Patents by Inventor Elmar M. Merkle

Elmar M. Merkle has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8824766
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are systems and methods for automated MRI. According to an aspect, a method for MRI includes receiving a plurality of MRI data signals representative of a region including a volume of interest. The method also includes determining at least one subvolume within the VOI. Further, the method includes determining a state of the at least one subvolume. The method also includes implementing a predetermined action based on the predetermined state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Inventors: Mustafa R. Bashir, Daniel T. Boll, Elmar M. Merkle
  • Patent number: 7835780
    Abstract: An invasive device having an inductive coupling element. One embodiment of the invasive device includes a plurality of receive coils inductively coupled to a communicating coil. The receive coils are selectively tuned and detuned to receive MR signals for providing coordinate information used for device tracking. A second embodiment of the invasive device includes a receive coil having a plurality of winding elements separated from each other by different distances. A method of rapidly acquiring both the invasive device orientation and position information to dynamically adapt MR scan planes to continuously follow the invasive device relative to a target is provided. The target-navigation technique automatically defines the MR scan plane and a time domain multiplexing technique is applied for MR imaging and device tracking. Using these techniques, the acquired MR images shows both the invasive device and the target tissue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2010
    Inventors: Jeffrey L. Duerk, Qiang Zhang, Michael Wendt, Yiu-Cho Chung, Jonathan S. Lewin, Elmar M. Merkle