Systems for upgrading ventricle assist devices

1. A mechanical circulatory support system comprising:

an implantable blood pump comprising:

a memory comprising: first application software for controlling operation of the blood pump; a first checksum for validating the first application software; second application software for controlling operation of the blood pump; and a second checksum for validating the second application;

a rotor; and

a control unit communicatively coupled with the memory and the rotor, the control unit configured to:

select the first application software;

generate a checksum for the selected first application software;

determine that the generated checksum matches the first checksum;

launch the first application software; and

control the rotor according to the first application software.

2. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein the memory comprises:

at least a first partition divided into a first portion and a second portion; and

a second partition divided into a third portion and a fourth portion.

3. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 2 , wherein the first partition contains the first application software in the first portion and the first checksum in the second portion, and wherein the second partition contains the second application software in the third portion and the second checksum in the fourth portion.

4. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 3 , wherein the memory comprises a first memory type and a second memory type, and wherein the first partition and the second partition are located in the first memory type.

5. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 4 , wherein launching the first application software comprises copying the first application software from the first portion of the first partition to the second memory type.

6. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 5 , wherein the first memory type comprises non-volatile memory, and wherein the second memory type comprises volatile memory.

7. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 5 , wherein the control unit is further configured to:

select the second application software;

generate a second application software checksum for the selected second application software;

determine that the second application software checksum does not match the second checksum; and

identify the second application software as having an error.

8. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 7 , wherein the control unit is further configured to: identifying the second application software for update; and deleting the second application software.

9. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 8 , wherein deleting the second application software comprises deleting contents of the second partition.

10. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 7 , wherein the control unit is further configured to: identify the second application software for update; and not delete one of the first application software and the second application software.

11. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 7 , wherein the control unit is further configured to:

receive an update;

verify the update; and

store the update in the second partition.

12. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 11 , further comprising a communications module configured to wirelessly communicate with an external controller to receive the update.

13. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein the rotor comprises impeller blades, wherein the rotor is radially levitated and driven by the control unit.

14. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein each of the first application software and the second application software include parameters for controlling the operation of the implantable blood pump.

15. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 14 , wherein the parameters are selected from the group consisting of a desired pump speed, a desired pump flow rate, a pulse generation, and a combination thereof.

16. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 14 , wherein the first application includes parameters for defining pulsatile operation of the pump and the second application includes parameters for defining non-pulsatile operation of the pump.

17. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein the control unit and memory are co-located in a housing of the implantable blood pump.

18. The mechanical circulatory support system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second applications control the rotor to stop for a temporary period of time.

19. A method of controlling an implantable blood pump, the method comprising:

selecting a first application software stored in a memory of the implantable blood pump by a control unit of the implantable blood pump;

generating a checksum for the first application software;

retrieving a first checksum from the memory, wherein the first checksum is associated with first application software;

determining with the control unit that the generated checksum matches the first checksum;

launching the first application software; and

controlling a rotor of the implantable blood pump according to the first application software.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the first application software is stored in a first portion of a first partition in the memory of the implantable blood pump, wherein the first checksum is retrieved from a second portion of the first partition of the memory, and wherein the memory comprises a second partition containing a second application software in a third portion and a second checksum in a fourth portion.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the memory comprises a first memory type and a second memory type, and wherein the first partition and the second partition are located in the first memory type.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein launching the first application software comprises copying the first application software from the first portion of the first partition to the second memory type.

23. The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

selecting the second application software;

generating a second application software checksum for the selected second application software;

determining that the second application software checksum does not match the second checksum; and

identifying the second application software as having an error.

24. The method of claim 23 , further comprising: identifying the second application software for update; and deleting the second application software.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein deleting the second application software comprises deleting contents of the second partition.

26. The method of claim 25 , further comprising:

receiving an update;

verifying the update; and

storing the update in the second partition.

27. The method of claim 26 , wherein the update is wireless received by a communications module of the implantable blood pump.

28. The method of claim 19 , wherein controlling the rotor comprises radially levitating and driving the rotor.

29. The method of claim 19 , wherein the first application software includes parameters for controlling operation of the implantable blood pump.