1257 results about "Angular orientation" patented technology

The present invention generally provides a polyaxial fixation device having a shank with a spherical head formed on a proximal end thereof, and a receiver member having an axial passage formed therein that is adapted to polyaxially seat the spherical head of the shank. The polyaxial bone screw further includes an engagement member that is adapted to provide sufficient friction between the spherical head and the receiver member to enable the shank to be maintained in a desired angular orientation before locking the spherical head within the receiver member.

A pedicle screw coupling construct for a pedicle screw construct provides fixation of angular orientation thereof relative to a pedicle screw independent of fixation of a received spinal rod to the coupling construct. The pedicle screw construct forms one component or element in a spinal fixation system. The independent fixation coupling construct also provides for fixation of the angular orientation of the coupling construct while the coupling construct has received the spinal rod. In another form, a coupling head or construct is configured to allow a pedicle screw shaft to pass therethrough but retain the pedicle screw head for rotation of the coupling head about the pedicle screw head. The coupling head or construct is also configured to allow at least a 45° arc of pivot or articulation about a pedicle screw shaft relative to a longitudinal axis of a spinal rod received in the body. This allows the head with a received spinal rod to fold, bend or pivot relative to the pedicle screw shaft, particularly to a greater degree than the prior art.

A device comprised of at least a pair of accelerometers and a tilt sensor mounted in fixed relation to a datum plane defining surface (sole of a shoe) may be used for extracting kinematic variables including linear and rotational acceleration, velocity and position. These variables may be resolved into a selected direction thereby permitting both relative and absolute kinematic quantities to be determined. The acceleration is determined using a small cluster of two mutually perpendicular accelerometers mounted on a shoe. Angular orientation of the foot may be determined by double integration of the foot's angular acceleration (which requires a third accelerometer substantially parallel to one of the two orthogonal accelerometers). The two orthogonal accelerations are then resolved into a net horizontal acceleration or other selected direction which may be integrated to find the foot velocity in the selected direction. The average of the foot velocity corresponds to the subject's gait speed.

A respiratory mask assembly for delivering breathable gas to a patient includes a frame and a headgear assembly which are adapted to being removeably magnetically coupled to one another at a desired angular orientation therebetween.

An articulating tool is provided with an articulation lock. The tool includes proximal, central and distal portions, an articulation mechanism, and first and second articulation locks. The central portion of the tool is pivotably coupled to the proximal portion and the distal portion is pivotably coupled to the central portion. The articulation mechanism is configured to manipulate an angular orientation of the distal portion relative to the central portion. The articulation mechanism includes a pair of links, the pair comprising a proximal link on the proximal portion of the tool and a distal link on the distal portion of the tool. The articulation mechanism is adapted such that movement of the proximal link causes corresponding relative movement of the distal link. The first articulation lock has an engaged position and a disengaged position. When in the engaged position, the first articulation lock impedes movement of the proximal link relative to the central portion about a yaw axis, and corresponding relative movement of the distal link. The second articulation lock also has an engaged position and a disengaged position. When in the engaged position, the second articulation lock impedes movement of the proximal link relative to the central portion about a pitch axis, and corresponding relative movement of the distal link. Methods of operating the articulating tool are also disclosed.

Methods for determine the position and rotational orientation of the transducer array of an ultrasound imaging catheter within a patient include imaging the distal end of the catheter using fluoroscopy and determining the angular orientation based upon the shape and dimensions of the image of the transducer array and wire connecting harness. Additional rotational and translational information may be obtained from sensors located at the proximal end of the catheter. By combining position information obtained using fluoroscopy with information from relative rotation/translation sensors, the imaging transducer position and orientation can be determined more accurately. The resulting accurate imaging transducer position information enables combining multiple images from different positions or orientations to generate multi-dimensional images. Catheters including rotation and translation motion sensors at the proximal end, and radio-opaque materials near the distal end can be provided to enhance the methods.

An expandable intervertebral device including a body extending generally along a longitudinal axis and including at least two branch portions coupled together adjacent an end portion of the body. The device further includes an expansion member positioned between the at least two branch portions with at least a portion of the expansion member arranged at an angular orientation relative to the longitudinal axis whereby a change in the angular orientation relative to the longitudinal axis urges the at least two branch portions apart to expand the body.

A modular skeletal hook has an upper module for connecting with larger support apparatus to maintain bones of the skeleton in fixed relationship. The upper module is connected to an attachment module by a modified ball and socket arrangement. The attachment module has a C-shaped hook for engaging the bone. The angular orientation of the upper module and the attachment module may be fixed by a set screw threaded through the upper module and the attachment module.

A method and system of interference lithography (also known as interferometric lithography or holographic lithography) which utilizes phase-locked, scanning beams (so-called scanning beam interference lithography, or SBIL). The invention utilizes a high-precision stage that moves a substrate under overlapped and interfering pairs of coherent beams. The overlapped beams interfere, generating fringes, which form a pattern “brush” for subsequent writing of periodic and quasi-periodic patterns on the substrate. The phase of the fringes in the overlapped region is phase-locked to the motion of the precision stage. The invention includes methods for forming, overlapping, and phase-locking interfering pairs of beams on a variety of substrates; methods for measuring and controlling the period, phase, and angular orientation of fringes generated by the overlapping beams; and methods for measuring and controlling the effects of stage mechanical and thermal drift and other disturbances during the writing process.

An intervertebral spacer for therapeutic treatment of a patient includes at least one link sized and dimensioned to fit within an intervertebral space in the patient, and is configured to maintain a separation of two adjacent vertebrae for a period of time. A rigid guiding object, which may be a tool or a successive link, is insertable into the patient, to guide other links into the patient using an MIS approach. A pivot is connected between successive links, or between a guide tool and a link, configured to limit a relative range of angular orientation between the link and the guiding tool, or successive links. Multiple links are so joined to form a chain pushable by the last link, and pullable by the first link, to form a chain which may be formed into a curved configuration corresponding to the patient's intervertebral space.

A top loading polyaxial spinal rod screw assembly is configured for simultaneous or one step lockup of angular orientation of a rod holder portion of the screw assembly relative to a bone screw and of a spinal rod within the rod holder portion of the screw assembly. The spinal rod and the angular orientation of the rod holder holding the spinal rod are thus fixed upon receipt of a lockup component of the present assembly. Components of the present spinal rod screw assembly cooperate to allow reception of a spinal rod in a rod holder that is adapted for pivotal retention on a bone screw and to lock or fix the spinal rod within the rod holder while also locking or fixing the angular orientation of the rod holder relative to the bone screw upon receipt of a lockup cap component of the screw assembly in the rod holder. In one form, the present screw assembly is defined by a three-piece polyaxial screw head assembly for a bone screw. The three-piece polyaxial screw head assembly includes a spine rod holder or head configured for pivotal connection with the bone screw, a head insert configured for reception in the spine rod holder, and a lockup (end) cap configured for reception in the spine rod holder. The lockup cap is configured to interact with the head insert to fix an angular position or orientation of the spine rod holder relative to the bone screw at the same time as fixing a spinal rod that has been received in the spine rod holder relative to the spine rod holder.

A camera holding assembly that is configured to hold a plurality of cameras in a predetermined orientation includes a support having a plurality of receptacles. Each of the receptacles include at least one feature enabling a camera to be releasably retained therein as well as at least one and preferably at least three attachment features configured for enabling the camera holding assembly to be secured to another object. The receptacles are oriented about the support so that each camera, when loaded into the defined receptacles, is aimed in a different angular orientation. Images obtained from each retained camera can be stitched to create either a composite 360 degree×180 degree full spherical image or a composite 360 degree composite image of a scene of interest.

A display system includes a base, a pair of electronic displays, and an arm assembly that supports the displays from the base in vertical or horizontal registration. In one implementation, the arm assembly is a single telescopic member that rotates relative to the base and locks in vertical and horizontal orientations, the displays rotate relative to the member between corresponding extreme angular positions in which the operative angular orientation of the displays relative to horizontal is maintained, and the length of the member is adjusted to minimize separation of the displays. In another implementation, the arm assembly has separate arms rotating about vertically spaced axes and linked to minimize the separation of the displays automatically when vertically or horizontally registered. In a simple implementation, the arm assembly is a rigid arm that releasably attaches to the base only in vertical and horizontal orientations, the displays mounted releasably to the arm in pre-defined angular orientations that preserve their operative angular orientation, and one display can be connected to the arm at spaced apart position to adjust separation of the displays.

An introducer system for implantation of pacemaker leads into the venous system of the human heart through the coronary sinus is comprised of a flexible, elongate, outer elongate element having a first shape or bias along a portion. The first shape on the outer element may be prebiased or may be initially straight and subsequently biased once deployed in the body chamber. A flexible, elongate, telescopic inner elongate element has a second shape or bias on its distal portion and has the first shape or bias on a more proximal portion. The inner elongate element is telescopically disposed in the outer sheath. The outer and inner elongate elements are rotatable with respect to each other, such that when the inner elongate element is distally extended from the outer sheath, there exists an angular orientation between the inner and outer sheaths which is congruent, when there is at least partial alignment between the distal portion of the outer elongate element and the more proximal portion of the inner sheath, both having the first shape or bias. This results in the rotation of the distal second shape or curve of the inner elongate element into a predetermined three dimensional location.

The present invention relates to a tissue clamp, a tool for grasping the clamp and a method of using the clamp for surgical procedures. The clamp has a fixture or fixtures positioned on the proximal end of the arms of the clamp so that a tool can be used by the surgeon to securely grasp the clamp during placement thereof on the vasculature or other tissue of the patient. The fixture can have a plurality of channels so that the user can select the angular orientation of the tool relative to the damp.

A needle is used to mark a tissue area of interest. The needle may have one or more indicators which indicate selected angular orientations relative to the needle. The indicators may also be coupled to anchors which are deployed in the tissue to anchor the needle in the tissue. The needle may be positioned to guide an excisional device to remove tissue.

A metal distribution system for the simultaneous production of a plurality of logs or round billets from molten metal comprising: 1) a trough for the introduction of molten metal; 2) a plurality of side streams extending from the trough and each of the side streams including a plurality of opposing apertures each of the apertures including a thimble for the shaping of molten metal passing through the trough and the side streams and into the thimbles. A uniform flow of molten metal into the side streams and the individual apertures is provided by the controlled negative angular orientation of the most upstream opposing pair of apertures thereby providing relative uniformity of the temperature of molten metal reaching each of the plurality of apertures. A unique unitized thimble configuration and trough damming arrangement are also described.