AU2015215941A1 - Improved Techniques, Systems and Machine Readable Programs for Magnetic Resonance - Google Patents

Abstract

Improved Techniques, Systems and Machine Readable Programs for Magnetic Resonance Abstract The present disclosure provides various methods and systems for performing magnetic resonance studies. In accordance with many embodiments, image or other information of interest is derived from super radiant pulses.

Description

UvPROVED TECHUNIQUES;SYSTEMS AND MA( lNE READABLE FROGRANM S FOR MAGNETIC RESONANCE C 0 -RE-ERENCTO ATED APPLW I TONS This appication chis the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisinal Patent AppliCAon Seria No 61466500 fed March 23 201 and U- Provisional Pate>nt Application Ser ial No. 61 252207 filedAust 10, 2011. The disclosure of each of he aforenentiond patent ppfetins is incorporated y reference herein in its untiry BACKGROUN D OF THE DLSCI OS1 RE Field of the Discosure The present disclosure relates to inproved techniques. systems and machine readable programs for in'gnetic resonance imaging Traditional N MRNRIRS studies have always icorporated pulses of radiofrequency (rf radiation, The role of the rf pulses is to excite the system undeitnestigtim into a temptoray state of non equilibriunn mugnetizarion As the system relaxes back to equlibrium it emiN radiation which can then be used to fonn itagcs and or extract information of scientific or diagnostic value sueh as physical state of the system quantity of a en molece diffusion coeffcients. pectroscopic iden tificationetc. AdeOty 'of ef pulse sequences designed o extractinformaton of one kind or another in thimannr are well described in the literature, However, there are limits as to the amount ofrf energy a parent underxaiationic anbhe exposed toromonly referred to as specific absorption rario or "SAR, limits. THere is aso a continuing need in the MRI art for advnceshaican increase the speed of inagiigrequire less data soage and imp=e image quality The present discose provides solutions for these probms. S/M:AR O TE DWILSUE Advagnages of the present disclosure wl be set forh n and become apparent from the descrptiothitfllows Ad diioal .dvantags 'the disclsr wvill be realize and ai med by the methods and systems prtclady voted ounthewiten description ad claims hereof 's well as from the append drawings To achieethee and other advantage and n accordance wiAh the purpose other disclose, as embodied herin, in one cmbodimnnth e discdostu provides a method of perforing a magnetic resonance protoeot. he mehod ines proiding a magnetic resonance deice inldin ia in magne for providing a background magnete fil a ong a first directionialeast one radionfrequency coi, and 6 ) alast one gradenticoi that can be controlled to define atlast one region ofnteest The method further Wudes debiting a region of interest inroducing a sample to be studied into he reion of interest and inducing clectromagnetic feedback between the nk ar magnetinaton ofatleat one set of nuclei within he sample and at least one neard resonant coil to cause the vector diction odthe .u'ar magnetiztin of1 the at least one set of nucleito rotate to a desired angle with respect to the first direction oft.e bcIackgroutad magnetic field to generated least one electromagnetib ptdse of transverse magetiation Mg. The o d Arthr in des detecting the plse of transfers mnagnetzation with the at least one rao-fequency co In some imiplementations.he method can further inchde process inioatiion obtained frONO a plraity of pses of tansvere magna ion to produce at eaone ofN arl image, ill dynmi flow datadi)perfusion data. iiu speedrxscopieidentity of chernical species, (iv) physogical dat, or) metabolic datav . some"mbodi-nn the electromagnetic feedback can be mduced at least in part by substantial elminating the presence of a gradien t magnetic fidin the at least one region of interest The region of interest can include, for examplat least one voxel and the at least one gradien col can he adapted and eonagured to apply aonagnetic feld gradient in at cast one of three mttuaiy orthogonal directions. 'heeletrmagnetic feedhack can heinduced at least in part bv seectively tunin the resonantcoi to a predetermined resonant frequency In funhe imp mentaionsthe method canfurther include applying a RF pulse to the sample in order to at least partially invert the nuecaro'goetzattof the at least one set of nuclei prior to the inducing step. In sonie mbodmentthe magnetizaton vector of the atlast one set.nuclei can be directed substantial entirely antidparaiel to the first direction of. te background magnetic fieldd e background magnctic fid can befor example. about .0 Tea about 1. Tea about 2. sia abot25 Tesaabou t Tesi at t t40 esa ab $1 es, about(n0esia about 7) Tes about &0 TedeSbott1 Thsiaabout tO TIesG a or greater or le.in any desired increment 0 Tea e vecto r direction of te nueear iagtnetization of the at enstone set ofa uce Ii can be permitted to fully align with he rst diction of e t ackground magnetic eld yhen the pulse is generated f desiredthe vector directon of he nueiarmagnenzation ofthe at ast onset of nuelc can be permed to partly align with the first direcion of he background magnetic ield wen the pulse i genrted. If destredthe method can further include generating a phyayit of pulses of transverse maunetiationihorn the at lest one setonuclei by permitung the vector directon of the ofhe at least one set of nucle to progessidigand discrely approach full aignnment vith the first direttion of th baehground magnetic field with each succeeding pulse of transerse nm netizatn. Inonc implemntiatiOn the sep can induciiig electornanec feedback betncen the nuclear mgnetizton of a lutalit of set of nuci in at least tuwo discree. separated hil)Nt locdatons within the objct and at least one nea \ resonan coil to cause the etol direction of the nuclear magnetizations of eachset of nu'i to mtateto a desired angle wit respct to the first direcnon of the background magnetic filed to generate the at least one cleotircomagnele pulse of transverse magrnetization. Ina ae implementatons at least one of the a east one radio fequency coil and he at least one gradient coil is a local coi. Moreover least one of the at I on radio frequency coil and the a least one gdent coiean beintegrate to themgneetic reson e systemr Ifdsired the at eastone radio frequency coil can be a whole body coil, and can be used at background fields in e Mcss o I0 esla. If desired the at least one radio frequency coil can be a whole body phased arransmitreceive coilsystem having a pluraity of coIs that can seetivly transmit and receive rfpulses oftransverse magnetizaton. Moreover the at least one radio frequecy 'oil can be a loca phased arrayransni&receive coil system havng a plurality of cois that can selecntvelytransm and receive rf pulseof fransverse magnetation if desired the at least one radio frerquene cil can further include a pluraity of lomal gradient coils fU locally controlling th e gradient magnet'field. If desired, the at least one gradient field cofican include a plural ity of gradent field coils integrated into the magnetic resonance systems, even if local gradientfied 'oils are provided.

in some implementaion the rohod can fiuther include proug an an gen Sherein One or more nucle have been hvperpxtmzd 'The method can sti ther mecude m\ rinlg lte v ector iretilon of ihe poiaridion of the atprpoiart/ed muli to he a 'at partially an tipatae o the direction of the magnetic n of the magnetic resonance device. The method cafurher nidde introducing the ag-t nto the regIon of Iterest inducing eetomagnei feedbacbetwen e nuclear manezat ion of the hyperpolarized nngIei and the at least one nearby resonant coil to cause te vector directinof the nuclear magnetzatnio to rotate to a desired angle with respect to tdi r first direction ofhe backgrond magneticekl to generate at least one electromagnetic pulse of transverse magnetization and detecting the pu-e ol tanverse magnetizatio withte at least one adiodiquey coil, In further implmentations ahod forinrmng the vector dlirectin ofat lat on set of nueki contained in a sample is proid The method idUdes providing a conroller, providing a power source operably coupled and conio-ld by the controller, pro hiding an eletromagnet in operable comunuication with he power source and controllr, disposing a sample having nuclei to ic inverted into sample chamber in electromagnetic communication wth the etromagne operating the controlled to actuate the power souree to inuce an c'tronmagneticpulse inthe eetrmaget to rent e vector direction ofnucli of aample situated n the sample chamber. ande peraiag an njector assembi t dirc he sanmpe into a n agneticesonance system h Te sample can be dircted into a patient disposed in the-agnetic reson-ancesstem. The mod can father include conducting a MR study while the hyperpolrized materials disposedin the paint to produce at last one of i an image. ii dynamieflow data.in perfusion data. (iii) physiological data, and (v metaboi data. In acordance with further aspects the disclosure provides systems for performing a man etic resonance protocol The system can include a magnetic resonance device including (i) a main magneI for providing a backgound magnetic fied along a first dection ii at least oneradiorequey coil, and (iii latest one gradien o that can b control to define latest one region ofiterest The system can further include means fr definng aregion of interest mean for introducing a sample to be studied ki the region of interest and means fOr inc ing electrmagnetic feedback between the nuclear ma;gnetization of at least one set o nuclei within the sample and at east one nearby resonant coi to cause the eor direction of he nuclear nagneization ofte at least onu se oh uCi to rotate to a desired angle with respect to 4 the firstdirection of the background nagnee t~o generate at lest one eectromagneticepulse of transverse magnetization M . The method an till further include means for detecting the pulse of Watnerse iagnetizauon wnit he at leastiones adtodrequeincwcoi In sour implenentationc the system can further include means for processing information obtained f om a phalty of pulses ofransverse magnetization to produce least one ) an image, dynamicc fl data, (iin) peduion d'ta spectroscopicc identity ot cherneal specres.(li physioloagical data, and tvmetabL Te data lif desired, eletromagnetic feedback can be induced least in part by sustaniaolly dirmaing the presence of a gradient nagnede field in the at least one region of interest by controlling the at least one eradien coil The region of interest can indutd at least one Vod and the latest one gradient co is adapted and configured to apply a magneteld gradientin at least one of three mntuallyorthoon. directions Electtomagnetie feedback can be induced at Iest in part by sectvely tuning the at ls one rf coi to a predetermnid resonaMt freqency. The system can seletive and controlaI apply RF pulse to the sample in order to atast pamialy ivert th nuclear magnetization of the a lst one set of nuclei ror to the indg'J e p. in some embodmnn the system can be adapted to direct the mantizationvector of th it least one set of nuclei substatally entirely ant i-parallelio the firs direction of the badground magne eld The background magnetic field Can be, for example, bou10Tesia about Tesla about Tesa , about2,5esla about 3Tesaabout 4.0 Tesabout '0esa about 60 Tes about T0 Tesa about 81 Tesa about 9. Tesa. abom 10. Tesa or greater or less n any desired ncrement of Iesla. Te system can be adapted to permit the vector direction of the nuclear magnetzatdon of the at last one set of ne cei to fully align with the frst direction of the backgrond magnetic feld when the puse is generated. In some eraboedimentsthe system can be adapted to permit the vector direction of the nuclear magnetiaton ofthe at least one s'et of nclei to partially alignvith the frs direcin of the background magnet d vhen the pule is generated if desired the ystem can be further adapted to selecnvely odtemtilbI general a plurality of pulses of transverse mgnetization at difrenttimes fium the atleas one set of ccei by permtin thevector direction of the tuelear magnetization of the at least one set of nuelei to progressive and discretelya pprCach fU Ialignment with the first direction often background magnets fidd wi cach succeeding pule ofmnsverse magnetzation In someimplmentations, the system can he adapted to indce electroanetic feedback between e nudear agnetization ofa plurality oets of nucei in atastto discreteseparated physical oaions within the oietand at lc a one nearby rsonat coil to cuse the vector direeton of the nuclear mgnetitonia of each set of nuclei n otate to a desed angle wi h respect to ihe fit direction of the ackground nagnetic fel to generate the at last one electromagnce pulse of transverse nagnetia on in some embodiments at least one of he at least one radio frequency coil and the- t leastone gradientcoil can le ocaeaoil. At least one of the at east one radio frequency coil and the atleast one gradient Coil can be inegraed into tIhe tIagnetc resonance system. The at easC ot rado frequency codi can be a whole body codi. he at least One radio rquency coil ea nhoe bod phased array ransmit/receive cod system havng a purity of' coils hatcan selecivly transmit and receive rf pules of tn erse nagnezaion. The at east one radio equency coil can be a local phased array transmit'ece coil sstn having a pharahty of CON that can sAectivel tansmit and receive rfpubes of transverse inagnetaation. At last one a ra d euency Coi can further include a plurAty ofd ca gradient cods tocally controllngee gradient magnetic held. The at east one radien: field coid n include a n ity ofgiadint heid coils ntegrated into the magnet resonate syst \em \das one or more ocal gradient cods deNed in. somc imnpicntcntations, he system can further include a container containmgr an agent wherenone or more nucei have bea hyperpolarized, means for inverting they ector diection of the polanation of the hyperpoaered nulei to be at least partialy anipaale to the direction of the magnetic fid ofthe magnetic resonance device. mans for introducing the agent ino the region of interest means icing electromagnetic feedback between the nuclear magnetization of the hyperpolarized ateli and the atlet sfone nearby resonant coil to cause th vector direcfon of the nuclear magneization to rotate to a desired ange ih respect to the first direction of th.ebkground magnetic feld to generate at least ono electomagnec pule of transverse magnetization, and means for detecting the pulse of transverse nagnetiationwith ihe at lea-tone radio-frequn coi TIhe dicosr.pr'ovides a device Q invring te vector direction of at least one set of nuclei contained in a sample'e device includes a controller a power source operably coupled and controlled by the controller, an eleetroma in operbe commumcation with the pour source and controlhr. a sample chnmer m eectnmauntic comnunmation with the 6 eleeirnmanet, wherein th controller is adapred and confiured to operate the power source to mnduce anl electromagnetne pulse in the electromtnut too trent th e v ector dtrectnon of nuclei of a sample situated in the sample chamber and aintecto asseinbl to deet the sample intoa magnetic resonance sstem, name inplenmtons. the device en be adapted to d i the agentinto a patient disposed in the magnetic resonace system The device can futheinclude m-eans 'for edutNIP mRsud":wil the hyperpWoNie aM atra isisosed in te ptinto produce at least one of (} an image idynamie flow datadi) perfusion data (M) physiological data, ad metaboe data The discklorurther provides p rocessor-readaitbe computer program tored on atngjble nongranstcetmedium 1 ortadatng a t agne'tierCsotnance~ protPoo on a magn ede resonance deic including. tor eanp 6) a man magnet for providing a background magnetic field along afirs direction (i at least one adio-requeny col and (iii) atleast one gradient coithat can be controlled to define at least one region of interest he program can include instructions to fhiitale d efinion of a regi cn of inter egtinstmectionts ( aidune eectromagnetic feedback between eI' numear magnetza ion of at klast one set f nucei wi hin the sample and a lst one nrby resonant coil to cause the vector diretdon ot'the ncear magnetization of the ateast one sa of nuclei to "tatL to a desired ankle with respeo tohe firs direction of the background magnet fled io generate at leastone elctromagonetic pulse of transverse magneztionMY and instructions to facilitate processing signals received arising rom the nspue of transverse magnetmaton wthe a last one radio-equency coi he computer program can further include insunedons for processing information o taned froi a phuraliiy of pulses oNtmsversernagneizaton to produce at least one of i) al image (i dynrmic fow data (i perfion data. liiPsetroscoiddentty of chemical species. ) physiogicadata.advmetahoe data *he program can further include instrutions to iduce dectomagneti feedback by sustantialy eiminatng he presence of a gradient magnetic id in the at least one region of interest by controlling theat kast One gradient coi The region of inerecan index at least onesvoxe and the program'un inchde inso ns to cause the atleast one gradient coil to apply a magnetifie gradient in atilast oneot three mutually orthogonal direMs. The program can include instruction to induce electromagnetic feedback a leas m part by selecmey tuning te at least one .f coil to a predetermined resoniun frequency the prgran can sNray Mlude inrucons to cause the sy stem to sectively and controlhrbly apply a RF pulse to the sample inorderto atlast paia y invert the nuclear agnetizaon ofthe at Ieast one tofnuei prio to n ductng he eletrom agnde feedback Insoureimplemetations. te computer program cat nclude instructions to ase the magnetic resonance system to direcenhe magnetiadon Iectoohai ofast one seNIt of nucei substantially enirely anjiparai to the frst dircton of the background manet teld Sinuiady, the computer program can incldeinstrutns to austhe i nmagnetic resonance sytei to permit the vector directim of the nuclear magnetiation of nhe asten \et Anuclei t o fl1ly alignl with the: first dinretion ofT thWakground maynb tadd YQhcn t pulw is generated Th omputer progmmn can intde instructions to cautse the magne resonance systerm to permit the vetor di tuon of the nadcear niagnetizatdon o the al: Last one set of nuclei tialy alignwih the first direction ofthe background magnetic fild when the pulse is genna. edo n further i e a eoptei program can furthere inclde instructions to cause the magnetic resonance systemio seetivelyand conroia venerate a plurality f pulses oftransversemagnetiationadifferent timefomne latest one set of tuclei bi permitting theector direction of-nde nu ar magnedzatmon efthe at least one set of nuei to progressively and discretely approach fu ainment wh the first direction ofthe background magnetic fid ith eachs ceedin pulse ftrans ee rmagnization The eomput'r program can seilarly Include stIns re i to caue he manetI resonance system to nduce elctromagnetic feedback between the nuclear rmagnetizatin of a plurality of sets of nuclei n at least two discrete, separated physical locationsWithin th 0 ojiet an at least one nearby resant coilto cause thec vector direction of the nuclear nmagnetizations of' each set of' nucei to rotate to a desired angle wth respect to the first direction of the background. magnetic felOd to generate the atlenst on' electromag netc pulse of transverse magntizaion In some implementations, he computer program can include instrutions to cause the mnagnetic resonance system to operate atleast one radio frequency coil and at Veast one gradient coil hais a local coi The computer program can include instructions to cuseth coil that is integrated into the n agneti resons nec sstem The computer program can incude nstruconsi to operate a radio freltuency coi tati a whole body phased array transmitecv 8 coil system having a plurality of coisthatcan seCeNely transnt and receive If pues of transverse magnenzaionlf desed he computer program can include istructio s to operate a radio frequenc coi that is a local phased , t nray initIre eee coi system haing a plurdaity of COils that can 'aiectus l trtnsmit and reeie if pulses of tranaese maugnetaton It computer progtnam can similay nclude i nstrucions to opente atIast one radio equency coil that further includes a plurality Of local l n nt gradient magne fi held In some imnplemenations the computer program caninclude instrucos tc control a svstei to inet the vcor direction of the polarization of hyperpolarized nucleito b at Veast paritlly antipanleto the diPrection of themagnetic fild of the magnet rsonane device. he comrputer prog4'rnam emnidde instructions for introducing thie hyperpolirized nuclei with inverted meignetizano ntmo region of interest in a s ample to b e examitned in a magnetic resonance study .in some embodiments, the computer prgramncn further include the nucear magne tuiin of the hyperp larized nuclel and the at least one nearby resonant coi to cause the vector direction of theuClear magnetizanon toroate to a desir angle wth respect to the fist d tion of the background magnetc ield to generate at lest one dctranmagnetc puse of transersemngetiation and means for processing signals easing from the pulse of tansverse magnet tinwith the at leasoneadio-frequencycoil Thedsclosure rth epronvides proeesorreadalQ e computer programs stored on a tangible non-transent medium for operating a device for inverting the vector direction of at least one set of nucei contained in a sample including a controller, a power source operaly coupled and cnrilaed b the t ean electronagnetinoperable comniun icanon winh the power soUrCe and controer and a sampk chamber in electronanuiem c niuication with the eetromagan The progranincludes instructons to cause the controllerto operate the power source to induce ateetromagneti pulse in theeetromagnet to oient thevector direction of nucei of a sample sitoted in the sample chantber. In ome implemenatonsthe device further includes an injector assembi to direct the sam into a magnet resonance system. and the computer program further includes instructis to cause thdinetor assembly to diret he sample into the magneic resonance een If desired, the computer program can further include imstructions to facilitate productin of at Ies one oi) an inag. (ii) d namic flow data 9 (i) perfuson data 1i) physiological datn, and (v) metabolic da from data generated by processing thre pulse. it is to b understood that the foregoing gener description and the following detailed dcription are exemplary nd are intended to p de furtherespiaation ofthe disclosed emibodiments, The accomipanying drawings, which are itcorpoattd in arnd constitute part of this speieation are included o lustrate and provd a further understanding of the disclosed methods and systemsTeether with the descripton, the drawings serve to explain pr eiples of the disclosure BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF IHE DRAWINGS Figur lustrates exemplary multiple pukes resting fum one single hatch of inverted magnetixano in accordance will rhe diselosu re. Figure 2 depicts an exn plary pulse resulting fo various NNMR studies on A NMR on highly danped 1120, F ign shows te powr spevrunm of rdiatively damped water at 9) Tesa gure 4 depicts an exemplary magnetic resonance system in accordance wih dthe disclosure. epict aspects of an eempary computer system n accordance with the disclosur for operating a mnagneti irsonance systen. DETAILED DESCRWPTON OF PREFERRED) EMBODIENTS Reference il now he made in dti to the present preferred emodiments of the dsdlosuire, examples ofnwhich are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The mnethods and corresponAg steps of te didosed embodiments wil be described connection with the detailed description of he system. The applianthas developed techit qes and read systems and computer proams thatunder certain ciu stances alko MR studies to be carried ouith a. aiumm of ri pulses or without requiring di ubjectio be exposed to If pulses 1at This provdes a number ofigiticatadvantages Firsty, he exposure of the suject to rfradia is minimrnized or removed atoether This is especially important when subject is a ing creature such as the ease during an in vio M I/MRS procedure. Secondly, applicants 10 approacaCntiprove overalgsid to nfOse (SNR) levels. 1hird I i theequirement fR if pules alows for the MR marine nelf to e produced lss expensyely partiulyta whole lbody rf coi isii tegrated ino the device. Other folowon benefit: from tsnovel approach WIII e esndbed below. tis one object ofthis disclosure to provide exem pary methods systems and computer programwhere ieain MR studiesin parcularut notlimited to, MRS studies incorporating hyperpolarized nucei may he cared out without subjectng thesample of the studies to any rfpulsn accordane with a preferred embodiment studies can be earied out ont Auci that have been hyperpolarized outside the MR magnet invhich the NM AIMRIARS study normal takes place lsoin acordanee with a prefeed embodimenthe hyperp ried nmle can have had their manetization vector inverted so tha at easts sme portion of is directed anpaml to the direction of themagnei field of the MIRnagnet. nthe most preferred etmbodimentthe magnetiaton vector is direted etidy antiparalel to hedirecon of the magnetic field of the MR magnet It i another object of thi disclosure to provide exempary metihos whmyer MR studiesnay be carried out witil subecing the sample to a minimum of rf pulses InaccoIdame with a preerTed mbodhnn V ithin a saMple aM inverted a singer puse. Pneferably the inversion is sfficent so that some portion of theirnuclear magnetization i directed antipar: to the direction. Most preferably th magneuzatton vector is diected entirely antparalito the diction of the magnedc eld of the MR magnet. in Radiation Dampig (RDX precessing nuclear nmagnetization induces a current in anY nearby resonant a or coil if the induced current is arge enough it initsef produces a non neglgible magnetic fild MaoIf the nuclearmagnetizaan vector is pointingmat anyaugLe with respect to the main magnetic field Mao torques the nuearimag edzaton back to cquilibrium morepidly than would otherwise be the ase (nure The result is a premature oss of rmanizaton whic otherwise typical decays ih a rate constant known in the art as T RDA generally considered t he a nuisance in MR spectoscopy and imaging snce K causes unwanted broadening to NMR lines A rezed phenomenon to RD istat ofsuperraane SR) which can be thought of as an extremen foirm of RD. In circumstances where interaction betwveen the nuclear rnagnetnzation and the NMR probe is su~eientd large the anti-parallel inagietizattin is an w" in ioherntly unstale . Any amount ofnisac roduces a pen'turbation of the antiparalel magneization into the Imns rse plane this in turn produces a Iarge torquig fidd MW hiebher driv the anti-paralel magneti:-aion back to equilbium. The resutis a rapid and coherent collapse Any antwpsralciMAgnetin; this produces a pulsek tfltsvcre nxagnettzation that can be detected by the MR probe. Conditionsfb fRD cart be expressed.rathenaticay Equation I f2'tgggp Q(h/2t)lfP" I And condition for SR are Equation2: InqgppfQh l I Where T spin-spin relaxation time of the nucei filingfaxctor gyromagneetc ratio ofm he nuei Q e qaivlty tetor f theresonat coiltn NMR probe) And other 'ariabicshave theirusual definition. rd Euation 1 P is the tm ea poaiaatin. In 7omenonai studies, where thermal equlibriun is generaly assumed. P is a fnmncton of the ambienmagnetic field. temperatre' of te sample. and gamma of the in6 i uesti Tadi ally RD and SR have tended thereOre to beR obee for tudiecared out at rel ticy high fields. However improvements in probe quality Q have madeRRD moD common even at power fields For example, uperconductng technology has been employed t manufacture coils with Qs as hgh u0 fon I s dies Probes wih ieel of quality faictorican be expected to ni ke radfiation damxping a s.ignfiant actor even at relativelv low fields of 1.5 esla. A pplicant has discovered that, un der certaintircumstances, the pulses resiing frm Fcatig RDeo SR cndins can be use' toproduce images hspectroscopie identity d namic" flow & aa and osh>rinfarmation of interest This can e done usig a single pulse or muliple pulses as desired A 1 gpicant has further discovered that, ycontroling conditions neessaryfor RD or SR pulse formation 4 infom'nanon can be obtaied from sa mples in a spatiall or tem porndly conroll'd manner. Appihcant has discovered that he signalto noise of an RD or SR p ike can exceed that of a conventional MR study carried out on an otherwise denticiaI s"ample (Fgure 2) increase in SNR generally aiwa ys desirable but is pa ticuiarly relevant for studies incorporating hyperpoarized nulei where the goal is detection of low concentration of lot gamanliand often aried cut In viv o. 12 in the case of a study cotorating hvperpolarize d nuclei the nuclear polarizat on can not only be greatly enhanced xvivo but its mn i <vector may he oriented at wil To a partictar embodiment the magnetizaionvectorof a group of HP nuclei ma ye rented to be antilradeto the magnetic nod of an MR devie. For examplethWs can be done by using standard NMR tech niques to rote the magnetiation of the hyperpolai ed nuclei the desired vector; thiscan be done prior the lIP nucl entering the subject so that the subje tsef is not exposed to any rf radiaton Figure 2Y The HI nueli my thei n owed itto the device wi the polarization still intac and sill poind mT padld 13y manipulating exprimentai conditions the manetizazion ofthe UP ni can te caused to eo apse. either in who or in pari at a ime of the operator's choosing Ther stant pulse or pulses can be used w produce information of scientific or diagnoic rest as described above Applicarnt has discovered tham under certain circumstanceste pulse resulting from R) or SR can be controlled so as to produce rasee transverse magnetization (Mx) from ii tudnin Innet zation (MY I without the use of addition alt paIss This results from the feedback mechanm described aio which nutat\ any MOz into the transverse plane By controllingthe conditions undnr e hih RD or SR n occur the feedback can e terunated at any point so as to produce singe or minpa. ullse of NIKY at any deired angudar oientaon lo thermoin magnetic field. his can then be used to produce an image andeor spectroscopic information, dynamic fly data and other information ofiinterest Makin an imate; Production of an image traditional requires many pulses, each designed to etact some amount of spatial information fr the sample. To do tis fom A single or FAited number o' inverted magntization pulses requies ta t the con editions for producing an RD or SR pulse be careful contrled, In partoulari desirate to ise onl a portion of the total inverted magnetizaton from sai mpl to produce a pulse from a bealzedvolme in spa'e. Applicanthas discovered methods of prodhuing RD or SR in a ocalized volume in space. Ina prefred enmbodiment his is done by turning ofon ncreasing/decreasing or changing insign a local magnetic field gradient or radients Other embodiments r ths include manipulating the probe Q (eg by deUning he coilseevel frequency andiorcanging the parameters ofthe ambient magnetic field.

in the cae where the gradient isuffiently lange suc that T.? (where f.? represents the time it takes for any Mxy to dephase due to the actioi of the grad iceults a rger tlhan u(hereTR representthe time it makes to Mutate any N-a oTo Mxy due to the action of the RD) filed an RD) c ant take 'lace as any transverse magnetizatllin is dephased faster than the time itakes o form a pulse. suchan instance any M remains "IcekedIand undisturbed on tne seal>s t H2 < ~owever theMis also unoiservabte as only Mxy can be detected in an MR study. Ifthe urdient is lowere such that T Tsa RD can take p.lae. Aphcatn has disco ~red tat the Wan o OTIte non RE) to the RD) reim cne quite sharp. alowing, te criteria for pulse prodution to be earefuli controlled By supprssing the rdient a g region of space pule can he produced that orignates fr a predefined spatial location can herfe ebe assigned a defite spati Value which is essential to ereating a re n d imauc Traditionaly RD has been suppressd by using a gradient or gradients that are temporary structures- that is. that tun o onof ne This uppreses or permits RD frotm the enMre volume located wihin the field ofthe resonant coil Applicant has discovered that gradients can he spatially structured to alow RD to progress in one part ofa volumenmd suppressed in others By careful manipulation of the nearby current coils the ,radientcan be made to be ero or 'cry low sufficienoy o to permit RD--in one voxeI or other region of interest (eg.,comprisingmtiplevoxels) l remaining large enough to deter RD in the remaing fraeon ofhe volume. By detecting the signal resting from RD from tat one voxe its spatialocation and spincoent can he determined; the region of zero gradient can then he moved to produce signal rom oter voxels so as to produce sufficient information to constrec iniage This can b e sequentially or in panadlel to ped image production When the gradient fId i suppressed in a loCal voxe such that the tota gradient =) or svery low, a RD or SRpulse can propagate This causes any local Mz to Iutate into the transverse plne and produce Nx Mxy is preessing at t Larmor frequency and hence can be detected by the MR pick up coils. Local condions can be adlusted-as a non ex-usie example bv tuning on/ofaloal gradient-so as to umate only part fth local Ma into thex plane In ths manner additonal M is avaiable to produce pulses at a laer ime should hat be desirable Or al ofthe local C ean be used up in a single pulse The spatal identity of the pulse can tbe dertined in a nnber ofnianmers As a not excdusivc example, this can be done 14 by associatng the ao point ofthe local gradientwh a definite point or points inx.y For example I the gradient field can be set to about zeror individuavoxeis spaced fromi ne another in order to spe data acquisition by engagingin parallel datacollection Local voxe or voxeis. ot zero or ery low gradient ield can et produced aId moved about in space by a isnag Currents in nearb shim coils that are typically pan ofany MfR Imaging system Thus an entire image can be built binmanipulatring the shim cols. Muliple voxes can be produced contemporaneousl fr example by causing the shim coils to hae a time dependent current ncos(w) rather than a stai current il B adlusiing the current frequency in various shims multiple koca I e of zeo or low gudient can be produced either permanently or tempraril as dwred f dH ed. a local col can be pnded surrounding or adjacent to a articuhr body part Ai head shoulder coi for neurovascular irnig a back coil knee coil breast coil tthat includes te capabity to ceie MY pulses and that can optollyd' apply ripulss aditdo oradiu MNt lo pres ide a frhrmasorcnolof the local gn dient tick in the rogon of ntres tsn a i approach can have particular advantages a hefit First, applicant has ds'overed that SNR can be: higher for an RD or SR pulse than for aFourer Transform of a puise produced by f excitaton. SNR increase can thcoretically be asmuch as 2x although lower values (si in excess of what could bc achieved even with a 90 degree rotation) can be expected when conditions for RD or SR are not well produe Figure 3 shows the power spectrum of' radiatively damped water a T4esia. Under "'ordinarv"NMR condit onsthe SNR of a pulse resuclthg sTaan a IS0 dcre rotatio i much than thI 1 from a 90 degree rotation. When R) condions prevail the pulse from a 180 cn actually exceed that from a 90 pudses: BecauseMv is only produced ina regiooflow or zero gradient motion arifbcts that pJaigue traditional MR imaging can be reduced MotkOH artitacts are produced when spins move in the high gradient ficds used to produce inges in traditional MR As the spins move in the gradient they' lose phase information which Ileads to imnagebltrring Producing pulses o in. the region of h or zero gradient can be expected to supprss this phenomenon .Also. punes from R D tr SR are iherentl phae ndonmed s tihec cannot be budd up of phase error s sthe inge is produced voxel by voxel, Apphicnt has further discovered that thc phase of any N .x comened via RDI or SR from local can be datished trom the phase of spms outde the local vowl Thi 15 allows t.e use of phaselocked loops or similar methods to ampy the Mx signa asking firom spins in the loal voxelot interest. Occasionallyis desirabk to extract local T information whie producing an MR image or scaring outother kinds of MR studies T mapping can provide conras between different types of tissue in particular between spins in solid dense matter such as bone and that in surrotiding tssue Applicant has discovered tha contrast can be prmvided using the proposed technique. As a non excuA 'eenmple ts ca be done by adjusting the Q of the resonant coil used to nutateany Mz into Niy Asumning a low or zero gndient. by increasing Q t time fr an RD or SR pulse to propagate can be made fnr than Ioc on I"( versel owning Q can case o be u ster ti an the time required to produce an RD or SR pulse In this circumstance no pulse can propagate. hus regions of different Thscan be distinguished by 'onitroi fing the locai fPkI igradient and adjusng the Q of the pick up Coil The above descriLbed technique es can all be used tn conjunction with standard imaging methodologies Forexample slice selective freguency encoding can he used to deri 2D information. with the above technique providing thrd dimensional information. Spectroscopy Using inverted Mtagnexation App licant has discovered that by careful manipulation of external parameters such as but not limied to held graientroe frequency, or extema field, controHd amounts of Mz can be transformed into Mxy. The transvrse magnenzation can then be pressed using standard Fourier Transformtedhiques to yield specroscopic and otherinformaon. Ihat is, once Mxy has been prodied by insaing MU usn an RD or SR pulse it is no different fm Mxy produced using anrpulse and all o the same Mx manipulations wel known in the art should be available to the opentor. A*licant has discoveredays to produce ruiple pulses of Mxy out of a sgle hatch of M. As a non exclusive examplethiscan be done y. turning onotfa gradient With the gradient off nia gnetiaaon begins to nuate out of the M direction into the insverse pla.ne. By reyestabishing the gradient the nutation process can be cut off at any time produchig a desir an.ot f Mx> and preservin so I M or later- pulses ifd .ied. Th rsneo h gradent quidcdy dephases the Mxy. However iA spent indmwation cmn be obntaned using a 16 number of techniques well descr ibed in the art For example a spin echo can be produced hw causing the lo: gradient io be inverted; the resultmgin ceho i pice d up in the coil and can be processed usin idndTd FT techniques to produce spectra nd other formation of intrest in stuidiesncorporaing hyperpolarizaton nulei a set group of nueii has its nuclear polarizaton greatly increased over int tuerml equillbaum loluman vane. pically ths is done in an ex'vo apaNatus; example indludea DlN porr whis n dissolution devie a P~lP polarized, or a brute force polarze .Particularly sulitabk &inlque\ are described in S Paent No. 65 59- S Patent Appiacn Sridal No. $129>36, fled August 1, 2008 and S. Patent Applation SeNia o, 17934 filed September 10, 20 101 he foregoing patent and patent apuications are incorporated by fefiae herein in their etiretes for any purpose whatsoever, The vector dirvon ithe enhanced ni*zar polarzaton en Ie uipulated in a number of wA ys. in certain hyperpodarization t thod possible to in sintu nange that dhe po1 rization have a g envector with respect to the xetor direction oF the main anayzing magnetic field An altematge isio direct the hypeipolaited nuclei into an MR enabled device located in tthe stray field of tc main magnet. siple if pulses can then be med to invert the imanettization to anydeired Sange. Most preArably th angle is 180 degrees with respe to the main ield but other angles can be used, as desired. Applicant hasdscovred that inverted magnetizalon can be maintained subsequent to these steps and during introduton of the HP nudei to the subject [or example various Q spoiling techniques can be used to niniinz intamcion benwten the nudear magnettaton and the prob thus deterring condiions necessary for the ormation of an SR pulse. Another alternative is to maintain a grain ent during this times as described above the et of the gradien is to desro any transverse magnetization a d thas keep an SR pue fRom propagathng. In ormatlon tromn the HP> nuceia n be ibtained in theC manner deserdsed abmve wi ltoutI the subject ev er beiny exposed to any rf radiation.

Traditional MR spetroscopy require very large magnetic fields. The large ild is used to pnide as nmeh separation in frqu ncy space as possibe so that nuclei with different chemical shifts may be se~parately identfitd Appl icants\ discoered that using the poposed techniques i a be possibe to carry out certain speetropit \tudhes emnpkwing analyzing fields low er than those traditionally employed by MR. The basis of this is that i circumstances where the nuclear polnazaion is produced without read to the fld of the analyzing magnethe time required a produce an SR pulse trom a gien set of nutlei dots not deend on th value ofte externa field A sampk containing n uci wth dilL t 6pwcroscopicitie s &Kv! pc oduc distinct SR pulse at sepa raleties. Lx mpla r; M R Scuner Sstermizaion An evenmplry magnetic esonameesystenuis depicted in Fig- 4 and dtdes a phirality of primary magn et coil 10 that generate a unifrrm temporary constant magnetic field Italong a ongtudinl a jtorg is of a central bore 12 of the dee An a preferred superconducting embodiment, the primary magnet cods are supported by a ormeri Iand received in a toroidal hebuim vessel or cann 6 The vessels filed wnh helm to maintain the primary magne eods at superconducting temperatures The can is surrounded by a series ofold shieds IS nhich re supportedin a vacun Dewar 20. Of course annumar resistive magnets magnets.and the like are also contemplated. A wnole bdy gradient coil.ssem 30c Ades x. and zcos mounted ong the bore1 for generating gradient nagnene fields, x, 6y, and Gz.referab the gradient coil asset is a selfshidded gradient coi that includes primary y, and z-coil assembes2 potted in a dieetni former and secondary y and-coiassenies 34 that .rc supported on a bore defig cylnider of the vacumn Dewar 201Awhole body radio freequeney eofi 36 can be mounted inside thegadient coil assmbl 30 A wo body radio fequeny shield 38. eg copper mesh, can be mounted between the whole body RF coi 36 and the raden coil assembly 30 ifMesied an insrtbl - radio reqenc cil 40 can he removabl ounted in the Mor in an exaami anon recion def ned around an isceenter of the ma agnt 1 i the embtodinet of i.1 the insertahle radio fi-quency coil is a bond and neck coi for imagingne o both of parent's head and neok but other extremity coils can be provided such as back cois r imaging the spine, knee COO, shoulder coits breast coils. Wrs coils andhe like. 8S ith continuing eference to Fig. 1, an opiratorintee and control saton is prnded that includes a hmanreadable display. such as a video mnito52, and operator input devices suchas a keyboard 4 a mouse 56. a trackhaill eight pen , or the like, A computer control and recoWruetion modale $is A sA proWided that includes hardware and software forenabling the operator to select among a pharaity of prep ogrammoed magnetic resonance sequences that arestoredia sequence control memy ift pulses are to be used as a part of the imaging study Asequence controller 60 controls gradientamrplhicesi 6connected wth the gradient coid assembly 30 fr causing the generation of 0( (Iv and Gz gradient magnet tild at appropriate tirnes duing te selected';adiemnequence and a digiltransmitter 61hich causes a selected one of the whole body and insertabie radii quency coils to generate B3 radio frequency hldk puls's at times appropriate to the selected sequence. if rfpulses are to e used in the study. I' hyperpolarized nateials are to be used as a pat cthe stdy a hypepolarizer 120 can be provi ld., or h,-perpoia [rdmateia o i epoie fcr .rmoelcto and traisoredto the tmangy We in. a tvrnport IX is or othetanfe container o gn h b. 112. The hyperpolaried material can then be disposd in a contancer within a device 10 for inverting the vctor directicm of a least one set otnuclei contained in the sample. he device 110 includes a control uni 116 icludig a controler and power soure operably coupled to and controled by the cotroller and an electromagnet114 in opeable communication with the power source and controern the onml uni 116 The sampl cnmer1is placed in electromagnetc communication wih the eketnmagnet 114. Th controller is adapted and configured to ope ate the pow soue to induce an elctromagnec pue in e eectronmagn to conet the vector direedon ofnuche in the sample situated n the sample chamb such as to a 180 degree inesion or telike n inedor assembly 1 is frtherprovided to irect he sample into a atien or other ohjcesituated in the magneticresonance system. RD,Ssignalsreceived by the eoi Q are demodulated bo a digiai receiver 66 and sored in a data memor68 The data fom the data memory are reconstrated by a reconstmcion or array processor 70 into a voluineic image representation tA is stored in an image memory 72. If- phased array is used as the reedving coil assenmb the i e can be reconstructed from the coil signals A video processor74 under pera.r contro convert 19 selected portions of he volumetric iace repesen tation. ito sIice imagesprojection images, pespecie ews, ihe like as ionventonal in the art fo i ay on the vdeo monitor. Examdle NKT"' cu Con ler Figure5iusiaes nvente aspects of a NIKTT contrller 601 tor controlling a hereikin this embodiment the MKI controer 60 my serve to aggregate. process store search. serve deni instruct. genetin aich and/or facl ate ier>tltons with a computer through various technogiesand/or other related data picay a u-ser or users. , 630. whc may b; people or groups of usrs andor other. sys t ems may engage miformtadn techniog system eg computers)o faciate operation of the systern arid information processing In r computers employ process to process infonnationsuch processors 603 may ebreferred to as cent.ra!processing units (PUJ One form of pOcessor is referred to as a micaproess CPUsse coununicat CirU uts to pass Ibinailencoded. signs acting anstructions to enable various operations These instructons may be operation and/or data instructions ctainnig and/or rderentmng other instmuetions and data in various processors accessible and openble areas of nmemogv y (.g. registers, cache memnoryrandom accessnemory ec Such commucaive instrucons may be stord and!or transmitted in batches g.batches of instruction as programs and/rdaa components to faciitte desiid opeatins These storedinstrucdon codes eg programs, ma engage thoCU circuit components and other motherboard andor system components to perform desred operations One type of rorgmin a computer operatng sstemh, w i ay be executed by CPU on a computer the operauN system enables and factas users to access and operate co mputerintormation tecnmol~g n mdesources. Sonme restources that may he employed in nforntion technology systems include input and outt mechanisms through which daa may passnto and out of a computer memory siorage into whh data tax b saved; ant processos by h information Pay be pressed these anormatot technology Systems may be used to coecet data fo after retrieve analysis, and mnipikon itwhich may be faciltated through a database pogamTheseiformaion technology systems provide intefaces taalow users o ace es and operate varous sysem comnponents.

In one emiibodtItcniv the MKTm controer 601may be connected to and or communicate wAh enttes such as but limited to: one or More users tronuser iput devices 611; periphrd dvies 612 components of the magnetic resonance systeI;an ptiond cryptograpic processor device 628; and/Ora communication network 61 to eam ple, the MKTW controller 601 may be connected to andior communicate with uses. e(e ga operadtang cient dece'se ega. 3bne. idinu hn not united to, personalcompuiterds servergcand/or varnus mobLe deviae~asyneluding. but notdimited to. ce'lular telephoanes snrtphane~sl Pci honcc lackberrvt Android OS based phones etcxtablet computes) (a, App i , HP Slat Mtool Xoon t eook reader(s)eg Amazon Kind leI, Barnes and NobWs Nook'" eRaderte laptop Computerts)itooksv netbkis ganr consoles) (eg XBOWX ive Nintendo DS Sonv PlaSatiti Portable. etc potabc scanned arid/or the like Networ s arc commonly thought to comprise the Lnreonnection and interopentn of cienI servers, and interediary nodes in a graph topology t shoud be noted that the ten Smrer" as used throughout this appcaton refers generally to a computer. other device, progran or combination thereof that Processesamd responds to the request of remote users acrossaeomnu ncainnestork Seers sertheir information to neesting "clients he term"client as used herein refers generaly to a computer. program. other device. user andor combination thereof that is capable of processing and making requests and obtainng and processing any responses ron serversaeross a communiniatos network A compute other device, program mronthomination thereof that facilitates, processes in formation and requests, audior furthers the passage of iornaon fron a source user to a destation uer is commonly referred to asa "node. Networks awe gnenely thought to faciiate the transfer ofciformation from source points to destinations .A node specificallytasked with furthering the passage of information ftm a source to a destination is commonly called a rouner. There re man forms of networks such as>cal Area Networks (ANs i [lo netw orksWideArea Networks (WANs Wireless Neworks ( AN etc F or example the Internet is general accepted as being n interconnecuon of a multitude ofnetworks whereby remote e ents and servers may access and ineroperate with one another. 21 It MN controller 60 may be baed on computer systems that may comprisc but are nt hmited to, componentsuch a: a computer systemiation 602 connected to mnemorv 129, ommuter Systemization A comue systenation 602 i'y ompre a clock 630 cento processingunt CPUs)and/or "procesr(srthese terms are used interchangeable throughout the disclosure unless noted to the contrary)) 60, a memory 629 g. a read ouy memory OG6M) 06 a random access memorRAM) 605Tetc andir an interfice bus and most riequenly, adhough not necessariy are Ql inmtrconnted and coanunicating through a system bs 604 on one or more motberfbods) 6W2 havingonductve ander otherwise transporte circuit pathways through h instructionog. binay encoded signals) may travel to effeci communications operatonsstorae etc Oponaly the computer systenmaion may M, connected to an Neral power source 86 c , opuonay the power sauce may be rternai Optiall a cyptgrapk pixw~or 26 and/or trsceive rs (eC.. , 6714 mayow conete to th ' system bus. in another em dmen Te cryptographic processor and or ransceivers may be conected as either intrnel and/or xerna peripheral devices 612 via the nterce bus0. In turn the iranseivrs may b connected to antema 675,terehy eeu mg wirelss trannissian and reception of v various conmnu ication andor sensor protocolsn or example the antennas) may connect to: a Teas Instruments Wiink Aid 2R3 transceiver chipgg providing 80.1 in, Bluctooth FM global potioning systemGPS) here alowin MiKF'" controier to determine itsalocation: Broadcon CM4329FKUBG transeiver chip (eg providing nLetooth EDR FM etc; a Broadcon BCM47500B8 receiver chip g. GPS); an infineon Technologie X-Gold 6l8-PMB9OO (og, prcvidinU 2GG NSDPA/HSUA communications) and/or the k. he system clock typiea has a crystal oscilator and gnerates a base signal through the computersystemization s circuitpathway The clock is typically coupled to the system bus nd various clock muipliers that will increase or decrease the base operating frequency for other components intrconnected in the computer s 'stenization he clock and various compcuents in a computer system nation drive signals embodyng information throughout the system.uh transmission and reception of instucions embodying infornmanon throughout a computer svstemization may be commonly referred to as comunicattons. These conm ucativ' instructions ay tnther be tras itted received, and the cuse ofrur nil conuanons beyond the istatnt cOmputer s stemndIon to: camm uunicatiens networks input devices, other computer systemizations peripheral devies and/rthe like Of corse anyof the abovencomponents ay be conneted direcdy to one another, corneted to the CPU t/or cga d in numerous arnaons empku cd as eempfed by various computersystenmts The CPU comprises at least one liigh:.speedI datn.rcessor adequate to execute program components for execing user andor system-geierated requests Oftenthe processors themselveswill incorporate various specialied processing unit such as butc tnliniteid to ineraedsys terni(bas) ontrollers. nemorranagtement control unise float ing point units. and even speciahed processing Nub units Ik' graphics procesing units, digital signalprocessing uts aid/orhe like AddhmOmai y processors nay incud a mataccess addressabe memory, md be capabiof napping and addresing mneorv 629 be ond the ocessor itelf intermIaemnry ma nch udc but ~s not nited t reg ivtiters. ans led of cache memory (eaga. leve 1, 2, 3. et.) M.etc.T rmso may access this memory through the use ofa memory address spacc that is acessible via instruction address. wi .te processor can construct nd decode allowing I to access a cicuit Pa to a specine memory address space chain, a memory stae CP nay be a icroprogeor such as:\MDA Xhlon Duron ander Opteron ARM's app Iation, embedded and secure orocessory JB and/or Motorolai DragonBall and Pow erPC I B and Sonns e processorIntes Ce intodre (2) Duo, ItaI, Pentiun Neon, candor XScae nd /or the ike processorsh CPU hnteract with memory through instrueon passingthrough conductive andor transpotie onids eg puntedd) electronic and/or optic circuits) to execute toediistructons(ie program code) according to conventionldata processing techniques. Such instruncli passing feili ates comnmlmniatan withinthe MKin controller and beyond through various iinte'tfaces. hould processing' requirements dictate a greaer amount speed and/orrcpacitydistributed processors Ceg a, Dstributed MK1T3enmbodime.nr', marinframie ram ui-core, parallel, and/or super-conmpter architectures may imilarl be rnmplkvd Alt.rnatielv should delcymentreguirements dictate greater portabilixsmallerPersonal Drita A ssistants (P>DAs) may be employed. Depending on the partuular im plementatnon, feat ures oft he MlKTXI implememtations may Ihe achived by implemenming a mjcrocomtroler such as C(ST's RN8051\XC2 microcontroler: Intel's MCS $5 i oe. ,<) 10 microcontroler): and 1 or the like. Als, to ohm2 impenment certanfeatures of the MK] embodinvents. sne featue iementations may rely on embedded components, such as: ApplicatinSpecific Interated ir etiASI) Digibd Signal PrcessigDSP"A Fid Programmable Gate Array ('FPGA) and or the like erbedde technology For exaple. any ofthe MKt'" componenIcoI.on tibuted or otherwise) and or features may be inpleentedvia the microproceso andor anmbdded components;eg, gvia ASIC, coprocessorDSP. FPGA and/or the like Akernately, some implementation of the MK 1 may be implemented with embe'dded components that are configured and used o achieve a variety of features or signal processing. Depending on the particularinuplementation the embedded componentsrmay include software solutions. Hardware soitons, and/or some combine tion o f both hardw'areotware soluions. For example. MK features discussed h'ren may be achieved through implementing FPGAs which a a siondtor devices containing programable logie componens called Ic b s" and programmable interconnects such as the high performance FPGA Vir x series and/or the low cost Spartan sries manactured by Xinx. ogC blocks and inuerconnects ca ,b programmn.ed by the customer or desnerGA ismanufactured to implementan of the MKT feItres A nerarchy of prognrnnmable interconnects alolo Nic blocks be interronnected as needed by the NKT' system designerdministrator, some vat ike a one-cip programmable breadboard n ERAs logi bhcks can be programmed to perform the function of basic ogic gates sch as AND, and XOR, or more complex combinatiomlfunctons such as decode or simple mathematical function. M most EPGAs, the logic blocks also include memoty elements, which may be simple flip-flops or more complete bAks of memory n soc circumstances the MKT may be developed on regular FPGAs and then miratd into a ANed version that more resembles ASIC implemen tations Alternate or coordinating implementations may migrate MlC ontroller feaure t finnl ASIC inte:d of or in WAio toFPAsY epening on the implMnation A of te aforeinetioned embedded components and microprocessorma be considered the "CP" and/or prcessor" i the MKT The power source 686 may be ofany salaird (tom for powerin small electronic circuit board devices suc as the tllowing power cells:alkaline, thim vydride ithiun ion i thiumin poymertickel cadtiu s arellsand/or the like Oter types of AC or DC power sources nay e usdas wdl In the case of somr cs, in one embodiment the case pmv ides an aperture through which the sor cel ma" capture photn nergy. The pover cel 6W is connected to at las! one of the inerconnected snysequent conponets of the .MKT thereby providing an eieckic current o sU subsequ ent components n one example the power souree 686 is connected toheyste bus cm oent 604 han aematvc embodiment. an outside power sa oc 686 is provided through a connection across the W/0 60 interfaCe H or exampL, a E and/or IEEE 1 394 connection caries both dat an pwer acmss the connection and is therefore a suitable source of power Interoce bu\ 6ss07 may acpp co ne, and/or commnicate to a number of interface adapter. conventional though not eessardin the form of adapter cardssuch but not limited to: input output interfaes (/0)608 storage interfaces 609 network interfaces 610 andor the like Optioal cryptographic processor intraCes 627si nidarl may be connected to the interface bus. The interface hAs provides for the comunicatons ofinterface adapters Vh i one an oher as wel aN with other components of the computer gtemation. terface adaptersWaeadapted for a compatble interae bus nterface adaptersconventionally onect tc the inteAcc bus via a sl archecture Conen onai lot architeurs may be employed suh as but no limited to: Aceerated rra P A Ur Bus. (Extended) industry Standardrhitecture EISA kMiro Channe Architecture(MCANNuButs Periphery Conmponent iterconnect(Extended) PCI) PC Express PersalCompt Memory Card nt national association iPCMCIA), and/or the ke Storage interfaces 609may acceptomnniate. nd/or connect to a number of storage devicessudas but not n cited it storage devices 614, removable disc devices and/or the lik. Storage inetts may employ connection protocol such abt not nted to: ra) (Sc ballAdanee choology Attachment (acket Interface) l.htra)MSerial) AA(Piy, iEnhanced Integratedrive Nectronics EIDE, nstitte of EeAtica d Uletronies Engincs (EE) 1394 fer charnel Smal Computer Systems Interface (SCS Universal Sea Bus(US) andr the le Network inerfaces 60 n a accept com nu icate, and/or connect to a comnunic tion network 613. Thouh a conmnunica tonnetwork 613, the MKi con mtrOr is accessible through rtaIot clients 633b (eg , co nputers with web browser') by uaes 633a Net corkiatf1>es mav employ conntteon protocolsuch as, but not imited to; direct connect, .Ethemet (thck. hin, twisted pair 10 100 000 Base T. and/r the like) Token Ring' xireless connetonsuh as IEEE 80211 andor the ikeShould processing requrenns dictate a greater samounispeed andbe!rcapaeivnts dibuted network eontrollerN g Dis it buted MKTYh" architectures ma simni' y be employed to pool, load bakame and/or thse inr ease the communicative bandwi h reguired by the MKT1" ontroller.omm A eim eaions e ork may be any one and/or the combination of letodilown g: a dirct nierconneetion; te laerneta Local Aiea Network tAN) a Metropolitan Are- NetworkMAN;n Opeating Missions as Noes on the bnternet(MM secured custom connetion; a WiArea Network (WAN a wireless networkg employing protocls uh as lu not limisd to aWieless Appliaton Protocol (WAPX mode. an dor the like ndor the like. A network interfac- mayhe regarded a a specdalied thmn of an input ontput interfae Further nultipk networks -rfaes 610 may besdtengage withvarious commumations neworktx pe 6 3. Foen multiple network interfaces may be empk-yed to allow for the eommumleatiotr over broadclast, nujicast, and:or unient neharkL Input Output interfaces (0) 60 may accept communicate andor connect to user input devices61 pe-ripheral doices 612. cyptographic processor deice 8, and/or 1h like. 0 may empJoyconnection protocols such as, but i nitd to: adinamaog digital mnaural, RCA, stereo, andarhe like:data: Apple Desktop Bus (ADB) IEE5 I|394a-b.seriaL aniversa serialbus(USB inrared joystik; keyboard midi; optica PAT PS2paallel radio; video interface: Apple Desktop Connector (ADC), BNC. coaxial compneat, composite, digital iDigital Visual terface (DV high-definon ndimedianterface O )l RCA, R 'intena S \ ideo VGA. and/r the ike: wireless tausees 8021aggn/x Bluetoothk cluaar(C g ode divisiow muliplet s MA hj sc cess(SA- high speWd dow nhnk packe access a ISDPA global system for mobile comnumications (SM long trm evolution (JCE). Wi a etc.; and/or the like (tnc typical output device may im KIde a video dispMahich typically comprises a Cathode Ray Tbe (CRT or liquid Crystad Dsplay (LCD1 based monior with an interface (eg. DVI cruitry and cable) that accepts signals frim a video interface, may be used. The video interface composites Wiormaton generated by a con puter sist. zab n and generats vido signas based on tie conimisited information Vs a vide -cemory frame, n-Xiotther output device is a television set which accepts signals rom a 2-6 Ideo ierace Typicaly the ido interface pvroides theconposted videoinformation through a tideo cnection interfactnat accepts a vdo displaynerface(eg an PCA compositevideo 'ometor aceptig an RCA compoisitevideo cale a DVtenuector accepting a DM1display cable, eteci) User ip deves i ften are a type o perif . 11 ral deviev 2 sec bel and may include-card readers done, finger print readers, gloves, grahies tabk. e s key boarbs mncrophones, muse (mnice), remote controls retina readers, touchscreenis (g& capacitive esistve, es sensors (e. aceerometers. ambient ligh, GPS, gyroscopes, prixim hy, ei), tyuses, and/or the like. P eripheralndevices 612, such as othN components fthe MR system, inidlng signal geneorrin cimnmicaton wih cos. receivers in communcation withR coilsk Ms gradient 'Ai system main auagnet system and the like maybe connected and/or commnuncate to teface bus system buis. the CPU and e ie. Per pher devices may be e nal ntera candor part of the MK controier. P:riphera devices may also include antenna audio devices (eg. ine-in n' n rophone input speakers. etc..ameraseg still video. webean etC-. dongi (g for copy protectionnsuring see otransacions with a digi I. signature ando the ike extemal processors (tr added capa ,ee.gcrynto deves2)force feedback devices (e, vibraing motors), network interfcesprinters, scannerstorage devie transeivers (eg . ceh GP etcvideo device (e.g. goggles for mctional imaging. for eanmple. monitors et video sources visors. and/r the likeeripheral devices often include types of input devices(eg.,ameras Cryptographic ints such as, but not limited to. microcontolei processors 626 iterfaces 627. andor devices 628 miav be adached and/or communicate wth the MKM controler. A MCA 8s16 icroeontr.a fatture by MotorolaIne lay be used for andor within eryptographic units. The NC68H 6 microcontroier uties a6-bit mudtiply and-accumulate instruction in the 16 Mlconfiguration and requires less than one second to perform a 512hit RSA private key operaton (cptographcunits support the authentiation of communications from interacing agentsas well as allow ing r anonymous transacions. Cryptographic units may also be configured as part of CP equivalent nicrocontrolers and/r process may also he used. tuhemoncretallx ale specialized cryptogrtphic processors inchde: the Broadeom as CrvptoNetX anid other Security Processo;nCiphes nShidd SatfeNet.una PCe g, t 100seris; Se maphre communications' 40 M RoadAIner i.n4; Sun sCryptgraphic Acielerators (e g Accekrator 6000 PCMe Board. Aceeraor 500 Daughtercard) Via ali Processor g 1g 10 0. 2200 U200, ine, which is cape of performing P0t MBIV of ;yptogra phu : li t ons; I Technology's 33i MHz 68 and/ar the like Memory Generally any mechanization ando ebodment allowing a processoro affet the storage andioet Jrieal of informmo is regarded as memory 629 (or 68, 72 etc.) HoweVer, memr is a fungIC technology and resonce. thus, any number of memory embodiments may be employed in leu of or in concert with one another A is e understwd athe MKT 1 controler and/oracomputersystemization may em y varous forms of memory 629 For CM ple a computer systemzat on may be configurcdeerein the fnctionaitly ooAip CPU memory registersRAM ROM and another storage deVees r pio ided by a papr pimhe tape or paper punch card mechanism: of course such an embodnimen w d result in an es tremely slow rate of operation. n a typical conumraion, memory 69 wllinclude ROM 606 IRAI 605. and a storage deice 614. A storage devie 614 may be any conventional computer sy stem storage. Storage devices may include a di an a (fed andor removabl)iegnedec disk drive; a magnooptical drive: an optical drive(ni% e. Biueravy CD RO/RAM/Recordable RReWritable (RW. DVD R/RW, HD D)VD RRW etan array of devees (eg, Redundmt Array ofi ndependent Disks (RAID) sold state memory devices (LSB rmcmorY. solid state drives (SSD1)) etc.);other processor-rcadabc storage .medhmuiis: an dor oter devices of he like. Thusa computer systemization genermlyrequires' ind makes use oftmemory, The memory 629 may contai a collection of prorIm and/or database components andor data such as but not noted to: operaung system componens)61 (operating system) inftormuanin ser yer components)616 (intbumation servert user interface conmponer(t6 61 (ser interface)' Web browser ccomponentds) 618 (eb ibrowser); database(s) 619 mail server components) 621 mail ditcomponent(s 622 cryptographic serve con ponen(s) 620 cryptographic serverand/or the ikeie colecuvely a component coledcnThese components may be stored and accessedkom thesorage devicesand/or from 28 storage devices accessible through an interfaee bus.A ough non-conventional program components such as those inthe component col c picallarc stored in a locd storage device 614, they nay also be liaded andor stored in emory such as: peripheral devices RAM, remote storage faclies through a commnunications network, ROM, andis formns of memory. and/orthe ke. TI!operatin system component 615 i an executable prognan component facilitating the open on otthe MKT Icontrolle Typically, the operating system faciitates access of/U. network interface, peNipheml dcec&s, storage devices, and/or the lik The operating system may be a high fault tolerant caabe and secure sysan such as:A App Macintosh OS X (Serveri ATIan 9 Be OS aimx and nixlike system distrbutton(such as T& T's UNIX: Berkiy Sol" an Distributon BD1 variaionssuch as FreeBSD NetBSD, OpeuS %nd/r te l e m distributions t each Rod Hat, Ubunta, and/or the lie) and/lor the lie operating systems. However niore lietd and or ess seenrc operntng stems also may I e eploy.d sch as Apple Ma vjnth OS. I341 042. MWrott DO S. M Wrosoft Wins 2000003/31 20 5/-9SC/ MiFleniunNT/istaNXP (Setv o Palm S, aido the dc. An operating system may communicate to andorit otheu conmonl\ in a component collecting Including the Or helike.Most equently the operating system comninCates ith othn program components user iterfaces, and/or thelike. For example te operating system may contain, communn ate generate obtain, and/or prove program component, systenuser,a/or data conmmunication requests and/or responsesThe operating system once executed by the CPU may enabe te interaction with communicatis networks, data 1/O peripheral devices, program components, memory, user nput devices, and/or the like.The operang system may provide communicatins protocols that allow the NKIMP i contrer to communie wih other entities hrough a>ommnmadons newo613. riou cominumcation protocol may be used by the MK 1 4 controller as a subarrer transport mechanism forniteraction, such as mt not limited to: m icast TCP/PDP unica14) nd or the like Infornnation Server Aninormaton server opponentt 616 is a stored program con ponent that is executed by a CPU 'he informaon server may be a conventonal ba theme in trmation server such as. bunoit limited to Apache Softwre Foundatos Apace "Micret s ntrnet 29 Information Server, and/or the like . 'he infbornIion server ay al ow for the execution of progran componet'tI Ihrmugh faoiIiJs such as Actve Serve Page ASP i tin& (:kNSi (Objectv0 WC ( arid or NET Comrnon Gatewav nrfacc N (( I nripv dynai c D) hyprtexi markup lanongae (U I ASH. Java. JaScet Pracdeal EntacOtim Repori La nguage WPkl )Iypertext reiPt otstPh ips Python res appliclicin protocol (WAP WebObjecat, andor te lke. The inforrwann server may suppon secure comnmunitonis prolocos such a.bu not hinsed to ie Transfer Promoco i')P HyperText Transfer Protocol TIPV SeCUne Hyertexi Transfer Protocol (HiTP Si cure Soket Layer (SS essging protocols(e g. America Oline (AOlhistant Messe'ngo' M Alf. Applicaion Exchange (APEN~ ICQ nmmuRelay Chat ORC} Microsoft Networlc(M$N) Messenger Service. Prsence und instant essaging ProtoolPRIM) Tmet Enineerin Task Force's IF') Session Initiaion Prottol (SIPW SIP frstait Messagingt md Presence Leveraging Eteeisionis (SIMPLE) open XMIased Extensible Messaging and Presence Prooco (XMPP) (,abber or Open MiObi Al iance (OMA'M) nstantMessagiig andPresene Servic (IMPlS)i Yahoo' ins'tant Messe nrer Servce a0 idor telk.The- inthrntaion ser-v''r j provide results in thfornn Web paCes to Web browsers and aow firhe ianipuated generation of the Web pages trough interaction wih other program compmen ter a DomanName System N)reso on potion of an HTP request is resolved to a panalar infonmation server. the information server resolvsrequestsfor informiohn at specified locations on the NMKI con roler based on he remainder of te HTTP request, For example a request such as hap:2 24. 12u6/nytlformaiontml might haec the IP pordon of the request -123.124.12 26 resolved by a DNS server to information sererattt I, address;hat foration serer miht in tuni rther parse te http re e for the tyvafbrnmation htnl potuon of te request and resolve it to location in memr conGanng the information mnfoirmntionihtml Addiionat other informatin serving protocols may be employed across vntus ports eg FTPomin cationsacross port' 1 dnoo the k.An infrmation servr may commute to ad/orih other aimp onenint a component collection iliding itsef andor taciies ofhe lke Mostrequen the information server comnmicateswih th MtM database19 operating systems oiher programom po nentsuserinterfaces We browsers. and/or the lke.

Access to the MKITI database may be achieved through anu ro a bridge mecehnisms such as through seriping anguageus as enumenaed beow (e0. (g(A and through inter-applicaton communication channels as enumerated blow eg, CORBA WebObjects e ny t'i requests through Web browser ar parsed through th Ii dge mechanism ito appropriae grammars as required by the MKT'eone embodimentnhe informant server woudM provde a Web fbrm accessible by a We browser Entries made into suppleldsinthe Web form are agged as having bee entered into ih e particular fields, and pa rsed as such The entered terms are then passed lo' with the field tags, ich act to instruct the parse(r to geeaequeries dircted Yo apprpi tatale and/or fild. In one embodimt the paler MaY generate queriesistandard SQL by instannating a search string A tmhe proper oin/selet commanIs based on the tagged text entries wherein the rulting command is provided over the brdge m echanism to the MKTVM s j query. Upon generating query results fron the query, the result are passed oner the bridge mechanism and inay be parsed for f a man eetnfn ets Web page by the br dgenechanism Such a nw reut JWbpg is then pro~ied to the hifomation evr hc vspl it to the requnesti ng Web browsen Alo an information server ma conina. comuneate generate obtain. andor provide program component system, user and/or data eomiumeations requests, and/or responses. User Interfae Computer interfaces in sone respects are similar to automobile operation interfaces.Automnob ie operation interfiace edemetas such as steering wheeds, gcarhifts, and speedometers fciinte the access, perdt and display of automobile resources and staus. omputernteractonnterface elemensuch as check boxeseursr . menus scroler and windows (coliScy and commonly referred to as idgetssimilrg facilitate the access capabilitiesoperation, ad display of data and computer hardwaread operating system resources, and status Operation interfaces are commonly sealed user interfaces.nrphical user inteaes (Glls) such as:the Apple Maciltosh Operaing System's Aqua, IBMs OS Microsoft's Window s2O/ 3/ .l/998/CE/MHiNeninan/N /XP/Vista/7i (ieAero UnisX in downs tg which ayinc u e addition Uixgrap hic interface libraries and layers such as K DOsktop Envier'men i KDEr vythTV and GNU Network.iN ModeN l J Env iromnent 31 (ONOME) ) erbf librares (gActiveX AJAX (D)HTML. FLASH. Jaa, JavaScript etc. nertacei braes such as, but not limid to. o jQuery(). Mooools Prenotvpe scrptacdos SWFOect, Yahoo! [ ser nerface, any of which may be used ad) provide a hasel in and means of accessing and displaig inrmation graphically to users A ;se interfac component 6 is a stored program c 'iIoponeI that is executed by a C(IT. the usatr nw myx ho a enonnia grajhie user iterb3-ace a rov-w, it. and or atop operating systems and or operating environments such as aready dicussed The user interface may allow Ar the dplay eution, iterctio mantplati n titdSo operaton of program components ad/or 0gem facilities imugh tetul and/or graphical fatcil The user interface provides a faciity through which users may attcetinteractad or operate a computer sysemm A user interface ma mmunicate to anCor ith otrcomponent'i i ompoen collectionhiudingtsel and or facilities ofthe like. Most frequrghcet user interface co tmurdeates with operaing ssstems, other program components.and 01nh. I kl. The uiser inteNrface ma; co-ntai n ommnmicate, generate, h tain, maro provde progynir component. systemn, user. and/or data comrncman request.i and/or responses. Web BroWser A Web ha wser component 6IS s astored program component hat is excited by a CPU The Web browser may b a conventional hypertext viewing application such as Mcroof.ternExplorer orletscape N igator Se e Web browang may be supplied wit 128b (or greater encrypion by way of HTTPS SSL and/or hie, Web browsers atovin forthe execution of program opponents through facilities such as Active A AX (DITML. FL ASHt Java, JavaScript w browser phign APIs g. Fireo saari Plgi and or he like AP anor he ke Web browsers and R ienfonaton aCCess tools may be integrated into PDAs elhuar telephones, andor other mobile devices AWeb browser may commnucate to and/or wth other components in aeomponent colletonincluding itself, anor facilities of the like.ot freguen the Weh browser communeatsith infamationserersoperating systems tegraccd program components (y. pgIMn and/or the likeg.. it may conan. con mumcate. generate, obtain, an d:or provide program compone"nsystem user andor data communiationsrequests and/or responses.Of course in place of aVeb browserand informationserver a combined appicatihn may be developed to perform similar functions of both. The omubinred appicAton wouldsimiary affect the Obtaining and the provisi o infornaion to sesiser agentsanor thelike rom the MKTIh fabled nodes.he combined applicaion may be nugatory on sstem empkoing standard Wt bowsers Mai Server A Roil SUrv -> oipnn21 is a stoe preancmoettatiNx uid i a CPU 601 The mail server ma be a couventi mal Intenet mai n-er suh as but not lmed to seuo-ailN~vroof [x. ig. ndorW thlke. he mil! Serve max allW for tilLci-ut.Ofl ofc program components broughfacilties sah as ASPK ,NSi Objche4 C and or, NE C scripts. Java. avaScriptP I R P ppes Python WebObjects and or the like The rnai server may support communicaions pbuot suchl asbutnotjimited to intetrnt message access protocol (IAP).Messaging .A ppi nation ProgramandngInterface (MA PlierosoI Exchange post ofthe protocol(P3 nple mail transfer protocol (SMTP) andor the like. The in- server can route. foiar and process incoming and outgoing mail messages that have been sen relayed and be otherwise traversing though and or to he NMKTh Access to the MKT mail may be achieed through a number of APs offered by the mdi ldaI Web server components andior the opera eating yterm NsO. ma Iserver ma: contain. CoIMucate cnerate. obtain andor provide program component sytemuse, and/or data cornncations. request infomionand/or responses. Mail Cent A mail ienent component 622 is a stored program com ponent that is execute byv a CPU 603. The main client ay be a cventional maid viewing application such as Apple Mail, Micsoft EnA t urage irsof Outlook Miorosof O outlok Express; MoiaI, Thunderbird. andor the Ike N-i tens may support a number of tnsfer protocols, such as: IN-lM., Microsof Exchange, POP3 SMTP and/or the ke. A nail client ma COmmtuncate to and/or with odter compets ii a component collection including itself andor facilines of lt- ike Mv ost fequeny the maildientcmmndiates with maii servers operating syems other mail clients, ar or the ke e g. it may eontais communiate, generateottai and/or provide program componen system, usr and/or data communications, requests inormaton. and or responses. General the mail client provides a facity to compos- and transmit electronic mil messages 33i Lryptogranpic S<; kr A cryptographic rsrvr component 20 sa stored program componntihat is executed by a C P1 60. Cryptographic processor 626 rptographic processor inrte' 627, eryptogerphc processor e 62ice . andl/r the like, rptographic processor i~t4nes will allow for expediton oF kcippron and/or decryption quests by the cryptographic co mponen howeverc ihe cryptographiccomponent. altemnave.lyv a n~r o n a conventional (CPt [ e cry ptographic component allows for the encryption and or decrypton of provided dat aThe cryptographic conpcnet a ows for both syinmeti antd asymmetricfe 'Pretty Good Protecttor (PGP)) encrypton andor decryptiot The cvptographic componei any mploy cryptgraphic techniques such as, but notnited to:digit d ca es(eg. X509 authentication ftame work) digital signatures dual signattresgenvloping* password access protetion public key mangement and/or the like. The cryptogrphicomponeit w imitate numerous (en' ryptton and/or dlecrypioi securty protocoksuch ds but n limited to, checksum. Data Encryptron Standard (DESL Eliptica Cur nc ypion (ECC) itcmaonai D)ata Encryption Algorithm (DEA). Message Digest ~ MDR which i a one wayl haNh -ts Rivestipher C Rijrdael RSA vich is an internetenryptoi and authenticatnsystem that uses an algorithm developed in I977by Ron Ris-st, A.di Sha mirnd Leonard Ademan Secure Hash Aigorhln SHA Secure Socket Layer (Sn) Secure Hypertext transfer Protocol (HTTPS and/or the likeEmpioyingstch encrypton security protocolthe MICT may encrypt al neoming andor outgoing communica ons and may srve as node wihin a virtue private network (PNwith a wider conunicatrons network. The crypgrphc component facilitate de process of "security authorization" whereby access to a resource is inhibited by a security protocol wherein the cryptographic component effects authorized access to the secured esourceA addition. the cryptographc component may provide utique ideniffiers of content eg, employing and MDS hash to obtain a unique signature for an dignial audio file A cryptographic con xment may communicate to and/or with other comnponents in a component collection. including iself, fand/or tcilities of the like. The cryptographic component supports encryption schemes a wing for the secure ransmission of information across'a communication network to enable the MNT component to engage in secure transactions if so desiredThe cryptographic component facilitates the secure access0ig of resources on the MKTl 5 and ailitates theacesse of secured resources on remote ssteni.. it 34 may act as a hent and or senrver of secured resources Mst frequent the crnptograpi (4rnponent comnttmieates with in formation servers, operating systems, other pnmgram co apoents, andoi tI like. The cryptographie componenaeoaIan. coantnica generate, obtan and or lO prde psogram component s stem , uer, and/or da ta eomimtmications. requests, and/o t r pepons i% TIeMK database om nnt 619 may be embodied in a database and its stred data.The database is a stored r'ogran componenhih is euted by the CP di-he stored program copontent portion cotigurig the CPU to process the sto red ata. 'he database many be a con yendonal, At toe.n relao na, sCala secure dataase such as racee or Sybase el mal databases are n tension of a flat file Reaionaldabasesconsist of a series ofrehted tabl'.The tat les are itronnected via a key field se of te key field alom the con!:hinatLon of te tabls by indexin ae"s h e ild ~. h ielac as dimensi nal p o pois fo combining informationfrom aiostabes. Reaionships aneraly iden tify iikis maintained between tables bymtching primary keys.Pari r keys represent fields that mniqely identify he rws of a tab in a relational database More presey,they uniqu ideniirws of O abl on the one sde of a oneenanv reatinadhip ternga velydthe MK~' database may be impem rented using various standard datastructures such as an array. hash, (inked) li truct structured lext fileg. 1 tab indoor the lik Stch data-stnctures may be stored in memory and/orn structurdfite.In another alternativean ot ned database nay be usd such as ,ronir, ObdetStore;Poe Zope, and/or the like. Objec daandases candciude a number ofobject 'colectionstat arc grouped and/or nkcd together by common attributes they may be related to other object colecons some common attributes. Objetriented databases perform sinilary to relations databasesihthe exception that objects are no Just pieces of data but n,y Lave other types of Ameconaity encapsulated within a gien object Ifthe MKT database is implemented as a datructure, the use of the MKTU database 619 may be inegrated into another component such as the .MKil component 635. Alo, the database may beimpemented as a mix of data structures objects nd rebaionastrtrctures.atabases may be consolidated and/or distributed in countlss variations through standard data processing techniques portions of databases. eg tablestmay be exposed and/or 'mported and thus decenraizecd andVor integed 3A U Qne emboduenithe database component 619 includes several ask619at A Users ge operators and physicians table 6I may icude fields such as, hut not limind to: userard, ssn dol,, ibrst name. last name. age, stateaddress firstlin, address secondnue nipeode devces listontt rb, contactype alt contact nfo alt contact type, ad or he Ike to refer to any type oenterahle data or selections discussed heryin The Users table may support and/or track muiple entity Scouns A (ins tale 610 may include telds such as. but not limited tovusee i, c ient ie n ip, client tpe, client model, operating system, 05 verSion app installed fag andot k A ipps table 619 nay include felds such as Iauit not limited to: app D app ame app yp OS ompadhiliies lieorirnestamp. developer ID, and/or the e Patients table for patient, associad With an endty admnisteng the magnec resoname system 61 98 ay include felds such as, but not linitd to: patient id, patient name patient address ip address maw addtsx, authy k port num security yettin t ador the le An N Studies ta 69 may n i de ds ch as but not liae to: stuy yid. studyname, seurit settings list study raeterrsequences gradientequence codiselectionmaging mode anor the ike An R fences table 61 9f including a pluray of different rf puse sequeces may inicde fields such as, but not invited to: sequence ype sequence d tip angle, Co select power le and or the lA. A gmradient sequences table 6iO may include Aeids rebiting to different gradent field seeences suchas but not limited to: sequenced , G, G (i , x Cozyz y fied ngth tiMe duration andor theike A raw MR data table 619 may include fields such a s. brut not lited to: studyI, h te_stamp flile size patient id rfisequence bodvdpart_imagedslie i4 and or the len. A Images table 6 i may include fields such as. but not limited to: image id. study id, file se atent d time stamp. settings anndor the like A Payment Legers table 61 9 may inclde fields such as but not limited to: request id. tmestanip. payment amount, batch id. transaceon id clear flag, deposit account. transactionsammary patient nanme patient account. and or the like. In one embodiment.user progans ma'y contain an s user iterface pramtives, wiih nay serve to update the MKTM plattm. Aso various accents may require custom database tables depending upon the enironm. ents and the types of cents th.eKT system may need to serve t hou be noted that any united fiids may be designated as a key feld thruout in an alterative enodimentthesetables have been decentraized into their ow 36 d aabasesand their rcspettive database coarlers eindiidualdatabase controlers for each ofhe above tables Emploikg standard data processing techniques one may further distribute the daIabases over several coniputer systemntions and/or storage devces Siniu conflg nions of the deCentrazed database eontroers ma be varied by consoldatn and/or distributing the vaous database components 69$ 'The MKT1 system may be configred to keep tIck of vaous settings inputs and parametersia database controllers T'. K database may communicate to and or wth other componeats in a component collection, iding isell and or 0cilies of thelike Most frenny the MKTI' database cmnuiateswnith the MKId comonen other pro gran componern, andor deike. The daabase may conainetain, and provide information regarding other nodes and data" T he MKT Conmonents The MKTom component 63$ is stored pgroam component that is executed by a CPU. Mn me ensMbod mn the MKT' 0 component ncorpoates ay and/or all combinat ons o t e aspects of the MTh systems discussed in the prev ous Tgtres. As sud, the MK TM component affectsoacessing, obaining and the provision ofnfomation serviosransactims andior the like across various comnaens network The MKT ecmponetmay transfbrmaw da colectedby the nugnec resonance systeminto atlast one oft an image.i dyioe flow data, (gperfusion data, (in) spectroscopic idenrtiy of chemical species physiological data, or () Intaboli data among oher thigs n one embodiment e MKT1 component 635tkesiputs (e digitied representaions of M finalss produced byRD or SR pulses and transforms the inputs via various co mponensts of the system nto outputs (e.g.,d an inmage. (i dynamic flow data, ii perfusion data, iispectrozscopic identtityof cemical species (iv hysiologieal da, or(v metaLolie data, among other things). The MIKT component enablng access of information between nodes may be developed by eployne standard development tooks and languages such as, bunotmlied to: Apache components, Assembly ActiveX binary Cxecuabcs, ANSI) (Ohjctive~ C () C# and/or .NE' database adapters, CGIscript Java lavaSriplinmapping tools, procedural and object oriented development tools PERL P Pyon, shl srpts, SQL comnads, web appliation s rver extensions we. develop en environments a ad brWies(eg. g crosoft's ActiveX Ad ohe AIR, FLEX & PFL.ASFL AJAX: (D}TMI.. DojoJava; avaScript;iduryU) Moo.TooV Pnrotypesrptaculous Simple Object Acteess Protocol (SOAP) SWFObjee Yahoo!senerface and/r r t and/ the like. in oneebodnn NIMKi server employs a cryptographic server to encrypt and decrypt conuiudeath . The MKT'E opponent may comnumcate to and/or wit oter conmensin a component ecletien. 'nel d intseV andor ftnies of the like. ost freqveny. the NR T# componet communicates ith the M K u'l dat abase, opera 'stemsoher program componentI, and/or the liW. The MIKTY 5 may contain, con inuAte generatec, ob tai* nd/o prov'%ide prWogram' conpnt, syten user and/o data eonmuncaons, quests nd/or responses Te structure an operation of any ot the MK T iM node con trler components may be combined. consolidated, and/or distriuted iany minter owas to faeiliate deveopoentanid/or depkoynient Sinminu the component colection may e combinedin any number of wys to fcihtgae deployment and/or development. To ecompish is, on nay "n grwc the Camo-ponnt into a ormnon eeode bae or in a faiiy th'at can d. nanaiea'lv loaid Ihre component on demand in an interate'd faion. The component collecon ma e consolidated and or dstauted in coumless variations through standard dat processing nd/r development techniques.uliple insnces of any one o e program components in the program component collection may be istantiated on a ingle nod and/r across nunerous nodes to improve performance through load-balancing and/or dta-processing techniques Furthemo, single instances may aso be dstriuted across mnultil controllers anr storage doeis e.g. databases. All pro~grm comonent istances and corolcrs working in concert may do so through standard data pressing communication techniques he conaguraion of' the MKI controller w Idepend on the contst of system depkovet. acts such a but noimied to th budget. capa, location and/or se of the ndering h ware resources ny affen deplymntreqiren s andconfigurato Regardless of>fthe co nfiguration res Itr n m c I d oinega program omponents1resuls in a more distributed series of program components, and/rresutsin some combination between a consolidated and distributed configuration, data may be communicated, obtanedand/r provded.nstances of components consodated into common code base from the program comnenaodon may ccumunie, obtain and/b provide data.himaybe accomplished through int'ra-apphiictir datagProce sn2 commnua icatiotechniques such asbut notimited to;data referencing ga pointers)ntemalnessagng, objee instance Variae communication, shed tremnory saceadiab le passing, and/or the like. Ifcompc nent collection components'ae discrete sepa rate~ anroexternal to one another, thencominunicating. obtaing andorproiding data wth andor to other component componentsmay' be ;accomplished through intei apple I.ation data protessing2 comomun ication techniques such as. bu not hmited to Applivton Prograni :Interfaces (AI) intornmatdon passage (distibuted) Component Objt eeMod DO A (Disdbuted) Object Linking and Emtbedding((D)lF, and/or the like)t Qonaon Obtw ReAcst Boker Architectumr (CORB) Jini local atnd remote application pmram nerfacesJavacript Object Notation (SON) Rewiote ethod h ovationn (RIM1 SOAPK process ppen hared fle n aidn r the like. message senit berween discrete component componentsfor interapplicati conmmunication or within memory spaces of a singular coniponen for intraappec ation con carunicai na be cilitated through theereation and parsing of a groma. A gramma mnay be declp-ed busing development .oois such as k1 yace XMin ador the lke, whch alow for grnmmar generation and paying capabiiis which in tuna formthe basis of communication messages within and bewen component For eamplea grammar may he arranged to recogiz the tokens of an HT I'P post command, e g: wOc -post http:/. VUluel whes Vael is discerd as being a parameter because 4 http/ is pan of the gratma syntax and hatfolows considered part of tW post value Similar. such a gr'iar a variable "V ed -may be inserted ito an htp: post comuand and then sent The grammnarsyntaxitselfnmay be presented as strueturedatathat isnterpred andor othew usedtenerate the paring mechanism g ayntaxdescrinon it file as pressed by 1ev yaet) Also once the parsing media sis.eeated and/orins anted itself may process anor parse structured data sauch as bui not imied character e ab) deineated tex, MML. structued text streams, XM. and or the ke structure data. In another embodiment. internapp iation data processing proto'cols themselves nmay have integrated and/or readly availabkparsers (C JSON SOAA ander Ik parsers) tht ny be empkyed t pars (eg., eomrntnications)dateaFurther, he par.ng graniaray be used beyond message paing 399 but ay aso b sed to parse: databasesdata concetions da&xtoreisitcured datiaandor the like. Aga, the desied conhgratn W depend upon the context, anrunnt. and rqpuremneni t system d eploymnent. or example in some mlementaionha MK controHe may be exctug a PHP script implemenng a Secure Sockets er (SSL ocket server the information server which stens to mncoming cmnwnicctions on a server pod no which a client may Send data eg. datencoded inJ$0N forta po idenf ing anincomngcommunicatin the PUP script may read te incoming mesage fmhe client device p arss Ohew ra d SON encoded ext data o extrc information frm the SQN-encoded tex dala ino PHPcll pt arablesand store the datag cha dentifng nformadon etand/extrated information in a r iona database accessibe usinghe Stotured Query Langae SQ An e eplar hin written ubtanat nn the form of PHP SQL commands to accept SON f 'moIi blt11' 'r~ n i Sex ii C. i nt j. s S I i '' s~'. ~" ic >sp tc sp id$nits ."td i.sdtadv '; 5:it~we,*iss ul ' blies d r'L c a T N t) 'S;ka Lp~ ii c c 'tc~ss's'0* ri sch'sid n s 40at± Ajso. the iflowi ng resources roy be used to provide eampk embodmens regarding SOAP parser impementation: ttpna nstmi .w n emuec~inu pisI eeenopietcom. ib t~Nptdoaenefhancrigd9 s andI other parser implenentanonst Imp i bk u-ig necntn eme ax ixhejif d Asrlo&e'gacnhJBI oenetssmen inQI al owhch ar hereby express ineororated by reference. In order t adess various issues an advance th an, nentirety of this applcation for MK t APPARATUSES METHODS AND SYSTEMS (ncuding theCover 4goTitleeadigeld Bacground Sumardrif Description of the s Dtailed Descripdon. Claims. Abstract Figures. Appevndices andor otherwise) shows by way of ilhustranonye fins embodiments hich the claimed inentions may be practiced The advantages and features of the apPlat On are of resentate samie ofenbodiments oi and are not ehaustiv and/or eclusive. Mey arc presented only to assisting understanding and teach the claimed pr s shoud be ndersod tt they are iot ri O disclosed enbodiments. As suc certa aspects of the disclosure have not been discussed herein. That alernate embodiments na not have been presented for a specific portion of the invention or that further ondescribe aternate embodiments may be avaiabei for a porton is not to be considered a disclaimer of those artenate embodiments. It bil e appreciald that many of those undescribed embtodments incorporate the same principles of Th invention and others are equivalent u Tb it is to be understood that other embodiuits may be utiized and function logical orgarizational, struurd antor topological modieao may he made without departin fromt the scope andor spirit of the disclosure. As such, all examples and/or embodinens are deemed to be on-liAing throughout this disclsure. Aso no i erence 4! should be dnltyn regarding those mbodiments discussed herinrelate to those not discussed heri 1 other than itis as such for puposes of reducing space and repetition For instance, it is to be understood thathe logical VAnd/r topoeicastructure of any combination of ay progn" a components (a components collection\ oter eompcoents and/o anys present feraure sets as describednthefigurs and/rhroughout are not limited to a fixed opertin order and/or arrangement, butrther any discosed order is exnempary ran a equvaients regrdiess of order, are contemnlted by the discosure.uthennore it is to be understood that suh features are not amNed to seal execution, but rather, any nunber ofthreads, processes scrvicesservers andor the like that may execute asynchmnously. cneurrenltl in paralkl snnaianeously. synchronously, and/or the ike are contemplated by the disclosure e. As suchome of these features may he mutually contradctory, in that they cannothe si.ultaneously present in a single embodiment Similry, some features are appicable to one aspect of the invention. and inapplicable to other In addion. the disclosed incdether mentions not presently aimed Applicant reseres all rights in those present unclaimed inventionisuchlding the right to clhim such in 'enions file additional app icatienus.eontinuati ns. continuations in part divisions. and/or the like thereof As such, it shoui be understood ta advantages, embody ments, examples, funcional, features, logical organzatio al, structural topokogicab and/or other apects ofthe liseusre arenotmto he considered imitationAs onth discsure as defined by the claims or limitations on equialents tthe claims t is t be understood thatdependin on the particular needs an.ii/r eharacierstis of a MKT~ 1 individual and/ enterprise user database configuration and/or reationalodel dntatpeha transmission and/or network framew.vork, syntax srcture, and/or the ie various eoimxients of the NIKT t ngmay be inIpemented th enable a great dealof lexibht and eustomiaton 42 All statements herein rectng principles, aspectsand embodiments of the closure, as well as specific examples thereof are intended to encompass both structural and functional egivdents thef Addhiona iy it is intended that such equivalent. include both currency known equiiets as well as equivalent developed in the lture e any elements developed that perform te same funtifn, rgardlcss of struck urc. Descriptions berm of circirv and method steps and compi ter programs represent coteptualembodiments ustrate cirut ry and software emboing the prnciples o che disclosed embodiments Thus the functons of the varus enments shiwn and deserted huein may ab e provided through the use of dedicated hardware as we as hardware capable of exceuting software inrassociationwith appropriate software as set forthi herein. n the disclosure hereof any element expressed as a means for performing a specified funeioa is intended to encomass any way of peRfoting that fnion ininhing, for xampl a) a combination ot circuit elements anid associated hardware hch perform that funeitionor b) software in any fom, incluingtheefore firmware, micocode or the le as set forth herein, coimbined with appriate circuitry for executing that software to perform the function" Appheants ths regard any means which can provide those functilalitics as equivalent o those shown herein. Similarly., it will be appreciated that the system and process flows described herein represent various processes whick may be substantial represented in computer-readable media and so executed by a computer or processor whether er not such computer or processor is explicitly shown. Moreover. the vanous processes can be understood as representing not only processing and/or other ftuctions but, aleratively, as blocks of program code that carry out such processing or function. 43 Th methods. systems, computer programs and mhde devices of the present disclosure, as described abwe and shown in the drawings.n mg other thingsprovide for uipsed magnetic resonance methods systems and machine readable programs for carringz out the same, v vill be appa rent to those skiled an the art that Various modteiadons and variations can be maade in the devices, methods software progams and mobile devices of the present disciosur withoutedepartig firo the spirit or scope of the disclosure Thu it is intended that the present discosure include modifications and variations that ae withinthe scope of the subject disciosnre and eqivafens. 44

Claims (70)

1. A method for performing a magnetic resonance protocol comprising: a) providing a magnetic resonance device including (i) a main magnet for providing a background magnetic field along a first direction, (ii) at least one radio-frequency coil, and (iii) at least one gradient coil that can be controlled to define at least one region of interest; b) defining a region of interest; c) introducing a sample to be studied into the region of interest; d) inducing electromagnetic feedback between the nuclear magnetization of at least one set of nuclei within the sample and at least one nearby resonant coil to cause the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization of the at least one set of nuclei to rotate to a desired angle with respect to the first direction of the background magnetic field to generate at least one electromagnetic pulse of transverse magnetization Mxy; and e) detecting the pulse of transverse magnetization with the at least one radio frequency coil.

2. The method of Claim 1, further comprising processing information obtained from a plurality of pulses of transverse magnetization to produce at least one of (i) an image, (ii) dynamic flow data, (iii) perfusion data, (iii) spectroscopic identity of chemical species, (iv) physiological data, or (v) metabolic data.

3. The method of Claim 1, wherein electromagnetic feedback is induced at least in part by substantially eliminating the presence of a gradient magnetic field in the at least one region of interest.

4. The method of Claim 3, wherein the region of interest includes at least one voxel, and the at least one gradient coil is adapted and configured to apply a magnetic field gradient in at least one of three mutually orthogonal directions. 45

5. The method of Claim 1, wherein electromagnetic feedback is induced at least in part by selectively tuning the resonant coil to a predetermined resonant frequency.

6. The method of Claim 1., further comprising applying a RF pulse to the sample in order to at least partially invert the nuclear magnetization of the at least one set of nuclei prior to the inducing step.

7. The method of Claim 6, wherein the magnetization vector of the at least one set of nuclei is directed substantially entirely anti-parallel to the first direction of the background magnetic field.

8. The method of Claim 1, wherein the background magnetic field is in excess of 3.0 Tesla.

9. The method of Claim 1, wherein the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization of the at least one set of nuclei is permitted to fully align with the first direction of the background magnetic field when the pulse is generated.

10. The method of Claim 1, wherein the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization of the at least one set of nuclei is permitted to partially align with the first direction of the background magnetic field when the pulse is generated.

11. The method of Claim 10, further comprising generating a plurality of pulses of transverse magnetization from the at least one set of nuclei by permitting the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization of the at least one set of nuclei to progressively and discretely approach full alignment with the first direction of the background magnetic field with each succeeding pulse of transverse magnetization.

12. The method of Claim 1, wherein the inducing step includes inducing electromagnetic feedback between the nuclear magnetization of a plurality of sets of nuclei in at least two discrete, separated physical locations within the object and at least one nearby resonant coil to cause the vector direction of the nuclear magnetizations of each set of nuclei to rotate to a desired angle with respect to the first direction of the background magnetic field to generate the at least one electromagnetic pulse of transverse magnetization.

13. The method of Claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least one radio frequency coil and the at least one gradient coil is a local coil.

14. The method of Claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least one radio frequency coil and the at least one gradient coil is integrated into the magnetic resonance system. 46

15. The method of Claim 1. wherein the at least one radio frequency coil is a whole body coil.

16. The method of Claim 1, wherein the at least one radio frequency coil is a whole body phased array transmit/receive coil system having a plurality of coils that can selectively transmit and receive rf pulses of transverse magnetization.

17. The method of Claim 1, wherein the at least one radio frequency coil is a local phased array transmit/receive coil system. having a plurality of coils that can selectively transnift and receive rf pulses of transverse magnetization.

18. The method of Claim 17, wherein at least one radio frequency coil further includes a plurality of local gradient coils for locally controlling the gradient magnetic field.

19. The method of Claim 1., wherein the at least one gradient field coil further includes a plurality of gradient field coils integrated into the magnetic resonance system.

20. The method of Claim 1, further comprising: a) providing an agent wherein one or more nuclei have been hyperpolarized; b) inverting the vector direction of the polarization of the hyperpolarized nuclei to be at least partially anti-parallel to the direction of the magnetic field of the magnetic resonance device; c) introducing the agent into the region of interest; d) inducing electromagnetic feedback between the nuclear magnetization of the hyperpolarized nuclei and the at least one nearby resonant coil to cause the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization to rotate to a desired angle with respect to the first direction of the background magnetic field to generate at least one electromagnetic pulse of transverse magnetization; and e) detecting the pulse of transverse magnetization with the at least one radio frequency coil.

21. A method for inverting the vector direction of at least one set of nuclei contained in a sample, comprising: a) providing a controller; b) providing a power source operably coupled and controlled by the controller; c) providing an electromagnet in operable communication with the power source and controller; 47 d) disposing a sample having nuclei to be inverted into a sample chamber in electromagnetic communication with the electromagnet; e) operating the controller to actuate the power source to induce an electromagnetic pulse in the electromagnet to orient the vector direction of nuclei of a sample situated in the sample chamber; and e) operating an injector assembly to direct the sample into a magnetic resonance system.

22. The method of Claim 21, wherein the sample is directed into a patient disposed in the magnetic resonance system.

23. The method of Claim 22, further comprising a MR study while the hyperpolarized material is disposed in the patient to produce at least one of (i) an image, (ii) dynamic flow data, (iii) perfusion data, (iii) physiological data, and (v) metabolic data.

24-26. Intentionally left blank

27. A system for performing a magnetic resonance protocol comprising: a) a magnetic resonance device including (i) a main magnet for providing a background magnetic field along a first direction, (ii) at least one radio-frequency coil, and (iii) at least one gradient coil that can be controlled to define at least one region of interest; b) means for defining a region of interest; C) means for introducing a sample to be studied into the region of interest; d) means for inducing electromagnetic feedback between the nuclear magnetization of at least one set of nuclei within the sample and at least one nearby resonant coil to cause the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization of the at least one set of nuclei to rotate to a desired angle with respect to the first direction of the background magnetic field to generate at least one electromagnetic pulse of transverse magnetization Mxv; and e) means for detecting the pulse of transverse magnetization with the at least one radio-frequency coil. 48

28. The system of Claim 27, further comprising means for processing information obtained from a plurality of pulses of transverse magnetization to produce at least one of (i) an image, (ii) dynamic flow data, (iii) perfusion data, (iii) spectroscopic identity of chemical species, (iv) physiological data, and (v) metabolic data.

29. The system of Claim 27, wherein electromagnetic feedback is induced at least in part by substantially eliminating the presence of a gradient magnetic field in the at least one region of interest by controlling the at least one gradient coil.

30. The system of Claim 29, wherein the region of interest includes at least one voxel, and the at least one gradient coil is adapted and configured to apply a magnetic field gradient in at least one of three mutually orthogonal directions.

31. The system of Claim 27, wherein electromagnetic feedback is induced at least in part by selectively tuning the at least one rf coil to a predetermined resonant frequency.

32. The system of Claim 27, wherein the system can selectively and controllably apply a RF pulse to the sample in order to at least partially invert the nuclear magnetization of the at least one set of nuclei prior to the inducing step.

33. The system of Claim 32, wherein the system is adapted to direct the magnetization vector of the at least one set of nuclei substantially entirely anti-parallel to the first direction of the background magnetic field.

34. The system of Claim 27, wherein the background magnetic field is in excess of 3.0 Tesla proximate a center of a bore of the system.

35. The system of Claim 27, wherein the system is adapted to permit the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization of the at least one set of nuclei to fully align with the first direction of the background magnetic field when the pulse is generated.

36. The system of Claim 27, wherein the system is adapted to permit the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization of the at least one set of nuclei to partially align with the first direction of the background magnetic field when the pulse is generated.

37. The system of Claim 36, wherein the system is further adapted to selectively and controllably generate a plurality of pulses of transverse magnetization at different times from the at least one set of nuclei by permitting the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization of the at 49 least one set of nuclei to progressively and discretely approach full alignment with the first direction of the background magnetic field with each succeeding pulse of transverse magnetization.

38. The system of Claim 27, wherein the system is adapted to induce electromagnetic feedback between the nuclear magnetization of a plurality of sets of nuclei in at least two discrete, separated physical locations within the object and at least one nearby resonant coil to cause the vector direction of the nuclear magnetizations of each set of nuclei to rotate to a desired angle with respect to the first direction of the background magnetic field to generate the at least one electromagnetic pulse of transverse magnetization.

39. The system of Claim 27, wherein at least one of the at least one radio frequency coil and the at least one gradient coil is a local coil.

40. The system of Claim 27, wherein at least one of the at least one radio frequency coil and the at least one gradient coil is integrated into the magnetic resonance system.

41. The system of Claim 27, wherein the at least one radio frequency coil is a whole body coil.

42. The system of Claim 27, wherein the at least one radio frequency coil is a whole body phased array transmit/receive coil system having a plurality of coils that can selectively transmit and receive rf pulses of transverse magnetization.

43. The system of Claim 27, wherein the at least one radio frequency coil is a local phased array transmit/receive coil system having a plurality of coils that can selectively transmit and receive rf pulses of transverse magnetization.

44. The system of Claim 43, wherein at least one radio frequency coil further includes a plurality of local gradient coils for locally controlling the gradient magnetic field.

45. The system of Claim 27, wherein the at least one gradient field coil further includes a plurality of gradient field coils integrated into the magnetic resonance system.

46. The system of Claim 27, further comprising: a) a container containing an agent wherein one or more nuclei have been hyperpolarized; b) means for inverting the vector direction of the polarization of the hyperpolarized nuclei to be at least partially anti-parallel to the direction of the magnetic field of the magnetic resonance device; 50 c) means for introducing the agent into the region of interest; d) means for inducing electromagnetic feedback between the nuclear magnetization of the hyperpolarized nuclei and the at least one nearby resonant coil to cause the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization to rotate to a desired angle with respect to the first direction of the background magnetic field to generate at least one electromagnetic pulse of transverse magnetization; and e) means for detecting the pulse of transverse magnetization with the at least one radio-frequency coil.

47. A device for inverting the vector direction of at least one set of nuclei contained in a sample, comprising: a) a controller; b) a power source operably coupled and controlled by the controller; c) an electromagnet in operable communication with the power source controller; d) a sample chamber in electromagnetic communication with the electromagnet, wherein the controller is adapted and configured to operate the power source to induce an electromagnetic pulse in the electromagnet to orient the vector direction of nuclei of a sample situated in the sample chamber; and e) an injector assembly to direct the sample into a magnetic resonance system.

48. The device of Claim 47, wherein the device is adapted to direct the agent into a patient disposed in the magnetic resonance system.

49. The device of Claim 48, further comprising means for conducting a MR study while the hyperpolarized material is disposed in the patient to produce at least one of (i) an image, (ii) dynamic flow data, (iii) perfusion data, (iii) physiological data, and (v) metabolic data.

50-52. Intentionally left blank

53. A processor-readable computer program stored on a tangible non-transient medium for operating a magnetic resonance protocol on a magnetic resonance device including (i) a main magnet for providing a background magnetic field along a first direction, (ii) at least one radio frequency coil, and (iii) at least one gradient coil that can be controlled to define at least one region of interest, wherein the program comprises: a) instructions to facilitate definition of a region of interest; 51 b) instructions for inducing electromagnetic feedback between the nuclear magnetization of at least one set of nuclei within the sample and at least one nearby resonant coil to cause the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization of the at least one set of nuclei to rotate to a desired angle with respect to the first direction of the background magnetic field to generate at least one electromagnetic pulse of transverse magnetization Mxy; and e) instructions to facilitate processing signals received arising from the pulse of transverse magnetization with the at least one radio-frequency coil.

54. The computer program of Claim 53, further comprising instructions for processing information obtained from a plurality of pulses of transverse magnetization to produce at least one of (i) an image, (ii) dynamic flow data, (iii) perfusion data, (iii) spectroscopic identity of chemical species, (iv) physiological data, and (v) metabolic data.

55. The computer program of Claim 53, wherein the program includes instructions to induce electromagnetic feedback by substantially eliminating the presence of a gradient magnetic field in the at least one region of interest by controlling the at least one gradient coil.

56. The computer program of Claim 55, wherein the region of interest includes at least one voxel, and the program includes instructions to cause the at least one gradient coil to apply a magnetic field gradient in at least one of three mutually orthogonal directions.

57. The computer program of Claim 53, wherein the program includes instructions to induce electromagnetic feedback at least in part by selectively tuning the at least one rf coil to a predetermined resonant frequency.

58. The computer program of Claim 53, wherein the program includes instructions to cause the system to selectively and controllably apply a RF pulse to the sample in order to at least partially invert the nuclear magnetization of the at least one set of nuclei prior to inducing the electromagnetic feedback.

59. The computer program of Claim 58, wherein the computer program includes instructions to cause the magnetic resonance system to direct the magnetization vector of the at least one set of nuclei substantially entirely anti-parallel to the first direction of the background magnetic field. 52

60. The computer program of Claim 53, wherein the computer program includes instructions to cause the magnetic resonance system to permit the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization of the at least one set of nuclei to fully align with the first direction of the background magnetic field when the pulse is generated.

61. The computer program of Claim 53, wherein the computer program includes instructions to cause the magnetic resonance system to permit the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization of the at least one set of nuclei to partially align with the first direction of the background magnetic field when the pulse is generated.

62. The system of Claim 61, wherein computer program further includes instructions to cause the magnetic resonance system to selectively and controllably generate a plurality of pulses of transverse magnetization at different times from the at least one set of nuclei by permitting the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization of the at least one set of nuclei to progressively and discretely approach full alignment with the first direction of the background magnetic field with each succeeding pulse of transverse magnetization.

63. The computer program of Claim 53, wherein the computer program includes instructions to cause the magnetic resonance system to induce electromagnetic feedback between the nuclear magnetization of a plurality of sets of nuclei in at least two discrete, separated physical locations within the object and at least one nearby resonant coil to cause the vector direction of the nuclear magnetizations of each set of nuclei to rotate to a desired angle with respect to the first direction of the background magnetic field to generate the at least one electromagnetic pulse of transverse magnetization.

64. The computer program of Claim 53, wherein the computer program includes instructions to cause the magnetic resonance system to operate at least one radio frequency coil and at least one gradient coil that is a local coil.

65. The computer program of Claim 53, wherein the computer program includes instructions to cause the magnetic resonance system to operate at least one radio frequency coil and at least one gradient coil that is integrated into the magnetic resonance system.

66. The computer program of Claim 53, wherein the computer program includes instructions to operate a radio frequency coil that is a whole body phased array transmit/receive coil system 53 having a plurality of coils that can selectively transmit and receive rf pulses of transverse magnetization.

67. The computer program of Claim 53, wherein the computer program includes instructions to operate a radio frequency coil that is a local phased array transmit/receive coil system having a plurality of coils that can selectively transmit and receive rf pulses of transverse magnetization.

68. The computer program of Claim 53, wherein the computer program further includes instructions to operate at least one radio frequency coil that further includes a plurality of local gradient coils for locally controlling the gradient magnetic field.

69. The computer program of Claim 53, wherein the computer program further includes instructions to control a system to invert the vector direction of the polarization of hyperpolarized nuclei to be at least partially anti-parallel to the direction of the magnetic field of the magnetic resonance device.

70. The computer program of Claim 69, wherein the computer program further includes instructions for introducing the hyperpolarized nuclei with inverted magnetization into a region of interest in a sample to be examined in a magnetic resonance study.

71. The computer program of Claim 70, wherein the computer program further comprises: a) instructions to cause the magnetic resonance system to induce electromagnetic feedback between the nuclear magnetization of the hyperpolarized nuclei and the at least one nearby resonant coil to cause the vector direction of the nuclear magnetization to rotate to a desired angle with respect to the first direction of the background magnetic field to generate at least one electromagnetic pulse of transverse magnetization; and b) means for processing signals arising from. the pulse of transverse magnetization with the at least one radio-frequency coil.

72. A processor-readable computer program stored on a tangible non-transient medium for operating a device for inverting the vector direction of at least one set of nuclei contained in a sample including a controller, a power source operably coupled and controlled by the controller, an electromagnet in operable communication with the power source and controller, and a sample chamber in electromagnetic communication with the electromagnet wherein the program comprises: a) instructions to cause the controller to operate the power source to induce an electromagnetic pulse in the electromagnet to orient the vector direction of nuclei of a sample situated in the sample chamber. 54

73. The computer program of Claim 72, wherein the device further includes an injector assembly to direct the sample into a magnetic resonance system, and wherein the computer program further comprises instructions to cause the injector assembly to direct the sample into the magnetic resonance system.

74. The computer program of Claim 73, further comprising instructions to facilitate production of at least one of (i) an image, (ii) dynamic flow data, (iii) perfusion data, (iii) physiological data, and (v) metabolic data from data generated by processing the pulse. 55