Method and apparatus for using a parameterized cell based circular sorting algorithm

摘要

A method of grouping detection events in an imaging apparatus is described herein. The detection events can include primary detection events and secondary scattered events, which are frequently discarded due to the secondary scattered events, thus reducing sensitivity of the dataset for eventual image reconstruction. The method includes cell modules cascaded with identical parametrized cells, in a pipeline fashion, having the last cell in the chain circle back to the first cell. A rotating data pointer indicates the location of the first entry in the cell pipeline. The described method enables the grouping of multiple samples of detector data in real time with no loss of information, based on a time and location of the detected event. The method can be implemented in an FPGA as a hardware-based real time process.