JPH0666854B2 - Radiation image information recording / reading device - Google Patents

Description

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention stores and records radiation image information in a stimulable phosphor,
Then, this is irradiated with excitation light, light that stimulates and emits light in accordance with the image information stored and recorded is detected, the image information is read and converted into an electrical signal, and then the read image information is converted into a visible image. The present invention relates to a radiographic image information recording / reading apparatus for reproducing information, and more particularly to a radiographic image recording / reading apparatus in which a storage phosphor is circulated and reused in the apparatus.

(Technical background and prior art of the invention) When a certain type of phosphor is irradiated with radiation (X-rays, α-rays, β-rays, γ-rays, electron beams, ultraviolet rays, etc.), a part of the energy of this radiation causes the fluorescence. When the phosphor is accumulated in the body, and then the phosphor is irradiated with excitation light such as visible light, the phosphor emits stimulated emission according to the accumulated energy. A phosphor having such properties is called a stimulable phosphor (stimulable phosphor).

Using this stimulable phosphor, radiation image information of the human body etc. is once recorded on a sheet of the stimulable phosphor, and this is scanned with excitation light to cause stimulated emission, and this stimulated emission light is photoelectrically converted. A radiation image information recording / reproducing method for reading and obtaining an image signal and processing the image signal to obtain a radiation image of a subject having good diagnostic suitability has been proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-12429).
56-11395, 55-163472, 56-104645, 55-116
No. 340). In this method, the final image may be reproduced as a hard copy or may be reproduced on a CRT. Anyway, in such a radiation image information recording / reproducing method, a stimulable phosphor sheet (which is strictly a panel-shaped or drum-shaped one,
It can take various forms, but collectively it is a "sheet".
This is because the image information is not finally recorded and the image information is temporarily carried in order to give an image to the final recording medium as described above. The sheet may be used repeatedly, and such repeated use is extremely economical.

Therefore, the present applicant previously proposed a radiation image information recording / reading device that realizes efficient circulatory reuse of the stimulable phosphor sheet (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-200269). This apparatus comprises a support, a recording body comprising a stimulable phosphor layer fixed on the support and capable of storing and recording a radiation image, and the recording body by irradiating the recording body with radiation through a subject. An image recording unit for accumulating and recording a radiation transmission image of a subject, an excitation light source for emitting excitation light for scanning the recording body on which the radiation image is accumulatively recorded, and a recording medium scanned by the excitation light. An image reading unit having a photoelectric reading unit for reading the stimulated emission light to obtain an image signal, and the support and the image reading unit are relatively repeatedly moved,
Means for circulatingly moving the recording medium on the support relative to the reading unit, and before the image recording is performed on the recording medium after the image is read by the image reading unit, An erasing means for releasing the residual radiation energy on the recording medium is incorporated in one device so that the recording medium can be efficiently circulated and reused.

By the way, in the above-mentioned radiation image information recording / reading apparatus, a problem that the utilization efficiency of excitation light is generally low is recognized. That is, most of the excitation light such as laser light is reflected on the surface of the stimulable phosphor layer and cannot be effectively used for exciting the stimulable phosphor. Therefore,
Particularly, when it is desired to perform reading with high sensitivity, a pumping light source with a large output is required and the power consumption thereof becomes large.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and sufficiently enhances the utilization efficiency of excitation light, thus enabling high-sensitivity reading with a small-output excitation light source. An object of the present invention is to provide a circulation type radiation image information recording / reading device.

(Structure of the Invention) The radiation image information recording / reading apparatus of the present invention is one support which is arranged at a predetermined position in the apparatus and is driven so that the surface moves along a predetermined path at the predetermined position. A recording body comprising at least one stimulable phosphor layer capable of accumulating and recording a radiation image fixedly provided on the surface of the support, and a subject on the recording body by irradiating the recording body with radiation through the subject. An image recording unit for accumulating and recording a plurality of radiation transmission images, an excitation light source that emits excitation light for scanning the recording medium on which the radiation images are accumulated and recorded, and a photostimulant emitted from the recording member scanned by the excitation light. An image reading unit having a photoelectric reading unit that reads emitted light to obtain an image signal, a support having the recording body, and the image reading unit are repeatedly moved relatively to each other, and Means for cyclically moving the recording medium relative to the reading unit, and remaining on the recording medium before image recording is performed on the recording medium after the image reading is performed by the image reading unit In a radiation image information recording / reading device comprising an erasing means for emitting radiation energy, a multilayer film filter whose reflectance to excitation light increases in accordance with an increase in the incident angle is provided on the surface of the recording body on the excitation light irradiation side. It is characterized by being formed.

The above-mentioned multi-layered film filter has two or more kinds of substances having different light refraction indexes by vacuum vapor deposition or the like and has a wavelength of light of 1
It is formed by sequentially laminating several layers to several tens layers with a thickness of about / 4. In this case, various characteristics can be obtained by appropriately setting the photorefractive index and the film thickness of each substance.
Note that, as the low refractive index material, for example, SiO ₂ , MgF ₂ or the like is used, while as the high refractive index material, for example, TiO ₂ , ZrO ₂ , ZnS or the like is used.

The multilayer filter has an excitation light transmittance of 70% or more, more preferably 80% or more (that is, excitation light reflectance of 30% or less, more preferably 20% or less) and an incidence angle of 30 at an incident angle of 5 ° or less. It is preferable to use one having an excitation light reflectance of 60% or more, and more preferably 80% or more at an angle of ≧ °.

On the other hand, the irradiation of the excitation light causes stimulated emission light to be generated from the stimulable phosphor layer, and this stimulated emission light also enters the multilayer filter at various angles. Therefore, the characteristics of the multilayer filter may be adjusted according to the position of the photoelectric reading unit that detects stimulated emission light. That is, when the photoelectric reading unit is arranged on the same side as the excitation light source with respect to the recording medium and the stimulated emission light is detected on the excitation light irradiation side, the multilayer filter determines the stimulated emission light according to its incident angle. The support is transparent, the photoelectric reading means is arranged on the side opposite to the excitation light source with respect to the recording medium, and stimulated emission light is detected on the side opposite to the excitation light irradiation side. In this case, the multilayer filter should reflect the stimulated emission light well regardless of the incident angle. In the case of detecting the stimulated emission light on the excitation light irradiation side, the multilayer film filter transmits 60% or more of the stimulated emission light regardless of the incident angle, and more preferably 80% or more. preferable. When detecting the stimulated emission light on the side opposite to the excitation light irradiation side, the multilayer filter reflects 60% or more of the stimulated emission light regardless of the incident angle, and more desirably 80
% Or more is preferable.

(Operation) As described above, when the recording body having the multilayer filter is arranged in the image reading section with the filter facing the excitation light irradiation side, the incident angle is made sufficiently small (usually as much as possible). The excitation light incident on the recording medium (close to 0 °) passes through the multilayer filter well and reaches the stimulable phosphor layer. Then, the excitation light that reaches the phosphor layer and diffusely reflects there returns to the multilayer filter side at various angles, but in this case, a large amount of the excitation light that enters the multilayer filter at a large incident angle is reflected by the filter, It will be folded back to the phosphor layer side. That is, the excitation light reflected on the stimulable phosphor layer is, so to speak, trapped between the phosphor layer and the multilayer filter, so that the excitation light is effectively used for exciting the stimulable phosphor. become. Further, by adjusting the characteristics of the multilayer filter as described above, it is possible to favorably detect stimulated emission light.

In addition, at least one stimulable phosphor layer capable of accumulating and recording a plurality of radiation images as a whole on one support having a size capable of recording a plurality of radiation images arranged at a predetermined position in the apparatus. Since the recording medium is provided and the support is circularly moved relative to the reading unit,
Unlike the case where the sheet-shaped stimulable phosphors are conveyed one by one, it is possible to prevent damage to the stimulable phosphors.

Further, since the mechanism for circulating the support can also be configured by a simple mechanism such as a conveyor mechanism, it can be easily designed and manufactured.

Embodiments Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, an endless conveyor 1 such as a belt conveyor or a chain conveyor is used as a support for fixing the stimulable phosphor plate. On this conveyor 1, three stimulable phosphor plates 2 are fixed at equal intervals. Conveyor 1 for fixing stimulable phosphor plate 2
Can be run in the direction of the arrow in the figure by the drive roller 3 which is hung on the drive roller 3 and the driven roller 4 and rotated by a drive device (not shown). Driven roller 4
A radiation source 5 is disposed in the vicinity of the conveyor 1 so as to face the conveyor 1 stretched between the driven roller 4 and the driving roller 3. The radiation source 5 is composed of, for example, an X-ray source and the like, and a transmitted radiation image of a subject 6 disposed between the stimulable phosphor plate 2 and the stimulable phosphor plate 2 is stored.
Project on top. In the vicinity of the drive roller 3, an excitation light source 7A that emits excitation light 7 such as laser light, and the excitation light source 7A
The excitation light 7 emitted from the scanning device is scanned in the width direction of the conveyor 1, for example, an optical deflector 8 such as a galvanometer mirror, and stimulated emission light 20 emitted from the stimulable phosphor plate 2 excited by the excitation light 7 is emitted. A photodetector 9 for reading is provided.
The photodetector 9 is, for example, a head-on type photomultiplier tube, a photoelectron amplification channel plate, or the like, and photoelectrically detects the stimulated emission light 20 guided by the light transmission means 10. An erasing light source 11 is provided at a position facing the conveyor 1 on the side opposite to the side where the radiation source 5, the excitation light source 7A, the photodetector 9 and the like are arranged. The erasing light source 11 emits the radiation energy accumulated in the stimulable phosphor plate 2 by irradiating the stimulable phosphor plate 2 with light contained in the excitation wavelength region of the phosphor plate. For example, a tungsten lamp, a halogen lamp, an infrared lamp, a laser light source, or the like as disclosed in JP-A-56-11392 can be arbitrarily selected and used. The radiation energy accumulated in the stimulable phosphor plate 2 can be released by heating the stimulable phosphor plate, as shown in, for example, JP-A-56-12599. The erasing light source 11 may be replaced with a heating means. A cylindrical cleaning roller 12 is provided at a position facing the driven roller 4 across the conveyor 1. The cleaning roller 12 is rotated counterclockwise in the figure by a driving device (not shown), and dust and dirt adhering to the surface of the stimulable phosphor plate 2 that moves while contacting the cleaning roller 12 are removed by the phosphor. It is to be removed from the surface of the plate, and if necessary, it may be formed so as to adsorb the dust and the like by utilizing an electrostatic phenomenon.

For the material and structure of the light transmitting means 10 or its use, see JP-A-55-87970, JP-A-56-11397, JP-A-56-11396,
The methods and methods disclosed in Nos. 56-11394, 56-11398, and 56-11395 can be used as they are.

The operation of the apparatus of this embodiment having the above structure will be described below. The conveyor 1 is intermittently fed by the driving roller 3 by ⅓ of its entire length. Here conveyor 1
The stop position is set such that one stimulable phosphor plate 2 faces the radiation source 5 when the conveyor is stopped. The radiation source 5 is turned on when the conveyor 1 is stopped, and a transmitted radiation image of the subject 6 is stored and recorded on the stimulable phosphor plate 2 stopped at a position facing the radiation source 5. After the radiation image recording is completed, the conveyor 1 is moved for 1/3 round and stopped. Then, the stimulable phosphor plate 2 on which the radiation image is recorded stops at a position facing the above-mentioned optical deflector 8 and photodetector 9. The stimulable phosphor plate 2 stopped at this position is scanned by the excitation light 7 emitted from the excitation light source 7A. The excitation light 7 is scanned by the optical deflector 8 in the width direction of the conveyor 1 (main scanning), and the excitation light source
A stage (not shown) for fixing the 7A, the light deflector 8, the light detector 9, and the light transmission means 10 is moved in the length direction of the conveyor 1 so that the stage is also scanned in the length direction of the conveyor 1. (Sub scanning). The stage that moves as described above can be easily formed by using a known linear movement mechanism. Upon receiving the irradiation of the excitation light, the stimulable phosphor plate 2 emits stimulated emission according to the image information stored and recorded. This stimulated emission light 20 is input to the photodetector 9 via the light transmitting means 10, and from the photodetector 9, an electrical image signal corresponding to the radiation image stored and recorded in the stimulable phosphor plate 2 is obtained. Is output. When the image is read in this way, the conveyor 1
The stimulable phosphor plate 2 is further moved by 1/3 turn and stopped, and the image is read, and stops facing the erasing light source 11. The stimulable phosphor plate 2 stopped at this position is irradiated by the erasing light source 11, and a small amount is mixed in the ^radiant energy remaining in the reading operation and the stimulable phosphor ²⁶⁶ R.
It emits radiation energy from radiation emitted from radioisotopes such as a and ⁴⁰ K or environmental radiation.
Therefore, the radiation image formed on the stimulable phosphor plate 2 is erased, and when the device has not been used for a long time until then, the stimulable phosphor plate 2 is removed.
Radiation energy based on the radiation from the radioactive isotopes accumulated in the environment or the environmental radiation is also released, and the reusable state is restored. Then conveyor 1 is 1 /
The stimulable phosphor plate 2 which has been moved by three turns and erased is sent to a position facing the radiation source 5, but the stimulable phosphor plate 2 is wiped off by the cleaning roller 12 during the movement. Fine dust and dust are removed. In this way, the radiation image is erased, and the stimulable phosphor plate 2 from which dust and dust are removed is sent to a position facing the radiation source 5 and is reused for recording a radiation image.

As described above, the stimulable phosphor plate 2 is the erasing light source.
It is circulated and reused while being erased and cleaned by 11 and the cleaning roller 12. Considering a certain stimulable phosphor plate 2, this phosphor plate undergoes image recording, image reading, and image erasing processing over time while the conveyor 1 travels once as described above. Of course, when the conveyor 1 is stopped, it is of course possible to perform the above-mentioned processing on the three stimulable phosphor plates 2 in parallel at the same time. The processing speed is improved.

In the above embodiment, the stimulable phosphor plate 2 is fixed to the endless conveyor 1 and is reused by circulating the conveyor 1.
Unlike the case where the sheet-shaped stimulable phosphors are conveyed one by one, there is almost no risk of damaging the stimulable phosphors. Since the mechanism for circulating the stimulable phosphor plate 2 can also be configured by a simple conveyor mechanism, it can be easily designed and manufactured. In addition, since the three stimulable phosphor plates 2 are always recycled in a fixed order, a uniform reproduced image without variations due to the sheets can be obtained.

The electric image signal output from the photodetector 9 may be immediately input to a reproducing device to obtain a hard copy or a CRT display, or it may be digitized to form a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk. Alternatively, the data may be temporarily recorded in a high-density recording medium such as the above, and then applied to the reproducing device. When the radiographic image recording / reading device is used for medical diagnostic imaging by being stacked on, for example, a circulating bus, the reading and recording of image signals is performed at the radiographic imaging site, and high-density recording as described above is performed. If the medium is brought back to a medical center or the like and is reproduced there, the weight of the mobile device can be reduced. Further, the above image signals may be input to the reproducing device and the recording medium at the same time. That is, in the case of hospital use, etc., the image signal is transmitted from the radiation imaging room to the recording medium for record storage and at the same time the image signal is transferred to the examination room.
It may be transmitted to a reproducing device such as a CRT and used for diagnosis immediately after photographing.

It should be noted that, prior to reproducing the radiographic image, it is possible to perform signal processing on the image signal to enhance the image, change the contrast, and the like, in order to obtain a radiographic image with excellent diagnostic performance. It is desirable to perform such signal processing. Desirable signal processing used in the present invention is disclosed in JP-A-55-87970, JP-A-56-11038, and JP-A-56-11.
-75137, 56-75139, 56-75141, 56-104645
Frequency processing disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 55-116339
No. 55-116340, No. 55-88740 and the like.

In the above embodiment, the sub-scanning for reading the radiation image is performed by moving the excitation light irradiation system and the photostimulation light reading system with respect to the storage phosphor plate 2 that is stopped. On the contrary, the excitation light irradiation system and the photostimulable light reading system may be fixed, and the sub-scanning may be performed by moving the stimulable phosphor plate. In order to move the stimulable phosphor plate in this way, the stimulable phosphor plate is not directly fixed on the conveyor but attached to the conveyor via the stage, and at the time of image reading, the stage is moved on the stopped conveyor. Then, the image may be read and the stage may be returned to a predetermined position after the reading is completed. Alternatively, the stimulable phosphor plate may be fixed directly to the conveyor and the sub-scan may be performed by moving the conveyor. . When sub-scanning is obtained by moving the conveyor, the distance between the image recording unit and the image reading unit should be
Set differently from the phosphor plate mounting pitch, for example, after the conveyor movement for sub-scanning is completed, the conveyor is continuously moved for circulation of the phosphor plate and the next stimulable phosphor plate is moved to the image recording unit. The image recording may be performed at a time lag from the image reading, or when it is desired to perform the image recording and the image reading at the same time in parallel for the purpose of improving the image processing speed, the conveyor movement for the sub-scan is moved. When the above is performed, a radiation image may be recorded on the moving stimulable phosphor plate by slit exposure. Also,
The conveyor for moving the stimulable phosphor plate is not limited to one,
If the stimulable phosphor plates can be automatically transferred between each other, use some of them and finally circulate the stimulable phosphor plate through some of these conveyors. You may do it. If a plurality of conveyors are used in this way, a plurality of image reading units are provided for one image recording unit when the reading speed is extremely slow with respect to the recording speed. It is possible to increase the reading speed by connecting a conveyor branched from the image recording unit to each of the reading units and supplying a stimulable phosphor plate in parallel to each image reading unit. Furthermore, when carrying out the storage phosphor plate between a plurality of conveyors as described above,
If the two conveyors are connected through a stage where the stimulable phosphor plate is temporarily stored, removal of defective phosphors or addition of new phosphor plate will not stop the stage. It is convenient because you can do it in.

Next, the image reading will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 2 which is an enlarged view of the essential part of the image reading part of the above apparatus. As shown, the stimulable phosphor plate 2 is
For example, PET with carbon (polyethylene terephthalate)
The stimulable phosphor layer 2B is formed on the flexible support 2A made of, and the filter 2C made of the multilayer film as described above is further laminated thereon. The stimulable phosphor plate 2 is fixed to the conveyor 1 in a direction in which radiation is emitted from the multilayer filter 2C side. Therefore, in the image reading zone, this stimulable phosphor plate 2
Since the multilayer filter 2C faces the excitation light irradiation side, the excitation light 7 is applied to the phosphor layer 2B through the filter 2C. The support 2A may not be necessarily provided, and the phosphor layer 2B may be directly formed on the conveyor 1.

The multilayer filter 2C is, for example, a short pass filter having a spectral transmittance characteristic as shown in FIG. The multilayer filter 2C hardly absorbs light, so that the transmittance shown in FIG. 3 is 1 (10
The value subtracted from (0%) is the reflectance. In this embodiment, the wavelength emitted from the He-Ne laser is used as the excitation light 7.
A 633 nm beam is used. As shown in FIG. 3, the light transmittance of the multilayer filter 2C with respect to the excitation light 7 is about when the incident angle is 0 °, 30 ° and 45 °, respectively.
It becomes 90%, 20%, 5%, and sharply decreases with increasing incident angle (that is, the reflectance increases). On the other hand, the stimulable phosphor layer 2B is 360
It emits stimulated emission light 20 having a wavelength of ~ 420 nm (mainly 390 nm). As shown in FIG. 3, the multilayer filter 2C
Allows light in this wavelength range to pass satisfactorily with a transmittance of around 90% regardless of its incident angle. The incident angle dependence of the transmittance of the light of 390 nm and 633 nm is shown in FIG. 5 for easy understanding.

As shown in FIG. 2, the excitation light 7 is made incident on the stimulable phosphor plate 2 at an incident angle close to 0 °. Therefore, the excitation light 7 satisfactorily transmits the multilayer filter 2C with a transmittance of about 90%, reaches the stimulable phosphor layer 2B, and excites the stimulable phosphor as described above. The excitation light 7 is reflected to some extent on the surface of the stimulable phosphor layer 2B and returns to the multilayer filter 2C side. This reflection is irregular reflection, and the reflected light 7a enters the multilayer filter 2C at various incident angles. Of such reflected light 7a, the light that enters the multilayer filter 2C at a large incident angle is reflected at a high reflectance by the filter 2C having the above-described characteristics, and is reflected again on the stimulable phosphor layer 2B side. Back to excite the stimulable phosphor. That is, in this device, the excitation light 7 is trapped between the multilayer filter 2C and the stimulable phosphor layer 2B, and is effectively used for exciting the stimulable phosphor. According to the experiments by the present inventors, by increasing the utilization efficiency of the excitation light as described above, the multilayer filter 2C
It has been found that the reading sensitivity can be increased to about twice as high as that in the case of using the conventional stimulable phosphor plate that is not provided.

In addition, stimulated emission light 20 is also a multi-layer film filter at various angles
Although it is incident on 2C, the multilayer filter 2C transmits this photostimulated luminescence light 20 satisfactorily regardless of its incident angle, as can be seen from FIGS. 3 and 5. The light is efficiently incident on the light transmitting means 10. Also, the light transmission means
The stimulated emission light 20 emitted to the opposite side of the light transmission means 10 is provided at a position opposed to the light transmission means 10 via the scanning position of the excitation light 7.
By disposing the mirror 21 that reflects toward 10, it is possible to further improve the efficiency of collecting stimulated emission light.

In the embodiment described above, the short-pass filter having the spectral transmittance characteristic shown in FIG. 3 is used as the multilayer filter, but in the device of the present invention, the multilayer filter as the so-called band-pass filter ( It is also possible to use a stimulable phosphor plate having a spectral transmittance characteristic shown in FIG. 4) formed on the phosphor layer. That is, as a multilayer filter of such a band-pass filter type, the spectral transmittance characteristic that the reflectance for excitation light increases as the incident angle increases, while the stimulated emission light satisfactorily transmits regardless of the incident angle. The same effect as described above can be obtained by using the one having. Note that FIG. 6 shows an example of the incident angle dependence of the light transmittance of the multilayer filter which is the bandpass filter.

In the device of the present invention, as a multilayer filter formed on the stimulable phosphor sheet, the excitation light transmittance is 70% or more, more preferably 80% or more (that is, the excitation light reflectance is 30%) within an incident angle of 5 °. 20% or less)
At an incident angle of 30 ° or more, the excitation light reflectance is 60% or more, more preferably 70% or more, and the stimulated emission light transmittance is 0 to 40%.
It is preferable to use one having a degree of 60% or more, more preferably 80% or more.

In the above-mentioned first embodiment, the stimulable phosphor plate 2 is used.
Is fixed to a conveyor 1 stretched between two rollers, and the stimulable phosphor plate 2 must be flexible and can be freely bent. But,
Considering the durability of the phosphor and the formation of a more precise radiation image, it is preferable to avoid bending the stimulable phosphor plate. In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the third embodiment shown in FIG. 8, and the fourth embodiment shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the stimulable phosphor plate is fixed on a support having rigidity. The support is formed so as to circulate and move the stimulable phosphor plate without bending the stimulable phosphor plate. The stimulable phosphor plate used in the devices of these embodiments is also provided with the same multilayer film filter as that of the phosphor plate of the first embodiment.

In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 7, as an example, four stimulable phosphor plates 102 having a multilayer filter are provided.
Is used, and each stimulable phosphor plate 102 is fixed on each side surface of the turret 101 having a rectangular prism shape. A rotating member 101b such as a sprocket wheel is fixed to a support shaft 101a of the turret 101, and a driving force of a driving device 103 is transmitted to the rotating member 101b such as a chain.
transmitted via a. The driving device 103 rotates the turret 101 by 90 ° in the direction of the arrow in the figure. A radiation source 105 is provided at a position facing one side surface of the turret 101.
However, in the vicinity of the side opposite to this side,
7A, a light deflector 108, a light detector 109, and a light transmission means 110 are provided. An erasing light source 111 is provided at a position facing the adjacent side surface on the turret rotation upstream side with respect to the opposing turret side surface of the radiation source 105. As the above-mentioned components such as the radiation source 105 and the excitation light source 107A arranged around the turret 101, the same components as those in the first embodiment are used. The device of FIG. 7 is
The apparatus of FIG. 1 differs from the apparatus of FIG. 1 in the means for fixing and circulatingly moving the stimulable phosphor plate, but like the apparatus of FIG. 1, when the turret 101 is stopped, the radiation source 105 is turned on and the subject
The transmitted radiation image 106 is stored and recorded on the stimulable phosphor plate 102. Accumulative phosphor plate 102 on which radiation images are accumulated and recorded
Is the optical deflector 1 when the turret 101 is stopped one after another.
08, stop at the position facing the photodetector 109 and the like. Here, the stimulable phosphor plate 102 is scanned by the excitation light 107 emitted from the excitation light source 107A, and the stimulable phosphor plate 102 emits stimulated emission. The excitation light 107 is effectively used for excitation by the action of the multilayer film filter formed on the stimulable phosphor plate. Then, the photodetector 109 photoelectrically reading the stimulated emission light outputs an electrical image signal carrying radiation image information. Here, in the apparatus of FIG. 7, it is difficult to perform the excitation light sub-scanning by the rotation of the turret 101, so the other sub-scanning method as described above is used. The stimulable phosphor plate 102 from which the image has been read is the erasing light source 11 when the turret 101 is next stopped.
The radiation energy remaining after the irradiation of 1 is erased and reused for radiation image recording.

In FIG. 7, no processing is performed on one of the four stages in which the turret 101 rotates, but the position of this stage is not limited to the position shown in FIG. Therefore, for example, it is possible to form a device in which three phosphor plates are fixed to a triangular turret. If it takes time to erase the stimulable phosphor plate 102, two erasing stages may be provided.

The number of stimulable phosphor plates fixed to the support is 3 in the first embodiment and 4 in the second embodiment described above.
The number of sheets is not limited to one, and various settings are possible. It is not always necessary to make the zone for erasing the image independent of the zone for recording the image or the zone for reading the image. For example, the third shown in FIG.
In the embodiment, a plate-shaped support 201 that is rotated by 180 ° around a drive shaft 203 is used, and a stimulable phosphor plate 202 is used.
Are attached to both surfaces of the support 201, one on each side, for a total of two. And the radiation source 205 so as to face the one stimulable phosphor plate 202a on the support 201, the excitation light source 207A, the optical deflector 208, the photodetector 209, at a position facing the other stimulable phosphor plate 202b. The light transmitting means 210 is arranged, but the erasing light source 211 is arranged so as to face the stimulable phosphor plate 202b together with the light deflector 208, the photodetector 209 and the like. The support 201 is rotated by the drive shaft 203,
The storage phosphor plates 202a and 202b are rotated by 0 °.
Although the image recording and the image reading are repeated in step 2, the erasing light source 211 is turned off while the image reading is being performed, and is turned on for a predetermined time after the image reading is completed to erase the image. After the erasing light source is turned off, the support 201 is rotated to move the stimulable phosphor plates 202a, 202b. When the plate-shaped support as described above is used, the stimulable phosphor plate may of course be fixed to only one surface of the support. However, in such a case, it is impossible to perform image recording and image reading in parallel at the same time, which inevitably results in a decrease in image processing speed. The third described above
In the embodiment and the second embodiment, the phosphor plate cleaning means such as the cleaning roller used in the first embodiment is not particularly provided, but if necessary, the storability after completion of image erasing A self-propelled phosphor plate cleaning roller or the like that runs while sweeping the surface of the phosphor plate may be provided.

In the three embodiments described above, all the supports for fixing the stimulable phosphor plate are designed to be rotated, but the supports are moved by another method such as reciprocation. Good. In the fourth embodiment shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, a plate-shaped support body 301 is used, but this support body 301 is loaded on a rail 304 and, for example, engages with a rack on the rail 304 side to form a rack. By the drive device 303 that drives the pinion gear that constitutes the pinion mechanism,
It can be moved back and forth along the rail 304. Support 3
Two stimulable phosphor plates 302a and 302b are fixed on 01, and one radiation source 305 is provided at the center of the rail 304, on the side facing the stimulable phosphor plate 302a. Excitation light source 3
An image reading unit including the 07A, the optical deflector 308, the photodetector 309, and the optical transmission unit 310 is provided on each side of the radiation source 305, one set each. An erasing light source is provided in this image reading section.
311 is provided, and each image reading unit and the radiation source 305 are light-shielding plates.
Shielded by 313, outside of the shading plate 313, these shading plates 31
A cleaning roller 312 is arranged at a position close to 3. The support 301 is reciprocally moved on the rail 304 by the driving device 303 to alternately take the position shown in FIG. 9A and the position shown in FIG. 9B. When the support 301 is set to the position shown in FIG. 9A, the stimulable phosphor plate 302a on the left side of the figure is shown.
An image is recorded on the storage phosphor plate 302b on the right side of the figure.
The image is read from. The sub-scanning in image reading may be performed by moving the excitation light irradiation system and the stimulated emission light reading system as described above, or may be performed by using the movement of the support 301. After image reading is completed,
The erasing light source 311 is turned on for a certain period of time to erase the image. At this time, the light of the erasing light source 311 is blocked by the light blocking plate 313, so that the image on the other stimulable phosphor plate 302a on which the image is recorded is not erased. After the image is erased, the support 301 is moved to the left in the figure, but at this time, the cleaning roller 312 is moved down from the illustrated retracted position to a position where it contacts the stimulable phosphor plate 302b. The surface of the stimulable phosphor plate 302b is cleaned. The cleaning roller 312 is a stimulable phosphor plate 3
After passing 02b, you will be returned to your original exit position. Support 301 is No. 9B
When moved to the position shown in the figure, the image is read from the stimulable phosphor plate 302a on the left side in the figure in which the image is recorded in the state of FIG. 9A, the image is erased, and the image on the right side in FIG. An image is recorded on the stimulable phosphor plate 302b. When the image reading and the image recording are completed, the support 301 is returned to the position shown in FIG. 9A again, but the stimulable phosphor plate 302a on the left side in the figure where the image reading is completed is erased as described above. , Received cleaning and is ready for reuse. Even when the support is reciprocated as described above, if it is not necessary to increase the image processing speed, image recording is performed using only one stimulable phosphor plate.
The image reading may be performed alternately.

It should be noted that the recording state or recording pattern of the radiation image information accumulated and recorded on the stimulable phosphor sheet is grasped prior to the reading operation, the reading gain of the photoelectric reading means is set, the appropriate recording scale factor is determined, and the signal processing conditions are set. It is preferable to perform the setting for obtaining a radiographic image with excellent diagnostic performance. For this reason, the recording state or recording pattern of the radiographic image information is read with low excitation light energy prior to the reading operation (hereinafter, referred to as “prereading”). A method and apparatus for performing a reading operation (hereinafter referred to as "main reading") for obtaining a radiation image used for diagnosis after that are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Nos. 56-165111, 56-165112 and 56.
-165113, 56-165114, 56-165115. Also in the present invention, such a pre-reading can be performed by separately providing a pre-reading reading section having the same configuration on the upstream side of the image reading section, or by using the image reading section for both pre-reading and main reading. It is possible to satisfy the request to make.

As described above, in the first to fourth embodiments, the example in which at least one stimulable phosphor plate is fixed on the support has been shown. However, the support is an endless support, and the stimulable phosphor directly on the support. You may make it laminate | stack a layer and further form the above-mentioned multilayer filter on this. For example, an endless belt provided with the above-mentioned phosphor layer on the surface thereof or a rotating drum provided with the above-mentioned phosphor layer on the surface thereof may be used. Such examples are given below in Sections 5, 6 and 7
An embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 10 and subsequent figures.

FIG. 10 shows a fifth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the endless belt-shaped recording member 401
Is used. This endless belt-shaped recording member
401 has a stimulable phosphor layer (recording body) laminated on the surface of a flexible endless belt-shaped support, and the above-mentioned multilayer filter is formed on the stimulable phosphor layer. It will be. The endless belt-shaped recording member 401 has the same cylindrical shape as the cylindrical driving roller 404.
It is possible to travel in the direction of the arrow in the figure by a drive roller 404 that is driven by one driven roller 405, 406, 407 and is rotated by a drive device (not shown). A radiation source 408 is arranged at a position facing the recording member 401 stretched between the driven rollers 406 and 407. The radiation source 408 is, for example, an X-ray source, and projects a transmitted radiation image of a subject 409 arranged between the recording member 401 between the driven rollers 406 and 407 and the radiation source 408 onto the recording member 401 at the above position. . A recording member 401 stretched between a driving roller 404 and a driven roller 405.
At a position facing each other, for example, an excitation light source 410A that emits excitation light 410 such as a laser light, and an optical deflection such as a galvanometer mirror that scans the excitation light 410 emitted from this excitation light source 410A in the width direction of the recording member 401. A device 411 and a photodetector 412 for reading the stimulated emission light 420 emitted from the stimulable phosphor layer excited by the excitation light 410 are provided. The photodetector 412 is, for example, a head-on type photomultiplier tube, a photoelectron amplification channel plate, or the like, and the light transmission means 41.
The stimulated emission light guided by 3 is photoelectrically detected. An erasing light source 414 is provided at a position facing the recording member 401 between the driven rollers 405 and 406. The erasing light source 414 is for radiating the energy stored in the stimulable phosphor layer by irradiating the stimulable phosphor layer with light included in the excitation wavelength region of the phosphor. For example, a tungsten lamp, a halogen lamp, an infrared lamp, a laser light source or the like as shown in JP-A-56-11392 can be arbitrarily selected and used. In addition,
The radiation energy stored in the stimulable phosphor layer is
For example, as shown in JP-A-56-12599, since the stimulable phosphor can be released by heating,
The erasing light source 414 may be replaced with a heating means. A cylindrical cleaning roller 415 is provided in contact with the recording member 401 at a position facing the driven roller 406 with the recording member 401 interposed therebetween. This cleaning roller 4
Reference numeral 15 denotes a device for removing dust and dirt attached to the surface of the recording member 401 which is rotated in a counterclockwise direction in the drawing by a driving device (not shown) and moves in contact with the cleaning roller 415 from the surface of the recording medium. If necessary, it may be formed to adsorb the dust and the like by utilizing an electrostatic phenomenon.

As the light transmitting means 413, the same one as the light transmitting means 10 in FIG. 1 can be used as it is.

The operation of the apparatus of this embodiment having the above structure will be described below. The recording member 401 is intermittently fed by the driving roller 404 by ¼ of its entire length. When the recording member 401 is stopped, the radiation source 408 is turned on, and the transmitted radiation image of the subject 409 is stored and recorded on the storage phosphor layer of the recording member 401 which is stretched between the driven rollers 406 and 407. The portion where the radiation image is accumulated and recorded is located between the driving roller 404 and the driven roller 405 when the recording member 401 is stopped one after another. The stimulable phosphor layer of the recording member 401 stopped at this position is scanned by the excitation light 410 emitted from the excitation light source 410A. The excitation light 410 is recorded on the recording member by the optical deflector 411.
While being scanned in the width direction of 401 (main scanning), a stage (not shown) for fixing the excitation light source A410, the light deflector 411, the photodetector 412, and the light transmission means 413 is arranged in the length direction of the recording member 401. By being moved, the recording member 401 is scanned in the length direction (sub-scanning). The stage that moves as described above can be easily formed by using a known linear movement mechanism.
Upon receiving the irradiation of the excitation light 410, the stimulable phosphor layer of the recording member 401 emits stimulated emission according to the image information stored and recorded. This stimulated emission light 420 is input to the photodetector 412 via the optical transmission means 413 and photoelectrically converted to the photodetector 412.
An electric image signal corresponding to the radiation image accumulated and recorded in the stimulable phosphor layer is output from 12. The portion of the recording member 401 from which the image has been read in this way is positioned between the driven rollers 405 and 406 at the next stop. The stimulable phosphor layer of the recording member 401 stopped at this position is the erasing light source 414.
Of ²⁶⁶ Ra and ⁴⁰ K, which are radiated by the laser and are ^contained in a small amount in the radiation energy and stimulable phosphor remaining after the reading operation.
It emits radiation energy from radioactive isotopes such as, or environmental radiation. Therefore, the radiation image formed on the stimulable phosphor layer is erased by recording the radiation image, and in the case where the device has not been used for a long time, the stimulable phosphor layer will be erased. Radiation energy based on the radiation from the accumulated radioisotope or the environmental radiation is also released, and the reusable state is restored.

Next, when the recording member 401 in the portion where the radiation image is erased is sent between the driven rollers 406 and 407, the surface of the recording member 401 is swept by the cleaning roller 415, and fine dust and dust on the surface of the recording member 401 are removed. To be removed.
In this way, the recording member 401 from which the radiation image has been erased and dust and dust have been removed is stopped between the driven rollers 406 and 407 and reused for recording the radiation image.

As described above, the recording member 401 is circulated and reused while being erased and cleaned by the erasing light source 414 and the cleaning roller 415. Considering a certain portion on the recording member 401, this portion is used for image recording, image reading, and image reading while the recording member 401 moves one round as described above.
Although an image erasing process is performed, when the recording member 401 is stopped and an image is recorded on a portion of the recording member 401, at the same time, image reading and image erasing are performed on another portion of the recording member 401. Of course, the image recording, the image reading, and the image erasing may be simultaneously performed on different portions of the recording member 401 in this way, which naturally improves the image processing speed. To do.

In the above-described embodiment, the stimulable phosphor layer is laminated on the endless belt-shaped support, and the support is circulated for reuse.
Unlike the case where the sheet-shaped stimulable phosphors are conveyed one by one, there is almost no risk of damaging the stimulable phosphors. And the mechanism that circulates the stimulable phosphor can be easily designed because it can be configured only by the endless belt drive mechanism.
Can be manufactured. Further, since one recording member 401 is reused by circulation, it is possible to obtain a uniform reproduced image without variations due to sheets.

The electrical image signal output from the photodetector 12 is the first
In the same manner as in the above embodiment, the data may be immediately input to the reproducing device to obtain a hard copy, a CRT display, etc., or digitized and temporarily recorded on a high-density recording medium such as a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk. After that, it may be applied to the reproducing device.

In the above-described embodiment, the sub-scanning for reading the radiation image is performed by moving the excitation light irradiation system and the stimulated emission light reading system with respect to the recording member 401 which is stopped. The light irradiation system and the stimulated emission light reading system may be fixed, and the sub-scanning may be performed by moving the recording medium. In such a case, when recording the radiation image by stopping the recording member 401, after the radiation image recording is completed, the recording member 401 is moved at a speed for sub-scanning, and reading is performed when the recording medium is moved. do it. Further, if the radiation image is recorded while moving the recording member 401 by using, for example, slit exposure, the radiation image can be recorded and read without stopping the recording member 401.

Further, in the apparatus of the above embodiment, the recording member 401
If the support is transparent, the stimulated emission light can be detected on the side opposite to the excitation light irradiation side. In this case, as shown by the alternate long and short dash line in FIG. 10, the photodetector 412 and the light transmission means 413 may be arranged on the side opposite to the excitation light irradiation side of the recording member 401. Hereinafter, the detection of stimulated emission light from the side opposite to the excitation light irradiation side will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

The recording member 401 includes a transparent support 401A, a stimulable phosphor layer 401B formed on the transparent support 401A, and a multilayer filter 401C laminated on the stimulable phosphor layer 401B. Multilayer filter
401C, for the excitation light 410, similar to the multilayer filter used in each of the embodiments described above, the reflectance increases as the incident angle of the excitation light increases, stimulated emission light Is reflected well regardless of the incident angle. That is, in the illustrated device, the stimulated emission light is also emitted to the excitation light irradiation side which is the side opposite to the light detection, and the stimulated emission light emitted to the side opposite to this light detection is reflected by the multilayer film filter. Thus, the efficiency of collecting stimulated emission light can be improved. A multilayer filter that satisfies such conditions is, for example, a bandpass filter having a spectral transmittance characteristic as shown in FIG. 12 when the incident light on the filter is 0 °.

The multilayer filter 401C hardly absorbs light, and therefore the reflectance obtained by subtracting the transmittance shown in FIG. 12 from 1 (100%). In this embodiment, a beam with a wavelength of 633 nm emitted from a He—Ne laser is used as the excitation light 410. As shown in FIG. 12, the light transmittance of the multilayer filter 401C with respect to the excitation light 410 is about 90% when the incident angle is 0 °, that is, when the recording member 401 is incident for excitation. Has become. Also wavelength 630
The light transmittance of the multilayer filter 401C for light with an incident angle of 0 ° other than ˜650 nm is almost 0%.

On the other hand, the stimulable phosphor layer 401B of the recording member that is subjected to radiation image information reading in the apparatus of the present embodiment is the excitation light described above.
Upon excitation of 410, stimulated emission light 420 having a wavelength of 360 to 420 nm (mainly 390 nm) is emitted. FIG. 13 shows the incident angle dependence of the transmittance of the above-mentioned light of 390 nm and 633 nm by the multilayer filter 401C.

The excitation light 410 is made incident on the recording member 401 at an incident angle close to 0 ° as described above. Therefore this excitation light 410
Satisfactorily transmits the multilayer filter 401C with a transmittance of about 90% and excites the stimulable phosphor 401B. The excitation light 410 is reflected to some extent on the surface of the phosphor layer 401B of the recording member 401 and returns to the multilayer filter 401C side. This reflection is irregular reflection, and the reflected light 410a enters the multilayer filter 401C at various incident angles. Of such reflected light 410a, light that enters the multilayer filter 401C at a large incident angle is reflected by the filter 401C having the above-described characteristics with high reflectance, and excites the stimulable phosphor 401B.

On the other hand, the stimulated emission light 420 also enters the multilayer filter 401C at various angles.
As shown in the figure, the stimulated emission light 420 always reflects nearly 100% regardless of its incident angle. Therefore, of the stimulated emission light 420, the light diverging to the multilayer filter 401C side is the first
As shown in FIG. 1, most of them are reflected by the multilayer filter 401C, and the light transmission means 4 arranged below the recording member 401.
It is made incident on 13. By using the multilayer film filter as described above, according to the apparatus of the present embodiment, the laser beam which is the excitation light is effectively utilized to increase the light amount of the stimulated emission light, and The detection can be performed efficiently, and the sensitivity of the device can be remarkably increased as compared with the conventional case.

The multilayer filter in the above embodiment has extremely preferable characteristics such that nearly 100% of incident photostimulated luminescence light is reflected and excitation light is transmitted by about 90% when the incident angle is 0 °. However, in general, the light transmittance of the excitation light is 70% or more when the incident angle is 0 to 5 °, more preferably 80% or more, and the light transmittance of the excitation light is 60% or more when the incident angle is 30 ° or more. % Or more, more preferably 70% or more,
And the reflectance of stimulated emission light is 60% or more, more preferably
If it is 80% or more, a preferable effect of increasing sensitivity can be achieved.

In the fifth embodiment described above, the endless belt-shaped recording member 401 which is flexible and can be freely bent
However, considering the durability of the recording material and the formation of a more precise radiation image, it is preferable to form the recording material with rigidity and avoid bending during use. . FIGS. 14 and 15 show sixth and seventh embodiments of the present invention in which a recording medium having a multilayer film filter having such rigidity is used. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 14, the recording member 501 has a drum-shaped support on which the above-mentioned phosphor having a multilayer filter similar to that of the first embodiment is laminated on the peripheral surface. The driving force of a drive shaft 504a of a driving device (not shown) is transmitted to the recording member 501 by a chain 504b, and the recording member 501 is intermittently rotated in the arrow direction with a predetermined stop period. A radiation source 508 and an excitation light source 51 similar to those in the fifth embodiment are provided around the drum-shaped recording member 501.
0A, a light deflector 511, a photodetector 512, a light transmission means 513, an erasing light source 514, and a cleaning roller 515 are arranged. This first
The apparatus of FIG. 4 is different from the apparatus of FIG. 10 only in the shape and driving method of the recording member 501, and by the same operation as the apparatus of FIG. 10, the transmission radiation image of the subject 509 is recorded on the recording member 501. The recording member 501 is accumulated and recorded, and the recording member 501 is scanned by the excitation light 510 emitted from the excitation light source 510A, and an electric image signal carrying a radiation image is output from the photodetector 512. Further, in the embodiment of FIG. 15, the recording member 601 is a disc-shaped support 602.
A stimulable phosphor layer 603 is laminated on the side surface of the. The recording member 601 is a drive shaft (6) of a drive device (not shown).
It is intermittently rotated by a quarter turn in the direction of the arrow by 04a and the chain 604b. On the storage phosphor layer 603,
An image recording zone 605 is set, and a transmission radiation image of a subject (not shown) is accumulated and recorded on the stimulable phosphor layer 603 in this portion by the radiation source as described above. An image reading zone 606 is set at a position 180 ° away from the image recording zone 605, and in the image reading zone 606, the above-mentioned excitation light source, scanning means such as an optical deflector, photodetector, and light transmitting means. Image reading device (not shown)
Is provided. An erasing light source 608 surrounded by a light blocking member 607 is provided on the downstream side of the image reading zone 606, and further downstream of the erasing light source 608, the image recording zone 6 is provided.
The cleaning roller 609 is located at the position on the upstream side of 05.
Is provided. Also in the apparatus shown in FIG. 15, the recording member 601 is circulated and reused while being erased and cleaned by the erasing light source 608 and the cleaning roller 609. In the device shown in FIG. 15, the stimulable phosphor layer 603 is used.
Is designed to move in one plane, so that the erasing light emitted from the erasing light source 608 causes the image recording zone 605,
A light blocking member 607 is provided so as not to illuminate the image reading zone 606. Such a light shielding member may be appropriately provided in the fifth and sixth embodiments in which the stimulable phosphor moves three-dimensionally, if necessary.

In the seventh embodiment described above, and also in the sixth embodiment described above, the recording body is formed so as to have rigidity and is not bent. Therefore, the durability and the precision of the image are higher than those of the endless belt-shaped recording body. It is excellent in terms of reproduction and production.

In the fifth, sixth and seventh embodiments described above, all the endless recording bodies are adapted to be intermittently moved by 1/4 rotation, but the rotation pitch is limited to the above value. Of course, in the device shown in FIG. 14, for example, the recording medium is stretched in a triangular shape and
You may make it move intermittently every 3 rotations. Further, it is not always necessary to make the erasing zone independent of the image recording zone or the image reading zone. For example, by arranging the erasing light source in the image reading zone, The erasing light source may be turned off, and when the image reading is completed, the erasing light source may be turned on to perform the erasing. In such a case, it is possible to move the recording body described above by 1/2 rotation. It is not always necessary to clean the recording medium with the cleaning roller, but by performing such cleaning, a higher quality radiation image can be obtained.

In each of the embodiments described above, a plurality of radiographic images are sequentially moved to recording, reading, and erasing zones, and (when erasing is arranged in the same zone as recording or reading, The recording, reading, and erasing scans are sequentially performed for each image by moving between those zones. This is done by first recording only a plurality of images and then collecting them. It is also possible to read or erase by reading. For example, after fixing 10 phosphor plates to an endless belt and after recording all 10 phosphors,
It is possible to read all at once and then erase 10 at a time. Regarding erasing after reading, erasing may be performed immediately after reading each image. Thus, the recording / reading method is useful for continuous imaging such as angiography and dynamic imaging.

As a configuration for this, for example, in the first embodiment of FIG. 1, the phosphor plates 2 are arranged at equal intervals over the entire endless belt 1, and only the recording is previously performed for one rotation of the endless belt in operation. Alternatively, the reading and erasing device may be disabled at this time, and the reading and erasing may be performed in the next round, or in the fifth embodiment of FIG. A part of the recording member 401 is largely meandered over a plurality of images to form a stacker, the recorded recording material parts are retained in this stacker part, and then the reading part collectively reads the image of this part. You may Of course, in the fifth embodiment of FIG. 10, recording is performed collectively by the operation as in the modification of the first embodiment.
Reading and erasing may be performed, and vice versa.
A stacker may be formed in the illustrated example.
It is needless to say that the above-described modification of collectively reading and erasing (erasing may be separately performed later) after collectively recording can be adopted in any of the first to seventh embodiments. Yes.

(Effects of the Invention) As described in detail above, the radiation image information recording / reading device of the present invention enables the stimulable phosphor plate to be circulated and reused without damaging it, and provides stable and uniform reproduction. In the sheet circulation type device for providing an image, the use efficiency of the excitation light can be sufficiently increased by forming the multilayer filter on the recording medium. Therefore, according to the device of the present invention, it is possible to use a small-output excitation light source, reduce power consumption, and sufficiently increase the sensitivity of reading radiation image information. Further, in the apparatus of the present invention, since the multilayer film filter having the above-described effects is provided on the recording medium, compared with the case where the multilayer film filter is provided on the reading system side so as to be in close contact with the sheet, the conveyed sheet Is advantageous in that it can be prevented from rubbing against the multi-layered film filter to wear them.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a first embodiment device of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view showing an enlarged main part of the above embodiment device, and FIG. 3 is a multilayer filter used in the above embodiment device. FIG. 4 is a graph showing an example of the spectral transmittance characteristic of each of the light incident angles, FIG. 4 is a graph showing the spectral transmittance characteristic of another multilayer film filter that can be used in the apparatus of the above embodiment, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are The graph which shows the example of the incident angle dependence of the transmittance | permeability with respect to the excitation light and the stimulated emission light of the multilayer filter used for the said embodiment apparatus, FIG. 7 is the schematic which shows the 2nd Embodiment apparatus of this invention, FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a third embodiment device of the present invention, FIGS. 9A and 9B are schematic diagrams showing a fourth embodiment device of the present invention, and FIG. 10 is a fifth embodiment device of the present invention. Schematic diagram, FIG. 11 is an enlarged side view showing the main part of the embodiment apparatus of FIG. FIG. 12 is a graph showing the spectral transmittance characteristics of the multilayer filter used in the device of the fifth embodiment, and FIG. 13 is the incident angle of the transmittance of the multilayer filter for excitation light and stimulated emission light. Fig. 14 is a graph showing the dependence, Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram showing a sixth embodiment device of the present invention, and Fig. 15 is a schematic diagram showing a seventh embodiment device of the present invention. 1 ... conveyor 2,102,202,302 ... accumulating phosphor plate 2C, 401C ... multilayer film filter 602 ... support 603 ... accumulating phosphor layer 401,501,601 ... recording member 3,404 ... driving roller 5,105,205,305,408,508 ... radiation source 6,106,306,409,509 ... … Subject 7,107,410,510 …… Excitation light 7A, 107A, 207A, 307A, 410A, 510A …… Excitation light source 8,108,208,308,411,511 …… Optical deflector 9,109,209,309,412,512 …… Photodetector 10,110,210,310,413,513 …… Light transmission means 11,111,211,311,414,514,608 …… Erase light source 20,420 …… Exhausted light

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A support provided at a predetermined position in the apparatus and driven so that the surface moves along a predetermined path at the predetermined position, and fixed on the surface of the support. A recording body comprising at least one stimulable phosphor layer capable of accumulating and recording a radiation image, and an image in which a plurality of radiation transmission images of the subject are accumulated and recorded on the recording body by irradiating the recording body with radiation. A recording unit, an excitation light source that emits excitation light that scans the recording body on which the radiation image is stored and recorded, and photoelectric reading that obtains an image signal by reading the stimulated emission light emitted from the recording body that is scanned by the excitation light. An image reading unit having a means, a support having the recording body, and the image reading unit are repeatedly moved relatively to circulate the recording body on the support relatively to the reading unit. Move Radiation image information including means for causing the image to be recorded on the recording medium after the image is read by the image reading unit, and erasing means for releasing the residual radiation energy on the recording medium prior to the recording of the image. In the recording / reading device, a multi-layered film filter is formed on the surface of the recording medium on the excitation light irradiation side, the reflectance of the excitation light increasing in accordance with an increase in the incident angle of the radiation image information recording / reading. apparatus. 2. The excitation light source of the image reading unit and the photoelectric reading unit are arranged on the same surface side of the recording body, and the multilayer filter filters the stimulated emission light according to its incident angle. The radiation image information recording / reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the radiation image information recording / reading apparatus is configured to allow good transmission. 3. The incident angle of the multilayer filter is 0 to
The light transmittance of 5 ° excitation light is 70% or more, and the incident angle is
The radiation image information recording / reading according to claim 2, wherein the reflectance of the excitation light of 30 ° or more is 60% or more, and the transmittance of the stimulated emission light is 60% or more. apparatus. 4. The incident angle of the multilayer filter is 0 to
The light transmittance of 5 ° excitation light is 80% or more, and the incident angle is
The radiation image information recording / reading according to claim 3, wherein the reflectance of excitation light at 30 ° or more is 70% or more, and the transmittance of the stimulated emission light is 80% or more. apparatus. 5. The excitation light source and the photoelectric reading unit of the image reading unit are arranged on opposite sides of the recording body across the recording body, and the multilayer filter is the photostimulable film. The radiation image information recording / reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the emitted light is well reflected regardless of its incident angle. 6. The incident angle of the multilayer filter is 0 to
The light transmittance of 5 ° excitation light is 70% or more, and the incident angle is
The radiation image information recording / reading according to claim 5, wherein the reflectance of the excitation light at 30 ° or more is 60% or more, and the reflectance of the stimulated emission light is 60% or more. apparatus. 7. The multilayer filter has an incident angle of 0 to
The light transmittance of 5 ° excitation light is 80% or more, and the incident angle is
7. The radiation image information recording and reading apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the reflectance of excitation light at 30 ° or more is 70% or more, and the reflectance of the stimulated emission light is 80% or more. apparatus. 8. The radiation image information recording / reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the support is an endless support. 9. The radiation image information recording / reading apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the endless support is an endless belt. 10. The radiation image information recording / reading apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the endless support is a rotary drum. 11. The radiation image information recording according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the recording medium is a stimulable phosphor layer laminated on the support. Reader. 12. The recording medium is a stimulable phosphor plate that is detachably mounted and fixed to the support, and the recording medium is any one of claims 1 to 10. The described radiation image information recording / reading apparatus. 13. The support according to claim 1, wherein the support is a support capable of circulating movement between the image recording section and the image reading section. Radiation image information recording / reading device. 14. The support according to claim 1, wherein the support is a plate-like support, claim 2, claim 3, claim 4, claim 5, claim 5, claim 6, claim 6. The radiation image information recording / reading device according to item 7, 11 or 12.