Patent ID: 8155101

Claim:
An MR imaging system disposed in an RF shielded room which causes RF reflections, RF diffractions, RF scattering, multipath effects, frequency selective fading, RF interferences, and disruptions, the MR imaging system including: an MR examination space which receives a subject to be examined, the MR examination space being disposed in the RF shielded room; a plurality of magnetic resonance coils disposed in the examination space to receive magnetic resonance signals from a subject in the examination space as magnetic resonance data; a plurality of RF communication channels which are time division multiplexed, each communication channel operating to concurrently send the magnetic resonance data from the magnetic resonance coils across the RF shielded room to downstream electronics and to send control information across the RF shielded to the MR coils, each communication channel comprising a first unit and a second unit, for transmitting and receiving spread spectrum UWB (ultra wide band) signals, the first unit being disposed in the examination space and the first and second units including: a first unit transmitter which transmits spread spectrum UWB signals carrying the magnetic resonance data across the shielded room to the downstream electronics and a first unit receiver which receives spread spectrum UWB signals carrying the control information from across the shielded room, and at least one second unit transmitter which transmits the control information carried on the spread spectrum UWB signal across the shielded room to the first unit receiver and a second unit receiver which receives the spread spectrum UWB signal carrying the MR data from the first unit transmitter, the second unit receiver being connected with the downstream processing equipment, such that the MR coils are independently controlled over the plurality of communication channels and wirelessly transmit the MR data to the downstream electronics.