Hazard mitigation in medical device
First Claim
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1. An external defibrillator comprising:
- a therapy control module to control delivery of defibrillation shocks to a patient, the therapy control module including a first processor that generates a first handshake signal and a watchdog timer hardware unit that resets the first processor when the first handshake signal is not generated within a first time interval specified by the watchdog timer hardware unit; and
a system control module including a second processor to generate a second handshake signal, wherein the therapy control module includes a watchdog timer software process on the first processor to reset the first processor when the second handshake signal is not generated within the first time interval.
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Abstract
Delivery of energy by a defibrillator or other medical device is inhibited when the processor or software that controls a module of the medical device operates abnormally. A windowed watchdog timer (WWDT) incorporated into one module of the medical device is used to control the operation of other modules of the medical device via a software-based extension technique. As a result, the risk of harm to the patient is reduced compared to medical devices that incorporate over-limit type watchdog timers. In addition, costs associated with implementing WWDTs in multiple modules of the defibrillator are avoided, thereby lowering the overall cost of implementation.
30 Citations
17 Claims
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1. An external defibrillator comprising:
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a therapy control module to control delivery of defibrillation shocks to a patient, the therapy control module including a first processor that generates a first handshake signal and a watchdog timer hardware unit that resets the first processor when the first handshake signal is not generated within a first time interval specified by the watchdog timer hardware unit; and
a system control module including a second processor to generate a second handshake signal, wherein the therapy control module includes a watchdog timer software process on the first processor to reset the first processor when the second handshake signal is not generated within the first time interval. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification