Abstract: An electrosurgical system is provided for the treatment of tissue, the system comprising an electrosurgical generator (1) and an instrument (3) comprising an instrument shaft (10) having a longitudinal axis, and an electrode assembly (12) at one end of the shaft. The electrode assembly (12) comprises a first tissue treatment electrode (11), a second tissue treatment electrode (14), and first and second return electrodes (24, 25) electrically insulated from the first and second tissue treatment electrodes by means of insulation members (12, 15). The first and second tissue treatment electrodes (11, 14) each have an exposed surface for treating tissue, the exposed surface of the first tissue treatment electrode (11) being such as to treat tissue disposed on the longitudinal axis, and the exposed surface of the second tissue treatment electrode (14) being such as to treat tissue disposed laterally of the longitudinal axis.

Abstract: An electrosurgical instrument is provided for the treatment of tissue, the instrument comprising an instrument shaft (10) having a longitudinal axis, and an electrode assembly at one end of the shaft. The electrode assembly comprises a first tissue treatment electrode (11), a second tissue treatment electrode (14), and a third electrode (25) which is electrically insulated from the first and second tissue treatment electrodes by means of an insulation member (12). The first and second tissue treatment electrodes (11, 14) each have an exposed surface for treating tissue, the exposed surface of the first tissue treatment electrode (11) being such as to treat tissue disposed on the longitudinal axis, and the exposed surface of the second tissue treatment electrode (14) being such as to treat tissue disposed laterally of the longitudinal axis.

Abstract: An articulated surgical instrument includes a handle, an actuating assembly associated with the handle, and a shaft including a proximal end coupled to the handle, a deflectable portion and an end effector. Distal portions of deflection wires are connected to the shaft. Proximal portions of the wires are connected to the actuating assembly. Movement of the actuating assembly moves the deflection wires to cause a deflection of the deflectable portion. The actuating assembly includes one or more actuators and one or more slider members associated with the actuators and connected to the deflection wires. The slider members are movable linearly between first and second positions, the proximal portions of the deflection wires being connected to the slider members.

Abstract: An electrosurgical system is provided for the treatment of tissue, the system comprising an electrosurgical generator (1) and an instrument (3) comprising an instrument shaft (10) having a longitudinal axis, and an electrode assembly (12) at one end of the shaft. The electrode assembly (12) comprises a first tissue treatment electrode (11), a second tissue treatment electrode (14), and first and second return electrodes (24, 25) electrically insulated from the first and second tissue treatment electrodes by means of insulation members (12, 15). The first and second tissue treatment electrodes (11, 14) each have an exposed surface for treating tissue, the exposed surface of the first tissue treatment electrode (11) being such as to treat tissue disposed on the longitudinal axis, and the exposed surface of the second tissue treatment electrode (14) being such as to is treat tissue disposed laterally of the longitudinal axis.

Abstract: An electrosurgical instrument is provided for the treatment of tissue, the instrument comprising an instrument shaft (10) having a longitudinal axis, and an electrode assembly at one end of the shaft. The electrode assembly comprises a first tissue treatment electrode (11), a second tissue treatment electrode (14), and a third electrode (25) which is electrically insulated from the first and second tissue treatment electrodes by means of an insulation member (12). The first and second tissue treatment electrodes (11, 14) each have an exposed surface for treating tissue, the exposed surface of the first tissue treatment electrode (11) being such as to treat tissue disposed on the longitudinal axis, and the exposed surface of the second tissue treatment electrode (14) being such as to treat tissue disposed laterally of the longitudinal axis.

Abstract: An articulated surgical instrument includes a handle, an actuating assembly associated with the handle, and a shaft including a proximal end coupled to the handle, a deflectable portion and an end effector. Distal portions of deflection wires are connected to the shaft. Proximal portions of the wires are connected to the actuating assembly. Movement of the actuating assembly moves the deflection wires to cause a deflection of the deflectable portion. The actuating assembly includes one or more actuators and one or more slider members associated with the actuators and connected to the deflection wires. The slider members are movable linearly between first and second positions, the proximal portions of the deflection wires being connected to the slider members.

Abstract: A work piece holder includes a base plate, a slide plate, a rotary indexing device, a support assembly, a spindle, and a pallet receiver. The slide plate is manually slidable over the base plate between a plurality of predetermined positions. The rotary indexing device is affixed to the slide plate, and has the support assembly secured thereto and rotated thereby into a desired angular orientation about a first axis of rotation. The spindle is secured to the support assembly, and defines a second axis of rotation that is generally perpendicular to the first axis of rotation. The spindle is manually rotatable about the second axis of rotation between a plurality of predetermined rotary positions. The pallet receiver, which is secured to the spindle and is rotatable therewith about the first and second axes, is adapted to releasably receive a pallet to which a work piece is mounted.

Abstract: An acquisition and averaging circuit is provided in which, during a sampling phase capacitors in sample blocks 4 and 6 are sequentially connected to the input signal to sample it and are then isolated so as to hold the sample. The capacitors are then connected to a combining/averaging arrangement such that an average of the sample values is formed.

Abstract: An improved chopped CMOS operational amplifier that includes a modulator having differential input and output connections, an AC amplifier coupled to the modulator output, a demodulator coupled to the AC amplifier output, and an integrator coupled to the demodulator output. The improvement is realized in that the operational amplifier has a gain path comprising at least four inverting amplifiers, wherein three or a greater odd number of the inverting amplifiers comprise an integrator that is rendered stable by incorporating a nested integrating capacitor within the integrator, and at least one of the inverting amplifiers is coupled to the modulator output and configured as the AC amplifier. In another aspect of the invention, a second demodulator is introduced to derive a compensating signal that tends to counteract offset voltage components attributable to modulator switch mismatch.

Abstract: A digital filter includes a pre-filter cascaded to a low pass filter. The pre-filter has a transfer function providing generally increasing attenuation with increasing frequency above a cutoff frequency. The low pass filter has a transfer function providing substantially decreasing attenuation with increasing frequency above the cutoff frequency. The low pass filter is an FIR filter including coefficients restricted to the set {+1, 0 and -1}. The filters are preferably implemented using simple hardware such as addressable read/write RAM, digital adder/subtracters, and registers. Alternatively, the addressable RAM can be replaced with shift registers. Such a filter is easily and economically implemented and has a favorable overall frequency response characteristic. The filter is, therefore, well suited for use in many digital applications and, in particular, for use as a decimation filter in an oversampled, multi-bit, high order analog-to-digital converter system.

Abstract: A charge pump circuit for providing a bipolar voltage output at substantially double the unipolar voltage input source includes first and second voltage input terminals; a first and a second capacitor; a first switching device for selectively connecting first and second capacitors across the input terminals to charge each to the voltage of the input source; first and second voltage output terminals; a second switching device for selectively connecting the capacitors in series between one of the input terminals and one of the output terminals to generate a first polarity voltage which is substantially double the voltage of the input source; a third switching device for selectively connecting at least one of the capacitors in series between the other of the input terminals and the other of the output terminals to generate a second polarity voltage which is substantially double the voltage of the input source; and a clock for sequentially, selectively actuating the first, second and third switching devices.

Abstract: An accumulation-mode bulk channel CCD converts an electromagnetic radiation pattern into electrical signals. The device body may be of monocrystalline silicon and has a radiation-sensitive region which is of a first conductivity type determined by a dopant (e.g. sulphur, platinum, indium or thallium) having an energy level or levels sufficiently deep in the semiconductor band gap that substantially all of said dopant atoms are un-ionized at the device operating temperature. By this means the region is substantially free of majority charge carriers in the absence of radiation, and majority charge carriers trapped by the dopant atoms can be released upon excitation by the radiation. A first ohmic contact to the region supplies majority charge carriers to the dopant to replace charge carriers released by the incident radiation.

Abstract: A switchable analog signal inverter is suitable for inverting an input D.C. voltage, for example the D.C. voltage from a digital to analog converter (DAC), thereby halving the size of the DAC. The inverter includes a capacitor having one side alternately switchable between a reference voltage point and an output terminal and another side alternately switchable between the reference voltage point and an input signal terminal, and switching means for selectively reversing the phasing of the switching between the reference voltage and the input signal. In one embodiment the inverter comprises a double pole reversing switch having inputs connected to a signal input terminal and to a reference voltage point and a capacitor connected by a change-over switch to first and second outputs of the reversing switch and by another change-over switch to a signal output terminal or to the reference voltage point.

Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor body having a semiconductor layer of one conductivity type, means for enabling the semiconductor layer to be locally fully depleted without avalanche multiplication in order to allow the movement of majority charge carriers representative of information via the interior of the layer to one or more storage sites in the layer, means for enabling the reading of information present at least in one storage site comprising an insulated gate field effect transistor structure having its channel region present at the surface of the semiconductor layer above said one storage site and between source and drain regions of the opposite conductivity type, and means for enabling the temporary confinement of the quantity of majority charge carriers in said one storage site to the interior of the layer without mixing of the stored charge carriers in said one storage site and the mobile minority charge carriers in the transistor channel in order that the current flow in the transi