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Non-invasive automatic monitoring of pet animal's core temperature

  • US 10,041,843 B2
  • Filed: 09/27/2017
  • Issued: 08/07/2018
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2013
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A system for monitoring a health of a warm-blooded pet animal including non-invasively monitoring and providing early detection of whether a core temperature of the warm-blooded pet animal is within a normal range for the pet animal, wherein the pet animal is a dog or a cat, the system comprising:

  • a non-invasive collar, including a band, for positioning on a neck of the pet animal, the collar having an outer surface and an inner surface, the collar configured to output signals for ambient temperature, skin temperature, at least one of heart rate and respiration, and at least one of posture and movement of the pet animal, while being positioned on a single integrally connected body part of the pet animal,the collar including a sensing assembly having sensors positioned at different points along the collar including (i) a skin temperature sensor positioned such that a sensing surface of the skin temperature sensor faces a body of the pet animal, the skin temperature sensor configured to produce a skin temperature output, (ii) an ambient temperature sensor positioned on the outer surface and configured to produce an ambient temperature output, (iii) an accelerometer for sensing an acceleration level of the pet animal and producing an acceleration level output including posture and movement of the pet animal and (iv) an acoustic sensor configured to measure the at least one of heart rate and respiration and output at least one signal representing vital sign data for the at least one of heart rate and respiration, the acoustic sensor having projections that face the neck and that are configured in shape to penetrate a fur of the dog or cat and to absorb noise; and

    one or more processors configured to receive the skin temperature output, TS, the ambient temperature output TA, and the acceleration level output and, and to determine an activity level, A, of the pet animal from the acceleration level output,the one or more processors also configured(a) to use TA to select a zone from one of three zones including (i) a thermoneutral zone, (ii) a zone below lower critical temperature (Tlc) and (iii) a zone above upper critical temperature (Tuc);

    (b) to use a*TA+b to calculate from TA a baseline model skin temperature, wherein TA is a variable of the ambient temperature output and a and b are coefficients that are set depending upon an animal size and kind and the selected zone of TA, wherein, in each of the three zones, the baseline model skin temperature varies across varying values of TA;

    (c) to use c1*A+d1 to calculate from activity A and coefficients (ci, di) an adjustment of the baseline model skin temperature yielding a lower margin of a tolerance range and to use c2*A+d2 to calculate from activity A and coefficients (ci and di) an adjustment of the baseline model skin temperature yielding an upper margin of the tolerance range, wherein coefficients ci and di are set depending upon activity units and animal kind or size and(d) to determine if the core temperature is within the normal range based on whether Ts is within the tolerance range,the system is configured to operate in ambient temperature environments spanning the three zones.

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