Patent ID: 7075302

Claim:
An MRI apparatus comprising: a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system having a magnet to impress a polarizing magnetic field, a plurality of gradient coils positioned about the bore of the magnet to impose a magnetic field gradient, and an RF transceiver system and an RF switch controlled by a pulse module to transmit RF signals to an RF coil assembly to acquire MR images; and a computer programmed to: determine an effective spatial weighting imposed on the collective RF generation by each transmit coil of a transmit coil array and design a plurality of RF pulse waveforms such that coupling-induced inter-coil correlations are taken into account, and wherein the effective spatial weighting imposed by each transmit coil includes at least spatial-frequency weightings induced by independently controlled RF sources connected to the transmit coil array, weighting associated with mutual coupling between the transmit coils of the transmit coil array, and a respective B 1 field; and apply the plurality of RF pulse waveforms configured to control RF generation by the transmit coil array such that a collective RF generation across an imaging volume substantially matches a desired RF excitation profile.