Abstract: A surgical instrument operable to sever tissue includes a body assembly and a selectively coupleable end effector assembly. The end effector assembly may include a transmission assembly and an end effector. The body assembly includes a trigger and a casing configured to couple with the transmission assembly. An information transmission system transmits instrument information received from a sensor, for example, to a secure server via a secure gateway connected to the instrument. The instrument may be previously tested on a calibration kit to pre-determine and load surgeon-specific settings onto the instrument prior to use.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for transposition of heart sounds to a range easily detectable by the human ear and suitable for transmission, for discrimination of low intensity or brief sounds, and for display of the heart sounds on conventional recording devices involve steps of and means for, respectively, converting the heart sounds to electrical signals having given frequency components, providing an audio frequency carrier having further frequency components, generating a transposed output representing a sum and a difference of the frequency components and the further frequency components, filtering the transposed output to remove the difference of the frequency components and further frequency components, and generating an audible representation of the heart sounds and/or displaying a visual representation thereof.