Electronic bait station

• US 20050134466A1
• Filed: 01/24/2005
• Published: 06/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: J I Peston Pty., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: J I Peston Pty., Ltd.
• Inventors: Tirkel, Anatol Zygmunt
• Granted Patent: US 7,218,234 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/573.200
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 1/026 combined with devices for monitoring insect presence, e.g. termites bait stations A01M1/2005; detecting other animals in a given area A01M31/002
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 1/2011 for crawling insects
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 2200/011 Crawling insects
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 25/004 Bait stations, i.e. boxes completely enclosing the bait and provided with animal entrances
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 31/002 Detecting animals in a given area

Abstract

An electronic bait station utilising the disruption of an electromagnetic field to detect the movement of insects or small animals within the station. The bait station consists of a housing, with at least one cavity having an electromagnetic radiation element generating an electromagnetic field in the cavity, and an electromagnetic receiving element detecting the electromagnetic field. Movement of an insect or small animal in the cavity causes a change in the electromagnetic field, which is detected. The preferred bait station comprises an outer cavity and a coaxial inner cavity, each with an electromagnetic field. This arrangement allows the direction of movement of insects and small animals to be determined and minimises the occurrence of spurious signals.

Claims

1. A bait station comprising:

a housing;

at least one cavity formed within said housing;

a plurality of openings for permitting insects or small animals to enter and exit said bait station;

at least one electromagnetic radiation element transmitting an electromagnetic field in said at least one cavity; and

at least one electromagnetic receiving element detecting the electromagnetic field in said at least one cavity;

wherein

at least one electromagnetic receiving element detects changes in the electromagnetic field in said at least one cavity caused by the ingress or egress of said insects or said small animals.

2. The bait station of claim 1 further comprising means for generating the electromagnetic field in signal connection with said electromagnetic radiation element.

3. The bait station of claim 1 further comprising means for processing received signals from said at least one electromagnetic receiving element.

4. The bait station of claim 1 wherein the electromagnetic field has minima and maxima spaced in azimuthal and/or longitudinal directions.

5. The bait station of claim 4 wherein the maxima and minima have a spacing in the range of 1 millimetre to 100 millimetres.

6. The bait station of claim 1 further comprising a bait in said housing.

7. The bait station of claim 1 further comprising memory means that stores data including one or more of:

received electromagnetic field signal;

status of said cavities;

status of a bait dispenser; and

status of a power supply.

8. The bait station of claim 1 further comprising an onboard bi-directional RF link for transmitting an activity data of the bait station to a remote location.

9. The bait station of claim 1 further comprising provocation means that causes increased movement of the insects or small animals.

10. A bait station comprising:

a housing;

an outer cavity formed within said housing;

an inner cavity formed within said outer cavity;

a plurality of openings for permitting insects or small animals to enter and exit said outer cavity and said inner cavity;

at least one electromagnetic radiation element transmitting an electromagnetic field in each said cavity; and

at least one electromagnetic receiving element detecting the electromagnetic field in each said cavity;

wherein

said at least one electromagnetic receiving element in each said cavity detects changes in the electromagnetic field in respective said cavity caused by the ingress or egress of said insects or said small animals.

11. The bait station of claim 10 wherein the inner cavity is coaxial with the outer cavity.

12. The bait station of claim 10 wherein the outer cavity is formed by an outer wall of the housing.

13. A method of detecting the presence of insects or small animals in a bait station having a housing, at least one cavity formed in the housing and a plurality of openings permitting ingress or egress of insects or small animals, said method including the steps of:

generating an electromagnetic field in said at least one cavity formed within the housing of said bait station; and

detecting a change in the electromagnetic field in said at least one cavity caused by the ingress or egress of said insects or said small animals.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the electromagnetic receiving element is interrogated periodically.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the electromagnetic receiving element is interrogated on demand by a processor.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein electromagnetic receiving element is interrogated with a duty cycle of 0.001.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein the electromagnetic receiving element operates in a standby mode until an activity in the bait station is detected.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the activity is a change in the electromagnetic field is detected.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the electromagnetic field is generated at a resonance frequency of the cavity.

20. The method of claim 13 wherein the electromagnetic field is radiated in a high order TEM resonant mode.

21. The method of claim 13 further including the step of provoking the insects or small animals to increased movement.

22. A method of detecting the presence of insects or small animals in a bait station having a housing enclosing an outer cavity and a coaxial inner cavity, and having a plurality of openings into said outer cavity and between said outer and inner cavities, said method including the steps of:

generating electromagnetic fields in said inner cavity and said outer cavity; and

detecting a change in either or both electromagnetic fields caused by the ingress or egress of said insects or said small animals.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein a change in electromagnetic field in said inner cavity is compared to a change in electromagnetic filed in said outer cavity to determine if said insects or small animals ingress or egress.