Patent ID: 7385396

Claim:
A computer readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon and representing a set of instructions that when executed by a computer during MR imaging causes the computer to: acquire a B 1 field map for each transmit coil of a parallel RF transmit coil array, the parallel RF transmit coil array capable of having any parallel RF transmit coil array geometry; determine with a computational algorithm an excitation pulse scheme for a target excitation profile based on at least one effective B 1 field map for a plurality of transmit coils of the parallel RF transmit coil array, wherein each effective B 1 field map reflects inductive coupling effects present between a transmit coil and at least another transmit coil; and generate at least one SAR-reduced RF pulsing sequence for a respective transmit coil of the plurality of transmit coils of the parallel RF transmit coil array, wherein said SAR-reduced RF pulsing sequence is integrated into said excitation pulse scheme.