Patents by Inventor Paul Boxall
Paul Boxall 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).
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Publication number: 20230329651Abstract: A patient support system for use with a medical device. The patient support system comprises a patient support surface comprising at least one electronic display region configured to display information; one or more proximity sensors configured to provide signals indicative of the presence of a person or object in the vicinity of the patient support surface; and a controller configured to control the information displayed on the at least one electronic display region based on signals received from the one or more proximity sensors.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 31, 2021Publication date: October 19, 2023Inventors: Paul Boxall, David Gilmore, Wayne Lomax
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Patent number: 11596811Abstract: A radiotherapy system, comprising: a patient support, a radiation beam generator, a gantry on which the radiation beam generator is mounted, the gantry being moveable so as to rotate the radiation beam generator around the patient support, and a control system including a real-time control system mounted on the gantry and configured to provide real-time control signals to the patient support, the radiation beam generator, and the gantry.Type: GrantFiled: March 26, 2019Date of Patent: March 7, 2023Assignee: Elekta LimitedInventors: Ralf Spriesterbach, Paul Berwick, Adrian Smith, Paul Boxall
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Publication number: 20220088415Abstract: A method of determining whether a radiotherapy device configured to provide therapeutic radiation to a patient should be authorised for use. The device comprises a plurality of components, each component of the plurality of components being coupled with at least one identifier configured to provide data identifying the component it is coupled with. The method comprises receiving, from the identifiers, data identifying each of the plurality of components of the radiotherapy device and determining whether at least one authorisation criterion is met based on the identifying data and authorisation data; and if the at least one authorisation criterion is met, determining that the radiotherapy device is authorised for use.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 23, 2020Publication date: March 24, 2022Inventors: Colin Winfield, Marco Massai, Neil Pritchard, Paul Boxall
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Publication number: 20210093894Abstract: A radiotherapy system, comprising: a patient support, a radiation beam generator, a gantry on which the radiation beam generator is mounted, the gantry being moveable so as to rotate the radiation beam generator around the patient support, and a control system including a real-time control system mounted on the gantry and configured to provide real-time control signals to the patient support, the radiation beam generator, and the gantry.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 26, 2019Publication date: April 1, 2021Inventors: Ralf SPRIESTERBACH, Paul BERWICK, Adrian SMITH, Paul BOXALL
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Patent number: 10363436Abstract: A method for dealing with the effects of inertia in a radiotherapy apparatus is disclosed. The method may include catering for inertia in advance by incorporating inertia factors into an output from a delivery control system which adapts the treatment plan by incorporating the inertia factors, or by including the inertia factors as a constraint in the treatment planning process. The instructions delivered to the geometry items may reflect their inertia behavior and can therefore be followed very closely. This may indicate that a departure from that plan will be correspondingly more likely to indicate an error by the geometry item. When a geometry item needs to accelerate or decelerate, less error may arise and thus the error-checking regime may not necessarily make allowances for such departures from the intended path, thereby tightening the error tolerances. Error-checking may be safely carried out locally for each component.Type: GrantFiled: December 14, 2012Date of Patent: July 30, 2019Assignee: ELEKTA AG (PUBL)Inventors: David Burt, Paul Boxall
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Publication number: 20150314139Abstract: A method for dealing with the effects of inertia in a radiotherapy apparatus is disclosed. The method may include catering for inertia in advance by incorporating inertia factors into an output from a delivery control system which adapts the treatment plan by incorporating the inertia factors, or by including the inertia factors as a constraint in the treatment planning process. The instructions delivered to the geometry items may reflect their inertia behavior and can therefore be followed very closely. This may indicate that a departure from that plan will be correspondingly more likely to indicate an error by the geometry item. When a geometry item needs to accelerate or decelerate, less error may arise and thus the error-checking regime may not necessarily make allowances for such departures from the intended path, thereby tightening the error tolerances. Error-checking may be safely carried out locally for each component.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 14, 2012Publication date: November 5, 2015Inventors: David BURT, PAUL BOXALL
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Patent number: 8503608Abstract: Apparatus comprising a radiation source which can rotate in an arc around the radiation beam axis, a multi-leaf collimator (MLC), and a controller for the source dose/time rate, the source rotation speed, and the MLC position. The controller calculates the time required for (i) an MLC leaf movement from start to end of an arc-segment at a maximum leaf speed, (ii) rotation of the source from start to end of the arc-segment at a maximum speed, and (iii) delivery of the dose at a maximum dose rate per time, selects the longest of (i), (ii) and (iii), and operates the selected one at its maximum and the others at a reduced rate matching that longest time, the time required for (i) and/or (ii) being the greater of the time to complete the segment at a continuous speed and the time to accelerate the item to that speed.Type: GrantFiled: October 24, 2007Date of Patent: August 6, 2013Assignee: Elekta AB (Publ)Inventors: Kevin Brown, Ralph Streamer, Paul Boxall, Duncan Bourne, Christopher James Gibson
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Patent number: 7961843Abstract: A radiotherapeutic apparatus comprises a source able to emit a beam of therapeutic radiation along a beam axis, a multi-leaf collimator arranged to collimate the beam to a desired shape, wherein the source is rotatable about a rotation axis that is substantially orthogonal and intersects with the beam axis thereby to describe an arc around that axis, and further comprises a control means able to control the dose/time rate of the source, the rotation speed of the source, and the multi-leaf collimator position. The control means is arranged to control the source in accordance with a treatment plan over first and second arc-segments such that at least the multi-leaf collimator changes shape at a different rate per degree in the second arc-segment as to the first arc-segment.Type: GrantFiled: April 27, 2006Date of Patent: June 14, 2011Assignee: Elekta AB (publ)Inventors: Kevin Brown, Ralph Streamer, Paul Boxall, Duncan Bourne
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Publication number: 20100329422Abstract: A radiotherapeutic apparatus comprises a source able to emit a beam of therapeutic radiation along a beam axis, a multi-leaf collimator arranged to collimate the beam to a desired shape, wherein the source is rotateable about a rotation axis that is substantially orthogonal and intersects with the beam axis thereby to describe an arc around that axis, and further comprises a control means able to control the dose/time rate of the source, the rotation speed of the source, and the multi-leaf collimator position. The control means is arranged to receive a treatment plan in which the arc is divided into a plurality of notional arc-segments, and specifying the total dose for the arc-segment and a Start and end MLC position.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 24, 2007Publication date: December 30, 2010Applicant: Elekta AB (publ)Inventors: Kevin Brown, Ralph Streamer, Paul Boxall, Duncan Bourne, Christopher James Gibson
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Patent number: 7672428Abstract: Recent advances in treatment planning and in the apparatus able to deliver such plans has called for the dose rate, i.e. the instantaneous power output of the radiation source, to be varied with time. This presents a difficulty in that the checking systems must monitor a varying power level against a varying valid range. We therefore monitor, instead, the energy of the individual pulses that form the beam. Known checking systems average out many pulses to determine the recent average power output by checking an ionization chamber every 100 ms or so. By reducing that time to less than a few milliseconds, a single pulse can be captured. The usual manner of varying the output of a radiation source of this type is to vary the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) and therefore the measured power output will remain constant notwithstanding changes to the time-averaged power output, and can be compared to a standard.Type: GrantFiled: May 17, 2006Date of Patent: March 2, 2010Assignee: Elekta AB (PUBL)Inventors: Kevin John Brown, Paul Boxall
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Publication number: 20090213991Abstract: A radiotherapeutic apparatus comprises a source able to emit a beam of therapeutic radiation along a beam axis, a multi-leaf collimator arranged to collimate the beam to a desired shape, wherein the source is rotateable about a rotation axis that is substantially orthogonal and intersects with the beam axis thereby to describe an arc around that axis, and further comprises a control means able to control the dose/time rate of the source, the rotation speed of the source, and the multi-leaf collimator position. The control means is arranged to receive a treatment plan in which the arc is divided into a plurality of notional arc-segments, and specifying the total dose for the arc-segment and a start and end MLC position.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 27, 2006Publication date: August 27, 2009Applicant: Elekta AB (publ)Inventors: Kevin Brown, Ralph Streamer, Paul Boxall, Duncan Bourne
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Patent number: 7570740Abstract: The detected positioning error in a geometry item of a radiotherapy apparatus is generally passed to a transfer function for the system, which outputs a signal that dictates the radiation output. If the detected error is within certain limits then the radiation is permitted whereas outside those limits it is not permitted; this corresponds to a transfer function that is a simple two step function. We propose a transfer function having a result that is (a) substantially zero outside a preset error tolerance, (b) has a maximum result at a point within that tolerance, and (c) has a result that is between zero and that maximum over a range of error values that lie between (i) the error value corresponding to the maximum output and (ii) the preset error tolerance. This means that if an error grows towards (but does not exceed) the error tolerance, the output of the radiation source will reduce and allow time for the geometry item to correct its position.Type: GrantFiled: October 26, 2007Date of Patent: August 4, 2009Assignee: Elekta AB (publ)Inventors: Kevin Brown, Paul Boxall
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Publication number: 20090121155Abstract: A geometry item (such as a gantry arm or an MLC leaf) of a radiotherapeutic apparatus needs to be moved in an accurate manner. The effect of inertia introduces a potential inaccuracy. A radiotherapeutic apparatus is therefore disclosed, comprising a geometry item, a radiation source capable of emitting a beam of therapeutic radiation, and a control unit, the geometry item being moveable to adjust the geometry of the beam, the radiation source having a variable dose rate, and the control unit being arranged to cause variations in the speed of movement of the geometry item and to adjust the dose rate of the radiation source for a period of time after a change in the speed of the geometry item.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 9, 2007Publication date: May 14, 2009Applicant: Elekta AB (publ)Inventors: Kevin Brown, Paul Boxall, Christopher James Gibson
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Publication number: 20090110150Abstract: The detected positioning error in a geometry item of a radiotherapy apparatus is generally passed to a transfer function for the system, which outputs a signal that dictates the radiation output. If the detected error is within certain limits then the radiation is permitted whereas outside those limits it is not permitted; this corresponds to a transfer function that is a simple two step function. We propose a transfer function having a result that is (a) substantially zero outside a preset error tolerance, (b) has a maximum result at a point within that tolerance, and (c) has a result that is between zero and that maximum over a range of error values that lie between (i) the error value corresponding to the maximum output and (ii) the preset error tolerance. This means that if an error grows towards (but does not exceed) the error tolerance, the output of the radiation source will reduce and allow time for the geometry item to correct its position.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 26, 2007Publication date: April 30, 2009Applicant: Elekta AB (publ)Inventors: Kevin Brown, Paul Boxall