Abstract: A surgical instrument, has an end effector that includes an ultrasonic blade, and a clamp arm that moves relative to the ultrasonic blade from an opened position toward an intermediate position and a closed position. The clamp arm is offset from the ultrasonic blade to define a predetermined gap in the intermediate position between the opened position and the closed position. A clamp arm actuator connects to the clamp arm and moves from an opened configuration to a closed configuration to direct the clamp arm from the opened position toward the intermediate position and the closed position. A spacer connects with the clamp arm to inhibit movement of the clamp arm from the intermediate position toward the closed position for maintaining the predetermined gap between the clamp arm and the ultrasonic blade.

Abstract: A renal therapy system is disclosed. In an example, the renal therapy system includes a home renal therapy machine that stores, to a log file, dates of when renal therapies were performed and a type of each renal therapy that was performed. The system also includes a server that receives the log file from the home renal therapy machine. The server compares the dates and types of performed renal therapies stored in the log file to a device program that specifies dates for performing renal therapies and the types of renal therapies to be performed. The server displays a flag in a user interface of a clinician computer when there is a deviation from the comparison.

Abstract: A multiport antenna in which the antenna conductive elements are arranged to form an at least partially enclosed volume which can accommodate an enclosure containing one or more electronic components, or optical components, or optoelectronic components, or a combination of these. The enclosure may also be provided with a conductive transparent window which permits optical components to receive and/or send optical information.

Abstract: A multi-port antenna and associated systems having extremely wide bandwidth and capable of maintaining directivity as frequency decreases and is made arbitrarily low, allowing DF systems to operate to arbitrarily low frequency regardless of size. Construction may be rugged, lightweight, and low cost, allowing reliable service in harsh environments. The systems allow utilization of both the E and H fields occupying a common area of space. The disclosed DF system takes advantage of knowledge of the as-installed array manifold, uses pattern matching to determine the angle of arrival (AoA) of incoming waves, and enhances sensitivity by using integration on cross-correlation products between the multiple ports to achieve SNR improvement.

Abstract: An electromagnetic transmission system is provided, comprising: M chirp generators, each operating at a first frequency, each of the M chirp generators being configured to generate an ith digital chirp portion comprising (1/M)th of a digital chirp signal having a set ramp rate; a parallel-in serial-out register configured to receive the M digital chip portions in parallel at the first frequency, and configured to output the M digital chip portions in series as the digital chirp signal at a second frequency; and a digital-to-analog converter operating at the second frequency and configured to convert the digital chirp signal into an analog chirp signal, wherein i is an index that goes from 1 to M, and wherein the second frequency is M times the first frequency.

Abstract: A heated portable collapsible chair includes a collapsible frame. The collapsible frame supports a fabric human contact sheet having a chair seat portion and a chair back portion. A flexible heating element is located adjacent to a back surface of the human contact sheet so that heat generated by the heating element passes through the human contact sheet to warm a user. A battery is provided for selectively heating the heating element. The flexible heating element is preferably affixed to a backing sheet wherein the backing sheet is affixed to the back surface of the human contact sheet. The flexible heating element accommodates the flexing of the human contact sheet when the human contact sheet is distorted when collapsing the chair for storage or transport.

Abstract: An electromagnetic transmission system is provided, comprising: M chirp generators, each operating at a first frequency, each of the M chirp generators being configured to generate an ith digital chirp portion comprising (1/M)th of a digital chirp signal having a set ramp rate; a parallel-in serial-out register configured to receive the M digital chip portions in parallel at the first frequency, and configured to output the M digital chip portions in series as the digital chirp signal at a second frequency; and a digital-to-analog converter operating at the second frequency and configured to convert the digital chirp signal into an analog chirp signal, wherein i is an index that goes from 1 to M, and wherein the second frequency is M times the first frequency.

Abstract: A heated portable collapsible chair includes a collapsible frame. The collapsible frame supports a fabric human contact sheet having a chair seat portion and a chair back portion. A flexible heating element is located adjacent to a back surface of the human contact sheet so that heat generated by the heating element passes through the human contact sheet to warm a user. A battery is provided for selectively heating the heating element. The flexible heating element is preferably affixed to a backing sheet wherein the backing sheet is affixed to the back surface of the human contact sheet. The flexible heating element accommodates the flexing of the human contact sheet when the human contact sheet is distorted when collapsing the chair for storage or transport.

Abstract: A method of treating a cardiomyopathy in a subject includes administering directly to or expressing locally in a weakened, ischemic, and/or peri-infarct region of myocardial tissue of the subject an amount of SDF-1 effective to cause functional improvement in at least one of the following parameters: left ventricular volume, left ventricular area, left ventricular dimension, cardiac function, 6-minute walk test, or New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification.

Abstract: A receiver circuit (200) is provided, comprising: an agile clock (250) configured to generate an agile clock signal having a controllable agile clock phase based on agile clock control signals; a code processor (260) configured to receive an incoming signal and the agile clock signal, and to generate an on-time signal (110) and an error signal (120) corresponding to the incoming signal; a coarse acquisition circuit (270, 310) configured to identify a coarse acquisition phase based on a total power of the on-time signal and plus a total power of the error signal; a fine acquisition circuit (270, 320) configured to identify a fine acquisition phase based on the coarse acquisition phase and a magnitude of the on-time signal; and an acquisition controller (270, 330) configured to control operation of the coarse acquisition circuit and the fine acquisition circuit, and to provide a final acquisition phase as a current phase based on the one or more fine acquisition phases.

Abstract: An equalizer is provided, including: a feedback combiner to combine an input signal and a feedback signal to produce a first signal; a delay line to delay the first signal to produce a second signal; a feed-forward combiner to combine the second signal and a feed-forward signal to produce an output signal; an interim decision circuit to extract a sign bit from the first signal; N feedback scaling elements to generate N scaled feedback signals; M feed-forward scaling elements to generate M scaled feed forward signals; a feedback circuit to pass the N scaled feedback signals through feedback delay elements and feedback summing elements to generate the feedback signal in response to the sign bit; and a feed forward circuit to pass the M scaled feed forward signals through feed-forward delay elements and feed-forward summing elements to generate the feed-forward signal in response to the sign bit.

Abstract: A method is provided for transmitting data. A first device generates a first signal having a first duty cycle, comprising a first gated-on portion and a first gated-off portion in a time slot; and a second device generates a second signal having second duty cycle, comprising a second gated-on portion and a second gated-off portion in the same time slot. The first gated-on portion is generated during a first segment of the time slot and the first gated-off portion is generated during a second segment of the time slot, while the second gated-on portion is generated during the second segment and the second gated-off portion is generated during the first segment. Media access control (MAC) can be used to further define positions within time slots and provide error correction, power control, and the like. A preamble can be transmitted at an increased power level to facilitate acquisition.

Abstract: A method is provided for offsetting a reference frequency of a quadrature reference clock signal. A quadrature reference clock (110) generates the quadrature reference clock signal at the reference frequency, while a quadrature variable offset clock (130) generates a quadrature clock signal at a base offset frequency based on a base offset value it receives from a control circuit (560). The base offset value can be determined in many ways, including reading it from a local memory (910) or receiving it from a remote device (1010). A polyphase mixer (140) performs a polyphase mixing operation between the quadrature reference clock signal and the offset clock signal to generate an agile clock signal having an agile clock frequency equal to the reference frequency plus the base offset frequency. If desired, the method can revise the offset frequency based on actual conditions and determine a corresponding revised offset value (920, 1020).

Abstract: A method is provided for receiving a data frame in an ultrawide bandwidth network. In this method, a device receives an ultrawide bandwidth signal containing a data frame. The device then performs an acquisition operation during a first preamble in the data frame, and identifies a marker after the first preamble that indicates that the first preamble has ended. After this, the device performs a signal processing operation during a second preamble in the data frame. After the training, the device then receives a header in the data frame, and then receives a payload in the data frame. By having a marker between the two preambles, this method provides a receiving device with critical information regarding the timing of the preamble section of a frame.

Abstract: A system (500) and method (400) are presented for calibrating an analog signal path (200) associated with an Ultra Wideband (UWB) receiver (103). The analog signal path includes a plurality of analog gain stages (210, 212-214, 216), a local oscillator mixer stage (211), a compensation stage (218), and a converter stage (219). An information signal includes whitened symbols (306). When a predetermined number of whitened symbols are accumulated for one of a plurality of gain configurations, an arithmetic mean is calculated and used an offset value. The offset value is retrieved whenever the gain configuration is activated and applied at the compensation stage to reduce the offset.

Abstract: A method is provided for estimating a frequency offset value. This method includes: receiving a signal from the transmitting device at the receiving device, the received signal having a transmitter frequency (510); generating a local signal at the receiving device, the local signal having a starting frequency (520); comparing a received signal phase and a local signal phase to determine an adjusted error signal representing a phase difference between the received signal and the local signal (530); adjusting a current frequency of the local signal from the starting frequency to the transmitting frequency over a time period (540); integrating the adjusted error signal over the time period to generate an integrated error signal (550); and filtering the integrated error signal to generate a frequency difference estimate indicative of the frequency difference between the transmitter frequency and the starting frequency (560).

Abstract: A method is provided for transmitting data. A first device generates a first signal having a first duty cycle, comprising a first gated-on portion and a first gated-off portion in a time slot; and a second device generates a second signal having second duty cycle, comprising a second gated-on portion and a second gated-off portion in the same time slot. The first gated-on portion is generated during a first segment of the time slot and the first gated-off portion is generated during a second segment of the time slot, while the second gated-on portion is generated during the second segment and the second gated-off portion is generated during the first segment. Media access control (MAC) can be used to further define positions within time slots and provide error correction, power control, and the like. A preamble can be transmitted at an increased power level to facilitate acquisition.

Abstract: An apparatus for and method of efficiently adding software modules to large scale data processing systems. The customer is supplied all potentially applicable software modules upon system installation. However, each optional software module requires a key for enabling user access. Whenever the user needs an additional key on an emergency basis, it is requested via the Internet. Upon receipt of the request, the software supplier verifies entitlement of the requester to the key including licensing, payment, and configuration concerns. The key is supplied over the Internet upon verification of entitlement.

Abstract: A method is provided for transmitting data. A first device generates a first signal having a first duty cycle, comprising a first gated-on portion and a first gated-off portion in a time slot; and a second device generates a second signal having second duty cycle, comprising a second gated-on portion and a second gated-off portion in the same time slot. The first gated-on portion is generated during a first segment of the time slot and the first gated-off portion is generated during a second segment of the time slot, while the second gated-on portion is generated during the second segment and the second gated-off portion is generated during the first segment. Media access control (MAC) can be used to further define positions within time slots and provide error correction, power control, and the like. A preamble can be transmitted at an increased power level to facilitate acquisition.

Abstract: A device for detecting data synchronization in data communications includes pseudorandom noise (PN) lock circuits (101, 113, 127). The PN lock circuits (101, 113, 127) receive an input data stream (109). Each of the PN lock circuits (101, 113, 127) is time offset with respect to the other PN lock circuits. Each of the PN lock circuits (101, 113, 127) outputs a PN sequence responsive to the input data stream. For each PN lock circuit, there is provided a component (105, 117, 131) for comparing the PN sequence from the respective PN lock circuit to the input data stream, to determine whether the input data stream and the PN sequence are synchronized. An indication (107, 119, 133) that the data is synchronized is provided when the input data stream and the PN sequence are synchronized.