Patent ID: 8049497

Claim:
A magnetic resonance method employing one or more radio-frequency coils, the method comprising: obtaining transmit sensitivities for individual radio-frequency coils; obtaining weighting factors for individual radio-frequency coils, wherein obtaining the weighting factor for each radio-frequency coil comprises: defining a B 1 gradient value for the one or more radio-frequency coils; and calculating the weighting factor for each radio-frequency coil based on a superposition of the respective B 1 gradient value and transmit sensitivity; applying radio-frequency excitation to a subject by activating each radio-frequency coil based on its respective weighting factor; receiving magnetic resonance signals from the subject generated in response to the applied radio-frequency excitation; and processing the received magnetic resonance signals based on the transmit sensitivities, to generate a magnetic resonance image or a spectrum representative of the subject.