The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 07, 2000
Filed:
Nov. 19, 1998
Steven Peter Souza, Williamstown, MA (US);
Ronald Dean Watkins, Niskayuna, NY (US);
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US);
Abstract
A local RF antenna assembly for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system includes a conducting RF antenna structure. First and second capacitors are connected in series with the inductance of the RF antenna structure to form a circuit that resonates at a Larmor frequency. An inductor has a first terminal connected to a node between the first and second capacitors and has a second terminal. A photosensitive first semiconductor switch is connected between the second terminal of the inductor and one terminal of the RF antenna inductance. A receive coil control selectively provides illumination that places the photosensitive first semiconductor switch in a conductive state. When the photosensitive first semiconductor switch is conductive, the inductor disables resonance of the RF antenna circuit at the Larmor frequency. This action inhibits the RF receive antenna from interacting with other antennae in the MRI system.