INGESTIBLE ANIMAL HEALTH SENSOR
First Claim
1. An ingestible bolus disposable within a stomach of an animal to measure one or more characteristics of the animal, comprising:
- a sensor to measure an animal characteristic;
a transmitter communicatively coupled to the sensor to transmit the measured animal characteristic to a receiver;
a power source in electrical communication with the sensor and the transmitter to power the sensor and the transmitter; and
ballast weight configured to cause the bolus to be maintained in a lower portion of the stomach.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An ingestible bolus configured to be maintained in a stomach of an animal may be formed from a substantially cylindrical enclosure shell. Ballast weight and a power source may be disposed therein. The ballast weight may be configured to cause the bolus to be maintained in contact with a stomach wall of the animal when disposed therein. The bolus may comprise sensors to measure one or more animal characteristics, a transmitter in wireless communication with an animal monitoring system, a memory unit to store measured characteristics and bolus configuration data, and processor to control the operation of the bolus components. The transmitter may be in communication with an antenna, which may be formed as a trace on an antenna circuit substrate, such as a printed circuit board (PCB). The antenna may be separated from the sensors, processors, and transmitter to prevent and/or reduce interference and/or coupling therebetween. The accelerometer sensor may be a three-axis accelerometer and may be configured to detect animal movement characteristics and animal stomach contractions.
122 Citations
25 Claims
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1. An ingestible bolus disposable within a stomach of an animal to measure one or more characteristics of the animal, comprising:
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a sensor to measure an animal characteristic; a transmitter communicatively coupled to the sensor to transmit the measured animal characteristic to a receiver; a power source in electrical communication with the sensor and the transmitter to power the sensor and the transmitter; and ballast weight configured to cause the bolus to be maintained in a lower portion of the stomach. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An ingestible bolus disposable within a stomach of an animal to measure one or more characteristics of the animal, comprising:
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a three-axis accelerometer; a transmitter communicatively coupled to the three-axis accelerometer, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit measurements derived from the three-axis accelerometer to a receiver; a power supply electrically coupled to the three-axis accelerometer and the transmitter to power the three-axis accelerometer and the transmitter; and an enclosure shell, wherein the three-axis accelerometer, the transmitter, and the power supply are disposed within the enclosure shell. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for monitoring an animal characteristic, the method comprising:
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placing an ingestible bolus within a stomach of a ruminant animal, the ingestible bolus comprising a ballast weight configured to cause the bolus to be maintained movable communication with a portion of a stomach wall of the animal; measuring an acceleration characteristic of the animal using an accelerometer disposed within the bolus; and transmitting the measured acceleration characteristic using a radio frequency transmitter disposed within the bolus. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification