Patent ID: 8366690

Claim:
A reduced pressure treatment system comprising: a reduced pressure source adapted to provide a reduced pressure to a tissue site; a fluid communication path having a source conduit, a canister, and a target conduit capable of delivering the reduced pressure to the tissue site, the source conduit being fluidly connected between the reduced pressure source and the canister, the target conduit being fluidly connected to the canister and adapted for fluid communication with the tissue site; a sensing device in communication with the source conduit and configured to sense a pressure in the source conduit; a valve in communication with the source conduit; and a processing unit in communication with the sensing device and the valve, and configured to: determine whether a blockage exists within the fluid communication path; following determination that a blockage in the fluid communication path exists, open the valve for a selected amount of time; receive sensing data from the sensing device during the selected amount of time to determine a decay of reduced pressure over the selected amount of time; determine a fill status of the canister based on the decay of reduced pressure; and if the fill status of the canister is not full, signal a blockage alarm to indicate a blockage in the target conduit.