LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT METHOD FOR LIVESTOCK

• US 20180295809A1
• Filed: 08/08/2016
• Published: 10/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Yajima, Masakazu, Niikura, Hideo, Ishibashi, Hidenori
• Granted Patent: US 10,375,928 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 11/001 Ear-tags
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 11/004 with electronic identification means, e.g. transponders
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 11/008 incorporating GPS
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength

Abstract

[Object] A livestock management system according to an embodiment of the present technology includes a stay determination unit.

The stay determination unit determines, on the basis of data regarding a plurality of individual identification signals transmitted from a transmission apparatus that is attached to a livestock animal and transmits the individual identification signal made corresponding to the livestock animal, whether or not the livestock animal is staying within a target region corresponding to the individual identification signal.

Claims

1. A livestock management system comprising

a stay determination unit that determines, on the basis of data regarding a plurality of individual identification signals transmitted from a transmission apparatus that is attached to a livestock animal and transmits the individual identification signal made corresponding to the livestock animal, whether or not the livestock animal is staying within a target region corresponding to the individual identification signal.

2. The livestock management system according to claim 1, further comprising

a position determination unit that determines whether or not an individual identification signal transmitted from the transmission apparatus satisfies a first condition under which the transmission apparatus is positioned in the target region, wherein

the stay determination unit determines whether or not data regarding the plurality of individual identification signals determined to satisfy the first condition satisfies a second condition under which the livestock animal stays within the target region.

3. The livestock management system according to claim 2, wherein

the data regarding the individual identification signal the plurality of individual identification signals includes information about signal strength when the plurality of individual identification signals are received by one or more communication apparatuses positioned in the target region, and

the first condition includes a condition that the signal strength of the individual identification signal falls within a first strength range.

4. The livestock management system according to claim 3, wherein

the first condition includes a condition that the signal strength of the individual identification signal is equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold.

5. The livestock management system according to claim 2, wherein

the data includes information about a reception time of each of the plurality of individual identification signals in one communication apparatus positioned in the target region, and

the second condition includes a condition regarding the reception time of each of the plurality of individual identification signals.

6. The livestock management system according to claim 2, wherein

the data includes information about signal strength of each of the plurality of individual identification signals received by a plurality of communication apparatuses positioned in the target region, and

the second condition includes a condition regarding the signal strength of each of the plurality of individual identification signals.

7. The livestock management system according to claim 6, wherein

the second condition includes a condition regarding a position of the transmission apparatus estimated on the basis of the signal strength of the plurality of individual identification signals.

8. The livestock management system according to claim 1, wherein

the data includes second identification information for identifying a communication apparatus that receives each of the plurality of individual identification signals, the livestock management system further comprising

an attribute information storage unit that stores the second identification information and a region attribute information regarding an attribute of the communication apparatus, which is identified with the second identification information, in association with each other, wherein

the region attribute information includes information regarding a region corresponding to a position of the communication apparatus, and

the stay determination unit determines, on the basis of the region attribute information associated with the second identification information of each of the plurality of individual identification signals, a region corresponding to a position of the communication apparatus as the target region, and determines whether or not the livestock animal stays within the target region determined on the basis of the plurality of individual identification signals.

9. The livestock management system according to claim 8, wherein

the data includes an individual identifier that identifies a transmission apparatus that is a transmission source of the plurality of individual identification signals,

the attribute information storage unit further stores the individual identifier and management target information of a region regarding an attribute of the transmission apparatus identified with the individual identifier in association with each other,

the management target information of the region includes information regarding a region corresponding to a livestock animal wearing the transmission apparatus, the livestock management system further comprising

a region determination unit that determines, if it is determined that the livestock animal stays within the target region, whether or not the determined target region and a region corresponding to the livestock animal wearing the transmission apparatus that is the transmission source of the plurality of individual identification signals are identical to each other on the basis of the management target information of the region stored in the attribute information storage unit.

10. The livestock management system according to claim 8, wherein

the attribute information storage unit further stores a plurality of pieces of region attribute information including the region attribute information of the communication apparatus, the livestock management system further comprising:

an identification information acquisition unit that acquires the second identification information transmitted from the communication apparatus; and

a registration unit that registers the acquired second identification information and region attribute information selected from the plurality of pieces of region attribute information in association with each other as registration information, wherein

the attribute information storage unit stores, on the basis of the registration information, the second identification information and the selected region attribute information in association with each other.

11. The livestock management system according to claim 10, wherein

the identification information acquisition unit acquires the second identification information transmitted from the communication apparatus by proximity wireless communication.

12. The livestock management system according to claim 2, further comprising:

a transmission apparatus that transmits the individual identification signal;

a communication apparatus that is an apparatus different from the transmission apparatus and receives the individual identification signal transmitted from the transmission apparatus; and

an information processing apparatus that is an apparatus different from the transmission apparatus and the communication apparatus and receives the individual identification signal transmitted from the communication apparatus, wherein

the communication apparatus includes the position determination unit, and

the information processing apparatus includes the stay determination unit.

13. A management method for livestock, comprising:

receiving data regarding a plurality of individual identification signals transmitted from a transmission apparatus that is attached to a livestock animal and transmits the individual identification signal made corresponding to the livestock animal; and

determining, on the basis of the data, whether or not the livestock animal is staying within a target region corresponding to the individual identification signal.