Method and system for providing a fault tolerant display unit in an electronic device

• US 20070176867A1
• Filed: 01/31/2006
• Published: 08/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Abbott Diabetes Care Incorporated (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Abbott Diabetes Care Incorporated (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Inventors: Reggiardo, Christopher, Zeiger, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 8,344,966 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/87
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14532 for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/742 using visual displays A61B5/339 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/48785 Electrical and electronic details of measuring devices for physical analysis of liquid biological material not specific to a particular test method, e.g. user interface or power supply
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/10 Dealing with defective pixels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/006 Electronic inspection or testing of displays and display drivers, e.g. of LED or LCD displays testing individual LED's G01R31/2635; testing lamps G01R31/44; testing of optical features of LCD displays G02F1/1309
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/18 using liquid crystals
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation

Abstract

Method and apparatus for providing a fault tolerant display unit for an electronic device such as a glucose meter, including display unit, and a controller unit operatively coupled to the display unit, the controller unit configured to control the display unit to display an information, where when a failure mode of the display unit occurs, the display unit is configured to display a modified information, where the modified information is different from the information for display under the control of the controller unit, is provided.

Claims

1. An apparatus including a fault tolerant display unit for an electronic device, comprising:

a display unit; and

a controller unit operatively coupled to the display unit, the controller unit configured to control the display unit to display an information;

wherein when a failure mode of the display unit occurs, the display unit is configured to display a modified information, where the modified information is different from the information for display under the control of the controller unit.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display unit is a seven segment Liquid Crystal Display unit with one or more digits.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the display unit is configured to display one or more health related values.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the one or more health related values includes one or more of a measured glucose value, a cholesterol level, and a blood alcohol level.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the failure mode of the display unit includes one or more of a connector failure, a display unit driver failure, or a connector short.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 further including an RF receiver unit, wherein the display unit is coupled to a housing of the RF receiver unit.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 further including an infusion device, wherein the display unit is coupled to a housing of the infusion device.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the infusion device includes an insulin pump.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 further including a glucose meter, wherein the display unit is coupled to a housing of the glucose meter.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the displayed modified information associated with the detected failure mode is non-informative.

11. A method of providing display fault tolerance in an electronic device, comprising the steps of:

receiving one or more commands to display an information on a display unit;

detecting a failure mode associated with the display unit; and

displaying a modified information on the display unit associated with the detected failure mode.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of displaying includes the step of disabling a predetermined segment of the information for display such that the displayed information is a subset of the information for display, and further, wherein the subset of the information for display is non-informative.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the information for display includes one or more health related values.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the one or more health related values includes one or more of a measured glucose value, a cholesterol level, and a blood alcohol level.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the detected failure mode includes one or more of a display unit connector failure, a display unit driver failure, or a display unit connector short.

16. The method of claim 11 further including the step of coupling the display unit to one of an RF receiver unit, an infusion device, or a glucose meter.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein the displayed modified information associated with the detected failure mode is non-informative.

18. A display unit of an electronic device, comprising:

a display portion; and

a controller coupled to the display portion, the display portion configured to display a predetermined information based on one or more commands received from the controller;

wherein, when a failure mode is detected in the display portion, the one or more commands received from the controller to display the predetermined information does not change.