Patent Document ID: 7725154
Application ID: 11472645
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A medical imaging apparatus comprising: a scanner configured to interact with an examination subject to acquire raw image data therefrom using raw image data acquisition parameters; a storage unit containing a plurality of reference images previously acquired with said scanner using respective workflow protocols, each of said reference images and the workflow protocol therefor being linked in said storage unit, and said workflow protocol including said raw image data acquisition parameters and post-processing steps for implementing a post-processing procedure applied to an image reconstructed from said raw image data to generate said reference image; a control unit that operates said scanner; an input unit that accesses said storage unit to allow manual selection of only a reference image corresponding to a current image of an examination subject to be generated through said control unit to cause the selected reference image to be supplied to said control unit together with the workflow protocol linked thereto without separate manual selection of said workflow protocol; and said control unit being supplied, as a result of said manual selection of only reference image, with said workflow protocol linked to said reference image, and being configured to operate said scanner to acquire current raw imaging data for said current image using said raw image data acquisition parameters in said workflow protocol linked to said reference image obtained from said storage unit, and said control unit being configured to generate said current image from at least one reconstructed image that is reconstructed from the acquired current raw imaging data by applying, to said reconstructed image, the post-processing steps in the workflow linked to said reference image, to generate said current image.