Explore the 6,189 U.S. Patent Applications published on the 38th week of 2010, including 4,139 applications that subsequently received a Patent Grant.
Circular surgical stapling instrument with anvil locking system
Circular stapling instruments for cutting and applying one or more surgical staples to tissue are disclosed. The instruments include various forms of anvil locking systems designed to selectively prevent the anvil from moving axially relative to the stapling head of the stapling instrument. One embodiment employs an elongated gear rack that is selectively engagable with locking gears to prevent axial motion of the elongated gear rack and an adjustment shaft used to axially position the anvil. Other embodiments employ a gear assembly that cooperates with the elongated gear rack. A locking member is movably supported by a handle assembly that houses the gear assembly and elongated gear rack. The locking member is configured for selective meshing engagement with the gear assembly to ultimately prevent axial movement of the gear rack and adjustment shaft.
Published: 2010-09-23 Assignee: TYCO HEALTHCARE GROUP LP.
Surgical stapling apparatus
A surgical stapling device particularly suited for endoscopic procedures is described. The device includes a handle assembly and an elongated body extending distally from the handle assembly. The distal end of the elongated body is adapted to engage a disposable loading unit. A control rod having a proximal end operatively connected to the handle assembly includes a distal end extending through the elongated body. A control rod locking member is provided to prevent movement of the control rod until the disposable loading unit is fully secured to the elongated body of the stapling device.
Published: 2010-09-23 Assignee: MEDICAL COMPONENTS, INC..
Hub for tearaway sheath assembly
A tearaway sheath assembly (100) having a splittable sheath tube (102) a splittable hub (110), a splittable valve (150) and a split cap (180). The valve (150) is of the elongated duckbill type and having a slit (158) almost completely across the distal end wall (154) such that two diverging sides (156) of the distal valve portion may be moved apart during insertion therethrough of a dilator or a catheter. A two-part cap (180) is affixed to the hub proximal end (120) and traps a seating flange (168) of the valve between itself and a seating groove (136) of the hub. Pairs of opposed gaps (184,122) of the cap (180) and the hub (110) are aligned with frangible sections or seams (108) of the sheath tube (102) and frangible sections (172) and slits (166) of the valve, facilitating splitting of the assembly (100) when desired by the practitioner to peel it away from the inserted catheter.
Published: 2010-09-23
HAND-ACTUATED ARTICULATING SURGICAL TOOL
A double cylinder system is disclosed, comprising at least one controller being adapted to transmit hydraulic control signals; at least one slave being in fluid communication with the controller and being configured to respond to the hydraulic control signals transmitted by the controller; and at least one control line providing hydraulic communication between the controller and the slave. Also disclosed is a surgical device, comprising at least one controller located at a proximal end of the device, the controller being adapted to transmit hydraulic control signals; at least one manipulator, the manipulator being configured to be controlled by a human hand and to actuate the controller; at least one slave located at a distal end of the device, the slave being in fluid communication with the controller and being configured to respond to the hydraulic control signals transmitted by the controller; and at least one control line providing hydraulic communication between the controller and the slave.
Published: 2010-09-23 Assignee: Integrated Spinal Concepts, Inc..
Image-guided minimal-step placement of screw into bone
The present disclosure describes a device and methods for safely and accurately placing screws into bones with a powered driving device. By employing multiple layers of fail-safe features and image-guidance systems, the powered driving device provides safe, accurate, and efficient screw placement. That is, the powered driving device may continuously monitor a screw advancement and placement and may automatically shutdown when improper placement is detected. Monitoring placement may be conducted by a microcurrent-monitoring system, by an image-guidance system, or by any other appropriate sensory system. Additionally, upon detecting that screw insertion is complete, the powered driving device may be automatically shutdown. As screw placement is continuously simulated by image-guidance in real time, multiple redundant verification steps are eliminated, providing highly accurate screw placement while decreasing clinician error, device contamination, and surgical time, the decreased surgical time associated with decreased patient-recovery time and associated medical costs.
Published: 2010-09-23 Assignee: MASIMO CORPORATION.
Digit gauge for noninvasive optical sensor
Embodiments of the present disclosure include a digit gauge used to ensure the size of a patient's digit is appropriate for the medical sensor applied thereto.
Published: 2010-09-23 Assignee: WITRICITY CORPORATION.
Resonator arrays for wireless energy transfer
Described herein are improved configurations for an apparatus that may include a plurality of resonators electrically interconnected and arranged in an array to form a composite resonator for wireless power transfer, each one of the plurality of resonators may include a block of a magnetic material having a conductor wire wrapped around a cross section thereof to form at least one loop enclosing an area substantially equal to the cross section, wherein the plurality of resonators are may be oriented so that a dipole moment of each one of the plurality of resonators is aligned with a dipole moment of each other one of the plurality of resonators.
Published: 2010-09-23 Assignee: DexCom, Inc..
Systems and methods for replacing signal artifacts in a glucose sensor data stream
Systems and methods for minimizing or eliminating transient non-glucose related signal noise due to non-glucose rate limiting phenomenon such as ischemia, pH changes, temperatures changes, and the like. The system monitors a data stream from a glucose sensor and detects signal artifacts that have higher amplitude than electronic or diffusion-related system noise. The system replaces some or the entire data stream continually or intermittently including signal estimation methods that particularly address transient signal artifacts. The system is also capable of detecting the severity of the signal artifacts and selectively applying one or more signal estimation algorithm factors responsive to the severity of the signal artifacts, which includes selectively applying distinct sets of parameters to a signal estimation algorithm or selectively applying distinct signal estimation algorithms.
Published: 2010-09-23 Assignee: DigitalOptics Corporation.
Dual sensor camera
A dual sensor camera that uses two aligned sensors each having a separate lens of different focal length but the same f-number. The wider FOV image from one sensor is combined with the narrower FOV image from the other sensor to form a combined image. Up-sampling of the wide FOV image and down-sampling of the narrow FOV image is performed. The longer focal length lens may have certain aberrations introduced so that Extended Depth of Field (EDoF) processing can be used to give the narrow FOV image approximately the same depth of field as the wide FOV image so that a noticeable difference in depth of field is not see in the combined image.
Published: 2010-09-23 Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd..
Manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method of lighting device
A manufacturing apparatus of a lighting device, including a vacuum chamber, an exhaust system by which the vacuum chamber is set to a reduced-pressure state, and a transfer chamber from which a substrate is transferred to the vacuum chamber is provided. The vacuum chamber of the manufacturing apparatus includes a plurality of deposition chambers in which a first electrode, a first light-emitting unit including at least a light-emitting layer, an intermediate layer, a second light-emitting unit including at least a light-emitting layer, a second electrode, a sealing film are formed, and a substrate transfer means by which the substrate is sequentially transferred to the deposition chambers.