Abstract: A surgical apparatus includes an elongated shaft having a pair of relatively movable jaws at a distal end thereof. A first heating element on one of the jaws is adapted to heat up to a first temperature and form a welded region within the tissue, while a second heating element on one of the jaws is adapted to heat up to a second temperature and sever the tissue within the welded region. The first and second heating elements may be provided on the same or opposite jaws. A control handle provided on the proximal end of the elongated shaft includes controls for opening and closing the jaws, and may include an actuator for sending current through the first and second heating elements. The first and second heating elements may be electrically connected in series.

Abstract: A surgical apparatus and methods for severing and welding tissue, in particular blood vessels. The apparatus includes an elongated shaft having a pair of relatively movable jaws at a distal end thereof. A first heating element on one of the jaws is adapted to heat up to a first temperature and form a welded region within the tissue, while a second heating element on one of the jaws is adapted to heat up to a second temperature and sever the tissue within the welded region. The first and second heating elements may be provided on the same or opposite jaws. A control handle provided on the proximal end of the elongated shaft includes controls for opening and closing the jaws, and may include an actuator for sending current through the first and second heating elements. The first and second heating elements may be electrically connected in series, and the first heating element may be bifurcated such that it conducts about one half of the current as the second heating element.

Abstract: An electronic device for text prediction in a virtual keyboard. The device includes a memory including an input determination module for execution by the microprocessor, the input determination module being configured to: receive signals representing input at the virtual keyboard, the virtual keyboard being divided into a plurality of subregions, the plurality of subregions including at least one subregion being associated with two or more characters and/or symbols of the virtual keyboard; identify a subregion on the virtual keyboard corresponding to the input; determine any character or symbol associated with the identified subregion; and if there is at least one determined character or symbol, provide the at least one determined character or symbol to a text prediction algorithm.

Abstract: A multi-die module is electrically connected to both an unpackaged die and a packaged die as disclosed herein. The multi-die module has a footprint that is the same as conventional multi-die packages, which do not include packaged die, thereby allowing the multi-die module to be interchangeable with conventional multi-die packages. In one embodiment, the unpackaged die is a graphics processor, and the packaged die is a standard memory that has been burned in, functionally tested, and speed rated.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention is a head stack assembly of a disk drive, which head stack assembly includes: (a) a first contact disposed on a side of the head stack assembly, which first contact is adapted to contact a crash stop of the disk drive to stop the head stack assembly from moving in a first direction; and (b) a second contact disposed on the same side of the head stack assembly, which second contact is adapted to contact the crash stop to prevent the head stack assembly from moving in a second direction different from the first direction.

Abstract: An optoelectric package comprising an elongated housing for fixedly holding an optoelectric module, and a cam-based delatching actuator mechanism fixedly attached to the elongated housing wherein the cam-based delatching actuator mechanism a mounting block fixedly attached to one of a first and a second horizontal side of the elongated housing, a lever arm fixedly attached to a first and a second vertical side of the elongated housing, and an actuator positioned adjacent to one of the first and second horizontal side of the elongated housing wherein the actuator is in mechanical communication with the lever arm.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for performing two-pass real time video compression is provided. Tactical decisions such as encoding and quantization values are determined in software, whereas functional execution steps are performed in hardware. By appropriately apportioning the tasks between software and hardware, the benefits of each type of processing are exploited, while minimizing both hardware complexity and data transfer requirements. One key concept that allows the compression unit to operate in real time is that the architecture and pipelining both allow for B frames to be executed out of order. By buffering B frames, two-pass motion estimation techniques can be performed to tailor bit usage to the requirements of the frame, and therefore provide a more appealing output image.

Abstract: An actuator-based latching/delatching mechanism in combination with an optical module includes a housing having a front face with an opening and an optical transceiver designed to be nestingly engaged in the opening. A front surface of the transceiver is flush with the face of the housing in a fully nestingly engaged orientation. A pivot arm is pivotally mounted adjacent a rear end of the housing for pivotal movement between a latching orientation in which the transceiver is fully nestingly engaged in the housing and a delatching orientation in which a force pivots the arm against the transceiver to move the transceiver out of the engaged orientation. An actuator, with an end accessible exterior of the housing, is mounted in the housing for movements from latching to delatching orientations in response to a force applied to the end of the actuator.

Abstract: An optoelectronic subassembly for optoelectronic modules includes a supporting substrate with an optoelectronic device mounted on a mounting surface. A supporting structure includes a trench for mounting the subassembly and a lens assembly. Four offset arms are provided each including a substrate-mounting portion, a supporting-structure-mounting portion, and a linking portion. The substrate-mounting portion and the supporting-structure-mounting portion have parallel surfaces with the linking portion extending at an angle therebetween. The arms include deformable material for allowing small changes in the angle. One of the parallel surfaces of each of the offset arms is mounted on either the mounting surface or an opposed surface of the supporting substrate and the other of the parallel surfaces is mounted on the support structure with the substrate suspended in the trench. The linking portion of the arms is then deformed to align the optoelectronic device with the lens assembly.

Abstract: A multi-die module is electrically connected to both an unpackaged die and a packaged die as disclosed herein. The multi-die module has a footprint that is the same as conventional multi-die packages, which do not include packaged die, thereby allowing the multi-die module to be interchangeable with conventional multi-die packages. In one embodiment, the unpackaged die is a graphics processor, and the packaged die is a standard memory that has been burned in, functionally tested, and speed rated.

Abstract: A method and kit is provided for enhancing the tolerance of an assay reagent to compounds in an assay sample, the assay reagent including a luciferase enzyme. The method includes contacting the luciferase with a tolerance enhancement agent in an amount sufficient to substantially protect luciferase enzyme activity from interference of the compound and minize interference by at least about 10% relative to an assay not having tolerance enhancement agent.

Abstract: A multi-die module is electrically connected to both an unpackaged die and a packaged die as disclosed herein. The multi-die module has a footprint that is the same as conventional multi-die packages, which do not include packaged die, thereby allowing the multi-die module to be interchangeable with conventional multi-die packages. In one embodiment, the unpackaged die is a graphics processor, and the packaged die is a standard memory that has been burned in, functionally tested, and speed rated.

Abstract: A multi-die module is electrically connected to both an unpackaged die and a packaged die as disclosed herein. The multi-die module has a footprint that is the same as conventional multi-die packages, which do not include packaged die, thereby allowing the multi-die module to be interchangeable with conventional multi-die packages. In one embodiment, the unpackaged die is a graphics processor, and the packaged die is a standard memory that has been burned in, functionally tested, and speed rated.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for maximizing the performance of DMA transfers over a PCI.TM. bus are provided which includes a Per-Channel Retry count, Double Buffer Management, Wait Enable functionality, Back Up register functionality, Gather/Scatter mapping, a method for minimization of PIO writes, Read Semaphore functionality, a method for servicing of DMA transfers during FMU latency periods, Valid bit functionality, high and low water thresholds, and re-usable page tables.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for maximizing the performance of DMA transfers over a PCI.TM. bus are provided which includes a Per-Channel Retry count, Double Buffer Management, Wait Enable functionality, Back Up register functionality, Gather/Scatter mapping, a method for minimization of PIO writes, Read Semaphore functionality, a method for servicing of DMA transfers during FMU latency periods, Valid bit functionality, high and low water thresholds, and re-usable page tables.