Remote Insulin Pump Controller State Verification

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Solution Overview

Problem

Insulin pumps lack efficient control mechanisms to manage operational states, leading to potential errors in delivering insulin dosages, particularly when transitioning between basal and bolus delivery modes or when changing from a stop or pause state to a run state without ensuring the correct operational state.

Innovation Solution

A pump controlling device that communicates with the insulin pump to determine its current operational state and send commands to adjust it to the necessary state for performing operations such as starting or adjusting insulin delivery, including the ability to activate temporary basal rates, while outputting execution results to the user.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the insulin pump allows direct command execution without state verification, then the operation speed is fast, but the reliability of insulin delivery is compromised

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvereliability of insulin deliveryVSAvoidcomplexity of control mechanism
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary verification of the insulin pump's operational state before executing delivery commands. The controller checks whether the pump is in the required state (e.g., run state for temporary basal rate activation) before sending commands, preventing erroneous operations and ensuring reliable insulin delivery without requiring complex continuous monitoring during execution

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If the pump controller checks operational state before each command, then the reliability improves, but the time delay increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveaccuracy of operational state verificationVSAvoidtime delay in command execution
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The controller implements feedback by receiving operational state information from the insulin pump and using this feedback to determine whether to proceed with command execution. This feedback mechanism ensures accurate state verification while maintaining efficient command flow, as the controller only waits for state confirmation when necessary rather than continuously polling

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

3Loss of information

If the system provides detailed execution results to the user, then the information completeness improves, but the user interface complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecompleteness of execution result informationVSAvoidcomplexity of user interface
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts and displays only the essential execution result information that users need to know, such as whether the command was successfully executed or if the pump is in the correct state. This selective information extraction provides complete operational feedback without overwhelming users with unnecessary technical details, maintaining a simple user interface

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentEP2919831B1Remote pump controller with two-directional communication for checking operational state of insulin pump
Publication Date: 2020.11.04 ROCHE DIABETES CARE GMBH
  • EP2919831B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP2919831B1 patent drawingFigure 2~3
  • EP2919831B1 patent drawingFigure 4

AI summary

A diabetes treatment system that includes an insulin pump and a remote pump controlling device is disclosed. The remote controller, upon receiving a request (68) for the pump to perform an operation such as starting particular insulin delivery scheme, queries (70) the pump for its current state (e.g. running, suspended, stopped delivery) and determines (73) whether the current state of the pump matches the required state for performing (76) the requested operation.