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Acoustically enhanced pet animal collar for health and vital signs monitoring, alert and diagnosis

  • US 10,440,938 B2
  • Filed: 01/17/2013
  • Issued: 10/15/2019
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2013
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. An acoustically enhanced collar for non-invasively monitoring vital signs of a pet animal, wherein the pet animal is a dog or cat and has skin, the collar comprising:

  • a band comprising a layer of an elastic material, the band having a working surface configured to wrap around a portion of the pet animal and a rear surface facing an opposite direction to the working surface;

    a plurality of sensor elements situated at one or more regions along a circumference of the band, the plurality of sensor elements including;

    (A) at least one acoustic sensor configured to measure at least one of heart rate and respiration rate and configured to output at least one signal representing vital sign data for the at least one of heart rate and respiration, the at least one acoustic sensor including at least one piezoelectric element embedded in the band,at least two acoustic concentrators integrally formed with the band and projecting, toward a body portion of the pet animal from the working surface at the one or more regions along the circumference, the at least two acoustic concentrators conveying an acoustic signal to the band containing the at least one piezoelectric element;

    at least two acoustic balancers integrally formed with the band and projecting from the rear surface at the one or more regions along the circumference, the at least two acoustic balancers situated at the region along the circumference at least partly behind the at least two acoustic concentrators, the at least two acoustic balancers configured to balance the acoustic signal conveyed by the at least two acoustic concentrators against noise and thereby increase a readability, in terms of signal to noise ratio, of an acoustic signal provided to the at least one acoustic sensor,each of the at least two acoustic concentrators tapered inwardly from a concentrator base end to a concentrator top end, the concentrator top end distal from the band, and each of the at least two acoustic balancers tapered inwardly from a balancer base end to a balancer top end, the balancer top end distal from the bandeach of the at least two acoustic concentrators configured in shape to penetrate a fur of the pet animal, touch the skin of a neck portion of the pet at an area of an artery of the pet and conduct the at least one signal from the neck portion to the at least one acoustic sensor; and

    (B) one or both of;

    (i) one or more temperature sensors to measure temperature and(ii) at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer sensor to measure at least one of movement and posture.

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