Patents by Inventor Laura Irene Sacolick

Laura Irene Sacolick 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: 9645214
    Abstract: Systems and methods for determining electrical properties using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are provided. One method includes applying an ultra-short echo time (TE) pulse sequence in a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system and acquiring a complex B1+B1? quantity from an object following the application of the ultra-short TE pulse sequence, where B1+ is a complex amplitude of a transmit radio-frequency (RF) magnetic field and B1? is a complex amplitude of a receive RF magnetic field. The method also includes estimating, with a processor, one or more electrical properties of the object using the complex amplitudes of the transmit RF magnetic field and the receive RF magnetic field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ileana Hancu, Selaka Bandara Bulumulla, Florian Wiesinger, Laura Irene Sacolick, Seung Kyun Lee
  • Patent number: 9594139
    Abstract: Systems and methods of classifying component tissues of magnetic resonance images, where the method includes performing a proton density weighted, short echo-time magnetic resonance imaging measurement over a first volume field-of-view region of interest (ROI), repeating a series refining the first volume field-of-view ROI into a plurality of subsequent smaller ROI volumes having respective smaller resolutions, reconstructing a complex image from the plurality of magnetic resonance imaging measurements, performing a bias correction on at least one of the plurality of subsequent smaller ROI volumes, and classifying the ROI volumes by tissue type based on the bias-corrected image signal, wherein at least one tissue type is bone. A non-transitory medium containing processor instructions and a system are disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Florian Wiesinger, Dattesh Dayanand Shanbhag, Laura Irene Sacolick, Sandeep Suryanarayana Kaushik
  • Publication number: 20150276906
    Abstract: Systems and methods of classifying component tissues of magnetic resonance images, where the method includes performing a proton density weighted, short echo-time magnetic resonance imaging measurement over a first volume field-of-view region of interest (ROI), repeating a series refining the first volume field-of-view ROI into a plurality of subsequent smaller ROI volumes having respective smaller resolutions, reconstructing a complex image from the plurality of magnetic resonance imaging measurements, performing a bias correction on at least one of the plurality of subsequent smaller ROI volumes, and classifying the ROI volumes by tissue type based on the bias-corrected image signal, wherein at least one tissue type is bone. A non-transitory medium containing processor instructions and a system are disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2014
    Publication date: October 1, 2015
    Applicant: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Florian Wiesinger, Dattesh Dayanand Shanbhag, Laura Irene Sacolick, Sandeep Suryanarayana Kaushik
  • Patent number: 9086446
    Abstract: A method of B1 field mapping relating to Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is given. In the method, RF and gradients are applied to excite and select a linear projection through a volume of interest; a radio frequency pulse sequence is transmitted to impart B1 dependent phase to the linear projection, following which a one dimensional spatial encoding signal is acquired along the linear projection; Subsequently a B1 field map based on the one dimensional spatial encoding signal is reconstructed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2015
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Rolf Feodor Schulte, Laura Irene Sacolick, William Allyn Grissom, Pekka Tapani Sipilä
  • Publication number: 20150153431
    Abstract: Systems and methods for determining electrical properties using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are provided. One method includes applying an ultra-short echo time (TE) pulse sequence in a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system and acquiring a complex B1+B1? quantity from an object following the application of the ultra-short TE pulse sequence, where B1+ is a complex amplitude of a transmit radio-frequency (RF) magnetic field and B1? is a complex amplitude of a receive RF magnetic field. The method also includes estimating, with a processor, one or more electrical properties of the object using the complex amplitudes of the transmit RF magnetic field and the receive RF magnetic field.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2013
    Publication date: June 4, 2015
    Applicant: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ileana Hancu, Selaka Bandara Bulumulla, Florian Wiesinger, Laura Irene Sacolick, Seung Kyun Lee
  • Patent number: 8558547
    Abstract: A system and method for radio-frequency (RF) field mapping are provided. One method includes encoding a B1 phase in at least one magnetic resonance (MR) excitation pulse as an encoded B1 phase MR excitation pulse for at least a subset of a plurality of transmit channels within a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. The method also includes encoding a B1 magnitude in at least one off-resonance MR pulse as an encoded B1 magnitude off-resonance MR pulse for at least a subset of the plurality of transmit channels within the MRI system. The method further includes determining one or more composite B1 fields resulting from a transmission of the at least one encoded B1 phase MR excitation pulse and the at least one encoded B1 magnitude off-resonance MR pulse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2013
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Laura Irene Sacolick, Mika Vogel, William Grissom, Guido Kudielka
  • Publication number: 20130134972
    Abstract: A method of B1 field mapping relating to Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is given. In the method, RF and gradients are applied to excite and select a linear projection through a volume of interest; a radio frequency pulse sequence is transmitted to impart B1 dependent phase to the linear projection, following which a one dimensional spatial encoding signal is acquired along the linear projection; Subsequently a B1 field map based on the one dimensional spatial encoding signal is reconstructed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2011
    Publication date: May 30, 2013
    Applicant: GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
    Inventors: Rolf Feodor Schulte, Laura Irene Sacolick, William Allyn Grissom, Pekka Tapani Sipilä
  • Publication number: 20120280683
    Abstract: A system and method for radio-frequency (RF) field mapping are provided. One method includes encoding a B1 phase in at least one magnetic resonance (MR) excitation pulse as an encoded B1 phase MR excitation pulse for at least a subset of a plurality of transmit channels within a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. The method also includes encoding a B1 magnitude in at least one off-resonance MR pulse as an encoded B1 magnitude off-resonance MR pulse for at least a subset of the plurality of transmit channels within the MRI system. The method further includes determining one or more composite B1 fields resulting from a transmission of the at least one encoded B1 phase MR excitation pulse and the at least one encoded B1 magnitude off-resonance MR pulse.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 5, 2011
    Publication date: November 8, 2012
    Inventors: Laura Irene Sacolick, Mika Vogel, William Grissom, Guido Kudielka