What is claimed is:
1. A self-locking biomedical electrical clasp for establishing electrical connection to a snap-style patient electrode which has a stud projecting upwardly from a top surface thereof, said clasp comprising,
a clasp body including a hole to receive a stud of a biomedical patient electrode that is used to make electrical contact with the skin of a patient,
an operating lever moveably mounted on the clasp body,
an electrical conductor connected to the clasp body for establishing electrical contact with the stud when the stud is inserted into the clasp,
a locking tab moveably supported above the hole and operatively associated with the operating lever for being moved into contact with the stud when the operating lever is placed in an operating position,
said tab has a concave surface facing the stud so as to contact a sidewall of the stud when moved to an operating position by the operating lever and the tab is constructed and positioned with respect to the hole in the clasp to lock the stud within the hole when the lever is moved to a position that lowers the tab into engagement with the stud.
2. The clasp of claim 1 wherein the electrical conductor has an opening therein aligned above the hole in the clasp for admitting the stud when the stud is inserted into the clasp.
3. The clasp of claim 2 wherein the opening in the electrical conductor has a laterally extending tab-retaining edge therein that is aligned below the tab for engaging the tab to provide support for the tab by holding a free edge of the tab against the stud to thereby secure the tab in the locking position.
4. A self-locking biomedical electrical clasp for establishing electrical connection to a snap-style patient electrode having a stud projecting upwardly from the top surface thereof, said clasp comprising,
An electrode clasp, said clasp being adapted to receive a stud of a biomedical patient electrode that is used to make electrical contact with the skin of a patient,
said clasp having an operating lever mounted for movement thereon,
an electrical conductor connected to the clasp for establishing electrical contact with the stud when the stud is inserted into the clasp, said electrical conductor comprising a leaf spring with an opening therein for admitting a stud of a patient electrode when the stud is inserted into the clasp,
a locking tab depending downwardly from an upper portion of the leaf spring and operatively associated with the operating lever so as to move into contact with the stud when the operating lever is placed in an operating position,
said tab being shaped to contact a sidewall of the stud when moved to an operating position by the operating lever and the tab is constructed and positioned with respect to the opening to lock the stud within the opening when the lever is moved to an operating position so as to lower the tab into engagement with the stud.
5. The clasp of claim 4 wherein the opening in the electrical conductor has an edge therein that is aligned below the tab for holding a free edge of the tab against the stud to thereby secure the tab in a stud locking position.
6. The clasp of claim 4 wherein the opening in the leaf spring has a straight laterally extending tab-supporting edge portion that is aligned vertically below the tab for engaging an outer surface of the tab opposite a concave surface thereof when the tab is placed in an operating position for holding the tab in engagement with a side-wall of a stud to thereby secure the tab in the stud locking position.
7. The clasp of claim 1 wherein the tab is trough-shaped.
8. The clasp of claim 1 wherein the tab is spoon-shaped.
9. A biomedical electrical clasp for establishing electrical connection to a snap-style patient electrode, said clasp comprising,
a clasp body including an electrical conductor therein for establishing electrical contact with a biomedical patient electrode that is inserted into the clasp,
said electrical conductor including a plug receptacle for receiving an electrically conductively male plug element of a lead wire, said plug receptacle including a plurality of centrally inclined outwardly yieldable leaf spring elements to define a passage for the male plug element, said passage having walls that converge centrally proceeding toward a distal end of the clasp to thereby enable the receptacle to accommodate male plug members of differing diameters.
10. The biomedical electrical clasp of claim 9 wherein the axis of each of the leaf spring elements points generally in the same direction that the plug is inserted into the passage in the receptacle with a free end of each of the spring elements being located distally of a fixed end thereof.
11. The biomedical electrical clasp of claim 9 wherein the plug receptacle has two opposing side walls and a bottom wall, said walls have portions cut away therefrom with the remaining portions comprising said centrally inclined leaf spring elements and the leaf spring elements are each elongated and extend longitudinally of the clasp with free ends thereof positioned distally of a fixed end thereof to establish the converging passage for the male plug element.
12. The biomedical electrical clasp of claim 9 wherein the plug receptacle includes at least a pair of laterally disposed opposing leaf spring elements confronting one another and a lower leaf spring element that is positioned intermediate the opposing leaf spring elements and the lower leaf spring has a free end that is forced downwardly when the plug is inserted into the clasp.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A queuing place-taking method in an environment including a terminal of a provider waiting in a queue to receive provision of goodsservices, a system for auctioning queuing place-taking rights to take the place of the provider in a queue, and terminals of bidders bidding for the queue place-taking rights, the method comprising:
a) the bidder terminals executing a step of sending bids for queue place-taking rights to the auction system;
b) the auction system executing a step of receiving bids for the queue place-taking rights from the bidder terminals, deciding upon a successful bidder for the queuing place-taking rights, sending a successful bidder side place-taking rights password corresponding to the queuing place-taking rights and provider authentication information for confirming the provider waiting in the queue to the terminal of the decided upon successful bidder, and sending a provider side place-taking rights password corresponding to the queuing place-taking rights and successful bidder authentication information for confirming the successful bidder to the terminal of the provider;
c) the provider terminal executing a step of when the provider is waiting in the queue, correlating a successful bidder side place-taking rights password instructed by the successful bidder with the queuing place-taking rights based on the successful bidder side place-taking rights password and provider authentication information sent from the terminal of the successful bidder, and sending the correlated information to the auction system;
d) the terminal of the successful bidder executing a step of when the provider is waiting in the queue, correlating the provider side place-taking rights password instructed by the provider with the queuing place-taking rights based on the provider side place-taking rights password sent from the terminal of the provider and successful bidder authentication information, and sending the corresponding information to the auction system; and
e) the auction system executing a step of collating the correspondence correlation of the successful bidder side place-taking rights password relating to the queuing place-taking rights received from the provider terminal in step c and the provider side place-taking rights password relating to the queuing place-taking rights received from the terminal of the successful bidder in step d and the correspondence correlation between the successful bidder side place-taking rights password and the provider side place-taking rights password sent in step b, and sending information to the effect that the taking of the place in the queue is permitted to the terminal of the successful bidder and the terminal of the provider when the result of the collation is a match.
2. An auction system employing a queue place-taking the auction system comprising:
authentication information storage means for correlating and storing queuing place-taking rights enabling changing of places with a provider who is queuing in order to receive goods or services and provider authentication information for confirming the provider waiting in the queue;
successful bid conditions storage means for storing successful bid conditions for bidding successfully for queuing place-taking rights;
password storage means for correlating and storing the queue place-taking rights, the provider side place-taking rights password and the successful bidder side place-taking rights password;
communication means for communicating with external devices; and
information processing means for controlling the operation of each means, processing means executing the steps of:
a) receiving bids for the queuing place-taking rights via the communication means,
b) deciding upon a bidder for which a bid is received satisfying the successful bidder conditions stored in the successful bid conditions storage means as the successful bidder,
c) reading out provider authentication information corresponding to the queuing place-taking rights successfully bid for by the decided upon successful bidder and successful bidder authentication information from the authentication information storage means,
d) reading out a provider side place-taking rights password corresponding to the queuing place-taking rights successfully bid for by the successful bidder decided upon in step b, and a successful bidder side place-taking rights password from the password storage means,
e) sending the provider authentication information read out in step c and the successful bidder side place-taking rights password read out in step d to the terminal of the successful bidder decided upon in step b,
f) sending the successful bidder authentication information read out in step c and the provider side place-taking rights password read out in step d to the terminal of the provider of the queuing place-taking rights successfully bid for by the successful bidder decided upon in step b,
g) when the provider is waiting in the queue, making the successful bidder side place-taking rights password instructed by the successful bidder correspond with the queuing place-taking rights based on the successful bidder side place-taking rights password sent from the terminal of the successful bidder in step e and provider authentication information, and receiving the correlated information from the provider terminal via the communication means,
h) when the provider is waiting in the queue, making the provider side place-taking rights password instructed by the provider correspond with the queuing place-taking rights based on the provider side place-taking rights password sent from the provider terminal in step f and successful bidder authentication information, and receiving this information from the successful bidder terminal via the communication means, and
j) collating the correspondence correlation of the successful bidder side place-taking rights password relating to the queuing place-taking rights received in step g and the provider side place-taking rights password relating to the queuing place-taking rights received in step h and the correspondence correlation between the successful bidder side place-taking rights password sent in step e and the provider side place-taking rights password sent in step f, and sending information to the effect that the taking of the place in the queue is permitted to the terminal of the successful bidder and the terminal of the provider when the result of the collation is a match.
3. The auction system of claim 2, further comprising:
settlement information storage means for correlating and storing bidder identification information and settlement information for settling the bids, and
the processing means receives the correlation between a bid for the queuing place-taking rights and the bidder identification information via the communication means, and when a successful bidder fulfilling the successful bidding conditions stored in the successful bid conditions storage means is decided upon in step b, reads settlement information relating to the identification information of the successful bidder that has been decided upon from the settlement information storage means, correlates the read settlement information and the bid instructed by the decided upon successful bidder in order to settle the bid instructed by the successful bidder based on the read out settlement information, and sends this to an external settlement system via the communication means.