The present invention provides a means to augment or upgrade a traditional single
beam 2D x-ray system to produce 3D stereoscopic output. The system utilizes the
cross-sectional beam divergence of a single source x-ray unit to generate perspective
information. This is achieved by scanning the object twice where the object is
shifted parallel to the cross-sectional beam plane between scans. The resulting
two scans can be displayed on a 3D stereoscopic viewing system to produce a 3D
stereoscopic representation of the object thus revealing all three-depth dimensions.
The invention includes a method of converting a 2D x-ray system to a 3D x-ray system
requiring no changes to an x-ray generation portion, optics portion or sensing
system portion of said 2D x-ray system. The method includes coupling a 3D stereoscopic
image processor to a 2D processor and installing a mechanical shift system and
coupling said shift system to said 3D stereoscopic image processor and a object
carrying device.
