2900 results about "Active control" patented technology

A collaborative Web browsing session may take place over a network, allowing the presenter on a first computer to direct the audio and visual components of a browser on one or more second computers. The second computer is instructed to log into a control site that downloads an active control, such as an applet, to the second computer. The present invention allows a collaborative Web browsing session ("session"), as created by the presenter and witnessed by one or more users on second computers, to be recorded and archived by the control site. When a user of a computer is connected to the control site through a communication network such as the World Wide Web, that user may log into the control site and request to view an archived session. The session will then be replayed by the control site on the user's computer, directing the audio and visual components of the browser on the user's computer as if the user was attending the live session. The recorded session replays the events of the live session in real time such that the playback experience contains the same audio and visual events that took place when the session was originally being recorded.

Sealable and repositionable implant devices are provided with features that increase the ability of implants such as endovascular grafts and valves to be precisely deployed or re-deployed, with better in situ accommodation to the local anatomy of the targeted recipient anatomic site, and / or with the ability for post-deployment adjustment to accommodate anatomic changes that might compromise the efficacy of the implant. A surgical implant includes an implant body and a selectively adjustable assembly attached to the implant body, the assembly having adjustable elements and being operable to cause a configuration change in a portion of the implant body and, thereby, permit implantation of the implant body within an anatomic orifice to effect a seal therein under normal physiological conditions.

One or more outdoor lights may operate independently with sensing and control processes mainly on-pole, or may communicate as a networked array of poles, wherein a master / coordinating pole / node transmits signals from the networked array to a control station, and receive signals from the control station for the networked array, via call phone and / or satellite. Independent poles and / or the networked array of poles may be adapted for energy-saving processes; cooperation with the grid; renewable power production and storage by means of solar panels and associated batteries; and / or to provide Wi-Fi hot-spots, public safety alarms, information or data-analysis to the public or customers. An energy-saving active control system controls charging of the batteries and distribution of energy from the solar panel and / or the batteries, so that the batteries remain undamaged, and the light(s) remain operation even during the winter or other long periods of clouds and diffuse light. The active control of energy distribution by a load controller function may include dimming during the night, except when sensors detect motion, and, in extreme cloudy or diffuse-light periods, increasing increments of dimming and / or load shedding, to preserve the batteries and operability.

A micro-actuator is comprised of a piezoelectric motor mounted on a flexure tongue with offsetting hinges, to perform a fine positioning of the magnetic read / write head. The substantial gain in the frequency response greatly improves the performance and accuracy of the track-follow control for fine positioning. The simplicity of the enhanced micro-actuator design results in a manufacturing efficiency that enables a high-volume, low-cost production. The micro-actuator is interposed between a flexure tongue and a slider to perform an active control of the fly height of the magnetic read / write head. The induced slider crown and camber are used to compensate for thermal expansion of the magnetic read / write head, which causes the slider to be displaced at an unintended fly height position relative to the surface of the magnetic recording disk. The enhanced micro-actuator design results in reduced altitude sensitivity, ABS tolerances, and reduced stiction. The controlled fly height of the magnetic read / write head prevents a possibility of a head crash, while improving the performance and data integrity.

Apparatus and Methods are provided for a microfabricated fluorescence activated cell sorter based on an optical switch for rapid, active control of cell routing through a microfluidic channel network. This sorter enables low-stress, highly efficient sorting of populations of small numbers of cells (i.e., 1000-100,000 cells). The invention includes packaging of the microfluidic channel network in a self-contained plastic cartridge that enables microfluidic channel network to macro-scale instrument interconnect, in a sterile, disposable format.

A router and routing protocol redundancy are disclosed to reduce service outage or degradation for a network device and thus to increase service availability on a network due to software and hardware failures of the network device. A network device such as router includes a redundancy platform having an active controller system and a standby controller system. A routing protocol state change is received or generated by the active controller system. The received or generated routing protocol state change is replicated to the standby controller system. By replicating the routing protocol state change, the standby controller system can maintain the routing protocol sessions for the network device if a failure occurs in the active controller system. Furthermore, the routing protocol states are maintained in realtime to handle the dynamic changes created by routing protocols.

A hand held robotic system that remains stiff so long as it is operating within allowed limits, but which become actively controlled once the operator exceeds those limits. The system thus corrects deviations by more than a predetermined amount of the operator's hand motions, so that the tool remains in the allowed region even when the operator's hand deviates from the planned trajectory. The pose and path of the robotic operating head is ascertained by means of a navigation or tracking system, or by means of a proximity device to measure the closeness of the operating head to a damage sensitive feature. As the tool deviates from its predetermined path or pose, or comes too close to the hazardous area, the robot control acts to move the tool back to its predetermined pose or path, or away from the hazardous region, independently of user's hand movement.

One or more outdoor lights may operate independently with sensing and control processes mainly on-pole, or may communicate as a networked array of poles, wherein a master / coordinating pole / node transmits signals from the networked array to a control station, and receive signals from the control station for the networked array, via call phone and / or satellite. Independent poles and / or the networked array of poles may be adapted for energy-saving processes; cooperation with the grid; renewable power production and storage by means of solar panels and associated batteries; and / or to provide Wi-Fi hot-spots, public safety alarms, information or data-analysis to the public or customers. An energy-saving active control system controls charging of the batteries and distribution of energy from the solar panel and / or the batteries, so that the batteries remain undamaged, and the light(s) remain operation even during the winter or other long periods of clouds and diffuse light. The active control of energy distribution by a load controller function may include dimming during the night, except when sensors detect motion, and, in extreme cloudy or diffuse-light periods, increasing increments of dimming and / or load shedding, to preserve the batteries and operability.

A radiofrequency ablation system provides multiple ground pads and active control of current flow through the ground pads to provide improved power sharing at the tissue near the ground pads reducing risk of patient skin burns for higher power ablation generators.

Provided are microfluidic designs and methods for rapid generation of monodisperse nanoliter volume droplets of reagent / target (e.g., molecule or cell) mix in emulsion oil. The designs and methods enable high-throughput encapsulation of a single target (e.g., DNA / RNA molecules or cells) in controlled size droplets of reagent mix. According to various embodiments, a microfabricated, 3-valve pump is used to precisely meter the volume of reagent / target mix in each droplet and also to effectively route microparticles such as beads and cells into the device, which are encapsulated within droplets at the intersection of the reagent channel and an oil channel. The pulsatile flow profile of the microfabricated pumps provides active control over droplet generation, thereby enabling droplet formation with oils that are compatible with biological reactions but are otherwise difficult to form emulsions with.

An active control of an unwanted noise signal at a listening site radiated by a noise source uses a reference signal that has an amplitude and / or frequency such that it is masked for a human listener at the listening site by the unwanted noise signal and / or a wanted signal present at the listening site in order to adapt for the time-varying secondary path in a real time manner such that a user doesn't fell disturbed by an additional artificial noise source.

A surgical robotic system is disclosed that provides a combination of a programmed control, such as active control or passive control, when a high degree of accuracy is required and manual control when a high degree of accuracy is not required, such as during the removal of osteophytes, irregular bone growth and / or soft tissue. Manual resection may be completed by switching from the programmed control mode to the manual control mode and allowing the surgeon free control of the cutting tool. The manual resection may be carried out using some navigational features of the robotic system such as allowing the surgeon to visualize the position of the cutting tool thereby allowing accurate resection of osteophytes, irregular bone and tissue while having the unrestricted freedom to move the cutting tool. The programmed control mode may be reserved for procedures that require a high degree of accuracy, for example, the reaming of a bone and placement of an implant onto the bone.

An object of the present invention is to actively control at least one of the position and direction of the imaging field in a subject and to observe a desired observed region in the subject certainly in a short period of time. A body-insertable device system according to the present invention includes a capsule endoscope 1 introduced into a subject and a permanent magnet 3. An imaging unit of the capsule endoscope 1 for taking an image inside the subject is fixed in a casing. The capsule endoscope 1 includes a drive unit for changing at least one of the position and posture of the casing in the liquid 2a which is also introduced in the subject 100. The permanent magnet 3 controls the operation of the drive unit for changing at least one of the position and posture of the casing in the liquid 2a.

Apparatus and Methods are provided for a microfabricated fluorescence activated cell sorter based on a switch for rapid, active control of cell routing through a microfluidic channel network. This sorter enables low-stress, highly efficient sorting of populations of small numbers of cells (i.e., 1000-100,000 cells). The invention includes packaging of the microfluidic channel network in a self-contained plastic cartridge that enables microfluidic channel network to macro-scale instrument interconnect, in a sterile, disposable format. Optical and / or fluidic switching forces are used alone or in combination to effect switching.

An automatically controlled expansion stent having an expansible stent body, actuation means for expanding the stent body, and control means for actively controlling the actuation means. The stent body is substantially tubular and includes material layers covering a plurality of radial expansion trusses. The stent employs MEMS motors under the control of a programmable logic device to expand the trusses and the stent body. Force from the motor is communicated to the expansion trusses through interconnects, which pivotally connect the trusses and provide channels for pull wires extending from the motors to the trusses. The trusses comprise a plurality of hinged links which produce symmetrical expansion of the stent body when actuated by the MEMS motor.

A substance delivery device capable of insertion into a body cavity of an animal, with the delivery device including a body capable of housing a delivery apparatus capable of actively being controlled to autonomously deliver at least one substance into a body cavity of an animal, with the delivery apparatus including dedicated pressure systems to deliver the at least one substance from independent reservoirs via at least one associated outlet, with the at least one substance ranging in form from substantially fluid to substantially solid, with the device also including a programmable control device capable of initiating and regulating delivery of the at least one substance in accordance with a preferred delivery regime, and with the body further including a tail portion adapted to receive retention apparatus external to the animal and capable of effecting retention of the substance delivery device within the body cavity of an animal.

A system and method associated with the movement of a limb. In one example, the system, such as a prosthetic or orthotic system, includes an actuator that actively controls, or adjusts, the angle between a foot unit and a lower limb member. A processing module may control movement of the actuator based on data obtained from a sensor module. For instance, sensing module data may include information relating to the gait of a user and may be used to adjust the foot unit to substantially mimic the movement of a natural, healthy ankle. The system may further accommodate, for example, level ground walking, traveling up / down stairs, traveling up / down sloped surfaces, and various other user movements. In addition, the processing module may receive user input or display output signals through an external interface. For example, the processing module may receive a heel height input from the user.

An adaptive energy absorption system for a vehicle seat is disclosed, utilizing an adaptive energy absorber or variable profile energy absorber (VPEA) for mitigating occupant injury due to extreme vehicle movement (e.g., during a vehicle shock event), and / or for mitigating vibration experienced by an occupant of the vehicle seat during normal vehicle operating conditions. Various configurations of dual-goal energy absorption apparatuses using both VPEA and fixed load energy absorbers (FLEAs) that enable both shock mitigation and vibration isolation are disclosed. A semi-active control absorption system, comprising a VPEA and FPEA configured to work in series, is also disclosed.

Embodiments relate generally to control devices, such as human interface devices, configured for use with a touch-screen containing device. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods and various apparatus that are used to actively control the interaction of a handheld device, such as a stylus pen, with a touch-screen containing device. Embodiments of the invention provide a universal handheld device that is able to provide input to any type of capacitive sensing touch-screen containing device, regardless of the manufacturer or, in some embodiments, without knowledge of the touch-screen containing device manufacturer's specific capacitive touch-sensing detection techniques.

A method and apparatus comprising an active control system for a towed seismic streamer array that enables any relative positional control of any number of towed seismic streamers. The streamer positions are controlled horizontally and vertically using active control units positioned within the seismic array. The three component (x, y, z) position of each streamer element, relative to the vessel and relative to each other is controlled, tracked and stored during a seismic data acquisition run. The present invention enables a seismic array to be maneuvered as the towing vessel maintains course, enables maintenance of specific array position and geometry in the presence of variable environmental factors and facilitates four-dimensional seismic data acquisition by sensing and storing the position of the array and each array element with respect to time.

A router and routing protocol redundancy are disclosed to reduce service outage or degradation for a network device and thus to increase service availability on a network due to software and hardware failures of the network device. A network device such as router includes a redundancy platform having an active controller system and a standby controller system. A routing protocol state change is received or generated by the active controller system. The received or generated routing protocol state change is replicated to the standby controller system. By replicating the routing protocol state change, the standby controller system can maintain the routing protocol sessions for the network device if a failure occurs in the active controller system. Furthermore, the routing protocol states are maintained in realtime to handle the dynamic changes created by routing protocols.

A process for creating an electronically addressable display includes multiple printing operations, similar to a multi-color process in conventional screen printing. In some of the process steps, electrically non-active inks are printed onto areas of the receiving substrate, and in other steps, electrically active inks are printed onto different areas of the substrate. The printed display can be used in a variety of applications. This display can be used as an indicator by changing state of the display after a certain time has elapsed, or when a certain pressure, thermal, radiative, moisture, acoustic, inclination, pH, or other threshold is passed. In one embodiment, the display is incorporated into a battery indicator. A sticker display is described. The sticker is adhesive backed and may then be applied to a surface to create a functional information display unit. This invention also features a display that is both powered and controlled using radio frequencies. It describes a complete system for controlling, addressing, and powering a display. The system includes an antenna or antennae, passive charging circuitry, and active control system, a display, and an energy storage unit. There is also a separate transmitter that provides the remote power for the display. The system is meant to be used anywhere it is useful to provide intermittent updates of information such as in a store, on a highway, or in an airport. A tile-based display allowing a modular system for large area display is created using a printable display material.

Systems, apparatus and methods may be configured to implement actively-controlled light emission from a robotic vehicle. A light emitter(s) of the robotic vehicle may be configurable to indicate a direction of travel of the robotic vehicle and / or display information (e.g., a greeting, a notice, a message, a graphic, passenger / customer / client content, vehicle livery, customized livery) using one or more colors of emitted light (e.g., orange for a first direction and purple for a second direction), one or more sequences of emitted light (e.g., a moving image / graphic), or positions of light emitter(s) on the robotic vehicle (e.g., symmetrically positioned light emitters). The robotic vehicle may not have a front or a back (e.g., a trunk / a hood) and may be configured to travel bi-directionally, in a first direction or a second direction (e.g., opposite the first direction), with the direction of travel being indicated by one or more of the light emitters.

A network system for actively controlling congestion to optimize throughput is provided. The network system includes a sending host which is configured to send packet traffic at a set rate. The network system also includes a sending switch for receiving the packet traffic. The sending switch includes an input buffer for receiving the packet traffic at the set rate where the input buffer is actively monitored to ascertain a capacity level. The sending switch also includes code for setting a probability factor that is correlated to the capacity level where the probability factor increases as the capacity level increases and decreases as the capacity level decreases. The sending switch also has code for randomly generating a value where the value is indicative of whether packets being sent by the sending switch are to be marked with a congestion indicator. The sending switch also includes transmit code that forwards the packet traffic out of the sending switch where the packet traffic includes one of marked packets and unmarked packets. The network system also has a receiving end which is the recipient of the packet traffic and also generates acknowledgment packets back to the sending host where the acknowledgment packets are marked with the congestion indicator when receiving marked packets and are not marked with the congestion indicator when receiving unmarked packets. In another example, the sending host is configured to monitor the acknowledgment packets and to adjust the set rate based on whether the acknowledgment packets are marked with the congestion indicator. In a further example, the set rate is decreased every time one of the marked packets is detected and increased when no marked packets are detected per round trip time (PRTT).

An active noise cancellation system reduces, at a listening position, the power of a noise signal being radiated from a noise source to the listening position. The system includes an adaptive filter that receives a reference signal representing the noise signal, and provides a compensation signal. A bass management unit receives the compensation signal and applies a phase shift to the compensation signal to provide a phase shifted compensation signal. A first acoustic radiator receives the phase shifted compensation signal and radiates audio indicative thereof to the listening position. A second acoustic radiator receives the compensation signal and radiates audio indicative thereof to the listening position. The transfer function characteristics from the input of the bass management system to the listening position approximately matches a desired transfer function.

A suspension system supports a seat with respect to a base mounted on a frame of a vehicle. The system includes a hydraulic actuator coupled between the seat and the base. A single accelerometer is attached to the base and generates a base acceleration signal in response to motion of the base. A control unit actively controls the hydraulic actuator as a function of the base acceleration signal. The control unit generates a base velocity signal by integrating the base acceleration signal, generates a seat position signal representing a position of the seat relative to the base, generates a seat position error signal representing a difference between a desired position and the seat position signal, and generates a command signal as a function of the velocity signal and of the position error signal. The control unit controls the actuator by applying the command signal thereto.

An active noise control system is provided to specify an input transducer, an error transducer, an output transducer and an active noise controller for generating an anti-phase canceling acoustic signal to attenuate an input noise and to output a reduced noise. The active noise control system also performs on-line secondary path modeling. For this purpose the active noise control system comprises, in addition to known systems, a secondary path change detection circuitry (6), a signal distinguishing circuitry (7) and an auxiliary noise control circuitry (8), all of them being used to model said secondary path. FIG. 3

A system for actively controlling the charging profile of a battery uses a software-based alternator control unit to control the charging voltage. The system optimizes battery and alternator life. The system, on a dynamic basis, uses battery open-circuit voltage (OCV) to estimate battery state-of-charge (SOC). Also, the charging current of the battery is periodically estimated; this, after processing, provides an estimated SOC of the battery.