ACTIVE TRANSMIT ELEMENTS FOR MRI COILS AND OTHER ANTENNA DEVICES, AND METHOD
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- providing an MRI coil having a plurality of antenna elements, including a first antenna element and a second antenna element;
locating the MRI coil in a bore of an MR magnet;
based on a control signal from a location remote from the plurality of antenna elements, power amplifying a first RF pulse to obtain a first high-power RF pulse and power amplifying a second RF pulse to obtain a second high-power RF pulse; and
coupling the first high-power RF pulse to at least the first antenna element but not to the second antenna element and coupling the second high-power RF pulse to at least the second antenna element, wherein the power amplifying is performed in the bore of the MR magnet.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus and method that includes amplifiers for transceiver antenna elements, and more specifically to power amplifying an RF (radio frequency) signal using a distributed power amplifier having electronic devices (such as field-effect transistors) that are thermally and/or mechanically connected to each one of a plurality of antenna elements (also called coil elements) to form a hybrid coil-amplifier (e.g., for use in a magnetic-resonance (MR) imaging or spectroscopy machine), and that is optionally adjusted from a remote location, optionally including remotely adjusting its gains, electrical resistances, inductances, and/or capacitances (which controls the magnitude, phase, frequency, spatial profile, and temporal profile of the RF signal)—and, in some embodiments, the components are compatible with, and function in, high fields (such as a magnetic field of up to and exceeding one tesla or even ten tesla or more and/or an electric field of many thousands of volts per meter).
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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providing an MRI coil having a plurality of antenna elements, including a first antenna element and a second antenna element; locating the MRI coil in a bore of an MR magnet; based on a control signal from a location remote from the plurality of antenna elements, power amplifying a first RF pulse to obtain a first high-power RF pulse and power amplifying a second RF pulse to obtain a second high-power RF pulse; and coupling the first high-power RF pulse to at least the first antenna element but not to the second antenna element and coupling the second high-power RF pulse to at least the second antenna element, wherein the power amplifying is performed in the bore of the MR magnet. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon for causing a suitably programmed information processor to execute a method that comprises:
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distributively power amplifying RF pulses within a bore of an MR magnet to obtain high-power RF pulses; coupling each of the high-power RF pulses to a proper subset of a plurality of antenna elements in the bore of the MR magnet; receiving and preamplifying RF signals from the plurality of antenna elements in the bore of the MR magnet; and controlling the distributively power amplifying and the preamplifying of the received RF signals. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An apparatus comprising:
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an MRI coil unit having a plurality of antenna elements, including a first antenna element and a second antenna element, wherein the MRI coil unit is compatible for use in a bore of an MR magnet; a plurality of power amplifiers, including a first power amplifier and a second power amplifier, the plurality of power amplifiers located in the MRI coil unit, wherein the first power amplifier is configured, based on a control signal from a location remote from the plurality of antenna elements, to power amplify a first RF pulse to obtain a first high-power RF pulse, wherein the first high-power RF pulse is coupled to at least the first antenna element but not to the second antenna element, and wherein the second power amplifier is configured to power amplify a second RF pulse to obtain a second high-power RF pulse, wherein the second high-power RF pulse is coupled to at least the second antenna element, wherein the plurality of power amplifiers are configured for operation in the bore of the MR magnet. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification