JPH0968765A - Radiation image reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform consecutive sheet processing without frequently replacing a cassette by an operator even if the size of a stimulable phosphor sheet is different. SOLUTION: Plural cassettes 10A to 10D are loaded in a device. A sheet carrying means takes out the stimulable phosphor sheet 11A from the cassette 10A among the cassettes 10A to 10D, the sheet 11A is finished being read and erased while passing through a reading part 62 and an erasing part 60, and is carried to the cassette 10A from which the sheet 11A is taken out. At the same time, the sheets 11B to 11D taken out from other cassettes 10B to 10D are returned to the cassettes from which they are taken out after reading and erasing are finished.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a radiation image information reading apparatus used in a radiation image information recording / reproducing system, and more particularly to a radiation image information reading apparatus in which a reading unit and an erasing unit are integrally combined. It is a thing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Radiation (X rays, α rays,
(β-rays, γ-rays, electron beams, ultraviolet rays, etc.), a part of this radiation energy is accumulated in the phosphor, and when this phosphor is irradiated with excitation light such as visible light, It is known that the phosphor emits photostimulated light, and the phosphor exhibiting such properties is called a stimulable phosphor (stimulable phosphor).

Using this stimulable phosphor, radiation image information of a subject such as a human body is once recorded on a sheet-shaped stimulable phosphor, and this stimulable phosphor sheet (hereinafter, simply referred to as a sheet) is used as a laser. By scanning with excitation light such as light to generate stimulated emission light, the obtained stimulated emission light is photoelectrically read to obtain an image signal, and based on this image signal, a radiation image of the subject is recorded on a photographic photosensitive material, etc. The present applicant has already proposed a radiation image information recording / reproducing system for outputting a visible image on a recording material, CRT, or the like. (JP-A-55-12429, the same
56-11395, 55-163472, 56-104645, 55-
116340, etc. ) The stimulable phosphor sheet in the above system stores and records radiation image information, and temporarily holds the recorded image information until it is read by excitation light scanning, and thus the reading of the image information is completed. After that, it is desirable to erase the image information remaining on the sheet and reuse the sheet.

In response to such a request, there is provided a radiation image information reading apparatus including a reading unit for reading image information recorded on a sheet and an erasing unit for erasing image information remaining on the sheet. Proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-
No. 297489, No. 6-258737).

In the above radiation image information reading device,
A cassette containing a stimulable phosphor sheet that has been photographed by an external imaging device is loaded into the cassette holder, and the stimulable phosphor sheet is taken out of the cassette and sent to the reading unit to read image information. The read sheet is further sent to the erasing section to erase the image information remaining on the sheet. The erased sheet is in a state in which it can be taken out of the reading apparatus and image information can be recorded again, but these erased sheets are generally returned to the cassette.

However, in the conventional apparatus, the cassettes are loaded one by one in the cassette holding portion. Therefore, when the sheets are returned to the cassette as described above, one cassette is loaded. When loaded in, the sheet in the cassette is taken out, read and erased,
The next cassette cannot be loaded into the apparatus until it is stored in the cassette again, which causes a problem that the work of taking the cassette in and out of the apparatus becomes complicated. That is, the above-mentioned reading device often has to continuously perform processing on a plurality of sheets, and in particular, when photographing is continuously performed by the photographing device and cassettes after photographing are sequentially sent to the reading device. However, in order to operate the reading device without waste, it is necessary to replace the cassette every time the processing for one sheet is completed in the reading device. For this reason, the worker must wait with the cassette for which shooting has been completed, etc.
There is an inconvenience that the time for which the cassette is replaced becomes longer and the replacement work becomes complicated and inefficient.

Therefore, it is possible to hold a plurality of cassettes in the cassette holding section, take out a sheet from any one of these cassettes, and convey the sheet to the reading section and the erasing section, and to further convey the sheet among the plurality of cassettes. There has been proposed a radiographic image reading apparatus that can be loaded into an arbitrary cassette. In such a radiographic image reading apparatus, the sheet conveying means takes out a sheet from an arbitrary cassette and carries the read and erased sheet into the arbitrary cassette so that a plurality of cassettes loaded in the apparatus can be loaded. Stores all sheets that have been read and erased after a predetermined time has elapsed. Therefore, multiple cassettes can be taken out at the same time, and it is not necessary to take out and put in the cassette every time an erased sheet is loaded into one cassette, so that the operator does not have to frequently perform cassette replacement work. Sheets can be processed continuously.

[0008]

In the above-mentioned radiation image reading apparatus, since the stimulable phosphor sheet taken out from any cassette is carried into another cassette again, the stimulable phosphor sheet having the same size is used. However, it is applicable. However, when reading a radiation image from stimulable phosphor sheets of different sizes, if the stimulable phosphor sheet taken out from any cassette is loaded into any cassette, the size of the sheet and the size of the cassette will be different. Since it does not correspond, there arises a problem that the sheet cannot be carried into the cassette.

In view of the above circumstances, the present invention allows continuous sheet processing even if the stimulable phosphor sheets have different sizes without requiring the operator to frequently replace the cassette. An object of the present invention is to provide a radiation image reading device.

[0010]

A radiation image reading apparatus according to the present invention comprises a reading unit for reading a radiation image stored and recorded on a stimulable phosphor sheet, and radiation remaining on the sheet after the reading is completed. An erasing section for erasing an image, a cassette holding section for detachably holding a plurality of cassettes capable of accommodating the sheet, a sheet taken out from an arbitrary cassette of the plurality of cassettes, and the sheet is read for the reading. And a sheet conveying unit that conveys the sheet to the cassette from which the sheet has been taken out.

[0011]

In the radiation image reading apparatus according to the present invention, the sheet conveying means takes out a sheet from an arbitrary cassette, and carries in a read and erased sheet into the cassette from which the sheet has been taken out. In the plurality of cassettes loaded into the cassette, all the sheets that have been read and erased after a predetermined time has passed are stored in the cassette from which the respective sheets have been taken out. Therefore, by holding a plurality of cassettes in the cassette holder,
The sheet taken out from one cassette will be returned to the taken-out cassette after reading and erasing are completed.

Therefore, the operator can continuously process the sheets without frequently replacing the cassettes, and the sheets that have been read and erased are returned to the cassettes that have been taken out. Therefore,
Even if the sheets have different sizes, it is possible to prevent the sheets from being carried into the cassettes of different sizes.

[0013]

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

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a radiation image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the four cassettes 10A to 10D, each of which stores the stimulable phosphor sheets 11A to 11D inside, are used for radiographic image capturing by a radiographing apparatus (not shown) and then read by the radiographic image reading apparatus 20.
To be loaded. The cassette loading portion of the radiographic image reading device 20 has four openings 34A to 34D for loading the four cassettes 10A to 10D, respectively.
The cassettes 10A to 10D loaded in the
Held by 33D. Each of the light shielding rollers 33A to 33D is formed to be slightly longer than the width of the cassette 10A to 10D,
They are biased toward each other by a biasing means (not shown), and are kept slightly separated from each other by a stopper (not shown).

When the cassettes 10A to 10D are loaded, one end thereof, that is, the end of the cassette 10A to 10D on the side having the opening is passed through the openings 34A to 34D of the frame 31 and between the light shielding rollers 33A to 33D. Inserted. At this time, the light shielding rollers 33A to 33D are slightly opened to each other and the cassettes 10A to 10D are opened.
Accept. When each of the cassettes 10A to 10D is pushed to a predetermined position, a stopper (not shown) is brought into contact with the tip of the cassette to set the cassette 10A to 10D at this predetermined position. Further, the cassette loading section is provided with nip rollers 30A to 30D corresponding to the respective cassettes 10A to 10D.

Next, the console 71 provided in the device 20
When the information to read the radiation image from the stimulable phosphor sheet is input from the cassette 10A by an appropriate means.
The cover 13A is opened, and the roller arm 74 holding the roller 75 at its tip is moved in the direction of arrow B, that is, toward the inside of the cassette 10A. When the roller 75 contacts the stimulable phosphor sheet 11A in the cassette 10A in this manner, the movement of the roller arm 74 is stopped. The roller arm 74, a nip roller 32, and a guide plate 35, which will be described later, are formed in an elevating means 31 capable of ascending and descending inside the apparatus, and the elevating means 31 is moved up and down to a position adjacent to each cassette 10A to 10D. Stop it, and insert the cassette corresponding to this stopped position.
Accumulative phosphor sheet 11A-11D housed in 10A-10D
To take out.

In the radiation image information reading device 20, as will be described later, the stimulable phosphor sheet after the reading process is returned to the cassette containing it. Therefore, in order to prevent the cassettes 10A to 10D from being pulled out without permission, for example, a pin for holding the cassette is inserted into a holding member receiving hole formed in the cassette to allow the cassettes 10A to 10D to be removed arbitrarily. It should be so that it cannot be pulled out.

Next, the roller 75 is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 1 by a driving means (not shown). Then, the stimulable phosphor sheet 11A in contact with the roller 75 becomes the cassette 10.
It is taken out to the side of A. The stimulable phosphor sheet 11A taken out to the side is a nip roller 32, a guide plate 35 and a nip roller 30A corresponding to the cassette 10A, and further guide plates 46, 47, 48 and nip rollers 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 5.
The erasing unit 6 is made possible by the sheet conveying system consisting of 4, 55, 56, 57, etc.
It is sent to the reading unit 62 via 0. The reading process of the radiation image information in the reading unit 62 is known from, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-12429, and will be briefly described below. The stimulable phosphor sheet 11A is conveyed at a constant speed in the direction of arrow H in FIG. 1 by the nip rollers 55, 56, 57 for sub-scanning with excitation light. Then, a laser beam 64 as excitation light emitted from the main scanning optical system 63 scans (main scanning) the stimulable phosphor sheet 11A in a direction substantially perpendicular to the direction of the arrow H. At this time, the output of the laser beam 64 is controlled so as to meet the above-mentioned reading conditions.

From the portion of the stimulable phosphor sheet 11A that has been irradiated with the laser beam 64, stimulated emission light of a quantity corresponding to the radiation image information stored and recorded therein is emitted, and this stimulated emission light is emitted. Light is detected by a photodetector 66 such as a photomultiplier tube via a light guide 65. Therefore, from the photodetector 66, the image signal S indicating the radiation image information accumulated and recorded in the stimulable phosphor sheet 11A is obtained. This image signal S is input to an image processing means (not shown) and subjected to image processing based on the above-mentioned identification information.
The image signal S subjected to this image processing is displayed as a visible image on the CRT display device 70 provided in the device 20. Further, the image signal S may be sent to an image reproducing device such as an optical scanning recording device for image reproduction. In addition,
The CRT display means 70 faces the left side in FIG. 1 so that the operator can easily observe it.

After the radiation image information has been read, the stimulable phosphor sheet 11A is read from the reading section 62 through the erasing section 60 and the cassette loading section by rotating the nip rollers 49 to 57 in the opposite direction. Sent to. When the stimulable phosphor sheet 11A passes through the erasing section 60, a plurality of erasing light sources 61 are turned on, and the erasing light emitted from them is applied to the stimulable phosphor sheet 11A. The radiation energy remaining in the stimulable phosphor sheet 11A after reading the radiation image information is released from the stimulable phosphor sheet 11A by this erasing light irradiation, and the sheet 11A is in a state that it can be newly used for radiation image capturing. Become.

A stimulable phosphor sheet that has been subjected to this erasing process
The sheet 11A is carried into the cassette 10A from which the sheet 11A has been taken out, by the roller 75 rotating in the opposite direction to the previous case, that is, in the clockwise direction in FIG. Then, the cassette 10A is closed and locked by performing an operation reverse to that for taking out the stimulable phosphor sheet 11A described above.

That is, the roller arm 74 is the cassette 10A.
The roller 75 is returned to the standby position outside the cassette 10A by moving in the direction away from. Next, the lid 13A that has been opened wide is returned to the slightly opened state by the means for opening the lid as described above. Then, the detection means detects that the roller 75 has returned to the standby position. When it is detected that the roller 75 has returned to the standby position in this way, the elevating means 31 moves up, and the roller arm 74, the roller 75, and the nip roller 32 stop at a position adjacent to the cassette 10B.

As a result, the above-mentioned cassette 10A
The stimulable phosphor sheet 11B was taken out from the cassette 10B in the same manner as the stimulable phosphor sheet 11A was taken out from the cassette, read and erased similarly to the stimulable phosphor sheet 11A, and returned to the cassette 10B again. Be done. Hereinafter, the stimulable phosphor sheet 11 housed in the cassettes 10C and 10D sequentially
C and 11D are taken out, read and erased,
They are returned to the cassettes 10C and 10D, respectively.

As described above, the radiation image reading apparatus according to the present invention can hold a plurality of cassettes 10A to 10D, and the stimulable phosphor sheet taken out from each cassette 10A to 10D.
After reading and erasing 11A to 11D, the sheet is carried into the cassette from which the sheet has been taken out, so that the operator does not perform frequent cassette replacement work but continuously processes the sheet. You can Further, even when the size of the sheet is different, it is possible to prevent the sheet from being loaded into the cassettes of different sizes, which makes it possible to cope with the case where the size of the sheet is different. .

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a radiation image reading apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10A to 10D Cassette 11A to 11D Accumulative phosphor sheet 33A to 33D Light blocking roller 34A to 34D Opening 35 Guide plate 60 Erasing unit 62 Reading unit 74 Roller arm 75 Roller

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A reading unit for reading a radiation image accumulated and recorded on a stimulable phosphor sheet, an erasing unit for erasing a radiation image remaining on the sheet after the reading is completed, and the sheet can be accommodated. A cassette holding unit that detachably holds a plurality of cassettes, and the sheet is taken out from an arbitrary cassette of the plurality of cassettes, the sheet is conveyed to the reading unit and the erasing unit, and the sheet is further A radiation image reading apparatus comprising: a sheet conveying unit that carries the sheet into the cassette taken out.