Distributed Data Collection for Large FOV PET Scanners
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional PET scanners have a limited field of view, requiring whole-body scans to take 10 to 30 minutes, and as the axial field of view increases, the complexity of managing data from digital detector modules grows.
Innovation Solution
A distributed data collection architecture for PET imaging systems, featuring a modular gantry with separate gantry segments, each with multiple detector modules coupled to data collection boards. These boards aggregate detector event data and communicate via a daisy-chain architecture, with a master board collecting and generating coincidence pairs from all data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the axial field of view is increased to reduce scan time, then productivity is improved, but device complexity increases due to more detector modules and data management requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The data collection system is divided into multiple independent data collection boards, each responsible for a specific gantry segment. This segmentation allows the system to handle large axial FOV by distributing data collection tasks across multiple boards, preventing any single board from becoming overwhelmed and reducing overall system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a hierarchical dimension to data collection by organizing boards into master and slave roles. Slave boards collect data from detector modules and forward to master boards, which perform coincidence processing. This dimensional organization enables scalable architecture that handles increased complexity through structured layers rather than flat monolithic design.
2Length of stationary object
If more detector modules are added to increase axial field of view, then the field of view is improved, but device complexity increases due to more data collection boards and inter-board communication
Solution Approach 1:
The gantry is divided into multiple segments, with each segment having its own dedicated data collection board. This segmentation allows the axial FOV to be extended by simply adding more segments and boards in a modular fashion, rather than increasing the capacity of a single board.
Solution Approach 2:
Slave data collection boards perform preliminary data collection and filtering before forwarding data to master boards. This preliminary action at the distributed level reduces the processing burden on master boards and enables the system to scale to more boards without proportionally increasing central processing complexity.
3Device complexity
If a single centralized data collection board is used, then device complexity is reduced, but productivity decreases due to data bottlenecks and limited processing capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized data collection function is segmented into multiple distributed data collection boards. Each board handles data from its associated detector modules independently, eliminating the bottleneck of a single centralized board and enabling parallel processing that increases overall data processing capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
While data collection is distributed, the patent merges the coincidence processing function at the master board level. This combining of functions at appropriate hierarchical levels allows distributed data collection to maintain high processing capacity while keeping the architecture manageable through selective centralization of specific processing tasks.
Data Source
AI summary
A distributed data collection architecture for a PET system includes a plurality of data collection boards, wherein each data collection board is coupled to a respective gantry segment of the PET system. The PET system includes a modular gantry having a plurality of gantry segments that are physically separate from each other, and each gantry segment includes a plurality of detector modules coupled to a respective data collection board. Each respective data collection board is configured to acquire all detector event data from a respective plurality of detector modules of the respective gantry segment the respective data collection board is coupled to. Only one data collection board of the plurality of data collection boards is configured to act as a master data collection board that collects all of the detector event data from each data collection board and to generate coincidence pairs from all of the detector event data.