NON-INVASIVE AUTOMATIC MONITORING OF PET ANIMAL'S CORE TEMPERATURE
First Claim
1. A system for monitoring whether a core temperature of a warm-blooded pet animal is within a normal range for the pet animal, the system comprising:
- a sensing assembly including (i) a skin temperature sensor positioned such that a sensing surface of the skin temperature sensor faces a body of the pet animal, the skin temperature sensor configured to produce a skin temperature output, (ii) an ambient temperature sensor spaced away from the body of the animal and configured to produce an ambient temperature output, and (iii) an accelerometer for sensing an acceleration level of the pet animal and producing an acceleration output; and
a processor for receiving the skin temperature output, the ambient temperature output and the acceleration level output and for determining whether the core temperature of the pet animal is within the normal range based on a pre-defined function relating the skin temperature output, TS, the ambient temperature output, TA, and an activity level, A, of the pet animal, the activity level, A, determined by the processor from the acceleration output.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system, device and method monitoring whether a core temperature of a warm-blooded pet animal is within a normal range for the pet animal comprises a sensing assembly including (i) a skin temperature sensor positioned such that a sensing surface of the skin temperature sensor faces the animal, the skin temperature sensor configured to produce a skin temperature output, (ii) an ambient temperature sensor spaced away from the animal and configured to produce an ambient temperature output, and (iii) an accelerometer for sensing an acceleration of the pet animal and producing an acceleration output; and a processor for receiving the outputs, calculating an activity level from the acceleration data and determining whether the core temperature of the pet animal is within the normal range based on a pre-defined function relating the skin temperature TS, the ambient temperature TA, and the activity level of the pet animal.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A system for monitoring whether a core temperature of a warm-blooded pet animal is within a normal range for the pet animal, the system comprising:
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a sensing assembly including (i) a skin temperature sensor positioned such that a sensing surface of the skin temperature sensor faces a body of the pet animal, the skin temperature sensor configured to produce a skin temperature output, (ii) an ambient temperature sensor spaced away from the body of the animal and configured to produce an ambient temperature output, and (iii) an accelerometer for sensing an acceleration level of the pet animal and producing an acceleration output; and a processor for receiving the skin temperature output, the ambient temperature output and the acceleration level output and for determining whether the core temperature of the pet animal is within the normal range based on a pre-defined function relating the skin temperature output, TS, the ambient temperature output, TA, and an activity level, A, of the pet animal, the activity level, A, determined by the processor from the acceleration output. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of monitoring a core temperature of a pet animal, the method comprising:
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a temperature sensor of a sensor assembly facing a body of the pet animal and sensing and outputting a skin temperature of the pet animal; an ambient temperature sensor on an outer surface of the sensor assembly sensing and outputting an ambient temperature; an accelerometer of the sensor assembly sensing and outputting an acceleration of the pet animal; transmitting the outputs of the skin temperature, ambient temperature and acceleration to a processor configured to calculate an activity level of the pet animal from the acceleration, the processor determining whether the pet animal'"'"'s core temperature is in a normal range based on a pre-defined function relating the skin temperature, the ambient temperature and the activity level. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method of determining if an animal'"'"'s core temperature is within a normal range, comprising:
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sensing, and obtaining data for, a measured ambient temperature TA, skin temperature TS, and acceleration data; calculating activity level, A, from the acceleration data; using TA to select a zone from (i) a thermoneutral zone, (ii) a zone below lower critical temperature (Tlc) and (iii) a zone above upper critical temperature (Tuc); obtaining one or more coefficients; calculating a baseline of a model; using activity A and coefficients to calculate a tolerance range; and determining whether the animal has a normal core temperature based on whether the skin temperature at ambient temperatures within the selected zone is within the tolerance range. - View Dependent Claims (28)
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29. A device for monitoring whether a core temperature of a warm-blooded pet animal is within a normal range for the pet animal, the device comprising:
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a sensing assembly including (i) a skin temperature sensor positioned such that a sensing surface of the skin temperature sensor faces a body of the pet animal, the skin temperature sensor configured to produce a skin temperature output, (ii) an ambient temperature sensor spaced away from the body of the animal and configured to produce an ambient temperature output, and (iii) an acceleration sensor for sensing an acceleration of the pet animal and producing an acceleration output; and a processor for receiving the skin temperature output, the ambient temperature output and the acceleration output, calculating an activity level from the acceleration output and for determining whether the core temperature of the pet animal is within the normal range based on a pre-defined function relating the skin temperature TS output, the ambient temperature TA output and the activity level of the pet animal. - View Dependent Claims (30)
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Specification