Communicating between MRI control system and RF coils

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 MRI RF receive coil configured to receive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) RF signals from an object located in the imaging volume;
• at least one wireless signal transmitter coupled to the at least one MRI RF receive coil;
• a patient table configured to have the object positioned thereon and moved into the MRI gantry to place the object in the imaging volume;
• at least one digital data processor configured to receive digital magnetic resonance (MR) data from said at least one MRI RF receive coil and to generate an image using the digital MR data, the digital MR data corresponding to the NMR RF signals;
• and
• at least one restraining belt attached to the patient table and including one or more near-field 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 MRI RF receive coil is located between the restraining belt and the object, a near-field wireless connection is established between at least one of said near-field wireless signal receivers and the at least one wireless signal transmitter coupled to the at least one MRI RF receive coil, wherein the digital MR data is transmitted from the MRI RF receive coil to the one or more near-field wireless signal receivers, and wherein the at least one digital data processor is coupled to the one or more near-field wireless signal receivers.