77090results about How to "Easy to replace" patented technology

A surgical instrument with articulated jaw structure includes a frame and two jaws. The jaws have proximal portions that are mounted to each other for movement in a substantially parallel relation between a fully open position wherein the jaws are separated for receiving tissue therebetween and an approximated position wherein the jaws are closer together. Preferably, the jaws are in the fully open position when the distal portion of at least of the jaws is located in an extended position and are in the approximated position when the distal portion of the extended jaw or jaws is located in a retracted position. The surgical instrument may further include a detachable knife assembly and knife actuating mechanism.

A bipolar surgical instrument that includes opposing grips that can engage the tissue. A current is delivered from an electrosurgical power source to electrodes disposed on the grips to cauterize the tissue. The electrode configurations provide efficient cauterization of the tissue. In some embodiments, the positive and negative electrodes will be offset from each other to prevent shorting and to provide a thin line of coagulation heating to the gripped tissue. In some embodiments the electrodes are removably coupled to the grips through nonconductive sleeves. In some embodiments, the first electrode is disposed in a groove and the second electrode is disposed on a boss.

A device for cutting a length of pipe includes a clamp portion for clamping around a length of pipe and a bow moveable with respect to the clamp portion that retains a loop of diamond embedded wire. The device further includes a feed for driving the bow with respect to the clamp portion and a detector for detecting bending of the wire and a control responsive to the detector for controlling feed rates. The device is made of modular parts and has synchronizing arms for clamping around a length of pipe. In one embodiment, the wheels are retained in enclosures with slots through which the cutting wire passes.

A comprehensive system effectuates global electronic commerce on the Internet across frontiers of nations, cultures, and languages. Referral Websites serving various locales offer Buyers the opportunity to view products for purchase. A Buyer selects categories of products for viewing by using drop-down menus that organize products into a clear taxonomy that can be expressed across all languages. Having selected a category of products for viewing, a Buyer receives, from a multi-version relational database, a version of marketing information about each product. The version is one automatically sent from the database to match the Buyer's language, culture, and nationality, as deduced from the use of a particular Referral Website. A shopping cart allows Buyers to select a product for purchase in an interactive way that encourages completion of the purchase. Products can be offered with custom options and in wholesale quantities. Personalized Web pages allow comprehensive customer service after a sale.

The present invention relates to a transdermal drug delivery system comprising a dermal drug delivery patch and a heating element compartment securable to the dermal drug delivery patch. A freely transferrable heating element is securable within the heating element compartment. A drug can be administered transdermally using the present invention by placing the dermal drug delivery patch upon a patient's skin at an administration site. A heating element compartment is secured to the dermal drug delivery patch and a freely transferrable heating element is placed within the heating element compartment. The heating element provides controlled heat to the dermal drug patch and the patient's skin aid thereby improves dermal drug administration.

A battery pack (28) for a portable defibrillator (30). The battery pack has a latch (34) that is biased in an extended position. When the battery pack is inserted into a battery well (30) in the portable defibrillator, the latch automatically latches into a slot (124) to secure the battery pack in tile battery well. Ridges (112) are provided on the floor (108) of the battery well to reduce the friction between the battery pack and the floor of the well as the battery pack is inserted into the defibrillator. A ridge (38) is also provided around the periphery of the top (36) of the battery pack to reduce the friction between the battery pack and the ceiling of the battery well. A right wall (44) of the battery pack is inclined from vertical so that a cross section of the battery pack is trapezoid in shape. The asymmetric cross-section prevents the battery pack from being incorrectly inserted into the battery well. The disclosed battery pack construction simplifies the replacement of the battery pack in the portable defibrillator.

A golf club head includes a body including at least one compartment, at least one positioning member removably mounted in the at least one compartment, at least one weight member mounted in at least one the positioning member, and at least one retaining member for retaining the at least one weight member in the at least one positioning member. The weight member is concealed in the compartment of the body to provide a good appearance while simplifying polishing procedure and allowing easy replacement of the weight member.

A vascular occlusion, flow restriction, shunt or filter device is disclosed comprising the assembly of at least two, of a number of selectable discrete interconnectable, interchangeable components, at least one component being of the type fabricated from metal strands braided into a tubular metal fabric having an expanded preset configuration and an elongated, collapsed reduced diameter configuration for delivery through a catheter to a treatment site and the device shaped to create an occlusion, flow restriction or shunt when placed in an opening in a body organ or vessel, the woven metal fabric having a memory property whereby the medical device tends to return to said expanded preset configuration when unconstrained.

A device for sensing analyte concentration, and in particular glucose concentration, in vivo or in vitro is disclosed. A sensing element is attached to the distal end of an optical conduit, and comprises at least one binding protein adapted to bind with at least one target analyte. The sensing element further comprises at least one reporter group that undergoes a luminescence change with changing analyte concentrations. Optionally, the optical conduit and sensing element may be housed within a cannulated bevel.

It is provided a dielectric barrier discharge lamp (10) for providing ultraviolet light, comprising an outer tube (12) filled with a discharge gas for providing ultraviolet light, an inner tube (14) arranged at least partially inside the outer tube (12), an outer electrode (16) electrically connected to the outer tube (12) and an inner electrode (18) electrically connected to the inner tube (14), wherein the inner electrode (18) comprises a conductor (20) and a plurality of an conductive granulated material (22) for providing an electrical contact between the conductor (20) and the inner tube (14). Due to the conductive granulated material (22) an electrical contact between the conductor (20) and the inner tube (14) is safeguarded and different thermal expansions of the inner electrode (18) and the inner tube (14) are compensated at the same time without applying mechanical stress to the inner tube (14). This leads to a dielectric barrier discharge lamp (10), which comprises an increased life time without the need for external cooling.

A biometric method and system for personal authentication using sequences of partial fingerprint signatures provides a high security capability to various processes requiring positive identification of individuals. This approach is further enhanced by employing a frequency domain technique for calculating a Similarity Index of the partial fingerprint signatures. In a baseline usage, the sequential partial fingerprint sequence techniques augments sentinel systems for gaining access to restricted areas, and when used in combination with financial cards, offer a unique and greatly simplified means for authenticating or identifying individuals. A highly automated technique initially obtains four (illustratively) linear partial fingerprint signatures which serve as reference data against which later proffered candidate data in the form of at least two linear partial fingerprint signatures are compared for authentication. The particular two candidate signatures used and the sequence in which they are submitted are selected with the user's consent and serve as a PIN-like unique personal code. In an advanced embodiment, the same two candidate signatures in the chosen sequence are processed in a unique FFT / DFT process to produce a highly reliable Similarity Index to authenticate or verify the identity of individuals. The use of only partial fingerprint data greatly allays the concerns of widespread fingerprint dissemination by many individuals.

A program running on a web server allows automated domain name registration, modification and management through an interface running on a client machine. The program redefines the concept of the Domain Name System zones by breaking them down into discrete records that can be managed in a database. The structuring of domain records in such a way allows global modifications to a given record type for all domains owned by a given domain name Registrant. Further, when run on the web server of an accredited registrar, the program enables domain name Registrants an easy and efficient way to reliably monitor and manage their domain name property.

A capture device for remote, virtual on screen data input by hand annotation comprises at least three functional layers including a bottom rigid layer, a middle pressure sensor layer and a top flexible layer. The bottom rigid layer has a surface that provides a mechanical support for writing. The middle pressure sensor layer is adapted to measuring a pressure array or map on the capture active area and to send data representing the measured pressure to a personal computer. The top flexible touch-sensitive passive LCD display layer includes an LCD surface by which whatever is written down on the LCD is impressed graphically due to its liquid crystal physical properties wherein applied pressure changes the crystal particles orientation and light properties, such that when a stylus presses against a writing surface thereof, it leaves a visible trace allowing the user to produce a drawing though no real ink has flown.

This document describes the design and control of a modular wearable electronic system that integrates an electrical interconnection harness, human body electrode modules, physiological sensor modules, electronic circuit modules, control software, and power supply modules into a single assembly. The design is intended to allow medical sensors and electronic circuits from different manufacturers to be connected into the system with relative ease. This system will enable a platform that can be expanded to incorporate many different kinds of physiological sensors and electronic circuits as and when they become available. It will also allow for different sizes of wearable electronic system to be constructed by simply changing the lengths and shapes of the electrical interconnections between the electrical modules.

A method for treatment of obesity, especially morbid obesity, gastroparesis and other syndromes related to motor disorders of the stomach. The method of this invention utilizes a sensor to detect food entering the patient's stomach, thereby the sensor communicates with and activates at least one electrical stimulation device attached to either the stomach or the small intestine.

The invention relates to a fully-automatic mahjong machine comprising a board sending system, a board loading system, a board lifting system and a large shuffling disc. The board sending system comprises four board sending mechanisms, each board sending mechanism comprises a transmission rack, and a board sending motor, a board absorbing wheel, a transmission belt, a transmission platform, a board inlet guiding piece and a board outlet guiding piece fixed on the transmission rack; a board sending channel is arranged at the upper end of the transmission platform, the board absorbing wheel is tightly attached at the lower end of a board inlet opening of the board sending channel, the board inlet guiding piece is positioned above the board absorbing wheel, the board outlet guiding piece is positioned at a board outlet opening of the board inlet channel, the board sending motor is used for driving a motor guiding wheel, the motor guiding wheel is positioned below the transmission platform, and the transmission belt loops the motor guiding wheel, the board absorbing wheel and the transmission platform. In the invention, for the mahjong boards with different widths, the board sending mechanism of the mahjong machine can run normally by only replacing the corresponding board inlet guiding piece and the board outlet guiding piece, and a transmission rack cover does not need to be changed, so that the operation is simple and convenient, and the board inlet guiding piece and the board outlet guiding piece has extremely low production cost relative to the transmission rack cover.

Method and apparatus are provided for thermally coupling one or more electronic devices to a heatsink. The apparatus comprises a heatsink having a substantially planar upper surface, a wiring board (PWB) with a through-hole for receiving the device such that a principal face thereof is in thermal contact with the heatsink, its electrical leads are captured between at least a portion of the wiring board and the heatsink, and a top of the device protrudes through the PWB. The method comprises placing the device in the through-hole with its base exposed on and protruding from the underside of the PWB, attaching its electrical leads to contacts on the wiring board and pressing the PWB toward the heatsink with the leads captured there between. An electrically insulating thermally conducting layer is desirably placed between the wiring board and the heatsink.

The present invention relates to an artificial disc prosthesis system which includes a scaffold assembly and a fusion or disc prosthesis removably retained by the scaffold assembly. The artificial disc prosthesis system facilitates the removal, replacement or upgrade of disc prostheses without the need to remove the entire system from the intervertebral space in which it is disposed. Also provided are disc prostheses suitable for use in the artificial disc prosthesis system.

Disclosed are a laminated lithium ion battery, a battery pack comprising the same and a pole piece of the laminated lithium ion battery. The pole piece comprises a current collector and an active material layer, wherein the current collector is coated with the active material layer. A section of continuous uncoated area is arranged at the tail end of a first width end portion of the pole piece, the top face and the bottom face of the uncoated area are not coated with the active material layer, the current collector is exposed in the uncoated area, and the exposed current collector serves as a pole lug of the pole piece. By the pole piece, internal resistance of the lithium ion battery is reduced and heat dissipation performance of the battery is improved.

A method and system for personal authentication using sequences of partial fingerprint signatures provides a high security capability to various processes requiring positive identification of individuals. In a baseline usage, the sequential partial fingerprint sequence techniques augments sentinel systems for gaining access to restricted areas, and when used in combination with financial cards, offer a unique and greatly simplified means for authenticating or identifying individuals. A highly automated technique initially obtains eight (illustratively) linear partial fingerprint signatures which serve as reference data against which later proffered candidate data in the form of at least two linear partial fingerprint signatures are compared for authentication. The particular two candidate signatures used and the sequence in which they are submitted are selected with the user's consent and serve as a PIN-like unique personal code. The use of only partial fingerprint data greatly allays the concerns of widespread fingerprint dissemination by many individuals.

Embodiments of the invention enable the synchronization of clocks across packet switched networks, such as the Internet, sufficient to drive a jitter buffer and other quality-of-service related buffering. Packet time stamps referenced to a local clock create a phase offset signal. A shortest-delay offset generator uses a moving-window filter to select the samples of the phase offset signal having the shortest network propagation delay within the window. This shortest network propagation delay filter minimizes the effect of network jitter under the assumption that queuing delays account for most of the network jitter. The addition of this filtered phase offset signal to a free-running local clock creates a time reference that is synchronized to the remote clock at the source thus allowing for the transport of audio, video, and other time-sensitive real-time signals with minimal latency.

The present invention relates to a system of preparing a one of a kind artificial or biological implant to repair or replace a bone or a tissue part in a living individual, the system comprising: pre-operatively constructing an anatomically correct, affected area 7-unique scan implants geometry, wherein the implants geometry is unknown before the acquisition of the individual's data; and using a process derived from rapid prototyping to construct a geometrically and anatomically correct duplication of the functional attributes of the bone or tissue part to be replaced from the dataset created by scans of the recipients scans. This system can also be used to modify, pre-operatively, existing FDA approved implants.

A porous ceramic atomized cartridge contains a heating element, a porous ceramic wick, and the liquid to be vaporized removably concealed within the body of an electronic simulated smoking pipe. Adjustment of the spacing of a circular disc heating element relative to the porous ceramic wick adjusts the level of atomization. All components are easily removable and replaceable and cleaned. A bowl of the pipe is used as an open battery chamber to allow any battery fumes to escape and allow easy removal and replacement of the battery. A conductive contact arm pivots between contact with the battery and the pipe body to control power. Vapor is activated by a manual push button switch or an automatic sound activated switch responsive to the puffing sound of a user.

A mini-environment apparatus includes a wafer transportation machine transporting a wafer, a wafer transportation room having the machine and passed by the wafer transported to a processing room, a circulating passage where a gas detoured from the transportation room flows, a blowing means forming a circulating current falling in the transportation room and rising in the passage, a current member arranged in a ceiling part of the transportation room and laminarizing the current and introducing this laminarized current into the transportation room, a particle removal filter arranged in either the ceiling part of the transportation room or the passage, and a chemical filter arranged in the passage detachably and separately from the removal filter. The chemical filter is arranged at a position lower than a lowest position where the wafer may pass through in the transportation room.

The invention relates to digital rights management, and proposes the implementation of a DRM agent (125) into a tamper-resistant identity module (120) adapted for engagement with a client system (100), such as a mobile phone or a computer system. The DRM agent (125) is generally implemented with functionality for enabling usage, such as rendering or execution of protected digital content provided to the client system from a content provider In general, the DRM agent (125) includes functionality for cryptographic processing of DRM metadata associated with the digital content to be rendered. In a particularly advantageous realization, the DRM agent is implemented as an application in the application environment of the identity module. The DRM application can be preprogrammed into the application environment, or securely downloaded from a trusted party associated with the identity module. The invention also relates to a distributed DRM module, with communication between distributed DRM agents (125, 135) based on usage-device specific key information.

A counter top reverse osmosis water purification system, suitable for home use, is connected to a water supply and contains a closed fluid treatment circuit extending to a water outlet. The closed fluid circuit flows through a plurality of replaceable water treatment modules mounted on a flowboard and each having a specific water treatment function, such as the removal of a particular material from the water by the use of reverse osmosis, filtration, carbon adsorption, ion exchange or the addition of a chemical to balance the desired water conditions. Preferably the circuit also includes traversing a radiation device, for example an ultraviolet light, for the purpose of sanitizing the water.