Abstract: A needle actuator assembly for a drug delivery system includes a housing, a needle having retracted and extended positions, a needle actuator body received within the housing and configured to move from a pre-use position where the needle is in the retracted position to a use position where the needle is in the extended position and to a post-use position where the needle is in the retracted position, with the needle actuator having a button contact surface, and an actuator button received by the housing.

Abstract: A drug delivery system for injecting a medicament includes a housing, a container configured to receive a medicament including a stopper configured to move within the container and a closure, a needle in fluid communication with the container, a spacer configured to be engaged with the stopper, a first plunger, a first spring configured to bias the first plunger in an axial direction, second plunger disposed about the first plunger, a second spring configured to bias the second plunger in an axial direction. The first plunger is configured to move the spacer and the container relative to the housing via the first spring to establish fluid communication between the container and the patient needle, and the second plunger is configured to move the spacer and the stopper relative to the container via the second spring.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for the amplification of a laser beam by pumping a homogenous composite source beam through an amplification medium. A slab crystalline active medium is side-pumped via a pump module having a laser diode bar and an optical assembly. The optical assembly has a fast axis collimator and a lens in the fast axis and an array of slow axis collimators and the lens in the slow axis. The lenses are spaced so that the individual source beams from the emitters are: imaged upon a first facet of the amplification medium; have a beam waist at or near the first facet; are sized to fill the first facet; substantially overlap on the first facet; and are directed so that peripheral source beams undergo total internal reflection on entering the amplification medium. Embodiments of multiple laser diode bars and optical assemblies are described together with double side pumping arrangements.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for the amplification of a laser beam by pumping a homogenous composite source beam through an amplification medium. A slab crystalline active medium is side-pumped via a pump module having a laser diode bar and an optical assembly. The optical assembly has a fast axis collimator and a lens in the fast axis and an array of slow axis collimators and the lens in the slow axis. The lenses are spaced so that the individual source beams from the emitters are: imaged upon a first facet of the amplification medium; have a beam waist at or near the first facet; are sized to fill the first facet; substantially overlap on the first facet; and are directed so that peripheral source beams undergo total internal reflection on entering the amplification medium. Embodiments of multiple laser diode bars and optical assemblies are described together with double side pumping arrangements.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a system and method which allows highly compressed data files to be expanded in a standalone decoder having an output at least 80 times larger than the compressed input. In one embodiment, a universally available interface is used to transport encoded media from a host PC to a decoder external to the PC for expansion and presentation as a HD display image. In one embodiment, a USB port of the user's PC (or other storage device) is used to transport data at a rate of between 0.3 Mbit/sec and 5 Mbits/sec for expansion into a robust HD signal of up to about 3Gbits/sec or higher. In other embodiments, provision is made for reducing the decompressed expanded data file to below 480 Mbits/sec so as to accommodate retransport of the decompressed file back to the PC or storage device for temporary storage or display.