1543 results about "Compressibility" patented technology

The present invention is a prosthetic for replacement of at least a part of the nucleus of a intravertebral disc. The prosthetic device is composed of at least two essentially parallel soft layers of an elastically deformable hydrogel and at least one rigid layer, the rigid layer having less compressibility than the soft layers, being adjacent to the soft layers, parallel to them, and firmly attached to them. In some embodiments, the soft layers have the same thickness and composition. Typically, the prosthesis has more than one rigid layer and these rigid layers have the same thickness and composition. The number of soft layers is usually one more than the number of rigid layers, with, e.g., at least three soft layers.

Embolic implants, delivery systems and methods of manufacture and delivery are disclosed. The devices can be used for aneurysm treatment and / or parent vessel occlusion. Implant designs offer low profile compressibility for delivery to neurovasculature, while maintaining other necessary features such as density for occlusion purposes and desirable radial strength characteristics.

Medical devices for implantation in a body vessel, and methods of using and making the same, are provided. Embodiments of the invention relate to medical devices comprising a frame having cross-section that can substantially conform to body vessel shapes that have elliptical or circular cross-sections, and dynamically respond to changes in the cross-section of a body vessel. Frames with directionally-dependent radial compressibility or expandability characteristics are also provided. Medical devices comprising a frame and one or more valve members adapted to regulate fluid flow in a body vessel, such as a vein, are also provided.

A moving magnet actuator for providing haptic feedback. The actuator includes a grounded core member, a coil is wrapped around a central projection of the core member, and a magnet head positioned so as to provide a gap between the core member and the magnet head. The magnet head is moved in a degree of freedom based on an electromagnetic force caused by a current flowed through the coil. An elastic material, such as foam, is positioned in the gap between the magnet head and the core member, where the elastic material is compressed and sheared when the magnet head moves and substantially prevents movement of the magnet head past a range limit that is based on the compressibility and shear factor of the material. Flexible members can also be provided between the magnet head and the ground member, where the flexible members flex to allow the magnet head to move, provide a centering spring force to the magnet head, and limit the motion of the magnet head.

A stent insertable in a body lumen. The stent includes a scaffold having interlinked struts forming a scaffold first section and a scaffold second section, the scaffold being deformable substantially radially between a scaffold retracted configuration and a scaffold expanded configuration. The struts are configured and sized such that the coefficient of radial compressibility of the scaffold second section is greater than the coefficient of radial compressibility of the scaffold first section and the coupling coefficient between radial and longitudinal strains of the scaffold second section is greater than the coupling coefficient between radial and longitudinal strains of the scaffold first section.

Compression exerted by a clamp collar integral to a molded plastic flexible shaft coupling accommodating angular shaft misalignment upon the circumferential outward surface of a radially compressible molded sleeve insert located in a shaft bore of the flexible coupling facilitates engagement of a reduced diameter shaft located within the sleeve insert. Use of a sleeve insert having a different internal diameter similarly accommodates flexible coupling to another diameter shaft. Utilization of sleeve inserts selected from a plurality of different reduced internal diameters and exterior diameters sized to fit either shaft bore enables flexible coupling of both multiple matched shaft diameters and an exponential number of differing opposed shaft diameter combinations within a range limited by the flexible coupling shaft bores. Radial compressibility of the sleeve insert is facilitated by the utilization of resilient material, interruption of the circumferential extension by a longitudinal slot, or both. Utilization of congruent longitudinally uniform, radially non-uniform, flexible coupling shaft bore and insert sleeve outward surfaces provides additional torque transmission capacity.

A cushioning component for an article of footwear is disclosed that includes a fluid-filled chamber and a covering element extending over a portion of the chamber. The chamber is devoid of internal connections, and the fluid within the chamber may be at a pressure that is substantially equal to an ambient pressure. The chamber defines a plurality of lobes, and the cushioning element includes a plurality of inserts that extend between the lobes. The inserts are elongate structures that decrease the compressibility of peripheral portions of the cushioning component.

A method and structure for reducing access latency and contention in a processing system is disclosed. The invention detects when the amount of available memory is outside a prescribed range, and responsively selects data blocks for compression (to add to the available memory,) or decompression (to use surplus available memory for uncompressed data,) until the amount of available memory is within the prescribed range. When data blocks are compressed, a DOC is determined and stored as an attribute in the directory entry associated with the data block. A most recently used list of recent data block addresses prevents those, as well those data blocks with poor DOC attributes, from being selected for recompression. All zero data blocks are detected to avoid standard compression / decompression overhead.

The invention pertains to coated medical devices, such as stents and balloon catheters, for delivering a biologically active material to body tissue of a patient. The medical device has a coating layer comprising a biocompatible polymer, non-polymer material, or biologically active material disposed on its surface, and at least one structural element embedded within the coating layer. The structural elements reduce the compressibility of the coating layer. The structural element may be any shape or configuration. A biologically active material may be dispersed within the coating layer or structural elements. Methods for making such medical devices are also disclosed.

A filter element having multiple formed layers of filtration media is disclosed. The media are layered so as to form a pore size gradient. The filter element is capable of removing both solid and liquid particulates from a moving fluid stream. The filter element has high strength and compressibility. The layers can be supported on a porous or perforate support to provide mechanical stability during filtering operations. The filtration media layers can be formed into various filter element forms such as panels, cartridges, inserts, and the like.

A method and apparatus are provided for encoding and decoding a multi-view moving picture. A method of estimating a disparity vector to encode a multi-view moving picture includes: estimating disparity vectors for a predetermined number of encoded macroblocks; and calculating disparity vectors of macroblocks adjacent to the encoded macroblocks using the estimated disparity vectors. Therefore, it is possible to quickly perform encoding of a multi-view moving picture and enhance compressibility of the multi-view moving picture.

A method and apparatus are provided for encoding and decoding a multi-view video. The multi-view video encoding apparatus includes a disparity estimator receiving a current frame and a reference frame and estimating disparity vectors between the current frame and the reference frame by the block; a disparity deviation calculator calculating deviations between the estimated disparity vectors and calculating deviations of the deviations between the estimated disparity vectors; and an encoder encoding the multi-view video using the calculated deviations of the disparity vectors or the calculated deviations of the deviations of the disparity vectors. Therefore, it is possible to enhance compressibility of a multi-view video.

A method for separating, or removing, particulate material, e.g., blood cells, from a sample of fluid, e.g., whole blood of a patient, in which the particulate material is suspended. In the case of separating blood cells from blood plasma or blood serum, the resulting samples of blood plasma or blood serum can be used for in vitro diagnostic applications. In normal practice, a whole blood sample of a patient are provided and then introduced into an apparatus that contains a flow channel. An acoustic field, which contains acoustic standing waves from external ultrasonic transducers, is located within the flow channel. Laminar flow is maintained in the flow channel. Blood cells and platelets are separated from blood plasma or blood serum at the end of the flow channel and collected. The method described herein allows fluid components to differentially migrate to areas of preferred acoustic interaction. The parameters that affect separation of particles are size, density, compressibility of the particles, and the fluid surrounding the particles.

Embolic implants delivery systems and methods of manufacture and delivery are disclosed. The devices can be used for aneurysm and / or fistula treatment. The designs offer low profile compressibility for delivery to neurovasculature, while maintaining advantageous delivery and implant detachment control features.

Embolic implants, delivery systems and methods of manufacture and delivery are disclosed. The devices can be used for aneurysm treatment and / or parent vessel occlusion. Implant designs offer low profile compressibility for delivery to neurovasculature, while maintaining other necessary features such as density for occlusion purposes and desirable radial strength characteristics.

The present invention is directed to a method and system for compressing attachments to electronic mail communications for transmission. In an e-mail communications system, a table stores, for each of a plurality of different types of files, a compressibility value corresponding to a percentage by which the file can be compressed in size. An e-mail attachment configuration module is configured to compress each attachment file of a type having a compressibility value greater than a threshold value in an e-mail communication. In another embodiment, the e-mail attachment configuration module compresses a number of the plurality of attachment files according to file size and the corresponding compressibility value, such that the total size of the e-mail communication after compression is maximized and is less than a threshold size. The attachment configuration module can be incorporated into a system for configuring packages of application files, designated from within user applications, to be sent as e-mail attachments in e-mail communications.

The present invention is of system, device, and method for detection, localization, and characterization of plaque-induced stenosis of a blood vessel. More particularly, the present invention relates to a balloon catheter having an expandable balloon insertable into a blood vessel, which balloon comprises a plurality of pressure sensors operable to detect stenosis of the vessel, and further operable to report degrees of compressibility of stenotic regions of plaque within the vessel, thereby distinguishing between standard and vulnerable plaque.

Embolic implants, delivery systems and methods of manufacture and delivery are disclosed. The devices can be used for aneurysm treatment and / or parent vessel occlusion. Implant designs offer low profile compressibility for delivery to neurovasculature, while maintaining other necessary features such as density for occlusion purposes and desirable radial strength characteristics.

A method for making multilayer ceramic substrates having substantially reduced planar shrinkage and distortion resulting from the firing or sintering process. Contact sheets are employed in the fabrication process on the surface of the multilayer ceramic substrate to be fired with the contact sheets being prepared from a composition containing a non-sinterable non-metallic inorganic material such as alumina having an average particle size approximately about 1 micron or less and an organic binder and preferably a plasticizer. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the multilayer structure to be fired containing the contact sheet of the invention is provided with a beveled or chamfered edge at an angle of greater than about 60 degrees. A fabrication process employing only chamfering of the edge or the use of a contact sheet of the invention also provides improved multilayer ceramic substrate products. A further feature is a method to control the surface topography of surface metallization by adjusting the compressibility of the contact sheets during fabrication of the substrate.

A structure for use in industrial fabrics such as paper machine clothing and engineered fabrics. The structure is a bicomponent extruded elastomeric netting or mesh having a high degree of both compressibility under an applied normal load and excellent recovery (resiliency or spring back) upon removal of that load.

A cushion that includes a cushioning element. The cushioning element has a number of substantially parallel elongate columns formed in a soft, easily deformable elastic or visco-elastic cushioning media. The columns are configured so that when a force is applied to the cushioning element in a direction that is generally parallel to the longitudinal axes of the columns, the cushioning element will yield by compressability or deformability of the cushioning media, bucklability of the walls of the columns, or a combination of both. In particular, the walls of columns which are located beneath a protruberance on an object being cushioned tend to buckle, permitting the cushioning element to conform to the shape of the cushioned object while evenly distributing a supporting force across the contact area of the cushioned object and avoiding pressure peaks. The preferred cushioning media is a gelatinous elastomer or gelatinous viscoelastomer. Various configurations of cushioning elements, including sidewall supports, are disclosed.

A microcrystalline cellulose-based excipient having improved compressibility, whether utilized in direct compression, dry granulation or wet granulation formulations, is disclosed. The excipient is an agglomerate of microcrystalline cellulose particles and from about 0.1% to about 20% silicon dioxide particles, by weight of the microcrystalline cellulose, wherein the microcrystalline cellulose and silicon dioxide are in intimate association with each other. The silicon dioxide utilized in the novel excipient has a particle size from about 1 nanometer to about 100 microns. Most preferably, the silicon dioxide is a grade of colloidal silicon dioxide.

A technique is described for interpretation of IPTT tests. In one implementation, the technique may be configured or designed to standardize the complete interpretation procedure of IPTT in a heterogeneous reservoir, using if available, modern wireline logs (such as, for example, nuclear magnetic resonance and imaging), dynamic data from wireline formation testers and / or any other relevant information (such as, for example, geological description, core data and local knowledge) as constraints on the interpretation. Additionally, an iterative method may be used to define formation layering. An advanced regression technology may also be used to obtain optimized horizontal and vertical permeabilities of reservoir layers. Further a graphical user interface (GUI) based IPTT workflow technique of the present invention provides an integrated user-friendly interpretation platform for analyzing formation testing pressures and flow rate measurements in order to estimate the values and associated uncertainties of local characteristics of a hydrocarbon reservoir such as, for example, local permeability, local reservoir pressure, local compressibility, etc.

A flexible protective padding material is described and comprises an array of resilient multilayered elements or blocks which have generally planar top and bottom surfaces and each of which have at least two layers which include a first layer bonded to an outer second layer. The total compressibility of each element with the at least two layers, the spacing between the elements and the total thickness of the elements provides the elements with the ability to compress such that at least one side wall of each of adjacent elements move together and touch each other to provide a joined outer surface of elements which dissipates a blow to the protective padding.

A cushioning component for an article of footwear is disclosed that includes a fluid-filled chamber and a covering element extending over a portion of the chamber. The chamber is devoid of internal connections, and the fluid within the chamber may be at a pressure that is substantially equal to an ambient pressure. The chamber defines a plurality of lobes, and the cushioning element includes a plurality of inserts that extend between the lobes. The inserts are elongate structures that decrease the compressibility of peripheral portions of the cushioning component.

An improved delivery system for an implantable medical device includes a retention sheath having a proximal end, a distal end, and an inner lumen extending from the proximal end to the distal end. The implantable medical device is disposed within the inner lumen of the retention sheath, which restrains the implantable medical device. A plurality of substantially incompressible rings are disposed within the inner lumen of the retention sheath in a stacked co-axial configuration that extends from the proximal end of the retention sheath in a pre-deployment position to a proximal end of the implantable medical device. Each ring in the plurality of separate rings abuts at least a portion of an adjacent ring. The plurality of separate rings is configured to prevent the implantable medical device from moving toward a proximal end of the retention sheath when the retention sheath is moved from the pre-deployment position to a deployment position.

This invention relates to an electrophoretic display comprising isolated cells of well-defined shape, size and aspect ratio which cells have internal sub relief structures and are filled with charged pigment particles dispersed in a dielectric solvent. The display shows an improved contrast ratio and resistance against shear and compression pressures. The display may have the traditional up / down switching mode, an in-plane switching mode or a dual switching mode.

A method of performing a formation rate analysis from pressure and formation flow rate data. Pressure and flow rate data are measured as fluid is withdrawn from a formation. Variable system volume is accounted for. The pressure and flow rate data are correlated using a multiple linear regression technique. Time derivative terms related to pressure and flow rate are smoothed using a summation technique, thereby providing better correlations than using the time derivatives directly. Formation parameters comprising formation permeability, formation pressure, and fluid compressibility may be determined from the correlation.