Aldridge, Henry Alexander

An irrigation system for medical use, such as a rectal irrigation system, and a method for evaluation of such a system, are disclosed. The system comprises a catheter, an irrigation liquid reservoir and an electrically operated diaphragm pump for pumping air into the irrigation liquid reservoir and/or into the catheter. A pressure sensor is associated with an output end of the diaphragm pump and a controller evaluates the operation of the diaphragm pump by: measuring the pressure at two opposite end positions for a diaphragm of the diaphragm pump in at least two different pump cycles; estimating a current effective output volume per pumping cycle based on the measured pressures; comparing this to a previously determined, primary effective output volume; and provide an evaluation of the operation of the diaphragm pump.

Various aspects of systems, methods, and related aspects to generate cephalometric (CEPH) x-ray images based on panoramic image data from an extra-oral x-ray system are described. One example method of generating a computed CEPH image includes obtaining panoramic image data produced from a panoramic x-ray scan; generating a representation of the panoramic image data in a defined three-dimensional space; determining a geometry of a cephalometric view in the defined three-dimensional space; modeling simulated x-rays in the geometry of the cephalometric view to identify portions of the panoramic image data to be used in the computed cephalometric image; and outputting the computed cephalometric image.

In one aspect, an example computer-implemented method generating a pitch-based audio signature includes: (a) receiving audio content, (b) transforming the audio content, (c) generating a log-spaced frequency domain representation of the transformed audio content, (d) determining one or more magnitudes of the transformed audio content, (e) adjusting the log-spaced frequency domain representation of the transformed audio content based on the determined one or more magnitudes, (f) identifying a plurality of estimated pitch values within the adjusted log-spaced frequency domain representation, wherein identifying the plurality of estimated pitch values comprises identifying a plurality of peak characteristics in the adjusted log-spaced frequency domain representation and ordering the plurality of estimated pitch values based on the plurality of peak characteristics; and (g) generating the pitch-based audio signature based on the identified plurality of estimated pitch values.

The present invention relates to method of generating an x-ray image using an x-ray system (1) comprising an x-ray device (2) which includes: an x-ray detector (4; 14); an x-ray source (3) for emitting a x-ray cone beam; an x-ray collimator (12; 15) having one or more adjustable shutters (25) for setting an aperture (24) for the x-ray radiation; and a first reference point (P1) for positioning a patient's oral cavity. The method comprises the step of: acquiring a digital impression (DI) of the patient's oral cavity; selecting a region of interest (ROI) in the digital impression (DI); determining the size of the region of interest; determining a second reference point (P2) in the digital impression; determining the position of the selected region of interest relative to the x-ray device (2) using the first reference point, the second reference point, and the digital impression; setting the positions of the x-ray detector and the x-ray source on opposing sides of the patient's head so that the region of interest can be exposed with x-ray cone beam radiation and imaged with the x-ray detector; adjusting the shutters (25) so that a size of the aperture (24) restricts the x-ray cone beam to expose substantially not more than the region of interest (ROI) for the set positions of the x-ray detector and the x-ray source; and acquiring at least one x-ray projection image of the region of interest (ROI) at the set positions of the x-ray detector and the x-ray source with the correspondingly adjusted shutters (25); generating an x-ray image by using the x-ray projection images.

The present invention relates to a computer-implemented method for customizing an initial restoration design (1) by a specific user, wherein the initial restoration design (1) is received; wherein a digital 3D model (2) of the dental situation of a patient is received. The method further comprises: a first artificial neural network for machine learning adds a generic offset (3) to each region of the initial restoration design (1) taking into account the digital 3D model (2), and outputs the result to a second artificial neural network for machine learning; the second artificial neural network for machine learning adds a user-specific offset (4) to each region of the output of the first artificial neural network taking into account the 3D digital model (2), and outputs the result to a specific user; wherein the specific user, using CAD tools, revises via a display unit the output of the second artificial neural network taking into account the 3D digital model (2) to produce a final restoration design (5); wherein the first artificial neural network is trained using a first training data set, the first training data set including the initial restoration designs (1), the 3D digital models (2), and the final restoration designs (5) produced by at least other users; and wherein the second artificial neural network is trained using a second training data set, the second training data set including initial restoration designs (1), the digital 3D models (2), and final restoration designs (5) produced by the specific user only.

The present invention relates to a computer implemented method of generating a panoramic image of a patient (P), comprising: a step of defining a focal curve (F) relative to the patient's oral cavity (O), wherein the focal curve (F) follows the shape of the jawbone (1) of the patient (P), wherein the focal curve (F) has a predefined thickness (L) which includes at least the teeth (T) to be imaged; a step of acquiring a plurality of two dimensional x-ray projection images of the patient (P) along the focal curve (F) by means of rotating an x-ray source (3), an x-ray collimator (12) and a flat panel x-ray detector (4) around the patient's head in accordance with a predefined trajectory relative to the patient (P), wherein the x-ray collimator (12) is positioned between the patient's head and the x-ray source (3), wherein the collimator (12) has an x-ray aperture (13) to restrict the x-ray cone beam angle, wherein the width of the x-ray aperture (13) is adjustable for varying the x-ray cone beam angle. In the acquisition step, the width of the aperture (13) is continuously varied such that the width of the aperture (13) used to expose the molar region (M) of the focal curve (F) is larger than the width of the aperture (13) used to expose to the incisal region (I); and in the acquisition step, the readout region (R) of the x-ray detector (4) is continuously varied in the horizontal direction such that the readout region (R) of the x-ray detector (4) is equal to or larger that the region of the x-ray detector (4) being actively exposed through the aperture (13).

In one aspect, an example method includes drawing a current through a doorbell circuit. While drawing the current through the doorbell circuit, the example method includes determining, by the doorbell device, a maximum doorbell circuit current that will not activate a doorbell chime. Based on determining the maximum doorbell circuit, the example method includes configuring a doorbell device to draw the determined maximum doorbell circuit current through the doorbell circuit. Determining the maximum doorbell circuit current that will not activate the doorbell chime further includes: (i) determining whether the current being drawn through the doorbell circuit has activated the doorbell chime, (ii) if the current being drawn through the doorbell circuit has activated the doorbell chime, decrementing the current drawn through the doorbell circuit, and (iii) if the current being drawn through the doorbell circuit has not activated the doorbell chime, incrementing the current drawn through the doorbell circuit.

In one aspect, an example method to be performed by a vehicle-based media system includes (a) receiving audio content; (b) causing one or more speakers to output the received audio content; (c) using a microphone of the vehicle-based media system to capture the output audio content; (d) identifying reference audio content that has at least a threshold extent of similarity with the captured audio content; (e) identifying a geographic location associated with the identified reference audio content; and (f) based at least on the identified geographic location associated with the identified reference audio content, outputting, via the user interface of the vehicle-based media system, a prompt to navigate to the identified geographic location.

An image decoding method according to the present invention may comprise the steps of: dividing a coding block into a first prediction unit and a second prediction unit; deriving a merge candidate list for the coding block; deriving first motion information for the first prediction unit and second motion information for the second prediction unit by means of the merge candidate list; and on the basis of the first motion information and the second motion information, acquiring a prediction sample within the coding block.

Embodiments of the present application provide a method for measuring a channel busy ratio (CBR), a terminal device, and a network device, which are applicable to calculating the CBR in a sidelink transmission system configured with SL DRX or partial sensing. The method for measuring a CBR includes: a terminal device determines the CBR of a target time according to a measurement result of an SL RSSI within N time units before the target time.