Patents Examined by Don N Ho
  • Patent number: 10292686
    Abstract: A medical ultrasonic probe includes an ultrasonic probe having a probe head and a connector. The connector includes a fluid cooling system comprising a pump configured to pump a cooling fluid between the connector and the probe head. A damper including a housing has a first portion defining a cavity receiving the cooling fluid and a second portion including a gas that is separated from the first portion by a membrane.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Erich Birglehner, Thomas Rittenschober
  • Patent number: 10278671
    Abstract: Shear waves are detected with ultrasound. The detection of the shear wave is constrained using prior measurements in a more controlled environment (e.g., less noise). For example, shear waves measured in a phantom are used to constrain the detection of shear waves in a patient to avoid false positive detections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Liexiang Fan, Seungsoo Kim, Nikolas Ivancevich
  • Patent number: 10251559
    Abstract: Laser-induced ultrasonic wave apparatuses and methods of generating images using the same. The laser-induced ultrasonic wave apparatus includes a laser source which irradiates a laser beam to a target object and a thermoelastic material; a thermoelastic material which converts the laser beam to a first ultrasonic wave and irradiates the first ultrasonic wave to the target object; and a receiving unit which receives an echo acoustic wave of the first ultrasonic wave and receives a second ultrasonic wave generated by the target object due to the laser beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Sung-chan Kang, Woon-bae Kim, Jong-seok Kim, Yong-seop Yoon
  • Patent number: 10245111
    Abstract: An operation support device includes a manipulation input unit and an operating section to which a surgical instrument is attached and which operates the surgical instrument. The surgical instrument includes a treatment section, a flexible insertion section, and a manipulation section which is fixed to the flexible insertion section. The manipulation input unit further includes a detection body which is attached to the manipulation section, and a detecting device which detects the detection body. The detecting device calculates information which is capable of specifying a position and/or an orientation of the detection body. On the basis of the information which is calculated by the detecting device, a control device controls an operation of the surgical instrument by outputting to the operating section an order of moving the surgical instrument as a manipulation order.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2019
    Assignee: OLYMPUS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Shintaro Inoue, Kosuke Kishi
  • Patent number: 10206583
    Abstract: Surgical devices and methods for utilizing optical coherence tomography (OCT) to monitor and control tissue sealing are disclosed. The surgical device includes an end effector assembly that includes first and second jaw members that are movable between a first, spaced-apart position and a second proximate position. An OCT system, at least a portion of which is incorporated into the end effector assembly, is configured to sense properties of the tissue, e.g., the structural density of the tissue, disposed between the first and second jaw members. A tissue-sealing energy source may be disposed within at least one of the jaw members and may provide tissue-sealing energy to tissue disposed between the jaw members. A controller, which is coupled to the OCT system and the tissue-sealing energy source, controls the tissue-sealing energy generated by the tissue-sealing energy source based on the properties of the tissue sensed by the OCT system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2019
    Assignee: COVIDIEN LP
    Inventor: William H. Nau, Jr.
  • Patent number: 10172591
    Abstract: An ultrasonic device includes a substrate, a first piezoelectric body, a second piezoelectric body, and an acoustic matching section. The substrate has a first surface that is a flat surface. The first piezoelectric body is disposed on the first surface of the substrate. The second piezoelectric body is disposed on the first surface of the substrate. The second piezoelectric body has a different thickness from a thickness of the first piezoelectric body as measured from the first surface of the substrate. The acoustic matching section is disposed on the first piezoelectric body and the second piezoelectric body. The acoustic matching section has a first side facing the first piezoelectric body and the second piezoelectric body, and a second side opposite from the first side. A surface of the acoustic matching section on the second side is a flat surface parallel with the first surface of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2019
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventors: Kanechika Kiyose, Toshikazu Uchiyama
  • Patent number: 10052025
    Abstract: A sensor for measuring a concentration of a respiratory gas component is disclosed herein. The sensor comprises at least one radiation source configured to emit radiation and at least one radiation sensing detector configured to receive radiation and provide a signal indicative of the concentration of the gas component. The sensor further comprises an electronics board configured to receive and process the signal to determine the concentration, and an energy storage device configured to supply energy to the radiation source. The electronics board is configured to choose from among at least two different modes, one being an operation mode allowing sufficient energy supply to the radiation source, and another being a rest mode allowing reduced energy supply compared to the operation mode to limit radiation for saving energy within the breathing cycle. A gas analyzer and method for measuring a concentration of a respiratory gas component are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2018
    Assignee: GE HEALTHCARE FINLAND OY
    Inventor: Heikki Antti Mikael Haveri
  • Patent number: 9816885
    Abstract: An optical force sensing element for microsurgical instruments and methods measures force F in three orthogonal directions and includes a monolithic cylinder structure, a cylindrical surface and a top surface that absorbs and transmits the force F. Three punch-like notches, all being parallel to the y-direction, are spaced apart along the z-axis and form two blades between the first and second notch and between the second and the third notch. Three channels parallel to the z-axis extend from the bottom surface to the top surface and cross the first notch while bypassing the other two notches. Three optical fibers, each fixed in one of the three channels, all entering the structure from the bottom surface, cross the first notch and end at or near the top surface while being interrupted in the first notch and forming two surfaces of each fiber that define a Fabry-Perot interferometric cavity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: SENSOPTIC, SA
    Inventors: Axel Bertholds, Pere Llosas, Simon Henein
  • Patent number: 9788730
    Abstract: A non-invasive, optical method and device for the detection of melanoma in skin lesions. The detection of the presence of melanoma is accomplished optically by looking for specific changes (signatures) in the spectrum of optical light elastically scattered off melanoma molecules. Elastic scattering spectroscopy (ESS) converts subcellular morphological changes into scattering spectrum signatures. A melanoma discrimination analysis is performed by illuminating the lesion with a handheld device that also collects a portion of the scattered light, converts it into digital signals, analyzes the requisite spectral signatures, and provides a logical output showing the user the presence (or absence) of melanoma in the subject lesion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: DERMASENSOR, INC.
    Inventors: John Noto, Robert Kerr, Maurice Ferre
  • Patent number: 9782148
    Abstract: An ultrasound catheter includes an elongated body, a first and second ablation element each configured to ablate soft tissue and an imaging core having an ultrasound transducer. In another example, an ultrasound catheter includes an elongated body, a RF ablator configured to ablate soft tissue at a frequency less than 1 MHz, and an ultrasound transducer configured to image at a frequency greater than or equal to 10 MHz. In another example, an ultrasound catheter apparatus includes an ultrasound catheter having an ablator and an ultrasound transducer, and a graphical user interface displayed using a computer processor. The graphical user interface displays a real-time image of a treatment area and the ultrasound catheter, and a chart displaying ablation as a function of time, the chart being updated in real-time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: ACIST Medical Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Kendall R. Waters, Thomas C. Moore, Robert Zelenka, Richard Bautista
  • Patent number: 9761004
    Abstract: A method and system for automatic coronary stenosis detection in computed tomography (CT) data is disclosed. Coronary artery centerlines are obtained in an input cardiac CT volume. A trained classifier, such as a probabilistic boosting tree (PBT) classifier, is used to detect stenosis regions along the centerlines in the input cardiac CT volume. The classifier classifies each of the control points that define the coronary artery centerlines as a stenosis point or a non-stenosis point.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GmbH
    Inventors: Sushil Mittal, Yefeng Zheng, Bogdan Georgescu, Fernando Vega-Higuera, Dorin Comaniciu
  • Patent number: 9750413
    Abstract: Diffuse optical tomography systems and methods are described herein. In a general embodiment, the diffuse optical tomography system comprises a plurality of sensor heads, the plurality of sensor heads comprising respective optical emitter systems and respective sensor systems. A sensor head in the plurality of sensors heads is caused to act as an illuminator, such that its optical emitter system transmits a transillumination beam towards a portion of a sample. Other sensor heads in the plurality of sensor heads act as observers, detecting portions of the transillumination beam that radiate from the sample in the fields of view of the respective sensory systems of the other sensor heads. Thus, sensor heads in the plurality of sensors heads generate sensor data in parallel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2017
    Assignee: National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC
    Inventors: John V. Sandusky, Todd A. Pitts
  • Patent number: 9509236
    Abstract: An integrated circuit apparatus includes transmitting circuits TX1 to TX64, which output transmission signals with regard to channels CH1 to CH64 of an ultrasound transducer device which has a plurality of ultrasound transducer elements, and a switching circuit which performs a switching operation. The switching circuit is provided between a receiving circuit and output nodes NQ1 to NQ64 of the transmitting circuits TX1 to TX64. Then, an operation is performed where the signal transfer of the transmission signal from the transmitting circuits TX1 to TX64 to the receiving circuit is set to be not transferred in a transmitting period. A switching operation is performed where the reception signals from the channels which are selected from among the channels CH1 to CH64 are output to the receiving circuit in a receiving period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2016
    Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation
    Inventor: Takao Miyazawa
  • Patent number: 9468394
    Abstract: Methods, systems, computer programs, circuits and workstations are configured to generate at least one two-dimensional color blood flow map that combines X and Y encoded primary and secondary peak data of 1-dimensional Inverse Fourier Transform images to visually indicate (i) anterior/posterior and right/left directional components of respective feeding arteries using defined colors and (ii) brightness to indicate an amount of blood flow associated with each voxel, with increased brightness associated with increased blood flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignee: Wake Forest University Health Sciences
    Inventor: Youngkyoo Jung
  • Patent number: 9456752
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention may be used to perform measurement of surfaces, such as external and internal surfaces of the human body, in full-field and in 3-D. Embodiments of the present invention may include an electromagnetic radiation source, which may be configured to project electromagnetic radiation onto a surface. The electromagnetic radiation source may be configured to project the electromagnetic radiation in a pattern corresponding to a spatial signal modulation algorithm. The electromagnetic radiation source may also be configured to project the electromagnetic radiation at a frequency suitable for transmission through the media in which the radiation is projected. An image sensor may be configured to capture image data representing the projected pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: APERTURE DIAGNOSTICS LTD.
    Inventor: Robert Zeien
  • Patent number: 9456789
    Abstract: An object information acquisition apparatus includes a holding member including a movable holding member configured to be movable in a direction of sandwiching an object, an irradiation member configured to irradiate the object with light from a light source through the holding member, an acoustic wave detection unit configured to receive an acoustic wave generated in the object by the light and to convert the acoustic wave into an electrical signal, a processing unit configured to acquire information in the object by using the electrical signal, a light diffusion member configured to be arranged on the movable holding member, and an imaging unit configured to capture an optical pattern formed when the light diffusion member is irradiated with the light, wherein the imaging unit is configured to be capable of adjusting a focus according to a movement of the movable holding member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Yohei Motoki