Endotronix, Inc.

Caterpillar Inc.

Robert Boschgmbh

Symple Surgical, Inc.

Jacobs, Scott William

Kleimenhagen, Karl William

Watkins, Roger Dwight

Travis, Dexter Grant

Roger Dwight Watkins

Balamurugan Sundaram

Harry D Rowland

Michael L Nagy

Scott William Jacobs

Shoji Tozawa

Karl W Kleimenhagen

Everett Gene Brandt

Daniel Kasprzyk

David A Paul

Sureshbabu Sundaram

Sohail Desai

Seth Crozier

In Soo Ahn

Justin Preston

Brian Paul

Dexter Grant Travis

Seppo Saario

Karl William Kleimenhagen

A microwave ablation system and method is disclosed comprising a balloon catheter apparatus and a control system. The balloon catheter apparatus comprises a catheter configured to house a coaxial cable and one or more coolant channels, an inflatable balloon located at the distal end of the catheter, and an antenna positioned in the inflatable balloon and in communication with the coaxial cable. The control system comprises a fluid pump configured to introduce fluid into a proximal end of the catheter, a power amplifier capable of generating microwave energy for delivery to the target tissue zone for at least one energy application cycle ranging from 60 seconds to 600 seconds at a frequency ranging from 2.4 GHz to 2.5 GHz, and a computer system configured to monitor and/or regulate the delivery of microwave energy to the target tissue, the fluid pump, at least one sensor, and antenna reflected power.

Balloon catheter apparatus with microwave emitter

A wireless sensor reader is provided to interface with a wireless sensor. The wireless sensor reader transmits a narrowband, fixed frequency excitation pulse to cause the wireless sensor to generate a ring signal. The ring signal corresponds to the value of the physical parameter being sensed. The wireless sensor reader receives and amplifies the ring signal and sends the signal to a phase-locked loop. A voltage-controlled oscillator in the phase-locked loop locks onto the ring signal frequency and generates a count signal at a frequency related to the ring signal frequency. The voltage-controlled oscillator is placed into a hold mode where the control voltage is maintained constant to allow the count signal frequency to be determined. The low power, simple circuitry required to generate the excitation pulse allows the reader to be a small, battery operated unit. Alternative methods of frequency determination are also disclosed.

Wireless sensor reader

A wireless sensor reader is provided to interface with a wireless sensor. The wireless sensor reader transmits an excitation pulse to cause the wireless sensor to generate a ring signal. The wireless sensor reader receives and amplifies the ring signal and sends the signal to a phase-locked loop. A voltage-controlled oscillator in the phase-locked loop locks onto the ring signal frequency and generates a count signal at a frequency related to the ring signal frequency. The voltage-controlled oscillator is placed into a hold mode where the control voltage is maintained constant to allow the count signal frequency to be determined.

A wireless sensor reader is provided to interface with a wireless sensor. The wireless sensor reader transmits an excitation pulse to cause the wireless sensor to generate a ring signal. The wireless sensor reader receives and amplifies the ring signal and sends the signal to a phase-locked loop. A voltage-controlled oscillator in the phase-locked loop locks onto the ring signal frequency and generates a count signal at a frequency related to the ring signal frequency. The voltage-controlled oscillator is placed into a hold mode where the control voltage is maintained constant to allow the count signal frequency to be determined. The reader uses an ambient reading or other information to select a subset of the possible ring signal frequencies, and tunes or adjusts its circuits and algorithms to focus on that subset.

A method enables a radio receiver to distinguish sensor probes supplying data to the receiver over a long period of time. The method includes each probe generating a random number sent to the receiver to identify the probe. Each probe and the receiver also uses a pseudo-random process to identify a time of transmission for each probe. The pseudo-random process helps keep the transmission times for the probes separate in the presence of oscillator drift. If a transmission collision occurs, the receiver ignores all probes in the collision and waits until the pseudo-random process separates the probe transmissions.

System and method for multiple access sensor networks

A machine includes a component. The machine may also include a position-sensing system with a plurality of sensor elements that each generate a signal related to proximity of the sensor element to the component by generating the signal based at least in part on the magnetic permeability of the space adjacent the sensor element and a time-varying magnetic field generated by an electric circuit of the position-sensing system. The machine may also include one or more information-processing devices that determine a positional relationship between the component and the plurality of sensor elements based on a plurality of the signals generated by the sensor elements.

Machine with a position-sensing system

An electronic interface is provided for connecting to various types of networks. The network places a data stream on a bus high signal and a bus low signal. The interface includes a ground synthesizer circuit, a capacitive isolator circuit, and an edge triggering circuit. The ground synthesizer circuit, coupled to the bus high signal and bus low signal, synthesizes a ground from the bus high signal and bus low signal. The capacitive isolator circuit, coupled to the ground synthesizer circuit, generates an isolated bus high signal from the bus high signal. The edge triggering circuit, coupled to the capacitive isolator circuit, regenerates the data stream into a first reconstructed data stream by comparing the isolated bus high signal with the ground. The resulting circuit comprises a digital data receiver that may be part of a transceiver.

Common controller area network interface

Growing community of inventors

Dunlap, IL, United States of America

Roger Dwight Watkins