Patent ID: 8433390

Claim:
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus configured to scan a predetermined part of a first subject and a second subject to acquire magnetic resonance signals, said MRI apparatus comprising: a plurality of coil elements; a calculation device configured to: calculate a proportion of a scanned area of the predetermined part to an area of a first scan region of the first subject; and calculate a position of the predetermined part within the first scan region based on magnetic resonance signals acquired from scanning the first scan region; a prediction device configured to predict a location of the predetermined part within a second scan region of the second subject based on the proportion and the position of the predetermined part calculated for the first subject; and a coil element selection device configured to select at least one coil element of the plurality of coil elements used to receive each of a plurality of magnetic resonance signals in the second scan region of the second subject based on the predicted location of the predetermined part within the second scan region.