Patent ID: 7828528

Claim:
A portable infusion pump system, comprising: a pump device including a pump housing that defines a space to receive a medicine, a separable cap device that mates with the pump housing to cover the space that receives the medicine, and a drive system arranged in the pump housing to dispense the medicine through a medicine flow path, wherein the cap device is matable with an infusion set having a length of flexible tubing; a controller device that is removably attachable to the pump device, the controller device including a controller housing and control circuitry that communicates with the drive system of the pump device; and an occlusion sensor system that communicates with the control circuitry to detect the presence of an occlusion in the medicine flow path, comprising: a flow-responsive component arranged within a flow chamber of the cap device of the pump device, the flow-responsive component moving in the flow chamber in response to medicine flow through the flow chamber and acting on the flow-responsive component; and a sensor circuit at least partially disposed within the controller device, the sensor circuit being arranged in the controller housing and adjacent to the cap device of the pump device so as to detect movement of the flow-responsive component to a first position while the controller device is removably attached to the pump device and the drive system in the pump housing urges medicine through the medicine flow path, the sensor circuit communicating a signal to the control circuitry in response to the movement of the flow-responsive component to the first position.