JPH0450939A - Radiograph information header - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve working efficiency by simultaneously housing plural cassettes in which IP is housed. CONSTITUTION:A stacker 20 is pulled out to a stacker pulling out position 21 which is outside this reader 10, and a real cassette 2F is inserted in the stacker 20 at this position. Plural cassettes 2F can be inserted in the stacker 20 and when the insertion of the cassettes 2F is completed, the stacker 20 is housed in the reader 10 and the cassettes 2F are vertically held in the stacker 20. Then, the cassettes 2F are successively fed to a cassette feeding device 22 by a holding plate 24 to which a spring 23 is attached. The device 22 takes out the cassettes 2F from the stacker 20 one by one and feeds them to a feed part 30. Thus, it is possible that an operator leaves the reader immediately, and the working efficiency is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a device for reading radiation image information recorded on an IP (stimulable phosphor sheet).
The present invention relates to a radiation image information reading device that automatically performs operations from insertion of a cassette containing a cassette to removal of the cassette after reading processing.

(Prior Art) In an X-ray imaging device that irradiates a subject with X-rays and records changes in the intensity of the X-rays that have passed through the subject for diagnosis, X-ray imaging has conventionally been used as a method of recording transmitted X-ray images. A film was used. However, recently CR (Cofflp
A system called ``uted radiography'' has been developed and is now in use. This system utilizes a phenomenon in which a stimulable phosphor sheet called IP is exposed to transmitted X-rays, and when it is irradiated with red laser light, blue light is emitted and the photographed image is reproduced.

This reproduced image is converted into an electrical signal using a photomultiplier tube, amplified, and then converted into a digital signal and stored.
Observe the X-ray image using a CRT or the like.

A radiation image information reading device is a device that reads information recorded on this IP using the red laser beam. An example of such a radiation image information reading device is the eighth
The apparatus shown in the figure is used. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a feed load section into which a cassette 2 containing a photographed IP containing image information is inserted.
to be brought and housed. The IP stored in the cassette 2 inserted and stored in the feed load section 1 is taken out in the feed load section 1 and stored in the first stacker 3. The first stacker 3 is provided with a partition for each IP, and can accommodate 10 IPs. The IPs are taken out one by one from the first stacker 3 in order from the one inserted later, and are emitted by a laser 5 in the reading section 4 to emit light and read the recorded data. I finished reading
The remaining X-ray images of the P are erased in the erasing section 6 and stored in the second stacker 7, and the cassettes P are loaded again into the empty cassette 2 in the feed row F section 1 and taken out. In this series of operations, the cassette 2 to the feed load section 1
Everything except loading and unloading is done automatically.

Reference numeral 8 denotes a magazine feed section that stores a plurality of photographed IPs, and when a magazine is used instead of the cassette 2 to store the IPs, the magazine is inserted into the magazine feed section 8. The IP is taken out from the magazine, passes through the reading section 4 and the erasing section 6, is stored in the IP tray 9, and is taken out.

The flow of the image reading process using the above device is explained in the ninth section.
As shown in the figure. To explain the process shown in the figure, the IP on which the image information has been photographed is loaded into a cassette 2 and transported to the image information reading device.

The IP is taken out from the cassette 2 at the feed load section 1 and stored in the first stacker 3.

The IP from the first stacker 3 is supplied to the reading section 4, where the image information is read, and the remaining recorded information is erased at the erasing section 6. After this IP is temporarily stored in the second stacker 7, it is stored in an empty cassette in the feed load section 1 and returned to the photographing section as an unrecorded IP.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) By the way, looking at the cassette processing part of the radiation image information reading device mentioned above, the IP stored in the cassette 2
After taking out the IP, the IP is placed in the first stacker 3 for processing. However, in order to store the processed cassettes 2 into the feed load section 1, it must be carried out one by one, so it is necessary to process a plurality of cassettes. When doing so, it takes a lot of time and effort. Furthermore, as is clear from the process diagram in Figure 9, after the IP is taken out by the feed load section 1, it remains naked until it is inserted into the cassette 2 by the feed load section 1 after the reading process is completed. carried and handled.

In addition, the IP taken out from the cassette 2 is temporarily stored in the first stacker 3 to compensate for the speed of reading, erasing, etc., but the IP is not protected in this first stacker 3. Since the IP is handled in a bare state without any protection, there is a risk of damage, which shortens the lifespan of the IP, which is said to be able to be reused over 1,000 times.

The present invention was made in view of the above points, and its purpose is to be able to accommodate multiple cassettes containing IP at the same time, and to allow the operator to leave the cassettes unattended until all work is completed. It can improve work efficiency and also
To provide a radiation image information reading device that can reduce the chance of damaging IP by reducing the process of handling it naked.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention solves the above problems by providing a stacker configured in a drawer shape for holding a plurality of real cassettes loaded with IPs in which radiographic image information is accumulated and recorded, and the stacker. a cassette delivery device for sending out the real cassette from the real cassette; a feed unit for taking out the IP from the delivered real cassette; and a cassette ejector for receiving the empty cassette from which the IP has been taken out and taking out the empty cassette to the outside. a reading section for reading radiographic image information stored and recorded in the IP, and a drawer-like structure for sequentially holding the IP from which radiographic image information has been read by the reading section, and for taking out the IP to the outside. and a conveyance section that receives the IP taken out from the actual cassette in the feed section from the feed section and conveys it to the reading section and the tray in this order. It is something.

Further, the second invention provides an I
The apparatus is characterized in that it includes an erasing section for erasing radiation image information remaining in P.

(Operation) The first stacker receives a plurality of real cassettes. The accepted actual cassettes are sequentially delivered one by one to the feed section by the cassette delivery device, and the IP is taken out at the feed section. The empty cassette from which the IP has been taken out is sent to a cassette discharge section and taken out to the outside. The IP is sent to the reading section by the transport section, the recorded image information is read, and the IP is sent to the tray by the transport section and taken out to the outside.

In the second aspect of the invention, the IP from which the image information has been read is sent to the tray after the remaining image information is erased by the erasing section.

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

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 10 is an image information reading device (hereinafter referred to as this device)
It is composed of the following parts. Reference numeral 20 denotes a stacker into which a real cassette 2F containing photographed IP is inserted and held. Hereinafter, the cassette loaded with IP will be referred to as real cassette 2F, and the cassette without IP will be referred to as empty cassette 2E. When storing the actual cassette 2F in the stacker 20, the stacker 20 is pulled out to the stacker pull-out position 21 and the actual cassette 2F is inserted. FIG. 2 is a structural diagram of the stacker 20. In the figure, the same parts as in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals. The figure shows a state in which the stacker 20 has been pulled out to the stacker pull-out position 21 and a plurality of actual cassettes 2F have been inserted.

Returning to FIG. 1, 22 is the actual cassette 2F from the stacker 20.
This is a cassette delivery device that takes out the IP one by one and sends out the IP to the feed section 30. The actual cassette 2F is connected to the cassette delivery device 22 by a holding plate 24 attached to a spring 23.
sent to. Reference numeral 30 denotes a feed section which uses a suction cup 31 to open the lid of the actual cassette 2F fed from the cassette delivery device 22, takes out the IP 33 using the suction cup 32, and feeds it to the next stage. Reference numeral 40 denotes a cassette discharge section into which the empty cassette 2E from which the IP33 has been taken out is fed and temporarily accommodated, and from which the held empty cassette 2E is taken out as required. 41 is a reversing part for changing the direction of the fed empty cassettes 2E and storing them in the cassette ejecting section 40; 42 is inside the cassette discharging section 40 and places the plurality of fed empty cassettes 2E on the slope thereof. The lower surface of the cassette receiving plate is supported by a spring 43 and a damper 44. The spring 43 and damper 44 are attached to the empty cassette 2.
By balancing the weight of E, the empty cassette 2E placed on top is always in the same position.

50 is a conveyance unit that conveys the IP33 taken out by the feed unit 30 to the reading unit 60, and 51 is the I P33 after the reading process.
A conveying section 52 conveys the IP33 to the erasing section 70, and a conveying section 52 conveys the erased IP33 to the tray 80.

Here, the structure of the reading section 60 will be explained with reference to FIG.

61 is a laser beam generator that generates excitation light to excite the IP 33; 62 is a galvanometer mirror that reflects the laser beam emitted from the laser beam generator 61 and scans the recorded image information of the IF 33 by rotating a mirror. It is. The excitation light 63 reflected by the galvanometer mirror 62 is IF
33 and generates stimulated light. Figure 4 shows excitation light 6
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of photostimulated light 65 generated when 3 hits IP33. In the figure, the excitation light 63 reflected by the galvanomirror 62 passes through the slit of the condenser 64 to the IP33
is irradiated to generate photostimulated light 65.

The inner surface of the condenser 64 is finished with a mirror surface, and the condenser 64 emits photostimulated light 65.
The structure is such that the light is totally reflected and sent to the photodetector 66. Returning to FIG. 3, 67 and 68 are rollers (driving mechanism not shown) that hold the IF 33 in the vertical position and move the IF 33 vertically by rotation. Performs sub-scanning.

Returning to FIG. 1, the erasing section 70 includes a sodium lamp 71, and the remaining image information of the IP 33 is erased by irradiation with light.
sent to. The tray 80 has a drawer shape, and has a structure in which the IF 33 after image information has been erased is stored therein, and the tray 80 can be pulled out.

Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be explained with reference to the process diagram of FIG. The IF 33 photographed by the photographing section 90 and recorded with image information is loaded into the empty cassette 2E, and is stored in the stacker 20 as a real cassette 2F. When inserting the actual cassette 2F into the stacker 20,
The stacker 20 is pulled out to the stacker pull-out position 21 outside the apparatus 10, and the actual cassette 2F is inserted into the stacker 20 at this position. A plurality of real cassettes 2F can be inserted into the stacker 20. When the insertion of the actual cassette 2F is completed, the stacker 20 is housed in the apparatus 10. Inside the stacker 20, the actual cassettes 2F are held vertically and are sequentially sent to the cassette delivery device 22 by a holding plate 24 to which a spring 23 is attached. Cassette delivery device 2
2 takes out the actual cassettes 2F one by one from the stacker 20 and feeds them to the feed section 30. In the feed section 30, the lid is opened using a suction cup 31, and the I P33 is opened using a suction cup 32.
is taken out and delivered to the transport section 50. The empty cassette 2E from which the IF 53 has been taken out is then sent to the cassette discharge section 40 after the lid is closed. The discharged empty cassette 2E is inverted at the reversing section 41 so that its lid, which is on the left side in the figure, faces downward, and is placed on the slope of the cassette receiving plate 42 of the cassette discharge section 40. The cassette receiving plate 42 sinks each time an empty cassette 2E is placed thereon by the action of a spring 43 and a damper 44 provided on its lower surface, and is adjusted so that the empty cassette 2E at the uppermost position is always located at the same position.

Empty cassettes 2E accumulated in the cassette discharge section 40 are taken out of the apparatus 10 as needed.

The IF33 taken out from the actual cassette 2F is transported to the conveyance section 50.
The data is sent to the reading section 60 by. In the reading section 60, the laser beam generated by the laser beam generator 61 is transmitted to the galvano mirror 6.
2 and irradiates the IF 33 to generate photostimulated light 65. This light is reflected by the condenser 64 and detected by the photodetector 6.
6 is detected. The IF 33 whose image information has been read in this manner is sent to the erasing section 70 by the transport section 51.

The erasing section 70 is irradiated with light from a sodium lamp 71 to erase the image information remaining on the read backward IP 33. Thereafter, the IFs 33 are sent to the tray 80 by the transport section 52 and stored in the tray 80 in a stacked manner. When removing the IP33, the tray 80 is pulled out from the device 10.

The IP33 taken out from the tray 80 is loaded into the empty cassette 2E taken out from the cassette discharge section 40 by the loader 100, which is a device separate from the present device 10, or by the operator's hand, and becomes a real cassette 2F, which is then transferred to the photographing section. The image is sent to step 90 and photographed, and the sequence ends.

As explained above, this embodiment has the following effects.

(b) Multiple cassettes can be inserted into the device at the same time,
The worker can leave the device immediately, improving work efficiency.

(b) In conventional stackers, the IP is handled in a naked state, so it is easily damaged by friction and impact, but with the device of this embodiment, the IP is stored and held in the stacker in a cassette, so no scratches occur. Hard to reach.

(c) Since the IP is stored and held in the cassette until just before it is read, it is less likely to be damaged.

(d) Even though a plurality of cassettes can be inserted into the device at the same time, only one mechanism is required to take out the IP from the cassettes, which simplifies the mechanism.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the same parts as in FIG. 1 are given the same reference numerals. This embodiment differs from the embodiment shown in FIG.
The other configurations are exactly the same except that 0 is not provided. Therefore, the operation is as shown in the process diagram of FIG. 7, in the erasing process, after erasing the image information remaining on the IP 33 carried from the tray 80 in the erasing/loader part 110, the image information is transferred to the empty cassette 2E. There is no difference other than loading, so I will omit the explanation.

(Effects of the Invention) As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to store a plurality of cassettes at the same time, so the operator can leave the cassettes unattended until the reading work for all cassettes is completed. This will enable you to improve your work efficiency. In addition, the process of handling the IP bare can be reduced, reducing the chance of damage to the IP, which has a great practical effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the structure of the stacker, Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the structure of the reading section, and Fig. 4 is an illustration of the structure of the reading section. An explanatory diagram of the route, FIG. 5 is a process diagram according to the embodiment of FIG. 1, FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 7 is a process diagram according to the embodiment of FIG. 6, FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a conventional image information reading device, and FIG. 9 is a process diagram of the device shown in FIG. 2E...Empty cassette 2F...Real cassette 1
0... This device 20... Stacker 22.
...Cassette delivery device 30...Feed section 33...
・IP 40...Cassette discharge section 50.51.52...Transportation section 60...Reading section 70...Erasing section 80.
··tray

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A stacker (20) configured in a drawer shape that holds a plurality of real cassettes (2F) loaded with IPs (33) in which radiographic image information is stored and recorded; (2F), and a cassette sending device (22) that sends out the real cassette (2F) to the IP (33).
); a cassette discharge section (40) for receiving the empty cassette (2E) from which the IP (33) has been taken out and taking out the empty cassette (2E) to the outside; A reading unit (60) that reads the radiation image information stored in the reading unit (33), and a reading unit (60) that sequentially stores the radiographic image information read by the reading unit (60), ) is configured in a drawer shape so that the IP (33) taken out from the real cassette (2F) at the feed section (30) can be taken out from the feed section (30).
a conveyance unit (50, 51, 5
2) A radiation image information reading device comprising: (2) After the reading unit (60) finishes reading the IP (
The radiation image information reading device according to claim 1, further comprising an erasing section (70) for erasing radiographic image information remaining in the radiation image information reading device (33).