Methods and articles of manufacture for hosting a safety critical application on an uncontrolled data processing device

• US 9,058,431 B2
• Filed: 11/25/2013
• Issued: 06/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Abbott Diabetes Care Incorporated (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Abbott Diabetes Care Incorporated (Abbott Laboratories Incorporated)
• Inventors: Bernstein, Daniel M., Nekoomaram, Saeed, Sloan, Mark K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatri, Anil
• Application Number:
  US14/088,844
• Publication Number:
  US 20140082607A1
• Time in Patent Office: 568 Days
• Field of Search: 717168-176, 709/203
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/004 Error avoidance G06F11/07 and subgroups take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0721 within a central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0736 in functional embedded systems, i.e. in a data processing system designed as a combination of hardware and software dedicated to performing a certain function testing or monitoring of automated control systems G05B23/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/079 Root cause analysis, i.e. error or fault diagnosis in a hardware test environment G06F11/22; in a software test environment G06F11/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3668 Software testing software testing in telephone exchanges H04M3/242, testing of hardware G06F11/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3688 for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3692 for test results analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/865 Monitoring of software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/656 while running
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/40 for the management of medical equipment or devices, e.g. scheduling maintenance or upgrades
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Methods and articles of manufacture for hosting a safety critical application on an uncontrolled data processing device are provided. Various combinations of installation, functional, host integrity, coexistence, interoperability, power management, and environment checks are performed at various times to determine if the safety critical application operates properly on the device. The operation of the SCA on the UDPD may be controlled accordingly.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a device comprising an in vivo positionable analyte sensor and a first communication unit; and

an uncontrolled data processing device (UDPD), comprising;

a second communication unit in communication with the first communication unit;

a processor; and

a machine-readable medium including machine-executable instructions stored thereon to host a safety critical application (SCA) on the UDPD, the instructions comprising;

instructions for executing a test harness application, to determine whether the SCA is installed properly and functioning properly on the UDPD;

instructions for permitting, with the test harness application, all features of the SCA to operate on the UDPD upon verification that the SCA installed properly and functions properly on the UDPD; and

instructions for preventing, with the test harness application, certain features of the SCA from operating on the UDPD upon verification that the SCA is not installed properly or does not function properly on the UDPD, wherein the preventing comprises disabling safety critical features of the SCA from being executed on the UDPD and enabling non-safety critical features of the SCA to be executed on the UDPD.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the safety critical features of the SCA is a medically-related application.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the medically-related application includes instructions for determining or computing of health-related information.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the medically-related application includes instructions for calculating of drug dosage amounts.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the medically-related application includes instructions for determining an analyte concentration from bodily fluid.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the safety critical features of the SCA includes instructions for communicating with a remote device external to the UPDP.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the safety critical features of the SCA includes instructions for receiving data from a sensor subcutaneously implanted in a subject.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the test harness application further includes instructions for at least a host integrity check, a coexistence check, an interoperability check, a power management check, or an environment check.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for determining whether the SCA installed properly on the UDPD comprises:

instructions for identifying, with the test harness application, an image of an SCA component on the UDPD; and

instructions for comparing, with the test harness application, the image of the SCA component with reference installation data.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the instructions for comparing of the image of the SCA component with the reference installation data comprises:

instructions for comparing, with the test harness application, error detection or correction data associated with the SCA component with a corresponding error detection or correction data in the reference installation data;

instructions for comparing, with the test harness application, a filename associated with the SCA component with a corresponding filename in the reference installation data;

or

instructions for comparing, with the test harness application, a version number associated with the SCA component with corresponding version number in the reference installation data.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for determining whether the SCA functions properly on the UDPD comprises:

instructions for initiating, with the test harness application, a computation using reference computational input; and

instructions for comparing, with the test harness application, a result of the computation with reference computational data.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions for determining whether the SCA functions properly on the UDPD further comprises:

instructions for determining, with the test harness application, a time to perform a computation using the reference computational input; and

instructions for comparing, with the test harness application, the time to perform the computation with reference timing data.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for determining whether the SCA functions properly on the UDPD comprises:

instructions for determining, with the test harness application, a time to perform an activity; and

instructions for comparing, with the test harness application, the time to perform the activity with reference timing data.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions for determining whether the SCA functions properly on the UDPD further comprises:

instructions for initiating, with the test harness application, an image to be displayed on a display of the UDPD;

instructions for displaying the image on the display of the UDPD; and

instructions for comparing, with the test harness application, the actual image displayed with reference display data.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the instructions for determining of the actual image displayed on the display comprises initiating, with the test harness application, a screen capture, wherein the screen capture is the actual image displayed.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the instructions for determining of the actual image displayed on the display comprises receiving, with the test harness application, user input identifying the actual image displayed.

17. The system of claim 1, comprising:

instructions for identifying, with the test harness application, a first current environment of the UDPD, the first current environment associated with a time when SCA is permitted to operate on the UDPD;

instructions for identifying, with the test harness application, a second current environment of the UDPD, the second current environment associated with a time after the SCA is permitted to operate on the UDPD;

instructions for comparing, with the test harness application, the second current environment with the first current environment to determine whether a change in environment occurred;

instructions for determining, with the test harness application, whether the SCA functions properly on the UDPD after a determination that a change in environment occurred;

instructions for preventing, with the test harness application, certain features of the SCA from operating on the UDPD when determined that SCA does not function properly on the UDPD after the determination that a change in environment occurred; and

instructions for permitting, with the UDPD, all features of the SCA to operate on the UDPD when determined that SCA functions properly on the UDPD after the determination that a change in environment occurred.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for determining whether the SCA functions properly on the UDPD comprises:

instructions for initiating, with the test harness application, an image to be displayed on a display of the UDPD, the image in the form of a verification inquiry;

instructions for receiving, with the test harness application, user input in response to the verification inquiry; and

instructions for comparing, with the test harness application, the user input received with reference display data.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions for determining whether the SCA functions properly on the UDPD comprises:

instructions for determining, with the test harness application, whether the SCA communicates properly on the UDPD with an external device.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the instructions for determining whether the SCA communicates properly on the UDPD comprises:

instructions for initiating, with the test harness application, the SCA to establish a communication link between the UDPD and the external device; and

instructions for determining, with the test harness application, whether the communication link is properly established.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the instructions for determining whether the SCA communicates properly on the UDPD comprises:

instructions for initiating, with the test harness application, a communication between the SCA and the external device; and

instructions for comparing, with the test harness application, a result of the communication with reference communication data.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the instructions for determining whether the SCA communicates properly on the UDPD further comprises:

instructions for determining, with the test harness application, a time to perform the communication; and

instructions for comparing, with the test harness application, the time to perform the communication with reference timing data.

23. The system of claim 1, comprising:

instructions for identifying, with the test harness application, a first current environment of the UDPD, the first current environment associated with a time when the SCA is permitted to operate on the UDPD;

instructions for identifying, with the test harness application, a second current environment of the UDPD, the second current environment associated with a time after the SCA is permitted to operate on the UDPD;

instructions for comparing, with the test harness application, the second current environment with the first current environment; and

instructions for determining, with the test harness application, whether an environment change has occurred.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the first current environment includes:

applications installed on the UDPD;

drivers on the UDPD;

a last installation on the UDPD;

or

configuration settings.

25. The system of claim 23, comprising:

instructions for determining, with the test harness application, whether the SCA functions properly on the UDPD after a determination that a change in environment occurred;

instructions for preventing, with the test harness application, certain features of the SCA from operating on the UDPD when determined that SCA does not function properly on the UDPD after the determination that the change in environment occurred; and

instructions for permitting, with the test harness application, all features of the SCA to operate on the UDPD when determined that SCA functions properly on the UDPD after the determination that the change in environment occurred.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the instructions for identifying of the second current environment of the UDPD and the determining whether the SCA functions properly on the UDPD after the determination that the change in environment occurred are performed in a background of the UDPD.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the instructions for identifying of the second current environment of the UDPD and the determining whether the SCA functions properly on the UDPD after the determination that the change in environment occurred are performed when the SCA is initiated to run on the UDPD.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the instructions for identifying of the second current environment of the UDPD and the determining whether the SCA functions properly on the UDPD after the determination that the change in environment occurred are performed after a predetermined amount of time since the time when SCA is permitted to operate on the UDPD.

29. The system of claim 23, wherein when a determination that an environment change occurred, the device further comprises:

instructions for determining, with the test harness application, whether the SCA functions properly on the UDPD after a determination that the change in environment occurred;

instructions for preventing, with the test harness application, certain features of the SCA from operating on the UDPD when determined that SCA does not function properly on the UDPD after the determination that the change in environment occurred; and

instructions for permitting, with the test harness application, all features of the SCA to operate on the UDPD when determined that SCA functions properly on the UDPD after the determination that the change in environment occurred.

30. The system of claim 1, comprising:

instructions for determining, with the test harness application, whether the SCA is corrupted; and

instructions for preventing, with the test harness application, certain features of the SCA from operating on the UDPD when a determination that the SCA is corrupted is made;

wherein the determination that the SCA operates properly on the UDPD further requires a determination that the SCA is not corrupted.

31. The system of claim 1, comprising:

instructions for determining, with the test harness application, whether the SCA is incompatible with any nonrelated program on the UDPD; and

instructions for preventing, with the test harness application, certain features of the SCA from operating on the UDPD when a determination that the SCA is incompatible with a nonrelated program is made;

wherein the determination that the SCA operates properly on the UDPD further requires a determination that the SCA is not incompatible with any nonrelated program.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the instructions for determining whether the SCA is incompatible with any nonrelated program on the UDPD comprises:

instructions for determining whether the SCA is properly accessing a shared resource with priority over lower priority nonrelated programs that have access to the shared resource.

33. The system of claim 1, comprising:

instructions for determining, with the test harness application, whether the SCA interoperates properly with related programs on the UDPD; and

instructions for preventing, with the test harness application, certain features of the SCA from operating on the UDPD when a determination that the SCA does not interoperate properly with a related program is made;

wherein the determination that the SCA operates properly on the UDPD further requires a determination that the SCA interoperates properly with the related programs.

34. The system of claim 1, comprising:

instructions for determining, with the test harness application, whether the UDPD has sufficient power capabilities to run the SCA safely on the UDPD; and

instructions for preventing, with the test harness application, certain features of the SCA from operating on the UDPD when a determination that the UDPD does not have sufficient power capabilities to run the SCA safely on the UDPD is made;

wherein the determination that the SCA operates properly on the UDPD further requires a determination that the UDPD has sufficient power capabilities to run the SCA safely on the UDPD.

35. The system of claim 1, wherein the non-safety critical feature of the SCA includes instructions for communicating to a user that the SCA is not installed properly or does not function properly on the UDPD.

36. The system of claim 1, wherein the SCA is an analyte monitoring application.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the analyte is glucose or a ketone.

38. The system of claim 1, wherein the UDPD is a handheld data processing device.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the handheld data processing device is a mobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), or digital music player.