Patent ID: 8049499

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising: controlling a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus configured with a multi-ring, multi-channel transmitter comprising two or more transmission channels to select an excitation pattern for the transmitter, where transmission channels of the transmitter are individually configurable to transmit radio frequency (RF) energy according to individual transmission parameters, where the excitation pattern describes transmission parameters for RF energy to be transmitted from the individually configurable transmission channels, where the specific absorption rate (SAR) of RF energy near a conductor associated with a patient attributable to the conductor being exposed to a field created by the RF energy is below a threshold amount, where coils associated with the multi-ring, multi-channel transmitter are arranged in a configurable pattern along a z-axis associated with the MRI apparatus and have differing sensitivities in the z-direction, where the configurable pattern facilitates establishing a controllable phase relationship between coils in the multi-ring, multi-channel transmitter, where the controllable phase relationship facilitates establishing homogenous excitation; and storing the excitation pattern in a computer-readable medium.