# US 2021/0333340 A1 · Mr rf coil with non-conductive waveguides > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2021/0333340 A1 - Document ID: US20210333340A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/857,578 - Filed: 2020-04-24 - Published: 2021-10-28 - Earliest claimed: 2020-04-24 - Assignees: Canon Medical Systems Corporation - Applicants: Canon Medical Systems Corporation - Inventors: Mark SPRING; Yoshinori Hamamura; Ernie Zepeda - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210333340A1 ## CPC - G01R 33/34092: {RF coils specially adapted for NMR spectrometers} - G01R 33/3692: {involving signal transmission without using electrically conductive connections, e.g. wireless communication or optical communication of the MR signal or an auxiliary signal other than the MR signal} - G01R 33/345: of waveguide type (G01R33/343 takes precedence) - G01R 33/3607: {RF waveform generators, e.g. frequency generators, amplitude-, frequency- or phase modulators or shifters, pulse programmers, digital to analog converters for the RF signal, means for filtering or attenuating of the RF signal} - G01R 33/5608: {Data processing and visualization specially adapted for MR, e.g. for feature analysis and pattern recognition on the basis of measured MR data, segmentation of measured MR data, edge contour detection on the basis of measured MR data, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of signal-to-noise ratio by means of noise filtering or apodization, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of resolution by means for deblurring, windowing, zero filling, or generation of gray-scaled images, colour-coded images or images displaying vectors instead of pixels (image data processing or generation, in general G06T)} - G01R 33/3415: comprising arrays of sub-coils {, i.e. phased-array coils with flexible receiver channels} - 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} - G01R: MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES (indicating correct tuning of resonant circuits H03J3/12) ## Abstract A magnetic resonance RF receive coil with non-conductive waveguides for data transfer between the RF coil antennas and the channel aggregator is described. The non-conductive waveguide for each channel includes a plastic waveguide transferring data between a millimeter wave transmitter and a millimeter wave receiver. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A magnetic resonance (MR) imaging radio frequency (RF) digital receiver coil, the digital MR RF coil comprising: a channel aggregator that receives signals at each of a plurality of channels within the MR RF receiver; amplification and data digitization circuitry that receives data from a respective RF coil antenna, for each channel; and a non-conductive millimeter-wave waveguide that transmits data outputted by the amplification and data digitization circuitry to the channel aggregator, for each channel, wherein the non-conductive millimeter-wave waveguide comprises: a millimeter-wave transmitter, a millimeter-wave receiver; and a waveguide connecting the millimeter-wave transmitter and the millimeter-wave receiver. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The digital MR RF coil of claim 1, wherein the millimeter-wave transmitter comprises a transmitter integrated circuit (IC) with an integrated millimeter-wave antenna and the millimeter-wave receiver comprises a receiver IC with an integrated millimeter-wave antenna, wherein a waveguide coupler connects the millimeter antennas to the waveguide connecting the millimeter-wave transmitter and the millimeter-wave receiver. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The digital MR RF coil of claim 2, wherein the transmitter IC comprises CMOS and the receiver IC comprises CMOS. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The digital MR RF coil of claim 2, wherein the waveguide connecting the millimeter-wave transmitter and the millimeter-wave receiver comprises plastic and the waveguide coupler connecting the millimeter antennas to the waveguide connecting the millimeter-wave transmitter and the millimeter-wave receiver comprises plastic. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The digital MR RF coil of claim 4, wherein the plastic comprises polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). ### Claim 6 A method of transferring digital acquisition data within a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging radio frequency (RF) digital receiver coil in an MR system, the method comprising: receiving analog RF signals at each of a plurality of channels within the MR RF receiver at respective RF coil antennas; converting the analog RF signal into a digital signal using amplification and data digitization circuitry, at each channel; transmitting data outputted by the amplification and data digitization circuitry to a channel aggregator, at each channel, using a non-conductive millimeter-wave waveguide connecting the amplification and data digitization circuitry to the channel aggregator; and transmitting the data outputted from the channel aggregator to the MR system, wherein the non-conductive millimeter-wave waveguide comprises: a millimeter-wave transmitter, a millimeter-wave receiver; and a waveguide connecting the millimeter-wave transmitter and the millimeter-wave receiver. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein the millimeter-wave transmitter comprises a transmitter integrated circuit (IC) with an integrated millimeter-wave antenna and the millimeter-wave receiver comprises a receiver IC with an integrated millimeter-wave antenna, wherein a waveguide coupler connects the millimeter antennas to the waveguide connecting the millimeter-wave transmitter and the millimeter-wave receiver. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein the data outputted from the channel aggregator is transmitted to the MR system via an optical fiber. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The method of claim 7, wherein the data outputted from the channel aggregator is transmitted to the MR system via a non-conductive millimeter-wave waveguide.