BREAST PUMP OR OTHER MEDICAL DEVICES WITH DYNAMICALLY ADAPTIVE PUMP CONFIGURATION PROVIDING ERROR DETECTION AND DISTINCTIVE SUCTION PROFILE
First Claim
1. A pump unit comprising:
- (a) a plurality of air pumps, each of said pumps having a port, said ports of all of said pumps being in fluid connection to a combined port of the pump unit;
(b) a processing system comprising at least one processor, said processing system being connected to each of said pumps for independent actuation of each of said pumps; and
(c) a user interface associated with said processing system for user actuation of the pump unit according to any of a plurality of required levels of suction or pressure, wherein said processing system is configured to;
(i) determine a number of said pumps that is required to generate the required level of suction or pressure; and
(ii) to selectively actuate said number of said pumps in order o generate the required level of suction or pressure.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A pump unit (10) includes a number of pumps (14) each having a port in fluid connection to a combined port (12) of the pump unit. A processing system (16) is connected to each of the pumps (14) for independent actuation of each pump. A user interface (22) allows user actuation of the pump unit according to one or more mode of operation, requiring various different levels of suction or pressure. The processing system (16) determines what number of pumps (14) is required, and selectively actuates pumps in order to generate the required suction or pressure. Particularly preferred applications include breast pumps. Additional aspects of the invention relate to a cyclic pulsed suction profile generated by the device, implementations that detect when a milk extraction set is not properly deployed, and configurations which allow a touch screen to be used as a power-on switch for the device.
36 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A pump unit comprising:
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(a) a plurality of air pumps, each of said pumps having a port, said ports of all of said pumps being in fluid connection to a combined port of the pump unit; (b) a processing system comprising at least one processor, said processing system being connected to each of said pumps for independent actuation of each of said pumps; and (c) a user interface associated with said processing system for user actuation of the pump unit according to any of a plurality of required levels of suction or pressure, wherein said processing system is configured to; (i) determine a number of said pumps that is required to generate the required level of suction or pressure; and (ii) to selectively actuate said number of said pumps in order o generate the required level of suction or pressure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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- 12. The pump unit of claim I, wherein said processing system is further configured to process data derived from at least one sensor to determine during operation of the pump unit whether the pump is operating in a normal state or in an unsealed state in which the pump fails to achieve effective suction or pressure, and wherein said processing system is further configured to perform a corrective action if said unsealed state persists for a given time period of operation of the pump unit.
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19-27. -27. (canceled)
Specification