MONITORING DEVICE FOR ANIMALS

• US 20170095206A1
• Filed: 12/16/2016
• Published: 04/06/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Juergen Leib, Michael Gruener
• Original Assignee: Juergen Leib, Michael Gruener
• Inventors: Leib, Juergen, Gruener, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 10,898,136 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 11/008 incorporating GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 27/009 with electric-shock, sound, magnetic- or radio-waves emitting devices
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 29/005 Monitoring or measuring activity, e.g. detecting heat or mating
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2503/40 Animals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2560/0214 of power generation or supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0024 for multiple sensor units attached to the patient, e.g. using a body or personal area network
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0031 Implanted circuitry
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02055 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular condition and temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/11 Measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof, e.g. head or hand tremor, mobility of a limb for measuring pulse A61B5/02 ;A61B5/1038 takes precedence; motion detection to correct for motion artifacts in physiological signals A61B5/721
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14532 for measuring glucose, e.g. by tissue impedance measurement
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14542 for measuring blood gases A61B5/14551 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/443 Evaluating skin constituents, e.g. elastin, melanin, water
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6822 Neck
• CPC Class Codes: B06B 1/02 making use of electrical energy B06B1/18, B06B1/20 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: H02N 2/18 producing electrical output from mechanical input, e.g. generators for measurement devices G01

Abstract

A monitoring device for monitoring the well-being of animals, the monitoring device including a carrier arrangement which can be attached to an animal and which has at least one sensor for sensing a vital function of an animal wearing the carrier arrangement. In the event of a deviation of an actual state from a target state of the animal that leaves a tolerance range, an output signal signaling the deviation is outputted by an output unit.

Claims

1. A monitoring device for monitoring vital functions, the monitoring device comprising:

at least one carrier arrangement configured to be attachable to an animal and including at least one sensor configured to sense a vital function of the animal wearing said carrier arrangement;

said carrier arrangement further including an evaluation unit configured to communicate with said at least one sensor;

an output unit configured to output an output signal;

said evaluation unit further including a signal generator and a data storage unit;

said signal generator being configured to emit signals at time intervals;

said evaluation unit being configured to record at least one measured value of a vital function sensed by said sensor in response to a signal from said signal generator and to store said at least one measured value in said data storage unit and to add at least one of a data item representing said at least one measured value and a data item corresponding to said at least one measured value to previously recorded data;

said evaluation being further configured to access data stored in said data storage unit and to define at least one target state on the basis of said data;

said evaluation unit being further configured to determine an actual state on the basis of data acquired after the definition of said target state and stored in said data storage unit; and

,

said evaluation unit being configured to compare said actual state with said target state and in case of a deviation of said actual state from said target state or in case of a correspondence between an actual state and a target state, to output an output signal via the output unit.

2. The monitoring device of claim 1 comprising at least one of the following sensors:

a pulse rate sensor;

a motion sensor for detecting movements of the animal;

an acceleration sensor and/or a gyroscope and/or a step counter;

a body temperature sensor;

a blood oxygen sensor;

a respiration rate sensor;

a skin moisture sensor;

an electroencephalographic sensor;

a blood glucose sensor; and

,

a device for generating electrical energy from movements of the animal.

3. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein said carrier arrangement includes at least one of an animal collar, a dog collar, a harness, a halter, an implant housing configured to be placed on or under skin of the animal.

4. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein said evaluation unit is configured to statistically evaluate data stored in said data storage unit and to determine a target state taking into account at least one statistical parameter obtained in the evaluation.

5. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein:

said target state has target parameters associated therewith;

said evaluation unit is configured to determine at least one of said target parameters of said target state on the basis of data recorded by said sensor and to compare them with an actual state;

said target parameters including a frequency distribution of a vital function, a frequency distribution of a pulse rate, a rate of decrease of the pulse rate as acquired by a pulse rate sensor following a movement phase of the animal detected by an acceleration sensor, and a resting pulse of the animal acquired by a pulse rate sensor in a resting phase detected by a motion sensor.

6. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the evaluation unit is configured to access measured data stored in said data storage unit and to determine, on the basis of said data, at least one target state of a behavior pattern, and to determine an actual state on the basis of the data acquired by said sensor after the definition of said target state and stored in said data storage unit, and to compare said actual state of the behavior with said target state that represents a behavior pattern.

7. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein:

said carrier arrangement includes a wireless transmitter; and

,

at least one part of said evaluation unit is provided separately from said carrier arrangement and includes a wireless receiver configured for transferring data of said at least one sensor from said carrier arrangement to said part of said evaluation unit which is provided separately from said carrier arrangement.

8. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein said evaluation unit is adapted for determining a relative position of the carrier arrangement on the basis of an absolute strength of the received signal and its variation over time.

9. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein said evaluation unit is configured to, in response to a set signal, define said target state or a behavior pattern of the animal taking into account data stored in data storage unit until the time of the set signal, or to continuously update said target state using data captured by said sensor and stored in said data storage unit.

10. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the monitoring device is configured to continuously buffer sensor data and, for at least a portion of this data,

to associate them to a user-definable status or to a user-definable attribute of the animal in response to a set signal that can be triggered by a user of the evaluation unit;

or

to mark sensor data associated with the time of the set signal.

11. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein an input means is provided which can be used to input an attribute for the stored data, which describes the behavior or condition of the animal.

12. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the evaluation unit is adapted to determine, on the basis of the data of the at least one sensor stored in said data storage unit as a deviation of the actual state from the target state, the required caloric intake and/or food requirements of the animal, and to output the required caloric intake and/or food requirements to the output unit.

13. The monitoring device of claim 1 further comprising a location determination device configured to detect a location of the animal, preferably comprising a satellite navigation device.

14. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein said evaluation unit is configured to acquire further external data from at least one external data source in addition to the data captured by said at least one sensor, and to take said external data into account at least one of when comparing said target state with said actual state and when checking whether a deviation of said actual state and said target state leaves a tolerance range.

15. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein said monitoring device is configured to perform a comparison of said target state with said actual state in response to an external parameter.

16. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein said monitoring device includes a plurality of sensors of different types, wherein said evaluation unit is configured to read out the sensors with different sampling rates depending on the type of sensor.

17. The monitoring device of claim 1 further comprising:

an interface configured for data transfer from or to a database, preferably a portal or an Internet-based user-accessible database, wherein the data transferable via said interface includes at least one of the following contents;

vital function comparison data of other animals;

the current location of the animal;

address data of the animal owner; and

,

data on animal species or animal breed.

18. The monitoring device of claim 1 further comprising:

a control unit;

a energy generation device configured to generate electrical energy from movements of the animal; and

,

said control unit being configured to operate said energy generation device as an actuator for emitting a vibration signal to the animal by supplying electrical energy.

19. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein said at least one sensor for detecting a vital function of an animal wearing the carrier arrangement includes a sensor for electromagnetic waves configured to detect a vital function of an animal on the basis of received electromagnetic waves, preferably light including infrared and ultraviolet light, said sensor including a radiation source for a sensing signal in the form of electromagnetic waves with adjustable spectral range for sensing a vital function by the sensor.

20. The monitoring device of claim 1 comprising at least one sensor in the form of an autonomous sensor node configured to be attachable to an animal for capturing a vital function, the sensor node including

at least one signal pickup;

at least one of an autonomous power supply and a central power supply;

at least one an analogue interface and a digital interface; and

at least one of an analogue timer and a digital timer;

wherein said sensor node is further configured to be at least temporarily connected to at least one of a wired network, a wireless network, and an optical network with an evaluation unit preferably attachable to the animal separately from the sensor node and/or with at least one further autonomous sensor node that is attachable to the animal separately from the sensor node.

21. The monitoring device of claim 19, further comprising at least one autonomous sensor node having any of the features:

at least one of a unit for detecting and a display configured to display the sensor status, preferably with at least one of a discrete and a digital display;

at least one of an analog signal processing unit and a digital signal processing unit;

at least one of an analogue signal memory, a digital volatile signal memory and a digital non-volatile signal memory.

22. An arrangement comprising a database and a plurality of monitoring devices as claimed in claim 1, wherein the monitoring devices each have an interface for exchanging data with the database, said data comprising measured values of vital functions or a determined target state or a determined actual state of an animal wearing the carrier arrangement of the monitoring device, in particular for comparing a target state or actual state of an animal with the target state or actual state of another animal using the respective evaluation unit.

23. An arrangement with a monitoring device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the monitoring device includes a wireless transmitter configured to transmit the output signal, wherein the arrangement includes a wireless receiver configured to communicate with a control unit, and wherein said control unit is configured to drive at least one actuator in response to the reception of an output signal.

24. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the monitoring device is configured to monitor at least one of a well-being and a behavioral patter of an animal.

25. The monitoring device of claim 1, wherein said output signal indicates said deviation of said actual state from said target state or said correspondence between said actual state and said target state.