General Electric Company

Raymond J Hodsoll, Jr

William Macomber Leue

Lowell Scott Smith

Paul Arthur Bottomley

William A Edelstein

Gary H Glover

Rowland W Redington

Steven G Karr

John T Adamchick

A digital interface subsystem, for a magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy system, has an internal data bus interconnecting: a master sequencer, receiving instructions from a main system computer; a plurality of controlled generators for providing gradient-field, RF modulation and other required signal waveforms for proper excitation of a sample; and circuitry for analyzing the magnetic resonance response signals from the sample, responsive to the excitation signals for providing image information.

Digital interface subsystem for a magnetic resonance imaging and

A gradient field switch, for use in an improved nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy system, includes a control portion and a switching portion. The switching portion receives a plurality of magnetic field gradient signals and connects each signal to an associated one of at least the same plurality of outputs. The exact pattern of input-output interconnections is established by the control portion responsive to data received after the presence of a reset signal. By appropriate control data input, the gradient field signals can be routed to axes of a predetermined coordinate system, such that images of a sample can be obtained from several directions, responsive to command signals and without requiring physical movement of the sample being imaged.

Gradient field switch for improved magnetic resonance

Power line interference artifacts in a magnetic resonance image are minimized by the process of: providing a sequential plurality of imaging signal sequences, the totality of which sequences is required for determining the value of each image pixel in an image array thereof; requesting the start of each sequence of the plurality of imaging signal sequences prior to the actual time at which each such signal sequence should commence; preparing a recognition element prior to the desired actual commencement time; recognizing a predetermined occurrence of a repetitive power line signal parameter to provide a first signal; setting the recognition element responsive to the first signal to only then cause the signal sequence start request to actually cause commencement of the associated signal sequence; and causing each signal sequence to occur in essentially an integral number of sequential repetitive cycles of the power line signal waveform to minimize the magnitude of power line frequency signal interference artifacts in the resulting magnetic resonance image.

Method of, and apparatus for, minimizing magnetic resonance imaging

Growing community of inventors

Galway, NY, United States of America

Raymond J Hodsoll, Jr