A magnetic resonance imaging system, and a method and device for generating musical tones thereof

Abstract

The present application discloses a magnetic resonance imaging system, and a method and device for generating musical sounds. Specifically, the method and device select the idle time according to the pulse characteristics of the gradient drive signal of the magnetic resonance imaging system; and output a musical sound gradient control signal to the gradient coil during the idle time. After the musical sound gradient control signal is applied to the gradient coil, the metal coil will vibrate at a certain frequency, rhythm and pitch under the drive of the musical sound gradient control signal due to the influence of the Lorentz force, thereby emitting pleasant musical sounds or even an entire piece of music, increasing the pleasant experience for the patient, and thus reducing the adverse effects of noise on the patient.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of medical devices, and more specifically, to a magnetic resonance imaging system, a method and a device for generating musical sounds thereof. Background Art

[0002] During the imaging process of a patient by an existing magnetic resonance imaging system, the scanning time is long and the noise is high. The patient needs to wear special earplugs to reduce the impact of the noise. A small number of patients cannot tolerate the magnetic resonance noise, which affects the image scanning, making it difficult to obtain high-quality magnetic resonance images. Since children are relatively young, they are generally arranged to undergo magnetic resonance scanning after falling asleep. However, once the scanning starts, the machine will emit a huge noise, waking them up, so they cannot cooperate well with the doctor to complete the scanning. Some people are extremely sensitive to noise and will become restless and unwilling to cooperate with the continued scanning when they hear high-decibel sounds. Therefore, it is very important to solve the noise problem generated by magnetic resonance. Summary of the Invention

[0003] In view of this, the present application provides a magnetic resonance imaging system, a method and a device for generating musical sounds thereof, which are used to reduce the adverse effects of the noise of the magnetic resonance imaging system on patients.

[0004] In order to achieve the above object, the following solutions are proposed:

[0005] A method for generating musical sounds, which is applied to a magnetic resonance imaging system. The method for generating musical sounds includes the steps of:

[0006] Selecting the idle time therein according to the pulse characteristics of the gradient drive signal of the magnetic resonance imaging system;

[0007] Outputting a musical sound gradient control signal to the gradient coil during the idle time.

[0008] Optionally, selecting the idle time therein according to the pulse characteristics of the gradient drive signal of the magnetic resonance imaging system includes the steps of:

[0009] During each repetition time of the gradient drive signal, selecting the time when the effective control pulse is completed as the start time, selecting the end time of the repetition time as the end time, and selecting the duration between the start time and the end time as the idle time.

[0010] Optionally, outputting a musical sound gradient control signal to the gradient coil during the idle time includes the steps of:

[0011] Outputting the musical sound gradient control signal to the gradient coil in the X direction, the gradient coil in the Y direction, and / or the gradient coil in the Z direction.

[0012] Optionally, the musical tone gradient control signal includes a series of musical tone gradient signals, where:

[0013] The musical tone gradient signal includes a plurality of square wave signals with adjustable parameters, and the parameters include a single gradient duration, a gradient amplitude, and a single gradient ramp time.

[0014] A musical tone generating device is applied to a magnetic resonance imaging system. The musical tone generating device includes:

[0015] A time parameter selection module is configured to select an idle time according to the pulse characteristics of the gradient drive signal of the magnetic resonance imaging system;

[0016] An output control module is configured to output a musical tone gradient control signal to the gradient coil during the idle time.

[0017] Optionally, the time parameter selection module is configured to

[0018] During each repetition time of the gradient drive signal, the time when the effective control pulse is completed is selected as the start time, the end time of the repetition time is selected as the end time, and the duration between the start time and the end time is selected as the idle time.

[0019] Optionally, the output control module is configured to output the musical tone gradient control signal to the gradient coil in the X direction, the gradient coil in the Y direction, and / or the gradient coil in the Z direction.

[0020] Optionally, the musical tone gradient control signal includes a series of musical tone gradient signals, where:

[0021] Each of the musical tone gradient signals includes a plurality of square wave signals with adjustable parameters, and the parameters include a single gradient duration, a gradient amplitude, and a single gradient ramp time.

[0022] A magnetic resonance imaging system is characterized by including a controller, where the controller is provided with the musical tone generating device as described above.

[0023] A magnetic resonance imaging system includes a controller. The controller is provided with at least one processor and a memory connected to the processor, where:

[0024] The memory is used to store computer programs or instructions;

[0025] The processor is used to execute the computer programs or instructions so that the controller implements the musical tone generating method as described above.

[0026] As can be seen from the above technical solution, the present application discloses a magnetic resonance imaging system and a method and device for generating musical tones. Specifically, the method and device select the idle time according to the pulse characteristics of the gradient drive signal of the magnetic resonance imaging system, and output a musical tone gradient control signal to the gradient coil during the idle time. After the musical tone gradient control signal is applied to the gradient coil, the metal coil will vibrate at a certain frequency, rhythm and pitch under the drive of the musical tone gradient control signal due to the influence of the Lorentz force, thereby emitting pleasant musical sounds or even an entire piece of music, increasing the pleasant experience for the patient, and thus reducing the adverse effects of noise on the patient. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings.

[0028] Figure 1 It is a flowchart of a method for generating musical tones according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0029] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the dead time in this GRE sequence;

[0030] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the musical tone gradient control signal according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0031] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the musical tone gradient signal according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] Figure 5 It is a block diagram of a device for generating musical tones according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] Figure 6 It is a block diagram of a controller of a magnetic resonance imaging system according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0034] The following will clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application, rather than all embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts belong to the scope of protection of the present application.

[0035] Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a relatively new medical imaging technique that was officially used clinically internationally only since 1982. It uses a static magnetic field and a radiofrequency magnetic field to image human tissues. During the imaging process, high-contrast clear images can be obtained without using either ionizing radiation or contrast agents. It can reflect disorders and early lesions of human organs from within the human molecules. It is superior to X-ray CT in many aspects. Although X-CT has solved the problem of image overlap in the human body, since the images provided are still spatial distribution images of tissue absorption of X-rays, it cannot provide information on the physiological state of human organs. When the absorption coefficients of diseased tissues and surrounding normal tissues are the same, no valuable information can be provided. It can only be detected when the disease has developed to change the shape, position of the organ and has enlarged itself to give an abnormal feeling.

[0036] In addition to having the anatomical type characteristics of X-ray CT, that is, obtaining non-overlapping proton density tomographic images, magnetic resonance imaging devices can also accurately measure the nuclear relaxation times T1 and T2 by means of the nuclear magnetic resonance principle, and can reflect the information on the chemical structure in human tissues. The images reconstructed by a computer from this information are compositional images (chemical structure images), which have the ability to characterize different tissues of the same density and different chemical structures of the same tissue through image display. This is convenient for distinguishing gray matter and white matter in the brain, and has great superiority in the early diagnosis of tissue necrosis, malignant diseases and degenerative diseases, and the contrast of soft tissues is also more accurate.

[0037] As early as in 1946, two research groups led by Edward Purcell of Harvard University in the United States and Felix Block of Stanford University discovered the phenomenon of nuclear magnetic resonance in substances. The two of them were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1952. After the discovery of the nuclear magnetic resonance phenomenon, a new interdisciplinary subject, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, was quickly formed. It enables people to determine various molecular structures by the differences in nuclear magnetic resonance spectral lines without destroying the samples. This provides favorable conditions for clinical medicine.

[0038] In 1967, Jasper Jackson first measured signals from live animals, making it possible to use the NMR method for human measurements. In 1971, Professor R. Damadian of the State University of New York in the United States used a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer to study the nuclear magnetic resonance characteristics of samples of normal and cancerous tissues in rats and found that there were significant differences in the T1 values of water protons in normal and cancerous tissues.

[0039] In the same year as the invention of X-CT, in 1972, Paul C. Lauterbur at the State University of New York at Stony Brook made the first two-dimensional image with water as a sample, demonstrating the possibility of nuclear magnetic resonance CT, that is, the spin density imaging method. These experiments all used a defined non-uniform magnetic field. Typically, the magnetic field strength was linearly varied along the spatial coordinate axes to identify nuclear magnetic resonance signals emitted from different spatial positions. In 1978, the image quality of nuclear magnetic resonance had reached the initial level of X-ray CT and human trials were conducted in hospitals. It was finally named magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

[0040] Each atomic nucleus spin has an angular momentum. Since the nucleus is charged, its spin generates a magnetic moment. When the atomic nucleus is placed in a static magnetic field, the spins that were originally randomly oriented are affected by the magnetic field force and align with the magnetic field. Taking the proton, the main isotope of hydrogen, as an example, it can only have two basic states: the orientation "parallel" and "anti-parallel", which correspond to the low-energy and high-energy states respectively. Precise analysis shows that the spin does not completely align with the magnetic field but tilts at an angle θ. In this way, the spin begins to precess around the magnetic field. The precession frequency depends on the magnetic field strength and is also related to the type of atomic nucleus. Their relationship satisfies the Larmor relationship: ω0 = γB0, that is, the precession angular frequency ω0 is the product of the magnetic field strength B0 and the gyromagnetic ratio γ. γ is a fundamental physical constant for each nuclide. The main isotope of hydrogen, the proton, has a large abundance in the human body and its magnetic moment is convenient to detect, so it is most suitable for obtaining nuclear magnetic resonance images from it.

[0041] Macroscopically, in the set of precessing magnetic moments, the phases are random. Their combined orientation forms the macroscopic magnetization, represented by the magnetic moment M. It is this macroscopic magnetic moment that generates nuclear magnetic resonance signals in the receiving coil. Among a large number of hydrogen nuclei, slightly more than half are in the lower energy state. It can be proved that there is a dynamic balance between the nucleons in the two basic energy states, and the equilibrium state is determined by the magnetic field and temperature. When the number of nucleons transitioning from the lower energy state to the higher energy state is equal to the number of nucleons transitioning from the higher energy state to the lower energy state, "thermal equilibrium" is reached. If radiofrequency energy that conforms to the Larmor frequency is applied to the magnetic moment, and this energy is equal to the difference in magnetic field energy between the higher and lower basic energy states, the magnetic moment can be made to jump from the lower energy "parallel" state to the higher energy "anti-parallel" state, and resonance occurs.

[0042] Since applying energy at the Larmor frequency to a magnetic moment can cause the magnetic moment to resonate, then by using a radiofrequency field with an amplitude of B1 that is synchronized (in resonance) with the precessing spins, when the action direction of the radiofrequency magnetic field B1 is perpendicular to the main magnetic field B0, the magnetization vector M can be made to deviate from its stationary position and perform a helical motion, or nutation, that is, the macroscopic magnetization vector is forced to precess around it by the force of the radiofrequency field. If the duration is such that the macroscopic magnetization vector rotates by 90°, it will lie in a plane perpendicular to the static magnetic field. A transverse magnetization vector Mxy can be generated. If a receiving coil is placed in this transverse plane, the coil can cut the magnetic field lines to generate an induced voltage. When the radiofrequency magnetic field B1 is removed, the macroscopic magnetization vector is subjected to the action of the static magnetic field and precesses around it, which is called "free precession". Since the precession frequency is the Larmor frequency, the induced voltage also has the same frequency. Since the transverse magnetization vector is not constant and decays to zero with a characteristic time constant, the amplitude of the induced voltage also decays with time, showing a damped oscillation. This signal is called the free induction decay signal (FID). The initial amplitude of the signal is proportional to the transverse magnetization, and the transverse magnetization is proportional to the number of excited nucleons in the tissue of a specific volume element. Thus, differences in hydrogen atom density can be distinguished in magnetic resonance images.

[0043] Because the Larmor frequency is proportional to the magnetic field strength, if the magnetic field changes in a gradient along the X-axis, the resulting resonance frequency is also obviously related to the position of the volume element along the X-axis. To obtain signals projected simultaneously on two coordinate axes X - Y, a gradient magnetic field GX can be applied first, the resulting signals can be collected and transformed, and then the magnetic field GY can be used to replace GX and this process can be repeated. In practice, signals are collected from a large number of spatial position points, and the signals are composed of a composite of many frequencies. Using mathematical analysis methods such as Fourier transform, not only can the respective resonance frequencies, that is, the corresponding spatial positions, be obtained, but also the corresponding signal amplitudes can be obtained, and the signal amplitudes are proportional to the spin density at specific spatial positions. All nuclear magnetic resonance imaging methods are based on this principle.

[0044] The inventors of the present application found in actual work that the noise of a magnetic resonance imaging system mainly comes from the rapid switching of its gradient system. The generation of the gradient field is controlled by the gradient coil. When no gradient field is applied, there is no current in the gradient coil; when a gradient field is applied, the gradient coil is charged with current in a very short time, and its current intensity and switching state change with time. Since in the strong magnetic field environment of a magnetic resonance instrument, the metal wire with current in the coil will be affected by the Lorentz force, when the current in the gradient coil is rapidly switched, the Lorentz force on the metal wire also changes rapidly, causing the coil to vibrate and emit sound. Based on the above analysis, the following embodiments are specifically proposed in the present application.

[0045] Embodiment 1

[0046] Figure 1 Flow chart of a musical tone generation method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0047] As Figure 1 shown, the musical tone generation method provided in this embodiment is applied to a magnetic resonance imaging system. Specifically, it is applied to the controller of the magnetic resonance imaging system. The musical tone generation method specifically includes the following steps:

[0048] S1. Select an idle time from the gradient drive signal.

[0049] That is, according to the pulse characteristics or pulse content of the gradient drive signal in the magnetic resonance imaging system, an idle time is selected therefrom. The gradient drive signal here refers to the drive signal of the X reverse gradient coil, Y direction gradient coil or Z direction drive coil. Which coil specifically depends on the application target of the musical tone gradient control signal, that is, it can be some gradient coils or all gradient coils.

[0050] Taking a magnetic resonance imaging system with a GRE sequence as the gradient drive signal as an example, within a TR time, after the RF pulse excitation at the α angle, frequency encoding, phase encoding, and signal acquisition are achieved, there is a period of "dead time", as Figure 2 shown, that is, the idle time mentioned in the present application. After this idle time, the next TR will start.

[0051] The start time of this idle time is the time point after the RF pulse excitation at the α angle, frequency encoding, phase encoding, and signal acquisition. The end time of this idle time is actually the end time of the above-mentioned TR time. After the above start time and end time are selected, this idle time is determined.

[0052] S2. Output a musical tone gradient control signal to the gradient coil during the idle time.

[0053] That is, during each determined idle time, a musical tone gradient control signal is output to one or more gradient drive coils, as Figure 3 shown in the formula. The musical tone gradient control signal here includes a series of individual musical tone gradient signals, and each musical tone gradient signal includes a series of square wave signals with adjustable parameters, as Figure 4 shown. Among them, T is the total application time of a single musical tone gradient signal, t1 is the duration of a single gradient, G is the amplitude of the musical tone gradient signal, and t2 is the ramp time of the waveform of a single gradient signal.

[0054] By controlling the parameters t1, G, and t2, the gradient can be made to oscillate at a specific frequency, obtaining sounds of different frequencies (tones). By controlling the parameter T, the duration of a sound of the same frequency can be controlled, thereby controlling the beats in music. By controlling the application of tones and beats, a complete piece of music can be obtained. The originally chaotic magnetic resonance noise thus becomes pleasant music.

[0055] The application position of the musical tone gradient control signal can be placed at any position that does not affect the imaging gradient, such as at the beginning of each TR when the radiofrequency pulse has not been applied yet. Additionally, to minimize the time of the musical tone gradient signal, the duration of a single piece of music can be set to 0. After applying a single musical tone gradient signal, the next musical tone gradient signal can be applied after a certain time interval. Here, the musical tone gradient signals can all be positive gradients, negative gradients, or alternating positive and negative gradients.

[0056] As can be seen from the above technical solution, this embodiment provides a method for generating musical tones, which is applied to a magnetic resonance imaging system. Specifically, it selects the idle time according to the pulse characteristics of the gradient drive signal of the magnetic resonance imaging system; and outputs a musical tone gradient control signal to the gradient coil during the idle time. After the musical tone gradient control signal is passed into the gradient coil, the metal coil will vibrate at a certain frequency, beat, and tone under the drive of the musical tone gradient control signal due to the influence of the Lorentz force, thereby emitting pleasant music or even an entire piece of music, increasing the pleasant experience for the patient, and thus reducing the adverse effects of the noise on the patient.

[0057] Embodiment 2

[0058] Figure 5 It is a block diagram of a musical tone generation device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0059] As Figure 5 shown, the musical tone generation device provided in this embodiment is applied to a magnetic resonance imaging system. Specifically, it is applied to the controller of the magnetic resonance imaging system and can be understood as a hardware module of the controller. The musical tone generation device specifically includes a time parameter selection module 10 and an output control module 20.

[0060] The time parameter selection module is used to select the idle time from the gradient drive signal.

[0061] That is, according to the pulse characteristics or pulse content of the gradient drive signal in the magnetic resonance imaging system, the idle time is selected therefrom. Here, the gradient drive signal refers to the drive signal of the X reverse gradient coil, the Y-direction gradient coil, or the Z-direction drive coil. Which specific coil it is depends on the application target of the musical tone gradient control signal, that is, it can be some gradient coils or all of the gradient coils.

[0062] Taking a magnetic resonance imaging system with a GRE sequence as the gradient driving signal as an example, within one TR time, after the excitation of the radio frequency pulse at the α angle, frequency encoding, phase encoding, and signal acquisition are completed, there is a period of "dead time", as Figure 2 shown, which is the idle time mentioned in this application. After this idle time, the next TR will start.

[0063] The start time of this idle time is the time point after the excitation of the radio frequency pulse at the α angle, frequency encoding, phase encoding, and signal acquisition. The end time of this idle time is actually the end time of the above TR time. After selecting the above start time and end time, this idle time is determined.

[0064] The output control module is used to output a musical tone gradient control signal to the gradient coil during the idle time.

[0065] That is, within each of the determined idle times, a musical tone gradient control signal is output to one or more gradient driving coils, as Figure 3 shown in the formula. The musical tone gradient control signal here includes a series of individual musical tone gradient signals, and each musical tone gradient signal includes a series of square wave signals with adjustable parameters, as Figure 4 shown. Among them, T is the total application time of a single musical tone gradient signal, t1 is the duration of a single gradient, G is the amplitude of the musical tone gradient signal, and t2 is the ramp time of the waveform of a single gradient signal.

[0066] By controlling the parameters t1, G, and t2, the gradient can be made to oscillate at a specific frequency to obtain sounds of different frequencies (pitches). By controlling the parameter T, the duration of the sound at the same frequency can be controlled, thereby controlling the beats in the music. By controlling the application of the pitch and beats, a complete piece of music can be obtained. The originally chaotic magnetic resonance noise becomes pleasant music.

[0067] The application position of the musical tone gradient control signal can be placed at any position that does not affect the imaging gradient, such as at the beginning of each TR but before the radio frequency pulse is applied. Additionally, to minimize the time of the musical tone gradient signal, the duration of a single piece of music can be set to 0. After applying a single musical tone gradient signal, the next musical tone gradient signal can be applied after an interval of a certain time. The musical tone gradient signals here can all be positive gradients, negative gradients, or positive and negative alternating gradients.

[0068] As can be seen from the above technical solution, this embodiment provides a musical tone generating device, which is applied to a magnetic resonance imaging system. Specifically, it selects the idle time according to the pulse characteristics of the gradient drive signal of the magnetic resonance imaging system, and outputs a musical tone gradient control signal to the gradient coil during the idle time. After the musical tone gradient control signal is applied to the gradient coil, the metal coil will vibrate at a certain frequency, rhythm and pitch under the drive of the musical tone gradient control signal due to the influence of the Lorentz force, thereby emitting pleasant musical sounds or even an entire piece of music, increasing the pleasant experience for the patient, and thus reducing the adverse effects of noise on the patient.

[0069] Embodiment III

[0070] This embodiment provides a magnetic resonance imaging system, which includes at least one controller, and the controller is provided with the musical tone generating device provided in the above embodiment. The device is specifically used to select the idle time according to the pulse characteristics of the gradient drive signal of the magnetic resonance imaging system, and output a musical tone gradient control signal to the gradient coil during the idle time. After the musical tone gradient control signal is applied to the gradient coil, the metal coil will vibrate at a certain frequency, rhythm and pitch under the drive of the musical tone gradient control signal due to the influence of the Lorentz force, thereby emitting pleasant musical sounds or even an entire piece of music, increasing the pleasant experience for the patient, and thus reducing the adverse effects of noise on the patient.

[0071] Embodiment IV

[0072] Figure 6 It is a block diagram of a controller of a magnetic resonance imaging system according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0073] The magnetic resonance imaging system provided in this embodiment includes a controller, as Figure 6 shown. The controller includes at least one processor 101 and a memory 102, which are connected through a data bus. The memory is used to store computer programs or instructions, and the processor is used to execute the corresponding computer programs or instructions so that the controller implements the musical tone generating method described in Embodiment I.

[0074] The musical tone generating method is specifically to select the idle time according to the pulse characteristics of the gradient drive signal of the magnetic resonance imaging system, and output a musical tone gradient control signal to the gradient coil during the idle time. After the musical tone gradient control signal is applied to the gradient coil, the metal coil will vibrate at a certain frequency, rhythm and pitch under the drive of the musical tone gradient control signal due to the influence of the Lorentz force, thereby emitting pleasant musical sounds or even an entire piece of music, increasing the pleasant experience for the patient, and thus reducing the adverse effects of noise on the patient.

[0075] Each embodiment in this specification is described in a progressive manner. Each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. For the same or similar parts among the embodiments, reference can be made to each other.

[0076] Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present invention can be provided as a method, a device, or a computer program product. Therefore, the embodiments of the present invention can take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Moreover, the embodiments of the present invention can take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) that contain computer-usable program code.

[0077] The embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of methods, terminal devices (systems), and computer program products according to the embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood that each process and / or block in the flowchart and / or block diagram can be implemented by computer program instructions, and the combination of processes and / or blocks in the flowchart and / or block diagram can also be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to the processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing terminal devices to generate a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing terminal devices generate a device for implementing the functions specified in Figure 1 one process or multiple processes and / or blocks Figure 1 one block or multiple blocks.

[0078] These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing terminal device to work in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory generate a manufactured product including an instruction device, and the instruction device implements the functions specified in Figure 1 one process or multiple processes and / or blocks Figure 1 one block or multiple blocks.

[0079] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing terminal device, so that a series of operation steps are executed on the computer or other programmable terminal device to generate a computer-implemented process. Therefore, the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable terminal device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in Figure 1 one process or multiple processes and / or blocks Figure 1 one block or multiple blocks.

[0080] Although the preferred embodiments of the embodiments of the present invention have been described, those skilled in the art can make additional changes and modifications to these embodiments once they know the basic creative concept. Therefore, the appended claims are intended to be construed to include the preferred embodiments and all changes and modifications falling within the scope of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0081] Finally, it should also be noted that in this text, relational terms such as first and second are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the term "comprising", "including" or any other variant thereof is intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or terminal device comprising a series of elements not only includes those elements, but also includes other elements not expressly listed, or further includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or terminal device. Without further limitation, an element defined by the statement "comprising an..." does not exclude the presence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article or terminal device comprising the element.

[0082] The technical solutions provided by the present invention have been introduced in detail above. Specific examples are used in this text to elaborate on the principles and implementation manners of the present invention. The description of the above embodiments is only used to help understand the method and its core idea of the present invention; at the same time, for those of ordinary skill in the art, according to the idea of the present invention, there will be changes in the specific implementation manners and application scopes. In summary, the content of this specification should not be construed as a limitation to the present invention.

Claims

1. A musical tone generation method applied to a magnetic resonance imaging system, characterized in that, the musical tone generation method includes the steps of: selecting the idle time therein according to the pulse characteristics of the gradient drive signal of the magnetic resonance imaging system; wherein, the step of selecting the idle time therein according to the pulse characteristics of the gradient drive signal of the magnetic resonance imaging system includes: within each repetition time of the gradient drive signal, selecting the time when the effective control pulse is completed as the start time, selecting the end time of the repetition time as the end time, and selecting the duration between the start time and the end time as the idle time; wherein, the gradient drive signal refers to the drive signal of the gradient coil in the X direction, Y direction or Z direction; the time when the effective control pulse is completed is, in the case where the GRE sequence is used as the gradient drive signal of the magnetic resonance imaging system, within one repetition time, the time point after the excitation of the radio frequency pulse at the α angle, frequency encoding, phase encoding, and signal acquisition; outputting a musical tone gradient control signal to the gradient coil during the idle time; the musical tone gradient control signal includes a series of musical tone gradient signals, wherein: each musical tone gradient signal includes a plurality of adjustable square wave signals, and the parameters include a single gradient duration, a gradient amplitude, and a single gradient ramp time.

2. The musical tone generation method according to claim 1, characterized in that, the step of outputting a musical tone gradient control signal to the gradient coil during the idle time includes: outputting the musical tone gradient control signal to the gradient coil in the X direction, the gradient coil in the Y direction, and / or the gradient coil in the Z direction.

3. A musical tone generation device applied to a magnetic resonance imaging system, characterized in that, the musical tone generation device includes: a time parameter selection module for selecting the idle time therein according to the pulse characteristics of the gradient drive signal of the magnetic resonance imaging system; wherein, the time parameter selection module is configured to, within each repetition time of the gradient drive signal, select the time when the effective control pulse is completed as the start time, select the end time of the repetition time as the end time, and select the duration between the start time and the end time as the idle time; wherein, the gradient drive signal refers to the drive signal of the gradient coil in the X direction, Y direction or Z direction; the time when the effective control pulse is completed is, in the case where the GRE sequence is used as the gradient drive signal of the magnetic resonance imaging system, within one repetition time, the time point after the excitation of the radio frequency pulse at the α angle, frequency encoding, phase encoding, and signal acquisition; an output control module for outputting a musical tone gradient control signal to the gradient coil during the idle time; the musical tone gradient control signal includes a series of musical tone gradient signals, wherein: each musical tone gradient signal includes a plurality of adjustable square wave signals, and the parameters include a single gradient duration, a gradient amplitude, and a single gradient ramp time.

4. The musical tone generation device according to claim 3, characterized in that, The output control module is configured to output the musical tone gradient control signal to the X-direction gradient coil, the Y-direction gradient coil, and / or the Z-direction gradient coil.

5. A magnetic resonance imaging system, characterized in that it includes a controller, wherein the controller is provided with the musical tone generating device according to any one of claims 3 to 4.

6. A magnetic resonance imaging system, characterized in that it includes a controller, the controller is provided with at least one processor and a memory connected to the processor, wherein: the memory is used for storing computer programs; the processor is used for executing the computer programs so that the controller implements the musical tone generating method according to any one of claims 1 to 2.

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