Patent ID: 7609063

Claim:
A mobile positioning device for a local magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) coil configured to radiate energy into or to receive detected signals from a patient on a moveable patient bed, said local MRI coil having a signal path associated therewith in which feed signals are supplied to the local MRI to cause the local MRI coil to radiate said energy and in which the detected signals received from the patient are conducted from the local MRI coil, said mobile positioning device comprising: a pair of inductively coupled signal transmitting coils in said signal path that are inductively coupled with each other to transmit said feed signals or said detected signals therebetween; a first of said inductively coupled signal transmitting coils being configured for deployment on a surface of a patient bed; a moveable platform separate from and configured for movement parallel to the patient bed; and a second of said inductively coupled signal transmitting coils being deployed on said moveable platform opposite to said first of said inductively coupled signal transmitting coils.