A method and apparatus is disclosed to analogically combine MR signals
from RF coils to form multiple sets of analogically combined MR signals,
and then digitally combine the analogically combined sets of MR signals
to provide a digitized signal set for image reconstruction. The
analogical combining followed by the digital combining of acquired MR
signals improves intrinsic SNR of the RF coils used for data acquisition
from a field-of-view (FOV) without compromising FOV for simultaneous MR
data acquisition.