Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 29
Claim 1
Independent Claim
147 words
A method of controlling an infusion pump, said pump including a motor adapted to impart continuous rotary motion via an output shaft, said pump further including encoding means adapted to provide data indicative of rotational motion of said output shaft, said data being proportional to the angular displacement of said output shaft; said method comprising providing power to said motor only for a first period of time within a time window during which first data is produced from said encoding means; monitoring second data received from said encoding means during a second period of time immediately following said first period of time during said time window; comparing said first and second data with desired data corresponding to a predetermined volume feed rate of said infusion pump and, on the basis of said comparison, determining whether and for how long to energize said motor during subsequent window periods.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
147 words
A method of controlling an infusion pump, said pump including a motor adapted to impart continuous rotary motion via an output shaft, said pump further including encoding means adapted to provide data indicative of rotational motion of said output shaft, said data being proportional to the angular displacement of said output shaft; said method comprising providing power to said motor only for a first period of time within a time window during which first data is produced from said encoding means; monitoring second data received from said encoding means during a second period of time immediately following said first period of time during said time window; comparing said first and second data with desired data corresponding to a predetermined volume feed rate of said infusion pump and, on the basis of said comparison, determining whether and for how long to energize said motor during subsequent window periods.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
25 words
The method of claim 1 wherein said encoding means comprises a pulse encoder which produces output pulses proportional to angular displacement of said output shaft.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method of claim 2 wherein said first data comprises pulses received from said encoder, the number of said pulses being proportional to the angular displacement of said output shaft during said first period of time during which and only during which power is provided to said motor.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method of claim 3 wherein said second data comprises output pulses received from said encoding means during said second period of time, said second period of time being the time taken for said output shaft to come to a standstill following removal of power from said motor.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
12 words
The method of claim 4 wherein said motor is a DC motor.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
29 words
The method of claim 3 wherein said first data is compared with said second data so as to obtain an indication of pressure of liquid delivered by said pump.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method of claim 1 or 5 wherein said window period lies in the range of 1-5 seconds.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
41 words
The method of claim 7 wherein if said comparison indicates that less than a predetermined minimum amount of displacement of said output shaft is required for a subsequent window period then said motor is not energized during said subsequent window period.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of controlling an infusion pump as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of comparing said first and second data with desired data is additionally used to determine pressure of liquid delivered by said infusion pump.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
147 words
An infusion pump including a motor adapted to impart continuous rotary motion via an output shaft, said pump further including encoding means adapted to provide data indicative of rotational motion of said output shaft, said data being proportional to the angular displacement of said output shaft; said pump further including means to provide power to said motor only for a first period of time within a time window during which first data is produced from said encoding means; comparison means for comparing said first data and second data received from said encoding means during a second period of time immediately following said first period of time during said time window with desired data corresponding to a predetermined volume feed rate of said infusion pump; said comparison means determining whether and for how lng to energize said motor during subsequent window periods on the basis of the comparison.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
147 words
An infusion pump including a motor adapted to impart continuous rotary motion via an output shaft, said pump further including encoding means adapted to provide data indicative of rotational motion of said output shaft, said data being proportional to the angular displacement of said output shaft; said pump further including means to provide power to said motor only for a first period of time within a time window during which first data is produced from said encoding means; comparison means for comparing said first data and second data received from said encoding means during a second period of time immediately following said first period of time during said time window with desired data corresponding to a predetermined volume feed rate of said infusion pump; said comparison means determining whether and for how lng to energize said motor during subsequent window periods on the basis of the comparison.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
25 words
The pump of claim 10 wherein said encoding means comprises a pulse encoder which produces output pulses proportional to angular displacement of said output shaft.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
48 words
The pump of claim 11 wherein said first data comprises pulses received from said encoder, the number of said pulses being proportional to the angular displacement of said output shaft during said first period of time during which, and only during which, power is provided to said motor.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
48 words
The pump of claim 12 wherein said second data comprises output pulses received from said encoding means during said second period of time, said second period of time being the time taken for said output shaft to come to a standstill following removal of power from said motor.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
15 words
The pump of claim 10 or claim 13 wherein said motor is a DC motor.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
15 words
The pump of claim 14 wherein said time window lies in the range 1-5 seconds.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
40 words
An infusion pump as claimed in either claim 10 or claim 12 wherein said comparison means compares said first data and said second data to provide a determination of pressure exerted by said pump on liquid pumped by said pump.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
162 words
A method of controlling an infusion pump, said pump including a DC motor connected by its output shaft to a reduction gearbox and thence to a rotary to linear motion converter, said converter imparting linear thrust to a syringe piston; said shaft of said DC motor also driving encoding means, said encoding means providing output pulses in proportion to angular displacement of said shaft; said method comprising: providing power to said DC motor only for a first period of time within a time window during which a first series of output pulses is produced from said encoding means; monitoring said output pulses (as said shaft of said DC motor returns to a stationary state) during a second period of time during said time window; comparing said pulses with a desired number of pulses corresponding to a predetermined volume feed rate and, on the basis of said comparison, determining whether and for how long to energize said DC motor during subsequent window periods.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
162 words
A method of controlling an infusion pump, said pump including a DC motor connected by its output shaft to a reduction gearbox and thence to a rotary to linear motion converter, said converter imparting linear thrust to a syringe piston; said shaft of said DC motor also driving encoding means, said encoding means providing output pulses in proportion to angular displacement of said shaft; said method comprising: providing power to said DC motor only for a first period of time within a time window during which a first series of output pulses is produced from said encoding means; monitoring said output pulses (as said shaft of said DC motor returns to a stationary state) during a second period of time during said time window; comparing said pulses with a desired number of pulses corresponding to a predetermined volume feed rate and, on the basis of said comparison, determining whether and for how long to energize said DC motor during subsequent window periods.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
180 words
An infusion pump, said pump including a DC motor connected by its upward shaft to a reduction gearbox and thence to a rotary to linear motion converter, said converter imparting linear thrust to a syringe piston; said shaft of said DC motor also driving encoding means, said encoding means providing output pulses in proportion to angular displacement of said shaft; said pump including control means to supply power to said DC motor only for a first period of time within a time window during which a first series of output pulses is produced from said encoding means; said control means monitoring said output pulses (as said shaft of said DC motor returns to a stationary state) during a second period of time during said time window; said control means comparing said pulses received during said first and said second periods and comparing said pulses with a desired number of output pulses corresponding to a predetermined volume feed rate and, on the basis of said comparison, determining whether and for how long to energize said DC motor during subsequent window periods.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
180 words
An infusion pump, said pump including a DC motor connected by its upward shaft to a reduction gearbox and thence to a rotary to linear motion converter, said converter imparting linear thrust to a syringe piston; said shaft of said DC motor also driving encoding means, said encoding means providing output pulses in proportion to angular displacement of said shaft; said pump including control means to supply power to said DC motor only for a first period of time within a time window during which a first series of output pulses is produced from said encoding means; said control means monitoring said output pulses (as said shaft of said DC motor returns to a stationary state) during a second period of time during said time window; said control means comparing said pulses received during said first and said second periods and comparing said pulses with a desired number of output pulses corresponding to a predetermined volume feed rate and, on the basis of said comparison, determining whether and for how long to energize said DC motor during subsequent window periods.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
60 words
The pump of claim 18 wherein the acceleration of said output shaft is approximately constant during said first period of time and deceleration of said output shaft is approximately constant during said second period of time and said first period of time is set to expire when half said desired number of pulses have been received by said control means.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
20 words
The pump of claim 19 wherein said first period of time and said second period of time are approximately equal.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
26 words
The pump of claim 20 wherein the total length of said first period of time and said second period of time does not exceed 1 second.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
46 words
The pump of claim 21 wherein said time window is approximately 4 seconds, said reduction gearbox has a reduction ratio of approximately 700:1, said syringe piston has an inside diameter of approximately 15 mm plus/minus 0.5 mm and said delivery rate does not exceed 5 ml/hr.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
46 words
The pump of claim 21 wherein said time window is approximately 2 seconds, said reduction gearbox has a reduction ratio of approximately 700:1, said syringe piston has an inside diameter of approximately 15 mm plus/minus 0.5 mm and said delivery rate does not exceed 10 ml/hr.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
31 words
The pump of claim 18 wherin thrust is imparted to said syringe by means of two opposedly mounted half nuts releasably clamped in threaded engagement with a longitudinal, threaded screw operator.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
34 words
The pump of claim 24 wherin a leading sector of a threaded portion of one of said two half nuts has the thread removed so as to prevent inadvertent frictional disengagement when under load.