Patents by Inventor Gerrit Schultz

Gerrit Schultz 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: 9377517
    Abstract: A method to compensate for the magnetic field heterogeneity inside an object of investigation in a MR device obtains an uncorrected magnetic field distribution of the object and executes an MR sequence with a desired k-space coverage by applying RF pulses to generate a transverse magnetization within the object. MR signal data is recorded, magnetic field shimming parameters are dynamically updated and MR signal data are reconstructed to produce images or localized spectroscopic data. Artifacts in a reconstructed image resulting from an uncorrected magnetic field distribution are suppressed by temporally separating MR signals originating from at least two different sub-volumes within a volume of transverse magnetization by generating a nonlinear phase distribution within the object and by dynamically updating shimming parameters to compensate for the field inhomogeneity distributions within the different sub-volumes in the volume of transverse magnetization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2016
    Assignee: UNIVERSITAETSKLINIKUM FREIBURG
    Inventors: Walter Witschey, Maxim Zaitsev, Jürgen Hennig, Gerrit Schultz, Daniel Gallichan
  • Patent number: 8823372
    Abstract: A method for magnetic resonance (=MR) imaging, wherein non-linear gradient fields are applied for the purpose of spatial encoding to acquire images of an object to be imaged and wherein the magnet resonance signal radiated from the object to be imaged is sampled on grids in time, to thereby obtain sampling points, is characterized in that the object to be imaged is mapped completely in regions of stronger gradient fields by increasing the density of the sampling points in the center of k-space, and additional sampling points are specifically acquired in the outer regions of k-space according to a k-space sampling pattern depending on the desired distribution of the resolution in the measurement, wherein the MR measurement is calculated with the additional sampling points. An MR imaging method is thereby provided by means of which homogenized resolution is achieved in the MR measurements using non-linear gradient fields for spatial encoding.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2014
    Assignee: Universitaetsklinikum Freiburg
    Inventors: Hans Weber, Maxim Zaitsev, Daniel Gallichan, Gerrit Schultz
  • Patent number: 8791700
    Abstract: A method of MR with spatial encoding to generate an image or spectroscopic data of an object of investigation inside an MR apparatus comprises the steps of (a) selecting a volume of interest within the object of investigation, (b) applying an RF pulse to generate a transverse magnetization within the object of investigation, (c) preparing a nonlinear phase distribution within the object of investigation by application of spatially encoding magnetic fields (SEMs), the SEMs comprising of a nonlinear gradient field or a combination of linear and nonlinear gradient fields, (d) effecting primary spatial encoding through application of SEMs, and (e) recording MR signals originating from the object of investigation. Step (c) or (d) thereby comprises applying a sequence of at least two SEMs, at least one of which contains a nonlinear field gradient and at least two of the SEMs having different field geometries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2014
    Assignee: Universitaetsklinikum Freiburg
    Inventors: Walter Witschey, Daniel Gallichan, Maxim Zaitsev, Gerrit Schultz, Juergen Hennig
  • Publication number: 20120249137
    Abstract: A method to compensate for the magnetic field heterogeneity inside an object of investigation in a MR device obtains an uncorrected magnetic field distribution of the object and executes an MR sequence with a desired k-space coverage by applying RF pulses to generate a transverse magnetization within the object. MR signal data is recorded, magnetic field shimming parameters are dynamically updated and MR signal data are reconstructed to produce images or localized spectroscopic data. Artifacts in a reconstructed image resulting from an uncorrected magnetic field distribution are suppressed by temporally separating MR signals originating from at least two different sub-volumes within a volume of transverse magnetization by generating a nonlinear phase distribution within the object and by dynamically updating shimming parameters to compensate for the field inhomogeneity distributions within the different sub-volumes in the volume of transverse magnetization.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2012
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Inventors: Walter Witschey, Maxim Zaitsev, Jürgen Hennig, Gerrit Schultz, Daniel Gallichan
  • Publication number: 20120025822
    Abstract: A method of MR with spatial encoding to generate an image or spectroscopic data of an object of investigation inside an MR apparatus comprises the steps of (a) selecting a volume of interest within the object of investigation, (b) applying an RF pulse to generate a transverse magnetization within the object of investigation, (c) preparing a nonlinear phase distribution within the object of investigation by application of spatially encoding magnetic fields (SEMs), the SEMs comprising of a nonlinear gradient field or a combination of linear and nonlinear gradient fields, (d) effecting primary spatial encoding through application of SEMs, and (e) recording MR signals originating from the object of investigation. Step (c) or (d) thereby comprises applying a sequence of at least two SEMs, at least one of which contains a nonlinear field gradient and at least two of the SEMs having different field geometries.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2011
    Publication date: February 2, 2012
    Inventors: Walter Witschey, Daniel Gallichan, Maxim Zaitsev, Gerrit Schultz, Juergen Hennig
  • Publication number: 20110241678
    Abstract: A method for magnetic resonance (=MR) imaging, wherein non-linear gradient fields are applied for the purpose of spatial encoding to acquire images of an object to be imaged and wherein the magnet resonance signal radiated from the object to be imaged is sampled on grids in time, to thereby obtain sampling points, is characterized in that the object to be imaged is mapped completely in regions of stronger gradient fields by increasing the density of the sampling points in the center of k-space, and additional sampling points are specifically acquired in the outer regions of k-space according to a k-space sampling pattern depending on the desired distribution of the resolution in the measurement, wherein the MR measurement is calculated with the additional sampling points. An MR imaging method is thereby provided by means of which homogenized resolution is achieved in the MR measurements using non-linear gradient fields for spatial encoding.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2011
    Publication date: October 6, 2011
    Applicant: Universitaetsklinikum Freiburg
    Inventors: Hans Weber, Maxim Zaitsev, Daniel Gallichan, Gerrit Schultz
  • Patent number: 7906968
    Abstract: A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging method in which, with the aid of a gradient system, a spatially and temporally variable magnetic field Bgrad is generated, for the at least two-dimensional spatial encoding of NMR measurement signals in a measurement sample region to be imaged, where the magnetic field Bgrad is employed in at least two forms Bgrad1 and Bgrad2 in the measurement sample region to be imaged during a single measurement cycle from excitation to reading of the NMR measurement signals, where the first form Bgrad1 has essentially ns poles, where ns is an even number > 2, and has ns essentially sectorial sub-regions, in each of which the magnetic field Bgrad is locally monotonic in one direction, where the measurement signals from the measurement sample are recorded by means of at least ns receiver coils which have different sensitivity over the ns sub-regions of the region to be imaged, is characterized in that the second form Bgrad2 is essentially identical to the first form Bgrad1 % wit
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2011
    Assignee: Universitaetsklinikum Freiburg
    Inventors: Juergen Hennig, Maxim Zaitsev, Anna Welz, Gerrit Schultz
  • Publication number: 20090128148
    Abstract: A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging method in which, with the aid of a gradient system, a spatially and temporally variable magnetic field Bgrad is generated, for the at least two-dimensional spatial encoding of NMR measurement signals in a measurement sample region to be imaged, where the magnetic field Bgrad is employed in at least two forms Bgrad1 and Bgrad2 in the measurement sample region to be imaged during a single measurement cycle from excitation to reading of the NMR measurement signals, where the first form Bgrad1 has essentially ns poles, where ns is an even number ?2, and has ns essentially sectorial sub-regions, in each of which the magnetic field Bgrad is locally monotonic in one direction, where the measurement signals from the measurement sample are recorded by means of at least ns receiver coils which have different sensitivity over the ns sub-regions of the region to be imaged, is characterized in that the second form Bgrad2 is essentially identical to the first form Bgrad1, with
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 12, 2008
    Publication date: May 21, 2009
    Inventors: Juergen Hennig, Maxim Zaitsev, Anna Welz, Gerrit Schultz