limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the energy window of O.

[0230] In some embodiments, a carbon counter is connected to a first carbon comparator and a second carbon comparator, an oxygen counter is connected to a first oxygen comparator and a second oxygen comparator, and a calculation unit is connected to the carbon counter and oxygen counter and used to calculate the carbon-oxygen ratio.

[0231] An optional calibration unit 2060 is connected to the negative terminals of the first carbon comparator 2011, the second carbon comparator 2012, the first oxygen comparator 2021, and the second oxygen comparator 2022, and is used to set calibration thresholds.

[0232] Here, the pulse amplitude range of C corresponding to the energy window of C and the pulse amplitude range of O corresponding to the energy window of O can be determined in step S1820 as mentioned above, for example, by determining according to a linear mapping relationship or a lookup table, or by determining the amplitude range determined according to the determined priori channel address interval. Thus, four pulse amplitude (peak value) endpoint values ​​corresponding to the endpoints of the energy window of carbon and the energy window of oxygen can be obtained, which are, for example, V Cmin , V Cmax , V Omin , and V OmaxIt is expressed as follows.

[0233] Here, for example, the comparison thresholds for the first carbon comparator 2011, the second carbon comparator 2012, the first oxygen comparator 2021, and the second oxygen comparator 2022 are obtained by using a digital-to-analog converter, each using four pulse peak endpoint values ​​V Cmin , V Cmax , V Omin , and V Omax It can be set to V. Therefore, when the measured pulse enters the system, it is input in parallel to the four comparators. Cmin It exceeds V Cmax If the measured pulse does not exceed V, the carbon counter increases by 1. Omin It exceeds V Omax If the value does not exceed a certain threshold, the oxygen counter increases by 1. If neither of the above two conditions is met, neither counter needs to respond.

[0234] Once all measured pulses have passed through the system, the C / O value can be obtained by the calculation unit by reading the values ​​of two counters and calculating them.

[0235] As described above, embodiments of the present disclosure also optionally include a step of calibrating the first carbon comparator 2011, the second carbon comparator 2012, the first oxygen comparator 2021, and the second oxygen comparator 2022.

[0236] In actual logging scenarios, instruments typically need to operate in environments where temperatures are variable and generally high, which is often an unavoidable factor affecting the operation of electronic devices. A calibration unit may be configured for the DAC, such as by setting an additional DAC channel as an input for the calibration unit, to enable the instrument to obtain more relatively accurate data during well bore processing. The calibration unit knows the differences in the DAC outputs at different temperatures based on prior information and uses them to calibrate the comparison thresholds of the four comparators accordingly. For example, if a comparison threshold setting such as 3V with the DAC is used to set the amplitude endpoint, the deviation comparison threshold may be set by the calibration unit, such as by setting the DAC with a deviation of -0.5V, when temperature changes cause deviations in the comparison threshold, such as a deviation of 0.5V. This corrects the deviations of the carbon and oxygen comparators.

[0237] In a preferred embodiment, the carbon-oxygen ratio spectrum used for C / O spectral logging is determined through an additionally configured carbon / oxygen comparator, based on the determination of the energy channel address contained within each measured pulse (for example, based on a multi-stage bisection or quadsection method), which substantially reduces the carbon-oxygen ratio spectrum formation time.

[0238] In one alternative preferred embodiment, the carbon-oxygen ratio can also be obtained by counting the channel address intervals corresponding to the pulse count or energy window of C within the channel address, and the channel address intervals corresponding to the amplitude range of the pulse count or energy window of O within the channel address.

[0239] Therefore, in this embodiment, after determining the energy information of all measured pulses on all channel addresses in step S150, and for example after generating the energy spectra of all energy channel addresses, the counts within the C energy window and the O energy window, respectively, are determined according to the energy channel addresses corresponding to the C energy window and the O energy window. For example, the C energy window corresponds to channel addresses A to B, and the O energy window corresponds to channel addresses C to D, but to determine the carbon-oxygen ratio, it is only necessary to calculate the counts within the interval between these two channel addresses.

[0240] In addition, as will be further described below, embodiments of the present disclosure also involve methods and devices for determining material composition based on scintillation pulses, which are independent of or combined with the pulse digitization methods in embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0241] In further embodiments, the comparison of the amplitude values ​​of multiple measured pulses with the amplitude characteristic values ​​of multiple channel addresses can be performed by a single-stage comparison.

[0242] In the embodiment shown in Figure 22, a single-stage comparison embodiment is shown. Specifically, step S140 may include the following: S2210: To determine the channel address within a measured pulse, the amplitude of each measured pulse is allowed to perform a single-stage comparison with multiple comparisons, where the number of comparisons corresponds to the number of channel addresses. S2220: The channel address within the measured pulse is determined according to the comparison result of the single-stage comparison.

[0243] To perform the single-stage comparison described above, the channel address determination unit may include a single-stage comparison unit.

[0244] In some embodiments, multiple comparisons in a modular architecture of a single-stage comparison unit for performing single-stage comparisons may be performed by multiple comparators, the number of which may be greater than or equal to the number of channel addresses.

[0245] In other embodiments, it may be implemented by a comparator architecture having fewer comparators than the number of channel addresses, for example, by using different delays of delay lines in combination with adjustable comparators, or it may even be implemented by a single comparator architecture.

[0246] Figure 23 shows a schematic embodiment of a first single-stage comparator unit 2300 for performing a single-stage comparator. The first single-stage comparator unit 2300 comprises a plurality of parallel delay lines 2310 connected to a measured pulse input, an adjustable comparator 2320 connected to the delay lines, and an arbiter 2330 operably connected to the adjustable comparator. Preferably, at least some of the delay lines have different delay times, and in the embodiment shown in Figure 23, all delay lines have different delay times. Preferably, the number of the plurality of parallel delay lines is greater than or equal to the number of the plurality of channel addresses. In the embodiment shown, N parallel delay lines 2310 are shown.

[0247] For example, if the total number of energy channel addresses is N=256, the number of N parallel delay lines 2310 corresponds to the total number of energy channel addresses. Therefore, a single-stage N-division method can be used to determine the channel address within which a measured pulse is located, where the number of comparisons in the single-stage comparison is the same as the number of energy channel addresses.

[0248] Specifically, the input pulse can be input to the positive input terminals of all 256 comparators by passing through 256 delay lines with different delays. For each comparator, the threshold voltage for comparison is set by an arbiter. The arbiters are V1, V2, V3, ..., V 256A comparison threshold is sequentially assigned for the negative input terminal of the comparator according to the amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the energy channel address. After 256 comparisons, the specific channel address in which the energy of the input measured pulse lies can be obtained.

[0249] This embodiment simplifies dynamic thresholding spectroscopy strategies that use multi-stage comparisons by setting up only one-stage comparisons. Compared to dynamic thresholding spectroscopy strategies, it can reduce or avoid to some extent the errors introduced by the differences between comparators. As an explanation rather than an limitation, for pulse comparison in dynamic thresholding spectroscopy strategies using multi-stage comparisons, the differences between comparators can introduce errors in the comparison of pulse peaks, which ultimately affects the accuracy of the resulting energy spectrum.

[0250] As previously mentioned, in some embodiments, the comparison in a modular architecture of a single-stage comparison unit for performing a single-stage comparison may be performed by multiple comparators.

[0251] Although not shown in the diagram, it is conceivable to set up N parallel comparators, where N is greater than or equal to the number of energy channel addresses. Preferably, the number of comparators is the same as the number of energy channel addresses.

[0252] For example, if the total number of channel addresses is 256, then 256 parallel comparators are set up, and the amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the energy channel address (such as the endpoint value of the pulse peak interval corresponding to the energy channel address) is given as a comparison threshold for each comparator by using the corresponding DAC.

[0253] As described above, in the embodiments of this disclosure, the channel address interval in which each measured pulse is located can be predetermined based on a time parameter as well.

[0254] In a further specific embodiment, a time-over threshold (TOT) may be used in combination with a dynamic comparison threshold to count the channel addresses within a pulse, such as a scintillation pulse.

[0255] In a particular embodiment, as shown in Figure 24, step S140 may include the following: S2410: Provides mapping data of threshold exceedance times to the energy range of multiple reference pulses.

[0256] In a particular embodiment, the mapping data of threshold overtime to energy ranges is a lookup table of threshold overtime to energy ranges.

[0257] In some embodiments, the multiple reference pulses in step S2410 are the multiple reference pulses or a portion thereof mentioned in step S110, or the multiple reference pulses in step S2410 and step S110 partially overlap.

[0258] In other preferred embodiments, the steps in step S2410 are different from the reference pulse mentioned in step S110. For example, they are pulses formed from the reference pulse mentioned in step S110, or pulses collected in other ways.

[0259] Here, lookup tables corresponding to the pulse energy range and TOT can be obtained based on prior information.

[0260] For example, threshold voltage V t1 A comparison threshold slightly larger than the maximum amplitude of noise such as can be set for the comparator, and a number of pulses with known energy pass through the channel, and the time value at which each pulse exceeds the threshold, i.e., the time over threshold (TOT), is recorded. Through prior information, for example, this threshold voltage V t1Under these conditions, a lookup table of pulse energy ranges corresponding to TOT can be obtained. Additionally or alternatively, the threshold voltage V t2 , V t3 Other comparison thresholds may be set for the comparator, and the time over threshold (TOT) under these comparison thresholds, such as threshold voltages, can be obtained accordingly. Thus, based on prior information, a correspondence between TOT and energy range can be obtained.

[0261] As an explanation rather than an limitation, since pulse signals typically only slightly change their pulse width, when pulses are shaped, these variations in pulse width can become even smaller, and therefore the time over threshold (TOT) value also only shows slight variations when the pulse signal crosses this threshold voltage, resulting in similar TOTs that may correspond to multiple pulse energies, i.e., a certain energy range.

[0262] S2420: Obtain at least one threshold exceedance time of the measured pulse, each threshold exceedance time corresponding to an amplitude threshold.

[0263] As described above, step S140 may be performed by a channel address determination unit. Figures 26 and 28 show channel address determination units 2600 and 2800 that may be used to implement the embodiment shown in Figure 24, which in particular include a time over threshold unit connected to a measured pulse input.

[0264] As shown in Figure 26, the channel address determination unit 2600 may include a comparison unit 2610 connected to the measured pulse input, a time over threshold unit 2630 connected to the measured pulse input, and an arbiter 2620 operably connected to the time over threshold unit 2630 and the comparison unit 2610.

[0265] In the embodiment shown in Figure 26, the comparator unit 2610 comprises a physical multistage comparator subunit 2611, each comparator subunit 2611 comprising a single physical adjustable comparator, which can perform bisection comparisons, for example, in subsequent single-stage or multistage comparisons. The comparator unit shown in Figure 26 may be configured or modified with respect to single-stage or multistage comparator unit structures described in other embodiments of the present disclosure, such as the comparator unit structures shown in Figures 8, 10, 12-17, and 23. In particular, when the comparator unit shown in Figure 26 is used to perform multistage comparisons, it may comprise a physical multistage comparator subunit, or it may comprise an adjustable comparator connected to a plurality of parallel delay lines with different delays and delay lines for performing multistage comparisons, all of which are within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0266] Continuing with the reference to Figure 26, the time over threshold unit 2630 may comprise a time over threshold comparator 2631 and a time over threshold (TOT) acquisition processor 2634 connected to the time over threshold comparator 2631.

[0267] Referring to Figures 26 and 27, the time over threshold comparator 2631 has a voltage threshold V t1 Comparison thresholds, in this case amplitude thresholds, can be set. Therefore, by inputting the measured pulse 2710 to the time over threshold comparator 2631, when the measured pulse crosses the amplitude threshold, including crossing it from below to above and from above to below, the time over threshold comparator 2631 outputs transition signals 2720 such as from low level 0 to high level 1 and from high level 1 to low level 0. Therefore, the time for generating transition signals such as t1 and t2 can be determined by a time determination unit such as a TDC. Therefore, the TOT acquisition processor 2634 sets the voltage threshold V t1To determine the TOT under amplitude thresholds such as t2-t1, the time interval between two transition moments from the same time over threshold comparator 2631 can be determined.

[0268] In another embodiment, multiple TOTs may be determined based on multiple amplitude thresholds.

[0269] As shown in Figure 28, the channel address determination unit 2800 may include a comparison unit 2810 connected to the measured pulse input, a time over threshold unit 2830 connected to the measured pulse input, and an arbiter 2820 operably connected to the time over threshold unit 2830 and the comparison unit 2810.

[0270] Continuing with the reference to Figure 28, the time over threshold unit 2830 may comprise a number (e.g., three) of time over threshold comparators 2831 and a time over threshold (TOT) acquisition processor 2834 connected to the time over threshold comparators 2831.

[0271] Here, the time over threshold unit 2830 shown in Figure 28 differs from the time over threshold unit 2630 shown in Figure 26 in that the time over threshold unit 2830 has multiple (e.g., three) time over threshold comparators 2831, and these time over threshold comparators 2831 may set different comparison thresholds, in which case the voltage threshold V t1 , V t2 , and V t3 There are amplitude thresholds such as these. Therefore, in the embodiment shown in Figure 28, multiple (e.g., three) TOTs can be determined according to multiple amplitude thresholds.

[0272] S2430: Determine the first channel address interval according to the mapping data of the threshold time to the energy range and at least one threshold time of the measured pulse.

[0273] In this embodiment, the channel address may be the energy channel address.

[0274] Therefore, based on mapping data such as a lookup table provided in step S2410, the energy range corresponding to TOT determined in step S2420 may be determined, and then, based on the energy characteristic value corresponding to the energy channel address set in step S120, a first channel address interval corresponding to TOT, here called the TOT channel address interval, is determined.

[0275] In a particular example, the arbiter 2620 and / or TOT acquisition processor 2634 set a comparison threshold for the time over threshold comparator 2631, such as a threshold voltage, to V t1 It can be set to the threshold V. t1 After the measured pulses crossing the threshold voltage V are input to the time-over threshold comparator 2631, the TOT acquisition processor 2634 determines the TOT value at which the pulse signal crosses the threshold. The arbiter 2620 determines the energy range of the pulse corresponding to the TOT value according to the acquired lookup table, thereby determining the first channel address interval corresponding to the TOT. For example, two energy values ​​at the endpoints of the energy range correspond to two energy channel addresses, and the energy interval between the two energy channel addresses is the first channel address interval reduced compared to the total number of channel addresses. More specifically, the threshold voltage V of the time-over threshold comparator 2631 t1The comparison threshold is, for example, a threshold voltage slightly greater than the maximum amplitude of the noise signal. According to the determined time over threshold value (i.e., TOT value) of the measured pulse, the table may be consulted to obtain the energy range corresponding to the TOT value, for example, the range [3.48 MeV, 3.66 MeV], and it is further determined that the two energy values ​​correspond to, for example, the 100th energy channel and the 105th energy channel, respectively, so the determined energy channel interval is channel addresses 100 to 105.

[0276] As described above, in step S2420, multiple TOTs may be determined according to multiple amplitude thresholds. Therefore, in step S2430, the first channel address interval (TOT channel address interval) may be determined according to the common part and / or subset of the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple TOTs. In the particular embodiment shown in Figure 28, the first channel address interval (TOT channel address interval) is determined according to multiple (e.g., three) voltage thresholds V t1 , V t2 , and V t3 It can be determined according to the intersection of the energy ranges corresponding to multiple (e.g., three) TOTs determined by [the relevant factor]. In a particular example, for example, the voltage threshold V t1 The energy channel address interval corresponding to TOT, as determined by the voltage threshold V, is from the 100th energy channel address to the 120th energy channel address. t2 The energy channel address interval corresponding to TOT, as determined by the voltage threshold V, is from the 90th energy channel address to the 110th energy channel address. t3 The energy channel address interval corresponding to TOT as determined by is the energy channel address from the 88th to the 105th energy channel address. The first channel address interval (TOT channel address interval) can then be finally determined as the energy channel addresses from the 100th to the 105th energy channel address, according to the energy range or the intersection of the channel address intervals.

[0277] S2440: The amplitude of each measured pulse is allowed to perform single-stage or multi-stage comparison in order to determine the second channel address interval within the measured pulse.

[0278] In embodiments of the present disclosure, each stage of the comparison defines at least two second channel address intervals by at least one comparison threshold, and the comparison threshold of the single-stage comparison or the first stage of the multi-stage comparison is determined based on the first channel address interval.

[0279] S2450: Determine the channel address contained within the measured pulse according to the result of single-stage or multi-stage comparison.

[0280] The first channel address interval (TOT interval) determined according to step S2430 described above can be used to dynamically determine a comparison threshold for subsequent single-stage or multi-stage comparisons. The comparison method described in this embodiment may refer, for example, to single-stage or multi-stage comparison methods described in other embodiments. In some embodiments, the comparison may be based on a single comparator or a plurality of parallel tunable comparators. In other embodiments, the comparison may be based on a combination of a delay line and tunable comparators.

[0281] For example, using the 100th to 105th energy channel addresses as an example, since the number of channel addresses within the first channel address interval is relatively small, further comparisons may then be performed directly. For example, the intermediate energy channel address may be determined as the 102nd energy channel address. If the amplitude of the pulse signal exceeds the amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the 102nd energy channel address, it lies within the 103rd to 105th energy channel addresses. The amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the 104th energy channel address is then used as the comparison threshold. If it is greater than the comparison threshold, it lies within the 105th energy channel address; otherwise, it lies within the 103rd to 104th energy channel addresses. The amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the 103rd energy channel address is then used as the comparison threshold. If the pulse signal exceeds the comparison threshold, it lies within the 104th energy channel address; otherwise, it lies within the 103rd energy channel address.

[0282] As an alternative to the embodiment shown in Figure 24, the first channel address interval may be dynamically predetermined according to a pre-set criterion. In a particular embodiment, referring to Figure 25, step S140 may comprise the following: S2510: Provides mapping data of threshold exceedance times to the energy range of multiple reference pulses.

[0283] In step S2510, a reference to step S2410 in the embodiment shown in Figure 24 may be made.

[0284] As shown in Figure 25, step S140 further comprises performing the following steps in a loop. S2520: Set the amplitude threshold. S2530: The threshold exceedance time of the measured pulse is obtained, and the threshold exceedance time corresponds to the set amplitude threshold. S2540: Determine or update the first channel address interval according to the measured pulse threshold overtime and the mapping data of the threshold overtime to the energy range. S2550: Determines whether a pre-set criterion is met.

[0285] If the condition is met, exit the loop; otherwise, continue executing the loop step.

[0286] In some embodiments, the above loop step may be performed using a channel address determination unit 2800 shown in Figure 28. As described above, the time over threshold unit 2830 may comprise a plurality (e.g., three) of time over threshold comparators 2831 and a time over threshold (TOT) acquisition processor 2834 connected to the time over threshold comparators 2831.

[0287] Therefore, there are multiple time-over threshold comparators with different amplitude thresholds.

[0288] In some embodiments, the pre-set criterion is that the number of set amplitude thresholds reaches a pre-set amount. For example, when the set amplitude threshold is 3 or greater, the loop is exited, and the subsequent steps are performed according to the most recently determined first channel address interval.

[0289] In other embodiments, the pre-set criterion is that the number of channel addresses within a first channel address interval is less than a pre-set amount. For example, when the number of channel addresses within a first channel address interval is relatively small, e.g., less than 5, the loop may be exited, and subsequent steps are performed according to the most recently determined first channel address interval.

[0290] After exiting the loop, step S140 may further include the following: S2560: The amplitude of each measured pulse is allowed to perform single-stage or multi-stage comparison in order to determine the second channel address interval within the measured pulse.

[0291] In a particular embodiment, each stage of the comparison defines at least two second channel address intervals through at least one comparison threshold, and the comparison threshold for a single-stage comparison or the first stage of a multi-stage comparison is determined according to the first channel address interval.

[0292] S2570: Determine the channel address within the measured pulse according to the result of single-stage or multi-stage comparison.

[0293] Similar to step S2450, the comparison method described in step S2570 may refer to, for example, single-stage or multi-stage comparison methods described in other embodiments. In some embodiments, the comparison may be based on a single tunable comparator or multiple parallel tunable comparators. In other embodiments, the comparison may be based on a combination of a delay line and tunable comparators.

[0294] In several embodiments shown in Figures 24 to 28, a time-over threshold (TOT) combined with a dynamic comparison threshold is used to count the channel addresses within a pulse, such as a scintillation pulse. This strategy is advantageous in scenarios where high-precision energy spectra are drawn, substantially shortening the spectrum formation time and changing the order in which voltages are compared with pulses, which overall accelerates the acquisition of comparison results. Furthermore, in the embodiment shown in Figure 25, or in the embodiment shown in Figure 25 in combination with Figure 28, the energy channel address range is pre-selected, which further improves the efficiency of spectrum formation and substantially reduces the comparison time.

[0295] Continuing with the reference to Figure 1, the pulse digitization method 100 may also include step S150, which determines the energy information of a plurality of measured pulses based on pulse counts and amplitude-versus-energy mapping data or energy characteristic values ​​of the energy channel address within each channel address.

[0296] More specifically, step S150 comprises the step of generating energy spectra of multiple measured pulses.

[0297] In some embodiments, when the channel address set in step S120 is an energy channel address, the energy spectrum can be directly obtained by plotting a histogram based on the scintillation pulse counts statistically acquired within each energy channel address.

[0298] In one alternative embodiment, when the channel address set in step S120 is an amplitude channel address, the amplitude distribution may be obtained, for example, by plotting a histogram based on scintillation pulse counts statistically acquired within the amplitude channel address. The energy range corresponding to each amplitude channel address may then be determined according to amplitude-versus-energy mapping data, such as an amplitude-versus-energy lookup table, and the amplitude distribution may then be converted accordingly into energy information, such as an energy spectrum.

[0299] In embodiments of this disclosure, a threshold calibration step S2930 may also be included before counting the measured pulses.

[0300] Optionally, as shown in Figure 29, when the set channel address is an energy channel address, the pulse digitization method may also include a calibration step S2930, which is a step of calibrating the amplitude characteristic values ​​of multiple energy channel addresses with respect to the energy characteristic values ​​of multiple energy channel addresses.

[0301] Steps S2910, S2920, S2940, and S2950 in the embodiment shown in Figure 29 may refer to steps S110, S120, S140, and S150 in the embodiment shown in Figure 1, respectively, and will not be described in detail here.

[0302] In the embodiment shown in Figure 30, step S2930 may include the following: S3010: Based on the comparison results between the amplitude values ​​of multiple first calibration pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of multiple energy channel addresses, the energy channel addresses corresponding to multiple first calibration pulses are determined. S3020: Based on the count of the first calibration pulses in each energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the energy channel address, an energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse is generated, and the energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse has a first characteristic peak value. S3030: Set multiple first calibration energy channel addresses. The energy range corresponding to multiple first calibration energy channel addresses is smaller than the energy range corresponding to multiple energy channel addresses, and each calibration energy channel address has its own energy characteristic value and its own amplitude characteristic value, which are determined according to amplitude-versus-energy mapping data. S3040: Based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of multiple second calibration pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of multiple first calibration energy channel addresses, the calibration energy channel addresses corresponding to multiple second calibration pulses are determined. S3050: Based on the count of the second calibration pulses in each of the first calibration energy channel addresses and the energy characteristic value of the calibration energy channel address, an energy spectrum of the second calibration pulse is generated, and the energy spectrum of the second calibration pulse has the first calibration characteristic peak value. S3090: Calibrate the energy characteristic value or amplitude characteristic value of multiple energy channel addresses based on a first difference between a first characteristic peak value and a first calibration characteristic peak value.

[0303] In some embodiments, calibration of the energy channel address may be performed by setting different channel address partitioning techniques, which can be achieved by different operating modes. For example, one of the modes is a standard operating mode or a calibration mode similar to the standard operating mode, where the “standard” energy channel address, also called the energy channel address to be calibrated, may be used for the measured pulse. Further calibration modes may operate under a calibrated energy channel address with a smaller energy range than the “standard” energy channel address. For simplicity of distinction, the former may be called the first calibration mode and the latter the second calibration mode.

[0304] In some embodiments of this disclosure, the calibration step uses a single characteristic peak value. Specific examples of performing calibration using a single characteristic peak value are described below with reference to the embodiment shown in Figure 30.

[0305] Specifically, as shown in steps S3010 and S3020, the operation may be performed in a first calibration mode similar to the standard operating mode, following the method described above, which acquires energy information through digitization. It can be performed successfully for work cycles in the required operating environment, acquiring an energy spectrum with 256 energy channel addresses representing an energy range of 9 MeV or less, in which case there may be a clearly identifiable characteristic peak in the low-energy section of this spectrum (a peak formed by pulses from γ photons produced by H (hydrogen) atoms, hereafter referred to as the H peak), and thus the corresponding first characteristic peak value is acquired. Optionally, the channel E corresponding to the H peak on the spectrum acquired under this first calibration mode is obtained. H1 It can be obtained.

[0306] In some embodiments, in step S3030, a plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses may be set according to a first characteristic peak value such that the first characteristic peak value is within the energy range corresponding to the first calibration energy channel address.

[0307] In a further embodiment, in step S3030, the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses may be set according to a first characteristic peak value and a preset reduction ratio in order to obtain an energy range corresponding to the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses such that the first characteristic peak value lies within the energy range corresponding to the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses.

[0308] In a further embodiment, in step S3030, the first characteristic peak value is the midpoint value of the energy range corresponding to the first calibration energy channel address.

[0309] In a further embodiment, in step S3030, the number of calibrated energy channel addresses may correspond to the number of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, for example, both being 256 channel addresses.

[0310] In certain embodiments, steps S3030 to S3050 are described below. For example, a second calibration mode may be set, in which the logic behind the system is the same as the first calibration mode which is similar to the standard operating mode, but the difference is that in the second calibration mode, the energy range corresponding to the multiple first calibration energy channel addresses is smaller than the energy range corresponding to the multiple energy channel addresses to be calibrated. For example, referring to the specific example described above, the energy range corresponding to the multiple first calibration energy channel addresses is no longer the original 0 to 9 MeV, but is determined by the first characteristic peak value and a predetermined reduction ratio. For example, here the reduction ratio is set to 1 / 10, and an energy range of 900 keV centered on the first characteristic peak value of 2.25 MeV is used, i.e., 1.8 MeV to 2.7 MeV. Therefore, the center of the energy range corresponding to the multiple first calibration energy channel addresses is the theoretical energy value of the H peak, 2.25 MeV, and the magnitude of the range is set to 900 keV, which is one-tenth of the original range of 0 to 9 MeV. The number of energy channel addresses remains 256. Correspondingly, the current energy range from 1.8 MeV to 2.7 MeV can be equally divided into 256 intervals. According to this range, the energy (characteristic value) corresponding to each channel address on the energy spectrum is subdivided, and as a result, the corresponding pulse peak value or maximum amplitude characteristic value is found according to the energy corresponding to each subdivided channel address. Here, the system can operate for a working cycle in a second calibration mode, as it can work with respect to the method of digitally acquiring energy information as described earlier. Here, a more accurate energy spectrum with a narrower energy range is acquired. The energy range of the energy spectrum corresponding to these first calibration energy channel addresses includes the range in which the H peak is located, and a more precise energy value in which the H peak is located (i.e., the first calibration characteristic peak value) may be obtained through the energy spectrum, where the first calibration channel E of the H peak H2 This will be recorded.

[0311] Next, as described in step S3090, the energy characteristic values ​​or amplitude characteristic values ​​of the multiple energy channel addresses can be calibrated based on a first difference between a first characteristic peak value and a first calibration characteristic peak value.

[0312] For example, in the first calibration mode, which is similar to the standard operating mode, the energy corresponding to the H peak is 9 × E H1 / 256MeV(Energy H1 (This is expressed as ), but in the second calibration mode, the energy corresponding to the H peak is (1.8 + 0.9 × E H2 / 256)MeV(Energy H2 It can be determined that (this range is from 1.8 MeV to 2.7 MeV, and within this range the channel addresses are arranged from 0 to 255, so an initial value of 1.8 MeV should be added). The difference in the ratio of the appearance of the H peak is given by k = Energy H1 / Energy H2 That is the case.

[0313] In the embodiment shown in Figure 30, a linear function y=kx may be used for calibration. Therefore, in a first calibration mode similar to the standard operating mode, the energy value represented by each energy channel address should be 1 / k times the original value. That is, in a future standard operating mode for a measured pulse, the energy value represented by each energy channel address should be 1 / k times the original value. Thus, different forms of calibration can be performed. In one embodiment, the energy characteristic value corresponding to the energy channel address to be calibrated may be adjusted to 1 / k times the original value. In a further embodiment, the amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the energy channel address to be calibrated may be adjusted to k times the original value. For example, the voltage threshold corresponding to the energy channel address to be calibrated is adjusted to k times the original value. Thus, the relative calibration of the energy characteristic value and the amplitude characteristic value of the energy channel address is completed, reducing the degree of deviation in the resulting energy spectrum.

[0314] It will be understood that more than one characteristic peak value may be used for calibration. Therefore, the calibration function may, but is not limited to, a linear function y=kx, and the accuracy of the calibration may also be improved by increasing the characteristic peak value used for calibration and the corresponding parameter or order in the function model.

[0315] In the embodiment shown in Figure 31, step S2930 may include the following: S3110: Based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of multiple first calibration pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of multiple energy channel addresses, the energy channel addresses corresponding to multiple first calibration pulses are determined. S3120: Based on the count of the first calibration pulses in each energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the energy channel address, an energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse is generated, and the energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse has a first characteristic peak value and a second characteristic peak value. S3130: Set multiple first calibration energy channel addresses. The energy range corresponding to multiple first calibration energy channel addresses is smaller than the energy range corresponding to multiple energy channel addresses, and each calibration energy channel address has its own energy characteristic value and its own amplitude characteristic value, which are determined according to amplitude-versus-energy mapping data. S3140: Based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of multiple second calibration pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of multiple first calibration energy channel addresses, the calibration energy channel addresses corresponding to multiple second calibration pulses are determined. S3150: Based on the count of the second calibration pulses in each first calibration energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the calibration energy channel address, an energy spectrum of the second calibration pulse is generated, and the energy spectrum of the second calibration pulse has the first calibration characteristic peak value. S3160: Set multiple second calibration energy channel addresses. The energy range corresponding to multiple second calibration energy channel addresses is smaller than the energy range corresponding to multiple energy channel addresses, and each second calibration energy channel address has its own energy characteristic value and its own amplitude characteristic value determined according to amplitude-versus-energy mapping data. S3170: The second calibration energy channel addresses corresponding to the multiple third calibration pulses are determined based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​of the multiple third calibration pulses with the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the multiple second calibration energy channel addresses. S3180: Based on the count of the third calibration pulse in each second calibration energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the second calibration energy channel address, an energy spectrum of the third calibration pulse is generated, and the energy spectrum of the third calibration pulse has the second calibration characteristic peak value. S3190: Calibrate the energy characteristic value or amplitude characteristic value of multiple energy channel addresses based on a first difference between a first characteristic peak value and a first calibration characteristic peak value, and a second difference between a second characteristic peak value and a second calibration characteristic peak value.

[0316] In the embodiment shown in Figure 31, steps S3110 to S3140 may refer to steps S3010 to S3040.

[0317] In step S3150, the energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse also has a second characteristic peak value. Therefore, the second calibration characteristic peak value can be obtained in steps S3160 to S3180. Furthermore, in step S3190, the energy channel address is calibrated based on the difference between the two characteristic values ​​and their calibrated values.

[0318] Accordingly, in the embodiment shown in Figure 31, in step S3170, the multiple second calibration energy channel addresses can be set according to the second characteristic peak value, so that the second characteristic peak value is within the energy range corresponding to the second calibration energy channel address.

[0319] In a further embodiment, in step S3170, the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses may be set according to the second characteristic peak value and the preset reduction ratio in order to obtain the energy range corresponding to the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses such that the second characteristic peak value is within the energy range corresponding to the second calibration energy channel address.

[0320] In a further embodiment, in step S3170, the second characteristic peak value is the midpoint value of the energy range corresponding to the second calibration energy channel address.

[0321] In a further embodiment, in step S3170, the number of second calibration energy channel addresses may correspond to the number of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, for example, both being 256.

[0322] For example, y=kx+b, y=ax 2 When using a function like +bx, or a similar function, as a mathematical model for calibration, two sets of corresponding data may be used to solve for two unknown parameters in that model.

[0323] Since two calibration operating modes similar to the second calibration operating mode described above can be set, there can be a first calibration operating mode similar to the standard operating mode, a second calibration operating mode, and a third calibration operating mode. For example, the second calibration operating mode may also be called the H calibration mode, and the newly added third operating mode may be named the C calibration mode (a peak formed by pulses generated by gamma photons produced by C atoms, hereafter referred to as the C peak). Similar to the H calibration mode, in the C calibration mode, the 900 keV energy range centered on a second characteristic peak value such as the C peak value (4.43 MeV) is used as an energy range corresponding to multiple second calibration energy channel addresses, and the energy corresponding to the C peak is obtained, which is Energy C2 It is expressed as follows. On the other hand, the energy corresponding to the C peak obtained in the first calibration mode under a similar standard operating mode is Energy C1 It is written as (x,y) in the form (Energy C2 Energy C1 ) and (Energy H2 Energy H1By replacing ) with the determined function model, unknown parameters can be obtained, and the expression of the function y=f(x) can be obtained. There is a functional relationship between the pulse peak value and the pulse energy, which is E=g(V). If we let V1 be the pre-calibration amplitude characteristic value such as the threshold voltage, and E1 be the energy (characteristic value) that theoretically corresponds to V1 on the pre-calibration energy spectrum, then the actual energy value corresponding to V1 should be E2, so it can be known that E2=g(V1) and E1=f(E2). If V2 is the post-calibration threshold voltage, then the energy corresponding to V2 on the post-calibration energy spectrum is E1, that is, E1=g(V2), and therefore g(V2)=f(E2)=f(g(V1)), that is, V2=g -1 (f(g(V1)))

[0324] This document describes embodiments for performing calibration based on one or two characteristic peak values, but if necessary, the parameters in the mathematical model may be further increased, and the number of characteristic peak values ​​used for calibration may also be increased. For example, characteristic peaks of additional elements may be taken, their precise energy spectra may be obtained, and the above steps may be repeated to achieve calibration.

[0325] Compared to conventional MVT methods, which are suitable for sampling known pulses and whose threshold is determined according to the energy range of the known pulses, the digitization methods described in the above embodiments of the present disclosure may also sample unknown pulses by dynamically processing pulses or dynamically setting thresholds, and by combining them with the set thresholds, and may classify the unknown pulses to corresponding energy channel addresses without fitting calculations.

[0326] Compared to conventional MVT methods, the digitization method of the embodiments of the present disclosure simplifies the pulse energy acquisition process by acquiring the pulse energy spectrum without fitting the pulse waveform by solving a set of equations to obtain a function curve during pulse signal processing, thereby saving more hardware resources for limited FPGA resources, reducing FPGA power consumption, and improving the high-temperature tolerance of the chip. Conventional MVT methods collect pulse voltage values ​​through various channels, then fit the pulse waveform through sampling points, then calculate the pulse energy value by integration, and finally draw the energy spectrum. The approach of the present disclosure, however, does not require fitting, as each channel directly forms a spectrum by passing the input pulse voltage through several comparators and / or gates and / or delay lines, thereby allowing the channel address in which the pulse is located to be determined according to the output values ​​of the comparators.

[0327] Conventional MVT methods using fixed threshold sampling exhibit good performance only within specific energy ranges because the number and value of thresholds are fixed. Since MVT requires fitting scintillation pulses, it is necessary to collect precise time points corresponding to each point. Therefore, it requires numerous time-to-digital converters (TDCs). Embodiments of this disclosure significantly reduce or eliminate TDCs by counting scintillation pulses according to energy channel addresses, which makes the system simpler and more widely applicable.

[0328] The complex fitting calculations required in conventional MVT methods prevent the system from processing new pulses for a certain period of time after each pulse has finished. This is known as system downtime. Embodiments of the present disclosure bypass the complex calculation process of pulse waveform fitting and instead directly acquire the energy spectrum through simple threshold comparison and lookup table operation, significantly reducing downtime in the acquisition circuit operation. As a result, the digitization method in embodiments of the present disclosure has either no downtime or very short downtime, enabling essentially continuous pulse processing.

[0329] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the amplitude of the measured pulses may be dynamically processed to determine the channel address in which each measured pulse resides, thereby implementing a strategy for high-speed pulse shaping.

[0330] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the structure of the comparator chain is extended, and the number of comparators in each stage and the number of comparison stages may be flexibly adjustable according to actual conditions.

[0331] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the comparison range may be predetermined according to the pulse characteristics based on a comparator chain, and the pulse characteristics may be combined with a bit extension technique based on a comparator chain, such as a bisection method and a quarsection method, to pre-classify the pulses into corresponding energy channel address intervals, which is more advantageous in scenarios where a high-precision energy spectrum is drawn and can substantially shorten the spectrum formation time.

[0332] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a time-over threshold (TOT) may be used in combination with a dynamic threshold spectroscopy strategy, which is more advantageous in scenarios where high-precision energy spectra are drawn, and which can substantially shorten the spectroscopy time and change the sequence of voltage comparisons with pulses, thereby accelerating the acquisition of comparison results overall.

[0333] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a single-stage comparator strategy may be employed to account for possible differences between comparators in a multi-stage comparator chain, requiring only one stage of comparators to be set up to obtain the energy spectrum, which can reduce or eliminate to some extent the errors caused by differences between comparators.

[0334] Some embodiments of the present disclosure may also provide a step of calibrating the energy channel address, which further improves the accuracy of the energy spectrum plot by the digitization method of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0335] Therefore, various embodiments of this disclosure may have at least some of the following advantages. 1) Compared to the conventional MVT method, in pulse signal processing, the pulse energy spectrum can be obtained without fitting the pulse waveform by solving a set of equations to obtain a function curve during pulse signal processing, simplifying the pulse energy acquisition process. This significantly saves hardware resources when FPGA resources are limited, reduces FPGA power consumption, and improves the high-temperature tolerance of the chip. 2) Compared to methods that directly sample pulses using an ADC, there is no need to store the collected voltage values, and the energy spectrum can be acquired directly, simplifying the calculation process. 3) In conventional MVT methods, complex fitting calculations are required, which means the system cannot process a new pulse for a certain period of time after each pulse has finished. This period is a system downtime. In contrast, the digitalization measures in the embodiments of this disclosure have no downtime, or very short downtime, and essentially enable continuous pulse processing.

[0336] Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a calibration method 3200 for pulse digitization. As shown in Figure 32, the calibration method 3200 may comprise steps S3210 to S3280.

[0337] In the embodiment shown in Figure 32, the calibration method 3200 may include the following: S3210: Acquire amplitude-versus-energy mapping data for multiple reference pulses. S3220: Multiple energy channel addresses to be calibrated are obtained, and each energy channel address to be calibrated has its respective energy characteristic value and its respective amplitude characteristic value determined according to the amplitude-to-energy mapping data. S3230: Based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​of multiple first calibration pulses with the amplitude characteristic values ​​of multiple energy channel addresses to be calibrated, the energy channel addresses to be calibrated corresponding to multiple first calibration pulses are determined. S3240: Based on the count of the first calibration pulses in each energy channel address to be calibrated and the energy characteristic value of the energy channel address to be calibrated, an energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse is generated, and the energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse has a first characteristic peak value. S3250: Set multiple first calibration energy channel addresses. The energy range corresponding to multiple first calibration energy channel addresses is smaller than the energy range corresponding to multiple energy channel addresses, and each calibration energy channel address has its own energy characteristic value and its own amplitude characteristic value, which are determined according to amplitude-versus-energy mapping data. S3260: Based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of multiple second calibration pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of multiple first calibration energy channel addresses, the calibration energy channel addresses corresponding to multiple second calibration pulses are determined. S3270: Based on the count of the second calibration pulse in each first calibration energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the calibration energy channel address, an energy spectrum of the second calibration pulse is generated, and the energy spectrum of the second calibration pulse has the first calibration characteristic peak value. S3280: Calibrate the energy characteristic value or amplitude characteristic value of multiple energy channel addresses to be calibrated based on a first difference between a first characteristic peak value and a first calibration characteristic peak value.

[0338] In some embodiments, the calibration method can be based on a single characteristic peak value.

[0339] In other embodiments, the calibration method may be based on two or more characteristic peak values. Accordingly, the calibration method 3200 may further include the steps of setting up a plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses, wherein the energy range corresponding to the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses is smaller than the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, and each second calibration energy channel address has respective energy characteristic value and respective amplitude characteristic value determined according to amplitude-versus-energy mapping data; determining a plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses corresponding to a plurality of third calibration pulses based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​of the plurality of third calibration pulses with the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses; and generating an energy spectrum of a third calibration pulse based on the count of the third calibration pulses in each second calibration energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the second calibration energy channel address, wherein the energy spectrum of the third calibration pulse has a second calibration characteristic peak value, and determining a plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses corresponding to a plurality of third calibration pulses. Therefore, step S3280 may include a step of calibrating the energy characteristic value or amplitude characteristic value of a plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated based on a first difference between a first characteristic peak value and a first calibration characteristic peak value and a second difference between a second characteristic peak value and a second calibration characteristic peak value.

[0340] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the calibration method 3200 may also, if necessary, include steps or features of a pulse digitization method, in particular substeps or features relating to the calibration steps shown in Figures 26 to 29, in a non-contradictory manner, or the calibration method 3200 may be combined with a pulse digitization method to obtain new embodiments, or vice versa.

[0341] Furthermore, embodiments of this disclosure may also involve a method for determining the material composition based on scintillation pulses.

[0342] In various embodiments of this disclosure, a method for determining material composition based on scintillation pulses may be provided independently of or in combination with a digitization strategy for determining channel addresses.

[0343] In some embodiments, the policy, which is a digitization strategy for determining the channel address, can be implemented, for example, by combining it with the structure shown in Figure 20.

[0344] Referring to Figures 20 to 22, in the embodiment shown in Figure 33, the method for determining the material composition 3300 may comprise steps S3310 to S3350. S3310: Provides amplitude-versus-energy mapping data for a reference scintillation pulse generated by high-energy radiation. S3320: Determine the energy window corresponding to high-energy radiation for at least one component of the substance to be measured. S3330: Based on amplitude-versus-energy mapping data and energy window, determine the scintillation pulse amplitude range corresponding to at least one component. S3340: Based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​and amplitude ranges of multiple measured scintillation pulses generated by high-energy radiation emitted by the substance to be measured, the count of measured scintillation pulses within the amplitude range is determined. S3350: Determine the content of at least one component of the substance to be measured according to that count.

[0345] In some embodiments, there are two components.

[0346] Therefore, in some embodiments, determining the energy window corresponding to high-energy radiation for at least one component of the substance to be measured comprises determining a first energy window corresponding to high-energy radiation for a first component of the substance to be measured, and determining a second energy window corresponding to high-energy radiation for a second component of the substance to be measured.

[0347] Accordingly, in some embodiments, determining the scintillation pulse amplitude range corresponding to at least one component based on amplitude-versus-energy mapping data and an energy window comprises determining a first amplitude range corresponding to a first component based on amplitude-versus-energy mapping data and a first energy window, and determining a second amplitude range corresponding to a second component based on amplitude-versus-energy mapping data and a second energy window.

[0348] Accordingly, in some embodiments, determining the count of measured scintillation pulses within an amplitude range comprises determining a first count and a second count of measured scintillation pulses within a first and second amplitude range, respectively. Accordingly, in some embodiments, determining the content of at least one component of the substance to be measured based on the count comprises determining the relative content of the first and second components based on the first and second counts.

[0349] In some embodiments, the first component is carbon (C), the second component is oxygen (O), and the relative content of the first and second components is the carbon-oxygen ratio (C / O).

[0350] In the embodiment shown in Figure 34, the method for determining the material composition may be carried out by combining it with a digitization scheme for determining the channel address.

[0351] In the embodiment shown in Figure 34, the method for determining the material composition 3400 may comprise steps S3410-S3460. S3410: Provides amplitude-versus-energy mapping data for reference scintillation pulses generated by high-energy radiation. S3420: Configure multiple channel addresses. A channel address is either an energy channel address or an amplitude channel address, where each energy channel address has its own energy characteristic value and its own amplitude characteristic value determined according to amplitude-versus-energy mapping data, and each amplitude channel address has its own amplitude characteristic value. S3430: Based on the comparison of the amplitude values ​​of multiple measured scintillation pulses with the amplitude characteristic values ​​of multiple channel addresses, the channel addresses corresponding to the multiple measured scintillation pulses are determined. The multiple measured scintillation pulses are generated by high-energy radiation emitted by the substance to be measured. S3440: Determine the energy window corresponding to high-energy radiation for at least one component of the substance to be measured. S3450: Based on amplitude-to-energy mapping data and energy windows, determine the channel address interval corresponding to the energy window. S3460: Determine the content of at least one component of the substance to be measured, according to the count of measured scintillation pulses within each channel address and the determined channel address interval.

[0352] In this embodiment, the relevant means for determining the channel address described in the digitization method of the embodiments of this disclosure may be used to determine the contents of the components and, but not limited to, to determine whether to obtain relevant energy information or generate an energy spectrum.

[0353] Therefore, the methods for determining the material composition 3400 described in embodiments of this disclosure may refer to different embodiments shown in Figures 1 to 32 for determining the channel address in which a scintillation pulse is located, and this is within the scope of this disclosure.

[0354] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 2 to 4, step S3430 may include: sequentially comparing the amplitude of each measured scintillation pulse with comparison thresholds of a plurality of comparators, selectively adjusting the amplitude of the measured scintillation pulse according to the results of a previous comparison prior to the comparison, such that if the amplitude of the measured scintillation pulse is less than the comparison threshold of the previous comparator, the amplitude of the measured scintillation pulse is not adjusted, and if the amplitude of the measured scintillation pulse is greater than or equal to the comparison threshold of the previous comparator, the amplitude of the measured scintillation pulse is reduced, wherein the comparison thresholds of the plurality of comparators are determined according to the amplitude characteristic values ​​of a plurality of channel addresses; and determining the channel address corresponding to each measured scintillation pulse according to the comparison results of the plurality of comparators.

[0355] In some embodiments, for example with reference to Figures 5 and 6, step S3430 may comprise the steps of: inputting each measured scintillation pulse into a multistage gate array such that the measured scintillation pulse passes sequentially through the gates of each stage of the multistage gate array, wherein each gate has a first gate branch and a second gate branch associated with its respective comparator for selectively outputting the measured scintillation pulse, and the non-final stage gates are connected to the next two gates through the first and second gate branches, respectively, and the comparison threshold of the comparator is determined according to the amplitude characteristic values ​​of a plurality of channel addresses; comparing the measured scintillation pulse with the comparator associated with each gate through which it is passed, before allowing the measured scintillation pulse to pass through each gate stage of the gate array, and setting the gates according to the comparison result to determine which gate branch of the gate the measured scintillation pulse will output; and determining the channel address corresponding to the measured scintillation pulse according to the output of the multistage gate array.

[0356] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 7 to 14, step S3430 may include: performing a first-stage comparison of a multi-stage comparison on the amplitude of each measured scintillation pulse in order to determine the channel address interval in which the measured scintillation pulse lies, wherein each stage of the comparison defines at least two channel address intervals by at least one comparison threshold; sequentially performing subsequent comparisons to determine the channel address interval in which the measured scintillation pulse lies until the final comparison is completed, wherein the comparison threshold of the subsequent comparison is determined according to the channel address interval determined by the preceding comparison; and determining the channel address in which the measured scintillation pulse lies according to the comparison result of the final comparison.

[0357] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 10 to 13, multistage comparison is performed by a first multistage comparison unit, which comprises a plurality of parallel delay lines connected to a measured scintillation pulse input, adjustable comparators connected to the delay lines, and arbiters operably connected to the adjustable comparators, with at least some of the delay lines having different delays.

[0358] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 10 to 13, multistage comparison is performed by a second multistage comparison unit, which comprises a plurality of comparator subunits connected to a measured scintillation pulse input, and an arbiter operably connected to the plurality of comparator subunits, each comparator subunit comprising a single comparator or a plurality of parallel adjustable comparators corresponding to one of the multistage comparisons, with delay units positioned between adjacent comparator subunits.

[0359] In one embodiment, the comparison threshold for the first stage comparison is determined according to a given a priori channel address interval.

[0360] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 23 to 24, step S3430 may include: allowing the amplitude of each measured scintillation pulse to perform a single-stage comparison comprising multiple comparisons in order to determine the channel address in which the measured scintillation pulse is located, wherein the number of comparisons in the single-stage comparison is equal to or greater than the number of channel addresses; and determining the channel address in which the measured scintillation pulse is located according to the comparison results of the single-stage comparisons.

[0361] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figure 24, step S3430 is a step of providing mapping data of threshold overtimes to energy ranges of a plurality of reference scintillation pulses; a step of obtaining at least one threshold overtime of a measured scintillation pulse, wherein each threshold overtime corresponds to an amplitude threshold; a step of determining a first channel address interval according to the mapping data of at least one threshold overtime of a measured scintillation pulse and the threshold overtimes to energy ranges, and the measured scintillation pulses within it The method may include the steps of: allowing the amplitude of each measured scintillation pulse to perform a single-stage comparison or a multi-stage comparison in order to determine a second channel address interval, wherein each stage of the comparison defines at least two second channel address intervals by at least one comparison threshold, and the comparison threshold of the single-stage comparison or the first stage of the multi-stage comparison is determined based on the first channel address interval; and determining the channel address in which the measured scintillation pulse lies according to the result of the single-stage comparison or the multi-stage comparison.

[0362] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 24 to 25, step S3430 includes the steps of: providing mapping data of threshold overtimes to energy ranges for a plurality of reference scintillation pulses; obtaining at least one threshold overtime for a measured scintillation pulse, wherein each threshold overtime corresponds to an amplitude threshold; determining a first channel address interval according to the mapping data of at least one threshold overtime for a measured scintillation pulse and the threshold overtimes to energy ranges; and the measured scintillation The method may include the steps of: allowing the amplitude of each measured scintillation pulse to perform a single-stage comparison or a multi-stage comparison in order to determine a second channel address interval in which the pulse contains, wherein each stage of the comparison defines at least two second channel address intervals through at least one comparison threshold, and the comparison threshold of the single-stage comparison or the first stage of the multi-stage comparison is determined based on a first channel address interval; and determining the channel address in which the measured scintillation pulse contains according to the result of the single-stage comparison or the multi-stage comparison.

[0363] In other embodiments, for example, referring to Figure 25, step S3430 is a step in which the steps are performed in a loop: providing mapping data of threshold overtimes to energy ranges for a plurality of reference scintillation pulses; setting amplitude thresholds; obtaining the threshold overtimes of measured scintillation pulses, wherein the threshold overtimes of the measured scintillation pulses correspond to the set amplitude thresholds; determining or updating a first channel address interval according to the mapping data of the threshold overtimes of the measured scintillation pulses and the threshold overtimes to energy ranges; and determining whether a preset criterion is met; and if the criterion is met, exiting the loop; if not, If not, the procedure may include the steps of continuing to execute the loop step, allowing the amplitude of each measured scintillation pulse to perform a single-stage comparison or a multi-stage comparison in order to determine a second channel address interval in which the measured scintillation pulse lies, wherein each stage of the comparison defines at least two second channel address intervals through at least one comparison threshold, and the comparison threshold of the single-stage comparison or the first stage of the multi-stage comparison is determined based on the first channel address interval, and determining the channel address in which the measured scintillation pulse lies according to the result of the single-stage comparison or the multi-stage comparison.

[0364] In embodiments of the present disclosure, determining the energy window corresponding to high-energy radiation for at least one component of the substance to be measured comprises the steps of determining a first energy window corresponding to high-energy radiation for a first component of the substance to be measured, and determining a second energy window corresponding to high-energy radiation for a second component of the substance to be measured.

[0365] In embodiments of this disclosure, determining channel address intervals corresponding to an energy window based on amplitude-to-energy mapping data and an energy window comprises determining a first channel address interval corresponding to a first energy window based on amplitude-to-energy mapping data and a first energy window, and determining a second channel address interval corresponding to a second energy window based on amplitude-to-energy mapping data and a second energy window.

[0366] In embodiments of the present disclosure, determining the contents of at least one component of the substance to be measured according to the count of measured scintillation pulses within each channel address and the determined channel address interval comprises determining a first count of measured scintillation pulses within a first channel address interval, determining a second count of measured scintillation pulses within the first channel address interval, and determining the relative contents of the first and second components based on the first and second counts.

[0367] In the embodiments of this disclosure, the first component is carbon (C), the second component is oxygen (O), and the relative content of the first and second components is the carbon-oxygen ratio (C / O).

[0368] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the material composition determination methods 3300 and 3400 may also, if necessary, include steps or features of a pulse digitization method, in particular substeps or features relating to the embodiments shown in Figures 20 to 22, in a non-contradictory manner, or the material composition determination methods 3300 and 3400 may be combined with a pulse digitization method to obtain new embodiments, or vice versa.

[0369] Therefore, different embodiments of this disclosure may provide a pulse digitization device 3500.

[0370] Figure 35 is an exemplary modular diagram of a pulse digitization device 3500 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The pulse digitization device 3500 may comprise: a mapping relationship database 3510 having amplitude-versus-energy mapping data for a plurality of reference pulses, and preferably having amplitude-versus-energy lookup tables for a plurality of reference pulses; a channel address setting unit 3520 configured to set a plurality of channel addresses, wherein the channel addresses are energy channel addresses or amplitude channel addresses, and each energy channel address has a respective energy characteristic value and a respective amplitude characteristic value determined according to the amplitude-versus-energy mapping data, and each amplitude channel address has a respective amplitude characteristic value; a channel address determination unit 3530 configured to determine a channel address corresponding to a plurality of measured pulses based on a comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of a plurality of measured pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of a plurality of channel addresses; and an energy information acquisition unit 3540 configured to determine energy information for a plurality of measured pulses based on pulse counts in each channel address and the amplitude-versus-energy mapping data or the energy characteristic value of an energy channel address.

[0371] In this embodiment, the channel address determination unit 3530 of the pulse digitization device 3500 can be implemented in many different forms with respect to the characteristics of the pulse digitization method of different embodiments shown in Figures 1 to 31, for example.

[0372] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figure 4, the channel address determination unit 3530 may comprise a plurality of comparators, a plurality of gates, and processing units connected to the comparators and gates, wherein the plurality of comparators are multi-stage parallel comparators, the gates are arranged between adjacent comparators, and each gate comprises a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting the measured pulse to a subsequent comparator, a delay unit provided at the first gate branch, and a subtractor provided at the second gate branch.

[0373] In some embodiments, the processing unit may be configured to receive the comparison result output by the upper comparator and set the gate according to the comparison result.

[0374] In some embodiments, the processing unit may be configured to set the reduction value in the subtractor within the gate according to the comparison result.

[0375] In some embodiments, the gate may be configured to output measured pulses to a first gate branch and a second gate branch of a subsequent comparator according to the output level of an upper selector, outputting the measured pulse to the first gate branch of the subsequent comparator when the output level of the upper comparator is 0, and outputting the measured pulse to the second gate branch of the subsequent comparator when the output level of the upper comparator is 1.

[0376] In some embodiments, the subtractor may be configured to reduce the amplitude of the measured pulse by a reduction value equal to the comparison threshold of the preceding comparator.

[0377] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figure 6, the channel address determination unit 3530 may include a multi-stage gate array, each gate associated with a comparator and comprising a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting the measured pulse to a subsequent comparator.

[0378] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 8, 10, 12, and 26, the channel address determination unit 3530 may include a plurality of parallel delay lines connected to a measured pulse input, adjustable comparators connected to the delay lines, and arbiters operably connected to the adjustable comparators, where at least some of the delay lines have different delays.

[0379] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 13 to 17, the channel address determination unit 3530 may comprise a plurality of comparator subunits connected to a measured pulse input, and an arbiter operably connected to the plurality of comparator subunits, each comparator subunit comprising a single comparator or a plurality of parallel tunable comparators corresponding to one of a multistage comparator, with delay units positioned between adjacent comparator subunits.

[0380] In some embodiments, the channel address determination unit 3530 may include a plurality of parallel adjustable comparators connected to the measured pulse inputs, and an arbiter operably connected to the plurality of parallel adjustable comparators, the number of which is greater than or equal to the number of channel addresses.

[0381] In embodiments of this disclosure, for example, referring to Figures 13 to 17, the arbiter may be configured to set a comparison threshold for an adjustable comparator according to the amplitude characteristic value of a set channel address.

[0382] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 26 and 28, the channel address determination unit 3530 may include a time over threshold unit connected to a measured pulse input, a comparison unit connected to a measured pulse input, and an arbiter operably connected to the time over threshold unit and the comparison unit.

[0383] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 26 and 28, the time over threshold unit comprises a time over threshold comparator and a time over threshold acquisition processor connected to the time over threshold comparator.

[0384] In some embodiments, the time-over threshold comparator is configured to output a transition signal when the measured pulse crosses a set amplitude threshold.

[0385] In some embodiments, the time over threshold acquisition processor is configured to determine the threshold over time according to the time interval between two transition signals from the same time over threshold comparator.

[0386] In some embodiments, the arbiter is configured to determine a first channel address interval corresponding to the threshold overtime according to an amplitude-versus-energy lookup table of multiple reference pulses.

[0387] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figure 28, there are multiple time-over threshold comparators, each having a differently set amplitude threshold.

[0388] In embodiments of this disclosure, the pulse digitization device 3500 may be used to perform the pulse digitization method 100 or other methods described in embodiments herein, or it may optionally combine features of the pulse digitization method 100 or other methods, or vice versa.

[0389] Therefore, in various embodiments of this disclosure, a calibration device 3600 may be provided.

[0390] Figure 35 is an exemplary modular diagram of a calibration device 3600 according to several embodiments of the present disclosure. The calibration device 3600 comprises: a first acquisition unit 3610 configured to acquire amplitude-vs-energy mapping data of a plurality of reference pulses; a second acquisition unit 3620 configured to acquire a plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, wherein each energy channel address to be configured has respective energy characteristic values ​​and respective amplitude characteristic values ​​determined according to the amplitude-vs-energy mapping data; a first channel address determination unit 3630 configured to determine the energy channel addresses to be calibrated corresponding to a plurality of first calibration pulses based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​of the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated; and a first energy spectrum generation unit 3640 configured to generate an energy spectrum of a first calibration pulse based on the count of the first calibration pulses in each energy channel address to be calibrated and the energy characteristic values ​​of the energy channel addresses to be calibrated. A first energy spectrum generation unit 3640 whose calibration pulse energy spectrum has a first characteristic peak value, and a first calibration channel address setting unit 3650 configured to set a plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses, wherein the energy range corresponding to the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses is smaller than the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channel addresses, and each calibration energy channel address has its respective energy characteristic value and respective amplitude characteristic value determined according to amplitude vs. energy mapping data, and a second channel address determination unit 3660 configured to determine a plurality of second calibration pulses based on the result of comparing the amplitude values ​​of the plurality of second calibration pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses, and based on the count of the second calibration pulses in each first calibration energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the calibration energy channel address,A second energy spectrum generation unit 3670 configured to generate the energy spectrum of a second calibration pulse, wherein the energy spectrum of the second calibration pulse has a first calibration characteristic peak value; and a calibration unit 3680 configured to calibrate the energy characteristic value or amplitude characteristic value of a plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first calibration characteristic peak value.

[0391] Optionally, the calibration device 3600 may also include a second calibration channel address setting unit configured to set a plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses, wherein the energy range corresponding to the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses is smaller than the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, and each second calibration energy channel address has respective energy characteristic value and respective amplitude characteristic value determined according to amplitude-versus-energy mapping data; a third channel address determination unit configured to determine a plurality of third calibration pulses corresponding to a plurality of third calibration pulses based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​of the plurality of third calibration pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses; and a third energy spectrum generation unit configured to generate an energy spectrum of a third calibration pulse based on the count of the third calibration pulses in each second calibration energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the second calibration energy channel address, wherein the energy spectrum of the third calibration pulse has a second calibration characteristic peak value.

[0392] Optionally, the calibration unit 3600 is also configured to calibrate the energy characteristic values ​​or amplitude characteristic values ​​of multiple energy channel addresses to be calibrated based on a first difference between a first characteristic peak value and a first calibration characteristic peak value, and a second difference between a second characteristic peak value and a second calibration characteristic peak value.

[0393] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the calibration device 3600 may be used to carry out the calibration method 2900 or other methods described in embodiments herein, or may be a combination of features of the calibration method 2900 or other methods, or vice versa.

[0394] Accordingly, in various embodiments of this disclosure, devices 3700 and 3800 for determining material composition may be provided.

[0395] As shown in Figure 37, the material composition determination device 3700 may include a mapping relation database 3710 having amplitude-versus-energy mapping data of reference scintillation pulses generated by high-energy radiation; an energy window determination unit 3720 configured to determine an energy window corresponding to high-energy radiation for at least one component of the substance to be measured; an amplitude range determination unit 3730 configured to determine a scintillation pulse amplitude range corresponding to at least one component based on the amplitude-versus-energy mapping data and the energy window; a counting unit 3740 configured to determine a count of measured scintillation pulses within an amplitude range based on a comparison of the amplitude value and amplitude range of measured scintillation pulses generated by high-energy radiation emitted by the substance to be measured; and a content determination unit 3750 configured to determine the content of at least one component of the substance to be measured according to the count.

[0396] In some embodiments, the energy window determination unit in the material composition determination device 3700 is configured to determine a first energy window corresponding to high-energy radiation for a first component of the substance to be measured, and a second energy window corresponding to high-energy radiation for a second component of the substance to be measured.

[0397] In some embodiments, the amplitude range determination unit in the material composition determination device 3700 comprises a first amplitude determination subunit and a second amplitude determination subunit configured to determine a first scintillation pulse amplitude range corresponding to a first component and a second scintillation pulse amplitude range corresponding to a second component, based on amplitude-versus-energy mapping data and a first energy window and a second energy window.

[0398] In one embodiment, the counting unit in the material composition determination device 3700 further comprises a first comparison subunit configured to determine whether the measured scintillation pulse is within a first scintillation pulse amplitude range by comparing the amplitude value of the measured scintillation pulse with a first scintillation pulse amplitude range, and a second comparison subunit configured to determine whether the measured scintillation pulse is within a second scintillation pulse amplitude range by comparing the amplitude value of the measured scintillation pulse with a second scintillation pulse amplitude range.

[0399] In a further embodiment, the first comparison subunit in the material composition determination device 3700 comprises a first comparator and a second comparator, the first comparator setting a comparison threshold based on the lower limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the first energy window, and the second comparator setting a comparison threshold based on the upper limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the first energy window; the second comparison subunit comprises a third comparator and a fourth comparator, the third comparator setting a comparison threshold based on the lower limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the second energy window, and the fourth comparator setting a comparison threshold based on the upper limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the second energy window.

[0400] In other embodiments, the material composition determination device 3700 may further include a calibration unit configured to acquire the operating temperature of a comparator, determine the comparison threshold deviation of the comparator at that operating temperature according to prior information, and correct the comparison threshold of the comparator according to the comparison threshold deviation.

[0401] As shown in Figure 38, the material composition determination device 3800 includes a mapping relation database 3810 having amplitude-versus-energy mapping data of reference scintillation pulses generated by high-energy radiation, and a channel address setting unit 3820 configured to set up a plurality of channel addresses, wherein the channel addresses are energy channel addresses or amplitude channel addresses, and each energy channel address has its respective energy characteristic value and its respective amplitude characteristic value determined according to the amplitude-versus-energy mapping data, and each amplitude channel address has its respective amplitude characteristic value, and the channel address setting unit 3820 determines the channel addresses corresponding to a plurality of measured scintillation pulses based on the results of comparing the amplitude values ​​of a plurality of measured scintillation pulses with the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of channel addresses. A channel address determination unit 3830 may be configured such that a plurality of measured scintillation pulses are generated by high-energy radiation emitted by the substance to be measured; an energy window determination unit 3840 configured to determine an energy window corresponding to the high-energy radiation for at least one component of the substance to be measured; a channel address interval determination unit 3850 configured to determine a channel address interval corresponding to an energy window based on amplitude-versus-energy mapping data and the energy window; and a content determination unit 3860 configured to determine the content of at least one component of the substance to be measured according to the count of measured scintillation pulses in each channel address and the determined channel address interval.

[0402] In some embodiments, the channel address determination unit in the material composition determination device 3800 may comprise a plurality of comparators, a plurality of gates, and processing units connected to the comparators and gates, wherein the plurality of comparators are multi-stage parallel comparators, the gates are arranged between adjacent comparators, and each gate comprises a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting the measured scintillation pulse to a subsequent comparator, with a delay unit provided at the first gate branch and a subtractor provided at the second gate branch.

[0403] In some embodiments, the channel address determination unit in the material composition determination device 3800 may include a plurality of parallel delay lines connected to a measured scintillation pulse input, adjustable comparators connected to the delay lines, and arbiters operably connected to the adjustable comparators, wherein at least some of the delay lines have different delay times.

[0404] In some embodiments, the channel address determination unit in the material composition determination device 3800 may comprise a plurality of comparator subunits connected to a measured scintillation pulse input, and an arbiter operably connected to the plurality of comparator subunits, each comparator subunit corresponding to one of a multi-stage comparison and comprising a single comparator or a plurality of parallel adjustable comparators, with a delay unit positioned between adjacent comparator subunits.

[0405] In another embodiment, the channel address determination unit in the material composition determination device 3800 may include a time over threshold unit connected to the measured scintillation pulse input, a comparison unit connected to the measured scintillation pulse input, and an arbiter operably connected to the time over threshold unit and the comparison unit.

[0406] In this embodiment of the present disclosure, the material composition determination devices 3700 and 3800 may be used to perform the material composition determination methods 3300 and 3400 or other methods described in embodiments of this specification, and may optionally combine features of the material composition determination methods 3300 and 3400 or other methods, or vice versa.

[0407] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the pulse digitization device 3500 may also comprise components or features of the calibration device 3600 and / or the material composition determination devices 3700 and 3800 in a non-contradictory manner as necessary, or the pulse digitization device 3500 may be combined with the calibration device 3600 and / or the material composition determination devices 3700 and 3800, or vice versa, to obtain new embodiments.

[0408] It should be noted that the above descriptions of the various steps in the drawings are for illustrative and illustrative purposes only and do not limit the scope of application of this disclosure. Those skilled in the art may make various modifications and changes to the various steps in the relevant drawings under the guidance of this disclosure. However, these modifications and changes still remain within the scope of this disclosure.

[0409] It should be understood that the methods and devices described in embodiments of this disclosure may be implemented through different systems and their modules. For example, in some embodiments, the systems and their modules may be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware. Here, the hardware portion may be implemented using dedicated logic circuits, and the software portion may be stored in memory and executed by a suitable instruction execution system such as a microprocessor or specially designed hardware. Those skilled in the art will understand that the above methods and systems may be implemented using computer executable instructions and / or contained in code controlled by a processor, for example, on a carrier medium such as a disk, CD, or DVD-ROM, programmable memory such as read-only memory (firmware), or data carrier such as an optical signal carrier or an electronic signal carrier. The systems and modules of this disclosure may not only have hardware circuits implemented by ultra-large-scale integrated circuits or semiconductors such as gate arrays, logic chips, and transistors, or programmable hardware devices such as field-programmable gate arrays and programmable logic devices, but may also be implemented by various types of processors, or by software executed by a combination of the above hardware circuits and software (e.g., firmware).

[0410] It should be noted that the above description of the modules is for illustrative purposes only and does not limit the scope to the embodiments cited herein. After understanding the principles of the system, those skilled in the art will understand that various modules may be freely combined or subsystems may be formed and connected to other modules without departing from these principles. For example, a data acquisition module and a threshold switching module may be the same comparator module. As another example, a sampling module may comprise a comparator module. As yet another example, each module may share a storage module, or each module may have its own storage module. All such variations are within the scope of protection of this disclosure.

[0411] In some embodiments of this disclosure, a digitizing device is also provided, which may include the digitizing device mentioned in the embodiments described above. The digitizing device may be used to collect corresponding pulse signals, such as scintillation pulse data, and to generate required energy information, such as an energy spectrum. In certain examples of this disclosure, the pulse digitizing device provided may be applied to logging techniques, such as nuclear logging devices. In another particular example of this disclosure, the pulse digitizing device provided may be applied to positron emission tomography (PET). In a PET system, it may be used to collect gamma photon data using the strategies described in embodiments of this disclosure and then to perform image reconstruction. In yet another particular example of this disclosure, the pulse digitizing device provided may be applied to one or a combination of various digitizing devices, such as positron emission tomography (PET) devices, CT devices, MRI devices, radiation detectors, petroleum detectors, low-light detectors, SPECT devices, security inspection devices, gamma cameras, X-ray devices, and DR devices, which utilize the principle of high-energy radiation conversion.

[0412] Although not shown, in some embodiments, an electronic device is also provided, characterized by comprising memory, a processor, and an executable program stored in memory and executable on the processor. When the executable program is executed by the processor, it performs steps of the method according to any one of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0413] Although not shown, in some embodiments, a storage medium for storing an executable program is also provided, and the executable program is configured to perform steps of any method described in embodiments of this disclosure when executed. The executable program includes program modules / units that constitute a device according to embodiments of this disclosure, and when a computer program composed of various program modules / units is executed, it may implement functions corresponding to various steps of the methods described in the embodiments described above. The executable program can also be executed on an electronic device as described in embodiments of this disclosure.

[0414] While the basic concepts are explained in this document, it is clear that for those skilled in the art, the disclosures detailed above are merely exemplary and do not impose any constraints on this disclosure. Although not explicitly stated herein, those skilled in the art may make various modifications, improvements, and corrections to this disclosure, and such modifications, improvements, and corrections are proposed in this disclosure and therefore remain within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure.

[0415] On the other hand, this disclosure uses specific terminology to describe embodiments of the disclosure. “A certain embodiment,” “one embodiment,” and / or “several embodiments” describe some features, structures, or characteristics relating to at least one embodiment of the disclosure. Therefore, it should be emphasized and noted that “a certain embodiment,” “one embodiment,” or “an alternative embodiment” mentioned two or three or more times in different places in the disclosure does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, some features, structures, or characteristics in one or more embodiments of the disclosure may be appropriately combined.

[0416] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that various aspects of this disclosure may be shown and described through several patentable types or situations comprising any new useful process, machine, product, or composition, or any new useful improvement thereof. Accordingly, various aspects of this disclosure may be fully implemented by hardware, fully implemented by software (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.), or by a combination of hardware and software. All such hardware or software may be referred to as “data blocks,” “modules,” “engines,” “units,” “components,” or “systems.” Furthermore, various aspects of this disclosure may be expressed as products located on one or more readable media, the products comprising readable program code.

[0417] A storage medium may contain propagated data signals, including program code, for example, over the baseband or as part of a carrier. The propagated signals may take various forms, such as electromagnetic or optical, or an appropriate combination thereof. The storage medium may be any readable medium other than a readable storage medium, which may perform program communication, propagation, or transmission for use through connection to an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program code located on the storage medium may be propagated wirelessly, via cable, fiber optic cable, RF, or any other suitable medium, or any combination of the above-mentioned mediums.

[0418] Furthermore, unless expressly stated in the claims, the use of processing elements and sequences, numbers, or other names described herein does not limit the order of the processing and methods herein. While several currently conceivable useful embodiments of the present invention are discussed through various examples in the above disclosure, such details are for illustrative purposes only, and it should be understood that the additional claims are not limited to the embodiments disclosed, but rather are intended to encompass all modifications and equivalent combinations that fall within the spirit and scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0419] Similarly, it should be noted that, in order to simplify the expression of this disclosure and thereby aid in the understanding of one or more embodiments of the invention, multiple features may be aggregated into a single embodiment, drawing, or description in the above description of embodiments of this disclosure. However, the method of this disclosure does not mean that the subject matter of this disclosure requires more features than those mentioned in the claims. In fact, the features in an embodiment may be fewer than all the features of a single embodiment disclosed above.

[0420] Some embodiments use numerical values ​​to describe component ratios and characteristics, and it should be understood that such numerical values ​​used to describe embodiments may, in some examples, be modified with the modifiers “approximately,” “roughly,” or “substantially.” Unless otherwise stated, “approximately,” “roughly,” or “substantially” indicates that the numerical values ​​are allowed to vary by ±20%. Thus, in some embodiments, the numerical parameters used herein and in the claims are approximate values, and these approximate values ​​may vary according to the characteristics required by the individual embodiments. In some embodiments, numerical parameters should use general digit-holding methods, taking into account the specified significant digits. Some embodiments use ranges and parameters of values ​​to confirm the width of their range as approximate values, but in certain embodiments, such numerical settings may be as accurate as possible within a reasonable range.

[0421] Any patents, patent applications, published patent applications, and other materials referenced in this disclosure, such as papers, books, specifications, publications, and documents, may be incorporated into this disclosure by reference, except for application history documents whose entire content is inconsistent with or conflicts with the content of this disclosure, and for any documents (which may be added to this disclosure now or later) that have the effect of limiting the broadest scope of the claims of this disclosure. It should be noted that if any explanations, definitions, and / or usage of terms in materials accompanying this disclosure are inconsistent with or conflict with the explanations in this disclosure, the explanations, definitions, and / or usage of terms in this disclosure shall prevail.

[0422] Finally, it should be understood that the embodiments described herein are used solely to illustrate the principles of the embodiments of this disclosure. Other variations are also within the scope of this disclosure. Those skilled in the art can make various modifications, improvements, and corrections to this disclosure. Such modifications, improvements, and corrections are proposed in this disclosure. Therefore, such modifications, improvements, and corrections remain within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure.

Claims

1. A step of providing amplitude-versus-energy mapping data for multiple reference pulses, A step of setting up a plurality of channel addresses which are energy channel addresses or amplitude channel addresses, wherein each energy channel address has an energy characteristic value and an amplitude characteristic value determined according to the amplitude-to-energy mapping data, and each amplitude channel address has an amplitude characteristic value, The steps include determining the channel address corresponding to the multiple measured pulses based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of the multiple measured pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the multiple channel addresses, The step of determining the energy information of the plurality of measured pulses based on the count of the measured pulses in each channel address and the amplitude-to-energy mapping data or the energy characteristic value of the energy channel address. A pulse digitization method characterized by including the following.

2. The step of providing amplitude-versus-energy mapping data for the plurality of reference pulses is: The pulse digitization method according to claim 1, characterized by comprising the step of providing an amplitude-versus-energy lookup table of the plurality of reference pulses.

3. The channel address is an energy channel address, The step of setting the aforementioned multiple channel addresses is, The pulse digitization method according to claim 1, characterized in that it includes the steps of determining an energy characteristic value corresponding to each energy channel in order to set the plurality of energy channel addresses, and determining a pulse amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the energy characteristic value according to the amplitude vs. energy mapping data.

4. The channel address is an amplitude channel address, The step of determining the energy information of the plurality of measured pulses based on the count of the measured pulses and the amplitude vs. energy mapping data within each channel address is: The steps include: obtaining the amplitude distribution of a plurality of measured pulses on the amplitude channel address based on the count of the measured pulses within each channel address; The steps include determining the energy characteristic value corresponding to the amplitude characteristic value of each amplitude channel address according to the amplitude-to-energy mapping data, Steps to obtain energy information from the amplitude distribution and energy characteristic values. The pulse digitization method according to claim 1, characterized by including the following.

5. The step of determining the channel address corresponding to the multiple measured pulses based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of the multiple measured pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the multiple channel addresses is as follows: The steps include sequentially comparing the amplitude of each measured pulse with the comparison thresholds of multiple comparators, Before comparison, the step of selectively adjusting the amplitude of the measured pulse according to the comparison results of the previous step, The steps include determining the channel address corresponding to each of the measured pulses based on the comparison results of the plurality of comparators, and A pulse digitization method according to claim 1, characterized by including the following:

6. The step of selectively adjusting the amplitude of the measured pulse according to the previous comparison results is: If the amplitude of the measured pulse is less than the comparison threshold of the preceding comparator, the step of not adjusting the amplitude of the measured pulse is performed. If the amplitude of the measured pulse is greater than or equal to the comparison threshold of the preceding comparator, the step of reducing the amplitude of the measured pulse, wherein the comparison thresholds of the plurality of comparators are determined according to the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of channel addresses. The pulse digitization method according to claim 5, characterized by including the following:

7. Before the comparison, there is a step of selectively adjusting the amplitude of the measured pulse according to the comparison results of the previous step. A step of setting a gate according to the comparison results of the preceding step, wherein the gate has a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting the measured pulse, The steps include inputting the measured pulse to the set gate, The steps include performing a delay process on the measured pulse output from the first gate branch, The steps include: performing a subtraction operation on the measured pulse amplitude output from the second gate branch; The pulse digitization method according to claim 5, characterized by including the following:

8. The pulse digitization method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that the reduction value of the measured pulse amplitude is the comparison threshold of the preceding comparator.

9. The pulse digitization method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that the comparison threshold of the plurality of comparators is determined by sequentially bisecting the determined amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of channel addresses.

10. The step of determining the channel address corresponding to the multiple measured pulses based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of the multiple measured pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the multiple channel addresses is as follows: A step of inputting each measured pulse into a multistage gate array such that the measured pulse passes sequentially through the gates of each stage of the multistage gate array, wherein each gate is associated with its respective comparator and has a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting the measured pulse, and the non-final stage gates are connected to the next two gates through the first gate branch and the second gate branch, respectively, and the comparison threshold of the comparator is determined according to the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of channel addresses, Before allowing the measured pulse to pass through each stage of the gate array, the steps include: comparing the measured pulse with a comparator associated with the gate of each stage to determine which gate branch outputs the measured pulse, and setting the gate based on the comparison result; The steps include determining the channel address corresponding to the measured pulse based on the output of the multi-stage gate array, and A pulse digitization method according to claim 1, characterized by including the following:

11. The pulse digitization method according to claim 10, characterized in that the first stage gate corresponds to a first channel address determined by bisecting the total number of channel addresses of the plurality of channel addresses, the interval between the two channel addresses is defined by the first channel address for the subsequent gate, each remaining gate corresponds to a second channel address determined by bisecting the channel address interval defined by the upper gate in the preceding stage, the interval between the two channel addresses is defined by the second channel address for either the subsequent gate or the output, and the comparison threshold of each comparator is determined by the amplitude characteristic value of the channel address corresponding to the associated gate.

12. The step of determining the channel address corresponding to the multiple measured pulses based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of the multiple measured pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the multiple channel addresses is as follows: A step of performing a first-stage comparison of multi-stage comparison on the amplitude of each measured pulse in order to determine the channel address intervals within the measured pulse, wherein each stage of the comparison defines at least two channel address intervals by at least one comparison threshold, Steps to sequentially perform subsequent comparisons to determine the channel address interval in which the measured pulses are located, until the final stage comparison is completed, wherein the comparison threshold of the subsequent comparison is determined according to the channel address interval determined by the preceding comparison. The step of determining the channel address in which the measured pulse is located, according to the comparison result of the comparison of the final stage. A pulse digitization method according to claim 1, characterized by including the following:

13. The pulse digitization method according to claim 12, wherein the multistage comparison is performed by a first multistage comparison unit comprising a plurality of parallel delay lines connected to a measured pulse input, adjustable comparators connected to the delay lines, and arbiters operably connected to the adjustable comparators, characterized in that at least some of the delay lines have different delay times.

14. The pulse digitization method according to claim 13, characterized in that the adjustable comparator comprises a single comparator, and the delay times of the plurality of parallel delay lines are all different from each other.

15. The pulse digitization method according to claim 13, characterized in that the adjustable comparator comprises a plurality of comparators, each of which is connected to a different delay line, and the delay times of all delay lines connected to the same comparator are different from each other.

16. The pulse digitization method according to claim 15, characterized in that the number of the plurality of adjustable comparators corresponds to the number of comparison thresholds for each comparison stage.

17. The pulse digitization method according to claim 12, characterized in that the multistage comparison is performed by a second multistage comparison unit comprising a plurality of comparator subunits connected to a measured pulse input and arbiters operably connected to the plurality of comparator subunits, wherein each comparator subunit comprises a single comparator or a plurality of parallel adjustable comparators corresponding to one of the multistage comparisons, with delay units positioned between adjacent comparator subunits.

18. The pulse digitization method according to any one of claims 12 to 17, characterized in that the comparison threshold for the first stage comparison is determined according to the total number of channel addresses.

19. The pulse digitization method according to claim 18, characterized in that the channel address interval defined by the comparison threshold set for the first stage comparison divides the range of the plurality of channel addresses equally, and the channel address interval defined by the comparison threshold set for the subsequent stage comparison divides the channel address interval determined by the preceding stage comparison equally.

20. The pulse digitization method according to claim 17, characterized in that the number of comparison thresholds for each stage of comparison is the same, and each comparator subunit has the same number of adjustable comparators.

21. The pulse digitization method according to claim 17, characterized in that each stage of comparison has one comparison threshold, thereby defining two channel address intervals of equal magnitude.

22. The pulse digitization method according to claim 19, characterized in that each stage of comparison has three comparison thresholds, thereby defining four channel address intervals of equal magnitude.

23. The pulse digitization method according to any one of claims 12 to 17, characterized in that the comparison threshold for the first stage comparison is determined according to a given priori channel address interval.

24. There is a given a priori channel address interval, The pulse digitization method according to claim 23, characterized in that the first stage comparison has a comparison threshold determined according to one amplitude characteristic value of the endpoint channel addresses of the a priori channel address interval.

25. The pulse digitization method according to claim 23, characterized in that the first stage comparison has two comparison thresholds, each determined according to the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the two endpoint channel addresses of the a priori channel address interval.

26. If the channel address interval determined by the first-stage comparison is not included in the prior channel address interval, the subsequent comparisons are performed sequentially to determine the channel address interval in which the measured pulses are located, until the final-stage comparison is completed. The pulse digitization method according to claim 24, characterized in that, in the comparison of each stage, the step of first comparing the comparison threshold adjacent to the a priori channel address interval.

27. The pulse digitization method according to claim 23, characterized in that the number of given priori channel address intervals is M, M ≥ 2, and the first stage comparison has 2M comparison thresholds, each determined according to the amplitude characteristic values ​​of 2M endpoint channel addresses of the M priori channel address intervals.

28. The measured pulse comprises a scintillation pulse generated by detecting a substance, The process further includes the step of determining the M priori channel address intervals, specifically, The steps include determining M energy windows according to at least two components of the detected substance, The steps of determining the M a priori channel address intervals corresponding to the M energy windows, The pulse digitization method according to claim 27, characterized by including the following:

29. The M energy windows comprise a first component energy window and a second component energy window, The pulse digitization method is The steps include determining the count of scintillation pulses within the energy window of the first component and the energy window of the second component, respectively. A step of determining the ratio of the first component to the second component based on the count. The pulse digitization method according to claim 28, further comprising the above.

30. The step of determining the M energy windows according to at least two components of the detected substance is: The pulse digitization method according to claim 28, characterized by comprising the step of determining the energy window of the first component and the energy window of the second component, respectively, according to the energy spectra of the first component and the second component.

31. The step of determining the count of scintillation pulses within the energy window of the first component and the energy window of the second component, respectively, A step of determining whether the scintillation pulse is within the amplitude range corresponding to the energy window of the first component or within the amplitude range corresponding to the energy window of the second component, based on a comparison result between the amplitude of the scintillation pulse and the amplitude range of the scintillation pulse, The steps include performing a count of the first component for scintillation pulses that are in the amplitude range corresponding to the energy window of the first component, The steps include: performing a count of the second component for scintillation pulses that are within the amplitude range corresponding to the energy window of the second component; The pulse digitization method according to claim 29, characterized by including the following:

32. The step of determining the count of the scintillation pulses that fall within the energy window of the first component and the energy window of the second component, respectively, The pulse digitization method according to claim 29, characterized by including the step of determining counts within the energy window of the first component and the energy window of the second component, respectively, according to the energy information of the plurality of measured pulses.

33. The step of determining the channel address corresponding to the multiple measured pulses based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of the multiple measured pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the multiple channel addresses is as follows: A step of allowing a single-stage comparison of the amplitude values ​​of each measured pulse to be performed in order to determine the channel address in which the measured pulse is located, wherein the number of comparisons is equal to or greater than the number of channel addresses, The step of determining the channel address in which the measured pulse is located based on the comparison result of the single-stage comparison. A pulse digitization method according to claim 1, characterized by including the following:

34. The pulse digitization method according to claim 33, wherein the single-stage comparison is performed by a first single-stage comparison unit comprising a plurality of parallel delay lines connected to a measured pulse input, adjustable comparators connected to the delay lines, and an arbiter operably connected to the adjustable comparators, characterized in that at least some of the delay lines have different delay times, and the number of the plurality of parallel delay lines is equal to or greater than the number of the plurality of channel addresses.

35. The pulse digitization method according to claim 34, characterized in that the delay times of the plurality of parallel delay lines are all different from each other.

36. The pulse digitization method according to claim 34, characterized in that the multi-stage comparison is performed by a second single-stage comparison unit comprising a plurality of parallel adjustable comparators connected to a measured pulse input and an arbiter operably connected to the plurality of parallel adjustable comparators, wherein the number of the plurality of parallel adjustable comparators is equal to or greater than the number of the plurality of channel addresses.

37. The step of determining the channel address corresponding to the multiple measured pulses based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of the multiple measured pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the multiple channel addresses is as follows: The steps include providing threshold exceedance time versus energy range mapping data for the plurality of reference pulses, A step of obtaining at least one threshold overtime of the measured pulse, wherein each threshold overtime corresponds to an amplitude threshold. The steps include determining a first channel address interval according to the at least one threshold overtime of the measured pulse and the threshold overtime versus energy range mapping data, A step of allowing the amplitude values ​​of each measured pulse to perform a single-stage comparison or multi-stage comparison in order to determine the second channel address interval in which the measured pulses are located, wherein each stage of comparison defines at least two second channel address intervals by at least one comparison threshold, and the comparison threshold of the single-stage comparison or the first stage of the multi-stage comparison is determined based on the first channel address interval, and the amplitude values ​​of each measured pulse are allowed to perform a single-stage comparison or multi-stage comparison. The steps include determining the channel address in which the measured pulse is located, according to the result of the single-stage comparison or the multi-stage comparison; The pulse digitization method according to claim 3, characterized by including the following:

38. The step of determining a first channel address interval according to at least one threshold overtime of the measured pulse and the threshold overtime versus energy range mapping data is: The pulse digitization method according to claim 37, characterized by comprising the step of determining the first channel address interval according to the common part and / or subset of a plurality of energy ranges corresponding to a plurality of threshold exceedance times.

39. The step of determining the channel address corresponding to the plurality of measured pulses based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of the plurality of measured pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of channel addresses is as follows: A step of providing threshold exceedance time versus energy mapping data for multiple reference pulses, Steps to set the amplitude threshold, A step of determining or updating the first channel address interval according to the measured pulse threshold overtime and threshold overtime versus energy mapping data, The steps include determining or updating the first channel address interval according to the measured pulse threshold overtime and threshold overtime versus energy mapping data, and A step of determining whether a pre-set criterion is met, and if it is met, terminating the loop, and if it is not met, the execution of processing related to the loop, A step of allowing the amplitude values ​​of each measured pulse to perform a single-stage comparison or multi-stage comparison in order to determine the second channel address interval in which the measured pulses are located, wherein each stage of comparison defines at least two second channel address intervals through at least one comparison threshold, and the comparison threshold of the single-stage comparison or the comparison threshold of the first stage of the multi-stage comparison is determined based on the first channel address interval, and a step of allowing the amplitude values ​​of each measured pulse to perform a single-stage comparison or multi-stage comparison The steps include determining the channel address in which the measured pulse is located, according to the result of the single-stage comparison or the multi-stage comparison; The pulse digitization method according to claim 3, characterized by including the following:

40. The pulse digitization method according to claim 39, characterized in that the pre-set criterion is that the number of set amplitude thresholds reaches a pre-set amount, or the number of channel addresses within the first channel address interval is less than a pre-set amount.

41. The step of providing threshold exceedance time versus energy mapping data for the plurality of reference pulses is: A pulse digitization method according to any one of claims 37 to 40, characterized by comprising the step of providing a threshold-exceeding time versus energy lookup table for the plurality of reference pulses.

42. The pulse digitization method according to any one of claims 37 to 40, characterized in that the determination of channel addresses corresponding to the plurality of measured pulses is performed by a channel address determination unit comprising a time over threshold unit connected to the measured pulse input, a comparison unit connected to the measured pulse input, and an arbiter operably connected to the time over threshold unit and the comparison unit.

43. The pulse digitization method according to claim 42, characterized in that the time over threshold unit comprises at least one time over threshold comparator and a time over threshold acquisition processor connected to the at least one time over threshold comparator and configured to determine the time interval between two transition moments from the same time over threshold comparator.

44. The pulse digitization method according to claim 43, characterized in that the time over threshold comparator comprises a plurality of time over threshold comparators having different amplitude thresholds.

45. The pulse digitization method according to claim 42, characterized in that the comparison unit comprises a single-stage comparator subunit or a multi-stage comparator subunit, and each stage of the comparator subunit comprises one or more parallel adjustable comparators.

46. The pulse digitization method according to claim 42, wherein the comparison unit comprises a plurality of parallel delay lines connected to the measured pulse input and adjustable comparators connected to the delay lines, wherein at least some of the delay lines have different delay times.

47. The step of determining the energy information of the plurality of measured pulses is: The pulse digitization method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by comprising the step of generating the energy spectra of the plurality of measured pulses.

48. The pulse digitization method further, The pulse digitization method according to claim 3, characterized by including a step of calibrating the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of energy channel addresses with respect to the energy characteristic values ​​of the plurality of energy channel addresses.

49. The step of calibrating the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of energy channel addresses with respect to the energy characteristic values ​​of the plurality of energy channel addresses is: A step of determining the energy channel addresses corresponding to the plurality of first calibration pulses based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of the plurality of first calibration pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of energy channel addresses, A step of generating an energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse based on the count of the first calibration pulse in each energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the energy channel address, wherein the energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse has a first characteristic peak value, A step of setting up a plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses, wherein the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses are smaller than the plurality of energy channel addresses, and each first calibration energy channel address has an energy characteristic value and an amplitude characteristic value determined according to the amplitude-to-energy mapping data, A step of determining the calibration energy channel address corresponding to the plurality of second calibration pulses based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of the plurality of second calibration pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses, A step of generating an energy spectrum of a second calibration pulse based on the count of a second calibration pulse in each first calibration energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the calibration energy channel address, wherein the energy spectrum of the second calibration pulse has a first calibration characteristic peak value; A step of calibrating the energy characteristic value or amplitude characteristic value of the plurality of energy channel addresses based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first calibration characteristic peak value. The pulse digitization method according to claim 48, characterized by including the following:

50. The step of setting the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses is: The pulse digitization method according to claim 49, characterized by including the step of setting a plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses according to the first characteristic peak value such that the first characteristic peak value is within the energy range corresponding to the first calibration energy channel address.

51. The step of setting the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses is: The pulse digitization method according to claim 50, characterized by including the step of setting the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses according to the first characteristic peak value and the preset reduction ratio in order to reduce the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channel addresses by a preset reduction ratio, thereby acquiring the energy range corresponding to the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses such that the first characteristic peak value is within the energy range corresponding to the first calibration energy channel address.

52. The pulse digitization method according to claim 50, characterized in that the first characteristic peak value is the midpoint value of the energy range corresponding to the first calibration energy channel address.

53. The pulse digitization method according to claim 49, characterized in that the number of the first calibration energy channel addresses is equal to the number of the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated.

54. The pulse digitization method according to claim 51, characterized in that the preset reduction ratio is set such that the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channel addresses is an integer multiple of the energy range corresponding to the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses.

55. The energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse further has a second characteristic peak value, The step of calibrating the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of energy channel addresses with respect to the energy characteristic values ​​of the plurality of energy channel addresses is further: A step of setting up a plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses, wherein the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses are smaller than the plurality of energy channel addresses, and each second calibration energy channel address has an energy characteristic value and an amplitude characteristic value determined according to the amplitude-to-energy mapping data, A step of determining a second calibration energy channel address corresponding to a plurality of third calibration pulses based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​of a plurality of third configuration pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of a plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses, A step of generating an energy spectrum of a third calibration pulse based on the count of a third calibration pulse in each second calibration energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the second calibration energy channel address, wherein the energy spectrum of the third constituent pulse has a second calibration characteristic peak value. Equipped with, The step of calibrating the energy characteristic value or amplitude characteristic value of the plurality of energy channel addresses is: A pulse digitization method according to any one of claims 49 to 54, characterized by comprising the step of calibrating the energy characteristic value or amplitude characteristic value of the plurality of energy channel addresses based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first calibration characteristic peak value and a second difference between the second characteristic peak value and the second calibration characteristic peak value.

56. The step of setting the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses is The pulse digitization method according to claim 55, characterized by including the step of setting the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses according to the second characteristic peak value such that the second characteristic peak value is within the energy range corresponding to the second calibration energy channel address.

57. The step of setting the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses is The pulse digitization method according to claim 56, characterized by including the step of setting the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses according to the second characteristic peak value and the preset reduction ratio in order to reduce the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channel addresses by a preset reduction ratio, thereby acquiring the energy range corresponding to the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses such that the second characteristic peak value is within the energy range corresponding to the second calibration energy channel address.

58. The pulse digitization method according to claim 57, characterized in that the second characteristic peak value is the midpoint value of the energy range corresponding to the second calibration energy channel address.

59. The pulse digitization method according to claim 57, characterized in that the number of the second calibration energy channel addresses is equal to the number of the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated.

60. The pulse digitization method according to claim 57, characterized in that the preset reduction ratio is set such that the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channel addresses is an integer multiple of the energy range corresponding to the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses.

61. A calibration method for pulse digitization, Steps include acquiring amplitude-versus-energy mapping data for multiple reference pulses, A step of obtaining a plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, wherein each energy channel address to be calibrated has an energy characteristic value and an amplitude characteristic value determined according to the amplitude-to-energy mapping data, A step of determining the energy channel addresses to be calibrated corresponding to the plurality of first calibration pulses based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​of the plurality of first calibration pulses with the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, A step of generating an energy spectrum of a first calibration pulse based on the count of first calibration pulses in each energy channel address to be calibrated and the energy characteristic value of the energy channel address to be calibrated, wherein the energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse has a first characteristic peak value, A step of setting up a plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses, wherein the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses are smaller than the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, and each first calibration energy channel address has an energy characteristic value and an amplitude characteristic value determined according to the amplitude-to-energy mapping data, A step of determining the calibration energy channel address corresponding to the plurality of second calibration pulses based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of the plurality of second calibration pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses, A step of generating an energy spectrum of a second calibration pulse based on the count of the second calibration pulse in each first calibration energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the calibration energy channel address, wherein the energy spectrum of the second calibration pulse has a first calibration characteristic peak value; A step of calibrating the energy characteristic value or amplitude characteristic value of the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first calibration characteristic peak value. A calibration method characterized by including the following.

62. The step of setting the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses is: The calibration method according to claim 61, characterized by including the step of setting a plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses according to the first characteristic peak value such that the first characteristic peak value is within the energy range corresponding to the first calibration energy channel address.

63. The step of setting the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses is: The calibration method according to claim 62, characterized by including the step of setting the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses according to the first characteristic peak value and the preset reduction ratio in order to reduce the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated by a preset reduction ratio, thereby obtaining the energy range corresponding to the first calibration energy channel addresses such that the first characteristic peak value is within the energy range corresponding to the first calibration energy channel addresses.

64. The calibration method according to claim 63, characterized in that the first characteristic peak value is the midpoint value of the energy range corresponding to the first calibration energy channel address.

65. The calibration method according to claim 63, characterized in that the number of the first calibration energy channel addresses is equal to the number of the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated.

66. The calibration method according to claim 63, characterized in that the preset reduction ratio is set such that the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated is an integer multiple of the energy range corresponding to the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses.

67. The energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse further has a second characteristic peak value, The calibration method further, A step of setting up a plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses, wherein the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses are smaller than the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, and each second calibration energy channel address has an energy characteristic value and an amplitude characteristic value determined according to the amplitude-to-energy mapping data, A step of determining a second calibration energy channel address corresponding to a plurality of third calibration pulses based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​of a plurality of third calibration pulses with the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses, The method comprises the steps of generating an energy spectrum of a third calibration pulse based on the count of the third calibration pulse in each second calibration energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the second calibration energy channel address, wherein the energy spectrum of the third calibration pulse has a second calibration characteristic peak value, The step of calibrating the energy characteristic value or amplitude characteristic value of the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated is: A calibration method according to any one of claims 61 to 66, characterized by comprising the step of calibrating the energy characteristic value or amplitude characteristic value of the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first calibration characteristic peak value and a second difference between the second characteristic peak value and the second calibration characteristic peak value.

68. The step of setting the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses is The calibration method according to claim 67, characterized by including the step of setting the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses according to the second characteristic peak value such that the second characteristic peak value is within the energy range corresponding to the second calibration energy channel address.

69. The step of setting the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses is The calibration method according to claim 67, characterized by including the step of setting the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses according to the second characteristic peak value and the preset reduction ratio in order to reduce the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated by a preset reduction ratio, thereby obtaining the energy range corresponding to the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses such that the second characteristic peak value is within the energy range corresponding to the second calibration energy channel address.

70. The calibration method according to claim 67, characterized in that the second characteristic peak value is the midpoint value of the energy range corresponding to the second calibration energy channel address.

71. The calibration method according to claim 69, characterized in that the number of the second calibration energy channel addresses is equal to the number of the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated.

72. The calibration method according to claim 69, characterized in that the preset reduction ratio is set such that the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated is an integer multiple of the energy range corresponding to the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses.

73. A mapping relationship database containing amplitude vs. energy mapping data for multiple reference pulses, A channel address setting unit configured to set a plurality of channel addresses which are energy channel addresses or amplitude channel addresses, wherein each energy channel address has an energy characteristic value and an amplitude characteristic value determined according to the amplitude-to-energy mapping data, and each amplitude channel address has an amplitude characteristic value, A channel address determination unit configured to determine the channel address corresponding to the multiple measured pulses based on the comparison result between the amplitude values ​​of multiple measured pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the multiple channel addresses, An energy information acquisition unit configured to determine the energy information of a plurality of measured pulses based on the count of the measured pulses in each channel address and the amplitude-to-energy mapping data or the energy characteristic value of the energy channel address. A pulse digitization device characterized by comprising the following features.

74. The pulse digitization device according to claim 73, characterized in that the mapping database has an amplitude-versus-energy lookup table of the plurality of reference pulses.

75. The pulse digitization device according to claim 73, wherein the channel address determination unit comprises a plurality of comparators, a plurality of gates, a comparator, and a processor connected to the gates, wherein the plurality of comparators are multi-stage parallel comparators, the gates are arranged between adjacent comparators, and each gate has a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting a measured pulse to a subsequent comparator, a delay unit is provided at the first gate branch, and a subtractor is provided at the second gate branch.

76. The pulse digitization device according to claim 75, characterized in that the processor is configured to receive a comparison result output by the upper comparator and to set the gate according to the comparison result.

77. The pulse digitization device according to claim 75, characterized in that the processor is configured to set a reduction value in the subtractor within the gate according to the comparison result.

78. The gate outputs the measured pulse to the first gate branch and the second gate branch of the subsequent comparator according to the output level of the upper selector. If the output level of the upper comparator is 0, the measured pulse is output to the first gate branch of the subsequent comparator. The pulse digitization device according to claim 75, characterized in that when the output level of the upper comparator is 1, the measured pulse is output to the second gate branch of the subsequent comparator.

79. The pulse digitization device according to claim 75, characterized in that the subtractor is configured to reduce the amplitude of the measured pulse by a reduction value equal to the comparison threshold of the preceding comparator.

80. The pulse digitization device according to claim 73, characterized in that the channel address determination unit comprises a multi-stage gate array, and each gate is associated with a comparator and comprises a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting the measured pulse to the subsequent comparator.

81. The pulse digitization device according to claim 73, wherein the channel address determination unit comprises a plurality of parallel delay lines connected to a measured pulse input, an adjustable comparator connected to the delay lines, and an arbiter operably connected to the adjustable comparator, wherein at least some of the delay lines have different delay times, and the arbiter is configured to set a comparison threshold for the adjustable comparator according to the amplitude characteristic value of the set channel address.

82. The pulse digitization device according to claim 73, wherein the channel address determination unit comprises a plurality of comparator subunits connected to a measured pulse input, and an arbiter operably connected to the plurality of comparator subunits, each comparator subunit corresponding to one of a multi-stage comparison and comprising a single comparator or a plurality of parallel adjustable comparators, and a delay unit provided between adjacent comparator subunits.

83. The pulse digitization device according to claim 73, wherein the channel address determination unit comprises a plurality of parallel adjustable comparators connected to a measured pulse input, and an arbiter operably connected to the plurality of parallel adjustable comparators, wherein the number of the plurality of parallel adjustable comparators is equal to or greater than the number of the plurality of channel addresses.

84. The pulse digitization device according to claim 73, characterized in that the channel address determination unit comprises a time over threshold unit connected to a measured pulse input, a comparison unit connected to the measured pulse input, the time over threshold unit, and an arbiter operably connected to the comparison unit.

85. The pulse digitization device according to claim 84, wherein the time over threshold unit comprises a time over threshold comparator and a time over threshold acquisition processor connected to the time over threshold comparator, the time over threshold comparator is configured to output a transition signal when a measured pulse crosses each amplitude threshold, and the time over threshold acquisition processor is configured to determine the threshold over time according to the time interval between two of the transition signals from the same time over threshold comparator.

86. A digitization device characterized by comprising a pulse digitization device according to any one of claims 73 to 85.

87. A calibration device for pulse digitization, A first acquisition unit configured to acquire amplitude-versus-energy mapping data of multiple reference pulses, A second acquisition unit configured to acquire multiple energy channel addresses to be calibrated, wherein each energy channel address to be calibrated has an energy characteristic value and an amplitude characteristic value determined according to the amplitude-versus-energy mapping data, A first channel address determination unit is configured to determine the energy channel addresses to be calibrated corresponding to the plurality of first calibration pulses based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​of the plurality of first calibration pulses with the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, A first energy spectrum generation unit configured to generate an energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse based on the count of the first calibration pulses in each energy channel address to be calibrated and the energy characteristic value of the energy channel address to be calibrated, wherein the energy spectrum of the first calibration pulse has a first characteristic peak value, A first calibration channel address setting unit configured to set a plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses, wherein the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses are smaller than the plurality of energy channel addresses, and each first calibration energy channel address has an energy characteristic value and an amplitude characteristic value determined according to the amplitude-to-energy mapping data, A second channel address determination unit is configured to determine the calibration energy channel address corresponding to the plurality of second calibration pulses based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​of the plurality of second calibration pulses with the amplitude characteristic values ​​of the plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses, A second energy spectrum generation unit configured to generate an energy spectrum of a second calibration pulse based on the count of the second calibration pulse in each first calibration energy channel address and the energy characteristic value of the calibration energy channel address, wherein the energy spectrum of the second calibration pulse has a first calibration characteristic peak value. A calibration unit configured to calibrate the energy characteristic value or amplitude characteristic value of the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first calibration characteristic peak value. The calibration device is characterized by comprising the following:

88. A second calibration channel address setting unit configured to set a plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses, wherein the plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses are smaller than the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated, and each second calibration energy channel address has an energy characteristic value and an amplitude characteristic value determined according to the amplitude-to-energy mapping data, The third channel address determination unit is configured to determine a second calibration energy channel address corresponding to a plurality of third calibration pulses based on a comparison of the amplitude values ​​of a plurality of third calibration pulses and the amplitude characteristic values ​​of a plurality of second calibration energy channel addresses, A third energy spectrum generation unit configured to generate an energy spectrum of the third calibration pulse based on the count of the third calibration pulse in each of the second calibration energy channel addresses and the energy characteristic value of the second calibration energy channel address, wherein the energy spectrum of the third calibration pulse has a second calibration characteristic peak value. Furthermore, The calibration device according to claim 87, characterized in that the calibration unit is configured to calibrate the energy characteristic value or amplitude characteristic value of the plurality of energy channel addresses to be calibrated based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first calibration characteristic peak value, and a second difference between the second characteristic peak value and the second calibration characteristic peak value.

89. An electronic device comprising: a memory; a processor; and an executable program stored in the memory and executable by the processor to perform a step of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 72.

90. A storage medium that stores an executable program and is executable by a processor so that the executable program performs a step of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 72.

Images