The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 29, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 18, 1999
Daniel N. Lyke, Bridgewater, CT (US);
Thomas A. Farbizio, Patterson, NY (US);
Joseph Vartolone, Danbury, CT (US);
Nicholas W. P. Payne, New Milford, CT (US);
Hologic, Inc., Bedford, MA (US);
Abstract
A motion controlling system for providing a motion control signal to a motor driving a wheel of a medical equipment carriage is described. The system includes a handle having an end movably supported by the carriage so as to permit movement of the handle end relative to the carriage in a direction in which movement of the apparatus is desired, The system is also provided with an optical position encoding means, coupled between the handle end and the carriage, for providing a position signal indicating the position of the handle end relative to the carriage. A motion control means, responsive to the position signal from the optical position encoding means, provides a motion control signal to the motor. Several embodiments of the optical position encoding means, which include photodiode arrays and solar cells, are described.