The present disclosure and technical solution described herein generally relate to performing dead band normalization by normalizing loaded measured data related to fluid movement (e.g., pump motor current measured during a fluid dispense or aspirate operation when fluid drive mechanism components are controlled to move fluid) to unloaded measured data obtained when the drive mechanism components are not moving fluid during that dispense or aspirate operation, and to detecting occlusion using dead band normalization.
Current sensing is a method of detecting occlusions in the fluid path of a fluid delivery device such as an infusion pump because an occlusion causes a decrease in flow which causes increased pressure. Increased pressure causes increased torque demand on the pump motor, and increased torque demand by the motor draws more current. Other motor parameters besides motor current such as motor voltage and encoded count can be used to detect increased pressure.
However, many other design factors affect current demand by motors, as well as other motor parameters, including, but not limited to, gearbox efficiency, pump seals and their wear over time, motor efficiency, and motor magnet angle. In addition, there are environmental factors like ambient pressure and temperature that can affect motor current demand. These factors can negatively impact the accuracy of using a measured pump motor parameter such as motor current to detect occlusion.
The above and other problems are overcome, and additional advantages are realized, by illustrative embodiments.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, a fluid delivery device is provided that comprises: a pump comprising a chamber of fluid, and a drive mechanism configured to control movement of a designated volume of fluid with respect to the chamber during a fluid movement operation; and a processing device configured, during a fluid movement operation, to generate measured data comprising unloaded measured data obtained during a portion of the fluid movement operation wherein the pump does not move fluid, and loaded measured data obtained while the pump is moving fluid during the fluid movement operation, the measured data being indicative of fluid movement in the pump, and to normalize the loaded measured data to the unloaded measured data.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the processing device is further configured to analyze the normalized loaded measured data to determine if it satisfies a designated metric related to pressure in the infusion device that indicates occlusion.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the processing device is further configured, during a subsequent fluid movement operation by the pump to generate unloaded measured data during a portion of the subsequent fluid movement operation wherein the pump does not move fluid, generate loaded measured data while the pump is moving fluid during the subsequent fluid movement operation, the measured data being indicative of fluid movement in the pump, and normalize the loaded measured data to the unloaded measured data.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the fluid movement operation is an incremental operation among a plurality of fluid movement operations to dispense fluid from the chamber or aspirate fluid into the chamber.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the processing device is further configured to normalize the loaded measured data to the unloaded measured data for each fluid movement operation of the fluid delivery device, or least for a selected subset of fluid movement operations of the fluid delivery device.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the fluid delivery operation is chosen from an aspirate operation to draw fluid into the chamber and a dispense operation to expel fluid from the chamber.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the measured data indicates a fluid characteristic chosen from fluid pressure and fluid flow rate.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the pump is a syringe-type pump having a barrel as the chamber and a plunger and the drive mechanism is operable to selectively drive the plunger to dispense fluid from the barrel, and the processing device is configured to generate the unloaded measured data before the measured data indicates that fluid pressure or flow rate has begun to increase from driving the plunger by the drive mechanism during the fluid movement operation.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the pump is characterized by an interface comprising at least one or more components in the drive mechanism and the operation of which causes the portion within a fluid movement operation wherein the pump does not move fluid to occur.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the pump can be a syringe-type pump having a barrel as the chamber and the interface comprises a plunger, the drive mechanism being operable to selectively drive the plunger to dispense fluid from the barrel, and the processing device is configured to generate the unloaded measured data during a dispensing fluid movement operation by temporarily retracting the plunger in the barrel a nominal amount.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the pump can be a syringe-type pump having a barrel as the chamber and the interface comprises a plunger, the drive mechanism being operable to selectively drive the plunger to dispense fluid from the barrel, and the processing device is configured to generate the unloaded measured data during an aspirating fluid movement operation by manual or externally controlled filling of the barrel via an inlet port to the barrel, and to generate the loaded measured data during the aspirating fluid movement operation by controlling the pump to temporarily retract the plunger within the barrel.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the pump can be a syringe-type pump having a barrel as the chamber and a plunger, the interface comprises a pusher coupled to the drive mechanism, the drive mechanism being operable to selectively drive the pusher to abut the plunger to dispense fluid from the barrel, and the processing device is configured to generate the unloaded measured data during a dispensing fluid movement operation by temporarily retracting the pusher in the barrel.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the pump can be a syringe-type pump having a barrel as the chamber and a plunger, the interface comprises a pusher coupled to the drive mechanism, the drive mechanism being operable to selectively drive the pusher to abut the plunger to dispense fluid from the barrel, and the processing device is configured to generate the unloaded measured data prior to gathering loaded measured data by incrementing through a known number of dispense cycles in which the pusher has not yet hit the plunger
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the pump can be a rotational metering-type pump comprising an inlet port and an outlet port and wherein the drive mechanism is connected to a pump motor via a gearbox and the chamber has at least one aperture, the drive mechanism being operable to selectively drive a piston to dispense fluid from or aspirate fluid into the chamber and to control cooperation of the at least one aperture with the inlet port during an aspirating fluid movement operation and with the outlet port during a dispensing fluid movement operation, the interface comprising a feature on the drive mechanism that is configured to cooperate with the gearbox to enable the drive mechanism to not move fluid with respect to the chamber during at least a portion of the aspirating fluid movement operation and the dispensing fluid movement operation.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the pump can be a rotational metering-type pump and the interface comprises a pin on a piston that is controllably inserted and retracted within a sleeve and a helical groove in the sleeve, the drive mechanism being operable to rotate the sleeve causing the for controlling fluid volume in the chamber via a helical groove in the sleeve to guide the pin to translate along the helical groove to guide the retraction and insertion of the piston within the sleeve to control fluid volume of the chamber, the pin and/or groove being configured to enable the piston to not move fluid with respect to the chamber during at least a portion of a fluid movement operation.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the interface comprises a cam coupled to the drive mechanism, and the processing device is configured to generate the unloaded measured data during a fluid movement operation when a cam follower connected to an actuator for the drive mechanism traverses at least part of a flat portion of the cam resulting in no fluid movement during the fluid movement operation.
In accordance with aspects of illustrative embodiments, the pump has a reservoir as the chamber, a plunger and a drive mechanism operable to selectively drive the plunger to dispense fluid from the reservoir, and the processing device is configured with baseline data related to a designated waveform of the measured data during fluid movement operations, the waveform having a dead portion therein corresponding to when fluid pressure or rate from driving the plunger by the drive mechanism has not yet begun to increase, the processing device being configured to analyze the measured data using the baseline data to determine when to generate the unloaded measured data during a fluid dispense operation.
Additional and/or other aspects and advantages of illustrative embodiments will be set forth in the description that follows, or will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the illustrative embodiments. The illustrative embodiments may comprise apparatuses and methods for operating same having one or more of the above aspects, and/or one or more of the features and combinations thereof. The illustrative embodiments may comprise one or more of the features and/or combinations of the above aspects as recited, for example, in the attached claims
The above and/or other aspects and advantages of the illustrative embodiments will be more readily appreciated from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of which:
Throughout the drawing figures, like reference numbers will be understood to refer to like elements, features and structures.
As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, there are numerous ways of carrying out the examples, improvements, and arrangements of a fluid delivery device in accordance with embodiments disclosed herein. Although reference will be made to the illustrative embodiments depicted in the drawings and the following descriptions, the embodiments disclosed herein are not meant to be exhaustive of the various alternative designs and embodiments that are encompassed by the disclosed technical solutions, and those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that various modifications may be made, and various combinations can be made with departing from the scope of the disclosed technical solutions.
Example embodiments in the present disclosure provide a technical solution to the above described problems. Because of the afore-mentioned design and environmental factors that impact demand on a pump motor, it is extremely important to adjust or calibrate a pump motor signal used to detect occlusions in a fluid delivery device such as an infusion pump so that only changes to the motor signal that are due to changes in pressure are measured and used for occlusion detection and not factors unrelated to pressure such as changes over time in the battery, motor and gearbox from wear, ambient temperature changes, differences in pump performance during aspirate versus dispense operations, and so on. An ideal normalization compensates for everything but pressure, and the example embodiments and technical solution provided herein are advantageously close to ideal normalization.
The technical solution and example embodiments provided in the present disclosure employ dead band normalization; that is, adjusting or normalizing measured data related to a fluid movement operation controlled by a drive mechanism in a fluid delivery device to data obtained during a dead portion of that operation when the drive mechanism is not moving fluid). The technical solution and example embodiments provided in the present disclosure advantageously employ dead band normalization to improve accuracy of detecting occlusion or other condition by using the normalized measured data. The measured data can be, for example, motor current during a fluid dispense or aspirate operation. As used herein, “loaded” measured data refers to the measured data obtained during a fluid movement operation when the drive mechanism is moving fluid, and “unloaded” measured data refers to the measured data obtained during a dead portion of the fluid movement operation when fluid is not being moved by the drive mechanism. Dead band normalization is understood to mean that loaded measured data is adjusted or normalized to the unloaded measured data during a particular fluid movement operation in a fluid delivery device. “Dead band normalizing” and “dead band normalization” as used herein are advantageous because they remove unwanted signal noise components and/or the effects of undesirable variants related to the drive mechanism in a fluid delivery device (e.g., a pump motor in a medication infusion device) from measured data. Removal of unwanted signal noise or undesirable impacts of noise factors (e.g., motor design or environmental factors) from measured r data can involve, for example, subtracting a averaged unloaded measured data from loaded measured data obtained while a pump motor is operated to move fluid. Dead band normalization can also involve other mathematical adjustment or calibration operations besides subtraction to normalize measured loaded pump motor data to measured unloaded pump motor data such as dividing an averaged loaded measured signal by an averaged unloaded measured signal.
While there may be different options for normalizing measured datar such as pump motor current in a fluid delivery device, dead band normalizing to a dead band region of the measured data, as illustrated by example embodiments described below, realizes significant advantages in terms of accuracy of detecting a selected delivery device condition based on measured data. For example, one way to normalize pump motor data might be to normalize the measured data obtained during a dispense operation of the pump to the data obtained during a previous aspirate operation because the aspirate operation is not affected by downstream pressure. However, the aspirate operation is affected by different factors than a dispense operation such as upstream pressure, reservoir fill volume, and other noise factors which do not affect aspirate and dispense operations evenly. For example, normalizing measured pump motor data to an aspirate operation of the pump effectively doubles the noise in the measured signal and introduces noise factors not present with dead band normalization as provided by the technical solution described in the present disclosure.
Different factors impacting motor current are, for example, motor winding resistance, applied voltage (e.g., which changes with battery age), and motor speed. In addition, current during a dispense or aspirate operation can be impacted by gear train losses, motor friction losses, and drive mechanism (e.g., piston) friction losses. An advantage of the technical solution described herein is that a desired factor (i.e., pressure during an aspirate operation PA or a dispense operation PD) can be obtained by removing all of the other constants and factors related to friction losses and battery changes using dead band normalization in accordance with technical solution and example embodiments thereof described herein.
See, for example,
Dead band normalization of a measured pump motor signal such as a motor current signal during a dispense operation involves obtaining the current signal when the motor gearbox is turning but is not engaging the pump. See, for example,
It is to be understood that the dead band region 100, or timing during a dispense or aspirate operation for obtaining dead band normalization data, can differ depending on the type of pump and pump drive mechanism. For example, a syringe-type pump as explained below in connection with
To optimize use of dead band normalization in accordance with the technical solution provided herein, the fluid delivery device has an interface as close to its fluid driving interface as possible that can move without moving the fluid. As described below in connection with
Operations associated with dead band normalization in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the technical solution described herein are shown in
As illustrated in block 120 of
As stated before, the technical solution described herein successfully compensates for many changes in a pump (e.g., design factors of the battery, motor, and gearbox, and environment factors such as temperature) that are not related to changes in fluid pressure or flow rate or other measured parameter being used to detect occlusion or other condition of the fluid delivery device. An ideal normalization compensates for everything but pressure or flow rate, and this technical solution achieves essentially ideal normalization via dead band normalization illustrated in accordance with the example embodiments herein. As explained above with respect to the factors impacting motor current, for example, there are many terms and forces that ultimately add up to what current is measured, and the more of these terms or forces that can be normalized, the more accurate that occlusion detection using a measured parameter can be. Further, dead band normalizing as described herein allows an occlusion detection algorithm employing dead band normalization to evaluate individual fluid movement strokes or operations of a pump without having to look at changes over multiple strokes. Currently, there is no covering occlusion detection in infusion pumps related to current sensing or other measured pump motor parameter that utilizes a non-driving portion of the fluid movement to better assess fluid pressure or flow rate based on current or other measured motor parameter.
Occlusion in a fluid delivery device such as an infusion pump for medication can result from restricted flow or pathway constriction such as a pinched catheter or tissue occlusion, or from an empty medication reservoir. It is important to measure fluid pressure or flow rate changes in the fluid delivery device from an occlusion or other pump malfunction for early detection to mitigate against possible fluid delivery inaccuracies resulting therefrom such as missed doses. The technical solution and example embodiments herein achieve more accurate and faster detection of occlusion and therefore fewer fluid delivery inaccuracies.
The measured data is indicative of pressure or flow rate and can be, but is not limited to, any of motor current, motor voltage, encoder count, motor drive count, delivery pulse energy, motor drive time, and so on. For example, current sensing is generally considered to be a reliable method of detecting occlusions in a fluid path of a fluid delivery because motor current can be indirectly correlated to pressure. As stated above, an occlusion causes a decrease in fluid flow in the fluid delivery device, which causes increased pressure. An increase in pressure causes an increase in torque demand required by the motor to overcome this pressure. The increase in torque demand corresponds to an increase in current drawn by the motor, which is one way to detect occlusions such as an occluded catheter, or air in the fluid path, or malfunction of the motor.
In
As shown in
With reference to
As stated above, an optional protrusion 232 on the front surface of the plunger pusher 216 impacts the rear surface of plunger 168. In accordance with an aspect of the technical solution, the front surface of the plunger pusher 216 can be controllably engaged with or abut the rear surface of plunger 168 when the plunger drive assembly 170 is driven by the motor and gearbox 158 to advance toward the distal end of the fluid chamber portion 204 (e.g., to dispense fluid from the chamber), and disengaged or distanced from the rear surface of plunger 168 when the plunger drive assembly 170 is driven by the motor and gearbox 158 to retract toward the gear anchor 174, to provide an interface to facilitate dead band normalization (e.g., to obtain unloaded measured data to which loaded measured data can be normalized) in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the technical solution. A controlled minor retraction of the plunger pusher 216 from the plunger 168 during a dispense operation, for example, allows for dead band normalization to be determined by the controller 192 for comparison with and more accurate analysis of a measured pump parameter obtained during a subsequent dispense to remove noise and more accurately determine a pump motor condition such as catheter occlusion, air in fluid path or motor malfunction, among other fluid delivery device conditions that impact fluid path pressure characteristics. Also, the controller can be configured to generate the unloaded measured data prior to gathering of any loaded measured data by incrementing through a known number of dispense cycles in which the pusher has not yet hit the plunger.
The example embodiments of dead band normalization algorithm are also useful with respect to positive displacement pumps. A positive displacement pump is understood to be a type of pump that works on the principle of filling a chamber (e.g., with liquid medication from a reservoir) in one stage and then emptying the fluid from the chamber (e.g., to a delivery device such as a cannula deployed in a patient) in another stage. For example, a reciprocating plunger-type pump or a rotational metering-type pump can be used. In either case, a piston or plunger is retracted from a chamber to aspirate or draw medication into the chamber and allow the chamber to fill with a volume of medication (e.g., from a reservoir or cartridge of medication into an inlet port). The piston or plunger is then re-inserted into the chamber to dispense or discharge a volume of the medication from the chamber (e.g., via an outlet port) to a fluid pathway extending between the pump and a cannula in the patient.
For illustrative purposes, reference is made to an example rotational metering-type pump described in commonly owned WO 2015/157174, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The illustrative system diagram in
With reference to
With continued reference to
A gap between the piston 30 and the output gear 39 of the gearbox (e.g., between a tab 31 at the end of the piston and a sl5t 35 in the output gear 39) provides a beneficial interface for dead band normalization since it is close to a fluid driving interface that is capable at least temporarily of moving yet without moving the fluid during a fluid movement operation. For example, as illustrated in
Alternatively, an interface that can facilitate dead normalization in the example rotational metering-type infusion pump can be designed with respect to the helical groove 26 and coupling pin 28. During a discharge stroke, the piston 30 is turned in a first rotational direction and is driven along the helical path of the helical groove 26 in the sleeve 24 via the coupling pin 28. The pump piston 30 translates away from the gearbox while rotating, expelling fluid from the pump chamber 38 and out of the cannula port 1356. During the discharge stroke, friction between the port seals and the outside diameter of the sleeve 24 is sufficient to ensure that the sleeve does not rotate during this portion of the pump cycle. During a valve state change after the discharge stroke, the coupling pin 28 reaches the distal end of helical groove 26 and torque continues to be transmitted from the output gear, to the pump piston 30, and to the sleeve 24 via the coupling pin 28. The sleeve 24 and pump piston 30 rotate as a unit with no relative axial motion. The side hole on the sleeve 24 moves from the outlet port 46 to the inlet port 44. During an intake stroke, the output gear turns the pump piston 30 and the piston is translated axially relative to the sleeve 24 due to interaction of the coupling pin 28 within the helical groove 26. The pump piston 30 translates toward the gearbox, pulling fluid from the reservoir into the pump chamber via the inlet port 44. During a valve state change after the intake stroke, the coupling pin 28 reaches the upper end of helical groove 26, the pump motor continues to deliver torque, causing the sleeve 24 and piston 30 to rotate together as a unit with no relative axial motion and the side hole of the sleeve 24 to move from alignment with the inlet port 44 to alignment with the outlet port 46. The helical groove 26 and coupling pin 28 can be configured by extending the groove or otherwise altering dimensions or slope of the groove to provide a dead region (e.g., 100 in
In accordance with another example embodiment, a fluid delivery device can have a drive mechanism employing one or more cams that can provide a beneficial interface for dead band normalization in accordance with the present technical solution. Unloaded measured data for dead band normalization can be obtained, for example, using a dead region provided by a cam and cam follower. At some point during a fluid movement operation wherein an actuator with cam follower is being controlled to rotate relative to a cam, the cam follower's advancement along a flat surface of the cam does not result in a related gear or other component connected to the cam being operated to move fluid during that fluid movement operation.
Regardless of the type of actuator and drive mechanism employed in a fluid delivery device such as wearable medication infusion pump, dead band normalization advantageously uses an unloaded region or portion in a positive displacement pump fluid movement operation to obtain unloaded measured data related to fluid movement (e.g., pressure, flow rate, and so on) with which to normalize loaded measured data related to that fluid movement operation. The resulting normalized measured data is advantageous because signal noise related to the actuator and impact of external noise factors (e.g., environmental factors and part-to-part variation) is removed, allowing for more accurate occlusion detection using the normalized measured data. Another benefit of dead band normalization in accordance with the technical solution and example embodiments described herein is that the unloaded and loaded measured data signals used for dead band normalization are processed very locally, that is, close to a particular fluid movement event (e.g., a particular aspirate stroke or a dispense stroke). It is to be understood that this local or proximal operation is not limited by any particular timing or order of operation for obtaining the loaded and unloaded measured data during a particular fluid movement event or operation.
It will be understood by one skilled in the art that this disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the above description or illustrated in the drawings. The embodiments herein are capable of other embodiments, and capable of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it will be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having” and variations thereof herein is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. Unless limited otherwise, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” and “mounted,” and variations thereof herein are used broadly and encompass direct and indirect connections, couplings, and mountings. In addition, the terms “connected” and “coupled” and variations thereof are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or couplings. Further, terms such as up, down, bottom, and top are relative, and are employed to aid illustration, but are not limiting.
The components of the illustrative devices, systems and methods employed in accordance with the illustrated embodiments can be implemented, at least in part, in digital electronic circuitry, analog electronic circuitry, or in computer hardware, firmware, software, or in combinations of them. These components can be implemented, for example, as a computer program product such as a computer program, program code or computer instructions tangibly embodied in an information carrier, or in a machine-readable storage device, for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus such as a programmable processor, a computer, or multiple computers.
A computer program can be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network. Also, functional programs, codes, and code segments for accomplishing the illustrative embodiments can be easily construed as within the scope of claims exemplified by the illustrative embodiments by programmers skilled in the art to which the illustrative embodiments pertain. Method steps associated with the illustrative embodiments can be performed by one or more programmable processors executing a computer program, code or instructions to perform functions (e.g., by operating on input data and/or generating an output). Method steps can also be performed by, and apparatus of the illustrative embodiments can be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit), for example.
The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, by way of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, and any one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, a processor will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory or a random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer are a processor for executing instructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer will also include, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer data to, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g., magnetic, magneto-optical disks, or optical disks. Information carriers suitable for embodying computer program instructions and data include all forms of non-volatile memory, including by way of example, semiconductor memory devices, e.g., electrically programmable read-only memory or ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory devices, and data storage disks (e.g., magnetic disks, internal hard disks, or removable disks, magneto-optical disks, and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks). The processor and the memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in special purpose logic circuitry.
Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof
Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of claims exemplified by the illustrative embodiments. A software module may reside in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. In other words, the processor and the storage medium may reside in an integrated circuit or be implemented as discrete components.
Computer-readable non-transitory media includes all types of computer readable media, including magnetic storage media, optical storage media, flash media and solid state storage media. It should be understood that software can be installed in and sold with a central processing unit (CPU) device. Alternatively, the software can be obtained and loaded into the CPU device, including obtaining the software through physical medium or distribution system, including, for example, from a server owned by the software creator or from a server not owned but used by the software creator. The software can be stored on a server for distribution over the Internet, for example.
The above-presented description and figures are intended by way of example only and are not intended to limit the illustrative embodiments in any way except as set forth in the following claims. It is particularly noted that persons skilled in the art can readily combine the various technical aspects of the various elements of the various illustrative embodiments that have been described above in numerous other ways, all of which are considered to be within the scope of the claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US2021/062562 | 12/9/2021 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
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63125508 | Dec 2020 | US |