# US 2021/0333345 A1 · Method and device for controlling a magnetic resonance imaging system

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- Number: US 2021/0333345 A1
- Document ID: US20210333345A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 17/238,659
- Filed: 2021-04-23
- Published: 2021-10-28
- Earliest claimed: 2020-04-24
- Assignees: Siemens Healthcare GmbH
- Applicants: Siemens Healthcare GmbH
- Inventors: Patrick Liebig; Rene Gumbrecht; Jürgen Herrler; Armin Nagel
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210333345A1

## CPC

- G01R 33/543: {Control of the operation of the MR system, e.g. setting of acquisition parameters prior to or during MR data acquisition, dynamic shimming, use of one or more scout images for scan plane prescription (G01R33/546 takes precedence)}
- G01R 33/546: {Interface between the MR system and the user, e.g. for controlling the operation of the MR system or for the design of pulse sequences}
- G01R 33/4818: {MR characterised by data acquisition along a specific k-space trajectory or by the temporal order of k-space coverage, e.g. centric or segmented coverage of k-space}
- 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 33/5612: {Parallel RF transmission, i.e. RF pulse transmission using a plurality of independent transmission channels}
- G01R 33/56563: {caused by a distortion of the main magnetic field B0, e.g. temporal variation of the magnitude or spatial inhomogeneity of B0 (G01R33/56509, G01R33/56518, G01R33/56536 take precedence)}
- G01R 33/5659: {caused by a distortion of the RF magnetic field, e.g. spatial inhomogeneities of the RF magnetic field (G01R33/56509, G01R33/56518, G01R33/56536 take precedence)}
- G01R: MEASURING ELECTRIC VARIABLES; MEASURING MAGNETIC VARIABLES (indicating correct tuning of resonant circuits H03J3/12)

## Abstract

A pulse-design unit for creating pulse data for controlling a magnetic resonance system includes a data interface configured for receiving an examination scheme, and a calculation module configured for generating pulse data based on an examination scheme. The pulse-design unit includes a data grid and/or parameter values created from map pairs of a plurality of patients and is configured to select and/or calculate pulse data using the data grid and/or parameter values and a provided examination scheme. A method and a control device for controlling a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system and a related magnetic resonance imaging system are also provided.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A pulse-design unit for creating pulse data for controlling a magnetic resonance imaging system, the pulse-design unit comprising:
a data interface configured to receive an examination scheme; and
a calculation module configured to generate pulse data based on the examination scheme,
wherein the pulse-design unit includes a data grid, parameter values, or the data grid and the parameter values created from map pairs of a plurality of patients, and
wherein the pulse-design unit is configured to select, calculate, or select and calculate pulse data using the data grid, the parameter values, or the data grid and the parameter values and the examination scheme.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The pulse-design unit of claim 1, wherein the pulse-design unit is further configured to generate selective pulse data that comprises data about slice-selective pulses for acquisition of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, preferably selective pulses on a spoke trajectory in k-space.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The pulse-design unit of claim 2, wherein the pulse-design unit is further configured to generate selective pulse data that comprises data about selective pulses on a spoke trajectory in k-space.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The pulse-design unit of claim 1, further comprising a dictionary, the dictionary comprising generated pulse data in the data grid,
wherein creation of the dictionary comprises:
provision of a set of a plurality of map pairs from different patients, each map pair of the plurality of map pairs comprising a B0 map and a B1 map of a patient;
calculation, for each map pair of the plurality of map pairs, a set of pulse data that is configured for application of pulses to measure different sub-regions in a region of interest; and
creation of a dictionary comprising the calculated pulse data in relation to the respective sub-regions.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The pulse-design unit of claim 1, further comprising a neural network configured to choose or generate pulse data,
wherein the neural network is trained by:
provision of a set of a plurality of map pairs from different patients, each map pair of the plurality of map pairs comprising a B0 map and a B1 map of a patient;
provision of an examination scheme for each map pair of the plurality of map pairs the respective patient is examined with;
provision of a ground truth for each map pair of the plurality of map pairs comprising COV, pTx, or COV and pTx pulses;
provision of an untrained neural network that is configured to assign for each map pair of the plurality of map pairs COV, a pTx, or COV and the pTx pulse respective to the examination scheme; and
training of the neural network based on the plurality of map pairs as input and the respective ground truth.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The pulse-design unit of claim 5, wherein the data interface is configured to receive a map pair, and the calculation module is configured to generate pulse data based on an examination scheme and a map pair.

### Claim 7 (depends on 5)

The pulse-design unit of claim 5, wherein the neural network is a convolutional neural network.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The pulse-design unit of claim 1, wherein the pulse-design unit is configured to generate pulse data that is configured to control data recording of a magnetic resonance imaging system with a basic magnetic field greater than 3 T.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The pulse-design unit of claim 8, wherein the pulse-design unit is configured to generate pulse data that is configured to control data recording of a magnetic resonance imaging system with a basic magnetic field greater than 7 T.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The pulse-design unit of claim 1, wherein the pulse-design unit is further configured to:
generate pulse data that is configured for a magnetic resonance imaging system comprising a predefined number of radio frequency (RF) coils for applying RF signals and the pulse data comprising control data for each RF coil of the predefined number of RF coils of an RF transmission antenna system;
generate pulse data that is configured for parallel transmission for parallel transmission of universal pulses, pulses calculated with COV, or the universal pulses and the pulses calculated with COV;
generate pulse data comprising data about a shape of signals of a pulse sequence, data about a trajectory in k-space and constraints, or a combination thereof; or
any combination thereof.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The pulse-design unit of claim 10, wherein the pulse-design unit is further configured to control data for gradient coils of the magnetic resonance imaging system.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The pulse-design unit of claim 10, wherein the pulse-design unit is further configured to generate pulse data comprising data about a shape of RF pulses or gradient pulses.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The pulse-design unit of claim 1, wherein the pulse-design unit is further configured to generate pulse data for an individual sub-region that is calculated from the pulse data of the map pairs according to the individual sub-region.

### Claim 14 (depends on 13)

The pulse-design unit of claim 13, wherein respective data of different patients is averaged, or optimal respective pulse data is chosen from pulse data created of a map pair of the map pairs.

### Claim 15

A method for controlling a magnetic resonance imaging system, the method comprising:
providing a pulse-design unit for creating pulse data for controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system, the pulse-design unit comprising a data interface configured to receive an examination scheme, and a calculation module configured to generate pulse data based on the examination scheme, wherein the pulse-design unit includes a data grid, parameter values, or the data grid and the parameter values created from map pairs of a plurality of patients, and wherein the pulse-design unit is configured to select, calculate, or select and calculate pulse data using the data grid, the parameter values, or the data grid and the parameter values and the examination scheme;
providing the examination scheme, the examination scheme including information about contrasts to be measured and an order of sub-regions of a region of interest to be recorded;
generating the pulse data with the pulse-design unit based on the examination scheme; and
creating a pulse sequence for a measurement with the magnetic resonance imaging system from the generated pulse data.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein generating the pulse data comprises calculating, by a neural network, the pulse data, the calculating of the pulse data comprising measuring map pairs of the respective patient and inputting the map pairs into the neural network.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The method of claim 16, wherein the pulse-design unit further comprises the neural network, the neural network being trained to assign COV to given map pairs, and wherein during a measurement, map pairs of a patient are acquired and COV matching the inputted map pairs is calculated by the trained neural network, a trajectory for the pulse data being defined by the COV data, pulse shapes being optimized based on the resulting COV and corresponding pulse shapes, or a combination thereof.

### Claim 18 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein pulse data for the sub-regions are chosen from a dictionary of the pulse-design unit depending on the examination scheme.

### Claim 19 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, wherein for a sub-region for which no pulse data is present in the dictionary, the method further comprises calculating intermediate pulse data from pulse data according to sub-regions of the dictionary that are adjacent to the sub-region for which no pulse data is present.

### Claim 20 (depends on 19)

The method of claim 19, wherein calculating the intermediate pulse data comprises averaging pulse data or choosing pulse data of a nearest sub-region in the dictionary relative to the sub-region for which no pulse data is present in the dictionary.

### Claim 21 (depends on 18)

The method of claim 18, wherein the pulse-design unit comprises a dictionary, the dictionary comprising pulse data in form of prepared pTx pulses for different map pairs depending on a position of a slab to be measured,
wherein the dictionary assigns each slab position a universal pulse, and
wherein pulse data (SD, SD′, SD″) is chosen from the dictionary based on a slab position to be excited during a measurement defined by the examination scheme.

### Claim 22

A control device for controlling a magnetic resonance imaging system, the control device comprising:
a pulse-design unit for creating pulse data for controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system, the pulse-design unit comprising a data interface configured to receive an examination scheme, and a calculation module configured to generate pulse data based on the examination scheme, wherein the pulse-design unit includes a data grid, parameter values, or the data grid and the parameter values created from map pairs of a plurality of patients, and wherein the pulse-design unit is configured to select, calculate, or select and calculate pulse data using the data grid, the parameter values, or the data grid and the parameter values and the examination scheme;
a data interface configured to receive the examination scheme, the examination scheme comprising information about contrasts to be measured and an order and shape of sub-regions of a region of interest to be recorded; and
a sequence unit configured to create a pulse sequence for a measurement with the magnetic resonance imaging system from pulse data generated by the pulse-design unit.

### Claim 23

A magnetic resonance imaging system comprising:
a control device for controlling a magnetic resonance imaging system, the control device comprising:
a pulse-design unit for creating pulse data for controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system, the pulse-design unit comprising a data interface configured to receive an examination scheme, and a calculation module configured to generate pulse data based on the examination scheme, wherein the pulse-design unit includes a data grid, parameter values, or the data grid and the parameter values created from map pairs of a plurality of patients, and wherein the pulse-design unit is configured to select, calculate, or select and calculate pulse data using the data grid, the parameter values, or the data grid and the parameter values and the examination scheme;
a data interface configured to receive the examination scheme, the examination scheme comprising information about contrasts to be measured and an order and shape of sub-regions of a region of interest to be recorded; and
a sequence unit configured to create a pulse sequence for a measurement with the magnetic resonance imaging system from pulse data generated by the pulse-design unit.

### Claim 24

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions executable by a computer unit to control a magnetic resonance imaging system, the instructions comprising:
providing a pulse-design unit for creating pulse data for controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system, the pulse-design unit comprising a data interface configured to receive an examination scheme, and a calculation module configured to generate pulse data based on the examination scheme, wherein the pulse-design unit includes a data grid, parameter values, or the data grid and the parameter values created from map pairs of a plurality of patients, and wherein the pulse-design unit is configured to select, calculate, or select and calculate pulse data using the data grid, the parameter values, or the data grid and the parameter values and the examination scheme;
providing the examination scheme, the examination scheme including information about contrasts to be measured and an order of sub-regions of a region of interest to be recorded;
generating the pulse data with the pulse-design unit based on the examination scheme; and
creating a pulse sequence for a measurement with the magnetic resonance imaging system from the generated pulse data.