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

• US 9,519,334 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2015
• Issued: 12/13/2016
• 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:
  US14/747,792
• Publication Number:
  US 20150293803A1
• Time in Patent Office: 539 Days
• Field of Search: 717170-177
• 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 method for executing instructions with an uncontrolled data processing device (UDPD) to determine whether a safety critical application (SCA) is functioning properly on the UDPD, the method comprising:

executing instructions with the UDPD to retrieve a saved first current environment from a memory of the UDPD associated with a time when the SCA is permitted to operate freely on the UDPD;

identifying, with the UDPD, a second current environment of the UDPD associated with a time after the SCA is permitted to operate freely on the UDPD;

comparing, with the UDPD, the second current environment with the saved first current environment; and

determining, with the UDPD, whether an environment change has occurred between the saved first current environment and the second current environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first saved and second current environments takes into account applications installed on the UDPD.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the SCA is functioning properly on the UDPD and permitting the SCA to operate freely on the UDPD, if a determination is made that an environment change has not occurred between the first current environment and the second current environment.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the SCA is not functioning properly on the UDPD, thereby preventing the SCA to operate freely on the UDPD, if a determination is made that an environment change has occurred between the first current environment and the second current environment.

5. 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 an environment change has occurred between the first current environment and the second current environment.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the safety critical features of the SCA comprises communication of the SCA with a remote device external to the UDPD.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the safety critical features of the SCA comprises determining an analyte concentration from a bodily fluid executed on the UDPD.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first saved current environment is recorded before the determination of whether the SCA is functioning properly on the UDPD.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of whether the SCA is functioning properly on the UDPD at predetermined times or time intervals.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of whether the SCA is functioning properly on the UDPD upon occurrence of a predetermined event.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the predetermined event is when the SCA is launched.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the SCA is a glucose monitoring application.

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 from the 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;

retrieving a corresponding reference computational data from the memory of the UDPD;

comparing the derived computation test result with the retrieved corresponding reference computational data; 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

retrieving a corresponding reference timing data from the memory of the UDPD;

comparing the derived test result time with the retrieved corresponding reference timing data; 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;

retrieving a corresponding reference host integrity check calculation from the memory of the UDPD;

comparing, with the UDPD, the calculated host integrity check and the retrieved corresponding reference host integrity check calculation; 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.