Patents by Inventor Luc Beaulieu

Luc Beaulieu 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).

  • Patent number: 11294076
    Abstract: A radiation dosimeter for measuring radiation dose within a region includes a structure having a scintillating material that emits light when exposed to radiation. Deformable radio-luminescent elements are located within the structure and configured to generate optical energy in response to irradiation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: UNIVERSITÉ LAVAL
    Inventors: Louis Archambault, Luc Beaulieu, Émily Cloutier
  • Publication number: 20200057165
    Abstract: A radiation dosimeter for measuring radiation dose within a region includes a structure having a scintillating material that emits light when exposed to radiation. Deformable radio-luminescent elements are located within the structure and configured to generate optical energy in response to irradiation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 15, 2019
    Publication date: February 20, 2020
    Inventors: Louis Archambault, Luc Beaulieu, Émily Cloutier
  • Patent number: 9678217
    Abstract: Various embodiments are described herein for a radiation dosimetry apparatus and associated methods for measuring radiation dose. In some embodiments, the apparatus includes multiple scintillating elements for detecting amounts of radiation dose at multiple points within a detection region. Each of the scintillating elements generates light in response to radiation interacting within their volume. A light guide combines the light generated by all of the scintillating elements as well as radiation-induced contaminated optical energy and transmits the combined light to a spectral analysis setup. Multi or hyper-spectral calibration technique allows calculating the dose or dose rate at the positions of the different scintillating elements. The calibration technique isolates the light produced by a given scintillating element from the other scintillating elements as well as any other source of radiation-induced contaminating light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignees: Université Laval, Board of Regents, The University of Texas System
    Inventors: Francois Therriault-Proulx, Luc Beaulieu, Louis Archambault, Sam Beddar
  • Patent number: 9606242
    Abstract: According to one aspect, a planar and volumetric dosimeter for use with a radiotherapy machine having a radiation source. The dosimeter includes a scintillating assembly including a plurality of scintillating optical fibers and configured to generate a light output in response to incident dose distribution thereon from the radiation source, and a photo-detector operable to convert optical energy emitted by the scintillating assembly to electrical signals for determining actual two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) dose distribution incident on the scintillating assembly using a tomographic reconstruction algorithm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2017
    Inventors: Luc Beaulieu, Luc Gingras, Mathieu Goulet, Louis Archambault
  • Publication number: 20140263991
    Abstract: Various embodiments are described herein for a radiation dosimetry apparatus and associated methods for measuring radiation dose. In some embodiments, the apparatus includes multiple scintillating elements for detecting amounts of radiation dose at multiple points within a detection region. Each of the scintillating elements generates light in response to radiation interacting within their volume. A light guide combines the light generated by all of the scintillating elements as well as radiation-induced contaminated optical energy and transmits the combined light to a spectral analysis setup. Multi or hyper-spectral calibration technique allows calculating the dose or dose rate at the positions of the different scintillating elements. The calibration technique isolates the light produced by a given scintillating element from the other scintillating elements as well as any other source of radiation-induced contaminating light.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 24, 2012
    Publication date: September 18, 2014
    Applicants: BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM, UNIVERSITE LAVAL
    Inventors: Francois Therriault-Proulx, Luc Beaulieu, Louis Archambault, Sam Beddar
  • Publication number: 20140217295
    Abstract: According to one aspect, a planar and volumetric dosimeter for use with a radiotherapy machine having a radiation source. The dosimeter includes a scintillating assembly including a plurality of scintillating optical fibers and configured to generate a light output in response to incident dose distribution thereon from the radiation source, and a photo-detector operable to convert optical energy emitted by the scintillating assembly to electrical signals for determining actual two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) dose distribution incident on the scintillating assembly using a tomographic reconstruction algorithm.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 29, 2012
    Publication date: August 7, 2014
    Inventors: Luc Beaulieu, Luc Gingras, Mathieu Goulet, Louis Archambault
  • Patent number: 8610077
    Abstract: According to one aspect, a fluence monitoring detector for use with a multileaf collimator on a radiotherapy machine having an x-ray radiation source. The fluence monitoring detector includes a plurality of scintillating optical fibers, each scintillating optical fiber configured to generate a light output at each end thereof in response to incident radiation pattern thereon from the radiation source and multileaf collimator, a plurality of collection optical fibers coupled to the opposing ends of the scintillating optical fibers and operable to collect the light output coming from both ends of each scintillating optical fiber, and a photo-detector coupled to the collection optical fibers and operable to converts optical energy transmitted by the collection optical fibers to electric signals for determining actual radiation pattern information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2013
    Assignee: Universite Laval
    Inventors: Luc Beaulieu, Luc Gingras, Mathieu Goulet
  • Publication number: 20130304409
    Abstract: According to one aspect, methods for validating plastic scintillating detectors (PSD) for photon dosimetry and applications of same. In some embodiments, the method includes using at least one PSD to obtain at least one dose measurement, determining at least one PSD correction factor suitable for compensation for variations in energy response of the at least one PSD over the energy range of interest, and determining at least one corrected dose measurement based on the at least one PSD correction factor. In some embodiments, the PSD may be incorporated into a wearable article, such as gloves, eyewear and the like, or used for skin surface measurements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 9, 2013
    Publication date: November 14, 2013
    Applicants: Board of Regents, The University of Texas System, Universite Laval
    Inventors: Luc Beaulieu, Francois Lessard, Sam Beddar
  • Publication number: 20120205530
    Abstract: According to one aspect, a fluence monitoring detector for use with a multileaf collimator on a radiotherapy machine having an x-ray radiation source. The fluence monitoring detector includes a plurality of scintillating optical fibers, each scintillating optical fiber configured to generate a light output at each end thereof in response to incident radiation pattern thereon from the radiation source and multileaf collimator, a plurality of collection optical fibers coupled to the opposing ends of the scintillating optical fibers and operable to collect the light output coming from both ends of each scintillating optical fiber, and a photo-detector coupled to the collection optical fibers and operable to converts optical energy transmitted by the collection optical fibers to electric signals for determining actual radiation pattern information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 11, 2011
    Publication date: August 16, 2012
    Inventors: Luc Beaulieu, Luc Gingras, Mathieu Goulet
  • Patent number: 8183534
    Abstract: A radiation dosimetry apparatus and method use a scintillating optical fiber array for detecting dose levels. The scintillating optical fiber detectors generate optical energy in response to a predetermined type of radiation, and are coupled to collection optical fibers that transmit the optical energy to a photo-detector for conversion to an electrical signal. The detectors may be embedded in one or more modular, water-equivalent phantom slabs. A repeatable connector couples the collection fibers to the photo-detector, maintaining the fiber ends in a predetermined spatial relationship. The detector fibers may be distributed as desired in a three-dimensional detection space, and may be oriented with their longitudinal axes at different orientations relative to a transmission axis of an incident radiation beam. A calibration method uses two measurements in two spectral windows, one with irradiation of the scintillator at a known dose and one with only irradiation of the collection fiber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 22, 2012
    Inventors: Frederic Lacroix, Luc Beaulieu, Sam Beddar, Mathieu Guillot, Luc Gingras, Louis Archambault
  • Publication number: 20090236510
    Abstract: A radiation dosimetry apparatus and method use a scintillating optical fiber array for detecting dose levels. The scintillating optical fiber detectors generate optical energy in response to a predetermined type of radiation, and are coupled to collection optical fibers that transmit the optical energy to a photo-detector for conversion to an electrical signal. The detectors may be embedded in one or more modular, water-equivalent phantom slabs. A repeatable connector couples the collection fibers to the photo-detector, maintaining the fiber ends in a predetermined spatial relationship. The detector fibers may be distributed as desired in a three-dimensional detection space, and may be oriented with their longitudinal axes at different orientations relative to a transmission axis of an incident radiation beam. A calibration method uses two measurements in two spectral windows, one with irradiation of the scintillator at a known dose and one with only irradiation of the collection fiber.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2008
    Publication date: September 24, 2009
    Applicant: UNIVERSITE LAVAL
    Inventors: Frederic Lacroix, Luc Beaulieu, Sam Beddar, Mathieu Guillot, Luc Gingras, Louis Archambault
  • Publication number: 20090074278
    Abstract: A method for reducing artifacts in an original computed tomography (CT) image of a subject, the original (CT) image being produced from original sinogram data. The method comprises detecting an artifact creating object in the original CT image; re-projecting the artifact creating object in the original sinogram data to produce modified sinogram data in which missing projection data is absent; interpolating replacement data for the missing projection data; replacing the missing projection data in the original sinogram data with the interpolated replacement data to produce final sinogram data; and reconstructing a final CT image using the final sinogram data to thereby obtain an artifact-reduced CT image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 12, 2005
    Publication date: March 19, 2009
    Applicant: UNIVERSITE LAVAL
    Inventors: Luc Beaulieu, Mehran Yazdi
  • Publication number: 20080031400
    Abstract: Unlike existing methods for three-dimensional seed reconstruction, the proposed method uses raw tomography data (sinograms) instead of reconstructed CT slices. The method is for three-dimensional reconstruction of an object inserted in a living or non-living body. It comprises obtaining raw tomography data for an area of the body where the object is inserted; detecting a trace of the object in the raw tomography data, by extracting points from the trace; and estimating at least one of a position and an orientation of the object using the points and a known shape of a trace of the object in the raw tomography data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2005
    Publication date: February 7, 2008
    Inventors: Luc Beaulieu, Dragan Tubic