Xerox Corporation

Profound Medical Inc.

Invivo Corporation

Raymond Ruthenberg

Robert H Brown

David C Van Wyngaarden

Michel Loiselle

Petrus T De Koning

Joseph Andre Michel Loiselle

Perry C Dong

Thomas W DeYoung

John LaViola

Gary A Faguy

Joseph Michael McNamara

Robert James Douglas Reeves

Martyn Mitchell

Ting Wong

Scott A Sinclair

Mark Muzzin

Jeffrey R Hudson

Richard Biasutto

Nidhi Sharma

Wayne R Jordan

Mathieu King

Sandro Vono

Steven K Siu

Joao Carlos Morais

Guillermo Aristizabal

Amalesh Chakraborty

John Wojtkowicz

Karen Lee

An endorectal cooling device (ECD) includes an elongated body, a cooling fluid circuit, and a gas bubble removal device. The elongated body includes an insertable portion for insertion into a patient's rectum and an external portion that remains external to the rectum. The cooling fluid circuit is defined in the elongated body from the external portion to the insertable portion and circulates cooling fluid to regulate a temperature of a cooling surface on the insertable portion. The gas bubble removal device can include a coil, a tube, a mesh, and/or a hole that is disposed on or defined in the insertable portion of the elongated body, such as the cooling surface. A low-pressure source, such as a vacuum pump or a Venturi structure, can be fluidly coupled to the gas bubble removal device to remove fluid and bubbles by a suction force after the ECD is inserted into the rectum.

Gas bubble removal for endorectal cooling devices

An MRI local coil system for use with an MRI scanner to image a breast, the system comprising a plastic housing and an RF coil system. The RF coil system comprises a conductor and electronics. The electronics comprises a capacitor and a blocking circuit. The conductor and the electronics are disposed within the plastic housing and the conductor is integrally formed with the plastic housing.

System and method for MRI local coil design

A paper feeder employs a retard roll mounted on a shaft that is controlled by a magneto rheological variable clutch. Current is adjusted to the magneto rheological variable clutch to produce a variable drag torque (from near zero to fully locked) on the retard roll. The current is adjusted based on various inputs, some of which include media type, temperature, humidity, media size, and transport speed. Variable drag on the retard roll results in a reduction in induced skew of sheet passing through a nip formed between the retard roll and a separation roll, as well as, less and more consistent wear of the retard roll.

Paper feeder

An assembly to crease a paper set in a booklet maker is provided. A booklet is formed in a booklet marker when a crease blade strikes the middle of the stack and pushes it toward a set of nipped crease rolls. The assembly engages spring-loaded idlers against the crease rolls after the crease blade initiates the buckle of the stack and prior to creasing. The spring loaded idlers apply a drive force to the stack that assists the formation of the crease. With the assistance of this extra drive force, the crease blade tip can be stopped in time to avoid jamming while reducing the chance of getting a cover, or more sheets tearing off the booklet. This design is compact in size and therefore may also be retrofitted into existing designs.

Bookletmaker nip-idler assist creasing device

An apparatus monitors the motion of sheet, such as in a digital printer. An optical sensor is capable of recording an image in a two-dimensional array of pixels, and has acuity to recognize a terrain of a small area on a sheet that is substantially blank to a human eye. The optical sensor views a portion of a sheet moving in a process direction through a path. A detection system compares at least two recorded terrain images from the sheet, thereby directly measuring velocity and direction of the sheet.

Optical sensor for monitoring motion of a blank sheet

A finisher for an image forming apparatus includes a pair of rotatable downstream rollers and a pair of rotatable upstream roller between which a path on which an imaged medium travels. The finisher determines when a trailing edge of the medium is about to leave a nip of the upstream rollers and then stops a leading edge of the medium. By stopping the leading edge of the medium, the medium buckles and the trailing edge registers against the upstream nip line. A finishing device performs a hole punch, staple, or other finishing operation to the medium when the trailing edge registers against the upstream nip line. The finishing operation is performed at a speed equal to or greater than a speed at which the image forming apparatus forms the image on the medium and outputs the medium to the finisher.

Finisher for image forming apparatus

A semi-active retard feeder employs a hysteresis clutch to provide the resisting torque to a retard roll. A low cost Hall Effect sensor is added to the clutch assembly to provide a feedback signal during the feeding cycle in order to detect the onset of degraded feeding performance. This signal can be used to instruct a user to order and replace the retard roll.

Retard feeder

An improved method for monitoring stack quality in a finisher of a printer includes examining the net displacement of a compiling tray after each set has been ejected. A deviation from the normal increments of displacement for each set triggers a 'tray full' condition which alerts a user to empty the tray.

Stack quality monitoring algorithm

An improved sloped stack detection system for a multi-function finisher includes a reflective sensor which suspends the conveying of stapled sets to an output tray when staple build-up in small stapled sets causes the stacked output to become sloped.

Sloped stack detection sensor and algorithm

An improved booklet maker incorporates a movable backstop for compiling incoming sheets and a stapler and creasing module, which is moved to various positions during the booklet making sequence. The moving stapler and creasing function enables the compiling function to occur simultaneously with the stapling and creasing functions. This results in a productivity gain without a footprint increase.

Compact booklet maker

In a booklet maker or sheet folder wherein one or more sheets are pushed through a nip formed by a pair of crease rolls, and wherein the crease rolls are driven by gears, a slip clutch is operatively disposed between one of the crease rolls and the gear driving the crease roll. The slip clutch compensates for the abrupt change in frictional coefficient experienced by the crease rolls when one or more sheets enter the nip.

Booklet maker with crease rolls having a slip clutch

Multiple sheet set compiling in a compiler of the seriatim output of printed sheets from a printer with a sheet entry position and a lateral sheet tamping system for laterally tamping the sheets being stacked in the compiler, in which the accumulated stack height of the sheets being compiled is estimated, and in response thereto the height of the top of the lateral sheet tamping system is raised to be maintained above the top of that rising (thicker) stack in the compiler, and lowered for the initial sheets stacking, and the compiler sheet entry position is also automatically raised in proportion to the increasing height of the stack of sheets being compiled in the compiler.

Automatically elevating sheet tamper and sheet input level for compiling large printed sets

A universal and precise stapling assembly is provided and includes (a) a moveable stapling head for driving staples at precise locations through an aligned set of sheets on any one of plural types of alignment apparatus; (b) a drive device coupled to the stapling head for moving the stapling head relative to the any one of plural types of alignment apparatus and the aligned set of aligned sheets on the any one of the plural types of alignment apparatus; (c) sensors for sensing a position of the aligned set of sheets; and (d) a programmable controller connected to the drive device, to the sensors, and to the stapling head, and including calculating capability for precisely calculating a precise staple location responsively to a type of any one of the plural types of alignment apparatus and to the secured position of the aligned set of sheets, thereby reducing staple mislocation due to a tolerance stack up from components of the stapling head and components of any one of the plural types of alignment apparatus.

Universal and precise stapling method and apparatus

A document creating apparatus, comprising an image transfer system and a feeder. The feeder has a frame, housing and a roll for individually feeding sheets of material within the image transfer system. The housing is pivotally connected to the frame on a pivot axis. The roll is pivotally connected to the housing on a roll axis that is offset from the pivot axis. A spring is connected to the housing and the frame at an offset distance from the pivot axis. When the offset distance decreases, the force exerted by the spring increases. When the offset distance increases, the force exerted by the spring decreases. The force exerted by the spring between the first roll and the second roll as a result is maintained substantially constant.

Growing community of inventors

Toronto, Canada

Raymond Ruthenberg