MRI Shimming via Virtual Current Plane and Discrete Optimization

The patent segments the continuous iron piece distribution into discrete standardized units. Instead of requiring continuous positioning of iron pieces, the invention divides the shimming space into discrete regions where standardized iron pieces can be placed. This segmentation maintains the magnetic field homogeneity benefits of continuous distribution while enabling practical manufacturing and adjustment through discrete, standardized components.

The patent changes the parameter of iron piece arrangement from continuous spatial distribution to discrete standardized units. By transforming the continuous parameter into discrete standardized parameters, the system achieves both high magnetic field homogeneity and improved workability through standardized components that can be easily manufactured, stored, and positioned.

The patent segments the shimming space into discrete regions that correspond to the placement locations of standardized iron pieces. By carefully designing the segmentation scheme and the magnetic moment distribution across these discrete regions, the system approximates the ideal continuous distribution, maintaining high magnetic field homogeneity while enabling the use of discrete standardized components for improved productivity.

The patent transforms the discrete standardized iron piece parameters (position, volume, magnetic moment) to optimize magnetic field homogeneity. Through computational methods, the system determines the optimal parameters for each discrete iron piece arrangement, achieving homogeneity close to ideal continuous shimming while maintaining the productivity benefits of standardized components.

The patent performs preliminary computation for continuous arrangement shimming to establish the ideal target homogeneity level. This preliminary action provides a reference standard that guides the subsequent discrete arrangement optimization, enabling faster computation while maintaining evaluation accuracy by comparing discrete results against the pre-computed continuous ideal.

The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the continuous arrangement computation results are used to evaluate and guide the discrete arrangement optimization. By feeding back the ideal continuous homogeneity target to the discrete optimization process, the system achieves accurate evaluation of shimming conditions without requiring repeated full-scale continuous computations, thus reducing overall computation time while maintaining precision.