Monitoring the seating status of a fluid reservoir in a fluid infusion device

1. A device for delivering fluid to a user, the device comprising:

a housing; a reservoir cavity within the housing to accommodate fluid reservoirs;

a drive motor assembly in the housing to regulate delivery of fluid by actuating a piston of a fluid reservoir;

a force sensor associated with the drive motor assembly to generate output levels in response to force imparted thereto; and

an electronics module coupled to the force sensor to process the output levels to determine a seating status of the fluid reservoir in the reservoir cavity, wherein the electronics module:

maintains a count that is indicative of the seating status;

stores an adaptive reference force value that corresponds to a previously recorded measure of actuation force imparted to the force sensor during a previous fluid delivery pulse;

obtains a current measure of actuation force imparted to the force sensor for a current fluid delivery pulse;

changes the count when the current measure of actuation force is less than the difference between the adaptive reference force value and a threshold force value, resulting in an updated count; and

generates a seating status alert when the updated count satisfies predetermined alert criteria.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the previous fluid delivery pulse and the current fluid delivery pulse are consecutive fluid delivery pulses.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the electronics module:

resets the count when the current measure of actuation force is not less than the difference between the adaptive reference force value and the threshold force value;

stores the current measure of actuation force as the adaptive reference force value when the current measure of actuation force is less than an upper threshold force value, wherein the upper threshold force value corresponds to an expected maximum actuation force for the fluid reservoir; and

leaves the adaptive reference force value unchanged when the current measure of actuation force is not less than the upper threshold force value.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the threshold force value corresponds to an expected maximum variation in actuation force for the fluid reservoir.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the current measure of actuation force represents an average of a plurality of repeated measures of actuation force imparted to the force sensor for the current fluid delivery pulse.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the electronics module changes the count by increasing or decreasing the count by an amount that is influenced by a volume of fluid to be delivered by a subsequent fluid delivery pulse.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the electronics module changes the count by increasing or decreasing the count by an amount that is influenced by a volume of fluid delivered by a previous fluid delivery pulse.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the electronics module changes the count by increasing or decreasing the count by an amount that is influenced by a volume of fluid delivered by the current fluid delivery pulse.

9. The device of claim 1 , wherein the threshold force value is fixed during an operating lifespan of the fluid infusion device.

10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the electronics module resets the count when the current measure of actuation force is not less than the difference between the adaptive reference force value and the threshold force value.

11. The device of claim 10 , further comprising a memory element coupled to the electronics module, wherein the memory element stores the current measure of actuation force as the adaptive reference force value when the current measure of actuation force is not less than the difference between the adaptive reference force value and the threshold force value.

12. A device for delivering fluid to a user, the device comprising:

a housing; a reservoir cavity within the housing to accommodate fluid reservoirs;

a drive motor assembly in the housing to regulate delivery of fluid by actuating a piston of a fluid reservoir;

a force sensor associated with the drive motor assembly to generate output levels in response to force imparted thereto; and

an electronics module coupled to the force sensor to process the output levels to determine a seating status of the fluid reservoir in the reservoir cavity, wherein the electronics module:

obtains measures of actuation force imparted to the force sensor for a number of consecutive fluid delivery pulses;

calculates a pulse-to-pulse difference between two consecutive fluid delivery pulses, the pulse-to-pulse difference based on respective measures of actuation force for the two consecutive fluid delivery pulses; and

initiates corrective action for the fluid infusion device when the pulse-to-pulse difference is greater than a threshold amount of force.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the threshold amount of force corresponds to an expected maximum variation in actuation force for the fluid reservoir.

14. The device of claim 12 , wherein the electronics module maintains a count that is indicative of the seating status, and wherein the electronics module initiates the corrective action by:

changing the count by a designated amount, resulting in an updated count;

checking whether the updated count satisfies predetermined alert criteria; and

generating an alert at the device when the updated count satisfies the predetermined alert criteria.

15. The device of claim 14 , wherein the electronics module changes the count by increasing or decreasing the count by an amount that is influenced by a volume of fluid to be delivered by a subsequent delivery pulse.

16. The device of claim 12 , wherein:

the pulse-to-pulse difference is calculated for a first fluid delivery pulse and a second fluid delivery pulse;

the electronics module calculates a subsequent pulse-to-pulse difference for the second fluid delivery pulse and a third fluid delivery pulse, the subsequent pulse-to-pulse difference based on respective measures of actuation force for the second fluid delivery pulse and the third fluid delivery pulse;

the first fluid delivery pulse, the second fluid delivery pulse, and the third fluid delivery pulse are consecutive fluid delivery pulses; and

the electronics module resets the count when the subsequent pulse-to-pulse difference is not greater than the threshold force value.

17. The device of claim 12 , wherein the threshold force value is fixed during an operating lifespan of the device.

18. A device for delivering fluid to a user, the device comprising:

a housing; a reservoir cavity within the housing to accommodate fluid reservoirs;

a drive motor assembly in the housing to regulate delivery of fluid by actuating a piston of a fluid reservoir;

a force sensor associated with the drive motor assembly to generate output levels in response to force imparted thereto; and

an electronics module coupled to the force sensor to process the output levels to determine a seating status of the fluid reservoir in the reservoir cavity, wherein the electronics module:

obtains a baseline actuation force imparted to the force sensor, after initial seating and priming of the fluid reservoir;

determines a measured actuation force imparted to the force sensor, the measured actuation force corresponding to a designated delivery stroke of the drive motor assembly; and

generates indicia of an unseated reservoir condition when the measured actuation force is less than the baseline actuation force by at least a predetermined amount of force.

19. The device of claim 18 , wherein the electronics module updates the baseline actuation force as a function of the measured actuation force when the measured actuation force is not less than the baseline actuation force by at least the predetermined amount of force.

20. The device of claim 18 , further comprising a memory element coupled to the electronics module, wherein the electronics module saves the measured actuation force in the memory element for use as an updated baseline actuation force.

21. The device of claim 18 , wherein the predetermined amount of force is fixed during an operating lifespan of the device.

22. The device of claim 18 , wherein the electronics module:

detects that the measured actuation force is less than the baseline actuation force by at least the predetermined amount of force; and

thereafter, determines a second measured actuation force imparted to the force sensor, the second measured actuation force corresponding to a subsequent delivery stroke of the drive motor assembly that occurs after the designated delivery stroke;

wherein the indicia of the unseated reservoir condition is generated when the measured actuation force and the second measured actuation force are both less than the baseline actuation force by at least the predetermined amount of force.

23. The device of claim 22 , wherein the subsequent delivery stroke of the drive motor assembly occurs a predetermined number of delivery strokes after the designated delivery stroke.

24. A device for delivering fluid to a user, the device comprising:

a housing; a reservoir cavity within the housing to accommodate fluid reservoirs;

a drive motor assembly in the housing to regulate delivery of fluid by actuating a piston of a fluid reservoir;

a force sensor associated with the drive motor assembly to generate output levels in response to force imparted thereto; and

an electronics module coupled to the force sensor to process the output levels to determine a seating status of the fluid reservoir in the reservoir cavity, wherein the electronics module:

confirms initial seating of the fluid reservoir in the reservoir cavity;

determines a measure of actuation force imparted to the force sensor during a fluid delivery action of the drive motor assembly;

compares the measure of actuation force to an amount of force that is less than normally expected actuation forces of the device, the amount of force being indicative of an unseated state of the fluid reservoir; and

initiates corrective action for the device when the measure of actuation force is less than the amount of force.

25. The device of claim 24 , further comprising a memory element coupled to the electronics module to store the amount of force as a fixed quantity during an operating lifespan of the device.

26. The device of claim 24 , wherein the drive motor assembly regulates delivery of fluid from the device using discrete delivery strokes, and wherein the electronics module determines the measure of actuation force by:

determining a plurality of actuation forces imparted to the force sensor during a plurality of consecutive delivery strokes; and

calculating an average actuation force based upon the plurality of actuation forces, the measure of actuation force being equal to the average actuation force.

27. The device of claim 24 , further comprising a memory element coupled to the electronics module, wherein the electronics module:

obtains a nominal expected actuation force;

calculates the amount of force as a function of the nominal expected actuation force; and

stores the amount of force in the memory element.

28. The device of claim 27 , wherein the amount of force is calculated to be less than the nominal expected actuation force by at least ten percent of the nominal expected actuation force.

29. The device of claim 27 , wherein the amount of force is calculated to be at least 0.15 pounds less than the nominal expected actuation force.

30. A device for delivering fluid to a user, the device comprising:

a housing; a reservoir cavity within the housing to accommodate fluid reservoirs;

a drive motor assembly in the housing to regulate delivery of fluid by actuating a piston of a fluid reservoir;

a force sensor associated with the drive motor assembly to generate output levels in response to force imparted thereto; and

an electronics module coupled to the force sensor to process the output levels to determine a seating status of the fluid reservoir in the reservoir cavity, wherein the electronics module:

obtains a baseline actuation force imparted to the force sensor, after initial seating and priming of the fluid reservoir;

determines a measured actuation force imparted to the force sensor, the measured actuation force corresponding to a designated delivery stroke of the drive motor assembly; and

generates indicia of an unseated reservoir condition when the measured actuation force is less than the baseline actuation force by at least a predetermined amount.

31. The device of claim 30 , further comprising a memory element coupled to the electronics module to store the baseline actuation force.

32. The device of claim 31 , wherein the electronics module updates the baseline actuation force as a function of the measured actuation force when the measured actuation force is not less than the baseline actuation force by at least the predetermined amount.