Steven James Smith
Engineers at Danielson St, Poway, CA

6665373, Dec 16, 2003

Mar 12, 2002

10/097700

Andreas F. Kotowski - Rancho Palos Verdes CA
Steven W. Smith - Poway CA

Rapiscan Security Products (USA), Inc. - Hawthorne CA

G01N 2304

378 90, 378 57

The present invention provides for an apparatus and method for use in a system with an x-ray source to produce a pencil beam of x-rays to scan an object and a first detector providing a value representative of the intensity of the x-rays scattered from the object to produce a scattered image having a second detector disposed opposite the first detector to provide a value representative of the intensity of the x-rays passing directly from the x-ray source to the second detector; a processor coupled to the system to receive information specifying a position of the pencil beam of x-rays, the processor also coupled to second detector to produce a shadow image formed of pixels indicating the intensity value measured by the second detector for a plurality of positions of the pencil beam of x-rays; and combining the scattered and shadow image to produce a composite image.

7742568, Jun 22, 2010

Jun 8, 2008

12/135196

Steven Winn Smith - Poway CA, US

Spectrum San Diego, Inc. - San Diego CA

G01N 23/087

378 9811, 378 57, 378 989

A dual-energy x-ray imaging system searches a moving automobile for concealed objects. Dual energy operation is achieved by operating an x-ray source at a constant potential of 100 KV to 150 KV, and alternately switching between two beam filters. The first filter is an atomic element having a high k-edge energy, such as platinum, gold, mercury, thallium, lead, bismuth, and thorium, thereby providing a low-energy spectrum. The second filter provides a high-energy spectrum through beam hardening. The low and high energy beams passing through the automobile are received by an x-ray detector. These detected signals are processed by a digital computer to create a steel suppressed image through logarithmic subtraction. The intensity of the x-ray beam is adjusted as the reciprocal of the measured automobile speed, thereby achieving a consistent radiation level regardless of the automobile motion. Accordingly, this invention provides images of organic objects concealed within moving automobiles without the detritus effects of overlying steel and automobile movement.

6094472, Jul 25, 2000

Apr 14, 1998

9/060009

Steven W. Smith - Poway CA

Rapiscan Security Products, Inc. - Long Beach CA

G01N 2310

378 86

A pencil beam of X-rays is scanned over the surfaces of the body of a person being examined as the person walks through the scanning apparatus. Specifically, a tracking assembly is employed to rotate the scanning plane through a tracking angle and in a direction progressing from the entrance to the exit of the portal, through which the person passes, in order to substantially track the person or body as it moves with respect to the system from the entrance to the exit X-rays that are scattered or reflected from the subject's body are detected by a detector assembly. The signal produced by this scattered X-ray detector in then used to modulate an image display device to produce an image of the subject and any concealed objects carried by the subject. The detector assembly is constructed in a configuration to automatically and uniformly enhance the image edges of low atomic number (low Z) concealed objects to facilitate their detection. A storage means is provided by which previously acquired images can be compared with the present image for analyzing variances in and similarities with the present image, and provides means for creating a generic representation of the body being examined while suppressing anatomical features of the subject to minimize invasion of the subject's privacy.

8116431, Feb 14, 2012

May 23, 2011

13/113186

Steven Winn Smith - Poway CA, US

Spectrum San Diego, Inc. - San Diego CA

G01N 23/087

378 9811, 378 57, 378 989

A dual energy x-ray imaging system searches a moving automobile for concealed objects. Dual energy operation is achieved by operating an x-ray source at a constant potential of 100KV to 150KV, and alternately switching between two beam filters. The first filter is an atomic element having a high k-edge energy, such as platinum, gold, mercury, thallium, lead, bismuth, and thorium, thereby providing a low-energy spectrum. The second filter provides a high-energy spectrum through beam hardening. The low and high energy beams passing through the automobile are received by an x-ray detector. These detected signals are processed by a digital computer to create a steel suppressed image through logarithmic subtraction. The intensity of the x-ray beam is adjusted as the reciprocal of the measured automobile speed, thereby achieving a consistent radiation level regardless of the automobile motion. Accordingly, this invention provides images of organic objects concealed within moving automobiles without the detritus effects of overlying steel and automobile movement.

7957506, Jun 7, 2011

Mar 26, 2010

12/732234

Steven Winn Smith - Poway CA, US

Spectrum San Diego, Inc. - San Diego CA

G01N 23/10, G01N 23/087, H05G 1/64

378 57, 378 989, 378 9811

A dual energy x-ray imaging system searches a moving automobile for concealed objects. Dual energy operation is achieved by operating an x-ray source at a constant potential of 100 KV to 150 KV, and alternately switching between two beam filters. The first filter is an atomic element having a high k-edge energy, such as platinum, gold, mercury, thallium, lead, bismuth, and thorium, thereby providing a low-energy spectrum. The second filter provides a high-energy spectrum through beam hardening. The low and high energy beams passing through the automobile are received by an x-ray detector. These detected signals are processed by a digital computer to create a steel suppressed image through logarithmic subtraction. The intensity of the x-ray beam is adjusted as the reciprocal of the measured automobile speed, thereby achieving a consistent radiation level regardless of the automobile motion. Accordingly, this invention provides images of organic objects concealed within moving automobiles without the detritus effects of overlying steel and automobile movement.

2012030, Dec 6, 2012

Jun 6, 2011

13/154226

Steven Winn Smith - Poway CA, US

G01N 23/04, G01N 23/201

378 57, 2503581, 378 87

The inventive body scanner is used to screen persons entering a security controlled area for the presence of security threats hidden under the clothing, such as guns, knifes, explosives and contraband. The Invention is an improvement on prior art body scanners that operate primarily by acquiring backscatter x-ray images, but only acquire transmission images over a limited part of the person's body. These prior art systems provide x-ray sources on the anterior and posterior sides of the person being screened, and x-ray sensitive detectors on the sides of these x-ray sources. While sufficient for backscatter imaging, the gaps between these detectors results in blind areas in the transmission images, resulting in lower ability to detect security threats hidden under the clothing. The present Invention overcomes these limitations of the prior art by providing x-ray sensitive detector on the outside of the x-ray sources. That is, the pair of x-ray sources are located within the pair of x-ray detectors, and the person being screened is located within the pair of x-ray sources. In conjunction with this imaging geometry, spatial offsets in the location of the x-ray sources provide effectively full transmission coverage for transmission imaging.

6269142, Jul 31, 2001

Aug 11, 1999

9/371816

Steven W. Smith - Poway CA

G01N 2310

378 57

Interrupted-Fan-Beam imaging is a method of producing back-scatter x-ray images from conventional line scan systems, such as those used for luggage and cargo inspection. Since back-scatter and transmission images are formed from different physical principles, the use of both images provides a more thorough security inspection. A mathematical relation relates the signal-to-noise ratio to the spatial resolution in an Interrupted-Fan-Beam image. When used in conjunction with typical operating values of x-ray systems, such as flux level and number of pixels, this relation provides the performance level of the Interrupted-Fan-Beam technique.

2004000, Jan 1, 2004

Jun 28, 2002

10/183619

Steven Smith - Poway CA, US

H04N005/225, H04N007/18

348/218100, 348/159000, 348/207100, 348/208130, 348/208140, 348/340000

A surveillance system is formed from two video cameras viewing substantially the same region being monitored. One camera provides high temporal resolution, such as a conventional CCTV camera operating at 30 frames per second with 640 pixels per image width. The second camera provides high spatial resolution, such as a linescan sensor with a mechanical scanning assembly, providing 2 images per second with 5120 pixels per image width. The combination of these two cameras provides a video record of the monitored region with simultaneous high spatial resolution and high temporal resolution.

2007023, Oct 11, 2007

Apr 10, 2006

11/400823

Steven Smith - Poway CA, US

G01N 23/04, G01T 1/161

250363020, 378062000

A radiant energy imaging system is used to create an electronic image of a person entering a security controlled area to detect weapons or contraband concealed under their clothing. The electronic image is electronically transmitted to a processing center where it is evaluated by a human and/or software algorithms for the presence of concealed objects. The resulting evaluation, consisting of digitally represented information, is electronically transmitted back to the examination site. In one embodiment this processed data is displayed as a graphical outline of the concealed objects superimposed on an optical image of the person. In another embodiment, the processed data is used to control a personnel barrier controlling access into the security controlled area. In another embodiment a network allocation server selectively routes the electronic images from two or more body scanners to two or more processing centers.

5181234, Jan 19, 1993

May 22, 1991

7/704292

Steven W. Smith - Poway CA

IRT Corporation - San Diego CA

G01N 2304, G06K 946

378 87

A pencil beam of X-rays is scanned over the surface of the body of a person being examined. X-rays that are scattered or reflected from the subject's body are detected by a detector. The signal produced by this scattered X-ray detector in then used to modulate an image display device to produce an image of the subject and any concealed objects carried by the subject. The detector assembly is constructed in a configuration to automatically and uniformly enhance the image edges of low atomic number (low Z) concealed objects to facilitate their detection. A storage means is provided by which previously acquired images can be compared with the present image for analyzing variances in similarities with the present image, and provides means for creating a generic representation of the body being examined while suppressing anatomical features of the subject to minimize invasion of the subject's privacy.