Wireless MR receiving coil system

A magnetic resonance method comprising:

• positioning a radio frequency coil assembly in an imaging region of a magnetic resonance scanner such that the coil assembly is electrically isolated from the magnetic resonance scanner, the coil assembly including a plurality of coils each associated with an electric module;
• converting electrical magnetic resonance signals from the radio frequency coil assembly to optical magnetic resonance signals using LEDs in the electric modules;
• separately communicating the optical resonance signals from the electric modules of the coil assembly to the scanner optically;
• separately communicating control and timing signals from the scanner to the electric modules optically;
• and
• reconstructing the magnetic resonance signals into an image representation.

A magnetic resonance system comprising:

• a magnet that provides a main magnetic field through an examination region;
• a scan controller that controls magnetic resonance signal acquisition;
• a processor that processes resonance signals;
• an RF coil assembly including a plurality of coils switchable to each of a plurality of modes, the RF coil assembly being disposed in the main magnetic field in the examination region to at least receive magnetic resonance signals, the radio frequency coil assembly being electrically isolated from the processor and the scan controller;
• and
• an optical wireless communication system comprised of infrared LEDs which converts electrical signals to optical signals, wherein the wireless communication system optically communicates resonance signals from the RF coil assembly to the processor, and optically communicates control signals from the processor to the RF coil assembly for switching the coils among the operating modes, and optically communicates timing signals from the processor to the RF coil assembly to the clock circuits of the coils, the optical communicating being in parallel.