CN113740790A

CN113740790A - Local coil software updating method, local coil management device and magnetic resonance imaging system

Info

Publication number: CN113740790A
Application number: CN202010472291.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨志根; 王英伦
Original assignee: Siemens Shenzhen Magnetic Resonance Ltd
Current assignee: Siemens Shenzhen Magnetic Resonance Ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-29
Filing date: 2020-05-29
Publication date: 2021-12-03

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a software update method for a local coil of a magnetic resonance imaging system, a local coil, an electronic device, a storage medium, a local coil management apparatus magnetic resonance imaging system, and a magnetic resonance imaging system. The method provided by the present disclosure comprises: reading first version information in a first coil file of a first local coil in response to the local coil establishing a communication connection with a corresponding interface on the magnetic resonance imaging system; comparing the first version information with the second version information; and based on a result of the comparison, to determine whether to update the second coil file based on the first coil file or to update the first coil file based on the second coil file. The method provided by the disclosure is beneficial to more convenient and flexible software update of the local coil of the magnetic resonance imaging system.

Description

Local coil software updating method, local coil management device and magnetic resonance imaging system

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of medical instruments, in particular to a software updating method of a local coil of a magnetic resonance imaging system and the magnetic resonance imaging system.

Background

Background Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a biomagnetic nuclear spin Imaging technique. The hydrogen nuclei (H +) precessing in human tissue are vibrated by magnetic field and RF pulse to generate RF signal, which is processed by computer to form image. When an object is placed in a magnetic field, it is irradiated with an appropriate electromagnetic wave to resonate it, and then the electromagnetic wave released from it is analyzed, the position and kind of nuclei constituting the object can be known, and an accurate stereoscopic image of the inside of the object can be drawn therefrom. For example, an animation of one continuous slice may be obtained by scanning the human brain by magnetic resonance imaging.

In an MRI system, radio frequency coils transmit radio frequency pulses to achieve magnetic resonance. A Local Coil (Local Coil) receives the magnetic resonance signals and sends the magnetic resonance signals to a Receive Coil Channel Selector (RCCS) and a receiver. The magnetic resonance signals are digitized in the receiver. The image reconstruction device reproduces an image using the digitized digital signal.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, an aspect of the present disclosure provides a software update method for a local coil of a magnetic resonance imaging system. The method may include: reading first version information in a first coil file of a first local coil in response to the first local coil establishing a communication connection with a corresponding interface on a magnetic resonance imaging system; comparing the first version information with second version information of a second coil file stored in a magnetic resonance imaging system; and based on a result of the comparison, to determine whether to update the second coil file based on the first coil file or to update the first coil file based on the second coil file.

Optionally, the reading the first version information in the first coil file of the first local coil in response to the first local coil establishing a communication connection with a corresponding interface on a magnetic resonance imaging system includes: verifying whether a first local coil is homogeneous with a second local coil corresponding to at least one second coil file stored in a magnetic resonance imaging system based on a first coil file of the first local coil; reading first version information in a first coil file of the local coil in response to verifying that the first local coil is homogeneous with the second local coil.

Optionally, the verifying, based on a first coil file of a first local coil, whether the first local coil is homogeneous with a second local coil corresponding to at least one second coil file stored in a magnetic resonance imaging system comprises: and verifying whether the first coil type identification code in the first coil file is the same as the second coil type identification code of at least one second coil file.

Optionally, the reading the first version information in the first coil file of the local coil includes: and identifying a first character string corresponding to the first software version information in the first version information.

Optionally, the comparing the first version information with second version information of a second coil stored in a magnetic resonance imaging system comprises: and comparing the size of the second character string corresponding to the second software version information in the first character string and the second version information.

Optionally, the comparing the first version information with second version information of a second coil stored in a magnetic resonance imaging system comprises: identifying a third character string corresponding to first hardware version information in the first version information; and responding to the identification of the third character string, and comparing the third character string with a fourth character string corresponding to second hardware version information in the second version information.

Optionally, the determining, based on a result of the comparison, that the second coil file is updated based on the first coil file or the first coil file is updated based on the second coil file comprises: in response to comparing the first string to the second string, determining that the software version of the first coil file is higher than the second coil file, uploading the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system; in response to comparing that the first string is less than the second string, determining that the software version of the first coil file is lower than the second coil file, downloading the second coil file to the local coil.

Optionally, the determining, based on a result of the comparison, that the second coil file is updated based on the first coil file or the first coil file is updated based on the second coil file comprises: uploading the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system in response to comparing the third string to a difference in the fourth string.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is directed to a local coil. The local coil includes: a first storage module, configured to store a first coil file of the local coil, where the first coil file includes first version information of the local coil; a first interface module for communicating with a corresponding interface in a magnetic resonance imaging system for mounting the local coil; and a first control module, configured to read from the storage module and transmit the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system or receive a second coil file from the magnetic resonance imaging system through the interface module and store the first coil file in the storage module, wherein the first control module is configured to transmit the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system or receive the second coil file from the magnetic resonance imaging system and store the second coil file in the first storage module in response to a result of comparing the first version information with second version information of the second coil file stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system. Optionally, the first control module is further configured to: in response to comparing that the software version of the first coil file is higher than the second coil file, the first control module uploading the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system; in response to comparing that the software version of the first coil file is lower than the second coil file, the first control module downloads the second coil file to the local coil.

Optionally, the first control module is further configured to: in response to comparing that first hardware version information in the first coil file is different from second hardware version information in the second coil file, the first control module uploads the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system.

Another aspect of the present disclosure is directed to a local coil management apparatus. The magnetic resonance imaging system comprises: the identification module is used for responding to the communication connection established between the first local coil and a corresponding interface of the magnetic resonance imaging system and reading first version information in the first coil file; a comparison module configured at least for comparing the first version information with second version information of a second coil file of at least one of the second local coils; and a second control module configured to send or receive a second coil file to or from the first local coil and store the second coil file in the magnetic resonance imaging system based on a result of the comparison by the comparison module.

Optionally, the local coil management apparatus further comprises: a verification module configured to verify, based on a first coil file of a first local coil, whether the first local coil is homogeneous with a second local coil corresponding to at least one second coil file stored in a magnetic resonance imaging system in response to the first local coil establishing a communication connection with a corresponding interface of the magnetic resonance imaging system; and the identification module is further configured to read the first version information in the first coil file in response to said verifying that the first local coil is the same as the second local coil.

Optionally, the local coil management apparatus further comprises: the identification module is further configured to identify a first character string representing first software version information from the first version information; and the comparison module is further configured to compare the size of the first string with a second string representing the second software version information.

Optionally, the second control module of the local coil management apparatus is further configured to: in response to the comparison module comparing that the first character string is larger than the second character string, the second control module determining that the software version of the first coil file is higher than the second coil file, and the second control module downloading the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system for storage through the corresponding interface; and in response to the comparison of the first character string with the second character string by the comparison module, determining that the software version of the second coil file is higher than that of the first coil file by the second control module, and uploading the second coil file to the first local coil through the corresponding interface by the second control module.

Optionally, the identification module of the local coil management apparatus is further configured to identify a third string representing first hardware version information from the first version information; the comparison module is further configured to compare the third string to a fourth string representing second hardware version information; and the second control module is further configured to: in response to the comparison module comparing that the third string is different from the fourth string, the second control module uploads the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system through the corresponding interface.

It can be seen from the above technical solutions that, unlike the prior art, the software and hardware of the magnetic resonance imaging system and the local coil need to be developed simultaneously to meet the needs of the customers. The local coil software is updated through whole software updating and developing of the magnetic resonance imaging system, or the coil file of the local coil is updated according to the whole software developing process of the magnetic resonance imaging system. The local coil version information and the software and hardware version information recorded in the coil file of the local coil are automatically compared with the software and hardware version information stored in a plurality of sets of coil files of the magnetic resonance imaging system to determine whether to upgrade and update one or more sets of coil files in the magnetic resonance imaging system based on the coil file of the local coil. Therefore, the development period of the local coil is shorter than the development period of the whole software and hardware of the magnetic resonance imaging system, the development period of the local coil is optimized, the requirements of customers are better met, and the cost of after-sales service caused by software updating of a user on the spot is reduced.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides an electronic device. The electronic device includes: a processor; and a memory storing a program comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method of software updating according to the local coil for a magnetic resonance imaging system.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a program. The program comprises instructions which, when executed by a processor of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the software update method for a local coil of a magnetic resonance imaging system.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a magnetic resonance imaging system. The magnetic resonance imaging system comprises: a local coil as described above and a local coil management apparatus as described above.

Drawings

The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by describing in detail embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating a method for determining software updates for a local coil in accordance with one illustrative embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining a software update of a local coil in accordance with another exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an apparatus block diagram illustrating a local coil according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4 is an apparatus block diagram illustrating a local coil management apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment;

figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating a magnetic resonance imaging system according to an exemplary embodiment.

Wherein the reference numbers are as follows:

1 Hospital bed

2 cavity

10 first partial coil

11 first memory module

12 first control module

13 first interface module

20 controlling machine

30 local coil management device

31 authentication module

32 identification module

33 comparison module

34 second control Module

40 image reconstruction device

Detailed Description

In order to more clearly understand the technical features, objects, and effects of the present invention, embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout.

"exemplary" means "serving as an example, instance, or illustration" herein, and any illustration, embodiment, or steps described as "exemplary" herein should not be construed as a preferred or advantageous alternative.

For the sake of simplicity, the drawings only schematically show the parts relevant to the present invention, and they do not represent the actual structure as a product. In addition, in order to make the drawings concise and understandable, components having the same structure or function in some of the drawings are only schematically illustrated or only labeled.

In this document, "one" means not only "only one" but also a case of "more than one". In this document, "first", "second", and the like are used only for distinguishing one from another, and do not indicate the degree of importance and order thereof, and the premise that each other exists, and the like.

Radio Frequency (RF) coils can be functionally divided into radio frequency transmit coils for transmitting radio frequency signals and radio frequency receive coils for acquiring magnetic resonance signals. The radio frequency receive coil needs to be as close to the patient as possible to achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio. In order to improve the imaging quality, the radio frequency coil can be divided into a body radio frequency coil and a local coil according to the structure. The local coil can be applied to various parts of a human body, such as a head coil (head and neck coil), a spine coil, an abdomen coil, a lower limb coil and the like. The local coils are generally radio frequency receiving coils, and when the local coils are used for scanning, the local coils are covered on each part of a human body, so that the local coils can be closer to the scanning part to obtain higher signal to noise ratio.

For the magnetic resonance imaging system and the local coil which are sold on the market to the client, if a new local coil required by the client does not exist in the marketed products, not only the hardware of the local coil needs to be developed, but also the coil file stored in the local coil or the coil file related to the local coil stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system needs to be upgraded and updated through a time-consuming and labor-consuming software upgrading step. The applicant finds that in order to realize the update of the local coil independent of the update of the software and hardware of the magnetic resonance imaging system, the customization requirement of the user for the local coil can be met, so that the flexibility of the development of the local coil product is improved besides the time and cost for software and hardware upgrading and updating are reduced.

Fig. 1 is a flow chart illustrating a method for determining coil file updates for local coils according to an exemplary embodiment.

In step 101, a first version information of a first coil file of a first local coil is read in response to the first local coil establishing a communication connection with a corresponding interface on the magnetic resonance imaging system.

In an exemplary embodiment, the local coil may be inserted into a position on the magnetic resonance imaging system for mounting the local coil, and the interface of the local coil is connected with a corresponding interface on the magnetic resonance imaging system to establish communication. It should be noted that the interface of the local coil and the corresponding interface on the magnetic resonance apparatus may establish communication in a wired or wireless manner.

The coil file of the first local coil has stored therein base coil file information regarding the local coil, including first version information, coil parameters, etc., coil configuration attribute information including coil configuration parameters, and data, scanning protocols, coil quality verification (QA) protocols, and related instructions. The first version information may include: first hardware version information of the local coil and/or first software version information of the coil. The coil parameters include at least one of: coil code, product name, serial number, coil identification, coil name, number and identification of the radio frequency signal receiving units contained in the local coil, and the like. The coil configuration protocol may include: scanning protocols and coil quality verification (QA) protocols, such as: quality protocol information, slice-direction, slice-thickness, slice-movement, lesion area-mode, brightness parameters, signal-to-noise parameters, and the like; coil configuration attributes and data include: FFT correction factor, IPAT factor/acceleration.

According to some embodiments, when reading first version information in a first coil file of a local coil, a first character string corresponding to first software version information in the first version information is identified.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first version information of the local coil can be determined by identifying metadata (Meta data) in the first coil file when reading the first coil file of the local coil. In particular, first software version information and/or first hardware version information associated with the first version information may be further identified by the method. It should be noted that the first software version information may record the software part modification and development published sequence about the local coil, and the first hardware version information may record the hardware part modification and development published sequence about the local coil.

See table 1, parameters stored in a coil file in the memory of the local coil in a metadata structure. As in the "basic Coil file parameter" list, the item "Coil SW/Data review" is recognized to determine the first software version information in the first version information, that is, to recognize the first character string represented by the integer type "02". In addition, the first hardware version information in the first version information is determined by identifying an item of "Coil HW review", i.e. a third string represented by an integer "01" is identified.

Basic coil file parameters	Data type	Parameter value
			Coil Code	Int	0x1234
Product Name	String	“example coil”
			Serial Number	Int	1001
Coil HW Revision	Int	01
			Coil SW/Data Revision	Int	001

TABLE 1 parameters stored in a coil file in a memory of a local coil in a metadata structure

It should be noted that the first version information may include at least first hardware version information and first software version information, and may not be limited to be represented in a string form of an integer type, a numeric type, a floating point type, a mixture of letters and numbers.

According to some embodiments, reading the first version information of the first coil file of the local coil in response to establishing a communication connection with the first local coil through a corresponding interface on the magnetic resonance imaging system comprises: it can be verified, based on a first coil file of the first local coil, whether the first local coil is homogeneous with a second local coil corresponding to at least one second coil file stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system. In some embodiments, the first local coil may be classified by specific implementation as a head coil, a neck coil, a head and neck coil, a body coil, a limb coil, a shoulder coil, a spine coil, a large flexible coil, a small flexible coil, an ankle coil, or the like. Accordingly, the second local coil, as a local coil previously stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system, can be classified in the above-described manner according to its specific embodiment. It is noted that in some cases it may be necessary to determine whether the first local coil is of the same classification as the at least one second local coil, i.e. to determine that the first local coil is of the same class as the at least one second local coil may be the basis for comparing the recency of the version information between the first coil file and the second coil file and for implementing a software update on the local coils.

It should be noted that when verifying whether the second coil file is the same type or not through the first coil file, the first local coil may serve as a receiver for receiving magnetic resonance signals from different parts of the human body, and the first coil file may naturally include a plurality of coil information data sets such as coil configuration information data, QA protocol, scanning protocol, and the like at the same time, and may correspond to a plurality of coil types distinguished according to the scanning parts, so that there may be more than one type of first local coil, and the comparison of the coil types may be a comparison between the types of the plurality of first local coils and the types in the second coil file, which is not limited in this embodiment.

According to some embodiments, when verifying whether the first local coil is the same as a second local coil corresponding to at least one second coil file stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system based on a first coil file of the first local coil, it may be verified whether a first coil class identification code in the first coil file is the same as a second coil class identification code of the at least one second coil file.

According to some embodiments, the first coil type identification code may include first coil name information, and the second coil type identification code may include second coil name information. The first coil name information may be stored in the first coil file in the form of a character string, such as "example coil". The second coil name information may be stored in the second coil file in the form of a character string, such as "example coil 2". For example, by comparing the identity or similarity of character strings of the first coil name information and the second coil name information, it can be verified whether the first local coil and the second local coil are homogeneous. According to another embodiment, it is possible to verify whether the first local coil and the second local coil are the same kind or not, based on the first kind identification serial number described in the first coil kind identification code and the second kind identification serial number described in the second coil kind identification code of the second local coil. The present embodiment does not limit the method for specifically verifying whether the first local coil and the second local coil belong to the same type.

In an alternative embodiment, for verifying that the first local coil is not of the same type as the second local coil stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system, the first local coil may be inserted into an interface or socket of the magnetic resonance imaging system as a first-use coil or local coil, and the first local coil may upload a coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system, which may be stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system in accordance with a specific assigned coil identification.

In step 102, the first version information is compared with a second version information of a second coil file stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system.

The second coil file is stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system to represent coil data, parameters, configuration attribute information, second version information, related instructions, and the like of the second local coil stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system. In an alternative embodiment, a first-use coil or local coil may be inserted into an interface or slot of the magnetic resonance imaging system, and the coil or local coil may upload a coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system, which may be stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system according to a specific assigned coil identification, with the coil file of the coil or local coil stored in the above-described manner as the second coil file.

It should be noted that, by comparing the first version information with the second version information, it can be determined whether the first coil file is an updated version with respect to the second coil file version. The change in version information may reflect the sequencing of improvements, developments and iterations in the software and hardware aspects of the local coil, i.e. the version of the first coil file is updated or higher relative to the version of the second coil file. In particular, may be embodied in a method comprising: software, hardware and hardware-adapted parameters of the local coil are optimized and developed, new functions are added, scanning protocols are added or modified, image brightness correction factors of the local coil are optimized, coil configuration parameters are optimized to obtain higher signal-to-noise ratio and the like. The embodiment does not limit how to improve and update the coil file of the local coil.

According to some embodiments, when comparing the first version information with the second version information of the second coil file stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system, the sizes of the second character strings corresponding to the first character strings and the second software information in the second version information may be compared.

It should be noted that the second version information contained in the second coil file may be, but is not limited to, represented in the form of a character string of an integer type, a numeric type, a floating point type, a mixture of letters and numbers.

In some embodiments, the first string and the second string may be converted into ASCII code, and the first string and the second string may be compared to each other to determine whether the version of the first software version information corresponding to the first string is higher or newer than the version of the second software version information corresponding to the second string. If the first character string and the second character string are both in the size comparison of the integer type, the floating point type or the digital type, the size of the numerical values of the first character string and the second character string is compared to determine the version height and the version old and new between the first software version information and the second software version information, and the version height or the version old and new between the first coil file and the second coil file can be determined.

According to some embodiments, when comparing the first version information with the second version information of the second coil stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system, a third string corresponding to the first hardware version information in the first version information may be identified, and in response to identifying the third string, the third string corresponding to the first hardware version information is compared with a fourth string corresponding to the second hardware version information in the second version information. It should be noted that determining whether the first hardware version information is the same as the second hardware version information may be performed as a sequence reflecting the development, improvement, etc. in the hardware version between the first local coil and the second local coil of the same type stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system.

In step 103, based on the result of the comparison, it is determined whether the second coil file is updated based on the first coil file or the first coil file is updated based on the second coil file.

According to some embodiments, it is determined that the second coil file on the magnetic resonance imaging system is updated based on the first coil file based on the comparison result, the second coil file may be overwritten by the first coil file, the portion of the first coil file may be replaced by the portion of the second coil file, or the related data, parameters, and instructions in the second coil file may be updated in a manner of adding the first coil file to a storage device in which at least one second coil file is stored. This embodiment does not further limit this.

It can be understood that according to the above-mentioned local coil software updating method, it is possible to realize the updating and upgrading of hardware and software of the local coil which is provided to the user independently of the software of the magnetic resonance imaging system, and more flexible customization or development of new hardware and software of the local coil based on the user's requirement. May be embodied in: 1) the cost to the user of after-sales service with respect to updating software on the customer site when using a new local coil can be reduced; 2) the development cost and time of a new local coil can be reduced, and the development and the update of the whole software of the magnetic resonance imaging system can be independent, so that the flexibility is better; 3) the applicant has found that the file format of the (local) coil file is independent of the software format of the magnetic resonance imaging system (system), and thus can be independent of the updating of the software of the magnetic resonance imaging system in the maintenance of version updates of the local coil file.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining a coil file update of a local coil according to another exemplary embodiment.

Here, steps 201 to 203 may correspond to steps 101 to 103 described based on fig. 1, and are not described herein again.

In step 204, the size of the first string of the first software version information of the first local coil file is compared with the size of the second string corresponding to the second software version information in the second version information.

In step 205, in response to comparing that the first string is greater than the second string, determining that the software version of the first coil file is higher than the second coil file, uploading the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system for storage.

It is easily understood that the software version information of the coil file, which is usually represented by a character string of a numeric type such as an integer type, a floating point type, or a numeric and character mixed type, expresses the old and new relationships of the software version in an order of increasing numbers or letters. When the software version of the first coil file is higher than that of the second coil file, the first coil file is updated to adapt to the use requirement of a user.

In some embodiments, the first coil file may be uploaded to the magnetic resonance imaging system to completely cover, partially replace, or separately store the second coil file, so as to update parameters, data, instructions, and the like in the second coil file, and update software of the second local coil stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system is completed. The embodiment does not limit how to specifically complete the software update of the second coil file based on the first coil file.

In step 206, in response to comparing that the first string is less than the second string, determining that the software version of the first coil file is lower than the second coil file, the second coil file is downloaded from the magnetic resonance imaging system to the first local coil.

When the software version of the first coil file is determined to be lower than that of the second coil file, the second coil file stored in the magnetic resonance imaging device is updated and improved compared with the first coil file. In some embodiments, the second coil file may be downloaded from the magnetic resonance imaging system to the first local coil to update the relevant parameters, data, and instructions, etc. in the first coil file in an alternative manner.

By the method, the software version information of the first local coil and the second local coil is compared, the efficiency of upgrading and updating the software of the local coils is improved, the software and hardware updating and development of the local coils are separated from the software development of the whole magnetic resonance imaging system, and the flexibility of upgrading and developing the software and hardware of the local coils is improved.

According to some embodiments, the first coil file is uploaded to the magnetic resonance imaging system in response to comparing the third string to a difference in the fourth string.

It should be noted that comparing the first hardware version information with the second hardware version information may determine that the first local coil is either new or old than stored in the magnetic resonance coil. It will be readily appreciated that since the difference in hardware of the first local coil makes it more difficult to be compatible with the use of existing magnetic resonance imaging systems, a preferred embodiment is to upload the first coil file directly to the magnetic resonance imaging system for storage to achieve compatibility in use of different hardware versions of the same type of local coil on a magnetic resonance imaging system.

The disclosed embodiments also provide a local coil of a magnetic resonance imaging system, and a local coil of the present disclosure is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 3 is an apparatus block diagram illustrating a local coil according to an exemplary embodiment.

As shown in fig. 3, a local coil 10 according to the present disclosure includes: a first storage module 11, configured to store a first coil file of the local coil 10, where the first coil file includes first version information of the local coil 10. A first interface module 13 for communicating with a corresponding interface on the magnetic resonance imaging system for mounting the local coil 10. And a first control module 12, configured to read the first coil file from the first storage module 11 and send the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system through the first interface module 13, or receive the second coil file from the magnetic resonance imaging system and store the second coil file in the first storage module 11. Wherein, the first control module 12 is further configured to send the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system or receive the second coil file from the magnetic resonance imaging system and store the second coil file in the first storage module 11 in response to the result of comparing the first version information with the second version information of the second coil file stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system.

According to some embodiments, the first storage module may be implemented as a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable memory (EEPROM), a secure digital card (SD card), a FLASH memory (FLASH ROM), or the like storage medium.

According to an alternative embodiment, the first storage module 11 may also have a file support module. Any file related to the coil file may be stored. The file support module may support one or more sets of data sets consisting of coil configuration information data, QA protocol, and scan protocol in the coil file to correspond to a plurality of scan sites, so as to support downloading of a plurality of local coil files to the magnetic resonance imaging system when the (local) coil is inserted into a local coil interface on a patient bed of the magnetic resonance imaging system. Regarding an example of an application where one local coil 10 corresponds to multiple sets of data sets, for example, for a floating coil (Flex coil), three sets of data sets can be corresponding, one set for abdominal scanning, one set for wrist scanning, and one set for knee scanning, and the difference between the three sets of data sets is shown in: FFT correction factors, IPAT acceleration/factors, QA protocols, and scanning protocols, among others. The file support module can thus be used to default to one of the sets of data for a single local coil 10. In addition, a set of data sets may be selected as a scanning protocol using information such as a scanning site at the time of patient registration.

According to some embodiments, the local coil 10 may be embodied as a head coil, neck coil, head and neck coil, body coil, limb coil, shoulder coil, spine coil, large flexible coil, small flexible coil, or ankle coil, among others.

According to some embodiments, the first interface module 13 may transmit the transmission coil file or the reception coil file to the outside in a limited or wireless manner. When the interface module sends or receives the coil file to or from the outside in a wired manner, the interface module may be connected to the outside in a wired manner, such as a single twisted wire or a twisted pair. The interface module may be connected to the outside by a bus system such as a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) or an integrated circuit interconnect (12C). The first interface module may include at least one of a USB interface, a lightning interface (Lighting), and a Pogo pin interface (Pogo pin). When the interface module may transmit or receive the coil file to or from the outside in a wireless manner, the first interface module 13 may be specifically implemented as, but not limited to, a WIFI communication module, a bluetooth communication module, an infrared communication module, a 2G communication module, a 3G communication module, a 4G communication module, and the like.

In the coil file of the local coil 10, basic coil file information on the local coil including first version information, coil parameters, and the like, and coil configuration attribute information including coil configuration parameters are stored. The first version information may include: first hardware version information of the local coil and/or first software version information of the coil. The coil parameters include at least one of: coil code, product name, serial number, local coil identification, coil name, number and identification of radio frequency signal receiving units contained in the local coil, and the like. The local coil configuration parameter data may include scanning protocols as well as coil quality verification (QA) protocols, such as: protocol information, slice-direction, slice-thickness, slice-motion, lesion region-pattern, brightness parameters, and signal-to-noise parameters, among others. The local coil configuration attribute information may further include: possible IPAT factors of the local coil 10 in different directions; FFT correction factor of the local coil 10; image brightness correction factor of the local coil 10; coil protection information of the local coil 10; position information of the local coil 10; patient safety-related information of the local coil 10. In addition, the coil protection information of the local coil 10 may include peak voltage, average power, and B1 magnetic field limitations, among others.

While typical examples of the local coil, the first memory module, and the first interface module are described above in detail, those skilled in the art will appreciate that this description is by way of example only, and is not intended to limit the scope of embodiments of the present disclosure.

According to one embodiment, the first control module 12 is further configured to: in response to determining that the software version of the first coil file is higher than the second coil file, the first control module 12 uploads the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system.

According to one embodiment, the first control module 12 is further configured to: in response to determining that the software version of the second coil file is lower than the second coil file, the first control module downloads the second coil file from the magnetic resonance imaging system to the first memory module 11 of the local coil 10.

According to another embodiment, the first control module 12 may be further configured to: in response to comparing that the first hardware version information in the first coil file is different from the second hardware version information in the second coil file, the first control module 12 uploads the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system through the first interface module 13.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a local coil management device, which is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 4 is an apparatus block diagram illustrating a local coil management apparatus 40 according to an example embodiment.

As shown in fig. 4, the local coil management device 30 according to the present disclosure includes: an identification module 32, which may be configured for reading the first version information in the first coil file in response to the first local coil establishing a communication connection with a corresponding interface of the magnetic resonance imaging system; a comparison module 33, which may be configured for comparing the first version information with second version information of a second coil file of the at least one second local coil; and a second control module 33 configured for, in response to a result of comparing the first version information and the second version information of the first coil file of the first local coil 10, the second control module 33 transmitting the second coil file to the first local coil 10 or receiving the first coil file from the first local coil 10 and may be stored in a second storage module of the magnetic resonance imaging system.

It is noted that the second local coil is stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system in the form of a second coil file as at least one local coil that was previously used or stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system. The local coil is classified into a head coil, a neck coil, a head and neck coil, a body coil, a limb coil, a shoulder coil, a spine coil, a large flexible coil, a small flexible coil, an ankle coil, and the like, according to the use of the local coil in a body part of a patient, and the magnetic resonance signal is collected in a body part of a specific patient.

According to some embodiments, the local coil management apparatus may further comprise: a verification module 31, which may be configured to verify, based on a first coil file of the first local coil 10, whether the first local coil 10 is homogeneous with a second local coil stored corresponding to at least one second coil file in the magnetic resonance imaging system, in response to the first local coil 10 establishing a communication connection with a corresponding interface of the magnetic resonance imaging system; and the identification module is further configured to read the first version information in the first coil file in response to verifying that the first local coil is the same as the second local coil. The applicant has found that the reliability of the comparison of version information can be increased when the first local coil 10 and the second local coil belong to the same class of local coils.

When the first coil file is used to verify whether the second coil file is the same as the first coil file, the first coil file may simultaneously include a plurality of coil information data sets such as coil configuration information data, QA protocol, and scanning protocol, and may correspond to a plurality of coil types classified by scanning region, and therefore, the comparison of the coil types may be performed between the plurality of types and the type in the second coil file.

According to some embodiments, in verifying whether the first local coil 10 and the second local coil are homogeneous, the verification module 31 may verify whether the first local coil 10 and the second local coil are homogeneous by comparing the identity or similarity of character strings of the first coil name information of the first local coil 10 and the second coil name information of the second local coil; alternatively, it may be verified whether the first local coil 10 and the second local coil are the same type or not based on the type identification number described in the first coil file of the first local coil 10 and the type identification number described in the second coil file of the second local coil. The present embodiment does not limit the method for specifically verifying whether the first local coil and the second local coil belong to the same type. It should be noted that, the specific method and meaning of the relatively large and small size between the first character string and the second character string have been given in the foregoing description, and this embodiment will not be further described.

According to some embodiments, the identification module 32 is further configured to identify a first character string representing the first software version information from the first version information; and the comparison module 33 is further configured for comparing the size of the first string with a second string representing the second software version information.

According to some embodiments, the second control module 34 is further configured to: in response to the comparison module 33 comparing that the first character string is larger than the second character string, and determining that the software version of the first coil file is higher than that of the second coil file, the second control module 34 downloads the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system for storage through a corresponding interface of the first local coil 10, which establishes a communication connection with the magnetic resonance imaging system.

According to some embodiments, the second control module 34 is further configured to: in response to the comparison module 33 comparing that the first string is smaller than the second string, and determining that the software version of the first coil file is lower than that of the second coil file, the second control module 34 uploads the second coil file to the first local coil through the corresponding interface of the first local coil 10 that establishes the communication connection with the magnetic resonance imaging system.

It should be noted that the corresponding interface of the magnetic resonance imaging system establishing a communication connection with the first local coil 10 may transmit the transmission coil file or the reception coil file to the outside in a limited or wireless manner. When the interface module sends or receives the coil file to or from the outside in a wired manner, the interface module may be connected to the outside in a wired manner, such as a single twisted wire or a twisted pair. The interface module may be connected to the outside by a bus system such as a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) or an integrated circuit interconnect (12C). The first interface module may include at least one of a USB interface, a lightning interface (Lighting), and a Pogo pin interface (Pogo pin). When the interface module may transmit or receive the coil file to or from the outside in a wireless manner, the first interface module 13 may be specifically implemented as, but not limited to, a WIFI communication module, a bluetooth communication module, an infrared communication module, a 2G communication module, a 3G communication module, a 4G communication module, and the like.

It should be noted that the software version information represented by the character string includes numbers, letters, or a mixture of numbers and letters, and represents the old and new relationships between the software versions in an ascending order, so that the software version of which coil file is higher can be determined by comparing the sizes of the first character string and the second character string.

It should be noted that, after the first coil file is downloaded to the second storage module of the magnetic resonance imaging system, the second coil file stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system can be updated and upgraded in a partially or fully covered manner by using the basic coil information, the local coil configuration attribute information (data) and the related instructions in the first coil file. Alternatively, the first coil file can be assigned a specific identifier in a second memory module of the magnetic resonance imaging system for storage. This embodiment is not limited thereto.

According to some embodiments, the local coil management apparatus 30 of the present disclosure, the identifying module 32 is further configured to identify a third string representing the first hardware version information from the first version information. The comparison module 33 is further configured to compare the similarity and difference of the third string and a fourth string representing the second hardware version information, and the second control module 34 is further configured to: in response to the comparison module 33 comparing the difference between the third string and the fourth string, the second control module 34 uploads the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system for storage via the communication connection of the corresponding interface between the first local coil 10 and the magnetic resonance imaging system.

In one aspect of the present disclosure, a magnetic resonance imaging system is also provided, and the magnetic resonance imaging system related to the present disclosure is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 5 is an exemplary block diagram illustrating a magnetic resonance imaging system according to one exemplary embodiment.

According to some embodiments, the magnetic resonance imaging system comprises: a hospital bed 1, which hospital bed 1 is movably movable into and out of a chamber 2, wherein a main magnetic field and a gradient magnetic field are formed in the chamber 2; the sickbed 1 can be positioned on a supporting frame, and the supporting frame is usually fixed; a local head coil 10 arranged on the hospital bed 1, the head coil 10 storing a first coil file, the first coil file including first version information of the head coil 10, and the first version information at least including first software version information; a controller 20 integrated with a reception channel selector (RCCS) and a local coil management device 30, wherein the controller 20 is connected to an image reconstruction device 40.

During operation of the magnetic resonance imaging system, one or more radio frequency signal receiving units in the head coil 10 receive magnetic resonance signals and transmit the magnetic resonance signals to the control machine 20, where the magnetic resonance signals are digitized. The image reconstruction device 40 reproduces an image using the digitized digital signal.

When the head coil 10 is installed on the hospital bed 1 for the first time, the magnetic resonance imaging system and the head coil 10 establish communication connection through a corresponding interface on the hospital bed 1; the local coil management means 30 may verify whether the head coil 10 is homogeneous with a second local coil associated with at least one second coil file stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system based on reading the coil file of the head coil 10; if the coil is not of the same type, the local coil management device 30 uploads the coil file of the head coil 10 to the magnetic resonance imaging system for storage; if the same kind of local coil is verified, the local coil management apparatus 30 reads version information in the coil file of the head coil 10, which may include: local coil software version information, and/or local coil hardware version information; the local coil management apparatus 30 compares the version information of the head coil 10 with the second version information of the second coil file, and taking the comparison of the local coil software version information as an example, the local coil management apparatus 30 may compare the sizes of the first character string of the head coil 10 indicating the software version information thereof with the second character string of the second coil file indicating the software version information thereof. The local coil management device 30 sends the first coil file of the head coil 10 to the magnetic resonance imaging system for updating according to the result of comparing that the first character string is larger than the second character string; otherwise, the second coil file is sent to the head coil 10 for updating.

According to some embodiments, the magnetic resonance imaging system may comprise a second storage module for storing a plurality of second coil files, so as to provide for invoking and managing the plurality of second coil files. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present disclosure is not so limited.

In fig. 5, the present disclosure is described in detail by taking a head coil as an example. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention may also be applied to a cervical coil, a head and neck coil, a body coil, a limb coil, a shoulder coil, a spine coil, a large flexible coil, a small flexible coil, or an ankle coil, among other local coils.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided an electronic device, which may include: a processor and a memory storing a program comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the above-described software update method for a local coil of a magnetic resonance imaging system.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a computer readable storage medium storing a program, the program comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the above-described software update method for a local coil of a magnetic resonance imaging system.

According to some embodiments, the software updating method for the local coil of the magnetic resonance imaging system proposed by the embodiments of the present disclosure may be written as a plug-in installed in a personal computer, a mobile terminal, a medical instrument and device, etc., or may be packaged as an application program for a user to download by himself or herself. The software updating method of the local coil of the magnetic resonance imaging system provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure can be stored on various storage media by means of instructions or instruction sets. Such storage media include, but are not limited to: floppy disk, optical disk, DVD, hard disk, flash memory, etc. In addition, the software updating method for the local coil of the magnetic resonance imaging system proposed by the embodiment of the present disclosure can also be applied to a flash memory (Nand flash) based storage medium, such as a usb disk, a CF card, an SD card, an SDHC card, an MMC card, an SM card, a memory stick, an xD card, and the like.

The above description is only exemplary of the present invention and should not be taken as limiting the invention, as any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A software update method for a local coil of a magnetic resonance imaging system, the method comprising:

reading first version information in a first coil file of a first local coil in response to the first local coil establishing a communication connection with a corresponding interface on a magnetic resonance imaging system;

comparing the first version information with second version information of a second coil file stored in a magnetic resonance imaging system; and

based on a result of the comparison, to determine whether to update the second coil file based on the first coil file or to update the first coil file based on the second coil file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein reading the first version information in the first coil file of the local coil in response to the first local coil establishing a communication connection with a corresponding interface on the magnetic resonance imaging system comprises:

verifying whether a first local coil is homogeneous with a second local coil corresponding to at least one second coil file stored in a magnetic resonance imaging system based on a first coil file of the first local coil;

reading first version information in a first coil file of the local coil in response to verifying that the first local coil is homogeneous with the second local coil.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said verifying based on a first coil file of a first local coil whether the first local coil is homogeneous with at least one second local coil stored in a magnetic resonance imaging system comprises:

and verifying whether the first coil type identification code in the first coil file is the same as the second coil type identification code of at least one second coil file.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the reading the first version information in the first coil file of the local coil comprises:

and identifying a first character string corresponding to the first software version information in the first version information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the comparing the first version information with second version information of a second coil file stored in a magnetic resonance imaging system comprises:

and comparing the size of the second character string corresponding to the second software version information in the first character string and the second version information.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the comparing the first version information to second version information of a second coil stored in a magnetic resonance imaging system comprises:

identifying a third character string corresponding to first hardware version information in the first version information; and

and responding to the identification of the third character string, and comparing the third character string with a fourth character string corresponding to second hardware version information in the second version information.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the determining, based on a result of the comparison, to update the second coil file based on the first coil file or to update the first coil file based on the second coil file comprises:

in response to comparing the first string to the second string, determining that the software version of the first coil file is higher than the second coil file, uploading the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system;

in response to comparing that the first string is less than the second string, determining that the software version of the first coil file is lower than the second coil file, downloading the second coil file to the local coil.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining, based on a result of the comparison, to update the second coil file based on the first coil file or to update the first coil file based on the second coil file comprises:

uploading the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system in response to comparing the third string to a difference in the fourth string.

9. A local coil, comprising:

a first storage module, configured to store a first coil file of the local coil, where the first coil file includes first version information of the local coil;

a first interface module for communicating with a corresponding interface in a magnetic resonance imaging system for mounting the local coil; and

a first control module, configured to read from the storage module and send the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system through the interface module or receive a second coil file from the magnetic resonance imaging system and store the second coil file in the storage module,

wherein the first control module is configured to transmit the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system or receive a second coil file from the magnetic resonance imaging system and store the second coil file in the first storage module in response to a result of comparing the first version information with second version information of the second coil file stored in the magnetic resonance imaging system.

10. The local coil of claim 9, wherein the first control module is further configured to:

in response to comparing that the software version of the first coil file is higher than the second coil file, the first control module uploading the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system;

in response to comparing that the software version of the first coil file is lower than the second coil file, the first control module downloads the second coil file to the local coil.

11. The local coil of claim 9, wherein the first control module is further configured to:

in response to comparing that first hardware version information in the first coil file is different from second hardware version information in the second coil file, the first control module uploads the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system.

12. A local coil management apparatus comprising:

the identification module is used for responding to the communication connection established between the first local coil and a corresponding interface of the magnetic resonance imaging system and reading first version information in the first coil file; and

a comparison module configured at least for comparing the first version information with second version information of a second coil file of at least one of the second local coils; and

a second control module configured to send or receive a second coil file to or from the first local coil and store the second coil file in the magnetic resonance imaging system based on a result of the comparison by the comparison module.

13. The local coil management device of claim 12, further comprising:

a verification module configured to verify, based on a first coil file of a first local coil, whether the first local coil is homogeneous with a second local coil corresponding to at least one second coil file stored in a magnetic resonance imaging system in response to the first local coil establishing a communication connection with a corresponding interface of the magnetic resonance imaging system; and

the identification module is further configured to read the first version information in the first coil file in response to the verifying that the first local coil is homogeneous with the second local coil.

14. The local coil management device of claim 12,

the identification module is further configured to identify a first character string representing first software version information from the first version information; and

the comparison module is further configured to compare the size of the first string with a second string representing the second software version information.

15. The local coil management apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second control module is further configured to:

in response to the comparison module comparing that the first character string is larger than the second character string, the second control module determining that the software version of the first coil file is higher than the second coil file, and the second control module downloading the first coil file to the magnetic resonance imaging system for storage through the corresponding interface; and

in response to the comparison module comparing that the first character string is smaller than the second character string, the second control module determines that the software version of the second coil file is higher than the first coil file, and the second control module uploads the second coil file to the first local coil through the corresponding interface.

16. The local coil management apparatus of claim 15, wherein the identification module is further configured to identify a third string representing first hardware version information from the first version information;

the comparison module is further configured to compare the third string to a fourth string representing second hardware version information; and

the second control module is further configured to: in response to the comparison module comparing that the third string is different from the fourth string, the second control module uploads the first coil file to the second storage module through the corresponding interface.

17. An electronic device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing a program comprising instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a software update method for a local coil of a magnetic resonance imaging system according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

18. A computer readable storage medium storing a program, the program comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the software update method for a local coil of a magnetic resonance imaging system of any one of claims 1 to 8.

19. A magnetic resonance imaging system, comprising: a local coil as claimed in any of claims 9 to 11 and a local coil management device as claimed in any of claims 12 to 16.