Issuance of U.S. Patent Number 9,465,135 to RAPISCAN SYSTEMS, INC.

On October 11, 2016, the USPTO issued U.S. Patent Number 9,465,135 to RAPISCAN SYSTEMS, INC., which was successfully prosecuted by Novel IP.

The ‘135 patent  is directed towards  a scanning system for scanning an object in a scanning zone. The scanning system includes both a radiation source arranged to irradiate the object with radiation having a peak energy of at least 900 keV and a scatter detector arranged to detect radiation scattered from the object wherein the radiation source is arranged to irradiate the object over a plurality of regions to be scanned within a single irradiation event. The scatter detector includes a plurality of detection elements, each detection element being arranged to detect scattered radiation from a predefined part of the scanning zone and a signal processor arranged to calculate scatter intensity across the plurality of detector elements.

Independent Claim 1 describes “A scanning method for scanning an object in a scanning zone, the method comprising: irradiating the object with an X-ray radiation source having a peak energy of at least 900 keV, wherein the object is irradiated over a plurality of regions to be scanned within a single irradiation event; detecting X-ray radiation scattered from the object wherein said scattered X-ray radiation is detected from a predefined part of the scanning zone via a detector having a plurality of detector elements and wherein each detector element comprises a first photodetector, a second photodetector, and scintillator material positioned therebetween; determining a point of interaction between photons of said X-ray radiation and said plurality of detector elements by obtaining a first output from the first photodetector and a second output from the second photodetector, and determining a ratio of said first and second outputs; determining a pattern of detector exposures, wherein said pattern of detector exposures is created using a mask to create exposure patterns across multiple detection elements, said mask restricting scattered X-ray radiation that is not from a corresponding part of the scanning zone from reaching its corresponding detector region; and analyzing the pattern of detector exposures to allocate each exposure pattern with a particular radiation source position.”