587results about How to "Gap minimization" patented technology

A multi-panel device with a configurable interface is disclosed. In a particular embodiment, the device includes a hinge rotatably coupled to a first panel of the device via a first pin and rotatably coupled to a second panel of the device via a second pin. The first pin is engaged within a slot of the first panel to enable a lateral movement of the first panel relative to the second panel such that the first panel has a first range of motion relative to the second panel when the hinge is in an extended configuration and a second range of motion when the hinge is in a retracted configuration. The first range of motion is larger than the second range of motion.

The embodiments presented herein relate to concepts designed to eliminate the gap between a catheter and guide wire that can otherwise contribute to a catheter getting stuck within the vasculature.

A receptacle for a pluggable module includes a housing having a front, a back wall, a top wall, a bottom wall, and side walls and defining a cavity for receiving a module. The bottom wall has a bottom opening to receive a receptacle connector, and the front has a front opening to receive the module. The walls of the housing are made from a conductive material. A plurality of elongated members extend down from the housing past the bottom wall. The elongated members are adapted for electrical connection to a host circuit board such that the walls of the housing are electrically connected to the host circuit board.

A crosslink member for securing spinal rods is disclosed having connector ends that include a brace and a locking member, each having an arcuate face resting on and securing a spinal rod. The locking member is secured by a cam member that rotates relative to the locking member and that cams against the connector to displace the cam member. The crosslink includes a male connector with a cylindrical cross rod received by a cavity in a female connector. The cross rod is secured by a pivotable clamp device in the female connector, and the cross rod connector and female connector may pivot, rotate, and telescope relative to each other. To reduce size without sacrificing pivot sweep, the cross rod has beveled edges, and the cavity of the female connector has windows to provide pivot clearance.

An on-line benchmarking system and method that enables requesting users to define customized peer groups within an extensive database of participants, and to be compared with such customized groups in a wide range of performance categories. The system and method incorporates a range of detailed reporting options that not only present comparison data, but also financially quantify performance gaps and identify and rank a range of solution options.

The present system comprises a transmitting apparatus for digital broadcast which includes an original signal generating section, delaying section, information amount reducing section, and transmitting section. A receiving and reproducing apparatus for digital broadcast includes a signal reception front stage unit for receiving a high quality signal and a low quality signal, mode determining section and reproducing section composed of a delaying section and selecting section for selectively reproducing the high quality signal and the low quality signal. By employing time diversity, the transmitting apparatus sends the low quality signal having a smaller bandwidth and the high quality signal so that the low quality signal has a preceding time lag relative to the high quality signal, and the receiving apparatus reproduces broadcasting programs. Utilizing the frequency band for broadcast effectively, many broadcasting programs can be increased, and the investment for providing a gap filler can be minimized.

A portable computing device is disclosed. The portable computing device can take many forms such as a laptop computer, a tablet computer, and so on. The portable computing device can include a single piece housing formed from a radio opaque material with a cover formed from a radio transparent material. To implement a wireless interface, an antenna stack-up can be provided that allows an antenna to be mounted to a bottom of the cover. Methods and apparatus are provided for improving wireless performance. For instance, in one embodiment, a metal housing can be thinned to improve antenna performance. As another example, a faraday cage can be formed around speaker drivers to improve antenna performance.

A rechargeable battery includes an electrode assembly having a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator positioned between the positive and negative electrodes, a case for housing the electrode assembly, and a spacer positioned between the electrode assembly and the case.

A crosslink member for securing spinal rods is disclosed having connector ends that include a brace and a locking member, each having an arcuate face resting on and securing a spinal rod. The locking member is secured by a cam member that rotates relative to the locking member and that cams against the connector to displace the cam member. The crosslink includes a male connector with a cylindrical cross rod received by a cavity in a female connector. The cross rod is secured by a pivotable clamp device in the female connector, and the cross rod connector and female connector may pivot, rotate, and telescope relative to each other. To reduce size without sacrificing pivot sweep, the cross rod has beveled edges, and the cavity of the female connector has windows to provide pivot clearance.

A wireless communication system, and method therefore, dynamically selects a wireless communication mode for wirelessly communicating information to at least one wireless communication device (104). The method includes receiving at least one request for wireless communication of information to at least one wireless communication device (104). A total number of time-slots required for transmitting the wireless communication of information to the least one wireless communication device (104) is determined for each of a set of wireless communication modes. The total number of time-slots required for each wireless communication mode is compared to every other wireless communication mode of the set. A wireless communication mode is selected, based at least in part on the comparison of the total number of required time-slots, from the set of wireless communication modes for wirelessly communicating the requested information to the at least one wireless communication device (104).

Aspects of the invention are directed to systems for reducing the cooling requirements of a ring seal in a turbine engine. In one embodiment, the ring seal can be made of a ceramic material, such as a ceramic matrix composite. The ceramic ring seal can be connected to metal isolation rings by a plurality of pins. The hot gas face of the ring seal can be coated with a thermal insulating material. In another embodiment, the ring seal can be made of metal, but it can be operatively associated with a ceramic heat shield. The metal ring seal can carry the mechanical loads imposed during engine operation, and the heat shield can carry the thermal loads. By minimizing the amount of ring seal cooling, the ring seal systems according to aspects of the invention can result in improved engine performance and emissions.

A field-installable connector includes a connector housing and a ferrule having front and rear opposed faces and at least one fiber bore defined longitudinally therethrough. A laser processed stub optical fiber is disposed within the one fiber bore of the ferrule and extends a predetermined distance beyond the rear face of the ferrule. An alignment feature is operable for self-centering the stub optical fiber and a field optical fiber to perform a mechanical splice using a camming means. A method of laser processing a stub optical fiber includes rotating the stub optical fiber and sweeping a laser beam directed at a desired angle back and forth across a surface of the optical fiber. An oscillating motion of the laser is driven by an intermittent sinusoidal signal that results in two deposits of energy onto the stub optical fiber followed by a cooling period before subsequent deposits of energy occur.

A display apparatus includes a display panel, a display panel driver and a first connection wire. The display panel includes a substrate and a display layer disposed on a first surface of the substrate. The display panel driver applies a driving signal to the display panel. The display panel driver is disposed on a second surface opposite to the first surface of the substrate. The first connection wire is disposed at a first side surface connecting the first and second surfaces of the substrate. The first connection wire connects electrically the display panel with the display panel driver.

A powdered magnetic material stator core with embedded stator windings and a method for its manufacture. Embedding the windings within a radially compacted powdered magnetic material stator core enables equivalent or better electromagnetic performance in a significantly reduced size. Radial compaction of the powdered magnetic material minimizes the distortion of the stator windings during compaction.

The present invention discloses a toothbrush having a handle and an articulated head coupled to the handle. The articulated head includes two sections and each of the head sections has a bottom surface and a side surface. Each of the head sections includes a plurality of bristles extending from the bottom surface of that head section and at least one of the head sections includes a plurality of elastomeric fingers partially defining the side surface of that head section and partially extending from the bottom surface of the head section. The head section most remote from the handle, in a normal configuration of the articulated head, is angled with respect to the other head section.

A vacuum seed meter for metering individual seeds at consistent intervals. The seed meter employs an improved seed disk defining a plurality of seed attachment holes for holding seeds on the disk via a vacuum attachment force. Each seed attachment hole is configured to allow a seed to be held against one side of the disk without permitting the seed to extend entirely through the attachment hole and protrude from the opposite side of the disk. In addition, the seed disk is configured to provide enhanced resistance to bending. No gaskets or brushes that maintain contact with the seed disk are required. The seed meter also employs an improved second-seed eliminator disposed alongside the seed disk. The second-seed eliminator presents a substantially smooth leading edge that is configured to contact a second seed held by an attachment hole, thereby decoupling the second seed from the disk. The second-seed eliminator can be shifted via contact with a seed firmly attached to the seed disk, thereby preventing shearing of the seed by the seed eliminator.

An olefin polymerization process and apparatus wherein a fluid slurry comprising monomer, diluent and catalyst is circulated in a continuous loop reactor by two or more pumps. The process and apparatus allow operating the reaction at significantly higher solids content in the circulating fluid slurry. In a preferred embodiment, the fluid slurry is circulated by two impellers arranged so that the downstream impeller benefits from the rotational energy imparted by the upstream impeller. An olefin polymerization process operating at higher reactor solids by virtue of more aggressive circulation has improved efficiencies, particularly in larger-volume reactors.

A self expanding flexible or balloon expandable flexible device includes a helical strut member helically wound about an axis of the stent. The helical strut member comprises a plurality of helical strut elements. A plurality of individual helical elements are helically wound about the axis of the device in the same direction of the helical strut member with the helical elements extending between and interconnecting points on subsequent windings of the helical strut member. The device can be a flow diverter, anchor, revascularization device or filter. A self expanding flexible bifurcation device can include at least one leg. The at least one leg comprising the helical strut member and the plurality of individual helical elements helically wound about the axis of the device in the same direction of the helical strut member with the helical elements extending between and interconnecting points on subsequent windings of the helical strut member.

Disclosed are optical assemblies such as field-installable connectors having a laser-shaped optical fiber along with methods for laser-shaping the optical fiber. The field-installable connector includes a ferrule having front and rear opposed faces and at least one fiber bore defined longitudinally therethrough, a stub optical fiber having a distal end with a laser-shaped end face is disposed within the at least one fiber bore of the ferrule and extends a predetermined distance beyond the rear face of the ferrule, and an alignment feature operable for aligning the stub optical fiber with the field optical fiber. One method of laser-shaping the optical fiber includes rotating the optical fiber and sweeping a beam of a laser across the optical fiber and then essentially stopping the rotation of the optical fiber and sweeping the beam through the optical fiber to cut the same with a tapered and angled end face. Other methods may include shifting the laser relative to the optical fiber to create a “pencil-tip” end on the optical fiber.

Aspects of the invention are directed to systems for reducing the cooling requirements of a ring seal in a turbine engine. In one embodiment, the ring seal can be made of a ceramic material, such as a ceramic matrix composite. The ceramic ring seal can be connected to metal isolation rings by a plurality of pins. The hot gas face of the ring seal can be coated with a thermal insulating material. In another embodiment, the ring seal can be made of metal, but it can be operatively associated with a ceramic heat shield. The metal ring seal can carry the mechanical loads imposed during engine operation, and the heat shield can carry the thermal loads. By minimizing the amount of ring seal cooling, the ring seal systems according to aspects of the invention can result in improved engine performance and emissions.

A method for calibrating the position and orientation of a 6-DOF sensor system mounted on a multi-segmented structure, such as the human body, is provided. The method includes a stage for mounting the sensors on the body, a stage for acquiring the 6-DOF kinematics from those sensors, a calibration stage whereby the prior stages are used to determining the sensor-to-segment transformations that are most physiologically optimal during relative skeletal motions, and a stage that to periodically monitor and correct for sensor slippage.

A convolutional neural network (CNN) is trained for font recognition and font similarity learning. In a training phase, text images with font labels are synthesized by introducing variances to minimize the gap between the training images and real-world text images. Training images are generated and input into the CNN. The output is fed into an N-way softmax function dependent on the number of fonts the CNN is being trained on, producing a distribution of classified text images over N class labels. In a testing phase, each test image is normalized in height and squeezed in aspect ratio resulting in a plurality of test patches. The CNN averages the probabilities of each test patch belonging to a set of fonts to obtain a classification. Feature representations may be extracted and utilized to define font similarity between fonts, which may be utilized in font suggestion, font browsing, or font recognition applications.

An overhead rotary valve fitted into a cylinder head with diametrical polygonal openings formed therein for use in combination with an internal combustion engine, driven to bring intake and exhaust ports into and out of alignment with passages leading to and from the combustion chamber. Sleeve bearings are fitted in the cylinder head that provide surface sealing, and annular sealing members prevent the air / fuel mixture or exhaust gases from flowing into regions intermediate ports and individual cylinders. Utilizing this overhead rotary valve and associated seals and bearings increases the efficiency and performance of an internal combustion engine. The overhead rotary valve rotating, at one quarter the speed of the crankshaft, minimizes wear and noise levels, self cleans the ports, allows the engine to operate at higher rpm and imparts proper opening and closing of passages at the proper sequence of valve timing without concern of valve float. The instant invention removes the need for reciprocating intake and exhaust valves, camshafts, rocker arms, lifters, push rods, valve guides and retainers, and other related hardware for actuation, significantly increasing the reliability and effectiveness of the internal combustion engine, while reducing overall manufacturing costs.

A remote asset control system for optimized asset performance under a variety of circumstances, such as network communication path failures, software maintenance, software faults, hardware faults, hardware maintenance, computer system maintenance, computer system failure, undetected data errors, configuration errors, human error, power outages, malicious network attacks, and the like, having a means to create, modify, and delete asset policies, an object oriented asset policy inheritance scheme that generates composite asset policies, an asset policy transference and caching scheme, condition driven asset policy enforcement, permission-based asset policy mechanism for throttling energy or water consumption, asset replacement simplification, query capability to enumerate actual asset deviance as compared to the currently enforced composite asset policy, real-time control asset policies, atomic activation and deactivation of asset policies, which are part of the policy inheritance hierarchy, ensuring composite policy integrity, and multi-tiered telemetry caching and transference.

A dust control apparatus and method for a bulk material handling transfer system having a chute comprising a pathway there through for handling varying volumes of bulk material flowing through the chute using gravity flow. A self-adjusting air restrictor gate is mounted in the chute for engaging the upper surface of flowing bulk material through the chute for restricting the air pathway during material volume flow variations to reduce dust emissions. The gate member contacts the upper surface of flowing bulk material and moves up and down in response to the flow of bulk material through the chute to restrict the flow of air to reduce dust. A counterweight mechanism and a damper helps maintain controlled contact of the air restrictor gate with the upper surface of bulk material flowing through the chute.

An electrical contact includes a first set of spaced apart cantilevered beams connected to a first rail, and a second set of cantilevered beams connected to a second rail. The first set of cantilevered beams project toward the second rail, and the second set of cantilevered beams project toward the first rail, wherein the first and second sets of cantilevered beams reside in alternating relationship. Each cantilevered beam is bowed and is outwardly tapered from its connected proximal to its unconnected distal end.

A retraction apparatus and method are disclosed that provide optimized access to a surgical site. In one form, a retraction frame has a retraction opening with two sets of blades operating therein. The blades are used to sequentially retract the tissue from about an incision. The sequential retraction of the blades generates only narrow gaps between the blades so that tissue and blood encroachment during the surgical procedure are minimized.

An image transfer system comprises an image bearer and an opposed member having a contact surface contacting a recording medium and opposed to a surface of the image bearer to form a transfer nip. A pressing device applies pressure to the transfer nip. An engaging and disengaging member engages and disengages the contact surface from the surface of the image bearer. A transfer bias device applies a transfer bias transferring an image formed on the image bearer onto the recording medium conveyed and pinched at the transfer nip. The image is composed of an adjustment pattern formed on a portion of the image bearer corresponding to an interval between recording mediums successively conveyed through the transfer nip. The engaging and disengaging device disengages the contact surface from the surface of the image bearer to form a gap therebetween when the adjustment pattern passes therethrough.