System and method for variable mode-mixing in magnetic resonance imaging
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system comprising:
- a computer system configured to operate the MRI system during an imaging process in order to image a subject;
an RF system including a receive coil array having a first number of channels configured to acquire signals from the subject during the imaging process;
a mode-mixing apparatus configured to receive the signals acquired by the receive coil array in order to form a coil basis set having the first number of channels and the mode-mixing apparatus comprising;
a plurality of splitters configured to receive the formed coil basis set and produce a plurality of sub-signals;
a plurality of amplifiers configured to adjust the respective sub-signals by a respective adjustable amplification value within a range of non-fixed values;
a plurality of phase shifters configured to phase shift the respective sub-signals by a respective adjustable phase-shift value within a range of non-fixed values;
a plurality of combiners configured to receive the plurality of amplified and phase shifted sub-signals and produce an output basis set having a second number of channels; and
an input configured to receive a selection of at least one of the adjustable respective amplification value and the adjustable respective phase-shift value within a range of non-fixed values.
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Abstract
The present invention provides a system and method for using a hardware-based compression of signals acquired with an magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. This allows a first multi-channel MR signal to be compressed to a second multi-channel MR signal having fewer channels than the first MR signal. This system and method reduces the number of RF receivers needed to achieve the sensitivity encoding benefits associated with highly parallel detection in MRI. Furthermore, the system and method reduces bottlenecks connection an MRI system'"'"'s RF receiver and reconstruction computer and reduces the computational burden of image reconstruction.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system comprising:
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a computer system configured to operate the MRI system during an imaging process in order to image a subject; an RF system including a receive coil array having a first number of channels configured to acquire signals from the subject during the imaging process; a mode-mixing apparatus configured to receive the signals acquired by the receive coil array in order to form a coil basis set having the first number of channels and the mode-mixing apparatus comprising; a plurality of splitters configured to receive the formed coil basis set and produce a plurality of sub-signals; a plurality of amplifiers configured to adjust the respective sub-signals by a respective adjustable amplification value within a range of non-fixed values; a plurality of phase shifters configured to phase shift the respective sub-signals by a respective adjustable phase-shift value within a range of non-fixed values; a plurality of combiners configured to receive the plurality of amplified and phase shifted sub-signals and produce an output basis set having a second number of channels; and an input configured to receive a selection of at least one of the adjustable respective amplification value and the adjustable respective phase-shift value within a range of non-fixed values. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of calibrating a mode-mixing apparatus including a plurality of hardware-based amplifiers and phase shifters for use in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the steps comprising:
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a) performing a prescan in order to determine a plurality of sensitivity profiles of a receiver coil array; b) analyzing the sensitivity profiles of the receiver coils in order to generate a set of mode-mixing coefficients; c) generating a report of the set of mode-mixing coefficients; and d) loading the report of the set of mode-mixing coefficients in the mode-mixing apparatus in order to select a value of amplification at each of the plurality of hardware-based amplifiers and a value of phase shift at each of the plurality of hardware-based phase shifters. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A mode-mixing apparatus configured for use in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system in order to receive and process a coil basis set having a first number of channels, the mode-mixing apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of splitters configured to receive the coil basis set and produce a plurality of sub-signals; a plurality of amplifiers configured to adjust the respective sub-signals by a respective adjustable amplification value based on the plurality of selected adjustable amplification values; a plurality of phase shifters configured to phase shift the respective sub-signals by a respective adjustable phase-shift value based on the plurality of selected adjustable phase-shift values; and a plurality of combiners configured to receive the plurality of amplified and phase shifted sub-signals and produce an output basis set having a second number of channels that is less than the first number of channels of the coil basis set. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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Specification