Patent ID: 8376929

Claim:
A system for facilitating obesity control comprising: a gastric banding device including an inflatable portion; a fluid reservoir couplable to the inflatable portion; an implantable fluid handling device couplable to the fluid reservoir and the inflatable portion, and including a pump; a first valve; a second valve; a flow measurement device; and a controller/microprocessor system in communication with the implantable fluid handling device and configured to operate an algorithm programmed to automatically calibrate the pump with steps including: pumping fluid from the pump through the first valve and to the inflatable portion of the gastric banding device for a predetermined number of pump cycles; opening the second valve to allow fluid to drain from the inflatable portion of the gastric banding device; measuring with the flow measurement device a flow rate of the fluid allowed to drain from the inflatable portion of the gastric banding device; calculating based on the measured flow rate a volume of the fluid allowed to drain from the inflatable portion of the gastric banding device; and calculating an actual pump rate of the pump based on the calculated volume of the fluid allowed to drain from the inflatable portion of the gastric banding device and based on the predetermined number of pump cycles, the actual pump rate for use to calculate a number of pump cycles for the pump to adjust a volume of fluid in the inflatable portion of the gastric banding device.