Abstract: A magnetic resonance (MR) imaging apparatus and technique exploits spatial information inherent in a surface coil array to increase MR image acquisition speed, resolution and/or field of view. Partial signals are acquired simultaneously in the component coils of the array and formed into two or more signals corresponding to orthogonal spatial representations. In a Fourier embodiment, lines of the k-space matrix required for image production are formed using a set of separate, preferably linear combinations of the component coil signals to substitute for spatial modulations normally produced by phase encoding gradients. The signal combining may proceed in a parallel or flow-through fashion, or as post-processing, which in either case reduces the need for time-consuming gradient switching and expensive fast magnet arrangements. In the post-processing approach, stored signals are combined after the fact to yield the full data matrix.