Pulse digitization method and apparatus, correction method and apparatus, and electronic device and storage medium

Abstract

Disclosed in the present application are a pulse digitization method and apparatus, a correction method and apparatus, and an electronic device and a storage medium. The pulse digitization method comprises: providing amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of a plurality of reference pulses; setting a plurality of energy channel addresses or amplitude channel addresses having representation values; on the basis of results of comparison between amplitudes of a plurality of pulses to be measured and amplitude representation values of the plurality of channel addresses, determining channel addresses corresponding to the plurality of pulses to be measured; and on the basis of the count of pulses to be measured that are in each channel address and the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data or energy representation values of the energy channel addresses, obtaining energy information of the plurality of pulses to be measured. In the present application, complex fitting calculation that is required in a conventional oil exploration process is avoided, and energy information of pulses is directly and quickly obtained by means of threshold value comparison, thereby greatly shortening the dead time of the operation of a collection circuit, and improving the signal collection performance and efficiency. The present application is especially suitable for an ultra-high-temperature environment.

Description

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

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese patent application No. 202311526806.X filed on November 16, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of signal sampling, and in particular to a pulse digitization method, correction method, device, electronic equipment and storage medium. Background Art

[0003] In many applications of high-energy ray detection, high-energy rays, such as gamma rays, are converted into visible light by scintillation crystals, and the visible light is further converted into scintillation pulse signals by photoelectric conversion devices.

[0004] Well logging technology is a crucial tool in the field of petroleum exploration. It combines electronic and computer technologies through various methods, including electrical, acoustic, and radiological methods, to obtain various physical parameters of the formation, and further obtains oil and gas information through data analysis. Common logging technologies include electrical logging, acoustic logging, nuclear logging, and nuclear magnetic logging. Nuclear logging, based on the nuclear physical properties of matter, studies the geological profile of the wellbore according to the nuclear physical properties of rocks, their pore fluids, and the wellbore medium, in order to search for deposits such as coal and oil. Nuclear logging utilizes high-energy radiation detection, natural gamma ray, density, neutron, and formation element logging technologies, and supporting instrumentation.

[0005] Pulsed neutron logging is a type of nuclear logging method. Its principle is to obtain the energy of pulsed neutrons, which are deposited in the formation to release gamma rays, thereby obtaining the corresponding energy spectrum information and time spectrum information. The main means of high-energy ray detection is to use scintillation crystals coupled with photoelectric conversion devices. The scintillation crystals deposit the energy of the high-energy rays to generate visible light, which is converted into electrical signals by the photoelectric conversion device to obtain information such as the energy of the high-energy rays. Currently, photomultiplier tubes that can operate under high temperature conditions are commonly used as photoelectric conversion devices to convert the visible light generated by the scintillation crystals into corresponding scintillation pulses. After digitization and subsequent signal processing, the energy information (such as the energy spectrum) and time information (such as the time spectrum) of the gamma rays are obtained.

[0006] There are two traditional methods for digitizing scintillation pulses. One is direct digitization using a high-speed ADC. This method requires first shaping and stretching the electrical pulse signal before digitizing it using a high-speed ADC (e.g., 1GSps). Typically, to obtain relatively accurate energy information, digitizing a single pulse requires acquiring multiple (e.g., 20) sampling points while operating at high temperatures (e.g., 175°C). However, the sampling rate performance of ADC chips at these temperatures is typically low, and their cost is high, making it difficult to digitize high-speed scintillation pulse signals. This makes direct digitization using a high-speed ADC difficult to apply in oil well logging. The other method is the peak-hold method. This method uses a peak-hold circuit to lock the amplitude of the electrical pulse signal, and then uses an ADC to sample the amplitude to obtain the pulse energy information. The peak-hold method involves a peak-hold lock establishment and peak-hold circuit recovery process, resulting in a long dead time, often reaching hundreds of microseconds. This significantly limits the pulse throughput rate (the number of pulses processed per unit time) of digitization. In oil well logging, the number of pulse events often increases explosively. For example, in common neutron oil well logging, the pulse rate can reach 100kCPS, with one pulse generated every 10μs on average. The dead time of the peak hold method causes many pulse signals to be lost during the digitization process, resulting in measurement errors.

[0007] In recent years, the direct digitization of scintillation pulses, using software algorithms to replace traditional analog circuits for information extraction, has shown great potential. The Multi-Voltage Threshold (MVT) method has been proposed as an improved method for digital processing of scintillation pulses. Currently, there are also proposals to introduce MVT digitization into the field of oil exploration.

[0008] Compared to time-interval sampling methods like traditional ADCs, MVT digital sampling uses fixed threshold voltages and digitally samples the time it takes for a scintillation pulse to cross the threshold voltage, facilitating the acquisition of multiple sampling points during the rapid rising edge phase. In practice, after obtaining a series of time-voltage pairs, pulse fitting is used to accurately acquire particle energy deposition information. For example, the Levenberg-Marquardt method, a widely used nonlinear least-squares iterative algorithm, is commonly used as a pulse fitting optimization algorithm. It utilizes gradients to find the maximum (minimum) value, a nonlinear optimization method between the Newton method and the gradient descent method, combining the advantages of both methods.

[0009] However, due to limitations in chip computing power and the complexity of the fitting method, MVT fitting algorithms cannot be implemented in embedded chips such as FPGAs, STM32s, and DSPs, and their accessories. This limits the potential for on-site implementation of MVT-based fitting algorithms, such as in wells. Therefore, the raw sampling points obtained using the MVT method must be transmitted via remote communication methods such as Ethernet, serial ports, and WiFi to a remote computer (also known as a host computer) with more powerful computing power for energy calculation using an iterative algorithm. In oil well logging, scintillation pulses are generated in periodic bursts, resulting in extremely large amounts of raw sampling data, for example, reaching 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps. Furthermore, due to the downhole depths of tens of thousands of meters and high ambient temperatures in oil exploration scenarios, transmission methods are limited, such as carrier communication, with a bandwidth of only approximately 100 Kbps. Current methods create a contradiction between the relatively large amount of raw sampling data and the relatively small transmission bandwidth, resulting in a decrease in count rate. In addition, when fitting on the host computer, due to repeated iterations, fitting each pulse requires an extremely high CPU time, which is intolerable in oil exploration.

[0010] Furthermore, current MVT methods for acquiring scintillation pulse energy information may have several drawbacks. For example, traditional MVT methods are only suitable for sampling pulses of known types, and the threshold setting is determined based on the energy range of the known pulses. Consequently, MVT methods require selecting a fixed number and size of thresholds for sampling. As a result, traditional MVT methods can generally only obtain relatively accurate energy information for pulses within a certain energy range.

[0011] Since MVT requires fitting to calculate accurate energy values, accurate time information must be provided for each data point. To this end, a large number of TDCs (time-to-digital converters) are usually required in the acquisition circuit to collect time information.

[0012] Furthermore, pulse fitting on hardware circuits such as FPGAs and ASICs requires first restoring the pulse waveform, then integrating the fitted function to calculate energy information and plot the energy spectrum. However, this complex calculation process consumes significant hardware resources and increases the power consumption of the hardware circuits. For applications requiring high-temperature operation, such as well logging equipment, the excessive power consumption of the hardware circuits caused by the overly complex pulse fitting and integration process can further impact the hardware circuit's high-temperature performance.

[0013] Therefore, we hope to provide a solution that can achieve at least one of the following technical effects: quickly, accurately and stably obtain the energy information of the pulse signal, which is suitable for implementation in hardware circuits such as FPGA and DSP, and does not require the consumption of large amounts of computing resources or the use of computer equipment with powerful computing power.

[0014] The description of the background technology is only for facilitating understanding of the relevant technology in this field and is not regarded as an admission of the prior art.

[0015] Summary of the Invention

[0016] The technical problem to be solved by the embodiments of the present application is to provide a digitization solution for pulse signals, especially scintillation pulse signals, which is suitable for implementation in hardware circuits such as FPGA and DSP. It can avoid the complex fitting calculations required by traditional methods to obtain pulse, especially scintillation pulse energy information, and directly obtain the energy information of pulses, especially scintillation pulses, through a simple threshold comparison method.

[0017] In order to solve the above problems, the present application discloses a method, apparatus, device, electronic device and storage medium for digitizing a pulse signal.

[0018] In addition, the present application also discloses a correction method and device suitable for the pulse digitization.

[0019] In a first aspect, a pulse digitization method is provided, comprising:

[0020] Providing amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of multiple reference pulses;

[0021] Setting a plurality of track addresses, wherein the track addresses are energy track addresses or amplitude track addresses, each energy track address having its own energy representation value and an amplitude representation value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data, and each amplitude track address having its own amplitude representation value;

[0022] Determining the channel addresses corresponding to the plurality of pulses to be measured according to a comparison result between the amplitudes of the plurality of pulses to be measured and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of channel addresses; and

[0023] The energy information of the plurality of pulses to be measured is obtained according to the pulse count to be measured in each channel address and the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data or the energy characterization value of the energy channel address.

[0024] In a second aspect, a correction method for pulse digitization is provided, comprising:

[0025] Acquiring amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of multiple reference pulses;

[0026] Acquire a plurality of energy channels to be corrected, wherein each energy channel to be corrected has its own energy representation value and an amplitude representation value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data;

[0027] Determining the energy channels to be corrected corresponding to the plurality of first correction pulses based on a comparison between the amplitudes of the plurality of first correction pulses and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of energy channels to be corrected;

[0028] generating an energy spectrum of the first correction pulse according to the first correction pulse count in each energy channel to be corrected and the energy characterization value of the energy channel to be corrected, wherein the energy spectrum of the first correction pulse has a first characteristic peak value;

[0029] Setting a plurality of first correction energy channels, wherein the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of first correction energy channels are smaller than the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of energy channels, and each correction energy channel has its own energy representation value and an amplitude representation value determined accordingly according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data;

[0030] Determining the correction energy addresses corresponding to the plurality of second correction pulses based on a comparison result of the amplitudes of the plurality of second correction pulses and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of first correction energy addresses;

[0031] generating an energy spectrum of the second correction pulse according to the second correction pulse count in each first correction energy channel and the energy characteristic value of the correction energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the second correction pulse has a first correction characteristic peak; and

[0032] Based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first correction characteristic peak value, the energy characterizing values ​​or the amplitude characterizing values ​​of the plurality of energy channels to be corrected are corrected.

[0033] In a third aspect, a pulse digitizing device is provided, comprising:

[0034] A mapping relationship database, including amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of multiple reference pulses;

[0035] a channel address setting unit configured to set a plurality of channel addresses, wherein the channel addresses are energy channel addresses or amplitude channel addresses, each energy channel address having its own energy representation value and an amplitude representation value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data, and each amplitude channel address having its own amplitude representation value;

[0036] a channel address determining unit configured to determine the channel addresses corresponding to the plurality of pulses to be measured based on a comparison result of the amplitudes of the plurality of pulses to be measured and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of channel addresses; and

[0037] The energy information acquisition unit is configured to obtain energy information of the plurality of pulses to be measured according to the pulse count to be measured in each channel address and the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data or the energy characterization value of the energy channel address.

[0038] In a fourth aspect, a correction device for pulse digitization is provided, comprising:

[0039] a first acquiring unit configured to acquire amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of a plurality of reference pulses;

[0040] A second acquiring unit acquires a plurality of energy channel addresses to be corrected, wherein each energy channel address to be corrected has its own energy representation value and an amplitude representation value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data;

[0041] a first channel address determining unit configured to determine the energy channel addresses to be corrected corresponding to the plurality of first correction pulses based on a comparison between the amplitudes of the plurality of first correction pulses and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of energy channel addresses to be corrected;

[0042] a first energy spectrum generating unit configured to generate an energy spectrum of the first correction pulse according to the first correction pulse count in each energy channel to be corrected and the energy characterization value of the energy channel to be corrected, wherein the energy spectrum of the first correction pulse has a first characteristic peak value;

[0043] a first correction channel setting unit configured to set a plurality of first correction energy channels, wherein the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of first correction energy channels are smaller than the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of energy channels, each correction energy channel having a respective energy representation value and an amplitude representation value determined accordingly according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data;

[0044] a second track address determining unit configured to determine the correction energy track addresses corresponding to the plurality of second correction pulses based on a comparison result of the amplitudes of the plurality of second correction pulses and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of first correction energy track addresses;

[0045] a second energy spectrum generating unit configured to generate an energy spectrum of the second correction pulse according to the second correction pulse count in each first correction energy channel and the energy characteristic value of the correction energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the second correction pulse has a first correction characteristic peak value; and

[0046] The correction unit is configured to correct the energy characterization values ​​or amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy channels to be corrected based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first correction characteristic peak value.

[0047] In a fifth aspect, a pulse digitization device is provided, comprising: a pulse digitization apparatus according to any one of the embodiments of the present application.

[0048] In a sixth aspect, an electronic device is provided, comprising: a memory, a processor, and an executable program stored in the memory and runnable on the processor, wherein the executable program, when executed by the processor, implements the steps of the method according to any one of the embodiments of the present application.

[0049] In a seventh aspect, a storage medium is provided, characterized in that an executable program is stored on the storage medium, and when the executable program is executed by a processor, the steps of the method according to any one of the embodiments of the present application are implemented.

[0050] In other aspects of the present application, a method and apparatus for determining material composition based on scintillation pulses are also provided.

[0051] The optional features and other effects of the embodiments of the present application are partially described below, and partially can be understood by reading this document. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0052] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments recorded in the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative work.

[0053] FIG1 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] FIG2 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0055] FIG3 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0056] FIG4 shows a first module architecture diagram for implementing the pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] FIG5 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] FIG6 shows a second module architecture diagram for implementing the pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0059] FIG7 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] FIG8 shows a third module architecture diagram for implementing the pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] FIG9 is a schematic diagram showing a method for determining an energy channel address corresponding to a pulse amplitude through a binary multi-level comparison in a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] FIG10 shows a fourth module architecture diagram for implementing the pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] FIG11 is a pulse schematic diagram showing a pulse amplitude determination using a quartering method and multi-level comparison in a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application, specifically showing the first-level comparison;

[0064] FIG12 shows a fifth module architecture diagram for implementing the pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0065] FIG13 shows a sixth module architecture diagram for implementing the pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0066] FIG14 shows a seventh module architecture diagram for implementing the pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0067] FIG15 shows an eighth module architecture diagram for implementing the pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] FIG16 shows a ninth module architecture diagram for implementing the pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0069] FIG17 shows a tenth module architecture diagram for implementing the pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0070] FIG18 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0071] FIG19 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0072] FIG20 shows an eleventh module architecture diagram for implementing the pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0073] FIG21 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0074] FIG22 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0075] FIG23 shows a twelfth module architecture diagram for implementing the pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] FIG24 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] FIG25 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] FIG26 shows a thirteenth module architecture diagram for implementing the pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] FIG27 is a schematic diagram showing the threshold crossing time TOT of a pulse to be measured and a jump signal for determining the TOT;

[0080] FIG28 shows a fourteenth module architecture diagram for implementing the pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0081] FIG29 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0082] FIG29 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0083] FIG30 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0084] FIG31 shows an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0085] FIG32 shows an exemplary flow chart of a correction method for pulse digitization according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0086] FIG33 shows an exemplary flow chart of a method for determining material composition based on scintillation pulses according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0087] FIG34 shows an exemplary flow chart of a method for determining material composition based on scintillation pulses according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0088] FIG35 shows a schematic module diagram of a pulse digitizing device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0089] FIG36 shows a schematic module diagram of a correction device for pulse digitization according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0090] FIG37 shows a schematic block diagram of a device for determining material composition based on scintillation pulses according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0091] FIG38 shows a schematic module diagram of a device for determining material composition based on scintillation pulses according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0092] To make the above-mentioned objects, features, and advantages of the present application more clearly understood, the specific embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following description sets forth many specific details to facilitate a full understanding of the present application. However, the present application can be implemented in many other ways than those described herein, and those skilled in the art can make similar improvements without violating the scope of the present application. Therefore, the present application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

[0093] It should be noted that when an element is referred to as being "fixed to" another element, it may be directly on the other element or there may also be an element centered. When an element is considered to be "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected to the other element or there may be an element centered at the same time. The terms "vertical", "horizontal", "left", "right" and similar expressions used herein are for illustrative purposes only. The described features, structures or characteristics may be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. In the following description, many specific details are provided so as to provide a full understanding of the embodiments of the present application. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the technical solutions of the present application can be practiced without one or more of these specific details, or other modes, components, materials, devices or operations, etc. may be adopted. In these cases, well-known structures, methods, devices, implementations, materials or operations will not be shown or described in detail.

[0094] The flowcharts shown in the accompanying drawings are for illustrative purposes only and do not necessarily include all contents and operations / steps, nor must they be executed in the order described. For example, some operations / steps may be decomposed, while others may be combined or partially combined. Therefore, the actual execution order may vary depending on the actual situation.

[0095] The terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification and claims of this application and the above-mentioned drawings are used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but optionally includes steps or units that are not listed, or optionally includes other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices. The term "and / or" or "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more relevant listed items.

[0096] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as those commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this application pertains. The terms used herein in the specification of this application are for the purpose of describing specific embodiments only and are not intended to limit this application.

[0097] Some preferred embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the following description is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application.

[0098] FIG1 is an exemplary flow chart of a pulse digitization method according to some embodiments of the present application. In some embodiments, the pulse digitization method 100 can be performed by a pulse digitization device, such as the pulse digitization device 3200 shown in FIG32. In some embodiments, the pulse digitization method 100 can be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof. In some preferred embodiments, the pulse digitization method 100 can be implemented by a hardware circuit based on, for example, an implementation in a hardware circuit based on an FPGA, a DSP, or the like. In a preferred embodiment, the pulse digitization method 100 can be implemented by a device including an FPGA chip.

[0099] In this article, pulse signals can be interpreted as any pulse signal that can be sampled. Its essence is a physical quantity that undergoes a sudden change in a short period of time and then quickly returns to its initial value. This physical quantity has certain characteristics.

[0100] In embodiments of the present application, pulse digitization may involve converting a pulse signal, such as an analog or physical form, into a numerical parameter representing the pulse signal, so as to be used for subsequent reconstruction of the pulse signal image or other purposes related to processing, converting, and transmitting the pulse signal. In specific embodiments, pulse digitization may involve obtaining physical parameter information represented by the pulse signal, and more specifically, obtaining energy information represented by the pulse signal. Thus, in some embodiments herein, the pulse digitization method may specifically involve a method for determining pulse energy information.

[0101] In embodiments of the present application, pulse digitization can be used in many applications of high-energy radiation detection. As previously described, by way of explanation and not limitation, high-energy radiation, such as gamma rays, can be converted into visible light by scintillation crystals, which can then be converted into scintillation pulse signals by photoelectric conversion devices. In embodiments of the present application, the pulse signals can particularly include scintillation pulses. Accordingly, in embodiments of the present application, the pulse digitization method can be a scintillation pulse digitization method. Similarly, the pulse digitization device or apparatus in embodiments of the present application can be a scintillation pulse digitization device or apparatus.

[0102] Here, various embodiments will be described using scintillation pulses as an example. In these embodiments, the terms "pulse" and "scintillation pulse" are interchangeable. For example, in some embodiments, the scintillation pulse typically has a rising edge and a falling edge, and these rising and falling edges can be represented by functional models. For example, a scintillation pulse corresponding to a gamma photon typically exhibits a relatively fast rising edge and a relatively slow falling edge. The rising edge can be represented by a linear function, and the falling edge can be represented by an exponential function.

[0103] In some embodiments, scintillation pulses can be acquired by detectors, such as PET detectors, CT detectors, neutron detectors, and petroleum detectors. These detectors typically include mutually coupled scintillation crystals and photoelectric conversion devices, wherein the scintillation crystals are used to convert detected high-energy rays (such as gamma rays, neutron rays, etc.) into visible light signals, and the photoelectric conversion devices (for example, photomultiplier tubes PMT, silicon photomultiplier tubes SiPM, etc.) are used to convert visible light signals into electrical signals, which are output in the form of scintillation pulse signals through electronic devices connected to the photoelectric conversion devices.

[0104] Accordingly, the pulse digitization methods, devices, and / or equipment according to embodiments of the present application can be used in many applications of high-energy ray detection based on the energy information of scintillation pulse signals. For example, the pulse digitization methods, devices, and / or equipment according to embodiments of the present application can be used in well logging that utilizes high-energy ray detection, such as nuclear logging, and more specifically, pulsed neutron logging. Here, the pulse digitization methods, devices, and / or equipment according to embodiments of the present application can be used to obtain energy information, such as the energy spectrum, of gamma rays released by pulsed neutron logging. Furthermore, the pulse digitization methods, devices, and / or equipment according to embodiments of the present application can also be used in many application fields that utilize high-energy ray detection, such as, but not limited to, medical imaging technology, high-energy physics, lidar, autonomous driving, precision analysis, optical communications, and other fields. In a specific example, the pulse digitization methods, devices, and / or equipment according to embodiments of the present application can be used in positron emission tomography (PET) equipment, CT equipment, MRI equipment, radiation detection equipment, oil detection equipment, low-light detection equipment, SPECT equipment, security inspection equipment, gamma cameras, X-ray equipment, DR equipment, or any combination of these devices that utilize the principle of high-energy ray conversion.

[0105] In other embodiments, the pulse signal may be a non-flickering pulse, and the waveform of the pulse signal may be a triangular wave, a rectangular wave, a sine wave, a cosine wave, or other shapes of waves, which will not be described in detail here.

[0106] In the embodiments of the present application, the pulse signal may be expressed 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, its corresponding characteristic may be the voltage or current of the electrical pulse signal; when the pulse signal is an acoustic pulse signal, its corresponding characteristic may be the sound intensity of the acoustic pulse signal, and so on. Correspondingly, the threshold may have multiple forms of expression. For example, when the pulse signal is an electrical pulse signal, its corresponding threshold may be a voltage threshold, a current threshold, or an energy threshold; when the pulse signal is an acoustic pulse signal, its corresponding threshold may be a sound intensity threshold, and so on. The descriptions are not repeated here.

[0107] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the pulse digitization in this application can also be applied to the digitization of continuous signals, as long as the continuous signal is considered as a pulse signal arranged in a certain period. The pulse signal in this application is not intended to limit the signal to be sampled.

[0108] Continuing with reference to FIG. 1 , a pulse digitization method 100 according to an embodiment of the present application is described. In this embodiment of the present application, based on the corresponding relationship between the energy and (maximum) amplitude of a pulse, such as a scintillation pulse, a number of amplitude bins can be set for the amplitude of the pulse, such as a scintillation pulse, or a number of energy bins can be set for the energy of the pulse, such as a scintillation pulse. The number of pulses whose amplitudes or energies fall within different bins can be counted to obtain energy information of the pulse, such as a scintillation pulse. In a specific embodiment, an energy distribution histogram can be plotted based on the pulse count to obtain an energy spectrum (abbreviated as energy spectrum). For example, in pulse neutron saturation logging, the energy characteristics of the scintillation pulse corresponding to gamma rays (e.g., generally within 9 MeV) can be quantized into N (e.g., 256) different levels to obtain N (e.g., 256) different energy bins. The number of pulses at the energy levels corresponding to the different energy bins can be counted and plotted into an energy distribution histogram to obtain the energy spectrum of the scintillation pulse. Those skilled in the art will understand that in several embodiments described below, 256 addresses will be used as an example for description, but other numbers (N≠256) of addresses are conceivable and fall within the scope of the present application.

[0109] Specifically, as shown in FIG1 , the pulse digitization method 100 may include step S110 , providing amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of a plurality of reference pulses.

[0110] In one embodiment, providing amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of the plurality of reference pulses includes providing an amplitude-energy lookup table of the plurality of reference pulses.

[0111] By collecting and analyzing prior information, the inventors have discovered a significant linear relationship between pulse energy and pulse (maximum) amplitude. Therefore, pulse energy information can be indirectly obtained by acquiring pulse amplitude information. Accordingly, in embodiments of the present application, an amplitude-energy lookup table for pulses, such as scintillation pulses, can be generated based on prior pulse information. This lookup table can represent the mapping relationship between pulse amplitude and pulse energy.

[0112] In one specific embodiment, a data acquisition device, such as an oscilloscope, can be used to collect a large amount of pulse data, such as scintillation pulses. Each pulse, such as a scintillation pulse, can be integrated to obtain its energy value while simultaneously recording the pulse amplitude. This allows for the acquisition of a large number of reference pulses, such as reference scintillation pulses, corresponding mappings between energy and pulse amplitude. This prior information can then be used to create an amplitude-energy lookup table for pulses, such as scintillation pulses. In some embodiments, these reference pulses can be pulses from the same source as the pulse to be measured. For example, when applied to nuclear well logging to obtain energy information for the pulse to be measured, the reference pulses can be scintillation pulses obtained from the same well or a similar well (e.g., an oil well) using the same radiation source. However, in some embodiments, these reference pulses can be pulses similar to the pulse to be measured. For example, when applied to nuclear well logging to obtain energy information for the pulse to be measured, the reference pulses can be scintillation pulses converted from the same or similar high-energy radiation, such as gamma rays, via scintillation crystals, but the reference pulses do not originate from the same or similar well or from a different type of well (e.g., another energy well).

[0113] As a supplement to or alternative to the amplitude-energy lookup table, other scintillation amplitude-energy mapping relationship data can be used. For example, a function that can represent a simple linear relationship between pulse energy and pulse (maximum) amplitude can be used. Here, the energy corresponding to the amplitude of at least some of the pulses to be measured can be obtained by simple linear interpolation based on this linear relationship function.

[0114] In a further embodiment, the pulse digitization method 100 may include step S120 of setting a plurality of track addresses.

[0115] In this document, the term "track address" refers to a channel address that represents a pulse characteristic value of a pulse, such as a scintillation pulse. In embodiments of the present application, the multiple track addresses may collectively represent a continuous characteristic value range or individually represent multiple sequential characteristic values, as will be further explained below.

[0116] In some embodiments, the track addresses may be energy track addresses, and each energy track address has a respective energy representation value.

[0117] In the embodiment of the present application, step S120 may include: determining the energy characterization value corresponding to each energy channel address and determining the pulse amplitude characterization value corresponding to the energy characterization value according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data to set multiple energy channels.

[0118] In the embodiments of the present application, the characterization value may be broadly interpreted to cover a characteristic value interval or a single characteristic value.

[0119] For example, in one embodiment, an energy address (such as the nth energy address, where n is a natural number) may have its corresponding energy interval [E n , E n+1 ), the energy interval is the energy representation value of the corresponding channel address. Accordingly, multiple (such as N, N is a natural number) energy channels can jointly represent a larger continuous energy range [E1, E N ].

[0120] In an alternative embodiment, the energy channel address may have a corresponding single energy characterization value, such as the lower limit, upper limit, or median value of the above energy range. For example, the energy characterization value of the nth energy channel address is the energy range [E n , E n+1 ) lower limit E n Here, multiple (such as N) energy addresses can represent multiple sequential energy values, such as E1, E2, ..., E N .

[0121] Specifically, the energy interval or single energy characterization value corresponding to each energy channel address may be determined according to the energy information of the pulse to be measured and the number of energy channel addresses that actually need to be determined.

[0122] In the embodiment of the present application, each energy channel address also includes an amplitude representation value determined accordingly according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data.

[0123] Specifically, the amplitude representation value for each energy channel can be determined based on the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data provided in step S110, such as an amplitude-energy lookup table. Similarly, the amplitude representation value can be a pulse amplitude (peak) interval or a single amplitude (peak) representation value. Preferably, when the energy representation value is an interval, the amplitude representation value is also an interval. In this specific embodiment, the energy interval of each energy channel can be mapped to the pulse amplitude (peak) interval based on the lookup table to obtain the pulse amplitude interval for each energy channel.

[0124] In one specific embodiment, the total number of energy track addresses can be determined based on actual applications. Based on a provided scintillation pulse energy amplitude lookup table, the different energy levels (energy intervals) corresponding to different energy track addresses are mapped to corresponding pulse peak intervals, so that the energy track addresses (energy intervals) correspond to the pulse peak intervals. In several specific embodiments described below, the exemplary total number of energy track addresses is 256 (N=256). However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that these embodiments can be implemented with other total number of track addresses as needed.

[0125] The pulse amplitude (peak value) in the embodiments of the present application includes, but is not limited to, a current peak value, a voltage peak value, etc. In a further specific embodiment, taking the pulse amplitude (peak value) as an example, which may include a voltage peak value, the pulse voltage amplitude at a certain endpoint of the peak interval corresponding to each energy channel is respectively recorded as V1, V2, V3, ... In several specific embodiments described below, whether the pulse to be measured falls within the relevant energy channel is determined based on the pulse voltage amplitudes V1, V2, V3, ... at the endpoints. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that these embodiments can determine whether the pulse to be measured falls within the relevant energy channel based on other types of pulse amplitudes, or based on other values ​​within the interval (such as another endpoint or the midpoint of the interval), or based on a single amplitude representation value as described above.

[0126] In some embodiments of the present application, the multiple track addresses are equally spaced, that is, the range of the characterization intervals is equal or the intervals of the sequential single characterization values ​​are equal. In further specific embodiments, when the track address is an energy track address, the energy characterization values ​​can be (strictly) equally spaced, or the amplitude characterization values ​​can be (strictly) equally spaced. For example, when the track address is an energy track address, the (single) energy characterization value of each nth energy track address is E n , (single) amplitude representation value is V n In some embodiments, E n+2 -E n+1 =E n+1 -E n In other specific embodiments, V n+2 -V n+1 =V n+1 -V n It will be understood that although there is a roughly linear relationship between pulse energy and pulse (maximum) amplitude, the energy channel addresses can be divided into equal intervals based on energy characterization values ​​or amplitude characterization values ​​as needed, and both situations fall within the scope of this application.

[0127] It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the multiple channel addresses may also be unequally spaced, that is, the ranges of the characterization intervals are not completely equal or not completely equal, or the intervals of the sequential single characterization values ​​are not completely equal or not completely equal. This is something that those skilled in the art can easily think of based on the teachings of this application and will not be elaborated here.

[0128] In another embodiment, the track address may be an amplitude track address, and each amplitude track address has a respective amplitude representation value.

[0129] In this embodiment, the total number of amplitude channels can be set as needed, or the amplitude range represented by multiple amplitude channels can be determined based on prior information such as the reference pulse or other reference pulses described in step S110. Accordingly, the total number of amplitude channels and / or the amplitude representation value of each amplitude channel can be set specifically based on the characteristics of the pulse to be measured. In different pulse digitization schemes, the total number of amplitude channels and / or the amplitude representation value of each amplitude channel are different. However, in alternative embodiments, a fixed total number of amplitude channels and fixed amplitude representation values ​​can be provided for different digitization schemes, which falls within the scope of this application. For example, a given total number of amplitude channels N (e.g., N=256) and a given amplitude representation value corresponding to each amplitude channel (e.g., V1, V2, V3, ...) can be provided for different pulse digitization schemes.

[0130] In embodiments where multiple amplitude channels are provided, the mapping relationship between pulse amplitude and energy may not be considered. Accordingly, in embodiments where multiple amplitude channels are provided, the energy information of the multiple pulses to be measured can be determined based on the pulse count within the amplitude channel and the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data provided in step S110 during the step of obtaining energy information of the multiple pulses to be measured (step S150), as further described below. In contrast, in embodiments where multiple energy channels are provided, the energy information of the pulses to be measured can be determined directly based on the pulse count within the energy channel (and its corresponding energy representation value) during the step of obtaining energy information of the multiple pulses to be measured (step S150).

[0131] In further specific embodiments, the specific features described above with reference to the energy channel can be applied to embodiments in which multiple amplitude channels are provided, where appropriate and in a manner consistent with each other. Furthermore, while several specific embodiments described below, such as the embodiment of step S140, are described based on energy channels and corresponding pulse voltage amplitudes, it will be understood that these embodiments can also be implemented based on amplitude channels, and the resulting new embodiments fall within the scope of this application.

[0132] 1 , the pulse digitization method may further include step S140 , determining the channel addresses corresponding to the plurality of pulses to be measured based on the set plurality of channel addresses and according to the comparison results of the amplitudes of the plurality of pulses to be measured and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of channel addresses.

[0133] In some embodiments, the track address into which each pulse to be measured falls can be determined through dynamic processing. In some specific embodiments, the dynamic processing involves dynamically processing the amplitude of the pulse to be measured, so that the amplitude of the pulse used for subsequent comparison may vary. In other specific embodiments, the dynamic processing involves setting the comparison threshold of the comparator to be dynamically variable. In some embodiments of the present application, a combination of the two is also possible.

[0134] In some other embodiments, the number of dynamic threshold comparisons can be reduced by pre-screening the address range.

[0135] In some embodiments, the channel address where each pulse to be measured falls can also be determined by non-dynamic processing of the gate output.

[0136] In the embodiment of dynamically processing pulses as shown in FIG2 , step S140 may include:

[0137] S210: Comparing the amplitude of each pulse to be measured with comparison thresholds of multiple comparators in sequence;

[0138] S220: selectively adjusting the amplitude of the pulse to be measured according to the previous comparison result before comparison; and

[0139] S230: Determine the channel address corresponding to each pulse to be measured according to the comparison results of the multiple comparators.

[0140] In the embodiment shown in FIG2 , the selective adjustment may be such that if the amplitude of the pulse to be measured is less than the comparison threshold of the previous comparator, the amplitude of the pulse to be measured is not adjusted; if the amplitude is greater than or equal to the comparison threshold of the previous comparator, the amplitude of the pulse to be measured is reduced. In a specific embodiment, the amplitude of the pulse to be measured is reduced by the comparison threshold of the previous comparator.

[0141] In the embodiment shown in FIG2 , the comparison thresholds of the multiple comparators can be determined based on the amplitude characterization values ​​of the multiple addresses. In a further embodiment, the comparison thresholds of the multiple comparators are part of the amplitude characterization values ​​of the multiple addresses. In a preferred embodiment, the comparison thresholds of the multiple comparators are respectively determined by bisecting the amplitude characterization values ​​of the multiple sequentially determined addresses (hereinafter referred to as bisected addresses). In a specific embodiment, for N addresses, the comparison thresholds of the multiple comparators can be determined by (1 / 2)×N, (1 / 2) 2 ×N,(1 / 2) 3×N, ..., until the specific channel address where the pulse to be measured falls can be determined by comparison. In one example, for example, N = 256, the comparison thresholds of multiple (e.g., 8) comparators can be determined by the amplitude representation values ​​of the 128th, 64th, 32nd, 16th, 8th, 4th, 2nd, and 1st channels, such as V 128 、V 64 、V 32 、V 16 , V8, V4, V2, V1 confirmed.

[0142] Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the pulses are dynamically processed so that the amplitudes of the pulses input to each level of the comparator are varied.

[0143] Specifically, selective dynamic adjustment (reduction) of the amplitude of the pulse to be measured can be achieved by combining a subtractor or a subtracting circuit, a gate or a gating circuit and an optional processing unit.

[0144] In the specific embodiment shown in FIG3 , step S220 may include:

[0145] S310: Setting a gate according to the previous comparison result, wherein the gate has a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting a pulse to be tested;

[0146] S320: Input the pulse to be tested into the set gate;

[0147] S330: Delaying the pulse to be tested output from the first selection branch; and

[0148] S340: performing a subtraction process on the amplitude of the pulse to be measured output from the second selection branch.

[0149] In an optional embodiment, step S310 includes: inputting the comparison result of the previous comparator into the processing unit, and the processing unit sets the gate.

[0150] The following describes a specific example of dynamic processing of pulses with reference to Figures 2 to 4. Figure 4 shows a first module architecture diagram for implementing dynamic processing of pulses. In this specific example, the number of energy channel addresses is 256, and the amplitude representation value thereof is V1-V 256 express.

[0151] As shown in FIG4 , this module architecture, also referred to as a channel address determination unit 400, may include multiple (e.g., eight) comparators 410, multiple (e.g., seven) gates 420, and a processing unit 430 connecting the comparators and gates. Each gate 420 may include a first gate branch 421 and a second gate branch 422 for selectively outputting a pulse to be measured. A delay 440 may be provided in the first gate branch 421, and a subtractor 450 may be provided in the second gate branch 422. As shown in FIG4 , a reduction value may be set in the subtractor 450 via the processing unit 430. The reduction value may be the comparison threshold of the previous comparator 410.

[0152] In the illustrated embodiment, the plurality of comparators 410 are configured as a multi-stage parallel comparator. Before the pulse signal to be measured is input to the next stage (e.g., stage n+1), the amplitude of the pulse to be measured is selectively and dynamically adjusted based on the comparison result of the comparator of the previous stage (e.g., stage n). In the specific embodiment shown in FIG4 , the selective dynamic adjustment can be achieved by a gate 420 disposed between two adjacent stages of comparators 410 and a delay 440 and a subtractor 450 disposed in the first and second gate branches 421 and 422, respectively.

[0153] Taking the total energy channel address as 256 as an example, referring to Figures 2 to 4, the implementation process of the above selective dynamic adjustment is described in detail as follows:

[0154] 0) A threshold voltage V slightly larger than the maximum amplitude of the noise signal can be set for the 0th stage comparator (not shown in FIG4 ). 00 , and after the 0th level comparator is triggered, subsequent selective dynamic adjustment of the pulse signal can be performed to determine the channel address.

[0155] 1) The comparison threshold of the first terminal (e.g., terminal F) of the first-stage comparator can be set according to the amplitude representation value corresponding to the 128th channel address (i.e., the channel address determined by dividing the total energy channel address 256 by two), such as the upper limit of the amplitude range of the energy channel address, for example, V 128 When the pulse enters the second terminal (e.g., P terminal) of the first-stage comparator, if the pulse energy is less than the energy representation value of the 128th channel, the pulse amplitude will be less than the comparison threshold of the 128th channel, and the comparator will output the result level 0. If the pulse energy is greater than or equal to the energy representation value of the 128th channel, the comparator will output the result level 1.

[0156] 2) The pulse signal will also enter the second-stage comparator, more specifically, the P terminal of the second-stage comparator. At this time, the channel number corresponding to the second-stage comparator is determined by dividing the channel number corresponding to the previous-stage comparator by two. Here, the comparison threshold of the F terminal of the second-stage comparator can be set according to the amplitude representation value corresponding to the 64th channel address (i.e., the channel address determined by dividing the previous-stage channel address by two), such as the upper limit of the amplitude range of the energy channel address, for example, V 64 express.

[0157] The pulse signal will also undergo selective dynamic adjustment before entering the second-stage comparator. Here, when the output level of the first-stage comparator is 0, the pulse entering the second-stage comparator is consistent with the pulse entering the first stage; when the output result of the first-stage comparator is 1, V will be reduced here according to the previous comparison threshold of the pulse amplitude. 128 .

[0158] Here, before the pulse enters the second-stage comparator, it first passes through the gate circuit, subtractor circuit, and delay circuit. Therefore, when the output result of the first-stage comparator is 0, the gate selects to not process the pulse amplitude, and enters the second-stage comparator after passing through the delay circuit. Under the two output states of the gate, the arrival time of the pulse entering the second-stage comparator is consistent; when the output result of the first-stage comparator is 1, the gate selects to pass the pulse through the subtractor circuit to reduce the pulse amplitude by V 128 .

[0159] 3) Similarly, the pulse signal will continue 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 dividing the number of channel addresses corresponding to the previous-stage comparator by two. Here, the comparison threshold of the F terminal of the third-stage comparator can be set according to the amplitude representation value corresponding to the 32nd channel address (i.e., the channel address determined by dividing the previous-stage channel address by two), such as the lower limit of the amplitude range of the energy channel address, for example, V 32 express.

[0160] The pulse signal will also undergo selective dynamic adjustment before entering the third-stage comparator. Here, when the output level of the second-stage comparator is 0, after being processed by the delay device, the pulse entering the third-stage comparator is consistent with the pulse entering the second stage; when the output result of the second-stage comparator is 1, after being processed by the subtractor, the pulse amplitude is reduced by the previous comparison threshold, and V is reduced. 64 .

[0161] 4) Accordingly, the amplitude of the pulse to be measured can be selectively and dynamically adjusted by referring to steps 2) and 3). When the total energy channel address is 256, the comparison thresholds of the fourth to eighth comparators can be set by the corresponding amplitude representation values ​​of the 16th, 8th, 4th, 2nd, and 1st channel addresses, respectively. For example, the upper limit of the amplitude range of the energy channel address can be set as V16 , V8, V4, V2, V1 indicates.

[0162] 5) Count the output results of each comparator level to determine the channel address that the pulse to be measured falls into. For example, when the output of the 8-level comparator is binary 00000000, the energy of the corresponding pulse is the 1st channel address. Starting from 00000000, each increase of 1 corresponds to an increase of one energy channel address. When the output of the 8-level comparator is binary 10000000, the energy of the corresponding pulse is the 129th channel address. When the output of the 8-level comparator is binary 11111111, the energy of the corresponding pulse is the 256th channel address.

[0163] 5 and 6 , another embodiment of the present application is shown. In the embodiments shown in FIG5 and 6 , the track address of each pulse to be tested can be determined by non-dynamic processing of the gate output.

[0164] In the embodiment shown in FIG5 , step S140 may include:

[0165] S510: Inputting each pulse to be tested into a multi-stage gate array so that the pulse to be tested passes through each stage of the gate of the multi-stage gate array in sequence;

[0166] S520: Before the pulse to be tested passes through each level of the gate, compare the pulse to be tested with the comparator associated with the gate it passes through, set the gate according to the comparison result, and determine the gate branch of the gate that outputs the pulse to be tested; and

[0167] S530: Determine the channel address corresponding to the pulse to be measured according to the output of the multi-stage gate array.

[0168] In the embodiment of the present application shown in Figures 5 and 6, a specific example of determining the channel address of each pulse to be measured by non-dynamic processing of the gate output is provided. Figure 6 shows the second module architecture diagram for determining the channel address of the pulse to be measured. In this specific example, the number of energy channel addresses can also be 256, and the amplitude representation value thereof is V1-V 256 express.

[0169] As shown in FIG6 , the module architecture, which may also be referred to as the channel address determination unit 600, may include a multi-stage gate array, and each gate 611, 612, 612′, 613, ..., 618 has an associated comparator 621. For the sake of simplicity, FIG6 only shows the comparator 621 associated with the first-stage gate 611. In addition, although not shown in FIG6 , it is contemplated that the module architecture may also include a processing unit.

[0170] 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 pulse to be tested. The gate of the non-last stage is connected to the two gates of the next stage through the first and second gate branches respectively, and the first and second gate branches 6181 and 6182 of the last stage gate can serve as the output of the multi-stage gate array.

[0171] In an embodiment of the present application, a multi-stage gate array can be constructed based on a binary division method. In a further specific embodiment, the first-stage gate corresponds to a first channel address determined by dividing the total number of channel addresses by two, and the first channel address defines two channel address intervals for the next-stage gate. The remaining gates correspond to a second channel address determined by dividing the channel address interval defined by the connected upper-stage gate by two, and the second channel address defines two channel address intervals for the next-stage gate or for output. Accordingly, the comparison threshold of each comparator is determined by the amplitude representation value of the channel address corresponding to the associated gate.

[0172] In the specific example shown in FIG6 , the channel address corresponding to the first-stage gate 611 can be determined by binary division of the total energy channel address number, such as the 128th channel address, and correspondingly, two channel address intervals for the lower-stage gates 612 and 612′ are defined, such as the 1st channel address to the 128th channel address, i.e., [1,128], and the 129th channel address to the 256th channel address, i.e., [129,256]. Accordingly, the comparison threshold of the comparator 621 associated with the first-stage gate 611 can be determined based on the amplitude representation value of the 128th channel address, such as V 128 .

[0173] Furthermore, in the embodiment shown in FIG6 , the two track address intervals can be allocated accordingly based on the gate branch connected to the lower-stage gate. As shown in FIG6 , the second-stage gate 612 of the first gate branch 6111 connected to the first-stage gate 611 can allocate the track address interval from the 1st track address to the 128th track address, and correspondingly corresponds to the track address corresponding to the binary division of this track address interval, such as track address 64. As shown in FIG6 , the second-stage gate 612′ of the second gate branch 6112 connected to the first-stage gate 611 can allocate the track address interval from the 129th track address to the 256th track address, and correspondingly corresponds to the track address corresponding to the binary division of this track address interval, such as track address 192. Accordingly, the comparison threshold of the comparator (not shown) associated with the second-stage selector 612 can be determined according to the amplitude characterization value of the 64th channel address, such as V64; the comparison threshold of the comparator (not shown) associated with the second-stage selector 612' can be determined according to the amplitude characterization value of the 192nd channel address, such as V192.

[0174] Here, the channel address corresponding to the gate of the subsequent level and the comparison threshold of the associated comparator can be determined accordingly.

[0175] Thus, it will be understood that the two gate branches of the last-stage (e.g., eighth-stage) gate can constitute the output of the multi-stage gate, and the track address into which the pulse to be measured falls can be determined based on the output of the multi-stage gate. For example, as shown in FIG6 , when the first gate branch 6181 of the eighth-stage gate 618 outputs the pulse to be measured, it means that the pulse to be measured falls within the first track address.

[0176] It will be understood that the method features or module architecture features described in other embodiments can be combined with the embodiments shown in Figures 5 and 6 in a non-contradictory manner as needed.

[0177] In another embodiment, as described above, the track addresses where pulses, such as scintillation pulses, fall can be counted by setting a dynamic comparison threshold.

[0178] In a further embodiment, setting the dynamic comparison threshold may be achieved through multi-level comparison or single-level comparison.

[0179] In the embodiment shown in FIG7 , it is shown that the dynamic comparison threshold is set by multi-level comparison. Specifically, step S140 may include:

[0180] S710: performing a first-level comparison of a multi-level comparison on the amplitude of each pulse to be measured to determine the channel address interval into which the pulse to be measured falls, wherein each level of comparison defines at least two channel address intervals by at least one comparison threshold;

[0181] S720: performing the next level of comparison in sequence to determine the channel address interval into which the pulse to be measured falls, until the last level of comparison is completed, wherein the comparison threshold of the next level of comparison is determined according to the channel address interval determined by the previous level of comparison; and

[0182] S730: Determine the channel address where the pulse to be tested falls according to the comparison result of the last level.

[0183] In the embodiment of the present application, by assigning a dynamically changing threshold value to the comparator, it is possible to count the scintillation pulses according to the energy channel.

[0184] By way of explanation and not limitation, the aforementioned multi-level comparison can be implemented using different types of multi-level comparison units, and the address determination unit may be or include such a multi-level comparison unit. It is contemplated that the modular architecture of the multi-level comparison unit may or may not include a "physical" multi-level comparison structure, as long as dynamic threshold-based multi-level comparison can be implemented. The embodiments of the present application are intended to encompass both scenarios.

[0185] For example, in some embodiments, a multi-level comparison without a "physical" multi-level comparison structure can be implemented by connecting a single or multiple comparators to multiple parallel delay lines, where multiple different comparisons in the same level or comparisons of different levels can be implemented by different delays of the delay lines combined with adjustable comparators.

[0186] For example, in another embodiment, a "physical" multi-level comparison structure corresponding to the multi-level comparison can be provided, the number of levels of the "physical" multi-level comparison structure corresponds to the number of levels of the multi-level comparison, and the number of comparators in each level of the comparison structure corresponds to the number of comparisons in each level.

[0187] The exemplary module architecture of the above embodiment will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0188] In some preferred embodiments, the number of comparison thresholds for each level of comparison is the same, so that the number of address intervals defined by the comparison thresholds for each level of comparison is the same.

[0189] In a further preferred embodiment, the interval of track addresses defined by the comparison thresholds at each level of comparison is evenly divided. In a specific embodiment, the comparison thresholds set for the first level of comparison are such that the interval of track addresses defined by the comparison thresholds at the first level of comparison evenly divides the plurality of track addresses; and the comparison thresholds set for the next level of comparison are such that the interval of track addresses defined by the comparison thresholds at the next level of comparison evenly divides the interval of track addresses determined by the previous level of comparison.

[0190] Specifically, the total energy channel number is N = m n (e.g. N=256) as an example, a dynamic threshold can be set to perform (m-1)×n (m is greater than or equal to 2) threshold comparisons on the scintillation pulse to be tested to determine the m range in which the pulse falls. n An energy channel address among the channels, where n is the number of levels and m is the number of pulse (maximum) amplitude intervals defined by the preset (m-1) comparison thresholds in each level. It will be appreciated that, given the correspondence between energy channels, energy intervals, and pulse amplitude intervals, the embodiments of the present application encompass equivalent replacements for dividing the energy channels into m amplitude intervals, energy intervals, and / or channel address intervals.

[0191] As mentioned above, the module architecture of the multi-stage comparison unit may not have a “physical” multi-stage comparison structure, such as being realized by different delays of the delay circuit combined with an adjustable comparator.

[0192] In this embodiment, the multi-stage comparison is implemented by a first multi-stage comparison unit that does not have a physical multi-stage comparison structure. The first multi-stage comparison unit may include a plurality of parallel delay lines connected to a pulse input to be measured, an adjustable comparator connected to the delay lines, and an arbiter operatively connected to the adjustable comparator, wherein at least some of the delay lines have different delay times.

[0193] In a further embodiment, there is a single adjustable comparator, and the delay times of the multiple parallel delay lines are all different.

[0194] In a further embodiment, the total energy channel number is N=m n For example, N=256, a maximum of (m-1)×n (m is greater than or equal to 2) threshold comparisons are performed on the flicker pulse to be measured, which can be achieved by using only (m-1)×n parallel delay circuits combined with a single comparator.

[0195] The embodiments shown in Figures 8 and 10 utilize only one comparator in combination with a delay circuit to achieve energy channel division of the pulse signal. The threshold set at the negative input of the comparator is determined by an arbitrator. By equipping the corresponding delay circuits, different comparison thresholds can be set when receiving pulse signals with different delays. Specifically, when a pulse signal is externally input into the first multi-stage comparison unit, it is fed into several circuits with varying delays. These multiple circuits ultimately input the signal into the positive input of the same comparator, meaning that the pulse is input into the comparator at several time points at regular intervals.

[0196] The embodiments of the present application cover different ways of setting the comparator threshold and corresponding matching methods of the delay circuit.

[0197] In the embodiment shown in FIG8 , the comparison threshold value for each level of comparison is 1, thereby defining two track address intervals in binary, ie, m=2.

[0198] As shown in Figure 8, the total energy channel number is N = m n Taking (e.g., N=256) as an example ( FIG. 9 ), the first multi-stage comparison unit 800 includes a plurality of (8) delay lines 8101 - 8108 with unequal delays, an adjustable comparator 820 connected to the delay lines 8101 - 8108 , and an arbiter 830 operatively connected to the adjustable comparator 820 .

[0199] The comparison process is described below with reference to FIG8 and FIG9.

[0200] When the pulse signal is input into the first-stage comparison unit 800, it will be sent into multiple (8) delay lines 8101-8108 with different delays. These multiple (8) delay lines 8101-8108 with different delays are input into the positive input end of the same adjustable comparator 820, that is, the pulse is input into the comparator at eight time points at certain time intervals.

[0201] The threshold value set at the negative input terminal of the adjustable comparator 820 is determined by the arbitrator 830. The arbitrator can set the comparison threshold value of the adjustable comparator 820 according to the amplitude representation value of the set channel address, so that the pulse amplitudes corresponding to different pulse energies are sequentially input into the negative input terminal of the comparator for comparison with the pulse to be measured.

[0202] Take the binary multi-level comparison schematically shown in FIG9 as an example. If the total energy channel number is N=m n (e.g. N=256), i.e. 2 8 The channel address is compared (2-1) × 8 = 8 times. The unequal delays are schematically illustrated in Figure 8 by a different number of delay devices, meaning that the input is passed through eight different delays (achieving the effect of looping a signal eight times). In the embodiments shown in Figures 8 and 9, eight levels of comparison are implemented, with each level having a single comparison threshold. However, there is no physical eight-level comparison structure; instead, only one adjustable comparator is used.

[0203] Continuing to refer to FIG9, first, in the first level comparison, two channel address intervals are obtained based on the total energy channel address number, namely, the 1st to 128th channel address and the 129th to 256th channel address (which can also be expressed as an amplitude interval, such as V1-V 128 and V 129 -V 256 ), the corresponding comparison threshold is the amplitude representation value of the 128th channel address, such as V 128 .

[0204] After the first level comparison, if the pulse signal amplitude can cross the comparison threshold V 128 , then the first level comparison result is that the pulse amplitude is at V 129 -V 256 , then the second level comparison threshold is determined based on the channel address interval (amplitude interval) into which the pulse signal determined by the first level comparison falls, which can be set to V 192 , thus further dividing the second level into two address intervals (amplitude intervals), such as V 129 -V 192 、V 193 To V 256 .

[0205] After the second level comparison, if the pulse signal amplitude can cross the comparison threshold V 192 , then the second level comparison result is the amplitude between V 193 -V 256 Therefore, the third level comparison threshold can be determined based on the channel address interval (amplitude interval) determined by the second level comparison, for example, it can be set to V 224 , thus further dividing the two channel address intervals (amplitude intervals) of the third level into two parts, such as V 193 -V 224 、V 225 To V 256 .

[0206] After the third level comparison, if the pulse signal amplitude can cross the comparison threshold V 224 , then the third level comparison result is the amplitude between V225 -V 256 Therefore, the fourth level comparison threshold can be determined based on the channel address interval (amplitude interval) determined by the third level comparison, for example, it can be set to V 240 , thus further dividing the fourth level into two address intervals (amplitude intervals), such as V 225 -V 240 、V 241 To V 256 .

[0207] After the fourth level comparison, if the pulse signal amplitude can cross the threshold V 240 , then the fourth level comparison result is the amplitude between V 241 -V 256 Therefore, the fifth level comparison threshold can be determined based on the channel address interval (amplitude interval) determined by the fourth level comparison, for example, it can be set to V 248 , thus further dividing the fifth level into two address intervals (amplitude intervals), such as V 241 -V 248 、V 249 To V 256 .

[0208] After the fifth level comparison, if the pulse signal amplitude can cross the threshold V 248 , then the fifth level comparison result is the amplitude between V 249 -V 256 Therefore, the comparison threshold of the sixth level can be determined based on the channel address interval (amplitude interval) determined by the fifth level comparison, for example, it can be set to V 252 , thus further dividing the six-level two channel address intervals (amplitude intervals), such as V 249 -V 252 、V 253 To V 256 .

[0209] After the sixth level comparison, if the pulse signal amplitude can cross the threshold V 252 , then the sixth level comparison result is the amplitude between V 253 -V 256 Therefore, the comparison threshold of the seventh level can be determined based on the channel address interval (amplitude interval) determined by the sixth level comparison, for example, it can be set to V 254 , thus further dividing the seventh level into two address intervals (amplitude intervals), such as V 253 -V 254 、V 255 To V 256 .

[0210] After the seventh level comparison, if the pulse signal amplitude can cross the threshold V 254, then the seventh level comparison result is the amplitude between V 255 -V 256 Therefore, the comparison threshold of the eighth level can be determined based on the channel address interval (amplitude interval) determined by the seventh level comparison, for example, it can be set to V 255 , thus further dividing the eighth level into two address intervals (amplitude intervals), here are two address (amplitude), such as V 255 、V 256 The pulse signal amplitude can exceed the comparison threshold V 255 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 255 (Not included)-V 256 If the pulse signal is between 256 and 256, the energy channel address of the pulse (amplitude) can be determined by comparing the energy channel address 8 times.

[0211] Here, after the pulses on all delay lines pass through the comparator, the specific channel address to which the pulse corresponds can be determined based on the output result of the comparator.

[0212] In the embodiment of the present application, the arbitrator may be implemented by a microcontroller unit (MCU), and the arbitrator may control the change of the comparison threshold value by a digital-to-analog converter (DAC).

[0213] As mentioned above, the traditional MVT method uses fixed thresholds and complex fitting calculations, is limited to specific energy segments, requires precise time information, and has dead time. This leads to disadvantages such as low processing efficiency, high hardware resource consumption, and poor high-temperature tolerance. In contrast, the present embodiment directly samples unknown pulses and classifies them into corresponding energy channels through dynamic threshold setting and a simplified processing process. In this way, there is no need for fitting calculations, TDC, and precise time information. Compared with traditional methods, this solution simplifies the pulse energy acquisition process, saves hardware resources, reduces FPGA power consumption, and improves high-temperature tolerance. In addition, the present invention significantly shortens dead time through threshold comparison and table lookup operations, can achieve continuous pulse processing, and effectively improves system performance.

[0214] It is contemplated that in other embodiments, the comparison threshold at each level may be greater than 1.

[0215] In the embodiment shown in FIG10 , the comparison thresholds of each level are 3, thereby defining four channel address intervals, that is, m=4. Similarly, the total energy channel address number is N=m n (eg, N=256) as an example, the multi-level comparison is 4 levels, and each level has 3 comparison thresholds.

[0216] Similar to the embodiment shown in FIG8 , in the embodiment shown in FIG10 , only one comparator is used in combination with a delay circuit to implement energy channel division of a pulse signal, and the threshold value set at the negative input terminal of the comparator is determined by an arbitrator.

[0217] As shown in FIG. 10 , the first multi-stage comparison unit 1000 includes a plurality of (12) delay lines 10101 - 10112 with different delays, an adjustable comparator 1020 connected to the delay lines 10101 - 10112 , and an arbiter 1030 operatively connected to the adjustable comparator 1020 .

[0218] The comparison process is described below with reference to FIG10 and FIG11.

[0219] As mentioned above, in the embodiment shown in FIG10 , the module architecture of the first multi-stage comparison unit 1000 may not have a “physical” multi-stage comparison structure, but may implement multi-stage comparison through multiple parallel delay lines and a single adjustable comparator.

[0220] In the specific embodiment shown in Figure 10, after the first-level comparison, the channel address interval determined by the first-level comparison is divided into four equal parts, and the arbitrator sets the corresponding comparison threshold for the second-level comparison in turn. According to the second-level comparison result, the channel address interval determined by the second-level comparison is further divided into four equal parts, thereby completing all multi-level comparisons in sequence.

[0221] Therefore, depending on the channel address range a pulse falls into, if each stage only requires one comparison threshold comparison to determine the channel address range a pulse falls into, then a minimum of four comparisons are required to determine the energy channel address. If each stage requires three comparison threshold comparisons to determine the channel address range, then a maximum of 12 comparisons are required to determine the energy channel address. Accordingly, since there is no "physical" multi-level comparison structure, the aforementioned multiple (12) delay circuits 10101-10112 with varying delays can dynamically adapt to different comparison times for the multi-level comparison, such as between 4 and 12 times. In the embodiment shown in FIG10 , for comparisons at the same level, the comparison thresholds used for comparison are preferably arranged from small to large.

[0222] 10 and 11 , a specific example of defining four track address intervals by four divisions will be described.

[0223] In the first level comparison, the arbiter 1030 may set three comparison thresholds for the first level comparison, such as V 64 、V 128 、V 192 Preferably, in the first level comparison, V is compared in ascending order. 64 、V 128 、V 192, and after determining the track address interval that the pulse falls into, the remaining comparison thresholds may no longer be compared. For example, in the example shown in FIG11 , the pulse is at the 193rd track address, and its corresponding amplitude representation value is, for example, represented by V 193 As a result, the pulse amplitude successively crosses the first comparison threshold V 64 , the second comparison threshold V 128 , the third comparison threshold V 192 From this, we can determine that the amplitude range of the pulse is V 193 -V 256 , that is, located in the range of track addresses 193 to 256.

[0224] In the second level comparison, the arbiter 1030 can determine the channel address interval (amplitude interval) is located between V1(0)-V 64 、V 65 -V 128 、V 129 -V 192 or V 193 -V 256 Which one (such as the aforementioned V 193 -V 256 ), and accordingly set three comparison thresholds for the second level comparison in the track address interval determined by the first level comparison to divide the track address interval determined by the first level comparison into four equal parts, thereby completing all four levels of comparison in sequence.

[0225] For example, assuming that the pulse amplitude is located at the 1st to 64th track addresses, specifically the 1st to 4th track addresses (not shown), that is, 0-V 64 (Specifically V4):

[0226] First, set the first comparison threshold (minimum threshold) V for the comparator. 64 If the first pulse signal entering the comparator is compared with the threshold, if it cannot cross the threshold, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between 0-V 64 between;

[0227] Furthermore, the second level comparison threshold is set for the comparator, and the first comparison threshold (minimum threshold) V that is set to the second level for the comparator is selected. 16 The second pulse signal after delay is input to the comparator. If it fails to cross the threshold V 16 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is between 0-V 16 between;

[0228] Furthermore, a third-level comparison threshold is set for the comparator threshold. The first comparison threshold (minimum threshold) V4 of the third level is selected and set for the comparator. The delayed third pulse signal is input to the comparator. If it cannot cross the threshold V4, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between 0 and V4.

[0229] Furthermore, a fourth-level comparison threshold is set for the comparator threshold, and the first comparison threshold (minimum threshold) V1 of the fourth level is selected to be set for the comparator first. The delayed pulse signal is input into the comparator. If it cannot cross the threshold V1, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between 0-V1, that is, it is located at the first energy channel; if the pulse signal crosses V1, the second comparison threshold V2 of the fourth level is set for the comparator. If it cannot cross the threshold V2, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between V1-V2, that is, it is located at the second energy channel; if the pulse signal crosses V2, the third comparison threshold V3 of the fourth level is set for the comparator. If it cannot cross the threshold V3, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between V2-V3, that is, it is located at the third energy channel; if the pulse signal crosses V3, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between V3-V4, that is, it is located at the fourth energy channel.

[0230] Therefore, the embodiment shown in FIG10 that uses the quartering method to determine the comparison threshold has the advantages of the simple embodiment shown in FIG8 that uses the binary method to determine the comparison threshold. In addition, the embodiment shown in FIG10 implements bit-expanded dynamic threshold spectrum formation by using the quartering method, thereby having better working 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 requirements of the application scenario.

[0231] Different from the embodiment shown in FIG. 10 , the embodiment shown in FIG. 12 uses multiple comparators combined with delay circuits to implement energy channel division of pulse signals.

[0232] Therefore, in the embodiment shown in FIG12 , there are multiple adjustable comparators, different comparators are connected to different delay lines, and the delay times of the delay lines connected to the same comparator are all different.

[0233] As shown in FIG12 , the first multi-stage comparison unit 1200 includes a plurality (12) of delay lines 12101-12112 with varying delays, a plurality (3) of adjustable comparators 1221-1223, and an arbiter 1230 operatively connected to the adjustable comparators 1221-1223. The plurality (12) of delay lines 12101-12112 with varying delays are divided into a plurality of groups of delay lines corresponding to the plurality (3) of adjustable comparators 1221-1223, with each group connected to an adjustable comparator. Delay lines in the same group connected to the same adjustable comparator, such as 12101-12104, 12105-12108, or 12109-12112, have different delay times. However, as shown in FIG12 , each group of delay lines may have the same delay configuration.

[0234] Here, referring to the embodiments described in FIG. 8 and FIG. 10 , the first multi-level comparison unit 1200 shown in FIG. 12 can be used to implement multi-level comparison based on dynamic comparison thresholds, which will not be described in detail here.

[0235] In a preferred embodiment, the number of the plurality of adjustable comparators may correspond to the number of comparison thresholds for each level of comparison. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG12 , the number of adjustable comparators (3) corresponds to the number of comparison thresholds for each level based on the four-division method. In this preferred embodiment, it is possible to perform comparisons of different comparison thresholds at the same level simultaneously.

[0236] As mentioned above, a "physical" multi-level comparison structure corresponding to the multi-level comparison can also be provided to assign a dynamically changing threshold value to the comparator, thereby realizing the counting of scintillation pulses according to the energy address.

[0237] The following describes an exemplary module architecture of an embodiment having a "physical" multi-level comparison structure in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, the multi-level comparison is implemented by a second multi-level comparison unit having a physical multi-level comparison structure. The second multi-level comparison unit includes a plurality of comparator sub-units connected to a pulse input to be measured and an arbiter operatively connected to the plurality of comparator sub-units. Each comparator sub-unit corresponds to one of the multi-level comparisons and includes a single or multiple parallel adjustable comparators. Delays are provided between adjacent comparator sub-units.

[0238] In some preferred embodiments, the number of comparison thresholds for each level of comparison is the same, so that the number of address intervals defined by the comparison thresholds for each level of comparison is the same.

[0239] In a further embodiment, the total energy channel number is N=m nFor example, (for example, N=256), a maximum of (m-1)×n (m is greater than or equal to 2) threshold comparisons are performed on the flicker pulse to be tested. This can also be achieved by using n-level comparator subunits (each level of comparator subunit has (m-1) comparators) combined with delay devices between adjacent multi-level comparator subunits.

[0240] In the embodiment shown in FIG13 , a physical multi-stage comparator subunit (8 stages) is provided, and the number of physical comparators in each stage is 1, thereby defining two address intervals in two parts, ie, m=2.

[0241] In terms of multi-level comparison, the embodiment shown in FIG13 is similar to the embodiment shown in FIG8. Referring to FIG13 and FIG9, if the total energy channel number is N=m n (e.g. N=256), i.e. 2 8 The address will be compared (2-1)×8=8 times.

[0242] Thus, as shown in FIG13 , the second multi-level comparison unit 1300 includes a plurality of (8) comparator sub-units 1310 connected to the pulse input to be measured and an arbiter 1320 operatively connected to the plurality of comparator sub-units 1310, wherein each comparator sub-unit 1310 corresponds to one of the plurality of (8) levels of comparison and includes a single adjustable comparator 1311, and a delay device 1330 is provided between adjacent comparator sub-units.

[0243] Continuing with Figures 13 and 9 , each stage can employ a comparator to perform comparisons with the pulse peak voltage. Each comparison is performed between two channel ranges (amplitude ranges), i.e., above or below the comparison threshold set by the comparator at that stage. After eight levels of comparison, it is possible to determine which of the 256 channels the pulse falls into, thereby forming, for example, a 256-channel energy spectrum. In the example shown in Figure 13 , a threshold voltage can be input to the negative input of the adjustable comparator of each comparator subunit, and delays can be provided between each comparator subunit to provide a small delay (e.g., 5 ns). Consequently, a pulse signal serially input to the positive inputs of the comparators of the eight comparator subunits is processed by each of the eight comparator subunits with varying delay times. After passing through the final comparator stage, e.g., the eighth stage, it is possible to determine which energy channel the pulse, such as a scintillation pulse, falls into.

[0244] 9 , a specific example of using the second multi-stage comparison unit 1300 shown in FIG. 13 to determine the pulse amplitude interval corresponding to the energy channel address of the pulse amplitude of an input pulse, such as a scintillation pulse signal, based on a binary method will be described below.

[0245] According to the binary search method, the middle energy channel between 1 and 256 is the 128th energy channel. Based on this, the first comparison threshold, representing the amplitude of the 128th energy channel, can be set for the comparator in the first-stage comparator subunit. This comparison threshold defines two channel intervals: the 1-128th energy channel and the 129-256th energy channel. By comparing the input pulse signal amplitude with the first comparison threshold, it is determined whether the pulse signal falls within the 1-128th energy channel interval or the pulse peak interval corresponding to the 129-256th energy channel. If the comparator output is 1, indicating that the input signal's pulse peak has exceeded the pulse amplitude representation value corresponding to the 128th energy channel, the input pulse signal falls within the 129-256th channel interval. If the comparator output is 0, indicating that the input signal's pulse peak has not exceeded the pulse amplitude representation value corresponding to the 128th energy channel, the input pulse signal's peak value falls within the 1-128th channel interval. The comparison result of the comparator of the first-stage comparator sub-unit is input into the arbiter. The arbiter determines which energy channel interval, or the pulse amplitude interval corresponding to the energy channel interval, the input pulse signal is located in based on the comparison result. The arbiter then uses a binary method to set a comparison threshold for the comparator of the second-stage comparator sub-unit based on the energy channel interval. This continues until the comparator of the last-stage comparator sub-unit determines which energy channel the input scintillation pulse signal is located in. The counting unit can then, for example, increment the pulse count within the energy channel by 1. For example, taking 256 energy channels as an example, the first channel address may correspond to 00000000, and the 256th channel address may correspond to 11111111.

[0246] It will be understood that if a more accurate energy spectrum is required, the length of the comparator chain, ie the number of comparators in each stage and the number of comparator stages, can be increased.

[0247] As mentioned above, the traditional MVT method uses fixed thresholds and complex fitting calculations, is limited to specific energy segments, requires precise time information, and has dead time. This leads to disadvantages such as low processing efficiency, high hardware resource consumption, and poor high-temperature tolerance. In contrast, the present embodiment directly samples unknown pulses and classifies them into corresponding energy channels through dynamic threshold setting and a simplified processing process. In this way, there is no need for fitting calculations, TDC, and precise time information. Compared with traditional methods, this solution simplifies the pulse energy acquisition process, saves hardware resources, reduces FPGA power consumption, and improves high-temperature tolerance. In addition, the present invention significantly shortens dead time through threshold comparison and table lookup operations, can achieve continuous pulse processing, and effectively improves system performance.

[0248] In the embodiment shown in FIG14 , a physical multi-stage comparator subunit (4 stages) is provided, and the number of physical comparators in each stage is 3, thereby defining four channel address intervals, ie, m=4.

[0249] In terms of multi-level comparison, the embodiment shown in FIG14 is similar to the embodiment shown in FIG10. Referring to FIG14 and FIG11, if the total energy channel number is N=m n (e.g. N=256), i.e. 2 8 The address will be compared 4 times.

[0250] Therefore, as shown in Figure 14, the second multi-level comparison unit 1400 includes multiple (4) comparator sub-units 1410 connected to the pulse input to be measured and an arbiter 1420 operatively connected to the multiple comparator sub-units 1410, wherein each comparator sub-unit 1410 corresponds to one of the multiple (4) levels of comparison and includes multiple (3) parallel adjustable comparators 1411-1413, and a delay device 1430 is arranged between adjacent comparator sub-units.

[0251] It will be understood that the features of the embodiments shown in Figures 10 and 13 can be combined with the embodiment of Figure 14 in a non-contradictory manner as needed to obtain a new embodiment, and will not be repeated here.

[0252] 11 , a specific example of using the second multi-stage comparison unit 1400 shown in FIG. 14 to determine the pulse amplitude interval corresponding to the energy channel address of the pulse amplitude of an input pulse, such as a scintillation pulse signal, based on the quartering method will be described below.

[0253] In the specific example shown in FIG14 , a physical four-stage comparator subunit 1410 is provided, each stage of which has three physical adjustable comparators, thereby defining four channel address intervals (or four energy intervals or amplitude intervals). Here, it can be expressed as n=4, m=4, that is, there are n=4 levels of comparison, each level dividing the unknown energy range into m=4 energy intervals.

[0254] With reference to FIG14 and FIG11, the negative input terminals of the three comparators of the first-stage comparator subunit can determine the three comparison thresholds of the first stage based on the 64th, 128th, and 192th channels of the four-divided 256 channels, for example, represented by V 64 ,V 128 ,V 192 If the pulse amplitude (peak value) to be measured only exceeds V 64 Without crossing the V 128 , the arbitrator can determine that the energy of the pulse is between the 64th and 128th channels. Therefore, in the second level comparison, the arbitrator will use the channel address interval determined by the comparison result of the previous level, such as V 65 -V 128 , set the thresholds of the three comparators of the second-level comparator subunit, and set the interval [V 65 ,V 128] is divided into four equal parts, and so on, completing the four-level comparison, and finally determining the specific channel address of the pulse on the energy spectrum.

[0255] Therefore, the embodiment shown in FIG14 that uses the quartering method to determine the comparison threshold has the advantages of the simple embodiment shown in FIG13 that uses the binary method to determine the comparison threshold. In addition, the embodiment shown in FIG14 implements a bit-expanded dynamic threshold spectrum by using the quartering method, thereby having better working 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 requirements of the application scenario.

[0256] In the embodiments shown in Figures 8 to 14, the comparison threshold of the first level comparison is determined based on the total number of the plurality of track addresses. However, it is conceivable to determine the comparison threshold of the first level comparison based on pulse characteristics or other features to reduce the number of comparisons.

[0257] In one embodiment, the comparison threshold of the first level comparison can be determined based on a given a priori track address interval. It will be understood that the a priori track address interval can cover the corresponding energy interval, amplitude interval, and the like.

[0258] In some embodiments, the given a priori track address interval is 1, and the comparison threshold of the first level comparison is 1 and is determined according to the amplitude representation value of one of the endpoint track addresses of the a priori track address interval.

[0259] In one example, for example, the total energy channel number is still N=m n For example, N = 256, a priori track address interval is determined to be less than a certain track address, such as less than 64 tracks, based on the pulse characteristics. The first-level comparison threshold can be determined based on the priori interval. More specifically, the comparison threshold can be determined based on the endpoint (upper end) track address of the priori track address interval (such as the 64th track address), for example, according to the amplitude characteristic value corresponding to the 64th track address, for example, V 64 It will be understood that the a priori channel address interval can be set according to different pulse characteristics. For example, in pulse neutron saturation logging, considering that the channel address corresponding to about 80% of the pulse energy of the scintillation pulse corresponding to the gamma ray is less than 64, the channel address interval is set to be less than 64 channels, and then, as mentioned above, the comparison threshold of the first comparison is set to V 64 .

[0260] In the embodiment of the present application, in the first level comparison, it can be determined whether the pulse is located in the a priori track address interval (in the low energy segment) or not in the a priori track address interval (in the high energy segment). Then, in the subsequent level comparison, the comparison threshold can be dynamically set according to the principle of binary or quarter division.

[0261] An embodiment of determining the comparison threshold of the first-level comparison based on a given prior address interval can be implemented in a multi-level comparison unit according to the embodiment of the present application, that is, it can be implemented based on a module architecture of a delay line combined with a comparator, or it can be implemented based on a "physical" multi-level comparator sub-unit structure, such as those multi-level comparison units shown in Figures 8, 10, 12, 13, and 14, or similar structures thereof.

[0262] The following describes an embodiment of determining a comparison threshold for a first-level comparison based on a given a priori track address interval using the second multi-level comparison unit 1500 shown in FIG15 as an example. In this embodiment, non-first-level comparisons are implemented using a binary search method. The second multi-level comparison unit 1500 shown in FIG15 is similar to the second multi-level comparison unit 1300 shown in FIG13 , except that the second multi-level comparison unit 1500 shown in FIG15 includes two additional stages of comparator sub-units, for a total of ten stages of comparator sub-units 1510.

[0263] In addition, this embodiment differs from the embodiment described above in conjunction with FIG. 13 and FIG. 9 in that, in this embodiment, the comparison threshold of the comparator 1511 in the first-stage comparator subunit 1510 is set according to the upper endpoint (the 64th track address) of the aforementioned prior track address interval, for example, V 64 .

[0264] If the comparison result of the first level comparison is that the pulse energy is within the a priori address range (in the low energy range), the pulse amplitude is between 0-V 64 , then the comparison threshold of the comparator in the second-stage comparator subunit can be set to V 32 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude can exceed the threshold V 32 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 32 -V 64 The comparison threshold of the comparator in the third-level comparator subunit can be set to V according to the dichotomy method. 48 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V 48 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 32 -V 48 The comparison threshold of the comparator in the fourth-level comparator subunit can be set to V according to the dichotomy method. 40 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V 40 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 32 -V 40 The comparison threshold of the comparator in the fifth-level comparator subunit can be set to V according to the dichotomy method. 36 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V 36 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 32 -V 36The comparison threshold of the comparator in the sixth-level comparator subunit can be set to V according to the dichotomy method. 34 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V 34 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 32 -V 34 The comparison threshold of the comparator in the seventh-level comparator subunit can be set to V according to the dichotomy method. 33 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V 33 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 32 -V 33 It can be seen that the energy channel address corresponding to the pulse amplitude is determined after 7 levels of comparison.

[0265] In an example where the track addresses corresponding to approximately 80% of the pulse energy of the scintillation pulse are all lower than 64, the number of comparisons for 80% of the pulses is reduced by one.

[0266] If the comparison result of the first level comparison is that the pulse energy belongs to the high energy range (i.e. outside the a priori address range), the pulse amplitude is located at V 64 -V 256 , then the comparison threshold of the comparator in the second-stage comparator subunit can be set to V 160 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude can exceed the threshold V 160 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 160 -V 256 The comparison threshold of the comparator in the third-level comparator subunit can be set to V according to the dichotomy method. 208 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V 208 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 160 -V 208 The comparison threshold of the comparator in the fourth-level comparator subunit can be set to V according to the dichotomy method. 184 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V 184 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 160 -V 184 The comparison threshold of the comparator in the fifth-level comparator subunit can be set to V according to the dichotomy method. 172 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude can exceed the threshold V 172 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 172 -V 184 The comparison threshold of the comparator in the sixth-level comparator subunit can be set to V according to the dichotomy method. 178 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V 178 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 172-V 178 The comparison threshold of the comparator in the seventh-level comparator subunit can be set to V according to the dichotomy method. 175 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude can exceed the threshold V 175 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 175 -V 178 The comparison threshold of the comparator in the eighth-level comparator subunit can be set to V according to the dichotomy method. 177 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude can exceed the threshold V 177 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 177 -V 178 Between, located at the 178th energy channel; if the pulse signal cannot cross the threshold V 177 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 175 -V 177 Then, the comparison threshold of the comparator in the ninth-level comparator subunit can be set to V according to the dichotomy method. 176 , assuming that the pulse signal amplitude can exceed the threshold V 176 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 176 -V 177 It is located at the 177th energy channel. It can be seen that the energy channel corresponding to the pulse amplitude is determined after 8-10 level comparisons.

[0267] In the example where the channel addresses corresponding to approximately 80% of the pulse energy of the scintillation pulses are all lower than 64, since only approximately 20% of the pulses are located in the high-energy segment (i.e., outside the a priori channel address interval), although the number of these scintillation pulses is increased by 1-2 times, a significant reduction in the comparison amount can still be achieved for all pulses to be tested.

[0268] Therefore, except for the first-stage comparator sub-unit, the negative input terminal of the comparator of each subsequent comparator sub-unit will be determined based on the output result of the previous-stage comparator sub-unit. The arbitrator will select the threshold voltage to be set for the negative input terminal of the comparator of the next-stage comparator sub-unit based on the energy range divided by the result using the dichotomy principle, and a delay device is provided between each stage of the comparator sub-unit to form a small delay (for example, 5ns). As a result, the pulse signals serially input to the positive input terminals of the comparators of multiple comparator sub-units are processed by the multiple comparator sub-units with different delay times. After passing through the last-stage comparator (determined by the arbitrator based on the output result of the first-stage comparator), it can be determined at which energy channel the pulse, such as the flicker pulse, is located.

[0269] It is conceivable that the multi-stage comparison in the above embodiment can be implemented by modifying the first multi-stage comparison unit shown in FIG. 8 , for example, by adding two delay lines.

[0270] In addition, in the embodiment where the comparison threshold of the first-level comparison is determined according to a given a priori track address interval, the non-first-level comparison can be implemented by a four-division method.

[0271] The following describes an embodiment of determining a comparison threshold for a first-level comparison based on a given a priori track address interval using the second multi-level comparison unit 1600 shown in FIG16 as an example. In this embodiment, non-first-level comparisons are implemented using a quartering method. The second multi-level comparison unit 1600 shown in FIG16 is similar to the second multi-level comparison unit 1600 shown in FIG14 , except that the second multi-level comparison unit 1600 shown in FIG16 has an additional comparator sub-unit, i.e., a total of five comparator sub-units 1610, while the first-level comparator sub-unit has only one comparator.

[0272] In addition, this embodiment differs from the embodiment described above in conjunction with FIG. 14 and FIG. 11 in that, in this embodiment, the comparison threshold of the comparator 1611 in the first-stage comparator subunit 1610 is set according to the upper endpoint (the 64th track address) of the aforementioned prior track address interval, for example, V 64 .

[0273] If the comparison result of the first level comparison is that the pulse energy is within the a priori address interval (in the low energy segment), the amplitude of the pulse signal is between 0-V 64 The comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the second-stage comparator subunit can be set to V 16 、V 32 、V 48 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V 16 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is between 0-V 16 The comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the third-level comparator subunit can be set to V4, V8, V 12 Assuming that the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V4, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between 0 and V4. The comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the fourth-level comparator subunit can be set to V1, V2, and V3 according to the quartering method. Assuming that the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V1, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between 0 and V1, that is, it is located at the first energy channel. If the pulse signal exceeds V1 but cannot exceed the threshold V2, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between V1 and V2, that is, it is located at the second energy channel. If the pulse signal exceeds V2 but cannot exceed the threshold V3, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between V2 and V3, that is, it is located at the third energy channel. If the pulse signal exceeds V3, the amplitude of the pulse signal is between V3 and V4, that is, it is located at the fourth energy channel. It can be seen that the energy channel corresponding to the pulse amplitude is determined by using four-level comparison.

[0274] In an example where the track addresses corresponding to approximately 80% of the pulse energy of the scintillation pulses are all lower than 64, only one first-level comparison is required for 80% of the pulses.

[0275] If the comparison result of the first level comparison is that the pulse energy belongs to the high energy range (i.e. outside the a priori address range), the amplitude of the pulse signal is within V 64 -V 256 The comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the second-stage comparator subunit can be set to V 112 、V 160 、V 208 ; Assume that the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V 112 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 64 -V 112 The comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the third-level comparator subunit can be set to V 76 、V 88 、V 90 , the delayed pulse signal is input to the comparator; assuming that the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V 76 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 64 -V 76 The comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the fourth-level comparator subunit can be set to V 67 、V 70 、V 73 , the delayed pulse signal is input to the comparator; assuming that the pulse signal amplitude cannot exceed the threshold V 67 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 64 -V 67 The comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the fifth-level comparator subunit can be set to V according to the quartering method. 65 、V 66 、V 67 , if the pulse signal cannot cross V 65 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 64 -V 65 If the pulse signal exceeds V 65 , cannot cross the threshold V 66 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 65 -V 66 If the pulse signal exceeds V 66 , cannot cross the threshold V 67 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 66 -V 67It is located between the 67th energy channel. It can be seen that the energy channel corresponding to the pulse amplitude can be determined by using the 5-level comparison.

[0276] In an example where approximately 80% of the scintillation pulse energies correspond to channel addresses below 64, only approximately 20% of the pulses are in the high-energy range (i.e., outside the a priori channel address range), and only one first-level comparison is required for each pulse. Therefore, although the number of scintillation pulses increases by one level, the number of comparisons for all pulses under test can still be significantly reduced.

[0277] It is conceivable that the multi-stage comparison in the above embodiment can be implemented by modifying the first multi-stage comparison unit shown in FIG. 10 or 12 , for example, by adding a delay line.

[0278] In some embodiments, the given a priori track address interval is one, and the comparison threshold of the first level comparison is two and is determined according to the amplitude representation values ​​of the two endpoint track addresses of the a priori track address interval respectively.

[0279] In one example, for example, the total energy channel number is still N=m n For example, N = 256, a priori track address interval is determined based on the pulse characteristics to be greater than the first track address and less than the second track address, such as tracks 60 to 64. The first-level comparison threshold can be determined based on this priori interval. More specifically, the comparison threshold can be determined based on the two endpoint tracks (such as tracks 60 and 64) of the priori track address interval. For example, the comparison threshold can be set based on the amplitude characteristic values ​​corresponding to the 60th and 64th tracks, for example, represented as V 60 and V 64 It will be understood that the a priori trace interval can be set according to different pulse characteristics. For example, in pulse neutron saturation logging, assuming that the traces corresponding to the pulse energy of the scintillation pulse corresponding to a significant portion of gamma rays are located between traces 60 and 64, the a priori trace interval is set to 60 to 64, and then, as described above, the comparison threshold of the first comparison is set to V 60 and V 64 .

[0280] The following describes an embodiment of determining a comparison threshold for a first-level comparison based on a given a priori track address interval using second multi-level comparison unit 1700 shown in FIG17 as an example. In this embodiment, non-first-level comparisons are implemented using a quartering method. Second multi-level comparison unit 1700 shown in FIG17 is similar to second multi-level comparison unit 1600 shown in FIG16 , except that the number of comparators 1711 and 1712 in the first-level comparator subunit 1710 of second multi-level comparison unit 1700 in FIG17 is two.

[0281] If the comparison result of the first level comparison is that the pulse energy is within the a priori channel address interval (called the medium energy range), that is, the amplitude of the pulse signal is within V 60 -V 64 The comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the second-stage comparator subunit can be set to V 61 、V 62 、V 63 , if the pulse signal cannot cross V 61 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 60 -V 61 If the pulse signal exceeds V 61 , cannot cross the threshold V 62 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 61 -V 62 If the pulse signal exceeds V 62 , cannot cross the threshold V 63 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 62 -V 63 Between, that is, at the 63rd energy channel, if the pulse signal crosses V 63 , then the amplitude of the pulse signal is at V 63 -V 64 The energy channel address corresponding to the pulse amplitude is determined by using a two-level comparison.

[0282] The track addresses corresponding to the pulse energy of a significant portion of the scintillation pulses are all located in the prior track address interval, so only two levels of comparison are required in total and the first level comparison of the pulse only needs 2 times, which can achieve the effect of significantly reducing the number of comparisons.

[0283] If the first-level comparison result indicates that the pulse energy is outside the a priori track address range, but is in the high or low energy range, the track address range can be divided into four parts and compared with the embodiment described in FIG16 . Accordingly, a four-level or five-level comparison is used to determine the energy track address corresponding to the pulse amplitude.

[0284] It is conceivable that the multi-stage comparison of the above embodiment can be implemented by modifying the second multi-stage comparison unit based on binary division shown in FIG. 15 , for example, by setting the number of comparators of the first-stage comparator subunit to two.

[0285] It is conceivable that the multi-stage comparison in the above embodiment can be implemented by modifying the first multi-stage comparison unit shown in FIG. 8 , FIG. 10 , and FIG. 12 , for example, by adding a delay circuit.

[0286] It is conceivable that, for example, in an embodiment implementing multi-level comparisons based on delay circuits combined with comparators, if the track address interval determined by the first-level comparison falls outside the a priori track address interval, subsequent levels of comparison will prioritize comparison thresholds closer to the a priori track address interval. This feature can further reduce the number of comparisons, as even pulses outside the a priori track address interval will be more numerous the closer they are to the a priori track address interval.

[0287] For example, taking the given a priori track address interval as less than 64 tracks, if the comparison result of the first level comparison is that the pulse energy belongs to the high energy segment (i.e., outside the a priori track address interval), then the amplitude of the pulse signal is within V 64 -V 256 The comparison thresholds of the three comparators in the second-stage comparator subunit can be set to V according to the quartering method. 112 、V 160 、V 208 If this example is implemented by a first multi-stage comparison unit based on a delay circuit combined with a comparator, then in the second stage comparison, the adjacent priori address interval, i.e., the adjacent V 64 The comparison threshold V 112 , compared with the pulse signal from the line with shorter delay (such as from the second delay line). This is considering that the pulse falls into V 64 -V 112 is more likely to fall into the other three address intervals.

[0288] In some embodiments, the given a priori track address interval may be greater than or equal to 2 (M≥2). Accordingly, the comparison threshold of the first level comparison is 2M and is determined based on the amplitude representation values ​​of the 2M endpoint track addresses in the a priori track address interval.

[0289] In a further embodiment, when the pulse to be measured is a scintillation pulse generated by the detection material, especially a scintillation pulse generated by the detection material based on high-energy rays, the prior energy channel address can be set based on the energy characteristics of the high-energy rays emitted by the material components (elements), such as the energy peak.

[0290] In a further embodiment, the pulse digitization method further includes determining M a priori trace address intervals based on the detected material composition. In some embodiments, the detected material composition may be a first component and a second component. In a specific embodiment, such as in a well logging application, the detected material composition may be carbon (C) and oxygen (O).

[0291] In some embodiments of the present invention, as shown in FIG18 , determining M priori address intervals specifically includes:

[0292] S1810: Determine M energy windows based on at least two components of the detected material. As mentioned above, the at least two components are, for example, a first component and a second component. In some specific embodiments, the first component energy window and the second component energy window can be determined based on the first component and the second component. In a specific embodiment, for example, in C / O energy spectrum logging, the two components are, for example, carbon (C) and oxygen (O). The properties of the downhole material can be judged based on the ratio of the number of pulses in the energy ranges corresponding to the carbon element and the oxygen element on the obtained energy spectrum. Accordingly, the pulse digitization method according to the preferred embodiment of the present application can be implemented based on the energy spectrum properties of the carbon element and the oxygen element.

[0293] Specifically, according to the accuracy requirements of different application scenarios, based on prior information or based on the properties of carbon and oxygen elements, the energy ranges of gamma rays generated by carbon atoms and oxygen atoms are determined respectively to obtain the carbon energy window and the oxygen energy window.

[0294] S1820: Determine the M priori channel address intervals corresponding to the M energy windows.

[0295] In some embodiments, step S1820 may include: determining M amplitude ranges corresponding to the M energy windows; and determining the M priori channel address intervals based on the determined M amplitude ranges.

[0296] In some embodiments, the M amplitude ranges corresponding to the M energy windows may be determined in a manner similar to that described in step S110 , such as determining the amplitude range corresponding to the first component energy window and determining the amplitude range corresponding to the second component energy window.

[0297] In a specific embodiment, for example, in C / O spectrum logging, the C pulse amplitude range corresponding to the C energy window and the O pulse amplitude range corresponding to the O energy window can be determined.

[0298] In a specific example, a high-speed sampling device such as an oscilloscope can be used to collect pulses generated by a large number of gamma photons at the highest possible sampling frequency. The pulse data can be processed to obtain the energy information and voltage peak information of each pulse. The energy and peak value of the pulse can be plotted as a scatter plot and fitted. In theory, a linear mapping relationship between energy and peak value can be obtained.

[0299] In another specific example, M amplitude ranges corresponding to the M energy windows may be obtained by interpolation based on a lookup table between energy and peak value.

[0300] In another embodiment, when the channel address is an energy channel address, step S1820 can directly determine the prior channel address interval corresponding to the M energy windows based on the energy window and the energy characterization value corresponding to the energy channel address, and accordingly determine the amplitude range corresponding to the prior channel address interval.

[0301] For example, in a specific embodiment, after determining the C pulse amplitude range corresponding to the C energy window and the O pulse amplitude range corresponding to the O energy window, the multiple comparison thresholds of the first level comparison in the multi-level comparison can be set accordingly with reference to the above, and after performing the first level comparison, the comparison thresholds of the subsequent level comparisons can be dynamically adjusted according to the channel address interval into which the pulse to be measured falls. This will not be elaborated here.

[0302] In addition, in a preferred embodiment, the carbon-oxygen ratio (C / O ratio) for C / O spectrum logging can be further obtained based on the pulse digitization, that is, based on the energy spectra of all pulses.

[0303] Here, in the embodiment shown in FIG19 , the pulse digitization method further includes:

[0304] S1910: Determine the number of times the scintillation pulse falls into the first component energy window and the second component energy window respectively; and

[0305] S1920: Determine a ratio of the first component to the second component based on the count.

[0306] In a specific embodiment, for example, when performing C / O spectrum logging, the carbon-oxygen ratio can be determined by a carbon-oxygen ratio determination unit that is independent of the track address determination unit, as shown in FIG20 .

[0307] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 20 , the carbon-oxygen ratio determination unit 2000 includes 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 correction unit 2060 .

[0308] Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 21 , step S1910 may include:

[0309] S2110: Determine, based on a comparison between the amplitude of the scintillation pulse and the amplitude range, whether the scintillation pulse falls within the amplitude range corresponding to the first component energy window or the amplitude range corresponding to the second component energy window;

[0310] S2120: Counting the first component of the scintillation pulses that fall within the amplitude range corresponding to the first component energy window; and

[0311] S2130: Count the second components of the scintillation pulses that fall within the amplitude range corresponding to the second component energy window.

[0312] Specifically, the pulse to be measured is input in parallel into the first carbon comparator, the second carbon comparator, the first oxygen comparator, and the second oxygen comparator, and the first carbon comparator sets a comparison threshold based on the lower limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the C energy window, and the second carbon comparator sets a comparison threshold based on the upper limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the C energy window; the first oxygen comparator sets a comparison threshold based on the lower limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the O energy window, and the second oxygen comparator sets a comparison threshold based on the upper limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the O energy window.

[0313] In some embodiments, the carbon counter is connected to the first carbon comparator and the second carbon comparator; the oxygen counter is connected to the first oxygen comparator and the second oxygen comparator; and the calculation unit is connected to the carbon counter and the oxygen counter for calculating the carbon-oxygen ratio.

[0314] The optional correction 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 a correction threshold.

[0315] Here, the C pulse amplitude range corresponding to the C energy window and the O pulse amplitude range corresponding to the O energy window can be determined in step S1820, for example, based on a linear mapping relationship or a lookup table, or based on an amplitude range determined by a priori track address interval. Thus, four pulse amplitude (peak) endpoint values ​​corresponding to the carbon energy window endpoint and the oxygen energy window endpoint can be obtained, for example, in terms of V Cmin ,V Cmax ,V Omin ,V Omax express.

[0316] Here, for example, the comparison thresholds of the first carbon comparator 2011, the second carbon comparator 2012, the first oxygen comparator 2021, and the second oxygen comparator 2022 can be set to the four pulse peak endpoint values ​​V respectively through a digital-to-analog converter. Cmin ,V Cmax ,V Omin ,V Omax Therefore, when the pulse to be measured enters the system, it will be input into the four comparators in parallel. If the pulse to be measured exceeds V Cmin Without crossing the V Cmax , then the carbon counter increases by 1. If the pulse to be measured exceeds V Omin Without crossing the V Omax The oxygen counter increases by 1. If the above two conditions are not met, neither counter needs to make any response.

[0317] When all the pulses to be measured have passed through the system, the C / O value can be obtained by reading and calculating the values ​​of the two counters through the calculation unit.

[0318] As mentioned above, the embodiment of the present application may optionally further include the step of calibrating the first carbon comparator 2011 , the second carbon comparator 2012 , the first oxygen comparator 2021 , and the second oxygen comparator 2022 .

[0319] In actual well logging scenarios, equipment needs to operate in environments with fluctuating temperatures and generally high temperatures. Temperature is often a significant factor affecting the operating state of electronic components. To ensure that the instrument can still obtain relatively accurate data during downhole operations, a correction unit can be set for the DAC. For example, an additional DAC channel can be set as the input of the correction unit. The correction unit can use a priori information to determine the output differences of the DAC at different temperatures and use this information to make corresponding corrections to the comparison thresholds of the four comparators. For example, taking the DAC comparison threshold used to set the amplitude endpoint as an example, if it is 3V, when the comparison threshold deviates due to temperature changes, such as a deviation of 0.5V, the correction unit can be used to correct the deviation of the DAC comparison threshold, such as -0.5, thereby correcting the deviation of the carbon comparator and oxygen comparator.

[0320] In this preferred embodiment, on the basis of determining the energy channel address into which each pulse to be measured falls (such as based on multi-level binary division or quartering, etc.), the carbon-oxygen ratio energy spectrum is determined by an additionally set carbon / oxygen comparator, thereby effectively shortening the spectrum formation time of the carbon-oxygen ratio energy spectrum.

[0321] In an alternative preferred embodiment, it is also conceivable to obtain the carbon-oxygen ratio by counting the pulse counts within the track address or track address interval corresponding to the C energy window and the pulse counts within the track address or track address interval corresponding to the amplitude range corresponding to the O energy window.

[0322] Therefore, in this embodiment, after determining the energy information of all pulses to be tested at all channels in step S150, such as after generating an energy spectrum for all energy channels, the counts falling within the C energy window and the O energy window can be determined based on the energy channels corresponding to them. For example, if the C energy window corresponds to channels AB and the O energy window corresponds to channel CD, then only the counts within these two channels need to be calculated to determine the carbon-oxygen ratio.

[0323] In addition, as further described below, embodiments of the present application also relate to a method for determining material composition based on scintillation pulses that is independent of or combined with the pulse digitization method of embodiments of the present application.

[0324] In another embodiment, the comparison between the amplitudes of the plurality of pulses to be measured and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of track addresses may be achieved through single-stage comparison.

[0325] In the embodiment shown in FIG22 , a single-level comparison embodiment is shown. Specifically, step S140 may include:

[0326] S2210: subjecting the amplitude of each pulse to be measured to a single-stage comparison including a plurality of comparisons to determine the track address into which the pulse to be measured falls, wherein the number of the plurality of comparisons corresponds to the number of the plurality of track addresses; and

[0327] S2220: Determine the channel address where the pulse to be measured falls according to the comparison result of the single-stage comparison.

[0328] To implement the above-mentioned single-stage comparison, the track address determination unit may include or may be a single-stage comparison unit.

[0329] In some embodiments, multiple comparisons in the module architecture of the single-stage comparison unit for implementing the single-stage comparison may be implemented by multiple comparators, wherein the number of the multiple comparators is greater than or equal to the number of the multiple addresses.

[0330] In another embodiment, the system may be implemented by a comparator architecture having a number less than the number of channel addresses, or even a single comparator architecture, for example, by combining different delays of a delay line with an adjustable comparator.

[0331] FIG23 shows a schematic embodiment of a first single-stage comparison unit 2300 for implementing single-stage comparison. The first single-stage comparison unit 2300 includes multiple parallel delay lines 2310 connected to a pulse input to be measured, an adjustable comparator 2320 connected to the delay lines, and an arbiter 2330 operatively connected to the adjustable comparator. Preferably, at least some of the delay lines have different delay times. In the embodiment shown in FIG23 , the delay time of each delay line is different. Preferably, the number of the multiple parallel delay lines is greater than or equal to the number of the multiple addresses. In the illustrated embodiment, N parallel delay lines 2310 are shown.

[0332] For example, if the total number of energy track addresses is N = 256, then the number of N parallel delay lines 2310 corresponds to the total number of energy track addresses. Therefore, a single-stage N-division method can be used to determine the track address that the pulse to be measured falls into. The number of comparisons in this single-stage comparison is the same as the number of energy track addresses.

[0333] Specifically, the input pulse can be input into the comparator after passing through 256 delay circuits with different delays, that is, the pulse signal is repeatedly input into the positive input terminal of the comparator 256 times. The threshold voltage of each comparison is set by the arbitrator. The arbitrator assigns comparison thresholds to the negative input terminal of the comparator in turn according to the amplitude representation value corresponding to the energy spectrum channel address, such as V1, V2, V3, ..., V 256 After 256 comparisons, the specific channel address to which the energy of the input pulse to be measured belongs can be obtained.

[0334] This embodiment simplifies dynamic threshold profiling schemes using multiple comparison levels, requiring only one comparison level. Compared to dynamic threshold profiling schemes using multiple comparison levels, this embodiment can, to a certain extent, reduce or avoid errors introduced by differences between comparators. By way of explanation and not limitation, in dynamic threshold profiling schemes using multiple comparison levels to compare input pulses, differences between comparators may introduce errors in the comparison of pulse peak values, ultimately affecting the accuracy of the resulting energy spectrum.

[0335] As described above, in some embodiments, multiple comparisons in the module architecture of the single-stage comparison unit for implementing single-stage comparison may be implemented by multiple comparators.

[0336] Although not shown in the figure, it is conceivable to provide N parallel comparators greater than or equal to the number of energy channels, and preferably the number of comparators is the same as the number of energy channels.

[0337] For example, taking the total number of channel addresses as 256, 256 comparators are set in parallel, and the amplitude representation value corresponding to the energy channel address (such as the endpoint value of the pulse peak interval corresponding to the energy channel address) is provided to each comparator through the corresponding DAC as a comparison threshold.

[0338] As mentioned above, in the embodiment of the present application, the track address interval into which each pulse to be measured falls can also be predetermined based on a time parameter.

[0339] In a further specific embodiment, the time over threshold (TOT) can be combined with a dynamic comparison threshold to count the track addresses where pulses, such as scintillation pulses, fall.

[0340] In a specific embodiment, as shown in FIG24 , step S140 may include:

[0341] S2410: Provide mapping relationship data between threshold crossing time and energy range of multiple reference pulses.

[0342] In a specific embodiment, the threshold-crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data is a threshold-crossing time-energy range lookup table.

[0343] In some embodiments, the multiple reference pulses in step S2410 are the multiple reference pulses described in step S110 or a portion thereof, or the multiple reference pulses in step S2410 and step S110 partially overlap with each other.

[0344] In another preferred embodiment, the multiple pulses in step S2410 are different from the reference pulses described in step S110, for example, pulses after shaping the reference pulses described in step S110 or other collected pulses.

[0345] Here, a lookup table corresponding to the pulse energy range and TOT may be obtained based on prior information.

[0346] For example, a comparison threshold slightly larger than the maximum amplitude of the noise can be set for the comparator, such as the threshold voltage V t1 , pass a large number of pulses of known energy through the channel, and record the time value of each pulse crossing the threshold, that is, the threshold crossing time (TOT). Through prior information, for example, the threshold voltage V t1 The pulse energy range lookup table corresponding to TOT is shown below. As a supplement or alternative, other comparison thresholds can also be set for the comparator, such as the threshold voltage V t2 、V t3 Etc., and accordingly obtain the threshold crossing time (TOT) at these comparison thresholds, such as threshold voltage. Therefore, based on the prior information, the corresponding relationship between TOT and energy range can be obtained.

[0347] By way of explanation and not limitation, since the pulse widths of the pulse signals are not much different, and if the pulses are shaped, the pulse widths of the shaped pulses may be more similar, the TOTs of the pulse signals crossing the threshold voltage are not much different, resulting in the same TOT possibly corresponding to multiple pulse energies, i.e., a certain energy range.

[0348] S2420: Obtain at least one threshold crossing time of the pulse to be measured, each threshold crossing time corresponds to an amplitude threshold.

[0349] As mentioned above, step S140 can be implemented by a track address determination unit. Figures 26 and 28 show track address determination units 2600 and 2800 that can be used to implement the embodiment shown in Figure 24, which particularly include a threshold crossing time unit connected to the pulse input to be tested.

[0350] As shown in FIG. 26 , the channel address determination unit 2600 may include a comparison unit 2610 connected to a pulse input to be tested, a threshold crossing time unit 2630 connected to the pulse input to be tested, and an arbiter 2620 operatively connected to the threshold crossing time unit 2630 and the comparison unit 2610 .

[0351] In the embodiment shown in FIG26 , the comparison unit 2610 includes a physical multi-stage comparator subunit 2611, each stage of the comparator subunit 2611 including a single physical adjustable comparator, which can, for example, perform a binary comparison in a subsequent single-stage or multi-stage comparison. It will be appreciated that the comparison unit shown in FIG26 can be configured or modified with reference to the single-stage or multi-stage comparison unit structures described in other embodiments of the present application, such as the comparison unit structures shown in FIG8 , FIG10 , FIG12 - FIG17 , and FIG23 . In particular, the comparison unit shown in FIG26 can include a physical multi-stage comparator subunit when implementing a multi-stage comparison, or include multiple parallel delay circuits with different delays for implementing the multi-stage comparison and an adjustable comparator connecting the delay circuits, all of which fall within the scope of the present application.

[0352] 26 , the threshold crossing time unit 2630 may include a threshold crossing time comparator 2631 and a threshold crossing time (TOT) acquisition processor 2634 connected to the threshold crossing time comparator 2631 .

[0353] 26 and 27, the threshold-crossing time comparator 2631 can be set with a comparison threshold, which is an amplitude threshold, such as a voltage threshold V t1 . Accordingly, by inputting the pulse to be measured 2710 into the threshold crossing time comparator 2631, the threshold crossing time comparator 2631 will output a jump signal 2720 when the pulse to be measured crosses the amplitude threshold, including crossing from bottom to top and from top to bottom, such as from low level 0 to high level 1 and from high level 1 to low level 0. Accordingly, the time to generate the jump signal, such as t1 and t2, can be determined by a time determination unit, such as TDC. Thus, the TOT acquisition processor 2634 can determine the time interval between two jump moments from the same threshold crossing time comparator 2631, such as t2-t1, to determine the amplitude threshold, such as the voltage threshold V t1 TOT under.

[0354] In another embodiment, multiple TOTs may be determined based on multiple amplitude thresholds.

[0355] As shown in FIG. 28 , the channel address determination unit 2800 may include a comparison unit 2810 connected to a pulse input to be tested, a threshold crossing time unit 2830 connected to the pulse input to be tested, and an arbiter 2820 operatively connecting the threshold crossing time unit 2830 and the comparison unit 2810 .

[0356] Continuing to refer to FIG. 28 , the threshold crossing time unit 2830 may include a plurality (eg, three) threshold crossing time comparators 2831 and a threshold crossing time (TOT) acquisition processor 2834 connected to the threshold crossing time comparators 2831 .

[0357] Here, the difference between the threshold crossing time unit 2830 shown in FIG28 and the threshold crossing time unit 2630 shown in FIG26 is that the threshold crossing time unit 2830 includes multiple (e.g., 3) threshold crossing time comparators 2831, which can set different comparison thresholds, which are amplitude thresholds, such as voltage thresholds V t1 、V t2 、V t3 Thus, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 28 , multiple (eg, 3) TOTs may be determined based on multiple amplitudes.

[0358] S2430: Determine a first track address interval according to the at least one threshold crossing time of the pulse to be measured and mapping relationship data between the threshold crossing time and the energy range.

[0359] In this embodiment, the track address is an energy track address.

[0360] Therefore, based on the mapping relationship data provided in the above-mentioned step S2410, such as a lookup table, the energy range corresponding to the TOT determined in step S2420 can be determined, and then based on the energy characterization value corresponding to the energy channel address set in step S120, the first channel address interval corresponding to the TOT can be determined, which can be referred to as the TOT channel address interval here.

[0361] In a specific example, the comparison threshold of the threshold crossing time comparator 2631, such as the threshold voltage, may be set to V by the arbitrator 2620 and / or the TOT acquisition processor 2634. t1 The pulse to be measured crosses the threshold time comparator 2631 and then crosses the threshold V t1 The TOT acquisition processor 2634 determines the TOT value at which the pulse signal crosses the threshold. The arbiter 2620 determines the pulse energy range corresponding to the TOT value based on the obtained lookup table, thereby determining the first channel address interval corresponding to the TOT. For example, the energy values ​​at the two end points of the energy range are mapped to two energy channels, and the energy segment between the two energy channels is the first channel address interval after being reduced relative to the total number of channels. More specifically, the comparison threshold of the threshold-crossing time comparator 2631, such as the threshold voltage V t1 For example, a threshold voltage slightly larger than the maximum noise amplitude is used. Based on the determined threshold crossing time value (i.e., TOT value) of the pulse to be measured, a table lookup can be used to obtain the energy range corresponding to the TOT value, such as the range [3.48MeV, 3.66MeV]. Furthermore, these two energy values ​​are determined to be located at the 100th and 105th energy channels, respectively. The energy channel interval thus determined is the 100th to 105th energy channels.

[0362] As previously mentioned, multiple TOTs can be determined based on multiple amplitude thresholds in step S2420. Accordingly, in step S2430, a first track address interval (TOT track address interval) can be determined based on the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple TOTs. For example, the first track address interval can be determined by the intersection and / or subset of the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple TOTs. In the specific embodiment shown in FIG28 , multiple (e.g., three) voltage thresholds V t1 、V t2 、V t3 The intersection of the energy ranges corresponding to the determined multiple (eg, 3) TOTs is used to determine the first track address interval (TOT track address interval). In a specific example, for example, the voltage threshold V t1 The energy channel interval corresponding to the determined TOT is from the 100th energy channel to the 120th energy channel, and the voltage threshold V t2 The energy channel interval corresponding to the determined TOT is from the 90th energy channel to the 110th energy channel, and the voltage threshold V t3 The energy channel address interval corresponding to the determined TOT is from the 88th energy channel address to the 105th energy channel address. The final first channel address interval (TOT channel address interval) can be determined as the 100th to 105th energy channel address based on the intersection of the energy range or channel address interval.

[0363] S2440: Perform single-level comparison or multi-level comparison on the amplitude of each pulse to be measured to determine the second address interval into which the pulse to be measured falls.

[0364] In the embodiment of the present application, each level of comparison defines at least two second address intervals by at least one comparison threshold, and the comparison threshold of the single-level comparison or the first-level comparison threshold of the multi-level comparison is determined according to the first address interval.

[0365] S2450: Determine the channel address where the pulse to be measured falls according to the single-level or multi-level comparison result.

[0366] The first channel address interval (TOT interval) determined in step S2430 can be used to dynamically determine the comparison threshold for subsequent single-stage or multi-stage comparisons. The comparison method described in this embodiment can refer to the single-stage or multi-stage comparison methods described in other embodiments. In some embodiments, the comparison can be based on a single or multiple parallel adjustable comparators. In other embodiments, the comparison can be based on a combination of a delay circuit and an adjustable comparator.

[0367] For example, taking the aforementioned 100th to 105th energy channels as an example, since the number of channels in the first channel interval is relatively small, they can be directly compared. For example, the intermediate energy channel that can be determined is the 102nd energy channel. For example, if the amplitude of the pulse signal exceeds the amplitude representation value corresponding to the 102nd energy channel, it is located in the 103rd to 105th energy channels. The amplitude representation value corresponding to the 104th energy channel is used as a comparison threshold. If it is greater than the comparison threshold, it is located in the 105th energy channel. If it is less than the comparison threshold, it is located in the 103rd to 104th energy channels. The amplitude representation value corresponding to the 103rd energy channel is used as a comparison threshold. If the pulse signal exceeds the comparison threshold, it is located in the 104th energy channel. Otherwise, it is located in the 103rd energy channel.

[0368] As an alternative to the embodiment shown in FIG24 , the first track address interval may be dynamically predetermined according to a preset standard. In a specific embodiment, referring to FIG25 , the step S140 may include:

[0369] S2510: Provide threshold crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data of multiple reference pulses.

[0370] In step S2510, reference may be made to step S2410 described in the embodiment shown in FIG. 24 .

[0371] As shown in FIG. 25 , step S140 further includes looping through the following steps:

[0372] S2520: Set a value threshold.

[0373] S2530: Obtain the threshold crossing time of the pulse to be measured, the threshold crossing time corresponds to the set amplitude threshold,

[0374] S2540: Determine or update the first channel address interval according to the threshold crossing time and the threshold crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data of the pulse to be measured, and

[0375] S2550: Determine whether the preset standard is met.

[0376] If yes, exit the loop; if no, continue executing the loop steps.

[0377] In some embodiments, the aforementioned loop-executed steps may be implemented using the track address determination unit 2800 shown in FIG28 . As previously described, the threshold crossing time unit 2830 may include a plurality (e.g., three) threshold crossing time comparators 2831 and a threshold crossing time (TOT) acquisition processor 2834 connected to the threshold crossing time comparators 2831 .

[0378] Correspondingly, there are a plurality of threshold-crossing time comparators, and the plurality of threshold-crossing time comparators are set with different amplitude thresholds.

[0379] In some embodiments, the preset criterion is that the set amplitude threshold reaches a preset number. For example, when the set amplitude threshold is greater than or equal to 3, the loop is exited and subsequent steps are performed according to the latest determined first address interval.

[0380] In other embodiments, the preset criterion is that the number of addresses in the first address interval is less than a preset number. For example, when the number of addresses in the first address interval is small, such as less than 5, the loop can be exited and subsequent steps can be executed based on the most recently determined first address interval.

[0381] After exiting the loop, step S140 may further include:

[0382] S2560: Perform single-level comparison or multi-level comparison on the amplitude of each pulse to be measured to determine the second address interval into which the pulse to be measured falls.

[0383] In a specific embodiment, each level of comparison defines at least two second track address intervals by at least one comparison threshold, and the comparison threshold of the single-level comparison or the first-level comparison threshold of the multi-level comparison is determined according to the first track address interval.

[0384] S2570: Determine the channel address where the pulse to be measured falls according to the single-level or multi-level comparison result.

[0385] Similar to step S2450, the comparison method described in step S2570 can refer to the single-stage or multi-stage comparison methods described in other embodiments. In some embodiments, the comparison can be based on a single or multiple parallel adjustable comparators. In other embodiments, the comparison can be based on a combination of a delay circuit and an adjustable comparator.

[0386] In the various embodiments shown in Figures 24 through 28 , the use of a Time Over Threshold (TOT) combined with a dynamic comparison threshold to count the channels into which pulses, such as scintillation pulses, fall is advantageous in applications involving high-precision energy spectrum generation. This effectively shortens spectrum generation time and changes the order of voltages compared with the pulses, speeding up the acquisition of comparison results overall. Furthermore, in the embodiment shown in Figure 25 or in combination with Figure 25 and Figure 28 , a pre-screening of the energy channel range is performed, further improving spectrum generation efficiency and effectively reducing comparison time.

[0387] Continuing back to FIG. 1 , the pulse digitization method 100 may further include step S150 : obtaining energy information of the plurality of pulses to be measured based on the pulse count to be measured in each channel and the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data or the energy characterization value of the energy channel.

[0388] More specifically, step S150 includes: generating energy spectra of the plurality of pulses to be tested.

[0389] In some embodiments, when the channel address set in step S120 is an energy channel address, the energy spectrum can be obtained by directly drawing a histogram based on the scintillation pulse counts in each energy channel address.

[0390] In an alternative embodiment, when the channel set in step S120 is an amplitude channel, an amplitude distribution can be obtained based on the scintillation pulse counts within the amplitude channel, for example, by plotting a histogram. Subsequently, the energy range corresponding to each amplitude channel can be determined based on amplitude-energy mapping relationship data, such as an amplitude-energy lookup table, and the amplitude distribution can be converted into energy information, such as an energy spectrum.

[0391] In the embodiment of the present application, before counting the pulses to be measured, a threshold correction step S2930 is also included.

[0392] Optionally, when the set channel address is an energy channel address, as shown in FIG29 , the pulse digitization method may further include a correction step S2930 , namely, correcting the amplitude representation values ​​of the multiple energy channels relative to the energy representation values ​​of the multiple energy channels.

[0393] It will be understood that steps S2910, S2920, S2940 and S2950 in the embodiment shown in FIG29 may refer to steps S110, S120, S140 and S150 in the embodiment shown in FIG1 , respectively, and are not described in detail here.

[0394] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 30 , step S2930 may include:

[0395] S3010: Determine energy channel addresses corresponding to the plurality of first correction pulses according to a comparison result of the amplitudes of the plurality of first correction pulses and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of energy channel addresses;

[0396] S3020: generating an energy spectrum of the first correction pulse according to the first correction pulse count in each energy channel and the energy characterization value of the energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the first correction pulse has a first characteristic peak value;

[0397] S3030: Setting a plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses;

[0398] wherein the energy range corresponding to the plurality of first correction energy channels is smaller than the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channels, and each correction energy channel has its own energy representation value and an amplitude representation value determined accordingly according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data;

[0399] S3040: Determine the correction energy addresses corresponding to the plurality of second correction pulses according to a comparison result of the amplitudes of the plurality of second correction pulses and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of first correction energy addresses;

[0400] S3050: generating an energy spectrum of the second correction pulse according to the second correction pulse count in each first correction energy channel and the energy characteristic value of the correction energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the second correction pulse has a first correction characteristic peak value; and

[0401] S3090: Correcting the energy characterization values ​​or amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy channels based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first corrected characteristic peak value.

[0402] In some embodiments, energy channel calibration can be achieved by setting different channel division methods. This can be achieved by setting different operating modes. One example is a normal operating mode or a calibration mode similar to the normal operating mode. In this mode, the "normal" energy channel that can be used for the pulse to be measured is used, which can also be called the energy channel to be calibrated. Other calibration modes that can be used can be performed under a calibration energy channel with an energy range smaller than the "normal" energy channel. For ease of distinction, the former can be referred to as the first calibration mode, and the latter can be referred to as the second calibration mode.

[0403] In some embodiments of the present application, the correction step uses a single characteristic peak value. A specific example of implementing correction using a single characteristic peak value will be described below in conjunction with the embodiment shown in FIG30 .

[0404] Specifically, as shown in steps S3010 and S3020, the method for digitally acquiring energy information described above can be used in a first calibration mode similar to the normal operating mode. It can operate normally for one operating cycle under the required operating environment, obtaining an energy spectrum representing 256 energy channels within an energy range of 9 MeV. In the low-energy portion of the energy spectrum, there can be a clearly identifiable characteristic peak (a peak composed of pulses formed by gamma photons generated by H (hydrogen) atoms, hereinafter referred to as the H peak), thereby obtaining the corresponding first characteristic peak. Optionally, the channel address E corresponding to the H peak on the energy spectrum obtained in the first calibration mode can be obtained. H1 .

[0405] In some embodiments, in step S3030, the plurality of first correction energy addresses may be set according to the first characteristic peak value so that the first characteristic peak value falls within an energy range corresponding to the first correction energy address.

[0406] In a further embodiment, in step S3030, the multiple first correction energy channels can be set according to the first characteristic peak and the preset shrinkage ratio, so as to shrink the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple energy channels according to the preset shrinkage ratio to obtain the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple first correction energy channels, and make the first characteristic peak fall within the energy range corresponding to the first correction energy channel.

[0407] In a further embodiment, in step S3030, the first characteristic peak value is the median value of the energy range corresponding to the first correction energy channel.

[0408] In a further embodiment, in step S3030, the number of energy track addresses to be corrected may correspond to the number of energy track addresses to be corrected, for example, both are 256 tracks.

[0409] The following describes a specific embodiment of steps S3030 to S3050. For example, a second calibration mode can be set. In this second calibration mode, the underlying logic of the system is identical to that of the first calibration mode, which is similar to the normal operating mode. However, in this second calibration mode, the energy range corresponding to the multiple first calibration energy channels is smaller than the energy range corresponding to the multiple energy channels to be measured. For example, referring to the specific example described above, the energy range corresponding to the multiple first calibration energy channels is no longer the original 0-9 MeV range. Instead, it is determined based on the first characteristic peak and a predetermined shrinkage ratio. For example, the 900 keV energy range centered on the first characteristic peak of 2.25 MeV is 1.8 MeV to 2.7 MeV, with a shrinkage ratio of 1 / 10. Accordingly, the energy range corresponding to the multiple first calibration energy channels is centered at the theoretical energy value of the H peak, 2.25 MeV, and the range is set to 900 keV, which is exactly one-tenth of the original range of 0-9 MeV. The number of energy channels remains 256. Accordingly, the current energy range of 1.8MeV to 2.7MeV can be divided into 256 parts, and the energy (characteristic value) corresponding to each channel address on the energy spectrum can be re-divided according to the range, that is, the corresponding pulse peak or maximum amplitude characterization value can be found according to the energy corresponding to each channel address. Here, according to the method of digitally obtaining energy information as described above, a working cycle can be run in the second correction mode accordingly, and an energy spectrum with higher accuracy but a narrower energy range will be obtained. The energy range of the energy spectrum corresponding to the first correction energy channel address includes the area where the H peak is located, and a more accurate energy value of the H peak (that is, the first correction characteristic peak) can be obtained through the energy spectrum, and the first correction channel address E of the H peak at this time is recorded. H2 .

[0410] Subsequently, as described in step S3090, the energy characterization values ​​or amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy channels may be corrected based on the first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first correction characteristic peak value.

[0411] As an example, it can be determined that in the first calibration mode similar to the normal operating mode, the energy corresponding to the H peak is 9×E H1 / 256MeV (denoted as Energy H1 ), and the energy corresponding to the H peak in the second calibration mode is (1.8+0.9×E H2 / 256)MeV (denoted as Energy H2 ) (The range is 1.8MeV to 2.7MeV. In this range, the channel addresses are arranged from 0 to 255, so the initial value 1.8MeV is added). The difference in the ratio of the H peak is k = Energy H1 / Energy H2 .

[0412] In the embodiment shown in FIG30 , a linear function y=kx can be used for correction. Therefore, in a first correction mode similar to the normal operating mode, the energy value represented by each energy channel should be 1 / k times the original value. That is, in subsequent normal operating modes used for the pulse to be measured, the energy value represented by each energy channel should be 1 / k times the original value. Based on this, different forms of correction can be performed. In one embodiment, the energy representation value corresponding to the energy channel to be corrected can be adjusted to 1 / k times the original value. In another embodiment, the amplitude representation value corresponding to the energy channel to be corrected can be adjusted to k times the original value. For example, the voltage threshold corresponding to the energy channel to be corrected can be adjusted to k times the original value. This completes the relative correction of the energy representation value and the amplitude representation value of the energy channel, reducing the degree of energy spectrum offset.

[0413] It will be appreciated that more than one characteristic peak may be used for correction. Accordingly, the correction function includes but is not limited to the linear function y=kx. The accuracy of the correction may also be improved by increasing the characteristic peaks used for correction and the parameters or times in the corresponding function model.

[0414] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 31 , step S2930 may include:

[0415] S3110: Determine energy channel addresses corresponding to the plurality of first correction pulses based on a comparison result of the amplitudes of the plurality of first correction pulses and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of energy channel addresses;

[0416] S3120: Generate an energy spectrum of the first correction pulse according to the first correction pulse count in each energy channel and the energy characterization value of the energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the first correction pulse has a first characteristic peak value and a second characteristic peak value;

[0417] S3130: Setting a plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses;

[0418] wherein the energy range corresponding to the plurality of first correction energy channels is smaller than the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channels, and each correction energy channel has its own energy representation value and an amplitude representation value determined accordingly according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data;

[0419] S3140: Determine the correction energy addresses corresponding to the plurality of second correction pulses according to a comparison result between the amplitudes of the plurality of second correction pulses and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of first correction energy addresses;

[0420] S3150: Generate an energy spectrum of the second correction pulse according to the second correction pulse count in each first correction energy channel and the energy characteristic value of the correction energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the second correction pulse has a first correction characteristic peak value;

[0421] S3160: Setting a plurality of second calibration energy channels;

[0422] wherein the energy range corresponding to the plurality of second correction energy channels is smaller than the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channels, and each second correction energy channel has its own energy representation value and an amplitude representation value determined accordingly according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data;

[0423] S3170: Determine the second correction energy addresses corresponding to the plurality of third correction pulses based on a comparison of the amplitudes of the plurality of third correction pulses and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of second correction energy addresses;

[0424] S3180: Generate an energy spectrum of the third correction pulse according to the third correction pulse count in each second correction energy channel and the energy characteristic value of the second correction energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the third correction pulse has a second correction characteristic peak value; and

[0425] S3190: Correcting the energy characterization values ​​or amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy channels based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak and the first corrected characteristic peak and a second difference between the second characteristic peak and the second corrected characteristic peak.

[0426] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 31 , steps S3110 - S3140 may refer to steps S3010 - 3040 .

[0427] In step S3150, the energy spectrum of the first correction pulse also has a second characteristic peak. Accordingly, the second correction characteristic peak can be obtained in steps S3160-3180. Furthermore, in step S3190, the energy channel is corrected based on the difference between the two characteristic values ​​and their correction values.

[0428] Accordingly, in the embodiment shown in FIG31 , in step S3170 , the plurality of second correction energy addresses may be set according to the second characteristic peak value so that the second characteristic peak value falls within the energy range corresponding to the second correction energy address.

[0429] In a further embodiment, in step S3170, the multiple second correction energy channels can be set according to the second characteristic peak and the preset shrinkage ratio, so as to shrink the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple energy channels according to the preset shrinkage ratio to obtain the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple second correction energy channels, and make the second characteristic peak fall within the energy range corresponding to the second correction energy channel.

[0430] In a further embodiment, in step S3170, the second characteristic peak is the median of the energy range corresponding to the second correction energy channel.

[0431] In a further embodiment, in step S3170, the number of the second calibration energy track addresses may correspond to the number of the energy track addresses to be calibrated, for example, both are 256 tracks.

[0432] For example, when using y=kx+b, y=ax 2 +bx, when this type of function is selected as the mathematical model for correction, it can be solved by two sets of corresponding data to obtain the two unknown parameters in the model.

[0433] Since two correction working modes similar to the second correction working mode described above can be set. Accordingly, there can be a first correction working mode similar to the normal working mode, as well as second and third correction working modes. For example, the second correction mode can also be called the H correction mode, and the newly added third working mode can be named the C correction mode (the peak composed of pulses formed by γ photons generated by C atoms, hereinafter referred to as C peak). Similar to the H correction mode, in the C correction mode, the energy range corresponding to multiple second correction energy addresses is 900keV with the second characteristic peak, such as the C peak (4.43MeV), as the center. The energy range is recorded as Energy C2 At the same time, the energy corresponding to the C peak obtained in the first calibration working mode similar to the normal working mode is recorded as Energy C1 , will (Energy C2 ,Energy C1), (Energy H2 ,Energy H1 ) is substituted into the determined function model in the form of (x, y) to obtain the unknown parameters and obtain the function expression y = f(x). Since the pulse peak value and the pulse energy have a certain functional relationship, namely E = g(V), let the amplitude representation value before correction, such as the threshold voltage, be V1, and the energy (representation value) on the energy spectrum corresponding to V1 before correction is theoretically E1, and the actual energy value corresponding to V1 should be E2. It can be seen that E2 = g(V1), and E1 = f(E2); the threshold voltage after correction is V2, and the energy on the energy spectrum corresponding to V2 after correction is E1, that is, E1 = g(V2), so g(V2) = f(E2) = f(g(V1)), that is, V2 = g -1 (f(g(V1))).

[0434] Although this article illustrates an embodiment of correction based on one or two characteristic peaks, if necessary, further parameters in the mathematical model can be added, and the number of characteristic peaks used for correction can be increased. For example, the characteristic peaks of a particular element can be selected to obtain its precise energy spectrum, and the above steps can be repeated to achieve correction.

[0435] Compared with the traditional MVT method, which is suitable for sampling known pulses and the threshold is determined according to the energy range of the known pulses, the digitization method described in the above embodiments of the present application can sample unknown pulses by dynamically processing the pulses or dynamically setting the thresholds, and combining the set thresholds, and classify the unknown pulses into corresponding energy channels without fitting calculations.

[0436] Compared with the traditional MVT method, the digital method of the embodiment of the present application does not need to obtain the pulse energy spectrum by fitting the pulse waveform by solving a set of equations to obtain a function curve during the processing of the pulse signal, which simplifies the process of pulse energy acquisition. In addition, when FPGA resources are limited, it can save more hardware resources, reduce FPGA power consumption, and improve the chip's tolerance to high temperatures. The previous MVT collected the voltage value of the pulse through each channel, then fitted the pulse waveform through the sampling points, and then calculated the energy value of the pulse by integration, and finally plotted the energy spectrum. The solution of the present application is that each channel directly passes the input pulse voltage through several comparators and / or gates and / or delay circuits and directly forms a spectrum. No fitting is required. The channel address can be determined based on the value output by the comparator.

[0437] The fixed threshold method of conventional MVT sampling has an excellent effect only applicable to energy in a specific energy range because the number and size of the thresholds are fixed. Since MVT needs to fit the scintillation pulses and collect the precise time corresponding to each point, it requires a large number of digital time converters (TDCs). The embodiment of the present application greatly reduces or eliminates the need for TDCs by counting the scintillation pulses according to the energy channel address, making the system more concise and more applicable.

[0438] Because traditional MVT methods require complex fitting calculations, the system cannot process new pulses for a specific period after each pulse ends. This period is known as the system's dead time. The embodiments of the present invention bypass the complex calculation process of pulse waveform fitting and directly obtain the energy spectrum through simple threshold comparison and table lookup. This significantly shortens the dead time of the acquisition circuit. As a result, the digitalization method of the embodiments of the present application has no dead time or very short dead time, and can basically achieve continuous pulse processing.

[0439] Some embodiments of the present application dynamically process the amplitude of the pulse to be measured, determine the channel address where each pulse to be measured falls, and realize a solution for rapid pulse spectrum formation.

[0440] Some embodiments of the present application expand on the structure of the comparator chain, and the number of comparators in each stage and the number of comparison stages can be flexibly adjusted according to actual conditions.

[0441] Some embodiments of the present application predetermine the comparison range according to the pulse characteristics on the basis of the comparator chain, combine the pulse characteristics with the methods based on the comparator chain, such as the binary method, the quarter-way method and other bit expansion methods, and pre-divide the pulse into the corresponding energy channel address intervals, which is more advantageous in the application scenario of drawing high-precision energy spectra and can effectively shorten the spectrum generation time.

[0442] Some embodiments of the present application adopt a solution of combining the time-to-threshold (TOT) with the dynamic threshold spectrum formation, which has more advantages in the application scenario of drawing high-precision energy spectra. It can effectively shorten the spectrum formation time and change the order of the voltages compared with the pulses, thereby speeding up the acquisition of the comparison results as a whole.

[0443] In some embodiments of the present application, taking into account the situation where there may be differences among comparators in a multi-stage comparator chain, a single-stage comparator solution is adopted. Only one stage of comparator needs to be set to obtain the energy spectrum, which can reduce or avoid the error introduced by the differences between the comparators to a certain extent.

[0444] Some embodiments of the present application also provide a step for correcting the energy channel address, further improving the accuracy of the digital solution for drawing the energy spectrum in the embodiments of the present application.

[0445] Accordingly, different embodiments of the present application may have at least some of the following advantages:

[0446] 1) Compared with the traditional MVT method, in the process of processing the pulse signal, there is no need to fit the pulse waveform by solving a set of equations to obtain a function curve, which simplifies the process of pulse energy acquisition. In addition, when FPGA resources are limited, it can significantly save hardware resources, reduce FPGA power consumption, and improve the chip's tolerance to high temperatures.

[0447] 2) Compared with the solution of directly sampling the pulse by ADC, the energy spectrum can be directly obtained without accumulating the collected voltage values, which simplifies the calculation process.

[0448] 3) Since the traditional MVT method requires complex fitting calculations, the system cannot process new pulses within a specific period of time after the end of each pulse. This time is the dead time of the system. The digital solution of the embodiment of the present application has no dead time or the dead time is very small, and can basically complete the processing of continuous pulses.

[0449] Accordingly, the embodiment of the present application relates to a correction method 3200 for pulse digitization. As shown in FIG32 , the correction method 3200 may include steps S3210-S3280.

[0450] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 32 , the calibration method 3200 may include:

[0451] S3210: Acquire amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of multiple reference pulses;

[0452] S3220: Acquire a plurality of energy channel addresses to be corrected, wherein each energy channel address to be corrected has its own energy representation value and an amplitude representation value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data;

[0453] S3230: Determine the energy channels to be corrected corresponding to the plurality of first correction pulses according to a comparison result between the amplitudes of the plurality of first correction pulses and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of energy channels to be corrected;

[0454] S3240: Generate an energy spectrum of the first correction pulse according to the first correction pulse count in each energy channel to be corrected and the energy characterization value of the energy channel to be corrected, wherein the energy spectrum of the first correction pulse has a first characteristic peak value;

[0455] S3250: Setting a plurality of first calibration energy channel addresses;

[0456] wherein the energy range corresponding to the plurality of first correction energy channels is smaller than the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channels, and each correction energy channel has its own energy representation value and an amplitude representation value determined accordingly according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data;

[0457] S3260: Determine the correction energy addresses corresponding to the plurality of second correction pulses based on a comparison result of the amplitudes of the plurality of second correction pulses and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of first correction energy addresses;

[0458] S3270: Generate an energy spectrum of the second correction pulse according to the second correction pulse count in each first correction energy channel and the energy characteristic value of the correction energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the second correction pulse has a first correction characteristic peak value; and

[0459] S3280: Correct the energy characterization values ​​or amplitude characterization values ​​of the multiple energy channels to be corrected based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first correction characteristic peak value.

[0460] In some embodiments, the correction method may be based on a single characteristic peak.

[0461] In another embodiment, the correction method may be based on two or more characteristic peaks. Accordingly, the correction method 3200 may further include: setting a plurality of second correction energy channels, the energy range corresponding to the plurality of second correction energy channels being smaller than the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channels to be corrected, each second correction energy channel having its own energy characterization value and an amplitude characterization value determined accordingly based on the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data; determining the second correction energy channels corresponding to the plurality of third correction pulses based on a comparison of the amplitudes of the plurality of third correction pulses with the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of second correction energy channels; and generating an energy spectrum of the third correction pulses based on the count of third correction pulses within each second correction energy channel and the energy characterization value of the second correction energy channel, the energy spectrum of the third correction pulse having a second correction characteristic peak. Accordingly, step S3280 may include: correcting the energy characterization values ​​or amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy channels to be corrected based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak and the first correction characteristic peak and a second difference between the second characteristic peak and the second correction characteristic peak.

[0462] In an embodiment of the present application, the correction method 3200 may also include the steps or features of the pulse digitization method in a non-contradictory manner as needed, especially the sub-steps or features related to the correction steps shown in Figures 26 to 29, or the correction method 3200 can be combined with the pulse digitization method to obtain a new embodiment, and vice versa.

[0463] In addition, embodiments of the present application may also relate to a method for determining material composition based on scintillation pulses.

[0464] In different embodiments of the present application, the material composition determination method based on scintillation pulses may be used independently of or in combination with a digital scheme for determining channel addresses.

[0465] In some embodiments, a digitization scheme independent of determining the track address may be implemented in conjunction with the structure shown in FIG. 20 , for example.

[0466] In conjunction with FIG. 20 to FIG. 22 , in the embodiment shown in FIG. 33 , the material composition determination method 3300 may include steps S3310 - S3350:

[0467] S3310: Providing amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of a reference scintillation pulse generated by high-energy rays;

[0468] S3320: Determine an energy window of the high-energy ray corresponding to at least one component in the substance to be tested;

[0469] S3330: Determine a scintillation pulse amplitude range corresponding to the at least one component based on the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data and the energy window;

[0470] S3340: Determine a count of the number of scintillation pulses to be measured that fall within the amplitude range based on a comparison result between the amplitudes of a plurality of scintillation pulses to be measured generated by the high-energy rays emitted by the substance to be measured and the amplitude range; and

[0471] S3350: Determine the content of the at least one component of the substance to be tested based on the count.

[0472] In some embodiments, there are two ingredients.

[0473] Accordingly, in some embodiments, determining that at least one component in the substance to be tested corresponds to the energy window of the high-energy ray includes: determining that a first component in the substance to be tested corresponds to a first energy window of the high-energy ray, and determining that a second component in the substance to be tested corresponds to a second energy window of the high-energy ray.

[0474] Accordingly, in some embodiments, the scintillation pulse amplitude range corresponding to the at least one component is determined based on the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data and the energy window, including: determining the first amplitude range corresponding to the first component based on the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data and the first energy window, and determining the second amplitude range corresponding to the second component based on the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data and the second energy window.

[0475] Accordingly, in some embodiments, determining the number of times the scintillation pulse to be measured falls within the amplitude range includes determining a first count and a second count of times the scintillation pulse to be measured falls within the first amplitude range and the second amplitude range, respectively. Accordingly, in some embodiments, determining the content of the at least one component of the substance to be measured based on the count includes determining the relative content of the first component and the second component based on the first count and the second count.

[0476] In some embodiments, the first component is carbon C, and the second component is oxygen O, wherein the relative contents of the first component and the second component are a carbon-oxygen ratio C / O.

[0477] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 34 , the material composition determination method may be implemented in conjunction with a digital solution for determining the track address.

[0478] In the embodiment shown in FIG. 34 , the material composition determination method 3400 may include steps S3410 - S3460:

[0479] S3410: Providing amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of a reference scintillation pulse generated by high-energy rays;

[0480] S3420: Set multiple addresses,

[0481] The channel address is an energy channel address or an amplitude channel address, each energy channel address has its own energy representation value and an amplitude representation value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data, and each amplitude channel address has its own amplitude representation value;

[0482] S3430: Determining the channel addresses corresponding to the plurality of scintillation pulses to be measured based on a comparison result of amplitudes of the plurality of scintillation pulses to be measured and amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of channel addresses, wherein the plurality of scintillation pulses to be measured are generated by high-energy rays emitted by the substance to be measured;

[0483] S3440: Determine an energy window of the high-energy ray corresponding to at least one component in the substance to be tested;

[0484] S3450: Determine the channel address interval corresponding to the energy window based on the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data and the energy window; and

[0485] S3460: Determine the content of the at least one component of the substance to be tested based on the count of the scintillation pulses to be tested in each channel address and the determined channel address interval.

[0486] In this embodiment, the relevant means for determining the channel address described in the digitization method of the embodiment of the present application can be used to determine the component content, but is not limited to whether to obtain relevant energy information or generate an energy spectrum.

[0487] Accordingly, the material composition determination method 3400 described in the embodiment of the present application can refer to the different embodiments shown in Figures 1 to 32 to determine the channel address where the scintillation pulse falls, which falls within the scope of the present application.

[0488] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 2 to 4, step S3430 may include: comparing the amplitude of each flicker pulse to be measured with the comparison thresholds of multiple comparators in turn, and selectively adjusting the amplitude of the flicker pulse to be measured according to the previous comparison result before comparison, so that if the amplitude of the flicker pulse to be measured is less than the comparison threshold of the previous comparator, the amplitude of the flicker pulse to be measured is not adjusted; if it is greater than or equal to the comparison threshold of the previous comparator, the amplitude of the flicker pulse to be measured is reduced, wherein the comparison thresholds of the multiple comparators are determined according to the amplitude characterization values ​​of the multiple channel addresses; and according to the comparison results of the multiple comparators, the channel address corresponding to each flicker pulse to be measured is determined.

[0489] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 5 and 6, step S3430 may include: inputting each flicker pulse to be measured into a multi-stage gate array so that the flicker pulse to be measured passes through each stage of the gate of the multi-stage gate array in turn, wherein each gate is associated with its own comparator and has a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting the flicker pulse to be measured, and the gate of the non-last stage is connected to the two gates of the next stage through the first and second gate branches respectively, wherein the comparison threshold of the comparator is determined according to the amplitude characterization value of the multiple channel addresses; before the flicker pulse to be measured passes through each stage of the gate, the flicker pulse to be measured is compared with the comparator associated with the gate passed through, the gate is set according to the comparison result, and the gate branch of the gate that outputs the flicker pulse to be measured is determined; and according to the output of the multi-stage gate array, the channel address corresponding to the flicker pulse to be measured is determined.

[0490] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 7 to 14, step S3430 may include: performing a first-level comparison of multiple levels of comparison on the amplitude of each flicker pulse to be measured to determine the channel address interval into which the flicker pulse to be measured falls, and each level of comparison defines at least two channel address intervals by at least one comparison threshold; performing the next level of comparison in sequence to determine the channel address interval into which the flicker pulse to be measured falls, until the last level of comparison is completed, the comparison threshold of the next level of comparison is determined according to the channel address interval determined by the previous level of comparison; and determining the channel address into which the flicker pulse to be measured falls according to the result of the last level of comparison.

[0491] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 10 to 13, the multi-level comparison is implemented by a first multi-level comparison unit, which includes a plurality of parallel delay lines connected to the input of the flicker pulse to be measured, an adjustable comparator connected to the delay line, and an arbiter operatively connected to the adjustable comparator, wherein the delay times of at least some of the delay lines are different.

[0492] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 10 to 13, the multi-level comparison is implemented by a second multi-level comparison unit, which includes a plurality of comparator sub-units connected to the input of the flicker pulse to be measured and an arbiter operatively connected to the plurality of comparator sub-units, wherein each comparator sub-unit corresponds to one of the multi-level comparisons and includes a single or multiple parallel adjustable comparators, and a delay device is arranged between adjacent comparator sub-units.

[0493] In one embodiment, the comparison threshold of the first level comparison is determined according to a given a priori track address interval.

[0494] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 23 to 24, step S3430 may include: subjecting the amplitude of each flicker pulse to be measured to a single-stage comparison including multiple comparisons to determine the channel address into which the flicker pulse to be measured falls, the number of multiple comparisons of the single-stage comparison being greater than or equal to the number of the multiple channel addresses; and determining the channel address into which the flicker pulse to be measured falls based on the comparison result of the single-stage comparison.

[0495] In some embodiments, for example, with reference to Figure 24, step S3430 may include: providing threshold crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data of multiple reference scintillation pulses; obtaining at least one threshold crossing time of the scintillation pulse to be measured, each threshold crossing time corresponding to an amplitude threshold; determining a first channel address interval based on the at least one threshold crossing time of the scintillation pulse to be measured and the threshold crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data; performing a single-level comparison or a multi-level comparison on the amplitude of each scintillation pulse to be measured to determine the second channel address interval into which the scintillation pulse to be measured falls, wherein each level of comparison defines at least two second channel address intervals by at least one comparison threshold, and the comparison threshold of the single-level comparison or the first-level comparison threshold of the multi-level comparison is determined based on the first channel address interval; and determining the channel address into which the scintillation pulse to be measured falls based on the single-level or multi-level comparison results.

[0496] In some embodiments, for example, referring to FIG. 24 and FIG. 25 , step S3430 may include:

[0497] Providing threshold crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data of multiple reference scintillation pulses; obtaining at least one threshold crossing time of the scintillation pulse to be measured, each threshold crossing time corresponding to an amplitude threshold; determining a first channel address interval based on the at least one threshold crossing time of the scintillation pulse to be measured and the threshold crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data; performing a single-level comparison or a multi-level comparison on the amplitude of each scintillation pulse to be measured to determine the second channel address interval into which the scintillation pulse to be measured falls, wherein each level of comparison defines at least two second channel address intervals by at least one comparison threshold, and the comparison threshold of the single-level comparison or the first-level comparison threshold of the multi-level comparison is determined based on the first channel address interval; and determining the channel address into which the scintillation pulse to be measured falls based on the single-level or multi-level comparison results.

[0498] In other embodiments, for example, referring to FIG. 25 , step S3430 may include: providing threshold crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data of a plurality of reference scintillation pulses; and looping through the following steps:

[0499] An amplitude threshold is set to obtain the threshold-crossing time of the flicker pulse to be measured, the threshold-crossing time corresponds to the set amplitude threshold, and the first channel address interval is determined or updated according to the threshold-crossing time and the threshold-crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data of the flicker pulse to be measured, and it is judged whether it meets the preset standard. If so, the loop is exited, and if not, the loop step is continued; the amplitude of each flicker pulse to be measured is subjected to a single-level comparison or a multi-level comparison to determine the second channel address interval into which the flicker pulse to be measured falls, wherein each level of comparison defines at least two second channel address intervals by at least one comparison threshold, and the comparison threshold of the single-level comparison or the first-level comparison threshold of the multi-level comparison is determined according to the first channel address interval; and the channel address into which the flicker pulse to be measured falls is determined according to the single-level or multi-level comparison results.

[0500] In an embodiment of the present application, determining that at least one component in the substance to be tested corresponds to the energy window of the high-energy ray includes: determining that a first component in the substance to be tested corresponds to a first energy window of the high-energy ray, and determining that a second component in the substance to be tested corresponds to a second energy window of the high-energy ray.

[0501] In an embodiment of the present application, the channel address interval corresponding to the energy window is determined based on the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data and the energy window, including: determining the first channel address interval corresponding to the first energy window based on the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data and the first energy window, and determining the second channel address interval corresponding to the second energy window based on the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data and the second energy window.

[0502] In an embodiment of the present application, the content of at least one component of the substance to be tested is determined based on the count of the scintillation pulses to be tested in each channel address and the determined channel address interval, including: determining a first count of the scintillation pulses to be tested in the first channel address interval; determining a second count of the scintillation pulses to be tested in the first channel address interval; and determining the relative content of the first component and the second component based on the first count and the second count.

[0503] In the embodiment of the present application, the first component is carbon C, and the second component is oxygen O, wherein the relative content of the first component and the second component is the carbon-oxygen ratio C / O.

[0504] In an embodiment of the present application, the material composition determination method 3300, 3400 may also include the steps or features of the pulse digitization method in a non-contradictory manner as needed, especially the sub-steps or features related to the embodiments shown in Figures 20 to 22, or the material composition determination method 3300, 3400 can be combined with the pulse digitization method to obtain a new embodiment, and vice versa.

[0505] Accordingly, different embodiments of the present application may provide a pulse digitizing device 3500 .

[0506] FIG35 is an exemplary block diagram of a pulse digitization device 3500 according to some embodiments of the present application. The pulse digitization device 3500 may include a mapping relationship database 3510 comprising amplitude-energy mapping relationship data for a plurality of reference pulses, preferably comprising an amplitude-energy lookup table for the 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, each energy channel address having its own energy representation value and an amplitude representation value determined accordingly based on the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data; a channel address determination unit 3530 configured to determine the channel addresses corresponding to the plurality of pulses to be measured based on a comparison result between the amplitudes of the plurality of pulses to be measured and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of channel addresses; and an energy information acquisition unit 3540 configured to obtain energy information for the plurality of pulses to be measured based on the number of pulses to be measured in each channel address and the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data or the energy representation value of the energy channel address.

[0507] In this embodiment, the channel address determination unit 3530 of the pulse digitization device 3500 can be implemented in a variety of different forms, for example, referring to the features of the pulse digitization methods of different embodiments shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 31 .

[0508] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figure 4, the channel address determination unit 3530 may include multiple comparators, multiple gates, and a processing unit connecting the comparators and the gates, wherein the multiple comparators are multi-stage parallel comparators, and the gates are arranged between adjacent comparators, and each gate includes a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting the pulse to be tested to the lower-level comparator, wherein a delay device is arranged in the first gate branch, and a subtractor is arranged in the second gate branch.

[0509] In some embodiments, the processing unit may be configured to receive a comparison result output by an upper comparator and set the gate according to the comparison result.

[0510] In some embodiments, the processing unit may be configured to set a reduction value of a subtractor in the gate according to the comparison result.

[0511] In some embodiments, the gate can be configured to output the pulse to be measured to the first gate branch and the second gate branch of the lower-level comparator according to the output level of the previous-level selector. If the output level of the previous-level comparator is 0, the pulse to be measured is output to the first gate branch of the lower-level comparator; if the output level of the previous-level comparator is 1, the pulse to be measured is output to the second gate branch of the lower-level comparator.

[0512] In some embodiments, the subtractor may be configured to subtract a reduction value equal to a comparison threshold of a previous comparator from the amplitude of the pulse to be measured.

[0513] In some embodiments, for example, referring to FIG6 , the channel address determination unit 3530 may include a multi-stage gate array, each gate being associated with a comparator and including a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting a pulse to be tested to a lower-stage comparator.

[0514] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 8, 10, 12, and 26, the channel address determination unit 3530 may include multiple parallel delay lines connected to the pulse input to be tested, adjustable comparators connected to the delay lines, and an arbiter operating the adjustable comparators, wherein the delay times of at least some of the delay lines are different.

[0515] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 13 to 17, the channel address determination unit 3530 may include a plurality of comparator sub-units connected to the pulse input to be measured and an arbiter operatively connected to the plurality of comparator sub-units, wherein each comparator sub-unit corresponds to one of the multi-level comparisons and includes a single or multiple parallel adjustable comparators, and a delay device is provided between adjacent comparator sub-units.

[0516] In some embodiments, the channel address determination unit 3530 may include a plurality of parallel adjustable comparators connected to the pulse input to be tested and an arbiter operatively connected to the plurality of parallel adjustable comparators, wherein the number of the plurality of parallel adjustable comparators is greater than or equal to the number of the plurality of channel addresses.

[0517] In the embodiment of the present application, for example, referring to FIG. 13 to FIG. 17 , the arbitrator may be configured to set the comparison threshold of the adjustable comparator according to the amplitude representation value of the set channel address.

[0518] In some embodiments, for example, referring to Figures 26 and 28, the channel address determination unit 3530 may include a threshold crossing time unit connected to the pulse input to be measured, a comparison unit connected to the pulse input to be measured, and an arbiter operating the threshold crossing time unit and the comparison unit.

[0519] In some embodiments, for example, referring to FIG. 26 and FIG. 28 , the threshold crossing time unit includes a threshold crossing time comparator and a threshold crossing time acquisition processor connected to the threshold crossing time comparator.

[0520] In some embodiments, the threshold crossing time comparator is configured to output a jump signal when the pulse to be measured crosses its set amplitude threshold.

[0521] In some embodiments, the threshold crossing time acquisition processor is configured to determine the threshold crossing time according to a time interval between two transition signals from the same threshold crossing time comparator.

[0522] In some embodiments, the arbitrator is configured to determine the first track address interval corresponding to the threshold crossing time according to an amplitude-energy lookup table of the plurality of reference pulses.

[0523] In some embodiments, for example, referring to FIG. 28 , there are a plurality of threshold-crossing time comparators, and the plurality of threshold-crossing time comparators are set with different amplitude thresholds.

[0524] In the embodiment of the present application, the pulse digitization device 3500 can be used to implement the pulse digitization method 100 or the methods described in other embodiments of this document, and can selectively combine the features of the pulse digitization method 100 or other methods, and vice versa.

[0525] Accordingly, different embodiments of the present application may provide a correction device 3600 .

[0526] FIG35 is an exemplary block diagram of a correction device 3600 according to some embodiments of the present application. The correction device 3600 may include: a first acquisition unit 3610, configured to acquire amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of a plurality of reference pulses; a second acquisition unit 3620, configured to acquire a plurality of energy channels to be corrected, wherein each energy channel to be corrected has its own energy characterization value and an amplitude characterization value determined accordingly according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data; a first channel determination unit 3630, configured to determine the energy channels to be corrected corresponding to the plurality of first correction pulses based on a comparison between the amplitudes of the plurality of first correction pulses and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy channels to be corrected; a first energy spectrum generation unit 3640, configured to generate an energy spectrum of the first correction pulse based on the first correction pulse count in each energy channel to be corrected and the energy characterization value of the energy channel to be corrected, wherein the energy spectrum of the first correction pulse has a first characteristic peak; a first correction channel setting unit 3650, configured to set a plurality of first correction energy channels, wherein the energy spectrum of the first correction pulse has a first characteristic peak. The energy range corresponding to the multiple first correction energy channels is smaller than the energy range corresponding to the multiple energy channels, and each correction energy channel has its own energy characterization value and an amplitude characterization value determined accordingly according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data; the second channel determination unit 3660 is configured to determine the correction energy channels corresponding to the multiple second correction pulses based on the comparison result of the amplitude size of the multiple second correction pulses and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the multiple first correction energy channels; the second energy spectrum generation unit 3670 is configured to generate the energy spectrum of the second correction pulse based on the second correction pulse count in each first correction energy channel and the energy characterization value of the correction energy channel, and the energy spectrum of the second correction pulse has a first correction characteristic peak; and the correction unit 3680 is configured to correct the energy characterization values ​​or amplitude characterization values ​​of the multiple energy channels to be corrected based on the first difference between the first characteristic peak and the first correction characteristic peak.

[0527] Optionally, the correction device 3600 may also include: a second correction channel setting unit, configured to set a plurality of second correction energy channels, the energy range corresponding to the plurality of second correction energy channels is smaller than the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy channels to be corrected, each second correction energy channel has its own energy characterization value and an amplitude characterization value determined accordingly according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data; a third channel determination unit, configured to determine the second correction energy channels corresponding to the plurality of third correction pulses based on a comparison of the amplitude size of the plurality of third correction pulses and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of second correction energy channels; and a third energy spectrum generating unit, generating an energy spectrum of the third correction pulse based on the third correction pulse count in each second correction energy channel and the energy characterization value of the second correction energy channel, the energy spectrum of the third correction pulse having a second correction characteristic peak.

[0528] Optionally, the correction unit 3600 is further configured to correct the energy characterization values ​​or amplitude characterization values ​​of the multiple energy channels to be corrected based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak and the first correction characteristic peak and a second difference between the second characteristic peak and the second correction characteristic peak.

[0529] In an embodiment of the present application, the calibration device 3600 may be used to implement the calibration method 2900 or methods described in other embodiments herein, and may selectively combine features of the calibration method 2900 or other methods, and vice versa.

[0530] Accordingly, different embodiments of the present application may provide material composition determination devices 3700 and 3800 .

[0531] As shown in Figure 37, the material composition determination device 3700 may include: a mapping relationship database 3710, including amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of reference scintillation pulses generated by high-energy rays; an energy window determination unit 3720, configured to determine the energy window of the high-energy rays corresponding to at least one component in the material to be tested; an amplitude range determination unit 3730, configured to determine the amplitude range of the scintillation pulse corresponding to the at least one component based on the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data and the energy window; a counting unit 3740, configured to determine the count of the scintillation pulses to be tested falling into the amplitude range based on the comparison result of the amplitudes of multiple scintillation pulses to be tested generated by the high-energy rays emitted by the material to be tested and the amplitude range; and a content determination unit 3750, configured to determine the content of the at least one component of the material to be tested based on the count.

[0532] In some embodiments, the energy window determination unit in the material composition determination device 3700 is configured to determine a first energy window of the high-energy ray corresponding to the first component in the material to be tested and a second energy window of the high-energy ray corresponding to the second component in the material to be tested.

[0533] In some embodiments, the amplitude range determination unit in the material composition determination device 3700 includes a first amplitude determination subunit and a second amplitude determination subunit, which are configured to determine the first scintillation pulse amplitude range and the second scintillation pulse amplitude range corresponding to the first component and the second component based on the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data and the first energy window and the second energy window.

[0534] In one embodiment, the counting unit in the material composition determination device 3700 also includes: a first comparison subunit, configured to determine whether the scintillation pulse to be measured falls within the first scintillation pulse amplitude range based on a comparison between the amplitude of the scintillation pulse to be measured and the first scintillation pulse amplitude range; and a second comparison subunit, configured to determine whether the scintillation pulse to be measured falls within the second scintillation pulse amplitude range based on a comparison between the amplitude of the scintillation pulse to be measured and the second scintillation pulse amplitude range.

[0535] In a further embodiment, the first comparison subunit in the material composition determination device 3700 includes a first comparator and a second comparator, wherein the first comparator sets a comparison threshold based on the lower limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the first energy window, and the second comparator sets a comparison threshold based on the upper limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the first energy window; and, the second comparison subunit includes a third comparator and a fourth comparator, wherein the third comparator sets a comparison threshold based on the lower limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the second energy window, and the fourth comparator sets a comparison threshold based on the upper limit of the amplitude range corresponding to the second energy window.

[0536] In other embodiments, the material composition determination device 3700 also includes a correction unit configured to obtain the operating temperature of the comparator, determine the comparison threshold deviation of the comparator at the operating temperature based on prior information, and correct the comparison threshold of the comparator based on the comparison threshold deviation.

[0537] As shown in FIG37 , the material composition determination device 3800 may include: a mapping relationship database 3810, including amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of reference scintillation pulses generated by high-energy rays; a channel address setting unit 3820, configured to set a plurality of channel addresses, wherein the channel addresses are energy channel addresses or amplitude channel addresses, each energy channel address having its own energy representation value and an amplitude representation value determined accordingly according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data, and each amplitude channel address having its own amplitude representation value; a channel address determination unit 3830, configured to determine the material composition of the material composition according to the amplitudes of the plurality of scintillation pulses to be measured and the amplitude representation values ​​of the plurality of channel addresses; Comparing the results, determining the channel addresses corresponding to the multiple scintillation pulses to be measured, wherein the multiple scintillation pulses to be measured are generated by high-energy rays emitted by the substance to be measured; an energy window determination unit 3840 is configured to determine the energy window of the high-energy rays corresponding to at least one component in the substance to be measured; a channel address interval determination unit 3850 is configured to determine the channel address interval corresponding to the energy window based on the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data and the energy window; and a content determination unit 3860 is configured to determine the content of the at least one component of the substance to be measured according to the count of the scintillation pulses to be measured in each channel address and the determined channel address interval.

[0538] In some embodiments, the channel address determination unit in the material composition determination device 3800 may include multiple comparators, multiple gates, and a processing unit connecting the comparators and the gates, wherein the multiple comparators are multi-stage parallel comparators, and the gates are arranged between adjacent comparators, and each gate includes a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting the flicker pulse to be tested to the lower-level comparator, wherein a delay device is arranged in the first gate branch, and a subtractor is arranged in the second gate branch.

[0539] In some embodiments, the channel address determination unit in the material composition determination device 3800 may include multiple parallel delay lines connected to the input of the flicker pulse to be tested, an adjustable comparator connected to the delay line, and an arbitrator operating the adjustable comparator, wherein the delay time of at least some of the delay lines is different.

[0540] In some embodiments, the channel address determination unit in the material composition determination device 3800 may include multiple comparator sub-units connected to the input of the flicker pulse to be measured and an arbitrator operatively connected to the multiple comparator sub-units, wherein each comparator sub-unit corresponds to one of the multiple levels of comparison and includes a single or multiple parallel adjustable comparators, and a delay device is arranged between adjacent comparator sub-units.

[0541] In another embodiment, the channel address determination unit in the material composition determination device 3800 may include a threshold crossing time unit connected to the input of the flicker pulse to be measured, a comparison unit connected to the input of the flicker pulse to be measured, and an arbitrator operating the connection between the threshold crossing time unit and the comparison unit.

[0542] In the embodiments of the present application, the material composition determination devices 3700 and 3800 can be used to implement the material composition determination methods 3300 and 3400 or the methods described in other embodiments of this document, and can selectively combine the features of the material composition determination methods 3300 and 3400 or other methods, and vice versa.

[0543] In an embodiment of the present application, the pulse digitization device 3500 may also include components or features of the correction device 3600 and / or the material composition determination device 3700, 3800 in a non-contradictory manner as needed, or the pulse digitization device 3500 may be combined with the correction device 3600 and / or the material composition determination device 3700, 3800 to obtain a new embodiment, and vice versa.

[0544] It should be noted that the descriptions of the various steps in the above-mentioned figures are for illustration and purpose only and do not limit the scope of application of this application. Those skilled in the art may, under the guidance of this application, make various modifications and changes to the various steps in the relevant figures. However, such modifications and changes are still within the scope of this application.

[0545] It should be understood that the methods and devices described in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by different systems and their modules. For example, in some embodiments, the system and its modules can be implemented by hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware. Among them, the hardware part can be implemented using dedicated logic; the software part can be stored in a memory and executed by an appropriate instruction execution system, such as a microprocessor or dedicated design hardware. Those skilled in the art will understand that the above methods and systems can be implemented using computer executable instructions and / or contained in processor control code, for example, such as a carrier medium such as a disk, CD or DVD-ROM, a programmable memory such as a read-only memory (firmware), or a data carrier such as an optical or electronic signal carrier. Such code is provided on the system and its modules of the present application. Not only can hardware circuits such as very large-scale integrated circuits or gate arrays, semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable logic devices, etc. be implemented, they can also be implemented with software executed by various types of processors, and can also be implemented by a combination of the above hardware circuits and software (for example, firmware).

[0546] It should be noted that the above description of the modules is for convenience of description only and does not limit the present application to the scope of the embodiments. It is understandable that those skilled in the art, after understanding the principles of the system, may arbitrarily combine the modules or form subsystems connected to other modules without departing from this principle. For example, the data acquisition module and the threshold switching module may be the same comparison module. For another example, the sampling module may also include a comparison module. For another example, the modules may share a storage module, or each module may have its own storage module. Variations such as these are all within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0547] In some embodiments, the present application also provides a digitizing device, which may include the digitizing device mentioned in the above embodiments, and the digitizing device can be used to collect corresponding pulse signals, such as scintillation pulse data and generate required energy information, such as energy spectrum. In a specific example, the pulse digitizing device provided by the present application can be applied to well logging technology, for example, as a nuclear logging device. In another specific example, the pulse digitizing device provided by the present application can be applied to positron emission tomography (PET). In the PET system, gamma photon data can be collected according to the scheme described in the embodiment of the present application and then image reconstruction can be performed. In other specific examples of the present application, the pulse digitizing device provided by the present application can be applied to a variety of digitizing devices, such as CT equipment, MRI equipment, radiation detection equipment, oil detection equipment, low-light detection equipment, SPECT equipment, security inspection equipment, gamma cameras, X-ray equipment, DR equipment, and other equipment that utilizes the principle of high-energy ray conversion and other photoelectric conversion application equipment, or a combination of the above-mentioned multiple devices.

[0548] Although not shown, in some embodiments, an electronic device is further provided, characterized in that it includes: a memory, a processor, and an executable program stored in the memory and runnable on the processor, wherein the executable program implements the steps of any method described in the embodiments of the present application when executed by the processor.

[0549] Although not shown, in some embodiments, a storage medium is further provided, storing an executable program, which is configured to implement the steps of any method described in any embodiment of the present application when executed. The executable program includes various program modules / units that constitute the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present application, and the computer program composed of each program module / unit can implement the functions corresponding to the various steps in the method described in the above embodiment when executed. The executable program can also be run on the electronic device as described in the embodiment of the present application.

[0550] While the basic concepts have been described herein, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the detailed disclosure is merely illustrative and does not limit the present application. Although not explicitly stated herein, those skilled in the art may make various modifications, improvements, and amendments to the present application. Such modifications, improvements, and amendments are suggested in the present application and remain within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of the present application.

[0551] At the same time, this application uses specific terms to describe the embodiments of this application. For example, "one embodiment," "an embodiment," and / or "some embodiments" refer to a certain feature, structure, or characteristic related to at least one embodiment of this application. Therefore, it should be emphasized and noted that "one embodiment," "an embodiment," or "an alternative embodiment" mentioned twice or multiple times in different locations in this application does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, certain features, structures, or characteristics in one or more embodiments of this application may be appropriately combined.

[0552] In addition, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various aspects of the present application can be illustrated and described by a number of patentable categories or situations, including any new and useful process, machine, product or combination of substances, or any new and useful improvements thereto. Accordingly, various aspects of the present application can be performed entirely by hardware, entirely by software (including firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.), or by a combination of hardware and software. The above hardware or software may all be referred to as "data blocks", "modules", "engines", "units", "components" or "systems". In addition, various aspects of the present application may be represented as a product located in one or more readable media, which includes readable program code.

[0553] The storage medium may comprise a propagated data signal containing program code, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. The propagated signal may be in a variety of forms, including electromagnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. The storage medium may be any readable medium other than a readable storage medium that can be connected to an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device to communicate, propagate, or transmit the program for use. The program code on the storage medium may be transmitted via any suitable medium, including radio, cable, fiber optic cable, RF, or similar media, or any combination of the foregoing.

[0554] In addition, unless expressly stated in the claims, the order of the processing elements and sequences described in this application, the use of alphanumeric characters, or the use of other names are not intended to limit the order of the processes and methods of this application. Although the above disclosure discusses some of the invention embodiments currently considered useful through various examples, it should be understood that such details are only for illustrative purposes, and the attached claims are not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, the claims are intended to cover all modifications and equivalent combinations that are consistent with the essence and scope of the embodiments of this application. For example, although the system components described above can be implemented by hardware devices, they can also be implemented only by software solutions, such as installing the described system on an existing server or mobile device.

[0555] Similarly, it should be noted that, in order to simplify the presentation of this application and thus facilitate understanding of one or more embodiments of the invention, the foregoing descriptions of the embodiments of this application sometimes combine multiple features into a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof. However, this disclosure method does not mean that the subject matter of this application requires more features than those recited in the claims. In fact, an embodiment may have fewer features than all of the features of a single embodiment disclosed above.

[0556] In some embodiments, numbers are used to describe the quantity of components and attributes. It should be understood that such numbers used in the description of the embodiments are modified by the modifiers "about", "approximately" or "substantially" in some examples. Unless otherwise stated, "about", "approximately" or "substantially" indicate that the numbers are allowed to vary by ±20%. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the numerical parameters used in the description and claims are approximate values, which may change according to the required features of individual embodiments. In some embodiments, the numerical parameters should take into account the specified significant digits and adopt the general method of retaining digits. Although the numerical domains and parameters used to confirm the breadth of their range in some embodiments of the present application are approximate values, in specific embodiments, the settings of such numerical values ​​are as accurate as possible within the feasible range.

[0557] Each patent, patent application, patent application disclosure, and other materials, such as articles, books, specifications, publications, documents, etc., cited in this application is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. This includes application history documents that are inconsistent with or conflict with the content of this application, as well as documents (currently or subsequently attached to this application) that limit the broadest scope of the claims of this application. It should be noted that if the descriptions, definitions, and / or use of terms in the accompanying materials of this application are inconsistent or conflicting with the content of this application, the descriptions, definitions, and / or use of terms in this application shall prevail.

[0558] Finally, it should be understood that the embodiments described in this application are merely illustrative of the principles of the embodiments of this application. Other variations may also fall within the scope of this application. Therefore, by way of example and not limitation, alternative configurations of the embodiments of this application may be considered consistent with the teachings of this application. Accordingly, the embodiments of this application are not limited to the embodiments explicitly introduced and described in this application.

Claims

1. A pulse digitization method, characterized in that: The pulse digitization method comprises: Providing amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of multiple reference pulses; Setting a plurality of track addresses, wherein the track addresses are energy track addresses or amplitude track addresses, each energy track address has its own energy characterization value and an amplitude characterization value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data, and each amplitude track address has its own amplitude characterization value; Determining the track addresses corresponding to the plurality of pulses to be tested according to a comparison result between the amplitudes of the plurality of pulses to be tested and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of track addresses; and The energy information of the plurality of pulses to be measured is obtained according to the count of the pulses to be measured in each channel address and the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data or the energy characterization value of the energy channel address.

2. The pulse digitization method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The providing of amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of a plurality of reference pulses comprises: An amplitude-energy lookup table of the plurality of reference pulses is provided.

3. The pulse digitization method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The track address is an energy track address; Setting multiple addresses includes: The energy characterization value corresponding to each energy channel address is determined, and the pulse amplitude characterization value corresponding to the energy characterization value is determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data, so as to set a plurality of energy channels.

4. The pulse digitization method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The track address is an amplitude track address; According to the pulse count to be measured in each channel address and the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data, energy information of the plurality of pulses to be measured is obtained, including: Obtaining the amplitude distribution of the plurality of pulses to be measured relative to the amplitude channel address according to the count of the pulses to be measured in each channel address; Determine the energy representation value corresponding to the amplitude representation value of each amplitude channel address according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data; The energy information is obtained from the amplitude distribution and the energy characterization value.

5. The pulse digitization method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Determining the track addresses corresponding to the plurality of pulses to be tested according to the comparison results of the amplitudes of the plurality of pulses to be tested and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of track addresses, comprising: Comparing the amplitude of each pulse to be measured with comparison thresholds of a plurality of comparators in sequence; before comparison, selectively adjusting the amplitude of the pulse to be measured according to the previous comparison result; According to the comparison results of the multiple comparators, the track address corresponding to each pulse to be detected is determined.

6. The pulse digitization method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The selectively adjusting the amplitude of the pulse to be measured according to the previous comparison result includes: If the amplitude of the pulse to be measured is less than the comparison threshold of the previous comparator, the amplitude of the pulse to be measured is not adjusted; If the amplitude of the pulse to be measured is greater than or equal to the comparison threshold of the previous comparator, the amplitude of the pulse to be measured is reduced, wherein the comparison thresholds of the multiple comparators are determined according to the amplitude characterization values ​​of the multiple addresses.

7. The pulse digitization method according to claim 5, characterized in that: Before the comparison, the amplitude of the pulse to be measured is selectively adjusted according to the previous comparison result, including: Setting a gate according to the previous comparison result, the gate having a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting a pulse to be tested; Input the pulse to be tested into the set gate; Delay processing is performed on the pulse to be tested output from the first selection branch; The amplitude of the pulse to be measured output from the second selection branch is subjected to subtraction processing.

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

9. The pulse digitization method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that: The comparison thresholds of the plurality of comparators are determined by sequentially dividing the amplitude representation values ​​of the track addresses determined by halving the plurality of track addresses.

10. The pulse digitization method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Determining the track addresses corresponding to the plurality of pulses to be tested according to the comparison results of the amplitudes of the plurality of pulses to be tested and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of track addresses, comprising: Input each pulse to be tested into a multi-stage gate array so that the pulse to be tested passes through each stage of the gate of the multi-stage gate array in sequence, wherein each gate is associated with its own comparator and has a first gating branch and a second gating branch for selectively outputting the pulse to be tested, and the gate of a non-last stage is respectively connected to two gates of the next stage through the first and second gating branches, wherein the comparison threshold of the comparator is determined according to the amplitude characterization values ​​of the multiple addresses; Before the pulse to be tested passes through each level of the gate, the pulse to be tested is compared with the comparator associated with the gate through which it passes, the gate is set according to the comparison result, and the gate branch of the gate that outputs the pulse to be tested is determined; and According to the output of the multi-stage gate array, the channel address corresponding to the pulse to be tested is determined.

11. The pulse digitization method according to claim 10, characterized in that: The first-level selector corresponds to a first channel address determined by dividing the total number of channel addresses by two, and two channel address intervals for the lower-level selector are defined by the first channel address; the remaining selectors correspond to a second channel address determined by dividing the channel address interval defined by the upper-level selector connected thereto by two, and two channel address intervals for the lower-level selector or for output are defined by the second channel address, wherein the comparison threshold of each comparator is determined by the amplitude characterization value of the channel address corresponding to the associated selector.

12. The pulse digitization method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Determining the track addresses corresponding to the plurality of pulses to be tested according to the comparison results of the amplitudes of the plurality of pulses to be tested and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of track addresses, comprising: The amplitude of each pulse to be tested is subjected to a first level comparison of multiple levels of comparison to determine the track address interval into which the pulse to be tested falls, and each level of comparison defines at least two track address intervals by at least one comparison threshold; Performing the next level of comparison in sequence to determine the track address interval into which the pulse to be tested falls, until the last level of comparison is completed, wherein the comparison threshold of the next level of comparison is determined according to the track address interval determined by the previous level of comparison; and The channel address where the pulse to be tested falls is determined based on the comparison result of the last level.

13. The pulse digitization method according to claim 12, characterized in that: The multi-level comparison is implemented by a first multi-level comparison unit, which includes a plurality of parallel delay lines connected to the pulse input to be tested, an adjustable comparator connected to the delay lines, and an arbiter operating the adjustable comparator, wherein the delay times of at least some of the delay lines are different.

14. The pulse digitization method according to claim 13, characterized in that: The adjustable comparator is single, and the delay times of the multiple parallel delay lines are all different.

15. The pulse digitization method according to claim 13, characterized in that: There are multiple adjustable comparators, and different comparators are connected to different delay lines, wherein the delay times of the delay lines connected to the same comparator are all different.

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 level of comparison.

17. The pulse digitization method according to claim 12, characterized in that: The multi-level comparison is implemented by a second multi-level comparison unit, which includes a plurality of comparator sub-units connected to the pulse input to be measured and an arbitrator operatively connected to the plurality of comparator sub-units, wherein each comparator sub-unit corresponds to one of the multi-level comparisons and includes a single or multiple parallel adjustable comparators, and a delay device is arranged between adjacent comparator sub-units.

18. The pulse digitization method according to any one of claims 12 to 17, characterized in that: The comparison threshold of the first level comparison is determined according to the total number of the plurality of track addresses.

19. The pulse digitization method according to claim 18, characterized in that: The track address interval defined by the comparison threshold set by the first-level comparison evenly divides the multiple track addresses; the track address interval defined by the comparison threshold set by the next-level comparison evenly divides the track address interval determined by the previous-level comparison.

20. The pulse digitization method according to claim 17, characterized in that: The number of comparison thresholds of each level 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: The comparison threshold for each level of comparison is 1, thereby defining two equal address intervals.

22. The pulse digitization method according to claim 19, characterized in that: The comparison thresholds for each level of comparison are 3, thus defining four equal address intervals.

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

24. The pulse digitization method according to claim 23, characterized in that: The given a priori track address interval is 1; The comparison threshold of the first level comparison is 1 and is determined according to the amplitude representation value of one of the endpoint track addresses of the prior track address interval.

25. The pulse digitization method according to claim 23, characterized in that: The comparison thresholds of the first level comparison are 2 and are determined according to the amplitude representation values ​​of the two endpoint track addresses of the prior track address interval respectively.

26. The pulse digitization method according to claim 24, characterized in that: If the track address interval determined by the first level comparison is outside the a priori track address interval, the next level comparison is performed in sequence to determine the track address interval in which the pulse to be measured falls, until the last level comparison is completed, including: When comparing at each level, the comparison thresholds adjacent to the priori track address interval are given priority.

27. The pulse digitization method according to claim 23, characterized in that: The given a priori track address intervals are M, M≥2, and the comparison thresholds of the first level comparison are 2M and are determined according to the amplitude representation values ​​of the 2M endpoint track addresses of the M a priori track address intervals.

28. The pulse digitization method according to claim 27, characterized in that: The pulse to be detected is a scintillation pulse generated by the detection material; The pulse digitization method further includes: determining the M priori track address intervals, specifically including: Determining M energy windows according to at least two components of the detected substance; Determine the M priori address intervals corresponding to the M energy windows.

29. The pulse digitization method according to claim 28, characterized in that: The M energy windows are a first component energy window and a second component energy window; The pulse digitization method also includes: Determine the count of the scintillation pulses falling into the first component energy window and the second component energy window respectively; as well as A ratio of the first component to the second component is determined based on the count.

30. The pulse digitization method according to claim 28, characterized in that: The step of determining M energy windows according to at least two components of the detected substance comprises: According to the energy spectra of the first component and the second component, a first component energy window and a second component energy window are obtained respectively.

31. The pulse digitization method according to claim 29, characterized in that: Determining the count of the scintillation pulses falling into the first component energy window and the second component energy window respectively comprises: Determining whether the scintillation pulse falls within the amplitude range corresponding to the first component energy window or the amplitude range corresponding to the second component energy window according to a comparison result of the amplitude of the scintillation pulse and the amplitude range; Counting the first component of the scintillation pulses that fall within the amplitude range corresponding to the first component energy window; and The second component is counted for the scintillation pulses falling into the amplitude range corresponding to the second component energy window.

32. The pulse digitization method according to claim 29, characterized in that: Determining that the scintillation pulses fall into the first component energy window and the count of the first component energy window respectively comprises: The counts falling into the first component energy window and the second component energy window respectively are determined according to the energy information of the plurality of pulses to be measured.

33. The pulse digitization method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Determining the track addresses corresponding to the plurality of pulses to be tested according to the comparison results of the amplitudes of the plurality of pulses to be tested and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of track addresses, comprising: Performing a single-stage comparison including a plurality of comparisons on the amplitude of each pulse to be detected to determine the track address where the pulse to be detected falls, wherein the number of the plurality of comparisons is greater than or equal to the number of the plurality of track addresses; The track address where the pulse to be tested falls is determined according to the comparison result of the single-stage comparison.

34. The pulse digitization method according to claim 33, characterized in that: The multi-stage comparison is implemented by a first single-stage comparison unit, which includes a plurality of parallel delay lines connected to the pulse input to be tested, an adjustable comparator connected to the delay lines, and an arbiter operating the adjustable comparator, wherein the delay times of at least some of the delay lines are different, and the number of the plurality of parallel delay lines is greater than or equal to the number of the plurality of addresses.

35. The pulse digitization method according to claim 34, characterized in that: The delay times of the multiple parallel delay lines are all different.

36. The pulse digitization method according to claim 34, characterized in that: The multi-stage comparison is implemented by a second single-stage comparison unit, which includes a plurality of parallel adjustable comparators connected to the pulse input to be tested and an arbiter operatively connected to the plurality of parallel adjustable comparators, wherein the number of the plurality of parallel adjustable comparators is greater than or equal to the number of the plurality of channel addresses.

37. The pulse digitization method according to claim 3, characterized in that: Determining the track addresses corresponding to the plurality of pulses to be tested according to the comparison results of the amplitudes of the plurality of pulses to be tested and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of track addresses, comprising: Providing threshold crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data of multiple reference pulses; Obtaining at least one threshold crossing time of the pulse to be measured, each threshold crossing time corresponding to an amplitude threshold; Determine a first track address interval according to the at least one threshold crossing time of the pulse to be tested and the threshold crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data; Performing a single-stage comparison or a multi-stage comparison on the amplitude of each pulse to be measured to determine the second track address interval into which the pulse to be measured falls, wherein each stage of comparison defines at least two second track address intervals by at least one comparison threshold, and the comparison threshold of the single-stage comparison or the first-stage comparison threshold of the multi-stage comparison is determined according to the first track address interval; and The track address where the pulse to be tested falls is determined according to the single-level or multi-level comparison result.

38. The pulse digitization method according to claim 37, characterized in that: The determining of the first track address interval according to the at least one threshold crossing time of the pulse to be tested and the threshold crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data comprises: The first channel address interval is determined according to an intersection and / or a subset of a plurality of energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of threshold crossing times.

39. The pulse digitization method according to claim 3, characterized in that: Determining the track addresses corresponding to the plurality of pulses to be tested according to the comparison results of the amplitudes of the plurality of pulses to be tested and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of track addresses, comprising: Providing threshold crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data of multiple reference pulses; The loop executes the following steps: Set a value threshold. Obtain the threshold crossing time of the pulse to be tested, where the threshold crossing time corresponds to the set amplitude threshold, Determine or update the first track address interval according to the threshold crossing time of the pulse to be tested and the threshold crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data, Determine whether it meets the preset criteria, if so, exit the loop, if not, continue to execute the loop steps; Performing a single-stage comparison or a multi-stage comparison on the amplitude of each pulse to be measured to determine the second track address interval into which the pulse to be measured falls, wherein each stage of comparison defines at least two second track address intervals by at least one comparison threshold, and the comparison threshold of the single-stage comparison or the first-stage comparison threshold of the multi-stage comparison is determined according to the first track address interval; and The track address where the pulse to be tested falls is determined according to the single-level or multi-level comparison result.

40. The pulse digitization method according to claim 39, characterized in that: The preset standard is that the set amplitude threshold reaches a preset number or the track addresses in the first track address interval are less than a preset number.

41. The pulse digitization method according to any one of claims 37 to 40, characterized in that: Provides threshold crossing time-energy range mapping relationship data for multiple reference pulses, including: A threshold crossing time-energy range lookup table of multiple reference pulses is provided.

42. The pulse digitization method according to any one of claims 37 to 40, characterized in that: The determination of the track addresses corresponding to the plurality of pulses to be tested is implemented by a track address determination unit, which includes a threshold crossing time unit connected to the input of the pulses to be tested, a comparison unit connected to the input of the pulses to be tested, and an arbiter operating the threshold crossing time unit and the comparison unit.

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

44. The pulse digitization method according to claim 43, characterized in that: There are a plurality of the threshold crossing time comparators, and the plurality of threshold crossing time comparators are set with different amplitude thresholds.

45. The pulse digitization method according to claim 42, characterized in that: The comparison unit includes a single-stage or multi-stage comparator sub-unit, and each stage of the comparator sub-unit includes a single or multiple parallel adjustable comparators.

46. ​​The pulse digitization method according to claim 42, characterized in that: The comparison unit comprises a plurality of parallel delay circuits connected to the pulse input to be measured and an adjustable comparator connected to the delay circuits, and the delay times of at least some of the delay circuits are different.

47. The pulse digitization method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: Obtaining energy information of the plurality of pulses to be measured, comprising: An energy spectrum of the plurality of pulses to be measured is generated.

48. The pulse digitization method according to claim 3, characterized in that: The pulse digitization method also includes: The magnitude characterizing values ​​of the plurality of energy tracks are corrected relative to the energy characterizing values ​​of the plurality of energy tracks.

49. The pulse digitization method according to claim 48, characterized in that: Correcting the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy addresses relative to the energy characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy addresses comprises: Determine the energy addresses corresponding to the plurality of first correction pulses according to a comparison result between the amplitudes of the plurality of first correction pulses and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy addresses; generating an energy spectrum of the first correction pulse according to the first correction pulse count in each energy channel and the energy characterization value of the energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the first correction pulse has a first characteristic peak value; Setting a plurality of first correction energy addresses, wherein the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of first correction energy addresses are smaller than the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of energy addresses, and each correction energy address has its own energy characterization value and an amplitude characterization value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data; Determine the correction energy addresses corresponding to the plurality of second correction pulses according to the comparison result of the amplitudes of the plurality of second correction pulses and the amplitude characterizing values ​​of the plurality of first correction energy addresses; generating an energy spectrum of the second correction pulse according to the second correction pulse count in each first correction energy channel and the energy characterization value of the correction energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the second correction pulse has a first correction characteristic peak value; as well as Based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first corrected characteristic peak value, the energy characterizing values ​​or the amplitude characterizing values ​​of the plurality of energy channels are corrected.

50. The pulse digitization method according to claim 49, characterized in that: A plurality of first correction energy channels are set, including: The plurality of first correction energy addresses are set according to the first characteristic peak value so that the first characteristic peak value falls within an energy range corresponding to the first correction energy address.

51. The pulse digitization method according to claim 50, characterized in that: A plurality of first correction energy channels are set, including: The multiple first correction energy addresses are set according to the first characteristic peak value and the preset shrinkage ratio, so as to shrink the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple energy addresses according to the preset shrinkage ratio to obtain the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple first correction energy addresses, and make the first characteristic peak value fall within the energy range corresponding to the first correction energy address.

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

53. The pulse digitization method according to claim 49, characterized in that: The number of the first correction energy channels is equal to the number of the plurality of energy channels to be corrected.

54. The pulse digitization method according to claim 51, characterized in that: The preset contraction ratio is set so that the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy addresses is an integer multiple of the energy range corresponding to the plurality of first correction energy addresses.

55. The pulse digitization method according to any one of claims 49 to 54, characterized in that: The energy spectrum of the first correction pulse also has a second characteristic peak; Correcting the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy addresses relative to the energy characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy addresses also includes: Setting a plurality of second correction energy addresses, wherein the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of second correction energy addresses are smaller than the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of energy addresses, and each second correction energy address has its own energy characterization value and an amplitude characterization value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data; Determine the second correction energy addresses corresponding to the plurality of third correction pulses according to the comparison between the amplitudes of the plurality of third correction pulses and the amplitude characterizing values ​​of the plurality of second correction energy addresses; generating an energy spectrum of the third correction pulse according to the third correction pulse count in each second correction energy channel and the energy characterization value of the second correction energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the third correction pulse has a second correction characteristic peak value; The step of correcting the energy characterization values ​​or amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy addresses comprises: Based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak and the first corrected characteristic peak and a second difference between the second characteristic peak and the second corrected characteristic peak, the energy characterization values ​​or the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy channels are corrected.

56. The pulse digitization method according to claim 55, characterized in that: A plurality of second calibration energy channels are set, including: The plurality of second correction energy addresses are set according to the second characteristic peak value so that the second characteristic peak value falls within an energy range corresponding to the second correction energy address.

57. The pulse digitization method according to claim 56, characterized in that: A plurality of second calibration energy channels are set, including: The multiple second correction energy addresses are set according to the second characteristic peak value and the preset shrinkage ratio, so as to shrink the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple energy addresses according to the preset shrinkage ratio to obtain the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple second correction energy addresses, and make the second characteristic peak value fall within the energy range corresponding to the second correction energy address.

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

59. The pulse digitization method according to claim 57, characterized in that: The number of the second corrected energy channels is equal to the number of the corrected energy channels.

60. The pulse digitization method according to claim 57, characterized in that: The preset contraction ratio is set so that the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy addresses is an integer multiple of the energy range corresponding to the plurality of second correction energy addresses.

61. A correction method for pulse digitization, characterized in that: The correction method comprises: Acquiring amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of multiple reference pulses; Acquire a plurality of energy channels to be corrected, wherein each energy channel to be corrected has its own energy characterization value and an amplitude characterization value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data; Determine the energy addresses to be corrected corresponding to the plurality of first correction pulses according to the comparison between the amplitudes of the plurality of first correction pulses and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy addresses to be corrected; generating an energy spectrum of the first correction pulse according to the first correction pulse count in each energy channel to be corrected and the energy characterization value of the energy channel to be corrected, wherein the energy spectrum of the first correction pulse has a first characteristic peak value; Setting a plurality of first correction energy addresses, wherein the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of first correction energy addresses are smaller than the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of energy addresses, and each correction energy address has its own energy characterization value and an amplitude characterization value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data; Determine the correction energy addresses corresponding to the plurality of second correction pulses according to the comparison result of the amplitudes of the plurality of second correction pulses and the amplitude characterizing values ​​of the plurality of first correction energy addresses; generating an energy spectrum of the second correction pulse according to the second correction pulse count in each first correction energy channel and the energy characterization value of the correction energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the second correction pulse has a first correction characteristic peak value; and Based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first correction characteristic peak value, the energy characterization values ​​or the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy channels to be corrected are corrected.

62. The calibration method according to claim 61, characterized in that: A plurality of first correction energy channels are set, including: The plurality of first correction energy addresses are set according to the first characteristic peak value so that the first characteristic peak value falls within an energy range corresponding to the first correction energy address.

63. The calibration method according to claim 62, characterized in that: A plurality of first correction energy channels are set, including: The multiple first correction energy addresses are set according to the first characteristic peak value and the preset shrinkage ratio, so as to shrink the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple energy addresses to be corrected according to the preset shrinkage ratio to obtain the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple first correction energy addresses, and make the first characteristic peak value fall within the energy range corresponding to the first correction energy address.

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

65. The calibration method according to claim 63, characterized in that: The number of the first correction energy channels is equal to the number of the plurality of energy channels to be corrected.

66. The calibration method according to claim 63, characterized in that: The preset contraction ratio is set so that the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy addresses to be corrected is an integer multiple of the energy range corresponding to the plurality of first correction energy addresses.

67. The calibration method according to any one of claims 61 to 66, characterized in that: The energy spectrum of the first correction pulse also has a second characteristic peak; the correction method also includes: A plurality of second calibration energy addresses are set, and the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of second calibration energy addresses are smaller than the An energy range corresponding to a plurality of energy addresses to be corrected, each second correction energy address having its own energy characterization value and an amplitude characterization value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data; Determining the second correction energy addresses corresponding to the plurality of third correction pulses according to a comparison between the amplitudes of the plurality of third correction pulses and the amplitude characterizing values ​​of the plurality of second correction energy addresses; and generating an energy spectrum of the third correction pulse according to the third correction pulse count in each second correction energy channel and the energy characterization value of the second correction energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the third correction pulse has a second correction characteristic peak value; The step of correcting the energy characterization values ​​or amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy addresses to be corrected comprises: Based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak and the first correction characteristic peak and a second difference between the second characteristic peak and the second correction characteristic peak, the energy characterization values ​​or amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy channels to be corrected are corrected.

68. The calibration method according to claim 67, characterized in that: A plurality of second calibration energy channels are set, including: The plurality of second correction energy addresses are set according to the second characteristic peak value so that the second characteristic peak value falls within an energy range corresponding to the second correction energy address.

69. The calibration method according to claim 67, characterized in that: A plurality of second calibration energy channels are set, including: The multiple second correction energy addresses are set according to the second characteristic peak value and the preset shrinkage ratio, so as to shrink the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple energy addresses to be corrected according to the preset shrinkage ratio to obtain the energy ranges corresponding to the multiple second correction energy addresses, and make the second characteristic peak value fall within the energy range corresponding to the second correction energy address.

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

71. The calibration method according to claim 69, characterized in that: The number of the second correction energy channels is equal to the number of the plurality of energy channels to be corrected.

72. The calibration method according to claim 69, characterized in that: The preset contraction ratio is set so that the energy range corresponding to the plurality of energy addresses to be corrected is an integer multiple of the energy range corresponding to the plurality of second correction energy addresses.

73. A pulse digitizing device, characterized in that: The pulse digitizing device comprises: A mapping relationship database, including amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of multiple reference pulses; a channel address setting unit configured to set a plurality of channel addresses, wherein the channel addresses are energy channel addresses or amplitude channel addresses, each energy channel address has its own energy characterization value and an amplitude characterization value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data, and each amplitude channel address has its own amplitude characterization value; a track address determination unit configured to determine the track addresses corresponding to the plurality of pulses to be tested according to a comparison result between the amplitudes of the plurality of pulses to be tested and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of track addresses; and The energy information acquisition unit is configured to obtain the energy information of the plurality of pulses to be tested according to the pulse counts to be tested in each channel address and the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data or the energy characterization value of the energy channel address.

74. The pulse digitizing device according to claim 73, characterized in that: The mapping relationship database includes an amplitude-energy lookup table of the multiple reference pulses.

75. The pulse digitizing device according to claim 73, characterized in that: The channel address determination unit includes multiple comparators, multiple gates and a processing unit connecting the comparators and the gates, wherein the multiple comparators are multi-stage parallel comparators, the gates are arranged between adjacent comparators, each gate includes a first gate branch and a second gate branch for selectively outputting a pulse to be tested to a lower-level comparator, wherein a delay device is arranged in the first gate branch, and a subtractor is arranged in the second gate branch.

76. The pulse digitizing device according to claim 75, characterized in that: The processing unit is configured to receive a comparison result output by an upper comparator and set the gate according to the comparison result.

77. The pulse digitizing device according to claim 75, characterized in that: The processing unit is configured to set a reduction value of a subtractor in the gate according to the comparison result.

78. The pulse digitizing device according to claim 75, characterized in that: The gate is configured to output the pulse to be tested to the first gate branch and the second gate branch of the lower comparator according to the output level of the upper selector, If the output level of the previous comparator is 0, the pulse to be tested is output to the first selection branch of the next comparator; If the output level of the upper comparator is 1, the pulse to be tested is output to the second selection branch of the lower comparator.

79. The pulse digitizing device according to claim 75, characterized in that: The subtractor is configured to subtract a reduction value equal to a comparison threshold of a previous comparator from the amplitude of the pulse to be measured.

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

81. The pulse digitizing device according to claim 73, characterized in that: The channel address determination unit includes a plurality of parallel delay lines connected to the pulse input to be tested, an adjustable comparator connected to the delay lines, and an arbiter operatively connected to the adjustable comparator, wherein the delay times of at least some of the delay lines are different, and the arbiter is configured to set a comparison threshold of the adjustable comparator according to an amplitude characterization value of the set channel address.

82. The pulse digitizing device according to claim 73, characterized in that: The channel address determination unit includes a plurality of comparator subunits connected to the pulse input to be tested and an arbiter operating the plurality of comparator subunits, wherein each comparator subunit corresponds to one of the multi-level comparisons and includes a single or multiple parallel adjustable comparators, and a delay device is arranged between adjacent comparator subunits.

83. The pulse digitizing device according to claim 73, characterized in that: The track address determination unit includes a plurality of parallel adjustable comparators connected to the pulse input to be tested and an arbiter operatively connected to the plurality of parallel adjustable comparators, wherein the number of the plurality of parallel adjustable comparators is greater than or equal to the number of the plurality of track addresses.

84. The pulse digitizing device according to claim 73, characterized in that: The channel address determination unit includes a threshold crossing time unit connected to the input of the pulse to be tested, a comparison unit connected to the input of the pulse to be tested, and an arbiter operating the threshold crossing time unit and the comparison unit.

85. The pulse digitizing device according to claim 84, characterized in that: The threshold crossing time unit includes a threshold crossing time comparator and a threshold crossing time acquisition processor connected to the threshold crossing time comparator; the threshold crossing time comparator is configured to output a jump signal when the pulse to be measured crosses the amplitude threshold set by it; the threshold crossing time acquisition processor is configured to determine the threshold crossing time based on the time interval between the two jump signals from the same threshold crossing time comparator.

86. A digitizing device, characterized in that: include: A device for digitizing a pulse signal as claimed in any one of claims 73 to 85.

87. A correction device for pulse digitization, characterized in that: The correction device comprises: A first acquisition unit is configured to acquire amplitude-energy mapping relationship data of a plurality of reference pulses; A second acquisition unit acquires a plurality of energy channels to be corrected, wherein each energy channel to be corrected has its own energy characterization value and an amplitude characterization value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data; A first track address determination unit is configured to determine the energy track addresses to be corrected corresponding to the plurality of first correction pulses according to a comparison between the amplitudes of the plurality of first correction pulses and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy track addresses to be corrected; A first energy spectrum generating unit is configured to generate an energy spectrum of the first correction pulse according to the first correction pulse count in each energy channel to be corrected and the energy characterization value of the energy channel to be corrected, wherein the energy spectrum of the first correction pulse has a first characteristic peak value; A first correction track setting unit is configured to set a plurality of first correction energy tracks, the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of first correction energy tracks are smaller than the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of energy tracks, each correction energy track having its own energy characterization value and an amplitude characterization value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data; A second track address determination unit is configured to determine the correction energy track addresses corresponding to the plurality of second correction pulses according to a comparison between the amplitudes of the plurality of second correction pulses and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of first correction energy track addresses; A second energy spectrum generating unit is configured to generate an energy spectrum of the second correction pulse according to the second correction pulse count in each first correction energy channel and the energy characterization value of the correction energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the second correction pulse has a first correction characteristic peak value; and The correction unit is configured to correct the energy characterization values ​​or amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of energy channels to be corrected based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak value and the first correction characteristic peak value.

88. The calibration device according to claim 87, characterized in that The correction device also includes: A second correction track setting unit is configured to set a plurality of second correction energy tracks, wherein the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of second correction energy tracks are smaller than the energy ranges corresponding to the plurality of energy tracks to be corrected, and each second correction energy track has its own energy characterization value and an amplitude characterization value correspondingly determined according to the amplitude-energy mapping relationship data; A third track address determination unit configured to determine the second correction energy track addresses corresponding to the plurality of third correction pulses according to a comparison result between the amplitudes of the plurality of third correction pulses and the amplitude characterization values ​​of the plurality of second correction energy track addresses; and A third energy spectrum generating unit, generating an energy spectrum of the third correction pulse according to the third correction pulse count in each second correction energy channel and the energy characterization value of the second correction energy channel, wherein the energy spectrum of the third correction pulse has a second correction characteristic peak value; Wherein, the correction unit is configured to correct the energy characterization values ​​or amplitude characterization values ​​of the multiple energy channels to be corrected based on a first difference between the first characteristic peak and the first correction characteristic peak and a second difference between the second characteristic peak and the second correction characteristic peak.

89. An electronic device, characterized in that: include: A memory, a processor, and an executable program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the executable program implements the steps of the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 72 when executed by the processor.

90. A storage medium, characterized in that The storage medium stores an executable program, and when the executable program is executed by the processor, the steps of the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 72 are implemented.

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