Method and apparatus for acquiring and processing only a necessary volume of radon data consistent with the overall shape of the object for efficient three dimensional image reconstruction

摘要

An improved method and apparatus is disclosed for retaining only necessary cone beam projection data acquired along a three dimensional scanning trajectory in order to ensure more computationally efficient processing of Radon data for computerized tomographic image reconstruction consistent with the overall shape of an object irradiated by a cone beam source. If the scanning trajectory is such that an otherwise complete see of Radon data is acquired the image so reconstructed will also be exact. The invention is directed to restricting image reconstruction processing to only that region of support in Radon space actually occupied by the object itself; therefore, computational approximations consistent with the overall shape of the object can be applied to improve image reconstruction efficiency.