Bizarre Patents
Smoking Cessation Lighter and Method
A lighter for tobacco products suppresses the urge to smoke by operant conditioning.
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 6574491 | Method and apparatus for detecting a physiological parameter A system for detecting a physiological parameter from a physiological signal, includes a source of the physiological signal. Circuitry, coupled to the signal source, detects spectral peaks in the physiological signal. Calculating circuitry, coupled to the... | 06/03/2003 |
| 6473008 | System for sampling a data signal A sampling system includes an input terminal for receiving a data signal having a signal component and possibly a noise component. A sampler samples the data signal at a sample rate set in responsive to a control signal. A noise detector detects the prese... | 10/29/2002 |
| 6468218 | 3-D ultrasound imaging system and method A 3-D region of interest (ROI) of a body is imaged, preferably using an ultrasound transducer. The intensity of an echo signal from each of a pattern of pixels within the ROI is measured and stored. The pixels are then grouped into pixel blocks, and the i... | 10/22/2002 |
| 6434412 | Cardiac cine imaging with a short repetition time and high contrast between the blood and the myocardium A segmented cine MR pulse sequence of the "TrueFISP"-type having a short repetition time TR is used to acquire MR data during a single breath hold. In the resulting cine images, the blood and the myocardium have distinctly different image contrasts.... | 08/13/2002 |
| 6359281 | High voltage distribution system for solid state scintillation detectors and gamma camera system incorporating the same A high voltage distribution system for distributing a high voltage supply to a plurality of semiconductor radiation detector modules, includes a conductive strip connected to a high voltage supply. The conductive strip is preferably made of aluminum foil,... | 03/19/2002 |
| 6341172 | Acquisition scheme for an electron portal imaging system An improved acquisition scheme for a medical imaging and treatment system 100. According to one aspect of the invention, adaptive radiation detection, for determining when therapeutic or diagnostic radiation is being applied, is provided. The imaging devi... | 01/22/2002 |
| 6335961 | Integrated high definition intensity multileaf collimator system which provides improved conformal radiation therapy while minimizing leakage A method and system in accordance with the present invention uses the existing hardware and divides the treatment port dose into segments. In between each segment the field, with respect to the beam, would be translated, and the leaf positions would be ad... | 01/01/2002 |
| 6304628 | Wedge angle optimization for a virtual wedge treatment Aspects for virtual wedge treatment with wedge angle optimization are described. In a method aspect, the method includes adjusting a preselected calibration factor based on chosen treatment conditions. The method further includes achieving an optimal wedg... | 10/16/2001 |
| 6303935 | Combination PET/SPECT nuclear imaging system A combination PET/single photon (SPECT or planar) nuclear imaging system utilizes a pair of dedicated PET detectors and at least one dedicated single photon detector mounted on a single gantry. The single photon detector is a solid-state detector, such as... | 10/16/2001 |
| 6295465 | Myocardial perfusion studies using magnetic resonance imaging Gadolinium-based MR contrast agent is administered to a patient. Acquisition of MR data begins at the latest when the bolus of MR contrast agent reaches the patient's heart and continues throughout the first-pass of contrast agent through the coronary cir... | 09/25/2001 |
| 6285793 | Method and apparatus for automatically determining a quantization factor value that produces a desired average compression ratio of an image sequence using JPEG compression A sequence of angiographic images is made up of frames of data. A sample sequence, made up of a number of such frames, is compressed using a lower value of the quantization factor and the resulting average compression ratio is determined. The same sample ... | 09/04/2001 |
| 6281507 | Interdigital photoconductor structure for direct X-ray detection in a radiography imaging system System and method aspects for a photoconductive element for direct x-ray detection in a radiography imaging system are described. The photoconductive element includes a photoconductive material layer for absorbing x-ray radiation transmitted through an ob... | 08/28/2001 |
| 6280387 | Three-dimensional tissue/flow ultrasound imaging system An ultrasound imaging system produces three-dimensional tissue/flow images by first computing a plurality of separate two-dimensional tissue images and two-dimensional flow images. Separate tissue and flow volumes are created by applying the tissue and fl... | 08/28/2001 |
| 6260999 | Isocenter localization using electronic portal imaging According to an embodiment of the present invention, an isocenter of an image may be found by using a multi-leaf collimator. According to this embodiment, a center leaf is projected into the center of the x-ray field with all other leaves retracted. An im... | 07/17/2001 |
| 6249796 | Real-time technique for reducing the settling time of a high pass filter A technique for resetting a HPF for improving its settling time in response to a sharp transition in its input signal, by rapid input and clocking through the high-pass filter (HPF) of new data samples after occurrence of the sharp transition. The new dat... | 06/19/2001 |
| 6249565 | Fractional monitor unit radiation delivery control using dose rate modulation Method and system aspects for achieving more accurate radiation delivery during radiation treatment by a radiation-emitting system are described. In a method aspect, and system for achieving same, the method includes providing a table of dose rate values ... | 06/19/2001 |
| 6246902 | Lead set filter for a patient monitor A shielded conductor path comprising: a first signal conductor having an input end for acquiring a physiological signal and an output end for coupling the physiological signal to a physiological signal input of a patient monitor, and a second signal condu... | 06/12/2001 |
| 6240310 | Method of acquiring MR data especially for cardiac cine data sets During acquisition of one frame of MR data, the phase-encoding gradient oscillates between a maximum phase-encoding gradient and a minimum phase-encoding gradient. Each oscillation includes a zero phase-encoding gradient.... | 05/29/2001 |
| 6240162 | Precision dosimetry in an intensity modulated radiation treatment system A system and method for radiation therapy delivery. Known errors are compensated for by applying an offset factor to the dose at the start of the beam cycle. According to one embodiment of the invention, a dosimetry controller is configured to provide the... | 05/29/2001 |
| 6240161 | Multi-leaf collimator constrained optimization of intensity modulated treatments A system and method for radiation therapy delivery. The present invention provides for optimizing radiation delivery by accounting for the physical attributes of a beam shielding device (401) when determining an optimal radiation treatment. These include,... | 05/29/2001 |
| 6239988 | Current sourced gate driver for fast thyristors Circuits and methods are described for providing gate drive to a gate terminal of a first switching device. The circuit includes a transformer having a core, a primary winding, and at least one secondary winding. The primary winding of the transformer is ... | 05/29/2001 |
| 6224666 | Forging cylindrical alkali halide ingots into rectangular plates A cylindrical alkali halide melt-grown single-crystal-type ingot is axially compressed in a heated dual-platen press while in a plastic state. The ingot is located mid-way between two parallel, planar, vertically extending barriers. By properly orienting ... | 05/01/2001 |
| 6222544 | Graphical user interface for radiation therapy treatment apparatus A graphical user interface (1000) for use in a patient treatment system. The graphical user interface (1000) permits graphical display and editing of individual treatment parameters, including machine (2, 4, 6) positions and field shapes. Multiple fields ... | 04/24/2001 |
| 6208712 | Portal image within a virtual wedge treatment Method and system aspects for utilizing portal images in a virtual wedge treatment during radiation treatment by a radiation-emitting device are described. In a method aspect, and system for achieving same, the method includes utilizing an image dose with... | 03/27/2001 |
| 6205349 | Differentiating normal living myocardial tissue, injured living myocardial tissue, and infarcted myocardial tissue in vivo using magnetic resonance imaging By administering MR contrast agent such as Gd-DPTA, waiting for a predetermined period of time and then acquiring T1-weighted MR image data, infarcted myocardial tissue can be distinguished from injured myocardial tissue. An in vivo cine MR study is used ... | 03/20/2001 |
| 6200025 | Flexible automated specification testing for quality checks A system and method for maintaining a network of multiple radiation devices, such as linear accelerator radiation therapy devices. Automated specification testing and checking of the network of radiation therapy devices facilitates integrated analysis of ... | 03/13/2001 |
| 6196973 | Flow estimation using an ultrasonically modulated contrast agent Reflectors such as microbubbles in a contrast agent introduced into a blood vessel of a patient are destroyed (or otherwise acoustically altered) using focused ultrasound at a modulation point according to an input modulation sequence. This creates "gaps"... | 03/06/2001 |
| 6183417 | Docking station for a patient monitoring system A docking station for a portable patient monitor is adapted for use in a system which includes a communications network and, optionally, a bedside display. The portable monitor is coupled to sensors for receiving patient data signals. The docking station ... | 02/06/2001 |
| 6176830 | Method and system for pre-determining spectral doppler user parameters A method of initializing a spectral Doppler mode of operation for an ultrasonic system includes acquiring ultrasound-based data during a two-dimensional mode of operation for a particular examination session and includes automatically establishing setting... | 01/23/2001 |
| 6171245 | Method of imaging scatterers based on acoustically stimulated changes of their acoustic properties A method of imaging blood with the use of contrast agents. A sequence or ensemble of imaging pulses is transmitted into a patient. Echo signals received in response to each of the imaging pulses are received and analyzed to determine if the echoes are pro... | 01/09/2001 |
| 6167114 | System and method for calculating scatter radiation including a collimator thickness The present invention relates to a fast and accurate method for calculating fluence of a calculation plane over a patient. According to an embodiment of the present invention, only a subset of the collimator leaves are analyzed for the fluence calculation... | 12/26/2000 |
| 6162174 | Method for compensating for object movement in ultrasound images A method for producing interpolated ultrasound images by storing at least two sequential ultrasound images and detecting the movement of objects of interest within two sequential images. A movement vector is then determined that describes the movement of ... | 12/19/2000 |
| 6158708 | Rotational flatness improvement A radiation treatment apparatus (10) including a stand (12), a gantry (14) movably supported on the stand (12), the gantry (14) having a vertical section (16) and a generally linear cantilevered strut section (18), the cantilevered strut section (18) havi... | 12/12/2000 |
| 6160340 | Multifrequency ultrasonic transducer for 1.5D imaging An ultrasonic transducer has a center row of transducers operating at a center row frequency and first and second outer rows of transducers operating at a common frequency or different frequencies lower than the center row frequency. In an enhancement of ... | 12/12/2000 |
| 6155981 | Diagnostic ultrasonic imaging system and method for discriminating non-linearities In a diagnostic ultrasound imaging system, a sequence of more than two signals is transmitted into the interrogation of the patient's body. In one embodiment of the invention, the pulses are grouped as pairs that have an inverted phase, that is, one is ti... | 12/05/2000 |
| 6146331 | Method for improved clutter suppression for ultrasonic color doppler imaging A Doppler ultrasound clutter suppression system and method in which the clutter is first low-pass filtered (716) to suppress the flow component (4024) just before mean frequency estimation (718). The mean frequency is then estimated and mixed with the ori... | 11/14/2000 |
| 6148060 | Integrated automatic exposure control for portal imaging in radiotherapy Method and system aspects for integrated automatic exposure control for portal imaging in radiotherapy are described. In an exemplary method aspect, the method includes controlling scanning and blanking of a target of a camera pick-up tube to capture an i... | 11/14/2000 |
| 6142925 | Method and system for increasing resolution in a radiotherapy system Method and system aspects for increasing resolution of a radiotherapy system to achieve virtual fractional monitor unit radiation delivery are described. Included in a method aspect, and system for achieving same, is identification of a desired treatment ... | 11/07/2000 |
| 6134296 | Microgradient intensity modulating multi-leaf collimator The present invention provides for delivering two one (1) centimeter by point five (0.5) centimeter intensity maps that are orthogonal to each other so as to generate microgradients within each one centimeter by one centimeter square. Thus, an effective i... | 10/17/2000 |
| 6128366 | Dosimetry error reduction for optimized static intensity modulation A radiation therapy delivery and dosimetry error correction system. Rather than iteratively creating more segments to correct for dosimetry errors, the present invention receives the outputs from a segment optimization algorithm (i.e., a set of segments a... | 10/03/2000 |
