Patent Abstract:
a system and method perform magnetic resonance imaging on more than one people simultaneously with one mri scanner . the system may include a superconducting or non - superconducting magnet , a set of three dimensions of magnetic field gradients , rf coils , and magnetic field shimming coil set that can accommodate more than one people within one scanner . the system and method may be used for performing mri on more than one interacting or non - interacting people for anatomic , functional , metabolic , and / or molecular imaging and studies .

Detailed Description:
an apparatus for simultaneously acquiring magnetic resonance signals from more than one person in one magnetic resonance imaging scanner , may include : a ) an arbitrary shape of inner bore superconducting or non - superconducting magnet that can generate homogeneous static magnetic field whose volume can accommodate more than one person ; b ) three direction magnetic field gradient coils which can produce linear magnetic gradient region that can accommodate more than one people ; c ) rf coils that can transmit and / or receive mr signals in the region that can accommodate more than one person ; and d ) a shimming coil set that can shim an elliptical volume that is large enough for accommodating more than one people . fig1 is a diagram of an elliptical superconducting magnet . the elliptical superconducting magnet includes an elliptical inner bore surrounded by a primary coil . the elliptical superconducting magnet also includes an active shield coil , vacuum port , shield temp sensor port connector , 50 k shield , vacuum chamber , quench prot diodes , junction boards , helium vessel , helium fill port , neck tube , fcl , fcl connector , fcl temp sensor , auxiliary vent , turret connection , coolhead temp connector and sidesock . the apparatus may include : a ) an elliptical cylinder inner bore superconducting or non - superconducting magnet that can generate homogeneous static magnetic field whose volume can accommodate two people , as shown in fig1 ; b ) three direction magnetic field gradient coils which can produce linear magnetic gradient region that can accommodate two people ; c ) rf coils that can transmit and / or receive mr signals in the region that can accommodate two people ; and d ) a shimming coil set that can shim an elliptical volume that is large enough for accommodating two people . the apparatus may further include a twin - head coil comprising : a ) two circular polarized volume coils side - by - side for two people , as shown in fig2 ; b ) the two component coils are decoupled by both their geometrical orientation and a decoupling interface circuit system ; and c ) the interface between mri scanner and the twin - head coil is shown in fig3 . component b ) may further include a scheme for decoupling circular - polarized rf coils . a method for simultaneously acquiring magnetic resonance signals from more than one person in one magnetic resonance imaging scanner , comprises the steps of : a ) providing an mri scanner whose dimensions and physical features of imaging components such as magnet , gradient , and rf coil can accommodate at least two people ; b ) such scanner can simultaneously excite the spins and simultaneously receive their magnetic resonance signals from at least two people ; c ) the magnetic resonance images reconstructed from such scanner can reveal either interaction and / or non - interaction between the plurality of people inside the scanner . a method for simultaneously acquiring magnetic resonance signals from two people in one magnetic resonance imaging scanner , may also comprise the steps of : a ) providing an mri scanner which has elliptical cylinder dimension inner bore can accommodate two people ; b ) such scanner can simultaneously excite the spins and simultaneously receive their magnetic resonance signals from two people ; c ) the magnetic resonance images reconstructed from such scanner can reveal either interaction and / or non - interaction between two people inside the scanner . the method of may further include the steps of : a ) constructing an elliptical cylinder inner bore superconducting or nonsuperconducting magnet that can generate homogeneous static magnetic field whose volume can accommodate two people ; b ) constructing three direction magnetic field gradient coils which can produce linear magnetic gradient region that can accommodate two people ; c ) constructing rf coils that can transmit and / or receive mr signals in the region that can accommodate two people ; and d ) constructing shimming coil set that can shim an elliptical volume that is large enough for accommodating two people . step b ) may further include the step of acquiring mr signal for anatomic mr imaging of two people inside scanner . step b ) may further include the step of acquiring mr signal for functional mr imaging of two people inside scanner . step b ) may further include the step of acquiring mr signal for molecular mr imaging of two people inside scanner . step b ) may further include the step of acquiring mr signal for metabolic imaging of two people inside scanner . step c ) may further include the step of reconstructing anatomic mr images of interaction and or non - interaction between two people inside scanner . step c ) may further include the step of reconstructing functional mr images of interaction and or non - interaction between two people inside scanner . step c ) may further include the step of reconstructing molecular mr images of interaction and or non - interaction between two people inside scanner . step c ) may further include the step of reconstructing metabolic mr images of interaction and or non - interaction between two people inside scanner . step c ) may further include the step of constructing two circular polarized volume coils side - by - side for two people . the two component coils are decoupled by both their geometrical orientation and decoupling interface circuit system . the method may further include the step of analyzing the physical sexual compatibility between man and woman . the method may further include step of analyzing the psychological compatibility between man and woman . 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