Method and System for Tracking Health in Animal Populations

• US 20170156288A1
• Filed: 12/01/2016
• Published: 06/08/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intervet Incorporated (Merck & Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Pixobot, Inc. (Merck & Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Singh, Vishal
• Granted Patent: US 11,071,279 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 11/002 Pliers specially adapted for fixing ear-tags to ears
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 11/004 with electronic identification means, e.g. transponders
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 11/008 incorporating GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 29/005 Monitoring or measuring activity, e.g. detecting heat or mating

Abstract

An animal health monitoring system includes a plurality of animal tag assemblies configured for being disposed on members of an animal population, each of the animal tag assemblies including one or more sensors configured to measure one or more animal characteristics of a member of the animal population. The system includes a concentrator communicatively coupled to the plurality of animal tag assemblies and configured to acquire one or more animal characteristics from the plurality of animal tag assemblies. The system includes a controller communicatively coupled to the concentrator and configured to receive the acquired one or more animal characteristics from the plurality of animal tag assemblies from the concentrator, determine a health state of one or more of the members of the animal population based on the received one or more animal characteristics and report the determined health state to one or more user devices.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring one or more characteristics in an animal population, comprising:

a plurality of animal tag assemblies, each animal tag assembly configured for being disposed on a member of the animal population, each of the animal tag assemblies including one or more sensors configured to measure one or more animal characteristics of the member of the animal population;

a concentrator communicatively coupled to the plurality of animal tag assemblies and configured to acquire one or more animal characteristics from the plurality of animal tag assemblies; and

a controller communicatively coupled to the concentrator, wherein the controller includes one or more processors configured to execute a set of program instructions stored in memory and configured to cause the controller to;

receive the acquired one or more animal characteristics from the plurality of animal tag assemblies from the concentrator;

determine a health state of one or more of the members of the animal population based on the received one or more animal characteristics; and

report the determined health state to one or more user devices.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of animal tag assemblies include a first animal tag assembly and at least a second animal tag assembly, wherein the first animal tag assembly is configured for being disposed on a first member of the animal population and the at least a second animal tag assembly is configured for being disposed on at least a second member of the animal population.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the first animal tag assembly includes one or more sensors configured to measure one or more animal characteristics of the first member of the animal population and at least a second animal tag assembly includes one or more sensors configured to measure one or more animal characteristics of the at least a second member of the animal population.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more animal tag assemblies includes a plurality of sensors.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the plurality of sensors includes a first temperature sensor and a second temperature sensor.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the first temperature sensor and the second temperature sensor are configured to perform a relative temperature measurement of the internal ear canal of an animal.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the plurality of sensors further includes an inertial measurement unit.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the animal tag assemblies comprise:

animal ear tag assemblies.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the concentrator is configured to execute a communication protocol to acquire data from the plurality of animal tag assemblies.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining a health state of one or more members of the animal population based on the received one or more animal characteristics comprises:

comparing the acquired one or more animal characteristics to a set of standardized characteristics to determine a health state of one or more of the members of the animal population.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining a health state of one or more members of the animal population based on the received one or more animal characteristics comprises:

perform a differential analysis procedure to determine a health state of one or more of the members of the animal population.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more animal characteristics comprise:

at least one of a physiological characteristic or a behavioral characteristic.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the physiological characteristic comprises:

at least one of a temperature or a heart rate.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the behavioral characteristic comprises:

at least one of a position characteristic, an activity characteristic or a posture characteristic.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the posture characteristic comprises:

a head tilt measurement.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the animal population comprises:

at least one of a population of livestock, a population of horses, a population of pet animals, a population of zoo animals, a population of wild animals or a population of humans.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more user devices comprise:

a mobile computing device.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the mobile computing device comprise:

at least one of a laptop, a smartphone, a tablet or a wearable device.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises:

a remote server.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the animal tag assemblies include two or more connection pass-throughs.

21. A system for monitoring one or more characteristics in an animal population, comprising:

a plurality of animal tag assemblies, each animal tag assembly configured for being disposed on a member of the animal population, each of the animal tag assemblies including at least one of a temperature sensor, an accelerometer, a magnetometer or gyroscope;

a concentrator communicatively coupled to the plurality of animal tag assemblies and configured to acquire readout data from at least one of the temperature sensor, the accelerometer, the magnetometer or the gyroscope; and

a controller communicatively coupled to the concentrator, wherein the controller includes one or more processors configured to execute a set of program instructions stored in memory and configured to cause the controller to;

receive the acquired readout data from the at least one of the temperature sensor, the accelerometer, the magnetometer or the gyroscope from the concentrator;

determine a health state of one or more of the members of the animal population based on the received readout data from at least one of the temperature sensor, the accelerometer, the magnetometer or the gyroscope; and

report the determined health state to one or more user devices.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein a first temperature sensor and a second temperature sensor are configured to acquire a differential temperature measurement of an internal ear cavity of a member of the animal population.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein at least some of the animal tag assemblies include two or more connection pass-throughs.

24. An animal tag assembly for monitoring one or more characteristics in an animal population, comprising:

an animal tag body;

a first temperature sensor disposed on the animal tag body;

a second temperature sensor disposed on the animal tag body,

wherein the first temperature sensor and the second temperature sensor are configured to acquire a differential temperature measurement of an internal ear cavity of a member of the animal population,

wherein the animal tag body includes two or more connection pass-throughs for coupling the animal tag assembly to the member of the animal population.

25. An animal tag assembly for monitoring one or more characteristics in an animal population, comprising:

an animal tag body;

one or more temperature sensors disposed on the animal tag body,

wherein the animal tag body is configured for placement on the inner portion of an ear of a member of the animal population so as to acquire a temperature measurement of an internal ear cavity of the member of the animal population;

a backing layer configured for placement on an outer surface of the ear of the member of the animal population,

wherein the animal tag body and the backing layer include two or more connection pass-throughs for coupling the animal tag assembly and the backing layer to the member of the animal population.