Siemens Medical Solutions Usa, Inc.

Siemens Medical Systems, Inc.

Other

Grindmaster Corporation

Andrew Lyle Walston

Stephen Bruce Hooper

Matthew F Willkens

Dean J Bidwell

Dean Jeffrey Bidwell

Peter C Wung

Kenton J Graviss

Andrew H Carlson

Robert Lewis Mallory

Brian W Epps

Richard Y Lim

Marc W Bommarito

Michael Aden

Williams A Reuss, Jr

Stephen B Hooper

Jules Joo-hi Ko

Anthony P Grasso

Ellen Fitch

Philip J Friend

A portable ultrasound system provides immersive viewing of images. A small, lightweight scope includes a transducer and a display. The display is adapted for viewing ultrasound images close to the eye of the user, such as within five inches or a couple feet of the eye. By adapting the system for close viewing, the ultrasound system is sensory immersive, such as an otoscope or endoscope. A magnifying lens is positioned adjacent to a display screen. The magnifying lens adapts the small display screen for viewing close to the user's eye. A shade or eyepiece extends away from and at least partly around the display screen. The shade allows viewing in many different lighting conditions. Alternatively, the ultrasound image is viewed on a head mounted display attached to glasses or a helmet.

Immersive portable ultrasound system and method

Beverage brewer

A particular orientation of a control panel and an accessory device provides ergonomic benefits to an operator. A user control is mounted on a corner of the stand. The user interface of an accessory device is mounted at about a 45&deg; angle to the control panel on one side of the stand. User tools, such as a transducer connector, are also mounted at about a 45&deg; angle to the control panel, such as mounted on a different side of the stand adjacent to the control panel. Convenient access is provided to all of the control panel, the user interface of the accessory device, and the user tools. Additional leg room is also provided due to the angle of the stand relative to the user position in front of the control panel. The ultrasound system or other data system with this orientation of components allows ergonomic use of the system in a more confined space.

Ergonomic data system stand

A system and a method of manipulating system parameters directly from displayed graphics utilize universal controls whose functions can vary depending on the current position of a cursor on a display device of the system. The system may be an imaging system based on ultrasound, magnetic resonance, computed tomography technology, or other modalities. The universal controls allow the number of controls included in the control panel of the system to be significantly reduced, since each universal control can perform functions of multiple hard controls. The universal controls may be pushbutton rotatable dials or rotatable toggles. In operation, when the cursor is positioned over one of the cursor-sensitive target areas, a control assignor of the system designates functions that correspond to that cursor-sensitive target area to the universal controls. The system also includes a display controller that controls the operations of displayed cursor-sensitive graphic elements. The cursor-sensitive graphic elements that are manipulated by the display controller include an annotation area, a pictogram area, toolbar buttons, and region of interest (ROI) controls. Depending on the selected cursor-sensitive graphic element, a menu of selectable graphics or an on-screen control may be displayed. The system also includes a selective print driver that operates to selectively prevent certain undesirable graphics from being printed.

Ultrasound system and method for direct manipulation interface

A needle guide mount has a main guide body, with a knob arm and a pivot arm each attached at one end to the main guide body. A gate assembly is pivotably in the pivot arm and has an open position, in which the gate assembly can pivot freely away from the knob arm, and a closed position, in which the gate assembly is secured in the knob arm. The gate assembly preferably has a shaft, a knob that can move longitudinally and rotatably on the shaft, and a locking arrangement that permits the gate assembly to enter the closed position only when the central axis of the gate assembly lies less than a predetermined maximum misalignment angle away from a correct mounting alignment axis. If the guide mount is not properly positioned on the probe, then the gate assembly is out of correct alignment and the locking arrangement is unable to engage. The operator can then easily feel that she is not able to mount the guide. The gate assembly preferably also has a contact member that contacts an outer surface of the probe and urges the gate assembly out of alignment when the needle guide mount is in an incorrect orientation relative to the probe. A protrusion and an indentation are also preferably provided on the guide mount and probe. If the needle guide mount is incorrectly positioned, then the protrusion urges the gate assembly out of alignment with the alignment axis.

Fail-safe needle guide mount for ultrasonic probes

Fitted ultrasound transducer probe holder

A folding knife having a blade that is easily opened and locked in an open position. Three embodiments of a folding knife (10, 10', 10') include a lever (20, 20') that is pivotally attached to a blade (14, 14') at a point spaced apart from that at which the blade is pivotally mounted to a handle (12, 12'). When fully closed, a sharpened edge (26) of the blade is protected inside the handle. To open the blade, the lever is gripped between the thumb and forefinger and rotated about the pivot point of the lever, forcing the sharpened edge of the blade from inside the handle. The lever may then be pulled to draw the blade to a fully open position. A contoured latching surface on the lever is then engaged with a hook in a back strip (32, 32', 32') in the handle, locking the blade fully open. Since a top surface (38, 38') of the lever is relatively wider than the thickness of a spine (top edge) of the blade, the user can comfortably and safely exert greater force against the top surface of the lever when cutting with the knife than is possible with a conventional knife.

Knife with blade-mounted pivotal lockback latch

A probe holder embodies an insert body removably set into a through-slot of an ultrasound system panel. The holder defines an inner cavity extending from a first opening at a top surface to a second opening at a bottom surface. A side opening extends the axial length of the holder from the first opening to the second opening. Upon insertion of the holder into the panel through-slot, the holder is movable between an open position and a closed position. At the open position the holder side opening is aligned with a corresponding side opening of the panel. With the holder moved into the closed position, the holder side opening is blocked by inner walls of the panel through-slot. A probe cord slides through the side openings while the holder is in the open position. Once the holder is moved to the closed position, the probes cord is radially trapped within the holder.

Ultrasound transducer probe holder

Growing community of inventors

Seattle, WA, United States of America

Andrew Lyle Walston