Author: claimsbot

1. An apparatus comprising:
a caliper configured to measure at least one physical dimension;
a display configured to present a first representation and a second representation of a measurement provided by the caliper, wherein a format of the first representation is different from a format of the second representation, and the first representation is approximately simultaneously displayed with the second representation, and wherein the display is configured to present a representation of an approximate difference between the first representation and the second representation of the measurement.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the format of the first representation includes one of a decimal format and a fractional format.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the format of the second representation includes one of a decimal format and a fractional format, and is different from the format of the first representation.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the format of the first representation has metric units and the format of the second representation has U.S. units.
5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the resolution of the first representation is selectable.
6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the format of the first representation includes a first measurement unit and the format of the second representation includes a second measurement unit, different from the first measurement unit.
7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
an electronics package that includes the display.
8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display includes a unit indicator.
9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display includes a variance indicator.
10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
an electronics package configured to provide data representative of the first representation and the second representation to an external display module.
11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein a hardwire connection provides the data from the electronics package to the external display module.
12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein a wireless connection provides the data from the electronics package to the external display module.
13. A method comprising:
simultaneously displaying on a display of a caliper, a first representation and a second representation of a measurement provided by the caliper, wherein a format of the first representation is different from a format of the second representation, and displaying a representation of an approximate difference between the first representation and the second representation of the measurement.
14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:
providing data that represents the first representation and the second representation to an external display module.
15. The method of claim 13, wherein the format of the first representation includes one of a decimal format and a fractional format.
16. The method of claim 13, wherein the format of the first representation has metric units and the of the second representation format has U.S. units.
17. A computer program product, encoded on a computer-readable medium, operable to cause a data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:
simultaneously displaying on a display of a caliper, a first representation and a second representation of a measurement provided by the caliper, wherein a format of the first representation is different from the format of the second representation, and displaying a representation of an approximate difference between the first representation and the second representation of the measurement.
18. The computer program product of claim 17, further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:
providing data that represents the first representation and the second representation to an external display module.
19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the format of the first representation includes one of a decimal format and a fractional format.
20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the format of the first representation has metric units and the of the second representation format has U.S. units.
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 stent comprising:
a rolled sheet of material forming a tube having a plurality of layers, wherein said sheet is perforated with a plurality of perforations, said perforations are shaped as waveforms, and wherein perforations on each layer overlap perforations on each of the other layers to form gaps in the tube formed by the rolled sheet.
2. The stent of claim 1 wherein said rolled sheet of material is sized and proportioned to fit within a blood vessel of the brain of a patient.
3. The stent of claim 2 wherein the perforations comprise at least about 80% of the surface area of the rolled sheet.
4. The stent of claim 2 wherein the perforations are arranged in circumferentially extending bands around a circumference of the stent, and wherein a plurality of said circumferentially extending bands of perforations are disposed along the length of the stent.
5. The stent of claim 1 wherein the perforations comprise at least about 80% of the surface area of the rolled sheet.
6. The stent of claim 1 wherein the perforations are arranged in circumferentially extending bands around a circumference of the stent, and wherein a plurality of said circumferentially extending bands of perforations are disposed along the length of the stent.
7. A stent comprising:
a rolled sheet of material forming a tube having first and second layers, wherein said sheet is perforated with a plurality of perforations, said perforations are shaped as waveforms, wherein perforations on the first layer overlap perforations on the second layer to form gaps in the tube formed by the rolled sheet, and wherein said rolled sheet of material is sized and proportioned to fit within a blood vessel of the brain of a patient.
8. The intent of claim 7 wherein the perforations comprise at least about 80% of the surface area of the rolled sheet.
9. The stent of claim 7 wherein the perforations are arranged in circumferentially extending bands around a circumference of the stent, and wherein a plurality of said circumferentially extending bands of perforations are disposed along the length of the stent.
10. A stent comprising:
a sheet of material, said sheet being capable of rolling into a tubular structure having at least two layers, said sheet characterized by a transverse edge which, in the rolled tubular structure corresponds to the circumference of the stent, said sheet characterized by a longitudinal edge which, in the rolled tubular structure corresponds to the longitude of the stent;
said sheet being perforated by a plurality of perforations said perforations shaped as sinusoidal waves, said perforations being placed on the sheet so that a first group of said perforations are circumferentially aligned along a first longitudinal location on the intent, and a second group of said perforations are circumferentially aligned along a second longitudinal location on the stent, and subsequent groups of perforations are likewise circumferentially aligned along the length of the stent, thus forming a plurality of generally circumferentially extending sinuous hoops connected by longitudinally extending staves in the stent;
said sheet being sized and proportioned to fit within a blood vessel of the brain of a patient.
11. A method of treating a blood vessel in a patient, wherein said blood vessel has an aneurysm located on the wall of the blood vessel, said method comprising the steps of:
providing a stent comprising:
a sheet of material, said sheet being capable of rolling into a tubular structure having at least two layers, said sheet characterized by a transverse edge which, in the rolled tubular structure corresponds to the circumference of the stent, said sheet characterized by a longitudinal edge which, in the rolled tubular structure corresponds to the longitude of the stent;
said sheet being perforated by a plurality of perforations, said perforations shaped as sinusoidal waves, said perforations being placed on the sheet so that a first group of said perforations are circumferentially aligned along a first longitudinal location on the stent, and a second group of said perforations are circumferentially aligned along a second longitudinal location on the stent, and subsequent groups of perforations are likewise circumferentially aligned along length of the stent, thus forming a plurality of generally circumferentially extending sinuous hoops connected by longitudinally extending staves in the stent;

percutaneously inserting the stent into the blood vessel and positioning the stent so that the stent bridges the aneurysm; and
releasing the stent within the blood vessel.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein the blood vessel is disposed within the brain of the patient.

1. A method for user selection of a menu option, said method comprising the steps of:
automatically and sequentially displaying a multiplicity of menu options, in a sequence, one at a time, in a display window of a computing device;
receiving a user selection at a time during the automatic and sequential display of said menu options; and
automatically determining that said user selection was received within a predetermined period after one of said menu options in said sequence ceased to be displayed in said display window, and in response, automatically determining that said user selection corresponds to said one menu option and performing an action indicated by said one menu option.
2. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said user selection was received during display of a next one of said menu options in said sequence.
3. A method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said user selection was received during a blank period after said one menu option ceased to be displayed and before a next one of said menu options in said sequence is displayed.
4. A method for user selection of a menu option, said method comprising the steps of:
automatically and sequentially displaying a multiplicity of menu options, one at a time, in a display window of a computing device;
receiving a user selection of a user at a time during the automatic and sequential display of said menu options; and
preliminarily determining automatically which of said menu options corresponds to said user selection based on the time that said user selection was received in relation to time periods during which said menu options were displayed; and
wherein, in response to said preliminarily determining step, further comprising the steps of:
temporarily freezing display of the corresponding menu option in said window and waiting up to a predetermined time period for receipt of confirmation from the user that said user wants to select said corresponding menu option which is frozen in said window, and
if, within said predetermined time period, said user confirms that said user wants to select said corresponding menu option, automatically determining that said user has selected said corresponding menu option and performing an action indicated by said corresponding menu option, and
if, within said predetermined time period, said user does not confirm that said user wants to select said corresponding menu option, automatically determining that said user has not selected said corresponding menu option, and automatically resuming sequential display of said multiplicity of menu options without performing said action indicated by said corresponding menu option.
5. A method as set forth in claim 4 wherein within said predetermined time period, said user confirms that said user wants to select said corresponding menu option, and further comprising the step of performing an action, intended by said user by selecting said corresponding menu option.
6. A computer program product for user selection of a menu option, said computer program product comprising:
a computer readable media;
first program instructions to automatically and sequentially display a multiplicity of menu options, in a sequence, one at a time, in a display window of a computing device;
second program instructions to receive a user selection at a time during the automatic and sequential display of said menu options;
third program instructions to automatically determine that said user selection was received within a predetermined period after one of said menu options in said sequence ceased to be displayed in said display window, and in response, automatically determining that said user selection corresponds to said one menu option and performing an action indicated by said one menu option; and wherein said first, second and third program instructions are stored on said computer readable media in functional form.
7. The computer program product as set forth in claim 6, wherein said user selection was received during display of a next one of said menu options in said sequence.
8. The computer program product as set forth in claim 6, wherein said user selection was received during a blank period after said one menu option ceased to be displayed and before a next one of said menu options in said sequence is displayed.
9. A computer system for user selection of a menu option, the computer system comprising:
a memory; and
a processor in communications with the memory, wherein the computer system is capable of performing a method, said method comprising:
automatically and sequentially displaying a multiplicity of menu options, one at a time, in a display window of a computing device;
receiving a user selection of a user at a time during the automatic and sequential display of said menu options; and
preliminarily determining automatically which of said menu options corresponds to said user selection based on the time that said user selection was received in relation to time periods during which said menu options were displayed; and
wherein, in response to said preliminarily determining step, further comprising the steps of:
temporarily freezing display of the corresponding menu option in said window and waiting up to a predetermined time period for receipt of confirmation from the user that said user wants to select said corresponding menu option which is frozen in said window, and
if, within said predetermined time period, said user confirms that said user wants to select said corresponding menu option, automatically determining that said user has selected said corresponding menu option and performing an action indicated by said corresponding menu option, and
if, within said predetermined time period, said user does not confirm that said user wants to select said corresponding menu option, automatically determining that said user has not selected said corresponding menu option, and automatically resuming sequential display of said multiplicity of menu options without performing said action indicated by said corresponding menu option.
10. The computer system as set forth in claim 9, wherein within said predetermined time period, said user confirms that said user wants to select said corresponding menu option, and wherein said method further comprises the step of performing an action, intended by said user by selecting said corresponding menu option.
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 computer-implemented graphical user interface method, comprising: providing a toolbar graphically representing one or more tools including one or more groups of tools, wherein a tool is represented by an icon and wherein a group of tools is represented by one or more icons, the toolbar including a first icon representing a first group of tools; and in response to a first user input, generating an expanded toolbar by expanding the toolbar to replace the first icon with a plurality of icons representing tools in the first group of tools; wherein the toolbar includes other icons and wherein generating an expanded toolbar to replace the first icon with a plurality of icons representing tools in the first group of tools comprises: removing the first icon from a position on the toolbar relative to the other icons included in the toolbar and including the plurality of icons in the same position on the toolbar relative to the other icons included in the toolbar.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first icon represents both the first group of tools and a first tool in the first group of tools.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: prior to generating an expanded toolbar, in response to a second user input selecting the first icon, displaying a secondary list including one or more icons representing the tools in the first group of tools.
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: removing the secondary list in response to the first user input.
5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to a third user input, contracting the expanded toolbar to generate a contracted toolbar, the contracted toolbar including one or more icons, but less than the plurality of icons, representing one or more tools in the first group of tools and representing the first group of tools.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein: the contracted toolbar includes only one icon representing both the first group of tools and a tool in the first group of tools.
7. The method of claim 5, wherein: the contracted toolbar includes a single icon representing only the first group of tools.
8. The method of claim 5, wherein: expanding the toolbar includes inserting a hide icon in the expanded toolbar; and the third user input includes electronic data representing an activation of the hide icon.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein: the expanded toolbar includes one or more graphical elements distinguishing the icons representing tools in the first group of tools from other icons on the toolbar.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein: the one or more graphical elements include separator lines located before and after the icons representing tools in the first group of tools the toolbar.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein: the one or more graphical elements include a contrasting color in which the icons representing tools in the first group of tools are displayed on the toolbar.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein: the one or more graphical elements include a border surrounding the icons representing tools in the first group of tools on the toolbar.
13. The method of claim 9, wherein: the one or more graphical elements includes a label identifying the first group of tools.
14. A computer-implemented graphical user interface method, comprising: providing a toolbar graphically representing one or more tools including one or more groups of tool, wherein a tool is represented by an icon and wherein a group of tools is represented by one or more icons, the toolbar including a plurality of icons representing a plurality of tools in a first group of tools; and in response to a user input, generating a contracted toolbar by contracting the toolbar to replace the plurality of icons with one or more icons, but less than the plurality of icons, wherein the toolbar includes other icons and wherein contracting the toolbar to replace the plurality of icons with one or more icons, but less than the plurality of icons comprises: removing the plurality of icons from a position on the toolbar relative to the other icons included in the toolbar and including the one or more icons in the same position on the toolbar relative to the other icons included in the toolbar.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein: the contracted toolbar includes only one icon representing both a tool in the first group of tools and the first group of tools.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein: the contracted toolbar includes a single icon representing only the first group of tools.
17. The method of claim 14, wherein: the contracted toolbar includes a hide icon; and the user input includes electronic data representing an activation of the hide icon.
18. A computer-implemented graphical user interface method, comprising: providing a toolbar graphically representing one or more tools including one or more groups of tools, wherein a tool is represented by an icon and wherein a group of tools is represented by one or more icons, the toolbar including a first icon representing a first tool in a first group of tools and representing the first group of tools; in response to a first user input selecting the first icon, displaying a secondary list including one or more icons representing the tools in the first group of tools; in response to a second user input, generating an expanded toolbar by expanding the toolbar to replace the first icon with a plurality of icons representing tools in the first group of tools and removing the secondary list; and in response to a third user input, contracting the expanded toolbar to generate a contracted toolbar, the contracted toolbar including one or more icons, but less than the plurality of icons, representing one or more tools in the first group of tools and representing the first group of tools.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein: expanding the toolbar includes inserting a hide icon in the expanded toolbar, and the third user input includes electronic data representing an activation of the hide icon.
20. The method of claim 18, wherein: the expanded toolbar includes one or more graphical elements distinguishing the icons representing tools in the first group of tools from other icons on the toolbar.
21. A computer program product, tangibly stored on a machine-readable medium, comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to; provide a toolbar graphically representing one or more tools including one or more groups of tools, wherein a tool is represented by an icon and wherein a group of tools is represented by one or more icons, the toolbar including a first icon representing a first tool in a first group of tools and representing the first group of tools; and in response to a first user input, generate an expanded toolbar by expanding the toolbar to replace the first icon with a plurality of icons representing tools in the first group of tools;
wherein the toolbar includes other icons and wherein instructions operable to generate an expanded toolbar to replace the first icon with a plurality of icons representing tools in the first group of tools comprise instructions operable to:
remove the first icon from a position on the toolbar relative to the other icons included in the toolbar and include the plurality of icons in the same position on the toolbar relative to the other icons included in the toolbar.
22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the first icon represents both the first group of tools and a first tool in the first group of tools.
23. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions operable to: prior to generating an expanded toolbar, in response to a second user input selecting the first icon, display a secondary list including one or more icons representing the tools in the first group of tools.
24. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising instructions operable to: remove the secondary list in response to the first user input.
25. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising instructions operable to: in response to a third user input, contract the expanded toolbar to generate a contracted toolbar, the contracted toolbar including one or more icons, but less than the plurality of icons, representing one or more tools in the first group of tools and representing the first group of tools.
26. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein: the contracted toolbar includes only one icon representing both the first group of tools and a tool in the first group of tools.
27. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein: the contracted toolbar includes a single icon representing only the first group of tools.
28. The computer program product of claim 25, wherein: instructions operable to expand the toolbar include instructions operable to insert a hide icon in the expanded toolbar; and the third user input includes electronic data representing an activation of the hide icon.
29. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein: the expanded toolbar includes one or more graphical elements distinguishing the icons representing tools in the first group of tools from other icons on the toolbar.
30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein: the one or more graphical elements include separator lines located before and after the icons representing tools in the first group of tools on the toolbar.
31. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein: the one or more graphical elements include a contrasting color in which the icons representing tools in the first group of tools are displayed on the toolbar.
32. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein: the one or more graphical elements include a border surrounding the icons representing tools in the first group of tools on the toolbar.
33. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein: the one or more graphical elements includes a label identifying the first group of tools.
34. A computer program product, tangibly stored on a machine-readable medium, comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to: provide a toolbar graphically representing one or more tools including one or more groups of tool, wherein a tool is represented by an icon and wherein a group of tools is represented by one or more icons, the toolbar including a plurality of icons representing a plurality of tools in a first group of tools; and in response to a user input, generate a contracted toolbar by contracting the toolbar to replace the plurality of icons with one or more icons, but less than the plurality icons, wherein the toolbar includes other icons and wherein contracting the toolbar to replace the plurality of icons with one or more icons, but less than the plurality of icons comprises: removing the plurality of icons from a position on the toolbar relative to the other icons included in the toolbar and including the one or more icons in the same position on the toolbar relative to the other icons included in the toolbar.
35. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein: the contracted toolbar includes only one icon representing both the first group of tools and a tool in the first group of tools.
36. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein: the contracted toolbar includes a single icon representing only the first group of tools.
37. The computer program product of claim 34, wherein: the contracted toolbar includes a hide icon; and the user input includes electronic data representing an activation of the hide icon.
38. A computer program product, tangibly stored on a machine-readable medium, comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to: provide a toolbar graphically representing one or more tools including one or more groups of tools, wherein a tool is represented by an icon and wherein a group of tools is represented by one or more icons, the toolbar including a first icon representing a first tool in a first group of tools and representing the first group of tools; in response to a first user input selecting the first icon, display a secondary list including one or more icons representing the tools in the first group of tools; in response to a second user input, generate an expanded toolbar by expanding the toolbar to replace the first icon with a plurality of icons representing tools in the first group of tools and remove the secondary list; and in response to a third user input, contract the expanded toolbar to generate a contracted toolbar, the contracted toolbar including one or more icons, but less than the plurality of icons, representing one or more tools in the first group of tools and representing the first group of tools.
39. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein: instructions operable to expand the toolbar include instructions operable to insert a hide icon in the expanded toolbar; and the third user input includes electronic data representing an activation of the hide icon.
40. The computer program product of claim 38, wherein: the expanded toolbar includes one or more graphical elements distinguishing the icons representing tools in the first group of tools from other icons on the toolbar.