Abstract:
An improved apparatus, method and system are provided for medical liquid administration, including in particular liquid medication and/or flush solution infusions. The inventive apparatus includes a barrel, a plunger slidably disposed within the barrel and extending from a distal end thereof, and at least one medical liquid delivery line having a proximal end fixedly positioned relative to the barrel, wherein the medical delivery line is fluidly interconnectable proximal to the plunger and extends along at least a portion of the barrel and in a direction distally away from the distal end thereof. To accommodate the administration of both a liquid medication and flush solution, two coincidentally-positioned medical liquid delivery lines may be included, each of which may extend through the plunger to the valve. The valve may be positionable to accommodate the selective administration of a desired medical liquid through an interconnected catheter interconnection line.
Abstract:
An implantable hearing unit (100) is provided that includes an implantable microphone (120), a rechargeable power storage device and a speech signal processor. The hearing unit (100) further includes a signal coupling device that is adapted for electrical interconnection to an implantable auditory stimulation device (200), which is operative to stimulate an auditory component of a patient. Such a stimulation device (200) may include cochlear implants as well as middle and inner ear transducer systems. The signal coupling device provides processed drive signals from the signal processor to the stimulation device (200) as well provide power from the power storage device to operate the stimulation device (200). In one arrangement, the signal coupling device is a wireless coupling between first (122) and second coils (208). In such an arrangement, the hearing unit (100) may be utilized with an existing implanted stimulation device (200) to make that device a fully implanted hearing system.
Abstract:
Various data conversion applications including a search engine employ a semantic metadata model for improved conversion. A search system in this regard associates contextual metadata with search terms and/or stored terms to facilitate identification of relevant information. In one implementation, a search term is identified (4304) from a received search request. The search term is then rewritten (4306) in standard form and the standard form term is then set (4308) as the current search parameter. A source database is then searched (4310) using the current search parameter. If any results are obtained (4312) these results may be output (4320) to the user. If no results are obtained, a parent classification of the search term is set (4316) as the current search parameter and the process is repeated. The invention thereby provides the ease of use of term searching with the comprehensiveness of category searching.
Abstract:
A beverage container with a grip formed in side and bottom walls thereof. The grip includes a V-shaped groove on a side wall that receives a finger of a consumer (e.g., a thumb or set of fingers) and a recess formed in a bottom wall of the container to receive one or more other fingers of the consumer's hand. When gripped in this fashion a lower corner of the bottle may be located in the palm of the consumer's hand. The groove in the side wall is formed in the side wall sufficiently close to the bottom wall to allow the hands of most consumers to use the grip. The V shape points upward. Either side of the V can be used depending on whether the consumer wishes to grip with their right hand or their left hand.
Abstract:
An implanted microphone (10) having reduced sensitivity to vibration is provided. The microphone (10) This differentiates between desirable and undesirable vibration in the present invention by utilizing at least one motion sensor (70) to produce a motion signal when an implanted microphone (10) is in motion. This motion signal is used to yield a microphone output signal that is less vibration sensitive. In a first arrangement, the motion signal is processed with an output of the implantable microphone transducer (18) to provide an audio signal that is less vibration-sensitive than the microphone output alone. In another arrangement, the motion signal may be utilized to actuate at least one actuator (90). Such an actuator (90) may be capable of applying a force to move the implantable microphone (10) or an implant capsulethe (100) so as to reduce movement of a microphone diaphragm (12) relative to the skin of a patient which covers the microphone diaphragm (12).
Abstract:
A measurement device is provided that allows for determining distance, range and bearing of a target of interest. The distance, range and bearing to the target of interest are determined relative to the position of the measurement device and are stored in memory. The device is further operative to translate these relative positions of the target to an absolute position at the time of measurement, or, when the position of the measurement device becomes known. The absolute position of the measurement device may be determined utilizing GPS technologies or through the measurement of geophysical reference points. Measurement of the relative location of target(s) of interest is performed utilizing an electronic range finding device and elevation and heading sensors. The resulting information is stored in memory for conversions to vector information that may be utilized to generate, for instance, topographical images.
Abstract:
A retention apparatus (202) for a semi-implantable hearing aid. In one embodiment, the retention apparatus includes a first surface and a second surface. One of the surfaces includes a first portion (402) and a second portion (404) having a rounded transition (406) therebetween for interfacing with a patient's skin (300).
Abstract:
The invention involves a process and a system (100) for integrity positioning of a mobile station (101) on a communication network for mobile stations (103) and in relation to a positioning service provider (111). In particular, the subscriber's (101) number is hidden from the service provider (18) via a procedure in which the subscriber's http inquiry is directed via the positioning platform (117) and the subscriber's IP address and port are used in the position determination executed by the positioning platform (117).
Abstract:
The present invention is directed to a method and system for use in assessing collateral blood flow to a tissue region of interest (ROI). The method includes the steps of obtaining a first pulsatility measurement (100) and a second pulsatility measurement (200), wherein one of the pulsatility measurements is obtained with a plurality of arteries supplying blood to the tissue ROI and the other pulsatility measurement is obtained with at least a selected one of such arteries substantially occluded. The method further provides for use of the first and second pulsatility measurements to generate a collateral flow value (300) useful to medical personnel as an objective measure in assessing collateral blood flow to a tissue ROI. The method may further include the step of obtaining a check pulsatility measurement after obtaining a first pulsatility measurement and prior to obtaining a second pulsatility measurement (400), wherein all of the plurality of the arteries are substantially occluded. The check procedure (400) enhances the reliability of a second pulsatility measurement obtained when a selected one of the arteries is substantially occluded.
Abstract:
A rocket (2) having a rocket engine vent system for a rocket engine is disclosed. The rocket engine vent system (30) includes at least one rocket engine vent system conduit having a pair of vent apertures (50) that are disposed on opposite sides of this conduit (i.e., disposed in opposing relation). A diverter with a pair of vanes (58) is disposed within this rocket engine vent system conduit. One diverter vane projects toward one of the vent apertures, while the other diverter vane projects toward the other vent aperture. Two separate and discrete fluid flows are thereby directed out of the rocket engine vent system conduit in at least generally opposite directions, which significantly reduces the thrust to which the rocket engine is exposed when venting rocket fuel therefrom under high pressure conditions.