Patent ID: 8892183

Claim:
A method for planning a combined examination of an examination object using two imaging modalities, with measurements being taken in at least two regions of the examination object, comprising: generating, by a processor associated with the two imaging modalities, a first plan including at least one first measuring protocol of a first imaging modality of the two imaging modalities, the first plan including at least one measurement in a first region of the at least two regions and at least one measurement in a second region of the at least two regions, each of the at least two regions having a respective couch position; generating, by the processor, a second plan including at least one second measuring protocol of a second imaging modality of the two imaging modalities, the second plan including at least one measurement in the first region, wherein the second imaging modality is Positron Emission Tomography; breaking the first and second planned measuring protocols into a plurality of individual measurements; selecting a first of the plurality of individual measurements from the first planned measuring protocol; selecting a second of the plurality of the individual measurements from the second planned measuring protocol; comparing the selected first and second individual measurements; determining whether the selected first and second individual measurements can be executed simultaneously; determining whether all of the plurality of individual measurements from the first planned measuring protocol have been compared with all of plurality of individual measurements from the second planned measuring protocol; and generating a combined measuring sequence by arranging the measurements based on the comparison such that measurements in the same regions are taken simultaneously, and such that a time associated with executing the combined measuring sequence is less than a combined time associated with executing the first measuring protocol and the second measuring protocol individually.