Radiant energy – Source with recording detector – Using a stimulable phosphor
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-28
2002-04-02
Hannaher, Constantine (Department: 2878)
Radiant energy
Source with recording detector
Using a stimulable phosphor
C250S589000, C250S590000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06365909
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a radiographic image reading apparatus wherein a storage phosphor plate is taken out of a cassette containing flat and storage phosphor plates which have been subjected to radiographing, and radiographic images recorded on the storage phosphor plate are read.
TOKKAIHEI No. 9-68765 discloses a radiographic image reading apparatus taking out a storage phosphor sheet from a portable cassette containing storage phosphor sheets which have been subjected to radiographing, and reading radiographic images recorded on the storage phosphor sheet wherein a plurality of cassettes are arranged to be set horizontally, the storage phosphor sheet mentioned above is taken out of any cassette set, and the storage phosphor sheet thus taken out is bent to be conveyed to an image reading section so that radiographic images recorded on the storage phosphor sheet may be read at the image reading section.
Further, TOKKAIHEI No. 8-122946 discloses a technology wherein there are provided a cassette stacker which can accommodate plural sets of cassettes each containing a flat and storage phosphor plate subjected to radiographing so that the storage phosphor plate may be vertical and sends a cassette in succession to the taking out position, a plate holding section which can take out aforesaid storage phosphor plate in the vertical direction from the cassette sent to the taking out position in the cassette stacker and can hold it, and an image reading section which reads radiographic images recorded on the storage phosphor plate through laser scanning, and the plate holding section which is holding the storage phosphor plate is moved in the vertical direction, and the image reading section reads radiographic images recorded on the storage phosphor plate held by the plate holding section.
In the radiographic image reading apparatus described in TOKKAIHEI No. 9-68765, however, it has been difficult to read radiographic images accurately, because the storage phosphor plate is bent to be conveyed and it tends to be damaged accordingly, and the storage phosphor plate has a restriction that it needs to be of a flexible film type.
Further, it has been cleared that the technology described in TOKKAIHEI No. 9-68765 has a problem that a conveyance path forms a curved surface which makes the storage phosphor plate to be jammed easily and makes a loss of expensive storage phosphor plates to be caused easily. In addition, it is difficult to convey the rigid and flat storage phosphor plate along the curved conveyance path from the portable cassette containing the rigid and flat storage phosphor plate. Further, since plural cassettes are set to be stacked vertically in plural steps so that each cassette may be horizontal, a large space for the operations to set cassettes is required in the outskirts of the position of installation, and when a large-sized storage phosphor plate is also made to be capable of being read, a large floor space is required.
On the other hand, the technology described in TOKKAIHEI No. 8-122946 has a problem that it is impossible to take out a storage phosphor plate from the cassette and to read radiographic images recorded on the storage phosphor plate until the cassette is sent to the taking out position, and interruption processing can not be conducted. Further problem is that the apparatus is of a complicated structure and expensive, which is caused by the mechanism wherein the cassette stacker sends plural cassettes set simultaneously and intermittently and thereby sends plural cassettes to the taking out position in succession.
An object of the invention is to make it unnecessary to bend the storage phosphor plate to convey it, and to make the floor space of the apparatus small, which are resulted from consideration of the problems stated above.
An object of the invention is to make the space in the outskirts of the installation position in the horizontal direction unnecessary while making interruption processing possible without providing a conveyance path having the curved surface which easily causes jam of the storage phosphor plate, and to make the cassette stacker to be of a simple structure and to be inexpensive, while avoiding a large floor space even when a large-sized storage phosphor plate is made to be capable of being read.
Further object of the invention is to make the structure of a cassette stacker simple and to make the cassette stacker inexpensive while making interruption processing possible without providing a conveyance path having the curved surface which easily causes jam of the storage phosphor plate, and to make stable and accurate image reading for a long time to be easy.
Another object is to avoid a large floor space in the case where plural cassettes can be set, the storage phosphor plate can be taken out from any cassette set, and radiographic images recorded on the storage phosphor plate can be read, and further to shorten the total time necessary for reading radiographic images recorded on the storage phosphor plate.
FIG. 30
is a structural perspective view of a radiographic image reading apparatus in the prior art.
In the drawing, on the upper part of the apparatus, there is provided cassette stacker section
1001
on which a plurality of cassettes
1002
each having therein a rigid medium having thereon accumulated radiographic images are set.
Inside the lower portion of the apparatus, there are provided an image reading section which reads radiographic images on the medium and a medium conveyance section which takes a medium out of the cassette positioned at extracting position A of cassette stacker section
1002
, then conveys it to an image reading section, and returns the medium finished in terms of reading to cassette
1002
positioned at the extracting position A.
Cassette stacker section
1001
is arranged to drive cassette
1002
which is set to slide it in the direction of arrow B in the drawing so that the cassette
1002
containing the medium to be read may be positioned at the extracting position A.
In the radiographic image reading apparatus having the aforesaid structure, however, when the cassette stacker section
1001
to be driven to slide in the direction of arrow B is exposed from the apparatus, there is a fear that a part of the human body is drawn in a gap of cassettes
1002
set when the cassette stacker section
1001
slides.
It is therefore necessary to provide a cover which covers the cassette stacker section
1001
.
However, when this cover is provided, operations to open and close the cover are necessary when setting cassette
1002
on the cassette stacker section
1001
, or when taking the cassette
1002
out of the cassette stacker section
1001
, which worsens an operation.
With reference to
FIG. 31
showing a front structural diagram and
FIG. 32
showing a right side structural diagram in
FIG. 31
, an overall structure of a conventional radiographic image recording/reading apparatus will be explained.
In these drawings, the numeral
1001
represents a the cassette stacker section
1001
in which three racks
1012
,
1013
and
1014
are formed vertically, and cassettes
1002
,
1003
and
1004
each having therein a medium on which radiographic images are accumulated are respectively set on the racks
1012
,
1013
and
1014
.
Incidentally, the cassette stacker section
1001
is arranged so that cassettes
1002
,
1003
and
1004
which are different each other in terms of size can be set as shown in the drawing.
On the lower portion of the cassette stacker section
1001
, there is provided image reading section
1005
which reads radiographic images on a medium in each of cassettes
1002
,
1003
and
1004
. Further, between the cassette stacker section
1001
and the image reading section
1005
, there is provided medium conveyance section
1006
which takes a medium out of either cassette among set cassettes
1002
,
1003
and
1004
, then conveys it to image reading section
1005
and conveys the medium finished in terms of reading to the cassette.
On the up
Hayakawa Kazushi
Ishimitsu Yoshiyuki
Tsuda Takao
Frishauf, Holtz Goodman, Langer & Chick, P.C.
Gabor Otilia
Hannaher Constantine
Konica Corporation
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