10588results about How to "Easy to change" patented technology

Surgical tools having a two degree-of-freedom wrist, wrist articulation by linked tension members, mechanisms for transmitting torque through an angle, and minimally invasive surgical tools incorporating these features are disclosed. An elongate intermediate wrist member is pivotally coupled with a distal end of an instrument shaft so as to rotate about a first axis transverse to the shaft, and an end effector body is pivotally coupled with the intermediate member so as to rotate about a second axis that is transverse to the first axis. Linked tension members interact with attachment features to articulate the wrist. A torque-transmitting mechanism includes a coupling member, coupling pins, a drive shaft, and a driven shaft. The drive shaft is coupled with the driven shaft so as to control the relative orientations of the drive shaft, the coupling member, and the driven shaft.

A power transmission mechanism comprising: a flexible power transmission element; a pair of a drive pulley and a driven pulley on which the flexible power transmission element is wound, each the pulley having a pin-embedding hole formed to extend from the outer circumferential thereof toward the center thereof, and a slit elongated in the circumferential direction of the pulley to extend to opposite sides of the embedding hole and communicating with the embedding hole; and a pair of columnar or tapered anchor pins each having a path hole penetrating the anchor pin across the lengthwise direction thereof to receive the flexible power transmission element inserted therein, wherein each the anchor pin receiving the flexible power transmission element in the path hole thereof is embedded in the embedding hole of the associated pulley under pressure, and the flexible power transmission element is thereby held on the pulley.

Predictive modeling of consumer financial behavior, including determination of likely responses to particular marketing efforts, is provided by application of consumer transaction data to predictive models associated with merchant segments. The merchant segments are derived from the consumer transaction data based on co-occurrences of merchants in sequences of transactions. Merchant vectors represent specific merchants, and are aligned in a vector space as a function of the degree to which the merchants co-occur more or less frequently than expected. Consumer vectors are developed within the vector space, to represent interests of particular consumers by virtue of relative vector positions of consumer and merchant vectors. Various techniques, including clustering, supervised segmentation, and nearest-neighbor analysis, are applied separately or in combination to generate improved predictions of consumer behavior.

Surgical tools having a two degree-of-freedom wrist, wrist articulation by linked tension members, mechanisms for transmitting torque through an angle, and minimally invasive surgical tools incorporating these features are disclosed. An elongate intermediate wrist member is pivotally coupled with a distal end of an instrument shaft so as to rotate about a first axis transverse to the shaft, and an end effector body is pivotally coupled with the intermediate member so as to rotate about a second axis that is transverse to the first axis. Linked tension members interact with attachment features to articulate the wrist. A torque-transmitting mechanism includes a coupling member, coupling pins, a drive shaft, and a driven shaft. The drive shaft is coupled with the driven shaft so as to control the relative orientations of the drive shaft, the coupling member, and the driven shaft.

Processing systems and methods receive events, such as a transaction to an account, and converts the events into messages. Each message then invokes one or more rules which are executed by a rules engine. The execution of these rules may invoke the execution of additional rules. After all rules have executed, the account associated with the event is updated, such as by projecting the account. The rules have their parameters defined in a repository so that the parameters can be easily changed without any need to recompile. The processing systems receive authorizations and other transactions and runs in real-time as transactions arrive. As a result, balances are updated continuously and accounts are read and updated only when there is activity. Hierarchy is user configurable, including multiple hierarchy to any depth. System operations are controlled by rules and their parameters and most modifications can be accomplished without access to source code.

An interactive display system for a vehicle including a heads up display system for projecting text and / or graphics into a field of view of a forward-facing occupant of the vehicle and an occupant-controllable device enabling the occupant to interact with the heads up display system to change the text and / or graphics projected by the heads up display system or direct another vehicular system to perform an operation. The device may be a touch pad arranged on a steering wheel of the vehicle (possibly over a cover of an airbag module in the steering wheel) or at another location accessible to the occupant of the vehicle. A processor and associated electrical architecture are provided for correlating a location on the touch pad which has been touched by the occupant to the projected text and / or graphics. The device may also be a microphone.

A camera acquires a 4D light field of a scene. The camera includes a lens and sensor. A mask is arranged in a straight optical path between the lens and the sensor. The mask including an attenuation pattern to spatially modulate the 4D light field acquired of the scene by the sensor. The pattern has a low spatial frequency when the mask is arranged near the lens, and a high spatial frequency when the mask is arranged near the sensor.

Disclosed are systems and methods which provide an external clinician interface, such as through the use of a laptop computer or a personal digital assistant (PDA). The foregoing clinician interface may be used with trial stimulators well suited for use interoperatively and during patient trial. Stimulators of embodiments are adapted for use in providing stimulation to a plurality of tissues and / or areas of the body, such as spinal cord stimulation, deep brain stimulation, etcetera.

A financial transaction processing system (10) enables processing transactions from various types of card activated terminal devices (12) which communicate using a variety of electronic message formats. The transaction processing system may operate to authorize transactions internally using information stored in a relational database (32) or may communicate with external authorization systems (18). The transaction processing system includes among its software components message gateway routers (MGRs) (24, 164) which operate using information stored in the relational database to convert messages from a variety of external message formats used by the external devices and authorization systems, to a common internal message format used within the system. The system further uses database information to internally route messages to message processing programs (MPPs) (108, 138) which process messages and generate messages to the external devices and authorization systems. The MGR also converts the outgoing messages from the internal message format to the external message formats which can be interpreted by the external devices and systems to which the messages are directed.

A multi-media conferencing system that integrates visual, audio, independent data interaction and modification, collaboration of information, independent video and 3D model viewing and manipulation, and networking among all participants in the meeting. Each participant conference display typically shows two content sectors under the control of the presenter and a selectable number of other content sectors under the control of the participant. The presenter conference display selectively includes a presenter dashboard for managing the presentation. Each content sector on the participant and attendee conference displays may be enlarged to full screen or reduced to a sector display or an icon with a simple command. The system also includes geo-location display functionality, participant monitoring, attendee chat functionality, and a wide range of additional functionality under the control of the conference presenter and attendees.

A method of providing financing is provided. The method provides financing for allowing a customer to purchase a product selected from an inventory of products maintained by a dealer. The method includes the steps of maintaining a database of the dealer's inventory, gathering information from the customer, calculating a credit score for the customer based at least in part on the information gathered from the customer, determining an advance amount to be paid to the dealer for each individual product in the dealer inventory in the event that that particular product is sold to the customer, calculating a front-end profit to be realized by the dealer for each individual product in the dealer inventory, and presenting a financing package to the dealer for each individual product in the dealer's inventory.

In the present invention, advertisements are transmitted electronically at designated locations, as a substitute for stationary billboards. A network navigation center outputs guide access information GAI to a personal computer of an ad sponsor over the Internet and receives registration of advertisement information ADI for the designated location(s) from the personal computer of the ad sponsor according to the guide access information GAI. In addition, the network navigation center receives current position information API from mobile communication device(s) carried by automobile, via a mobile telephone base station and a public telephone network. Likewise, the network navigation center transmits the advertisement information ADI, based on current position information API, to the mobile communication instrument via the public telephone network and mobile telephone base station.

A method and system for powerline networking. The method and system include an adapter and a gateway connected to powerlines. The gateway is operable for configuring the adapter for powerline networking by communicating configuration signals to the adapter over the powerlines. A powerline network is defined by the configuring of the adapter to communicate with the gateway over the powerlines.

An anchoring system for securing a dialysis catheter to a patient comprises an anchor pad and a retainer. The anchor pad is attached to the skin of the patient by an adhesive layer on one side of the pad. The retainer is disposed upon the surface of the anchor pad opposite the adhesive layer and includes a base and a cover and a adhesive spot. A groove upon the base is arranged to receive a Y-site portion of a dialysis catheter where the lumens merge distal to the insertion site. A post also protrudes from the base to the cover at a position which will be disposed between the two distal branches of the dialysis catheter. The cover closes over the base, securing the Y-site between the groove and the post. Closing the cover also places at least a portion of the catheter in contact with the adhesive spot. This contact between the retainer, adhesive spot and catheter thereby inhibits inadvertent motion of the catheter upon the patient. A latch mechanism is disposed upon the retainer to maintain the cover in a closed position over the Y-site of the catheter on the base.

An arrangement that may be used in combination with selected tools having a tooth cutting surface for the care and maintenance such as removing a selected portion of the exposed surface of equine teeth. The selected tool in communication with a source of powered motion and mounted in and supported by a hand piece which is guided into the mouth of the horse. The cutting surface of the powered tool is partially guarded so as to protect fleshy portions of the horse's mouth from being engaged by the cutting surface. The hand piece provides for quick on and off attachment of a selected cutting surface for maintenance of a preselected portion of teeth within the same hand piece or another hand piece sized to ease access to the next selected portion of the horse's mouth. The selected hand piece arrangement may further incorporate a vacuum channel whereby the tooth dust and debris created by the powered cutting surface removing a portion of tooth is sucked out of the mouth of the horse. The motion of the tooth surface removal tool may be changed from rotary to powered reciprocating motion for a selected portion of the teeth or changed to be at a preselected angle. Attaching the powered drive to the rotary cutting surface by means of an adjustable clutch further enhances protection from injury to the inside of the mouth of the horse.

In a system for conducting mobile commerce, a mobile operator central server sends silent authorization messages to a smartphone including a wallet application responsive to received messages to display offers, advertisements or coupons to a user. A wallet manager application resident on a remote server for selecting offers, advertisements or coupons relevant to a particular user from multiple data sources sends the selected offers or coupons in messages over a wireless link to the wallet application. The mobile operator central server receives information from the user in response to the wallet application presenting a buy option to the user. The mobile operator central server sends an authorization message to a secure payment application resident on the smartphone to present the user with a payment interface.

A plasma processing apparatus includes an upper electrode that is installed within a processing chamber so as to face a lower electrode, supplies a gas through a plurality of gas supply holes provided in a facing surface and is vertically movable; a cover body installed above the upper electrode so as to airtightly seal a top opening of the processing chamber; a multiple number of gas exhaust holes provided in the facing surface; a ring-shaped member that is arranged along a circumference of the upper electrode, is vertically movable along with the upper electrode, and forms, at a lowered position, a processing space surrounded by the lower electrode, the upper electrode and the ring-shaped member; a multiplicity of gas supply holes opened in an inner wall of the ring-shaped member; and a plurality of gas exhaust holes opened in an inner wall of the ring-shaped member.

The focal distance can be greatly changed by performing an electrical control in an optical element. The optical element comprises a first substrate having a first electrode, a second substrate, a second electrode arranged outside the second substrate, and a liquid crystal layer provided between the first substrate and the second substrate and constituted by liquid crystal molecules oriented. A first voltage is applied between the first electrode and the second electrode, thereby controlling the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules, whereby the optical element operates. A third electrode is provided on an insulating layer and outside the second electrode. A second voltage independent of the first voltage is applied to the third electrode, thereby changing the optical properties.

A microphone, transmitter, speaker, receiver, and power source, all mounted to an eyeglasses frame, for sending and receiving signals wirelessly to and from a remote cell phone or other electronic device. The microphone and the transmitter can be mounted to extension arms that can be extended, pivoted, or otherwise moved to a position for use, and then moved to a stored position when not in use. Alternatively, the microphone, transmitter, speaker, receiver, and power source, can be mounted onto a clip-on or other attachment member that mounts onto a conventional eyeglasses frame, or to a hat or other article worn on the head.

A system, method and apparatus for protecting circuit components from unauthorized access. The circuit components to be protected are disposed on a first layer of a substrate with a plurality of layers. A cover member composed of a plurality of layers is abutted to the substrate, defining an enclosure space for enclosing the circuit components to be protected. A three-dimensional resistive network sensor surrounds the protected circuit components. The sensor comprises at least one conduction path in at least one of the layers below the first layer of the substrate and at least one conduction path in at least one of the layers of the cover member and also comprises a plurality of vias transverse to and electrically connecting the conduction paths. A short or open in the sensor will be detected by a tamper detection circuit that is disposed on the first layer of a substrate.

An inductive charging system for recharging a battery. The system includes a charger circuit and a secondary circuit. The secondary circuit includes a feedback mechanism to provide feedback to the charger circuit through the inductive coupling of the primary coil and the secondary coil. The charger circuit includes a frequency control mechanism for controlling the frequency of the power applied to the primary coil at least partly in response to the feedback from the feedback mechanism.

A real-time automated data security system protects both data and devices from loss, theft, and unauthorized access or activity. A miniature active RFID circuit is embodied in tags, area tags, controllers, USB sticks and a universal interface software for computers (i.e., Java), smart phones, and gateway boxes written to interface with the system. These devices are customizable and can link in arrays to cover large areas, use sensors, and scale up in module configurations to meet any need. The system is independent of electricity, GPS, satellites, the Internet, other software, and IT personnel. Its novel software, inside the tags, area tags and controllers is inaccessible and cannot be copied. Wireless transmissions are encrypted to military grade levels and packets are never repeated, making it unhackable, even by brute force attack. A unique battery-conserving protocol ensures good range and long battery life. The system has the ability to ignore copied packages or relaying by attackers, and to prevent of unauthorized access to USB sticks by proximity checks to the active RFID circuit.

A method for storing, displaying, and retrieving user-selected portions of software application data, display, and functional operations includes one or more 3-D objects portrayed on a computer display. The 3-D object has various onscreen data, 3-D object, text portion, switch, video / audio clip, or the like assigned to and displayed on facets of the 3-D object. The 3-D object is rotatable about at least one axes, so that each one of the six surfaces of the 3-D object may be brought into full visualization, while two other surfaces are partially visible. A plurality of 3-D objects may be combined for functional operations among corresponding files stored on the 3-D objects.

Data from a plurality of sensors representing a patient's condition, including measurement signals and also secondary parameters derived from the measurement signals, are displayed in a simple way by calculating a novelty index constituting a one-dimensional visualization space. The novelty index is based on the distance of the current data point in a multi-dimensional measurement space, whose coordinates are defined by the values of the measurement signals and secondary parameters, from a predefined normal point. This may be achieved by using a suitably trained artificial neural network to sum the distance between the current data point in the measurement space and a plurality of prototype points representing normality.

Eyeglasses includes a frame including right and left portions each including a recess abutted on a bridge, a projection on an endpiece, and an aperture proximate the projection. The eyeglasses further includes two lenses each including an indentation at an outer end and a hole proximate the indentation, two temples, and two connecting mechanisms pivotably coupled to both the temples and the frame. Each connecting mechanism including includes a pin projected from an inner side. The hole is aligned with the aperture. The indentation is engaged with the projection. An inner end of the lens is rested on the recess. The pin is inserted into the hole and the aperture for fastening each lens onto the frame. The original lenses can be easily changed with other lenses having a different color and / or shape by replacement as long as such lenses have the same specifications as the original lenses.

An antenna apparatus is provided, which removes dead directions, and at the same time, has a suppression means for easily suppressing the change of an antenna directivity pattern caused by the effect of a feed line or a radome and an improvement means for simply improving the VSWR deterioration caused by the effect of a reflector or the radome. The antenna apparatus includes a sleeve antenna connected to a coaxial cable and a reflector in the shape of a cone, the sleeve antenna including a central conductor and a sleeve, in which the sleeve antenna is arranged in a concave portion of the cone so that the central conductor is aligned with a central axis of the cone, and a top end of the central conductor is separate from a vertex portion of the cone.

A bone conduction hearing aid system for generating bone conduction vibrations is disclosed. The bone conduction hearing aid system has an external hearing aid unit with a vibrator and a skin contact pressure plate. The skin contact pressure plate is placed on an outside of the external hearing aid unit and the skin contact pressure plate is magnetically attached to an implanted unit anchored to the skull under the skin. The vibrator transforms an electrical signal into mechanical vibrations and the skin contact pressure plate allows transmission of the vibrations from the vibrator to the implanted unit when the external hearing aid unit is magnetically fixed to the implanted unit.

A system and method for routing telephone calls is based on identifying caller goals, and maximizing the benefit of routing the call to the appropriate call center. The appropriate call center is identified as the call center best equipped to respond to the needs of the caller. The cost or benefit is based on the fastest and least expensive way to answer a query posed by a caller. A probabilistic model of the caller's goals or call topics based on a response to a top-level prompt is used, along with a set of functions associating a utility or benefit with routing those call topics to destinations within the center. Maximum benefit routing allows for the separation of the caller's goals from those of the call center, thereby optimizing use of available resources.

A payment card or other device (e.g., mobile telephone) is provided with a magnetic emulator operable to communicate data to a magnetic stripe read-head. A user can utilize buttons located on the card to perform activities that would otherwise be performed at an ATM, payment card reader, or by a waitress. A user can provide instructions on a card to accelerate a transaction. The information a user enters can be communicated to a point-of-sale device. For example, a user can enter into his / her card that the user desires $100 withdrawal from a checking account. The user can also enter his / her PIN into the card. The user can swipe his / her card into an ATM and instantly be provided with the desired $100.