Method and apparatus for error warning with multiple alarm levels and types
First Claim
1. A method of notifying a user of a condition that relates to an extracorporeal blood treatment system and that requires attention, comprising the steps of:
- detecting a condition correlated with a leak;
indicating an urgency of said condition;
generating at least one alarm signal, a type of said at least one alarm signal being responsive to a result of said step of indicating.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
One of the most significant safety concerns in the automation of extracorporeal blood treatments such as dialysis is the risk of blood leakage. Extracorporeal blood treatment systems draw blood at such a high rate that a loss of integrity in the blood circuit can be catastrophic. There are a number of mechanisms for detecting and preventing leaks, but none is perfect. According to the present invention, the probability of a leak, its seriousness, the amount of time the leak condition has persisted without a response, and other factors may be used to control escalation of multiple types of alarms. In a simple embodiment, for example, there may be a staged audio signal that has a certain loudness and tonal quality when a leak is first detected and becomes more conspicuous as time goes by without a reset response from a user.
77 Citations
82 Claims
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1. A method of notifying a user of a condition that relates to an extracorporeal blood treatment system and that requires attention, comprising the steps of:
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detecting a condition correlated with a leak;
indicating an urgency of said condition;
generating at least one alarm signal, a type of said at least one alarm signal being responsive to a result of said step of indicating. - View Dependent Claims (2, 5, 6)
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- 3. A method as in claim 3, wherein said step of indicating includes generating a signal responsive to a period of time from said step of detecting, said period of time running up till a time when a user responds to said at least one alarm signal.
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7. A leak detection alarm, comprising:
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a timer;
a programmable device with an output and an input for receiving an indication from a detector of a leak;
said programmable device being programmed to output a signal indicating a first alarm signal in response to reception of an indication from a detector of a leak and to start said timer;
said programmable device being further programmed to output a signal indicating a second alarm signal responsively to a time indication of said timer. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10)
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11. A device for notifying a user of a condition that relates to an extracorporeal blood treatment system and that requires attention, comprising the steps of:
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a detector configured to detect a condition correlated with a leak in said extracorporeal blood circuit;
a controller connected to receive at least one detector signal from said detector and output a signal indicating an urgency of said condition;
said controller being configured to generate at least one alarm signal, a type of said at least one alarm signal being responsive to said at least one detector signal. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of indicating one or more alarm events associated with a medical treatment machine, comprising the steps of:
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receiving at least one sensor signal indicative of a status of a medical treatment system;
generating a delay signal responsively to an error event indicated by said at least one sensor signal;
generating an alarm output that changes responsively to a duration of a delay indicated by said delay signal. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method of indicating an error event associated with a medical treatment, comprising the steps of:
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receiving at least one signal indicative of a state of a medical treatment including error conditions that may exist therewith and which may change over time;
generating a probability estimate of the existence of a particular error condition responsively to said at least one signal;
generating one of multiple alarm outputs, at least two of which are different, each corresponding to a respective value of said probability estimate. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of indicating an alarm condition relating to a medical treatment system, comprising the steps of:
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measuring a time interval beginning with an error event;
generating an alarm signal whose conspicuousness corresponds to a length of said interval;
resetting said time interval responsively to an indication, received at a user interface, of a response to said error event. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method of indicating an alarm condition relating to a blood treatment system, comprising the steps of:
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detecting one of a set of types of error conditions existing in said blood treatment system; and
generating an alarm signal whose conspicuousness corresponds to an urgency of said one of said types of error conditions. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A method of indicating an alarm condition relating to a blood processing system, comprising the steps of:
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calculating a probability of an error event associated with said blood processing system;
generating an alarm signal of a type that corresponds to said probability. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48)
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49. A device for indicating one or more alarm events associated with a medical treatment machine, comprising:
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at least one sensor indicating a status of a medical treatment system;
a timer adapted to generate a delay signal responsively to an error event indicated by said at least one sensor signal; and
at least one alarm output device with a controller configured to change a type of output generated by said at least one alarm output device responsively to a duration of a delay indicated by said delay signal. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57)
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58. A device for indicating an error event associated with a medical treatment, comprising:
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at least one sensor adapted to generate at least one signal indicative of a state of a medical treatment including error conditions that may exist therewith and which may change over time;
a controller configured to generate a probability estimate of the existence of a particular error condition responsively to said at least one signal;
said controller being further configured to generate one of multiple alarm outputs, at least two of which are different, each corresponding to a respective value of said probability estimate. - View Dependent Claims (59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64)
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65. A device for indicating an alarm condition relating to a medical treatment system, comprising:
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a timer adapted to measure a time interval beginning with an error event;
an alarm controller configured to output a signal whose conspicuousness corresponds to a length of said interval;
a user interface permitting a resetting of said time interval responsively to an indication, received at said user interface, of an attendant response to said error event. - View Dependent Claims (66, 67, 68, 69)
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70. A device for indicating an alarm condition relating to a blood treatment system, comprising:
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at least one detector configured to detect various types of error conditions existing in said blood treatment system; and
a controller configured to receive a signal from said at least one detector and to generate an alarm signal whose conspicuousness corresponds to an urgency of said one of a current one of said types of error conditions. - View Dependent Claims (71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78)
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79. A device for indicating an alarm condition relating to a blood processing system, comprising:
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a controller configured to calculate a probability of an error event associated with said blood processing system;
said controller being further configured to generate an alarm signal of a type that corresponds to said probability. - View Dependent Claims (80, 81, 82)
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Specification