Patent ID: 8823378

Claim:
A system for inductively communicating signals in a magnetic resonance imaging system, the system comprising: a first array of primary coils disposed on a patient cradle of the imaging system, and configured to acquire data from a patient positioned on the patient cradle; a second array of secondary coils disposed under the patient cradle, wherein a number of secondary coils is less than or equal to a number of primary coils, wherein the first array of primary coils is configured to inductively communicate the acquired data to the second array of secondary coils; an alignment subsystem configured to aid in aligning the second array of secondary coils with at least one subset of primary coils in the first array of primary coils, wherein the alignment subsystem comprises: a non-metallic optical reflector associated with one or more primary coils in the first array of primary coils, wherein the non-metallic optical reflector is centered below the primary coils on a second side of the patient cradle; an optical source associated with one or more secondary coils in the second array of secondary coils, wherein the optical source is configured to direct an optical beam toward the non-metallic optical reflector; and an optical detector associated with one or more secondary coils in the second array of secondary coils, wherein the optical detector is configured to detect an optical beam reflected by the non-metallic optical reflector.