36results about How to "Eliminate need" patented technology

Multi-electrode instruments and methods for applying electrical energy to the multiple electrodes are described. An assembly having at least two electrodes may be configured such that the electrodes are positioned at an angle relative to one another and/or are each configured to treat different tissue types. Moreover, power may be applied to one, some, or all of the electrodes utilizing various switching systems and/or electrical monitoring systems.

The invention concerns multimers developed from recombinant proteins analogues of MHC class I.

An apparatus for stretching at least the hamstring muscle of a user's leg is provided having a first support member for supporting the back of the leg of the user at or near the knee at least at the commencement of stretching and a second support member for engaging the back of the lower leg portion of the user during stretching. This first support member is disposed in front of the user during stretching of the hamstring muscle of the user's leg and the second support member is displaceable generally in a direction to stretch the hamstring muscle of the user's leg. An actuator operable by the user during use of the apparatus can be used for displacing at least the second support member generally in a direction to cause stretching of at least the hamstring muscle of the user's leg.

A portable furniture shelving unit assembled from a plurality of open front baskets or bins stacked one upon another, the sides of which are equipped with flexible load bearing wings on the front edges which are curled outward and to the rear capable of bending upon impact to prevent injury to children.

Described is a method and apparatus for automatically quoting, processing, maintaining, claim processing, billing, and renewing life, health and related coverages for clients, especially group clients—without duplicative data entry. An integrated computer system contains several processing modules. The Quoting Engine module produces quotes, maintains and describes coverages available, rates the insurance, and generates a proposal. The Soldcase module administers sales and commission data and provides information regarding the selected coverage to other modules. An Advanced Relational Database Information System module provides billing and premium processing, and administers the payment of commissions. A Document Generator module produces documents such as policies and certificates. A Claims module performs claim adjudication, claim history, and claim payment. The Renewal module automatically monitors and updates information regarding the client and the insurance to determine if renewed coverage should be sold to the client and, if so, at what price.

An integrated circuit hierarchical design system for optimizing a circuit locating between flip-flops included in a lower layer through a higher layer among layers forming an integrated circuit, which shifts a layer section as a boundary between the higher layer and the lower layer that locates on the circuit to the vicinity of a connection portion between the flip-flop and the circuit to include the circuit in either the higher layer or lower layer, thereby eliminating the need of distributing propagation delays of the circuit.

A variable reflection mode optical device for controlling properties of reflected light is described. The device includes a light reflecting surface of an array of controllable mirror elements, a layer of dynamically controllable material and an excitation source for generating an excitation field acting on the layer of dynamically controllable material. An electrical drive signal applied to the excitation source causes a change of optical properties in the layer of dynamically controllable material to provide a spatially varying change in light reflection having at least one of a desired phase curvature and a desired amplitude modulation profile.

An article includes a flexible bag that has a cavity therein. A predetermined quantity of ice pellets are deposited within a cavity of the bag and a predetermined quantity of polymer pellets are deposited within the cavity of the bag and mixed with the ice pellets such that a homogenous mixture of the ice pellets and the polymer pellets is formed within the cavity. Such polymer pellets and ice pellets have coextensive shapes. The polymer pellets further have liquid-absorbing characteristics such that melted ice is advantageously absorbed and retained by the polymer pellets during extended periods of time, thereby conveniently eliminating the need to drain the bag. The polymer pellets have vapor-releasing characteristics such that thermo-energy is released from the melted ice as a vapor rather than as a liquid to thereby advantageously prevent a surrounding area from becoming water damaged.

Extra stages can be added to a switching network to provide pathwise redundancy for fault tolerance and to alleviate traffic blocking. Also, the addition of extra stages can alleviate the loss of pathwise redundancy when the width of switching networks is increased. An in-service method of upgrading a switching network by adding stages allows the addition of redundancy to an existing network without the need to take the network out of service. From an operational point of view, it is often desirable for the upgrade process to be performed by a plurality of sequential steps. However, it is also desirable to minimize the number of steps performed. Because the insertion of extra stages into an existing network calls. for the rewiring of interconnection networks above and below the insertion point, the number of steps can be minimized while also minimizing the impact to network traffic by concurrently rewiring those interconnection networks through a plurality of disconnection and connection steps.

A vector modulator including an offset QPSK modulator operative for receiving input data and generating a first output signal representing the modulation to be imposed on a carrier signal to effect offset QPSK modulation of the input signal and a second output signal representing an amplitude of the input data; and a frequency modulator including a sigma-delta modulator, operative for receiving the first output signal generated by the offset QPSK modulator, and generating a control signal representing the desired frequency of the carrier signal such that the carrier signal represents the input signal offset QPSK modulated. The vector modulator also includes a phase-lock loop circuit having a voltage controlled oscillator for generating the carrier signal and a programmable frequency divider for receiving the control signal as an input signal and for changing the frequency of the carrier signal in accordance with the control signal, and an amplifier having a variable gain which is operative for receiving and amplifying the carrier signal output by the phase-lock loop circuit in accordance with the amplitude of the second output signal.

An electronically activated gas cooktop control system, responsive to a touch-sensitive user interface, and capable of providing a predetermined range of cooking and simmer levels of BTU output, has two complementary heating modes of operation A first heating mode of operation is provided to produce a wide selection of simmer levels of BTU output, by electronically sequencing a solenoid-operated modulating gas valve “on” and “off”, at a predetermined level of flame. A second cooking mode of operation is provided by electronically modulating the level of flame, through use of a pulse-width-modulation (PWM) output signal to produce a wide selection of cooking levels of BTU output. An igniter system capable of insuring proper ignition of gas without generating harmful electromagnetic interference is also provided.

A highly specific type of hooked materials, when applied to the shoulder of a tennis racquet, have been found to tangentially hook onto the nap of a tennis ball and allow the ball to be lifted from the court. Hooked materials characterized as comprising a series of heat-treated nylon monofilament hooks in a rowed relationship (300/inch²) of an average diameter of 8.5 mil, 1.91 mm mean height, 1.13 mm mean width and 0.71 mm mean hook depth are particularly effective for retrieving all common types of tennis balls.

A light source for an umbrella directly attached to its grip is set forth herein, a light source housing containing a light source, a battery unit, and a light source is engaged to the bottom of the umbrella grip. The battery power is directly supplied to the light source without using the electrical wiring. LED(s), or other high intensity lamps may be employed as the light source. The front portion of the light source housing is formed into a sloped surface serving as a refractor to conduct the light beam downwards and distribute it on the ground under the umbrella so as to assist the umbrella carrier walking at a dark, rainy night securely without the worry of a possible traffic accident.

Optical backplanes providing integrated optical couplers to external optical fibers are disclosed, along with methods for making the same. An exemplary optical backplane has a first cladding layer disposed over the top surface of a substrate, and at least a first core body disposed over the first cladding layer, with the first core body having a first end and a second end. A material layer is disposed above the first cladding layer and the first end of the first core body, with the material layer having a top surface and a bottom surface. A focusing element is formed at the top surface of the material layer, with the focusing element being located above the first end of the first core body.

A fabrication method of a chip scale package includes providing electronic components, each having an active surface with electrode pads and an opposite inactive surface, and a hard board with a soft layer disposed thereon; adhering the electronic components to the soft layer via the inactive surfaces thereof; pressing the electronic components such that the soft layer encapsulates the electronic components while exposing the active surfaces thereof; forming a dielectric layer on the active surfaces of the electronic components and the soft layer; and forming a first wiring layer on the dielectric layer and electrically connected to the electrode pads, thereby solving the conventional problems caused by directly attaching a chip on an adhesive film, such as film-softening, encapsulant overflow, warpage, chip deviation and contamination that lead to poor electrical connection between the electrode pads and the wiring layer formed in a subsequent RDL process and even waste product.

A structured light projector for generating a far-field image of light dots in a defined pattern is proposed, where the structured light projector includes a light source providing as an output a non-collimated light beam and a specialized diffractive optical element disposed to intercept the non-collimated light beam. The specialized diffractive optical element is formed to exhibit a non-uniform pattern of grating features configured to compensate for the non-planar wavefront and phase retardation of the non-collimated output beam, providing as an output of the projector an interference pattern of light dots exhibiting the desired configuration.

In a battery pack for an electric car, a plurality of battery modules are mounted to be divided between the front and rear of a middle cross member and a main switch and a junction board are disposed in the front and rear of the middle cross member respectively. A bent part of a second high voltage cable, which bends into a U-shape and pass through beneath the middle cross member, is held by a cable holder and fixed to a fixing part. Since only a bus bar disposed in the intermediate part of the first high voltage cable is bent into a U-shape and passed through beneath the middle cross member, not only is a wiring operation of the first high voltage cable easy, but it is also possible to minimize the length of the bus bar to thus enhance the reliability with respect to vibration.

A lighting system having a LED downlight in a ceiling fixture can be attached to a ceiling by fixing hanger bars to ceiling rafters. The lighting system can then be completely covered by insulation. The insulation thereby lays directly on the downlight, junction box, and a cup passing mains power from the junction box to the downlight. The insulation does not enter the cup, downlight, or junction box. The lighting system does not ignite or melt the insulation in normal operation if the insulation meets residential and commercial safety standards. In normal operation the lighting system does not expose the lighting system to a temperature exceeding 90 degrees Celsius. A trim can be attached to the downlight to change its appearance and without rendering the lighting system unsafe.