DIGITIZED MR SIGNAL DATA ENCODING WITH VARIABLE BIT RATE

• US 20100021032A1
• Filed: 08/29/2007
• Published: 01/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Boef, Johannes Hendrik den, Liere, Filips van
• Granted Patent: US 7,990,145 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/131
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/3621 NMR receivers or demodulators, e.g. preamplifiers, means for frequency modulation of the MR signal using a digital down converter, means for analog to digital conversion [ADC] or for filtering or processing of the MR signal such as bandpass filtering, resampling, decimation or interpolation

Abstract

A digital receiver circuit comprising an encoder (104) for encoding a digitized magnetic resonance signal is disclosed herein. The digitized magnetic resonance signal comprises one or more data packets, wherein each data packet is representative of a portion of a magnetic resonance signal. The encoder (104) is configured to dynamically allocate a number of bits (variable bit rate) for each data packet based on a characteristic of at least the portion of the magnetic resonance signal represented by the particular data packet.

Claims

1. A digital receiver circuit comprising an encoder for encoding a digitized magnetic resonance signal, wherein the digitized magnetic resonance signal comprises one or more data packets, with each data packet being representative of a portion of a magnetic resonance signal, and wherein the encoder is configured to dynamically allocate a number of bits for each data packet based on a characteristic of at least the portion of the magnetic resonance signal represented by the particular data packet.

2. The digital receiver circuit of claim 1, including a sampling circuit arranged to sample the magnetic resonance signal to yield the digitized magnetic resonance signal.

3. The digital receiver circuit of claim 1, wherein the number of bits for each data packet is allocated based on a maximum value of the characteristic of at least the portion of the magnetic resonance signal represented by the particular data packet.

4. The digital receiver circuit of claim 1, wherein the characteristic of at least the portion of the magnetic resonance signal is its amplitude.

5. The digital receiver circuit of claim 1, wherein the characteristic of at least the portion of the magnetic resonance signal is its bandwidth.

6. The digital receiver circuit of claim 1, wherein the characteristic of at least the portion of the magnetic resonance signal is its signal-to-noise ratio.

7. The digital receiver circuit of claim 2, wherein the digital receiver circuit is operatively connected to a radio-frequency coil element configured to receive the magnetic resonance signal from a subject under examination.

8. A magnetic resonance system comprising a digital receiver circuit as claimed in claim 1.

9. A method of encoding a digitized magnetic resonance signal, wherein the digitized magnetic resonance signal comprises one or more data packets, with each data packet being representative of a portion of a magnetic resonance signal, the method comprising:

dynamically allocating a number of bits for each data packet based on a characteristic of at least the portion of the magnetic resonance signal represented by the particular data packet.

10. A computer program for encoding a digitized magnetic resonance signal, wherein the digitized magnetic resonance signal comprises one or more data packets, with each data packet being representative of a portion of a magnetic resonance signal, the computer program comprising instructions for:

dynamically allocating a number of bits for each data packet based on a characteristic of at least the portion of the magnetic resonance signal represented by the particular data packet.