date is obtained from a clock in the instrument this has the advantage of reducing the likelihood of the clinician confusing measurements made on different implants in the same patient or on different patients the accuracy of the calibration parameters specific to a particular transducer device is important to reduce the likelihood in errors of implant stability diagnosis the comparison of isq measurements on a particular bone implant is typically made several times for each patient over an extended time period the reliability of this comparison depends upon the reliability of the calibration parameters of the transducer device used in each case the reliability of the calibration parameters will typically diminish over time due to wear and tear of the transducer device in clinical use furthermore the transducer devices are typically autoclaved between patients for sterilisation the autoclaving process can cause damage to and hence alter the frequency response of components of the transducer device due to the decline in accuracy of the calibration parameters as the number of uses increases the lifetime over which the transducer is reliable for use in clinical diagnosis is limited clinicians may be tempted to use a transducer device beyond the recommended maximum number of uses for economic reasons to prevent the use of a transducer beyond the recommended lifetime the eprom 90 in the transducer plug 90 can be.