Substance delivery device
First Claim
1. A substance delivery device for delivering a substance into a body cavity of an animal into which the device is inserted, said device comprising:
- a body;
a plate to be securely located at at least one end of said body;
retention means carried by said body for retaining the device within the animal'"'"'s body cavity comprising, a plurality of longitudinal elongated flexible arms connected to at least one of said body and said base plate, each of said arms being generally linear in an undeformed state and flexible to a degree to permit lying along the outside of said body for insertion into the animal body cavity, and lying forward of said body when said device is being withdrawn from the body cavity, means operable after the device is inserted in the animal body cavity for moving said arms from the position lying along the outside of the body to extend generally radially of said body, said arms being flexible to be foldable from the undeformed state lying along the outside of said body in a condition for insertion into the animal body cavity to a condition after insertion of the cavity wherein said arms are placed in a retaining condition by said means for moving said arms, wherein each of said arms in said cavity being capable of being bent along its length in different directions at the same time for each of said arms to be capable of contracting and conforming to changes of irregularly shaped internal surface(s) of the animal'"'"'s body cavity when the substance delivery device is in the animal'"'"'s body cavity to maintain continual contact with at least a portion of at least one of said arms lying against the surface of the body cavity for preventing passage of the device through the cavity and/or inadvertent removal and each of said arms can separately flex through substantially 180 degrees from lying in a direction generally along the length of said device body during insertion into the animal body cavity to a position lying forward of said device body when said device body is being withdrawn from the animal body cavity.
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Accused Products
Abstract
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a substance delivery device (1) capable of insertion into a body cavity of an animal, including delivery apparatus (11) capable of actively being controlled to deliver a substance to an outlet, and retention apparatus (2, 3) capable of retaining the substance delivery device within the body cavity of an animal. In one embodiment, a microprocessor (18) can be remotely programmed to enable control over the delivery device after it is placed in the animal. The microprocessor (18) can also communicate with an external device to enable the operation of the delivery device to be determined. The invention may also include sensors to monitor the environment around the delivery device, to determine when a substance should be delivered into the body.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A substance delivery device for delivering a substance into a body cavity of an animal into which the device is inserted, said device comprising:
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a body;
a plate to be securely located at at least one end of said body;
retention means carried by said body for retaining the device within the animal'"'"'s body cavity comprising, a plurality of longitudinal elongated flexible arms connected to at least one of said body and said base plate, each of said arms being generally linear in an undeformed state and flexible to a degree to permit lying along the outside of said body for insertion into the animal body cavity, and lying forward of said body when said device is being withdrawn from the body cavity, means operable after the device is inserted in the animal body cavity for moving said arms from the position lying along the outside of the body to extend generally radially of said body, said arms being flexible to be foldable from the undeformed state lying along the outside of said body in a condition for insertion into the animal body cavity to a condition after insertion of the cavity wherein said arms are placed in a retaining condition by said means for moving said arms, wherein each of said arms in said cavity being capable of being bent along its length in different directions at the same time for each of said arms to be capable of contracting and conforming to changes of irregularly shaped internal surface(s) of the animal'"'"'s body cavity when the substance delivery device is in the animal'"'"'s body cavity to maintain continual contact with at least a portion of at least one of said arms lying against the surface of the body cavity for preventing passage of the device through the cavity and/or inadvertent removal and each of said arms can separately flex through substantially 180 degrees from lying in a direction generally along the length of said device body during insertion into the animal body cavity to a position lying forward of said device body when said device body is being withdrawn from the animal body cavity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of retaining a substance delivery device within a body cavity of an animal said substance delivery device including a body capable of actively delivering a substance into the body cavity, comprising:
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providing the substance delivery device with a retention apparatus including a base plate at one end of the device body, said base plate having a plurality of elongated flexible arms connected thereto;
aligning said plurality of arms to lie along the outside of said device body for insertion and withdrawal of the substance delivery device into and from the animal'"'"'s body cavity;
extending said plurality of arms from a position along the length of said body to positions generally radially relative to said body when the device is in the animal'"'"'s body cavity, and locking said plurality of arms in the radially extended position such that the arms contact the internal surface(s) of the cavity, each of said arms being substantially flexible along its length and capable of being bent in different directions at the same time along its length, the degree of flexibility of said arms of being commensurate with that required to enable the arms to contact and engage along the length thereof irregular shaped surfaces of the animal body cavity and accommodate compressive forces from surfaces of the animal body cavity on and along the arms without the arms. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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23. A substance delivery device for delivering a substance into a body cavity of an animal into which the device is inserted, said device comprising:
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an elongated body;
a retention means comprising a one piece molded base plate member of a resilient material including a plurality of flexible elongated arms spaced around said base plate and which arms lie outside and along the length of said body for the delivery device to be inserted into the animal body cavityl; and
an extending mechanism operable with said body in the animal body cavity operating to extend all of said arms from said base plate from the position lying along the length of said body and to hold all of said arms generally radially of the longitudinal axis of said body, each of said arms being generally linear in an undeformed state and also being substantially flexible along its length to be capable of being bent in any direction for contacting and conforming to changes in shape of the internal surface(s) of the animal body cavity, the degree of flexibility of said arms of being commensurate with that required to enable the arms to contact and engage along the length thereof irregular shaped surfaces of the animal body cavity and accommodate compressive forces from surfaces of the animal body cavity on and alone the arms without the arms. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification