Author: claimsbot

What is claimed is:

1. A suspension for disc drive, comprising:
a base plate;
a load beam attached to the base plate; and
a flexure attached to the load beam and adapted to be fitted with a head portion,
the load beam including: a rigid body portion which is formed as a separate member from the base plate and to which the flexure is fixed; and a spring portion formed of a spring member which connects the rigid body portion and the base plate together and which has a spring constant lower than that of the body portion.
2. A suspension for disc drive according to claim 1, wherein said rigid body portion of said load beam is formed of a light metal or synthetic resin.
3. A suspension for disc drive according to claim 1, wherein said load beam is a laminated member that is made up of at least two kinds of materials including a light metal.
4. A suspension for disc drive according to claim 3, wherein said load beam is a laminated member that is made up of an aluminum-based metal plate and a stainless steel plate.
5. A suspension for disc drive according to claim 1, wherein said load beam is a laminated member that is made up of an aluminum-based metal plate and a stainless steel plate, said base plate is a laminated member that is made up of an aluminum-based metal plate and a stainless steel plate, and said spring member is formed of stainless steel and laser-welded to both the stainless steel plate of the load beam and the stainless steel plate of the base plate.
6. A suspension for disc drive according to claim 1, wherein said base plate is an arm-type long base plate and is made as a laminated member that is made up of at least two kinds of materials including a light metal.
7. A suspension for disc drive according to claim 1, wherein said flexure and said spring portion are formed of one integral sheet.
8. A method for manufacturing a suspension for disc drive, comprising:
a process for manufacturing a semi-finished suspension product integrally including a base plate, a rigid body portion of a load beam, and a pair of connecting portions connecting the base plate and the rigid body portion;
a process for fixing a spring member, formed independently of the semi-finished suspension product, to the base plate and the rigid body portion of the semi-finished product; and
a process for cutting off the connecting portions, projecting individually from the opposite sides of the spring member, from the base plate and the rigid body portion after the spring member is fixed to the semi-finished suspension product.
9. A method for manufacturing a suspension according to claim 8, wherein the distance between said pair of connecting portions is greater than the width of the spring member.

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. An apparatus for the slicing of food products such as sausage, ham, cheese and the like comprising a device for the supply of the products (8) to be sliced to a cutting plane (2) defined by a rotating cutting blade (3) and by a cutting edge (4) cooperating therewith and provided at the end of the product supply path (1) as well as a transport system for a paper web (6) which is drawn off from a dispensing roll (5), is supplied to the cutting plane (2) and is fed in pre-determinable dependence on the cutting sequence such that the cutting blade (3), when cutting off a product slice, can also cut off a section from the paper web (6) which falls together with the cut-off slice as an intermediate layer onto a collection surface (9) for the sliced products, characterized in that
the transport system for the paper web (6) includes a station (7) for the transverse perforation of the paper web (6) and in that the paper feed is controlled or regulated such that the transverse perforation lies in the cutting plane (2) in each paper cutting step.
2. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the station (7) for the transverse perforation has at least one perforating roll which is arranged adjacent to the cutting plane (2).
3. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the transport system for the paper web (6) and the station (7) are arranged beneath the product supply path (1) for the transverse perforation.
4. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the perforating roll is made such that the webs remaining in the transverse direction between the openings have a minimum width required for the further transport of the paper web (6).
5. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the cutting blade (3) only cuts through the webs of the perforation remaining between the openings in each cutting of the paper web (6).
6. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the blade (3) consists of a scythe-like blade.
7. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1, characterized in that the blade (3) consists of a planetarily revolving circular blade.
8. An apparatus for the slicing of food products such as sausage, ham, cheese and the like comprising a device for the supply of the products (8) to be sliced to a cutting plane (2) defined by a rotating cutting blade (3) and by a cutting edge (4) cooperating therewith and provided at the end of the product supply path (1) as well as a transport system for a paper web (6) which is drawn off from a dispensing roll (5), is supplied to the cutting plane (2) and is fed in pre-determinable dependence on the cutting sequence such that the cutting blade (3), when cutting off a product slice, also cuts off a section from the paper web (6) which falls together with the cut-off slice as an intermediate layer onto a collection surface (9) for the sliced products, characterized in that
the paper web (6) has transverse perforations spaced apart in the running direction and in that the paper feed is controlled or regulated such that the transverse perforation lies in the cutting plane (2) in each paper cutting step.

1-25. (canceled)
26. An expandable stent, comprising:
a tubular structure including an outer surface positionable adjacent to a vessel wall, an inner surface facing a lumen of a body passageway, a plurality of expansion struts that are substantially parallel to each other, connector struts, and cells, the tubular structure having a first diameter that permits intraluminal delivery of the tubular structure into the body passageway, and a second expanded and deformed diameter upon the application from the interior of the tubular member of a radially, outwardly extending force;
a plurality of cavities formed in the outer surface of the stent wherein the plurality of cavities are holes that extend from the outer surface through the inner surface, and wherein the holes are configured to provide a plurality of reservoirs for a substance; and
a substance contained in said reservoirs.
27. The stent of claim 26, wherein the tubular structure is balloon expandable.
28. The stent of claim 26, wherein the tubular structure is self-expandable.
29. The stent of claim 26, wherein at least a portion of the tubular structure is made of a shape memory alloy.
30. The stent of claim 26, wherein the plurality of cavities are substantially evenly positioned on the tubular structure.
31. The stent of claim 26, wherein the holes have a cross-section that is smaller than a cross-section of a strut.
32. The stent of claim 26, further comprising a plurality of holes that extend from the outer surface to an interior of the tubular structure without extending through the inner surface.
33. The stent of claim 26, wherein at least a portion of the holes extend perpendicular from the outer surface to an interior of the tubular structure.
34. An expandable stent, comprising:
a tubular structure including an outer surface positionable adjacent to a vessel wall, an inner surface facing a lumen of a body passageway, a plurality of expansion struts that are substantially parallel to each other, connector struts, and cells, the tubular structure having a first diameter that permits intraluminal delivery of the tubular structure into the body passageway, and a second expanded and deformed diameter upon the application from the interior of the tubular member of a radially, outwardly extending force;
a plurality of cavities formed in the outer surface of the stent wherein the plurality of cavities are holes that extend from the outer surface through the inner surface, and wherein the holes are configured to provide a plurality of reservoirs for a substance; and
a substance disposed on at least a portion of the outer surface of the stent including and extending into at least a portion of the cavities contained in said reservoirs.
35. The stent of claim 34, further comprising the substance disposed on at least a portion of the inner surface of the stent.
36. The stent of claim 34, wherein the substance is a restenosis inhibiting agent.
37. The stent of claim 36, wherein the restenosis inhibiting agent is selected from a drug and a polymer.
38. The stent of claim 36, wherein the restenosis inhibiting agent is a combination of two agents.
39. The stent of claim 34, wherein the tubular structure is balloon expandable.
40. The stent of claim 34, wherein the tubular structure is self-expandable.
41. The stent of claim 34, wherein at least a portion of the tubular structure is made of a shape memory alloy.
42. The stent of claim 34, wherein the plurality of cavities are substantially evenly positioned on the tubular structure.
43. The stent of claim 34, wherein the holes have a cross-section that is smaller than a cross-section of a strut.

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 processing system for a magnetic resonance tomography apparatus, said magnetic resonance tomography apparatus having a gradient coil system that generates magnetic gradients exhibiting non-linearities, said processing system comprising:
a display screen;
a processor connected to said display screen, said processor generating a user interface on said display screen allowing graphic scan planning based on a previously-obtained MRT overview image of a subject that was obtained using said gradient coil system and thus exhibits a distortion due to said non-linearities, said distortion in said overview image being corrected by said processor, using stored data accessible by said processor representing said non-linearities, to correct distortions in said overview image due to said non-linearities, thereby producing and displaying a corrected overview image; and
said processor, in said user interface, graphically demarcating an area of said corrected overview image in which positioning of an additional, planned slice of the subject, from which MR data are to be acquired, will result, due to the distortion correction in said corrected overview image, result in said data being acquired from an actual slice of the subject that deviates from said planned slice, from an area of the corrected overview image in which positioning of said additional, planned, slice will not cause said planned slice to deviate from said actual slice.
2. A processing system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said MRT apparatus has an isocenter and has a displaceable support table adapted to receive the subject thereon to acquire said data, the subject having a subject axis, and wherein, if said additional, planned slice has a transverse orientation relative to said subject axis, said processor automatically calculates and generates control signals for supply to said support table to cause the support table to move the subject to bring the actual slice, corresponding to the planned slice, into the isocenter.
3. A processing system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said processor comprises a memory in which said stored data are stored, said stored data comprising data representing the non-linearities that were measured once before delivery of said MRT apparatus.
4. A processing system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said processor automatically generates said graphic demarcation.
5. A processing system for a magnetic resonance tomography apparatus, said magnetic resonance tomography apparatus having a gradient coil system that generates magnetic gradients exhibiting non-linearities, said processing system comprising:
a display screen;
a processor connected to said display screen, said processor generating a user interface on said display screen allowing graphic scan planning based on a previously-obtained MRT overview image of a subject that was obtained using said gradient coil system and thus exhibits a distortion due to said non-linearities, said distortion in said overview image being corrected by said processor, using stored data accessible by said processor representing said non-linearities, to correct distortions in said overview image due to said non-linearities, thereby producing and displaying a corrected overview image; and
said processor, in correcting said overview image, also correcting a distortion due to said non-linearities in an additional, planned slice that is planned based on said overview image, thereby obtaining a distortion-corrected planned slice, and graphically displaying said distortion-corrected planned slice in the corrected overview image.
6. A processing system as claimed in claim 5 wherein said MRT apparatus has an isocenter and has a displaceable support table adapted to receive the subject thereon to acquire said data, the subject having a subject axis, and wherein, if said additional, planned slice has a transverse orientation relative to said subject axis, said processing system automatically calculates and generates control signals for supply to said support table to cause the support table to move the subject to bring the actual slice, corresponding to the planned slice, into the isocenter.
7. A processing system as claimed in claim 5 wherein said processor comprises a memory in which said stored data are stored, said stored data comprising data representing the non-linearities that were measured once before delivery of said MRT apparatus.
8. A method for operating a magnetic resonance tomography apparatus, said magnetic resonance tomography apparatus having a gradient coil system that generates magnetic gradients exhibiting non-linearities, a processor, and a display screen connected to the processor, said method comprising the steps of:
obtaining an MRT overview image of a subject using said gradient coil system, said overview image exhibiting a distortion due to said non-linearities;
correcting said overview image in said processor, using stored data accessible by said processor representing said non-linearities, to correct said distortion in said overview image due to said non-linearities, thereby producing a corrected overview image;
displaying said corrected overview image on said display screen in a user interface on said display screen allowing graphic scan planning based on said corrected overview image; and
said processor, in said user interface, automatically graphically demarcating an area of said corrected overview image in which positioning of an additional, planned slice of the subject, from which MR data are to be acquired, will result, due to the distortion correction in said corrected overview image, in said data being acquired from an actual slice of the subject that deviates from said planned slice, from an area of the corrected overview image in which positioning of said additional, planned, slice will not cause said planned slice to deviate from said actual slice.
9. A method for operating a magnetic resonance tomography apparatus as claimed in claim 8 wherein said MRT apparatus has an isocenter and has a displaceable support table adapted to receive the subject thereon to acquire said data, the subject having a subject axis, and comprising the steps of, if said additional, planned slice has a transverse orientation relative to said subject axis, automatically calculating and generating control signals in said processor for supply to said support table to cause the support table to move the subject to bring the actual slice, corresponding to the planned slice, into the isocenter.
10. A method for operating a magnetic resonance tomography apparatus as claimed in claim 8 comprising measuring said stored data representing the non-linearities that once before delivery of said MRT apparatus.
11. A method for operating a magnetic resonance tomography apparatus as claimed in claim 8 comprising automatically generating said graphic demarcation.
12. A method for operating a magnetic resonance tomography apparatus, said magnetic resonance tomography apparatus having a gradient coil system that generates magnetic gradients exhibiting non-linearities, a processor, and a display screen connected to the processor, said method comprising the steps of:
obtaining an MRT overview image of a subject, said overview image exhibiting a distortion due to said non-linearities;
correcting said overview image in said processor, using stored data accessible by said processor representing said non-linearities, to correct said distortion in said overview image due to said non-linearities, thereby producing a corrected overview image;
displaying said corrected overview image on said display screen in a user interface on said display screen allowing graphic scan planning based on said corrected overview image; and
said processor, in correcting said overview image, also correcting a distortion due to said non-linearities in an additional, planned slice, planned based on said corrected overview image, thereby obtaining a distortion-corrected slice, and graphically displaying said distortion-corrected slice in the corrected overview image.
13. A method for operating a magnetic resonance tomography apparatus, as claimed in claim 12 wherein said MRT apparatus has an isocenter and has a displacement support table adapted to receive the subject thereon to acquire said data, the subject having a subject axis, and comprising the steps of, if said additional, planned slice has a transverse orientation relative to said subject axis, automatically calculating and generating control signals in said processor for supply to said support table to cause the support table to move the subject to bring the actual slice, corresponding to the planned slice, into the isocenter.
14. A method for operating a magnetic resonance tomography apparatus, as claimed in claim 12 comprising measuring said data representing the non-linearities once before delivery of said MRT apparatus.
15. A method for operating a magnetic resonance tomography apparatus, as claimed in claim 12 comprising automatically generating said graphic demarcation in said processor.