Abstract: A mandrel for molding polymer valve leaflets for heart valve prostheses is disclosed, including a body portion including an outer surface with ridges and contoured surfaces corresponding to the leaflets, the upper edge of the contoured surfaces corresponding to the free upper edge of the leaflets, and the mandrel including a mandrel extension above the body portion, and a gap extending around the mandrel between the upper edge of the contoured surface and the mandrel extension. A process for producing these polymer valve leaflets is also disclosed by dip coating with this mandrel and removing the polymer film created at the gap, preferably by applying suction or blowing thereto.

Abstract: Systems and methods relating to the operation of an autonomous vehicle relative to forward objects in an external environment are described. At least a forward portion of the external environment can be sensed to detect an object therein. A size adjustment factor can be determined to predict a laterally innermost point of the detected object relative to the autonomous vehicle. A driving maneuver for the autonomous vehicle can be determined based at least partially on the predicted laterally innermost point of the detected object relative to the autonomous vehicle.

Abstract: An object tracking device includes a short-term processing portion and a long short-term processing portion that are implemented by circuitry and work in a collaborative manner to track an object. The short-term processing portion includes a filter that tracks the object based on short-term memory and spatiotemporal consistency. The long short-term processing portion performs key-point matching-tracking and estimation based on a key-point database in order to track the object. A controller determines an output of the object tracking device based on the processing conducted by the short-term and long short-term processing portions of the tracking device, respectively.

Abstract: The method and apparatus segment parts from a main target image, represent each part as a vertex in a spanning tree, use a detector to generate a confidence map of a location of each part in a succeeding video frame and apply scale change to detector sliding windows centered about each pixel in the part location image. In the succeeding video frame, the target location is sampled and a tracking probability is generated for each part bounding box, with the tracking probability having the maximum value being selected as the location of the target in the succeeding video frame.

Abstract: A prosthetic heart valve includes a collapsible and expandable stent including a plurality of struts forming cells, the stent having a proximal end, a distal end, an annulus section adjacent the proximal end, an aortic section adjacent the distal end, and a transition section disposed between the annulus section and the aortic section, the aortic section having a larger diameter than the annulus section. The heart valve further includes a valve assembly disposed entirely in the annulus section of the stent for controlling the flow of blood through the stent, the valve assembly including a plurality of leaflets, and a cuff, the cuff being disposed on a surface of the stent and extending fully over at least two rows of cells of the stent.

Abstract: Minimizing incorrect associations of sensor data for an autonomous vehicle are described. A driving environment of the autonomous vehicle includes a stationary object and a dynamic object. Such objects can be detected by radar sensors and/or lidar sensors. In one example, a history of radar observation can be used to minimize incorrect sensor data associations. In such case, the location of a stationary object in the driving environment can be determined. When a dynamic object passes by the stationary object, lidar data of the dynamic object is prevented from being associated with radar data obtained substantially at the determined location of the stationary object. In another example, identifiers assigned to radar data can be used to minimize incorrect sensor data associations. In such case, lidar data of an object can be associated with radar data having a particular identifier.

Abstract: Systems and methods relating to the operation of an autonomous vehicle relative to forward objects in an external environment are described. At least a forward portion of the external environment can be sensed to detect an object therein. A size adjustment factor can be determined to predict a laterally innermost point of the detected object relative to the autonomous vehicle. A driving maneuver for the autonomous vehicle can be determined based at least partially on the predicted laterally innermost point of the detected object relative to the autonomous vehicle.

Abstract: An implantation device for a prosthetic heart valve includes a valve holder for maintaining the prosthetic heart valve in a closed configuration and at least one protective sheet coupled to the valve holder, the at least one protective sheet being configured to cover a leaflet of the heart valve during implantation.

Abstract: A method of tracking a target object in frames of video data includes receiving a first tracking position associated with the target object in a first frame of a video sequence; identifying, for a second frame of the video sequence, a plurality of representation levels and at least one node for each representation level; determining, by a processor, a second tracking position in the second frame by estimating motion of the target object in the second frame between the first frame and the second frame; determining, at each representation level by the processor, a value for each node based on a conditional property of the node in the second frame; and adjusting, by the processor, the second tracking position based on the values determined for each of the nodes and interactions between at least some of the nodes at different representation levels.

Abstract: An object tracking device includes a short-term processing portion and a long short-term processing portion that are implemented by circuitry and work in a collaborative manner to track an object. The short-term processing portion includes a filter that tracks the object based on short-term memory and spatiotemporal consistency. The long short-term processing portion performs key-point matching-tracking and estimation based on a key-point database in order to track the object. A controller determines an output of the object tracking device based on the processing conducted by the short-term and long short-term processing portions of the tracking device, respectively.

Abstract: An implantation device for a prosthetic heart valve includes a valve holder for maintaining the prosthetic heart valve in a closed configuration and at least one protective sheet coupled to the valve holder, the at least one protective sheet being configured to cover a leaflet of the heart valve during implantation.

Abstract: Arrangements related to the detection of objects in an external environment of a vehicle are presented. At least a portion of the external environment can be sensed to detect a first order object therein. It can be determined whether the first order object includes a translucent portion. Responsive to determining that the first order object includes a translucent portion, the translucent portion can be analyzed to determine whether a second order object is located within the translucent portion. Responsive to determining that a second order object is located within the translucent portion, the second order object can be analyzed. Information about the second order object can be presented to a vehicle occupant, an alert regarding the second order object can be presented to a vehicle occupant, and/or, when the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle, a driving maneuver for the autonomous vehicle can be determined.

Abstract: A therapeutic device includes a prosthetic heart valve including a collapsible and expandable stent having an aortic section and an annulus section, and a valve assembly disposed within the annulus section of the stent, the valve assembly including a plurality of leaflets; and a graft coupled to the aortic section of the stent. The graft has a body and at least one lining disposed on the body and defining a lumen therethrough.

Abstract: Arrangements related to the detection of objects in an external environment of a vehicle are presented. At least a portion of the external environment can be sensed to detect a first order object therein. It can be determined whether the first order object includes a translucent portion. Responsive to determining that the first order object includes a translucent portion, the translucent portion can be analyzed to determine whether a second order object is located within the translucent portion. Responsive to determining that a second order object is located within the translucent portion, the second order object can be analyzed. Information about the second order object can be presented to a vehicle occupant, an alert regarding the second order object can be presented to a vehicle occupant, and/or, when the vehicle is an autonomous vehicle, a driving maneuver for the autonomous vehicle can be determined.

Abstract: A collaborative distance metric leaning method and apparatus for visual tracking utilizes a distance metric to match the target with the best candidate. A collaborative distance metric learning algorithm is used for visual tracking by fusing two distance metrics learnt for different representations of the target. To further improve the performance of the trained distance metrics, a sample selection mechanism is also used that exploits the intrinsic structure of dense sampling.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for tracking an object across a plurality of sequential images, where certain of the images contain motion blur. A plurality of normal templates of a clear target object image and a plurality of blur templates of the target object are generated. In the next subsequent image frame, a plurality of bounding boxes are generated of potential object tracking positions about the target object location in the preceding image frame. For each bounding box image frame, a reconstruction error is generated that one bounding box has a maximum probability that it is the object tracking result in the subsequent image frame.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for tracking an object across a plurality of sequential images, where certain of the images contain motion blur. A plurality of normal templates of a clear target object image and a plurality of blur templates of the target object are generated. In the next subsequent image frame, a plurality of bounding boxes are generated of potential object tracking positions about the target object location in the preceding image frame. For each bounding box image frame, a reconstruction error is generated that one bounding box has a maximum probability that it is the object tracking result in the subsequent image frame.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are devices, systems, and methods for detecting the presence and orientation of traffic lane markings. Deep convolutional neural networks are used with convolutional layers and max-pooling layers to generate fully connected nodes. After the convolutional and max-pooling layers, two sublayers are applied, one to determine presence and one to determine geometry. The presence of a lane marking segment as detected by the first sublayer can serve as a gate for the second sublayer by regulating the credit assignment for training the network. Only when the first sublayer predicts actual presence will the geometric layout of the lane marking segment contribute to the training of the overall network. This achieves advantages with respect to accuracy and efficiency and contributes to efficient robust model selection.

Abstract: Tracking object in frames of video data, including receiving a first tracking position associated with the target object in a first frame of a video sequence; identifying, for a second frame of the video sequence, a plurality of representation levels and at least one node for each representation level; determining, by a processor, a second tracking position in the second frame by estimating motion of the target object in the second frame between the first frame and the second frame; determining, at each representation level by the processor, a value for each node based on a conditional property of the node in the second frame; and adjusting, by the processor, the second tracking position based on the values determined for each of the nodes and interactions between at least some of the nodes at different representation levels.

Abstract: A prosthetic heart valve includes a collapsible stent extending from an inflow end to an outflow end, and a cuff having an inflow end an outflow end. The stent includes first and second circumferential rows of cells defined by first and second pluralities of struts, respectively. The second circumferential row is positioned closer to the outflow end of the stent than the first circumferential row. At least one cell in the second circumferential row includes by a first strut opposed to a fourth strut and a second strut opposed to a third strut. A bridging feature in at least one cell in the second circumferential row includes first and second supplemental struts extending across an intermediate portion of the cell. The outflow end of the cuff is coupled to the stent along the bridging feature.