Method and device for controlling a magnetic resonance imaging system

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

applying a multi-band radio-frequency (RF) pulse sequence to simultaneously excite at least two slices of multislice imaging data acquired via the MRI system;

applying, while the multi-band RF pulse sequence is being applied to measure k-space lines, a set of in-plane encoding signals and a set of Hadamard encoding signals in an interleaved scheme,

wherein the interleaved scheme is in the form of an execution loop having (i) an inner loop in which a first set of signals is applied, and (ii) an outer loop in which a second set of signals is applied; and

performing at least one of:

(i) applying a set of extended Hadamard-encoding signals together with an undersampled set of in-plane encoding signals, and

(ii) applying the set of in-plane encoding signals in the outer loop and the set of Hadamard encoding signals in the inner loop.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the set of undersampled in-plane encoding signals comprise a set of phase encoding signals, and

wherein the act of applying the set of extended Hadamard-encoding signals together with the undersampled set of in-plane encoding signals includes, when applying the set of undersampled in-plane encoding signals, leaving out complete pairs of k-space lines based on at least one of a regular grid or an irregular pattern.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the act of applying the set of extended Hadamard-encoding signals together with the undersampled set of in-plane encoding signals includes using, for the set of extended Hadamard-encoding signals, an integer number N of different phases,

wherein the integer number N is a divisor of 360°, and

wherein the single phases in the used set of phases are spaced apart in phase space by 360°/N.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the integer number N of different phases is 4, such that the phases include 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

measuring each k-space line a number of times using two or more phases of the Hadamard encoding with a set of binary Hadamard encoding signals being applied; and

measuring each k-space line with each of the binary Hadamard encoding signals.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

measuring each k-space line a number of times using two or more phases of the Hadamard encoding;

measuring four slices from among the multislice imaging data with a set of extended Hadamard encoding signals being applied; and

measuring each k-space line with four Hadamard encodings.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

reconstructing data recorded by the MRI system by:

reconstructing separate signals from the measured slices for each k-space line by creating a linear combination by calculating at least one of (i) a sum and/or a difference over pairs of the recorded k-space lines, or (ii) a weighted sum with complex factors over a number of the recorded k-space lines; and

applying a Hadamard combination line-by-line.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

reconstructing data recorded by the MRI system by reconstructing an image slice-by-slice for a field of view using at least one of (i) a parallel imaging reconstruction technique using information from all slices to reconstruct a single slice, (ii) a combined reconstruction method, (iii) an iterative imaging reconstruction technique, (iv) a model-based reconstruction technique, and (v) a prior-knowledge-based reconstruction technique.

9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

reconstructing data recorded by the MRI system by receiving a measured signal with multiple coils that have parallel-acquisition-technique encoding capability.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the same pairs of k-space lines in the Hadamard encoded k-space lines are omitted in each slice from among the multislice imaging data.

11. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

performing a self-navigation based on Hadamard combined k-space line pairs.

12. A device according for controlling a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the device comprising:

output circuitry configured to provide a multi-band radio-frequency (RF) pulse sequence that, when applied via the MRI system, simultaneous excites at least two slices of multislice imaging data acquired by the magnetic resonance imaging system; and

sequence-designing circuitry configured to:

apply, while the multi-band RF pulse sequence is being applied to measure k-space lines, a set of in-plane encoding signals and a set of Hadamard encoding signals in an interleaved scheme, the interleaved scheme being in the form of an execution loop having (i) an inner loop in which a first set of signals is applied, and (ii) an outer loop in which a second set of signals is applied, and

perform at least one of:

(i) applying a set of extended Hadamard-encoding signals together with an undersampled set of in-plane encoding signals, and

(ii) applying the set of in-plane encoding signals in the outer loop and the set of Hadamard encoding signals in the inner loop.

13. The device according to claim 12 , further comprising:

reconstruction system circuitry configured to reconstruct separate signals from the measured slices for each k-space line by creating a linear combination by calculating at least one of (i) a sum and/or a difference over pairs of the recorded k-space lines, or (ii) applying a Hadamard combination line-by-line, or (iii) reconstruct an image slice-by-slice for a field of view using at least one of a parallel reconstruction technique or a combined reconstruction technique.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, cause the MRI system to:

apply a multi-band radio-frequency (RF) pulse sequence to simultaneously excite at least two slices of multislice imaging data acquired via the MRI system;

apply, while the multi-band RF pulse sequence is being applied to measure k-space lines, a set of in-plane encoding signals and a set of Hadamard encoding signals in an interleaved scheme,

wherein the interleaved scheme is in the form of an execution loop having (i) an inner loop in which a first set of signals is applied, and (ii) an outer loop in which a second set of signals is applied; and

perform at least one of:

(i) applying a set of extended Hadamard-encoding signals together with an undersampled set of in-plane encoding signals, and

(ii) applying the set of in-plane encoding signals in the outer loop and the set of Hadamard encoding signals in the inner loop.