Patents Examined by Chao Sheng
  • Patent number: 12226167
    Abstract: Systems and methods for sonicating a body within an organ of a patient include supplying ultrasound energy to the body in order to produce a liquified material, which can then be aspirated from the body via a catheter. Image guidance is used during aspiration of the liquified material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2025
    Assignee: The Cleveland Clinic Foundation
    Inventors: Sean J. Nagel, Mark D. Bain, Stephen Jones, Shengqiang Gao
  • Patent number: 12224094
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a magnetic signature imprinting system including an imprinting device and a medical device including ferrous elements. The imprinting device includes an active area having a magnet moving system, one or more sensors, and a console. The magnet moving system is configured to change the location or orientation of one or more magnets to generate one or more magnetic fields to imprint a magnetic signature. The one or more sensors are configured to detect one or more characteristics of the medical device and the console is in communication with the magnet moving system and the one or more sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2025
    Assignee: Bard Access Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: William Robert McLaughlin, Steffan Sowards, Anthony K. Misener
  • Patent number: 12220120
    Abstract: A surgical robot system includes a robot having a robot base and a robot arm coupled to the robot base, and a surgical retractor. The surgical retractor includes a retractor frame, a coupler, blades, a force and/or torque sensor, and a force and/or torque feedback determination unit. The retractor frame includes arms that are translatably and/or pivotably connected to the retractor frame. The coupler releasably attaches the retractor frame to the robot arm. The blades are each coupled to and extend away from a distal end of one of the arms. The force and/or torque sensor is connected to the blades and indicates an amount of force and/or torque being applied to the blades from contact with material of a surgical site. The force and/or torque feedback determination unit determines the amount of force and/or torque being applied to the blades based on the indication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2025
    Assignee: Globus Medical, Inc.
    Inventors: Adam Friedrich, Neil R. Crawford, Kevin Zhang, Sanjay Joshi, Norbert Johnson, Weston Healy
  • Patent number: 12213801
    Abstract: A surgical visualization system may include particle trend analysis. The surgical visualization system may include a field programmable gate array (FPGA) that is configured to transform sensor information of backscattered laser light into real-time information of particle movement (e.g., blood cells) in a portion of a surgical field. The system may communicate the real-time information to a processor that is remote to the FPGA for aggregation and analysis. The surgical visualization system may display both a metric representing a present state of moving particles and an aggregated state of the moving particles. The system may display both the rate of particle movement and the acceleration for use by the surgeon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2025
    Assignee: Cilag GmbH International
    Inventors: Frederick E. Shelton, IV, Jason L. Harris
  • Patent number: 12207976
    Abstract: An apparatus for performing surgery includes a first link that includes a first end and a second end, a second link that includes a first end and a second end, and an end effector positioned at the first end of the first link. The first end of the second link is coupled to the first link by a hinge. The end effector traces along a surface, which may be spherical or hemispherical. A system that includes the apparatus and an imaging device, such as a CT scanner, is also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2025
    Assignee: EPICA INTERNATIONAL, INC.
    Inventors: Gianluca Parrini, Luca Ferretti, Luca Bosio
  • Patent number: 12201476
    Abstract: Provided is an ultrasound system including an ultrasound probe and an image display device. The ultrasound probe includes: a transducer array, a transmitting and receiving unit that generates a sound ray signal on the basis of a reception signal from the transducer array; an image information data generation unit that generates image information data from the sound ray signal; and a probe-side wireless communication unit that transmits the image information data to the image display device. The image display device includes: an operating state acquisition unit that acquires an operating state of the image display device; and a display-device-side wireless communication unit that transmits the operating state to the ultrasound probe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2025
    Assignee: FUJIFILM Corporation
    Inventor: Hiroyuki Karasawa
  • Patent number: 12201439
    Abstract: A device for photographing a human face comprising: a) a light-excluding housing configured to receive a human face at an aperture in said housing; and b) a stand on which the light-excluding housing is mounted at one or more (preferably two rotatable pivot points, such that rotation about said pivot points results in movement of the aperture upwards and/or downwards.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2025
    Assignee: IIAA LIMITED
    Inventors: Alex Blondek, Daniel Richard Walmsley, Gary David Ross, Jeremy Frank Saunders, Richard Kier Bebbington
  • Patent number: 12197681
    Abstract: An ultrasonic transducer array including a substrate, a membrane overlying the substrate, the membrane configured to allow movement at ultrasonic frequencies, and a plurality of anchors connected to the substrate and connected to the membrane. The membrane includes a piezoelectric layer, a plurality of first electrodes, and a plurality of second electrodes, wherein each ultrasonic transducer of a plurality of ultrasonic transducers includes at least a first electrode and at least a second electrode. The plurality of anchors includes a first anchor including a first electrical connection for electrically coupling at least one first electrode to control circuitry and a second anchor including a second electrical connection for electrically coupling at least one second electrode. The ultrasonic transducer array could be either a two-dimensional array or a one-dimensional array of ultrasonic transducers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2025
    Assignee: TDK CORPORATION
    Inventors: Leonardo Baldasarre, Alessandro Colombo, Federica Confalonieri, Marco Travagliati
  • Patent number: 12193783
    Abstract: A system including a thermal sensor with an instrument placed in a volume. The thermal sensor may be useful in determining a temperature at a surface of the instrument and a distance away from the instrument. A therapy may be performed based on a sensed temperature with the thermal sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2025
    Assignee: Medtronic Navigation, Inc.
    Inventors: Brad Jacobsen, Andrew Bzostek, Daniel Dunford, Benjamin D. Ewing, Amir Ghanei, Bryan Wilson, Janine Benavente
  • Patent number: 12193871
    Abstract: Various embodiments of the present disclosure include a thermal ablation probabilistic controller (30) employing an ablation probability model (32) trained to render a pixel ablation probability for each pixel of an ablation scan image illustrative of a static anatomical ablation. In operation, the thermal ablation probabilistic controller (30) spatially aligns a temporal sequence of ablation scan datasets representative of a dynamic anatomical ablation, and applies the ablation probability model (32) to the spatial alignment of the temporal sequence of ablation scan datasets to render the pixel ablation probability for each pixel of the ablation scan image illustrative of the static anatomical ablation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2025
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Jochen Kruecker, Shriram Sethuraman, Faik Can Meral, William Tao Shi, Evgeniy Leyvi
  • Patent number: 12186132
    Abstract: Ultrasound image devices, systems, and methods are provided. An ultrasound imaging system comprising a processor circuit in communication with an ultrasound probe comprising a transducer array, wherein the processor circuit is configured to receive, from the ultrasound probe, a first image of a patients anatomy; detect, from the first image, a first anatomical landmark at a first location along a scanning trajectory of the patients anatomy; determine, based on the first anatomical landmark, a steering configuration for steering the ultrasound probe towards a second anatomical landmark at a second location along the scanning trajectory; and output, to a display in communication with the processor circuit, an instruction based on the steering configuration to steer the ultrasound probe towards the second anatomical landmark at the second location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2025
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Raghavendra Srinivasa Naidu, Jochen Kruecker, Man Nguyen, Claudia Errico
  • Patent number: 12178654
    Abstract: An ultrasound system produces maps of acoustic attenuation coefficients from B mode image signals. A plurality of maps located in different parallel and elevationally separated planes (A, B, C, D, E) are produced, then compounded in the elevation direction. Confidence maps may also be produced for one or more attenuation coefficient maps, and the confidence map displayed or its measures used to determine weighting for the compounding process. The compounding of elevationally separate planes improves attenuation coefficient estimation in the presence of blood vessels affecting the estimates in one or more of the planes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2024
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Sheng-Wen Huang, Hua Xie, Man Nguyen, Jean-luc Francois-Marie Robert, William Tao Shi, Carolina Amador Carrascal, Vijay Thakur Shamdasani
  • Patent number: 12178668
    Abstract: At least one example embodiment provides a magnetic resonance imaging system comprising at least one local radiofrequency (RF) coil; and at least one marker element, wherein the magnetic resonance imaging system is configured to activate the at least one marker element and deactivate the at least one marker element such that the at least one marker element is detectable by the magnetic resonance imaging system at a position relative to the at least one local RF coil if the at least one marker element is activated, and the at least one marker element is not detectable by the magnetic resonance imaging system if the at least one marker element is deactivated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2024
    Assignee: Siemens Healthineers AG
    Inventors: Johann Sukkau, Volker Matschl, Steffen Schroeter
  • Patent number: 12178612
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining properties of a tissue or tissues imaged by optical coherence tomography (OCT). In one embodiment the backscatter and attenuation of the OCT optical beam is measured and based on these measurements and indicium such as color is assigned for each portion of the image corresponding to the specific value of the backscatter and attenuation for that portion. The image is then displayed with the indicia and a user can then determine the tissue characteristics. In an alternative embodiment the tissue characteristics is classified automatically by a program given the combination of backscatter and attenuation values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2024
    Assignee: LightLab Imaging, Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph M. Schmitt, Chenyang Xu
  • Patent number: 12178539
    Abstract: A steerable assembly comprises an elongated body structure with an implement arranged at a distal end thereof, wherein a premagnetized material is arranged closer to the distal end than a proximal end, and is configured to enable steering of the implement through tissue of an animal body responsive to application of a magnetic field eternal to the body. A method for guiding passage of an implement through tissue includes altering strength and/or position of at least one magnetic field source external to an animal body to interact with and effectuate movement of a premagnetized material inserted into the animal body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2024
    Assignee: Arizona Board of Regents on Behalf of Arizona State University
    Inventors: Hamidreza Marvi, Mahdi Ilami, Reza Ahmed
  • Patent number: 12178519
    Abstract: An instrument holder system comprises a guide body comprising first and second ends, and a passage extending between the first and second ends along an axis to receive an instrument, and a mechanical or electro-mechanical measuring device comprising an attachment body for coupling to the guide body, a probe to extend into a trajectory of the passage to contact the instrument and generate positional data, and, optionally, a control device coupled to the probe to receive the positional data. A method of determining a position of an instrument relative to an instrument holder comprises inserting the instrument into a passage of the instrument holder, moving the instrument into contact with a sensing element, moving a tip of the instrument out of the instrument holder to cause movement of the sensing element, and correlating movements of the sensing element to distances the tip extends out of the instrument holder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2024
    Assignee: MedTech S.A.
    Inventor: Florian Coiseur
  • Patent number: 12169931
    Abstract: An apparatus for magnetic resonance imaging includes processing circuitry to obtain a set of sequence instructions for performing a magnetic resonance scan; partition the obtained set of sequence instructions into a plurality of kernels by determining partition time points defining boundaries of the plurality of kernels, wherein the partition time points are not equally spaced in time; convert a first kernel of the plurality of kernels into a first hardware instruction set; transmit the first hardware instruction set to a hardware board controller for execution; and reconstruct a magnetic resonance image from received data, including data obtained by executing the first kernel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2024
    Assignee: CANON MEDICAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION
    Inventors: Andrew James Wheaton, Joseph Manak, Bradley Stephens
  • Patent number: 12138014
    Abstract: Methods, devices and systems for confocal microscopy of human tissues or other samples are described that can be manufactured at a low cost, and are small and portable. One apertureless confocal microscope includes a dispersion element that produces output beams having different spectral components for illumination of a target, such as a tissue. The confocal microscope also includes one or more lenses that receive reflected beams from the target and focus the reflected beams onto a linear variable filter. The linear variable filter is positioned to receive the focused light to allow a particular range of spectral components of light to pass through the linear variable filter that is a function of a spatial location of the focused light incident on the linear variable filter. The described confocal microscopes, among other features and benefits, can greatly facilitate disease diagnosis in medical applications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2024
    Assignee: Arizona Board of Regents on Behalf of the University of Arizona
    Inventor: Dongkyun Kang
  • Patent number: 12133728
    Abstract: The present disclosure is directed to relates to systems and methods for evaluating tissue using high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) energy. In one embodiment, for example, a system for treating a patient comprises an ultrasound source configured to deliver HIFU energy to a target tissue mass of the patient and a function generator operably coupled to the ultrasound source for initiating a pulsing protocol for delivering the HIFU energy. The system further comprises a controller configured to perform operations comprising applying HIFU energy to induce cavitation in the target tissue mass and cause a biomarker to be released, comparing a baseline concentration of the biomarker from a first fluid sample to a concentration of the biomarker in a second fluid sample within 2 hours after applying HIFU, and repeating the applying and comparing until the concentration of the biomarker in the fluid sample falls below a threshold value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2023
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2024
    Assignees: UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER
    Inventors: John R. Chevillet, Tatiana D. Khokhlova, George R. Schade, Joo Ha Hwang, Muneesh Tewari
  • Patent number: 12121398
    Abstract: An ultrasound system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an imaging and therapy integrated transducer including a therapy transducer and an imaging transducer, a linear motor module configured to linearly move the imaging and therapy integrated transducer along a therapy target region, and a rotation motor module configured to rotate the imaging and therapy integrated transducer to switch the imaging transducer and the therapy transducer, wherein the therapy transducer and the imaging transducer are arranged to be switchable to each other by rotation in a housing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2024
    Assignee: POSTECH RESEARCH AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION
    Inventors: Hyung Ham Kim, Hae Gyun Lim, Hyun Hee Kim