Shimming coils for magnetic resonance imaging

1. A method for operating a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the method comprising:

accessing data indicating a first region for imaging at least a portion of a subject, the portion being placed in a main magnet of the MRI system and the main magnet generating a substantially uniform magnetic field;

based on the accessed data, selecting, by a control unit associated with the MRI system and from a group of available shimming coils, a first subset of shimming coils;

driving the first subset of shimming coils, but no other shimming coil in the group of available shimming coils, by using a group of power amplifiers, wherein a number of power amplifiers in the group of power amplifiers is less than a number of shimming coils in the group of available shimming coils such that a homogeneity of the magnetic field at the first region increases relative to the homogeneity of the magnetic field at the first region before driving the first subset of shimming coils;

accessing data indicating a second region for imaging another portion of the subject, the second region being different from the first region;

based on the accessed data indicating the second region, selecting, by a control unit associated with the MRI system and from a group of available shimming coils, a second subset of shimming coils that differ from the first subset by at least one shimming coil; and

driving the second subset of shimming coils by redirecting the same group of power amplifiers from the first subset of shimming coils to the second subset of shimming coils but no other shimming coils in the group of available shimming coils such that the homogeneity of the magnetic field at the second region increases relative to the homogeneity of the magnetic field at the second region before the same group of power amplifiers are redirected to drive the selected second subset of shimming coils.

2. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, comprising:

a housing having a bore in which a subject to be imaged is placed;

a main magnet accommodated by said housing and configured to generate a substantially uniform magnet field within the bore;

a group of available shimming coils placed around said housing and configured to increase a homogeneity of the magnetic field;

pulse generating coils to generate and apply radio frequency (RF) pulses in sequence to scan the subject;

gradient coils to provide perturbations to the substantially uniform magnet field that encode MRI signals acquired in response to the applied RF pulses;

a control unit coupled to the main magnet and configured to:

access data indicating a first region for imaging at least a portion of a subject, the portion being placed in a main magnet of the MRI system and the main magnet generating a substantially uniform magnetic field;

based on the accessed data, select, from a group of available shimming coils, a first subset of shimming coils;

cause the shimming coils in the first subset of shimming coils, but no other shimming coil in the group of available shimming coils, to be driven by using a group of power amplifiers to provide current, wherein a number of power amplifiers in the group is less than a number of shimming coils in the group of available shimming coils, such that a homogeneity of the magnetic field at the first region increases relative to the homogeneity of the magnetic field at the first region before the shimming coils of the first subset are driven by using the group of power amplifiers;

access data indicating a second region for imaging another portion of the subject, the second region being different from the first region;

based on the accessed data indicating the second region, select, from a group of available shimming coils, a second subset of shimming coils that differ from the first subset by at least one shimming coil; and

cause the shimming coils in the second subset of shimming coils, but no other shimming coil in the group of available shimming coils, to be driven by using the same group of power amplifiers such that the homogeneity of the magnetic field at the second region increases relative to the homogeneity of the magnetic field at the second region before the shimming coils of the second subset are driven by the group of power amplifiers.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining, by the control unit, respective weights to be applied to the shimming coils in the first subset of shimming coils.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein driving the shimming coils in the first subset of shimming coils comprises:

generating an electrical current for each of the shimming coils in the first subset of shimming coils, wherein the electrical current for each shimming coil in the first subset is proportional to the respective weight for the shimming coil; and

distributing the generated electrical currents to the shimming coils in the first subset.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein driving the shimming coils in the first subset of shimming coils comprises simultaneously driving the shimming coils in the first subset of shimming coils.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein driving the shimming coils in the first subset of shimming coils comprises:

connecting a group of power amplifiers to the first subset of shimming coils, wherein the number of power amplifiers in the group is less than the number of shimming coils in the group of available shimming coils.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein connecting the group of power amplifiers comprises:

connecting the group of power amplifiers to the first subset of shimming coils such that each power amplifier in the group of power amplifiers is connected to a respective one of the shimming coils in the first subset of shimming coils.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein connecting the group of power amplifiers comprises:

connecting the group of power amplifiers to the first subset of shimming coils such that each power amplifier in the group of power amplifiers is connected to more than one respective shimming coil.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

driving the first subset of shimming coils comprises connecting a group of power amplifiers to the first subset of shimming coils, wherein the number of power amplifiers in the group is less than the number of shimming coils in the group of available shimming coils; and

driving the shimming coils of the second subset of shimming coils comprises:

disconnecting the group of power amplifiers from the first subset of shimming coils; and

after disconnecting the group of power amplifiers from the first subset of shimming coils, connecting the group of power amplifiers to the second subset of shimming coils.

10. The MRI system of claim 2 , wherein the control unit is further configured to:

determine respective weights to be applied to the shimming coils in the first subset of shimming coils.

11. The MRI system of claim 10 , further comprising:

the group of power amplifiers.

12. The MRI system of claim 11 , wherein each power amplifier is configured to:

generate an electrical current for each of the shimming coils in the first subset of shimming coils in accordance with the determined respective weight.

13. The MRI system of claim 11 , wherein each power amplifier is connected to a respective shimming coil.

14. The MRI system of claim 11 , wherein each power amplifier is connected to more than one shimming coils.

15. The MRI system of claim 10 , wherein each shimming coil is configured to:

apply a field correction to the magnetic field in accordance with a particular order basis function.

16. The MRI system of claim 15 , wherein the particular order basis function is a spherical harmonic function.

17. The MRI system of claim 10 , wherein the first subset of shimming coils correspond to a group of basis functions and wherein more than one order basis functions are blended according to the respective determined weights.

18. The MRI system of claim 2 , wherein the control unit is further configured to:

cause the shimming coils in the first subset of shimming coils to be driven comprises:

causing the group of power amplifiers to be connected to the first subset of shimming coils; and

cause the shimming coils in the second subset of shimming coils to be driven comprises:

causing the group of power amplifiers to be disconnected from the first subset of shimming coils; and

after the group of power amplifiers are disconnected from the shimming coils of the first subset, causing the group of power amplifiers to be connected to the second subset of shimming coils.