the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings are intended to describe some , but not necessarily all , examples or embodiments of the invention . the contents of this detailed description and the accompanying drawings are not necessarily all - inclusive and do not limit the scope of the invention in any way . fig1 and fig2 shows a programmable infusion system 10 of the present invention which comprises the following components : 10 programmable infusion system 11 infusion pump — dual channel 12 channel a pump head 13 channel b pump head 14 lcd display 15 air detection sensor — one sensor for each channel 16 prescription drug i . v . solution bag 17 tubing from i . v . bag to channel a for medication delivery to the patient . 18 tubing from i . v . bag to channel b for medication delivery to the patient . 19 tubing placed into the pump head to be operated on by the pumping mechanism — channel a and channel b 20 tubing exiting channel a 21 tubing exiting channel b 22 tubing fitting connecting tubing sections from channel a and channel b into a single tubing for medication delivery to the patient 23 tubing section delivering medication through channel a & amp ; b to the patient . 24 patient 25 indicator for channel a operating state ( green is normal & amp ; red is alarm ) 26 indicator for channel b operating state ( green is normal & amp ; red is alarm ) in the example of fig1 , the programmable infusion system 10 generally comprises a dual channel programmable infusion pump 11 with its controller , having channel a pump head 12 with its own controller , and channel b pump head 13 with its own controller , an infusate - containing vessel 16 , an input tubing component 17 for channel a , an input tubing component 18 for channel b , an output tubing component 20 for channel a , an output tubing component 21 for channel b , a connecting fitting 22 , a tubing component 23 to the patient site , an air - in - line detector 15 a for channel a , an air - in - line detector 15 b for channel b , a tubing pumping segment 19 a for channel a , a tubing pumping segment 19 b for channel b , a user interface such as touch screen and keypad 14 , a status display 25 for channel a , and status display 26 for channel b . it will be appreciated that the pump head of channel a and channel b may be any suitable type of pump such as traditional peristaltic pumps . fig1 shows the infusion system 10 operating two channels a and b to infuse a single drug in a fault tolerant mode under normal operating state . as an example of a use case scenario , the infusion system is programmed to infuse , the infusate ( e . g . a life supporting medication ) at a rate of 50 ml / hr . each of the pump head channels a and b will run independently and concurrently at a rate of 25 ml / hr to deliver a combined flow rate of 50 ml / hr through tubing segment 23 to the patient 24 . this will be a normal operating state with no faults and / or alarms . fig2 shows the infusion system 10 described in fig1 with the event of fault detection on channel b . in fig2 , when the fault is detected , the pump head controller of channel b , running at the rate of 25 ml / hr , will stop the infusion and issue an alarm status . then the pump head controller of channel a will be commanded to increase the rate of infusion on channel a from 25 ml / hr to 50 ml / hr while the channel b pump head is stopped . this will ensure an accurate and uninterrupted delivery of medication to the patient as prescribed . this fault tolerant mode of delivery of 50 ml / hr on channel a will continue until the fault condition is cleared on channel a by the attending nurse or clinician . when the fault and alarm are cleared , the programmable infusion pump will revert back to normal operation , and continuing medication delivery on channel a and channel b concurrently at the rate of 25 ml / hr on each channel for a combined rate of 50 ml / hr through tubing segment 23 to the patient 24 . in another example illustrated in fig2 a , the fault detected in channel b is due to an air - in - line detection , where an air bolus may have formed and accumulated due to outgassing of the infusate in the pumping segment 19 b . in this event , where the infusion rate of channel a is 25 ml / hr and channel b is 25 ml / hr for a combined infusion rate of 50 ml / hr to the patient , the infusion on channel b will stop and reverse the flow at 10 ml / hr , while the rate on channel a will increase from 25 ml / hr to 60 ml / hr . this will allow the net infusion rate to the patient to continue at the prescribed rate of 50 ml / hr and allows the air bolus in the pumping segment 19 b of channel b to gravitate towards the vessel 16 . this mode of operation will continue for a short period of time sufficient to allow for the flow of the air bolus through the input segment 18 to the vessel 16 . after this fault correction , the system can revert back to the normal operation . fig3 illustrates the infusion system 10 operating in an independent dual channel mode . in this example , the system includes the same components as the system shown in fig1 with independent dual channel drug delivery mode . channel a and channel b are programmed to operate independent of one another , where channel a is programmed to infuse , infusate c in vessel 16 a at a rate of 50 ml / hr , and channel b is programmed to infuse , infusate d in vessel 16 b at a rate of 125 ml / hr . illustrated is tubing segment 20 connecting the output of pump head 12 to fitting 22 a , and the tubing segment 21 connecting the output of pump head 13 to fitting 22 a . the fitting 22 a connecting each of tubing segments 20 and 21 to a dual lumen tubing segment 23 to transfer the infusates c and d separately to patient 24 . in yet another embodiment of this invention illustrated in fig4 , the programmable infusion system 10 operates in an interdependent dual channel drug delivery mode with feedback loop . in the example of fig4 , the system includes the same components as the system 10 shown in fig1 and , in addition , includes the following : 27 vital signs monitoring equipment acquiring patient vital signs data 28 communication link for data transfer from vital signs monitoring equipment to the infusion pump . 29 algorithm built into the infusion system the will analyze the data from the vital signs monitors and command the infusion rate for the two channels a and b . this interdependent dual channel drug delivery mode with feedback loop is suitable for the infusion of sedative and analgesic drugs that may cause complications including cardiorespiratory compromise . some of the commonly used sedative drugs ( e . g . fentanyl ), which may cause cardiorespiratory complications , have reversal agents ( e . g . naloxone is a reversal agent for fentanyl ). these reversal agents are administered to reverse the over sedation of the sedative drug in the event the patient receiving the sedation experiences cardiorespiratory complications such as respiratory depression . in this invention illustrated in fig4 , the programmable infusion system 10 generally comprises a dual channel programmable infusion pump 11 with its controller , having channel a pump head 12 with its own controller , channel b pump head 13 with its own controller , and user interface such as a touch screen and keypad 14 , an infusate vessel 16 a containing a sedative drug agent c , an infusate vessel 16 b containing a reversal drug agent d , a tubing segment 17 connecting vessel 16 a to the input of pump head 12 , a tubing segment 18 connecting vessel 16 b to the input of pump head 13 , a tubing segment 20 connecting the output of pump head 12 to a fitting 22 a , a tubing segment 21 connecting the output of pump head 13 to a fitting 22 a , a fitting 22 a connecting each of tubing segments 20 and 21 to a dual lumen tubing segment 23 a , a dual lumen tubing segment 23 a to transfer sedative agent c and reversal agent d separately to patient 24 , a set of vital signs monitors 27 including but not limited to pulse oximeter , blood pressure monitor , respiratory rate monitor , etc . acquiring vital signs data from patient 24 , a data transfer means 28 including but not limited to wired transfer e . g . rs 232 serial port and / or wireless transfer e . g . wifi 802 . 11 and bluetooth to establish communication between the vital signs monitors 27 and the infusion pump 11 , a controller of the infusion pump having an algorithm 29 to decide on the infusion rates , within a pre - set parameters , of sedative agent c in vessel 16 a and reversal agent d in vessel 16 b . in this embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig4 the programmable infusion pump 11 is programmed to infuse sedative agent c from vessel 16 a utilizing pump head 12 ( channel a ) at a pre - set infusion rate or range of rates , and to infuse reversal agent d from vessel 16 b utilizing pump head 13 at a pre - set infusion rate or range of rates . the output tubing segment 23 a is connected to the patient 24 usually intravenously or epidural for drug delivery . the patient 24 is also connected to various sensors to detect and monitor vital signs through a set of vital signs monitors 27 . when the procedural sedation in the acute care setting in the hospital starts , the programmable pump 11 will start infusing sedative agent c from vessel 16 a to the patient 24 utilizing pump head 12 ( channel a ) at a set ramp - up rate , while pump head 13 ( channel b ) is on standby zero infusion rate . the patient 24 is monitored for sedation via various vital signs monitors 27 . when optimal sedation levels are achieved as indicated by the vital signs monitors 27 , the data received by the programmable infusion pump 11 via data transfer means 28 is analyzed by the controller algorithm 29 , and the infusion rate on pump head 12 ( channel c ) will be maintained at a steady rate . in the event of an adverse reaction of over - sedation , the vital signs monitors will issue an alarm and continuous stream of data received by the programmable pump 11 via data transfer means 28 is analyzed by the controller algorithm 29 and the pump head 12 ( channel a ) will be commanded to stop the infusion of sedative agent c in vessel 16 a and the pump head 13 ( channel b ) will be commanded to initiate and start the infusion of reversal agent d in vessel 16 b while the patient 24 continues to be monitored to reverse the over - sedation adverse reaction and stabilize the patient . it will be appreciated that the pump head of channel a and channel b of the invention illustrated in fig4 may be of a syringe drive type , and the vessel for the infusate is a syringe . it is to be appreciated that the invention has been described hereabove with reference to certain examples or embodiments of the invention but that various additions , deletions , alterations and modifications may be made to those examples and embodiments without departing from the intended spirit and scope of the invention . for example , any element or attribute of one embodiment or example may be incorporated into or used with another embodiment or example , unless otherwise specified of if to do so would render the embodiment or example unsuitable for its intended use . also , where the steps of a method or process have been described or listed in a particular order , the order of such steps may be changed unless otherwise specified or unless doing so would render the method or process unworkable for its intended purpose . all reasonable additions , deletions , modifications and alterations are to be considered equivalents of the described examples and embodiments and are to be included within the scope of the following claims .
infusion systems and methods for infusing one or more drugs or other agents into the body of a human or animal subject . the system is programmed to take remedial action upon sensing of a fault or error in connection with the infusion . in some embodiments , an agent may be infused through redundant flowpaths and , if a fault occurs in one flowpath , the system may respond by increasing flowrate through other non - faulting flowpath . in some embodiments , the fault may be a physiological reaction or symptom in the subject and the system may respond by adjusting or stopping flowrate or one or more agents or changing the ratio of simultaneously infused agents .