Dialysis machine with symmetric multi-processing (SMP) control system and method of operation

A control system for a dialysis machine, the control system comprising:

• a plurality of processors and a main memory shared by said plurality of processors forming a symmetrical, multi-processing computing platform;
• and
• a plurality of distributed hardware watchdog timers coupled to said plurality of processors such that said plurality of hardware watchdog timers reset at least one of said plurality of processors in the event of a failure of said at least one of said processors,
• wherein if said plurality of processors fails to reset said plurality of distributed watchdog timers and at least one of said plurality of distributed watchdog timers time-out, then at least one of the plurality of hardware watchdog timers sends a signal to one or more hardware components of said dialysis machine in order to place said dialysis machine into a safe mode.

A control system for a dialysis machine, the control system comprising:

• an I/O bus;
• a processor board coupled to the I/O bus having a plurality of processors and a main memory shared by said plurality of processors forming a symmetrical, multi-processing computing platform;
• a plurality of host analog and adapter boards coupled to the I/O bus wherein each host analog and adapter board has a hardware watchdog timer coupled to the plurality of processors such that the plurality of hardware watchdog timers reset at least one of said plurality of processors in the event of a failure of said at least one of said processors;
• and
• a driver board coupled to the I/O bus wherein the driver board is coupled to a plurality of extracorporeal devices.