Patents by Inventor Nobuyasu Ichinose

Nobuyasu Ichinose 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).

  • Publication number: 20100259262
    Abstract: A storage unit stores coil positional information that indicates a physical position of an element coil relative to a representative position set on a receiving coil. A creating unit creates profile data that indicates a distribution of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) signals in a coil-arrangement direction. A calculating unit calculates the position of a representative position set on the receiving coil by performing a regression analysis by using the coil positional information and the profile data. A control unit causes a display unit to display the position of each element coil based on the calculated position of the representative position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 9, 2010
    Publication date: October 14, 2010
    Inventor: Nobuyasu ICHINOSE
  • Patent number: 7701210
    Abstract: A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes a unit which generates a diffusion weighted image based on a magnetic resonance signal from an object, a unit which calculates an apparent diffusion coefficient based on the diffusion weighted image, and a processing unit which subjects the diffusion weighted image to a process of indicating a region having the apparent diffusion coefficient of less than a threshold value with a highlight in contrast with other region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2010
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation
    Inventor: Nobuyasu Ichinose
  • Patent number: 7622920
    Abstract: A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes an array coil in which a plurality of element coils are arranged to receive magnetic resonance signals from a subject, a calculation unit which calculates projection data for the element coils regarding an arrangement direction of the plurality of element coils on the basis of the plurality of magnetic resonance signals received by the plurality of element coils, and a determination unit which determines the positions of the plurality of element coils or the position of the array coil on the basis of the projection data for the plurality of element coils.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2009
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshio Machida, Nobuyasu Ichinose
  • Publication number: 20090224756
    Abstract: A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes a sensitivity map data generating unit and a sensitivity corrected image data generating unit. The sensitivity map data generating unit generates reference image data based on data for generating sensitivity map data of a phased array coil and generates the sensitivity map data by using reference image data after correction processing obtained by applying the correction processing to improve a uniformity with the reference image data based on the reference image data and phased array coil data for generating the sensitivity map data. The sensitivity corrected image data generating unit acquires image data for imaging with the phased array coil and performs sensitivity correction of the image data using the sensitivity map data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 3, 2009
    Publication date: September 10, 2009
    Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshio MACHIDA, Nobuyasu ICHINOSE
  • Publication number: 20090005670
    Abstract: An IR pulse is applied to a tag region B that is disposed at the upstream side of the ascending aorta relative to a tag region A at a timing with a second predetermined delay time TD2 (for example, 600 ms) from the application time of an IR pulse to the tag region A to thereby perform tagging. By this tagging, it is possible to suppress the MR signals derived from the substantial portions and the blood within the tag region B. Subsequently, an imaging scan is performed after a predetermined time lapse TIA (for example, 1200 ms) from the application time of the IR pulse to the tag region A or after a predetermined time lapse TIB (for example, 600 ms) from the application time of the IR pulse to the tag region B.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2008
    Publication date: January 1, 2009
    Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Nobuyasu Ichinose, Yuichi Yamashita
  • Patent number: 7385397
    Abstract: A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus 20 includes a scan executing unit that executes scan to generate sensitivity map data of an RF coil 24, a region reduction unit 44b that applies region reduction to a signal region near a no-signal region of image data obtained by the scan, a sensitivity map data generating unit 44 that generates sensitivity map data using image data after the region reduction, and a smoothing processing unit 44i that applies three-dimensional smoothing filter to the sensitivity map data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 10, 2008
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Medical Systems Corp.
    Inventors: Shinichi Uchizono, Yoshio Machida, Nobuyasu Ichinose
  • Publication number: 20080007264
    Abstract: A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes a unit which generates a diffusion weighted image based on a magnetic resonance signal from a object, a unit which calculates an apparent diffusion coefficient based on the diffusion weighted image, and a processing unit which subjects the diffusion weighted image to a process of indicating a region having the apparent diffusion coefficient of less than a threshold value with a highlight in contrast with other region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2007
    Publication date: January 10, 2008
    Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventor: Nobuyasu Ichinose
  • Publication number: 20080007263
    Abstract: A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes an array coil in which a plurality of element coils are arranged to receive magnetic resonance signals from a subject, a calculation unit which calculates projection data for the element coils regarding an arrangement direction of the plurality of element coils on the basis of the plurality of magnetic resonance signals received by the plurality of element coils, and a determination unit which determines the positions of the plurality of element coils or the position of the array coil on the basis of the projection data for the plurality of element coils.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 2, 2007
    Publication date: January 10, 2008
    Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshio Machida, Nobuyasu Ichinose
  • Patent number: 7218108
    Abstract: A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes: a sensitivity map database that stores sensitivity map data of a multi-coil including plural coils necessary for parallel imaging unfolding processing; a data slicing unit that slices partial data from three-dimensional volume data collected for the respective coils by parallel imaging, respectively; an intermediate image reconstructing unit that executes reconstruction processing for the partial data to thereby reconstruct intermediate images for the respective coils; and a reference image generating unit that slices sensitivity map data corresponding to the intermediate images from the sensitivity map database as sensitivity map data for unfolding processing, executes the parallel imaging unfolding processing for the intermediate images using the sensitivity map data for unfolding processing, and generates reference images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2007
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation
    Inventors: Nobuyasu Ichinose, Yoshio Machida, Hitoshi Kanazawa, Shinichi Uchizono
  • Patent number: 7205765
    Abstract: Parallel imaging is performed by a magnetic resonance imaging system provided with a multiple RF coil composed of plural element coils. As part of parallel imaging conditions, a desired imaging FOV and a reduction rate of data acquisition time for the parallel imaging are specified by an operator. An unfolding FOV to which an unfolding scale is assigned is specified. The unfolding scale is larger in value than the reduction rate, thus the unfolding FOV is larger in the size than the imaging FOV. Using an acquisition FOV specified based on the imaging FOV and the reduction rate, a scan for parallel imaging is performed and images are reconstructed corresponding to the respective element coils. The reconstructed images are unfolded into an unfolding-FOV image at the unfolding scale. An image having the imaging FOV is cut out, as a desired final image, from the unfolded image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2007
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshio Machida, Nobuyasu Ichinose, Shinichi Uchizono
  • Publication number: 20060197527
    Abstract: Parallel imaging is performed by a magnetic resonance imaging system provided with a multiple RF coil composed of plural element coils. As part of parallel imaging conditions, a desired imaging FOV and a reduction rate of data acquisition time for the parallel imaging are specified by an operator. An unfolding FOV to which an unfolding scale is assigned is specified. The unfolding scale is larger in value than the reduction rate, thus the unfolding FOV is larger in the size than the imaging FOV. Using an acquisition FOV specified based on the imaging FOV and the reduction rate, a scan for parallel imaging is performed and images are reconstructed corresponding to the respective element coils. The reconstructed images are unfolded into an unfolding-FOV image at the unfolding scale. An image having the imaging FOV is cut out, as a desired final image, from the unfolded image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 25, 2005
    Publication date: September 7, 2006
    Applicants: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshio Machida, Nobuyasu Ichinose, Shinichi Uchizono
  • Patent number: 7102351
    Abstract: Parallel imaging is performed by a magnetic resonance imaging system provided with a multiple RF coil composed of plural element coils. As part of parallel imaging conditions, a desired imaging FOV and a reduction rate of data acquisition time for parallel imaging are specified by an operator. An unfolding FOV to which an unfolding scale is assigned is specified. The unfolding scale is larger in value than the reduction rate, thus the unfolding FOV is larger in size than the imaging FOV. Using an acquisition FOV specified based on the imaging FOV and the reduction rate, a scan for parallel imaging is performed and images are reconstructed corresponding to the respective element coils. The reconstructed images are unfolded into an unfolding-FOV image at the unfolding scale. An image having the imaging FOV is cut out, as a desired final image, from the unfolded image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2006
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation
    Inventors: Yoshio Machida, Nobuyasu Ichinose, Shinichi Uchizono
  • Publication number: 20060106299
    Abstract: A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus 20 includes a scan executing unit that executes scan to generate sensitivity map data of an RF coil 24, a region reduction unit 44b that applies region reduction to a signal region near a no-signal region of image data obtained by the scan, a sensitivity map data generating unit 44 that generates sensitivity map data using image data after the region reduction, and a smoothing processing unit 44i that applies three-dimensional smoothing filter to the sensitivity map data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2005
    Publication date: May 18, 2006
    Inventors: Shinichi Uchizono, Yoshio Machida, Nobuyasu Ichinose
  • Publication number: 20050151538
    Abstract: A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes: a sensitivity map database that stores sensitivity map data of a multi-coil including plural coils necessary for parallel imaging unfolding processing; a data slicing unit that slices partial data from three-dimensional volume data collected for the respective coils by parallel imaging, respectively; an intermediate image reconstructing unit that executes reconstruction processing for the partial data to thereby reconstruct intermediate images for the respective coils; and a reference image generating unit that slices sensitivity map data corresponding to the intermediate images from the sensitivity map database as sensitivity map data for unfolding processing, executes the parallel imaging unfolding processing for the intermediate images using the sensitivity map data for unfolding processing, and generates reference images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2005
    Publication date: July 14, 2005
    Applicant: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Nobuyasu Ichinose, Yoshio Machida, Hitoshi Kanazawa, Shinichi Uchizono
  • Publication number: 20040263167
    Abstract: Parallel imaging is performed by a magnetic resonance imaging system provided with a multiple RF coil composed of plural element coils. In the parallel imaging, as part of imaging conditions, a desired imaging FOV and a reduction rate of data acquisition time for the parallel imaging are specified by an operator. An unfolding FOV to which an unfolding scale is assigned is specified. The unfolding scale is larger in value than the reduction rate, thus the unfolding FOV being larger in the size than the imaging FOV. Using an acquisition FOV specified based on the imaging FOV and the reduction rate, a scan for the parallel imaging is performed and images are reconstructed corresponding to the respective element coils. The reconstructed images are unfolded into an unfolding-FOV image at the unfolding scale. An image having the imaging FOV is cut out, as a desired final image, from the unfolded image.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 10, 2004
    Publication date: December 30, 2004
    Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, TOSHIBA MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yoshio Machida, Nobuyasu Ichinose, Shinichi Uchizono
  • Patent number: 6068595
    Abstract: By employing controlled setting of a phase-encoding direction in MRI, for imaging a tissue or blood flow composed of spins whose time T.sub.2 is rather short or ranges from 100 to 200 milliseconds, signal levels induced by the blood flow or the like are raised in order to maintain a good signal-to-noise ratio. An image enjoying an excellent depiction ability can be produced without the loss of information of directivities of blood flows or tissues running in diverse directions. An MRI system utilizing the Fourier transform comprises an element for scanning the same region to be imaged of a subject a plurality of times while changing phase-encoding directions, and an element for producing image data of one frame on the basis of MR rawdata of a plurality of frames.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 1997
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2000
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Mitsue Miyazaki, Nobuyasu Ichinose