Patent ID: 7154269

Claim:
A method of generating a magnetic resonance image matrix of an object, the method comprising: transmitting a plurality of radio frequency electromagnetic pulses into an object and applying a sequence of magnetic field gradients following each of the pulses in a manner such that each of the pulses results in a series of transverse magnetization echoes being generated by the object; utilizing a plurality of the echoes that each have a first echo number in a manner generating initial k-space data for a first region of data points of an array of data points; utilizing a plurality of the echoes the each have a second echo number in a manner generating initial k-space data for a second region of the data points of the array, the second echo number being different from the first echo number; generating a first k-space matrix for the array using the initial k-space data generated for the first region of the array; performing a domain transformation on the first k-space matrix in a manner generating a first image matrix for the array; altering phase data associated with at least a portion of the first image matrix in a manner creating a second image matrix for the array; performing a domain transformation on the second image matrix in a manner generating a second k-space matrix for the array; generating a third k-space matrix for the array using data obtained from a portion of the second k-space matrix that corresponds to the first region of the array and using data obtained from the initial k-space data acquired for the second region of the array to fill a portion of the second k-space matrix that corresponds to the second region of the array; and performing a domain transformation on the third k-space matrix in a manner generating a third image matrix for the array.