Patent ID: 6946836

Claim:
A magnetic resonance imaging system comprising: static magnetic field generating means for generating a static magnetic field containing a uniform region whose magnetic intensity is uniform; a couch movable in a predetermined direction passing through the static magnetic field, an object to be imaged being laid on the couch; a reception RF coil arranged fixedly to the static magnetic field generating means; position changing means for automatically changing a relative position between the couch and the static magnetic field generating means in the predetermined direction; scanning means for scanning the object by transmitting an RF pulse to the object at relative different positions of the couch with respect to the static magnetic field generating means, the different positions being provided by the position changing means, the scanning including an imaging scan and a measuring scan to determine different sensitivity distributions of the reception MR coil at the different positions of the couch; reception means for receiving through the reception RF coil an echo signal in response to the scanning performed by the scanning means; reception-processing means for processing the echo signal received by the reception means into echo data; image producing means for producing respective MR images from the echo data obtained in response to the imaging scan performed at the different positions of the couch changed by the position changing means; and unfolding performing means for unfolding the MR images produced at the different positions of the couch using the echo data of the different sensitivity distributions obtained at the different positions of the couch determined by the position changing means.