Patents by Inventor Christopher Knox

Christopher Knox has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20130315367
    Abstract: An apparatus has a patient support, a rotatable gantry supporting a source of imaging radiation, and a radiation detector that operates in a cyclical pattern of an exposure phase followed by a readout phase. For a first detector cycle in which the gantry has a first angle of rotation, the source of radiation is controlled to emit a first radiation beam pulse during the exposure phase, and respective first imaging data is read out during the readout phase. For a second, subsequent detector cycle, it is determined if the gantry has rotated through at least a threshold angular displacement relative to said first angle of rotation, and if so, the source of radiation is controlled to emit a second radiation beam pulse during the exposure phase, and respective second imaging data is read out during the readout phase.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2013
    Publication date: November 28, 2013
    Applicant: Elekta AB (publ)
    Inventors: Christopher Knox, Colin Winfield, Kevin Brown
  • Publication number: 20130289796
    Abstract: In various embodiments, a system for controlling radiotherapy equipment in a treatment environment includes a controller for receiving, from one or more image capture devices, data indicating the position of one or more objects in the treatment environment. Based on the position data, the controller defines one or more exclusionary zones from which the radiotherapy equipment is excluded. Each zone has a buffer area surrounding one or more of the objects. The controller further directs the radiotherapy equipment such that a radiotherapy treatment plan is delivered without the equipment entering into the exclusionary zones.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2012
    Publication date: October 31, 2013
    Inventors: Per H. Bergfjord, Dan Thompson, Kevin Brown, Christopher Knox, Andrew Long, Stephen Young
  • Publication number: 20120257711
    Abstract: In radiotherapy apparatus comprising an imager for the MV beam and a separate kV imaging system, it is common for there to be significant artefacts in the kV image arising from the MV pulse. We disclose such a radiotherapy apparatus which is adapted to (i) cause the therapeutic source to emit radiation while keeping the diagnostic source inactive, (ii) read an image from the detector associated with the therapeutic source, (iii) cause the diagnostic source to emit radiation and while keeping the therapeutic source inactive, (iv) read an image from the detector associated with the diagnostic source, and (v) repeat as necessary. The control unit is preferably adapted to, at steps (ii) and (iv), read an image from both of the detectors, or to clear the “inactive” detector. The detectors are ideally flat-panel detectors, capturing a two-dimensional image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2009
    Publication date: October 11, 2012
    Applicant: ELEKTA AB (PUBL)
    Inventor: Christopher Knox
  • Patent number: 7924971
    Abstract: For Respiration Correlated Cone Beam CT scanning, we have observed that improvements in the frame rate are in fact undesirable. We therefore propose a radiographic apparatus comprising a beam of radiation and a detector therefor, adapted to obtain a two dimensional image of the beam after passing through a cyclically varying object to be investigated, a processor adapted to review the images and select images at like points in the cycle, and a control means for the beam of radiation adapted to activate the beam periodically. The control means can activate the beam at a frequency of between 0.5 and 5 Hertz, more preferably between 1 and 3 Hertz, which corresponds (roughly) to a frequency that is between 6 and 10 times the frequency of the cyclical variation. It will assist if the selected point of the cycle is an extremity thereof, as the rate of change in these areas is at a minimum. Thus, slight mismatches between the two cycles will then have only a small effect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2011
    Assignee: Elekta AB (Publ)
    Inventors: Christopher Knox, Andrew Long, Kevin Brown
  • Publication number: 20100104070
    Abstract: For Respiration Correlated Cone Beam CT scanning, we have observed that improvements in the frame rate are in fact undesirable. We therefore propose a radiographic apparatus comprising a beam of radiation and a detector therefor, adapted to obtain a two dimensional image of the beam after passing through a cyclically varying object to be investigated, a processor adapted to review the images and select images at like points in the cycle, and a control means for the beam of radiation adapted to activate the beam periodically. The control means can activate the beam at a frequency of between 0.5 and 5 Hertz, more preferably between 1 and 3 Hertz, which corresponds (roughly) to a frequency that is between 6 and 10 times the frequency of the cyclical variation. It will assist if the selected point of the cycle is an extremity thereof, as the rate of change in these areas is at a minimum. Thus, slight mismatches between the two cycles will then have only a small effect.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2006
    Publication date: April 29, 2010
    Applicant: Elekta AB (publ)
    Inventors: Christopher Knox, Andrew Long, Kevin Bronw
  • Patent number: 7117436
    Abstract: A system and method for dynamically generating Web content using a parse tree is described. A template describing a dynamically generated Web page is built. The template includes a script written in a tag-delimited page description language. One or more markers included within the template each indicate a relative location within the Web page for dynamic content insertion. The hierarchical nature of the page description language is used to infer a set of display regions, which are referenced by a parse tree. The parse tree includes a plurality of nodes structured into levels. Each node corresponds to structural tags specified within the script. Each successive level represents a further nesting of the structural tags within the script. A controller program invokes a document engine and specifies a particular template. Each marker may be substituted with dynamic content zero, one or several times each.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2000
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2006
    Assignee: Oracle Corporation
    Inventors: Cameron Gene O'Rourke, Matthew Scott Piermarini, David Christopher Knox