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:
Dec. 06, 2016
Filed:
Jul. 09, 2014
Rf Surgical Systems, Inc., Carlsbad, CA (US);
William A. Blair, Carlsbad, CA (US);
David A. Poirier, Escondido, CA (US);
Curtis Crump, Vista, CA (US);
Covidien LP, Mansfield, MA (US);
Abstract
The presence or absence of objects is determined by interrogating or exciting transponders coupled to the objects using pulsed wide band frequency signals. Interrogation is broken down into a number of subsample scan cycles each having interrogation cycles a start time forward in time by a fraction of a period of an expected transponder response signal. Ambient or background noise is evaluated and a threshold adjusted based on the level of noise. Adjustment may be based on multiple noise measurements or samples. Noise detection may be limited, with emphasis placed on interrogation to increase the signal to noise ratio. Matched filtering may be employed. Presence/absence determination may take into account frequency and/or Q value to limit false detections. Appropriate acts may be taken if detected noise is out of defined limits of operation, for example shutting down interrogation and/or providing an appropriate indication.