Patent ID: 6937883

Claim:
A magnetic resonance imaging system having a magnet, which produces a polarizing magnetic field in which a patient to be imaged is placed, and a pulse generator, which directs the magnetic resonance imaging system to perform an imaging pulse sequence that acquires data wherein the magnetic resonance imaging system uses the data to generate a magnetic resonance image of at least a portion of the patient, the magnetic resonance imaging system comprising: an acoustic transducer, capable of being acoustically coupled to irradiate an anatomic structure in the patient using ultrasonic energy; a receiver to measure ultrasonic energy reflected by the anatomic structure and to generate echo signals in response thereto; a signal analyzer, coupled to the receiver, to generate a plurality of gating signals using the echo signals, including: a first gating signal in response to a first period of motion of the anatomic structure, and a second gating signal in response to a second period of motion of the anatomic structure; and wherein the magnetic resonance Imaging system, in response to the first gating signal, acquires data from the center of k-space of the imaging sequence and in response to the second gating signal acquires data from the periphery of k-space of the imaging sequence.