ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,259,518, issued on March 25, was assigned to Rapiscan Systems Inc. (Torrance, Calif.).
"Hand-held portable backscatter inspection system" was invented by Edward James Morton (Guildford, Great Britain).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present specification describes a compact, hand-held probe or device that uses the principle of X-ray backscatter to provide immediate feedback to an operator about the presence of scattering and absorbing materials, items or objects behind concealing barriers irradiated by ionizing radiation, such as X-rays. Feedback is provided in the form of a changing audible tone whereby the pitch or frequency of the ...