Patent · US Expired

Magnetic resonance scan sequencer

US5349296A · kind A · utility

32Cited by
15References
26Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 9, 1993
Grant dateSep 20, 1994
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 9, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01R33/54
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A magnetic resonance imaging magnet, gradient coil, and RF coil assembly is controlled by a workstation (40). The workstation (40) includes an operator input (46, 48) and a display system (58) including a video monitor (44) for displaying human-readable images reconstructed from magnetic resonance data. A scan/reconstruction rack (50) includes a scan processor (60) which controls scan parameters and a reconstruction processor (64) and associated hardware for reconstructing received magnetic resonance signals into the image representation. A scan sequencer (52) includes a master microcode board (90) which controls the scan sequencer in accordance with instructions received from the scan processor (60). The scan processor loads a series of codes describing gradient and RF waveform profiles into memories (130) of each of a plurality of profile channels (100, 102, 104, 106, 110, 112, 114). Associated state machines (126) of each channel under control of a clock (138) step the pulse information from the memory (130) to respective output registers. The outputs from four of the channels for controlling the magnetic field gradients are connected to an obliquer (94) which processes the four…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.