Method and relevant apparatus for the determination of the body condition score, body weight and state of fertility

• US 10,639,014 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2016
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Livestock 3D SA
• Original Assignee: Biondi Engineering SA
• Inventors: Biondi, Andrea
• Primary Examiner(s): Cox, Thaddeus B
• Application Number:
  US15/553,616
• Publication Number:
  US 20180042584A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,530 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 29/005 Monitoring or measuring activity, e.g. detecting heat or mating
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 10/0012 Ovulation-period determination for animals A61D17/002
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2010/0019 based on measurement of temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/40 Animals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0223 Magnetic field sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1077 Measuring of profiles
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1079 using optical or photographic means
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4872 Body fat
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7253 characterised by using transforms
• CPC Class Codes: A61D 17/00 Devices for indicating trouble during labour of animals ; Methods or instruments for detecting pregnancy-related states of animals monitoring or measuring activity of animals A01K29/005
• CPC Class Codes: A61D 17/002 for detecting period of heat of animals, i.e. for detecting oestrus for humans A61B10/0012

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for calculating the body condition score—BCS, the weight of an animal and its state of fertility by means of the mathematical processing of some characteristic morphological traits of the observed subject, which makes use of at least one contact or no-contact detection device of the profile 109 of the animal, at least a data processing unit and a program that implements a specific mathematical method of interpretation. By such a method, the determination of the body condition and its synthetic index or fattening index or FI, is independent of species, race, gender, age and absolute size of the examined animal. This method is also robust to possible errors of positioning of the apparatus by an operator.

Claims

1. A method for determination of a numeric index indicative of energy reserves in the form of fat accumulated by an animal, dead or living of any species and race, including humans, the numeric index comprising a body condition score or a body mass index, the method comprising the following steps:

A. digitally detecting, by optical detection of reference elements applied or projected on a body of the animal or by a profile detection system, with contact or without contact, at least a profile of an anatomical region of morphological interest, said at least a profile being defined as a shape of a curve that describes at least part of an outer perimeter of a section of said anatomical region, the curve lying on an imaginary plane intersecting said anatomical region;

B. sending said at least a profile of step A to at least one data processing unit;

C. calculating a numeric index R indicative of the energy reserves in the form of fat accumulated by the animal in said anatomical region, by at least a data processing unit on the basis of said at least a profile of step A; and

D. correlating, in said at least one data processing unit, using a predefined mathematical transform, said numeric index R with one or more state features of said animal,

wherein after step C the following further step is performed;

F. correlating, using a further predefined mathematical transform, said numeric index R of step C with a degree of fertility of the animal under examination, resulting from a combination between the numeric index R and a detected state of estrus.

2. A method for determination of a numeric index indicative of energy reserves in the form of fat accumulated by an animal, dead or living of any species and race, including humans, the numeric index comprising a body condition score or a body mass index, the method comprising the following steps:

A. digitally detecting, by optical detection of reference elements applied or projected on a body of the animal or by a profile detection system, with contact or without contact, at least a profile of an anatomical region of morphological interest, said at least a profile being defined as a shape of a curve that describes at least part of an outer perimeter of a section of said anatomical region, the curve lying on an imaginary plane intersecting said anatomical region;

B. sending said at least a profile of step A to at least one data processing unit;

C. calculating a numeric index R indicative of the energy reserves in the form of fat accumulated by the animal in said anatomical region, by at least a data processing unit on the basis of said at least a profile of step A; and

D. correlating, in said at least one data processing unit, using a predefined mathematical transform, said numeric index R with one or more state features of said animal,

wherein on the body of the animal a first side of said anatomical region with respect to a spine of the animal is present or a first side and a second side of said anatomical region with respect to the spine of the animal are present, and wherein said profile includes a point of relative maximum P_M on the spine of the animal and a first development of the profile on said first side or a first and a second development of the profile respectively on said first and second side, wherein said step C includes the following sub-steps;

C1. individuating coordinates of the relative maximum point P_M of said profile;

C2. determining a first straight line (β

) tangent to said profile, said first straight line starting from the relative maximum point P_M and touching said profile at a first point of tangency P₁ of said first side, or in addition to the first straight line of tangency determining also a second straight line of tangency (α

) running from the point of relative maximum P_M and touching said profile at a second point of tangency P′

₁ on said second side;

C3. in the case in which in step 2 only said first tangent point P₁ has been calculated, taking as the second development of said profile a specular projection of said first development with respect to a direction of the spine, and assuming as the second point of tangency P′

₁ a point specular to said first point of tangency P₁ with respect to the direction of the spine;

C4. calculating a first broken line point P₂ and a second broken line point P′

₂ as an intersection between said profile and a straight line (γ

) parallel to a base segment which goes from P₁ to P′

₁;

C5. calculating said numeric index R as;

R=f(α

₁,α

₂,α

′

₁,α

′

₂)

wherein α

₂ is an angle between segments P_MP₂ and P₂P′

₂, α

₁ is an angle between segments P₂P₁ and P₁P′

₁, α

′

₂ is an angle between segments P_MP′

₂ and P′

₂P₂, α

′

₁ is an angle between segments P′

₂P′

₁ and P′

₁P₁, and wherein α

₂=α

′

₂ and α

₁=α

′

₁ in case of the assumption of step C3 has been made.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein in step D numerical parameters of said mathematical transform depend by at least one of species, race, ethnicity, and age of the animal and are obtained by comparison with a reference population.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein in step D the following substep is performed:

D1. correlating, using a first pre-defined mathematical transform comprising a linear transform, said numeric index R of step C with a visual and tactile scale of scores comprising a linear scoring or the body condition score of the animal, and being obtained by comparison with a reference population of the animal.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein said body condition score, prime body mass index or scale of scores for the body condition, once at least one of the species, ethnic group, breed, and sex are fixed, is obtainable from the numeric index R or synthetic fattening index, using a function of the type:

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein after step C the following further step is performed:

E. correlating, using a second pre-defined mathematical transform, said numeric index R of step C, with a weight of the animal, said mathematical transform depending on at least one of species, race, gender, age of the animal and being obtained by comparison with a reference population of the animal weighted by scales.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein said profile is a profile of an anatomical region comprising a lumbar region, an abdominal region, a sacral region, a femoral region, a pectoral region, a gluteal region, a dorsal region, or a skull of the animal.

8. The method according to claim 2, wherein said imaginary plane is a plane transverse to a spine of the animal.

9. The method according to claim 2, wherein the profile detection system is a profilometer comprising triangulation scanners, time of flight and phase difference scanners, comb gauges, or flexometer sensors.

10. The method according to claim 2, wherein in step C5 first a synthetic index R_L relevant to said first development and a synthetic index R_R relevant to said second development are calculated as

R_L=f(α

₁,α

₂), R_R=f(α

′

₁,α

′

₂)

and then;

11. The method according to claim 2, wherein:

R=f(α

₁,α

₂)

or;

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein:

13. The method according to claim 2, wherein a parallel straight line (γ

) is positioned in such a way that the line perpendicular to said parallel straight line (γ

) and passing through P_M intersects on said parallel straight line a point P_H and on said base segment a point P_B such that a segment P_HP_B is substantially equal to a segment P_MP_H.

14. The method according to claim 2, wherein the profile detected in step A is sent to a control unit, that carries out a compression and associates to the profile further data concerning said animal, and subsequently sends the compression to said at least one data processing unit, local or remote.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein said further data are data detected by one or more sensors comprising:

an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a gyroscope, a thermometer, a GPS, a Wi-Fi locator, an RFID (radio frequency identification) reader, an RTLS (real time locating system) locator, or a detection system of state of estrus.

16. An apparatus for determination of a numeric index indicative of energy reserves in the form of fat accumulated by an animal, comprising at least a contact or non-contact detection system for detection of a profile of the animal, at least a control unit and at least one data processing unit, local or remote, connected to said control unit, wherein said data processing unit, local or remote, includes a program so configured that, when executed, performs steps C and D of the method according to any one of claims 3 to 5.

17. The apparatus for determination of a numeric index indicative of energy reserves in the form of fat accumulated by an animal according to claim 16, wherein said contact or non-contact detection system for detecting the profile of the animal is at least one of:

a) a camera adapted to acquire images of one or more animals with profiles highlighted by projection of coherent or not coherent light pattern or by beforehand application of paint or adhesive or elastic bands on the body of the animal, said camera being connected to said control unit, which integrates functions of at least one of;

digitization of the images, data compression and encryption, user interfacing, and data transmission;

b) a prolifometer apparatus comprising a number of needles movable in a direction and at least one digitizing system for digitizing positions of said needles, wherein said movable needles are configured to lean on the body of the animal, describing a profile with a resolution proportional to the number of needles, and wherein said digitizing system is configured to convert a dislocation of said needles into an electrical signal processable by said data processing unit; and

c) a strain gauge apparatus comprising at least one band sensitive to flexure, composed by a plurality of electronic strain gauges, and at least one signal digitizing system for digitizing a signal produced by said electronic strain gauges, wherein said band sensitive to flexure is applied on a surface or under the animal skin, and by means of the electronic strain gauges is configured to detect an expansion or a compression along a direction perpendicular to a spine of the animal, in order to describe a profile with a resolution proportional to the number of strain gauges integrated in said band, said electronic strain gauges being connected to said data processing unit.

18. The apparatus (D) for determination of a numeric index indicative of energy reserves in the form of fat accumulated by an animal according to claim 16, further comprising at least one position sensor configured to detect the positioning of said apparatus with respect to the position of said animal.

19. An apparatus for determination of a numeric index indicative of energy reserves in the form of fat accumulated by an animal, comprising at least a contact or non-contact detection system for the detection of a profile of the animal, at least a control unit and at least one data processing unit, local or remote, connected to said control unit, wherein said data processing unit, local or remote, includes a program so configured that, when executed performs steps C and D of the method according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein said apparatus (D) is portable and includes:

an extension arm adapted to be held at a first end and that supports said control unit, wherein a camera is integrated, on a second end;

a laser arm connectable to a first end to said extension arm forming an angle, and comprising a laser generator on a second end; and

an actuator, disposed on said first end of said extension arm, configured to control said laser generator.

20. The apparatus (D) for determination of a numeric index indicative of energy reserves in the form of fat accumulated by an animal according to claim 16, further comprising:

a sensor of animal presence in a predetermined area, said sensor of animal presence sending a detection signal to said control unit for step C of the method, or a reader of an identifying tag placed on said animal, said identifying tag reader being connected to said control unit.

21. An apparatus for determination of a numeric index indicative of energy reserves in the form of fat accumulated by an animal, comprising:

at least a contact or non-contact detection system for the detection of a profile of the animal,

at least a control unit and at least one data processing unit, local or remote, connected to said control unit, wherein said data processing unit, local or remote, includes a program so configured that, when executed performs a method comprising;

calculating a numeric index R indicative of the energy reserves in the form of fat accumulated by the animal in an anatomical region, by the at least a data processing unit on the basis of said profile; and

correlating, in said at least one data processing unit, using a predefined mathematical transform, said numeric index R with one or more state features of said animal; and

a system for detection of an estrus state of the animal, a combination of a body condition score (BCS) with the state of estrus providing a new indicator here defined as fertility index F, determined according to the following formula;