Communicating between mri control system and rf coils
AssigneesToshiba Medical Systems Corporation, Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
InventorsROBERT ANDERSON, Yoshinori Hamamura
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, method and/or apparatus is configured to effect MR imaging where data corresponding to MR signals is transmitted from a radio frequency (RF) receive coil to the MRI data processor via a path that includes a near-field wireless communication (NFC) connection. A receiver for the NFC connection is selected from of the one or more wireless signal receivers that are arranged on a restraining belt when the restraining belt is placed, during operation of an MRI system for imaging an object located on a patient table, over at least a portion of the object and the receive RF coil is located between the restraining belt and the object.
Claims20
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system comprising:
- an MRI gantry including a static magnetic field coil, gradient magnetic field coils, at least one radio frequency (RF) coil configured to transmit RF nuclear excitation pulses into an imaging volume, and at least one receive RF coil configured to receive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) RF signals from an object located in the imaging volume;
- a patient table configured to have the object positioned on the patient table and moved into the MRI gantry to place the object in the imaging volume;
- a digital data processing system configured to receive digital magnetic resonance (MR) data from said at least one receive RF coils, the digital MR data corresponding to the NMR RF signals;
- at least one restraining belt attached to the patient table and including one or more wireless signal receivers arranged such that, when the restraining belt is placed over at least a portion of the object positioned on the patient table and the at least one receive RF coil is located between the restraining belt and the object, a near field wireless connection is established between at least one of said wireless signal receivers and at least one wireless signal transmitter coupled to the at least one receive RF coil, wherein the near field wireless connection is used for transferring at least one of control commands or data between the digital processing system and the at least one receive RF coil, and wherein the digital processing system is coupled by flexible wires to the one or more wireless signal receivers.
A method for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), comprising:
- receiving, at a radio frequency (RF) receive coil, a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) RF signal from an object subjected to RF nuclear excitation pulses within an MRI gantry which includes a static magnetic field coil, gradient magnetic field coils, at least one RF coil configured to transmit the RF nuclear excitation pulses into an imaging volume in which the object is located, and the receive RF coil;
- transmitting MR data corresponding to the received MR signal from a wireless signal transmitter coupled to the receive RF coil;
- receiving the MR data by at least one wireless signal receiver of one or more wireless signal receivers arranged on a restraining belt such that when the restraining belt is placed, during operation of the MRI gantry for imaging the object located on a patient table, over at least a portion of the object and when the receive RF coil is located between the restraining belt and the object;
- transmitting the received MR data via flexible wires from the at least one wireless signal receiver to a MR digital data processing system;
- and
- generating an image at the MR digital data processing system using the MR data.
The method of 13, wherein the method further comprises routing the wires from the restraining belt along a surface of the patient table to the MR digital data processing system.
The method of 17, wherein the routing the wire comprises using one or more cable retractors to flexibly maintain the wire without excess in areas proximate to the object as the object is moved.
An apparatus for use in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the apparatus comprising:
- a restraining belt configured to be attached to a patient table of a MRI system and including one or more wireless signal receivers arranged such that, when the restraining belt is placed over at least a portion of an object positioned on the patient table and at least one receive radio frequency (RF) coil is located between the restraining belt and the object, a near field wireless connection is enabled between at least one of the one or more wireless signal receivers and at least one wireless signal transmitter coupled to the receive RF coil, wherein the near field wireless connection is provided for transferring at least one of control commands or data between a digital processing system of the MRI system and the at least one receive RF coil, and wherein the digital processing system is coupled by flexible wires to the one or more wireless signal receivers.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.