An infusion pump apparatus for detecting an occlusion, the apparatus comprising: intravenous ("IV") tubing having a first end that is fluidly coupled to a patient and a second end that is fluidly coupled to a container; a pumping mechanism (718, 720) operable with a portion of the IV tubing for providing controlled delivery of a fluid from the container to the patient; a force sensor coupled to the IV tubing to measure a physical force caused by the fluid; one or more processors; and and characterized in that it further comprises a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: receive, via the force sensor and during a start of an infusion session, an initial measurement of a physical force caused by fluid motion through the IV tubing; identify, based on one or more parameters associated with the infusion session, a trained support vector machine for occlusion detection; generate, during the infusion session at predetermined intervals, a feature vector configured as an input for the trained support vector machine, the feature vector comprising: the initial measurement of the physical force measured by the force sensor, a current measurement of the physical force measured by the force sensor, a long term change in the measurement of the physical force, and a short term change in the measurement of the physical force; input, during the infusion session at the predetermined intervals, the feature vector into the trained support vector machine to output a detection of a presence or an absence of an occlusion in the IV tubing; and when the presence of the occlusion is detected, pause or terminate the infusion session. intravenous ("IV") tubing having a first end that is fluidly coupled to a patient and a second end that is fluidly coupled to a container; a pumping mechanism (718, 720) operable with a portion of the IV tubing for providing controlled delivery of a fluid from the container to the patient; a force sensor coupled to the IV tubing to measure a physical force caused by the fluid; one or more processors; and and characterized in that it further comprises a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: receive, via the force sensor and during a start of an infusion session, an initial measurement of a physical force caused by fluid motion through the IV tubing; identify, based on one or more parameters associated with the infusion session, a trained support vector machine for occlusion detection; generate, during the infusion session at predetermined intervals, a feature vector configured as an input for the trained support vector machine, the feature vector comprising: the initial measurement of the physical force measured by the force sensor, a current measurement of the physical force measured by the force sensor, a long term change in the measurement of the physical force, and a short term change in the measurement of the physical force; input, during the infusion session at the predetermined intervals, the feature vector into the trained support vector machine to output a detection of a presence or an absence of an occlusion in the IV tubing; and when the presence of the occlusion is detected, pause or terminate the infusion session. receive, via the force sensor and during a start of an infusion session, an initial measurement of a physical force caused by fluid motion through the IV tubing; identify, based on one or more parameters associated with the infusion session, a trained support vector machine for occlusion detection; generate, during the infusion session at predetermined intervals, a feature vector configured as an input for the trained support vector machine, the feature vector comprising: the initial measurement of the physical force measured by the force sensor, a current measurement of the physical force measured by the force sensor, a long term change in the measurement of the physical force, and a short term change in the measurement of the physical force; the initial measurement of the physical force measured by the force sensor, a current measurement of the physical force measured by the force sensor, a long term change in the measurement of the physical force, and a short term change in the measurement of the physical force; input, during the infusion session at the predetermined intervals, the feature vector into the trained support vector machine to output a detection of a presence or an absence of an occlusion in the IV tubing; and when the presence of the occlusion is detected, pause or terminate the infusion session.