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

• US 9,619,013 B2
• Filed: 06/24/2015
• Issued: 04/11/2017
• 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:
  US14/748,936
• Publication Number:
  US 20150317186A1
• Time in Patent Office: 657 Days
• Field of Search: 717168-177, 709203
• 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 method for determining whether a safety critical application (SCA) can coexist on an uncontrolled data processing device (UDPD) with a nonrelated program, the method comprising:

executing instructions with the UDPD, to identify a nonrelated program that shares a same resource on the UDPD with the SCA;

launching the nonrelated program and the SCA and allowing both the SCA and the nonrelated program to simultaneously access the shared resource; and

determining, using the UDPD, whether the sharing of the same resource compromises the functioning of the SCA.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing the shared resource comprises the SCA and the nonrelated program attempting to simultaneously use a wireless communication.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing the shared resource comprises the SCA and the nonrelated program attempting to simultaneously display information on a display of the UDPD.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing the shared resource comprises the SCA and the nonrelated program attempting to simultaneously read and/or write to a memory of the UDPD.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the SCA has priority access to the shared resource and determining if the SCA is properly accessing the shared resource with priority over the nonrelated program trying the access the shared resource at a same time.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the SCA has accessed the shared resource and the nonrelated program is made to access the shared resource at a same time, and determining if the attempted accessing by the nonrelated program disrupts the access to the shared resource by the SCA.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the nonrelated program has accessed the shared resource and the SCA is made to access the shared resource at a same time, and determining if the accessing of the shared resource compromises the SCA.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the SCA is installed properly on the UDPD and permitting the SCA to operate freely on the UDPD, if a determination is made that sharing of the same resource by the SCA and the nonrelated program does not create a conflict.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the SCA is not installed properly on the UDPD, thereby preventing the SCA to operate freely on the UDPD, if a determination is made that sharing of the same resource by the SCA and the nonrelated program does create a conflict.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the SCA is not installed properly on the UDPD, thereby 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, if a determination is made that sharing of the same resource by the SCA and the nonrelated program does create a conflict the UDPD enables non-safety critical features of the SCA to be executed on the UDPD.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the safety critical features of the SCA comprises receiving data from a sensor subcutaneously implanted in a subject.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the safety critical features of the SCA comprises determining a glucose concentration from a bodily fluid executed on the UDPD.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the UDPD is a mobile phone or personal digital assistant (PDA).

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing instructions with the UDPD to determine whether the SCA is functioning properly on the UDPD, the method comprising:

executing instructions with the UDPD to establish a communication link between the UDPD and an external device;

retrieving a reference communication data stored in memory of the UDPD;

comparing, with the UDPD, a result of the communication link with the retrieved reference communication data; and

determining, with the UDPD, whether the communication link is properly established.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the result of the communication link is the amount of time required to establish the communication link between the UDPD and the external device, and the reference communication data is a predetermined amount of time to establish the communication link between the UDPD and the external device.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the result of the communication link is the amount of time required to retrieve a data request from the external device by the UDPD, and the reference communication data is a predetermined amount of time to retrieve a data request from the external device by the UDPD.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing instructions with the UDPD to determine whether the SCA is functioning properly on the UDPD, the method comprising:

executing instructions, with the UDPD, to initiate a computation using reference computational inputs by the SCA to derive a computation test result;

comparing the derived computation test result with a retrieved corresponding reference computational data stored in memory of the UDPD; and

determining whether the SCA is functioning properly on the UDPD based on the comparing.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the computation comprises computing a glucose measurement.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing instructions with the UDPD to determine whether the SCA is functioning properly on the UDPD, comprising:

determining, with the UDPD, a time to perform a computation using the reference computational inputs by the SCA to derive a test result time; and

comparing the derived test result time with a retrieved corresponding reference timing data stored in memory of the UDPD; and

determining whether the SCA is functioning properly on the UDPD based on the comparing.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing instructions with the UDPD to determine whether the SCA is functioning properly on the UDPD by determining whether the codetext of the SCA is uncorrupted, comprising:

calculating, with the UDPD, a host integrity check for a codetext of the SCA;

comparing, with the UDPD, the calculated host integrity check and a retrieved corresponding reference host integrity check calculation stored in memory of the UDPD; and

determining, with the UDPD, whether a change exists in the calculated host integrity check and the reference host integrity check.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the reference host integrity check is a host integrity check calculated previously during manufacturing and testing and stored in memory for later retrieval.