Patents by Inventor Stuart Swerdloff
Stuart Swerdloff 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: 5724400Abstract: A radiation therapy machine has a constrained angular freedom to produce a beam only within a gantry plane. A radiation shield may be stationary and not attached to the gantry or rotating to always block the primary beam. The constrained motion reduces the risk of patient/gantry collision and provides for extremely accurate radiation therapy planning. The therapy machine, so constrained, may include a tomographic imaging system on a single gantry. The two systems cooperate and employ many of the same hardware components to both plan and carry out therapy sessions in which irregularly shaped treatment volumes are accurately irradiated while tissue surrounding those volumes is minimally irradiated.Type: GrantFiled: January 25, 1996Date of Patent: March 3, 1998Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Stuart Swerdloff, Thomas Rockwell Mackie, Timothy Holmes
-
Patent number: 5661773Abstract: A human interface to be used with irradiation machine in a computed tomography machine wherein x-ray computed tomography images are individually display on a computer screen and an operator uses a manual cursor control device to trace various irradiation zones on the image, identify desired dose within each zone, verify the accuracy of the therapy treatment plan prior to an irradiation session, and verify irradiation delivered after a therapy treatment session.Type: GrantFiled: June 7, 1995Date of Patent: August 26, 1997Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Stuart Swerdloff, Thomas Rockwell Mackie, Timothy Holmes
-
Patent number: 5625663Abstract: The note path of a banknote validator has a U-shaped transverse cross section. A transverse strip of the note path is illuminated by light from a light transmitting station by means of a unitary light guide which has an arcuate portion conforming to the transverse cross section of the note path. Light reflected from a banknote within the note path, is captured by the light guide and guided to a light receiving station. The light guide is shaded such that a transverse strip of the note path is substantially evenly illuminated. The U-shape of the note path also assists the insertion of notes into the validator, as an inserted note is used to bow during insertion thereby increasing its rigidity.Type: GrantFiled: August 11, 1995Date of Patent: April 29, 1997Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Stuart Swerdloff, Thomas R. Mackie, Timothy Holmes
-
Patent number: 5548627Abstract: A radiation therapy machine has a constrained angular freedom to produce a beam only within a gantry plane. A radiation shield may be stationary and not attached to the gantry or rotating to always block the primary beam. The constrained motion reduces the risk of patient/gantry collision and provides for extremely accurate radiation therapy planning. The therapy machine, so constrained, may include a tomographic imaging system on a single gantry. The two systems cooperate and employ many of the same hardware components to both plan and carry out therapy sessions in which irregularly shaped treatment volumes are accurately irradiated while tissue surrounding those volumes is minimally irradiated.Type: GrantFiled: June 9, 1993Date of Patent: August 20, 1996Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Stuart Swerdloff, Thomas R. Mackie, Timothy Holmes
-
Patent number: 5528650Abstract: A radiation therapy apparatus includes a compensator having a plurality of leaves to divide the radiation beam into rays each of which may be effectively and individually attenuated over a range of attenuations by controlling the duty cycle of the leaves position between the open and closed states. An apparatus for controlling the compensator accounts for scattering of radiation through the deconvolution of a terma map and calculates a sinogram for controlling the compensator at a variety of angles about a patient using iterated forward and back projections efficiently calculated in frequency space.Type: GrantFiled: February 2, 1994Date of Patent: June 18, 1996Inventors: Stuart Swerdloff, Thomas R. Mackie, Timothy Holmes
-
Patent number: 5442675Abstract: A radiation therapy apparatus includes a collimator that changes the width of a fan beam of radiation as a treatment volume of the patient crosses the volume exposed by the beam so as to minimize the irradiation of healthy tissue at the front and back of the tumor. The width of the fan beam may also be controlled to treat multiple adjacent, similar slices of the patient at one time reducing the treatment duration.Type: GrantFiled: June 9, 1993Date of Patent: August 15, 1995Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Stuart Swerdloff, Thomas R. Mackie, Timothy Holmes, Paul J. Reckwerdt
-
Patent number: 5394452Abstract: A radiation therapy apparatus includes a compensator with moving leaves to attenuate a radiation beam and a compensator verification system to determine if the attenuating leaves are moving in accordance with desired position signals. Two radiation intensity monitoring chambers, one chamber on either side of a patient within a radiation beam, produce beam fluence data used by a computer to construct radiation absorption images and to evaluate the functionality of the compensator. The absorption image can be used for both radiation dose verification and planning of suitable subsequent therapy sessions.Type: GrantFiled: June 9, 1993Date of Patent: February 28, 1995Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Stuart Swerdloff, Thomas R. Mackie, Timothy Holmes
-
Patent number: 5351280Abstract: A radiation therapy apparatus includes a multi-leaf attenuator having a first plurality of radiation attenuating leaves and a second plurality of radiation attenuating leaves. The first plurality of leaves is spaced with gaps between adjacent leaves within a radiation beam so that the leaves and the gaps therebetween divide the radiation beam into rays. The second plurality of leaves is disposed directly under gaps in the first plurality of leaves so that each ray of the beam can be occluded by a leaf in either the first or second plurality. The gaps eliminate interference between leaves; the staggering prevents radiation leakage between leaves. Each leaf, in both groups, may be moved between a first open state on one side of the beam, a closed state within the beam thus occluding one ray of the beam, and a second open state on the other side of the beam.Type: GrantFiled: June 9, 1993Date of Patent: September 27, 1994Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Stuart Swerdloff, Thomas R. Mackle, Timothy Holmes
-
Patent number: 5317616Abstract: A radiation therapy apparatus includes a compensator having a plurality of leaves to divide the radiation beam into rays each of which may be effectively and individually attenuated over a range of attenuations by controlling the duty cycle of the leaves position between the open and closed states. An apparatus for controlling the compensator accounts for scattering of radiation through the deconvolution of a terma map and calculates a sinogram for controlling the compensator at a variety of angles about a patient using iterated forward and back projections efficiently calculated in frequency space.Type: GrantFiled: March 19, 1992Date of Patent: May 31, 1994Assignee: Wisconsin Alumni Research FoundationInventors: Stuart Swerdloff, Thomas R. Mackie, Timothy Holmes