Patent ID: 8080997

Claim:
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus configured to generate image data based on magnetic resonance (MR) signals generated from an object positioned in a static magnetic field and a plurality of gradient magnetic fields by irradiating radio frequency (RF) pulses, the MRI apparatus comprising: (1) an imaging condition renewal unit configured to iteratively renew each of plural preliminarily set reference MR imaging conditions for the plurality of gradient magnetic fields; (2) an eddy current stimulus index computing unit configured to compute an eddy current stimulus index corresponding to expected eddy current generation for each of the plurality of gradient magnetic fields at each of the renewed reference MR imaging conditions and to determine an appropriate set of MR imaging conditions for the plurality of gradient magnetic fields based on the computed stimulus indices; and (3) a control unit configured to control MR imaging operations on the object based on the determined appropriate MR imaging conditions.