Systems And Methods To Track Movement Of Animals

• US 20120182145A1
• Filed: 08/09/2011
• Published: 07/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Radio Systems Corporation
• Original Assignee: Radio Systems Corporation
• Inventors: Morgan, Chris, Goetzl, Brent, Jameson, Jimmy, Edwards, Jason, Russell, Aaron
• Granted Patent: US 8,823,513 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.13
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 11/008 incorporating GPS

Abstract

Systems and methods of tracking an animal including a first device worn by an animal to acquire global positioning system (GPS) data corresponding to a location of the animal, and a second device carried by a user to receive the GPS data from the first device and to acquire GPS data corresponding to a location of the second device. The second device can include a compass element to provide a compass reading corresponding to an orientation of the second device, and a controller to calculate location and direction information of the first device relative to the second device, and a display unit to display a graphical representation indicating the location and direction of the first device relative to the second device.

Claims

1. An animal tracking system, comprising:

a first device including a receiver to acquire global positioning system (GPS) data corresponding to an animal; and

a second device to receive the GPS data of the first device and to acquire GPS data corresponding to the user, the second device including a controller to calculate location information of the animal and the user, and a display unit to display a graphical representation indicating the location of the animal relative to the user and a current direction of the animal relative to the user based on the calculated location information.

2. The animal tracking system of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation includes a direction arrow pointing in the direction the animal is heading relative to the user wherein at least a portion of the arrow represents the location of the animal.

3. The animal tracking system of claim 1, wherein the direction of the animal is determined by calculating a direction indicator between a current position of the animal and a prior position of the animal.

4. The animal tracking system of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation includes an icon to indicate the direction and location of the animal relative to the user.

5. The animal tracking system of claim 1, wherein the second device includes a compass unit to orient the second device with respect to the GPS data of the first and second devices.

6. The animal tracking system of claim 1, wherein the second device includes a user interface to selectively display historical location points of the animal relative to the user.

7. The animal tracking system of claim 6, wherein the historical location points comprise a plurality of direction arrows corresponding to historical location and direction points of the animal relative to the user.

8. The animal tracking system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of direction arrows are displayed such that a previous direction arrow is displayed in an incrementally subdued fashion with respect to a more recent direction arrow.

9. The animal tracking system of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of first devices respectively carried by a plurality of animals, respectively, wherein the graphical representation includes a plurality of indicators corresponding to the location and direction of each animal relative to the user.

10. The animal tracking system of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation includes a GPS lock indicator to indicate whether the first device has lost communication with a GPS satellite or the second device.

11. The animal tracking system of claim 2, wherein the direction arrow takes the form of a hollow arrow when the first device loses communication with a GPS communication unit or the second device.

12. The animal tracking system of claim 4, wherein the compass element is a 3-axis compass element.

13. The animal tracking system of claim 12, wherein the controller adjusts the orientation of the direction arrow based on a reading of the compass unit.

14. The animal tracking system of claim 1, wherein the first device includes a stimulation device to deliver a stimulation output to the animal in response to a stimulation signal transmitted from the second device.

15. A method of tracking an animal, comprising:

acquiring global positioning system (GPS) data corresponding to a location of a first device worn by an animal;

acquiring GPS data corresponding to a location of a second device carried by a user;

transmitting the GPS data of the first device to the second device;

calculating location information of the animal relative to the user using the GPS data of the first and second devices; and

displaying a graphical representation indicating the location of the animal relative to the user and a current direction of the animal relative to the user on the second device based on the calculated location information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the current direction of the animal is calculated based on current calculated location information of the animal compared to previous calculated location information of the animal.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

obtaining a compass reading corresponding to an orientation of the second device; and

adjusting the graphical representation based on the compass reading.

18. An animal tracking system, comprising:

a first device carried by an animal including a GPS receiver to receive global positioning system (GPS) information of the first device, the first device including a transmitter to transmit the GPS information; and

a second device carried by a user including another GPS receiver to receive GPS information of the second device and to receive the transmitted GPS information from the first device, the second device including a controller to calculate a direction indication of the animal based on a change of position between a recent location point of the transmitted GPS information and a prior location point of the transmitted GPS information, and a display unit to display a current direction and location of the animal relative to the user based on the direction indication.

19. An animal tracking system, comprising:

a first device carried by an animal to receive global positioning system (GPS) information of the first device, the first device including a transmitter to transmit the GPS information; and

a second device carried by a user to receive GPS information of the second device and to receive the transmitted GPS information from the first device, the second GPS device having a display unit to display historical location points of the first device relative to the second device.

20. The animal tracking system of claim 19, wherein the historical location points are displayed such that past location points are displayed in an incrementally subdued fashion relative to recent location points.

21. The animal tracking system of claim 19, wherein the historical location points are selectively displayed based on predetermined time periods.

22. The animal tracking system of claim 19, wherein the second device calculates a direction indication of the animal based on a change of position between a recent historical location point and a prior historical location point to display a graphical representation indicating a current direction of the animal relative to the user.