Patent ID: 7652474

Claim:
A computer-readable medium storing computer executable instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising: controlling a parallel magnetic resonance imaging (pMRI) apparatus to acquire a first magnetic resonance (MR) signal from a first point in k-space using a phased array of receiving coils; identifying a second point in k-space that is related to the first point by a conjugate symmetry relation; determining a second MR signal associated with the second point based, at least in part, on the first MR signal and the conjugate symmetry relation; reconstructing an MR image based, at least in part, on both the first MR signal and the second MR signal; where the second point is related to the first point by one or more of, a reflection across an axis in k-space and a 180 degree rotation in k-space; and where the first MR signal is described by: S j ⁡ ( k ) ⁢ = ^ ⁢ FT ⁡ ( δ ⁡ ( x ) · C j ⁡ ( x ) ) where: Sj(k) represents a signal acquired from the first point (k) in k-space; FT represents a Fourier Transform; δ(x) represents a spin density; and C j (x) represents a coil sensitivity profile for a coil j in the phased array of receiving coils.