Animal activity monitor and behavior processor

• US 4,337,726 A
• Filed: 07/07/1980
• Issued: 07/06/1982
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/1980
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Jan Czekajewski
• Original Assignee: Jan Czekajewski
• Inventors: Czekajewski, Jan A., Kober, Kenneth J., Hill, Harold L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Howell, Kyle L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jaworski, Francis J.
• Application Number:
  US06/166,306
• Time in Patent Office: 729 Days
• Field of Search: 128/782, 73/172, 119/1, 119/29, 340/541-567
• US Class Current: 119/421
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 1/031 Cages for laboratory animals; Cages for measuring metabolism of animals
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 29/005 Monitoring or measuring activity, e.g. detecting heat or mating

Abstract

An animal activity monitor and behavior processor for collecting data from an animal being tested in an observation area. The apparatus is adapted to separate animal activity data into two groups by differentiating ambulatory or relocation movements from non-ambulatory movements such as grooming, scratching or body rotation.

Claims

1. An animal activity monitor and behavior processor comprising, in combination, means forming an observation area for containing an animal specimen;

a plurality of spaced beams of radiation projected across said observation area, so as to be interrupted by the animal, as it moves within said area;

a total activity counter for automatically recording each interruption of any of the plurality of beams; and

an ambulatory counter that automatically records only the first interruption of any one of the plurality of beams until such one beam is reactivated by an interruption of another of the plurality of beams.

2. An animal activity monitor and behavior processor comprising, in combination, means forming an observation area for containing an animal specimen;

a plurality of spaced X-beams of radiation projected across said observation area in the direction of a first axis;

a second plurality of spaced Y-beams of radiation projected across said observation area in the direction of a second axis;

means for analyzing signals produced by interruption of said X-beams for determining animal position with respect to one of said axes, means for analyzing signals produced by interruption of said Y-beams for determining animal position with respect to the other of said axes;

means responsive to said signals for delineating a preselected boundary between non-ambulatory and ambulatory animal movement;

an ambulatory activity meter for automatically accumulating signals produced by displacement of the animal beyond said preselected boundary; and

a non-ambulatory activity meter for automatically accumulating signals produced by an animal activity within said preselected boundary.

3. In an animal activity monitor that comprises an observation area and a plurality of spaced beams of radiation that traverse the area, the combination of a position to voltage decoder for producing analog voltage signals responsive to breaking of the beams by the animal which signals vary in magnitude responsive to the displacement of the animal in the area;

differentiation means for detecting the magnitude of said analog voltage signals when said signals reach a predetermined threshold level;

horizontal activity signal producing means for producing voltage signals responsive to breaking of said beams by the animal;

non-ambulatory counter for automatically accumulating the horizontal activity signals;

an ambulatory counter for automatically accumulating the horizontal activity signals; and

switch means responsive to said differentiation means for switching the delivery of horizontal activity signals from one of said counters to the other when the magnitude of the analog voltage signals reaches said predetermined threshold level.

4. The monitor defined in claim 3 that includes a user adjustable control for varying the magnitude of said preselected threshold.

5. The monitor defined in claim 3 wherein the analog voltage signals are both positive and negative;

and means for rectifying the signals.

6. The monitor defined in claim 3 wherein said switch means includes a timer having a period t that establishes a time interval for the automatic reswitching between the counters responsive to the non-occurence of animal displacement during said time interval.

7. The monitor defined in claim 3 that includes means responsive to the magnitude of the analog voltage signals exceeding said preselected threshold for establishing an electronic boundary that circumscribes the animal specimen.

8. The monitor defined in claim 7 that includes means for automatically repositioning said boundary, so as to successively reestablish circumscription of the animal specimen.

9. An animal activity monitor and behavior processor comprising, in combination, means forming an observation area for containing an animal specimen;

a plurality of spaced beams of radiation projected across said observation area, so as to be interrupted by the animal, as it moves within said area;

a first signal producing means for a first one of said beams for producing first channel voltage signals responsive to interruptions of said first beam;

a first circuit channel for processing said first channel voltage signals;

a first memory segment Memory 1 in said first circuit channel and including a reset input R-1, a set input S-1, and an output Q-1;

a first transition change sensing means including an input connected to Q-1 and an output;

a second signal producing means for a second one of said beams for producing second channel voltage signals responsive to interruptions of said second beam;

a second circuit channel for processing said second channel voltage signals;

a second memory segment Memory 2 in said second circuit channel and including a reset input R-2, a set input S-2, and an output Q-2;

a second transition change sensing means including an input connected to Q-2 and an output;

a conductor connecting the two reset inputs R-1 and R-2 of the first and second memory segments;

a total activity counter for receiving and automatically counting voltage signals fed to the set inputs S-1 and S-2 of said first and second memory segments and an ambulatory activity counter for receiving and automatically counting voltage signals from the outputs of the first and second transition change sensing means.

10. The steps in the method of monitoring the activity and behavior of an animal specimen, which method comprises containing said specimen in an observation area;

automatically detecting ambulatory relocation movements of the specimen within said area;

automatically detecting non-ambulatory movements of the specimen within said area; and

automatically accumulating counts of each of the two types of movement.

11. The steps in the method of monitoring the activity and behavior of an animal specimen, which method comprises containing said specimen in an observation area;

projecting a plurality of spaced beams of radiation across the observation area such that the beams are interrupted by activity of the specimen;

monitoring total animal activity by automatically counting and recording each interruption of any of the plurality of beams; and

automatically monitoring ambulatory animal activity by separately automatically counting and recording only the first interruption of any one of the plurality of beams until such one beam is reactivated by an interruption of another of the plurality of beams.

12. The steps in the method of monitoring the activity and behavior of an animal specimen, which method comprises containing said specimen in an observation area;

projecting a plurality of spaced beams of radiation across the observation area such that the beams are interrupted by activity of the specimen;

producing analog voltage signals responsive to interruptions of said beams, said signals being proportioned in magnitude to the displacement of the specimen;

differentiating said signals below and above a preselected voltage threshold to delineate within said observation area a preselected boundary between non-ambulatory and ambulatory movements of the specimen;

utilizing the analog voltage signals having magnitudes above said preselected voltage threshold to identify movements of the specimen that traverse said boundary; and

automatically accumulating counts of each of the two types of movement.

13. The steps in the method of observing and recording the activities of an animal test specimen in an observation area, which method comprises producing analog voltage signals proportional in magnitude to the magnitude of the ambulatory displacement of the aminal in the area;

producing horizontal activity voltage signals responsive to movements made by the animal in the area;

automatically accumulating horizontal activity voltage signals as non-ambulatory;

separately accumulating horizontal activity voltage signals as ambulatory displacements; and

automatically switching from one of said accumulations to the other responsive to differentiations of said analog voltage signal.

14. The method defined in claim 13 wherein said differentiation is effected by an electronically created boundary that circumscribes the animal specimen and establishes a threshold between its non-ambulatory and ambulatory movements.

15. The method defined in claim 14 that comprises varying the size of said boundary, so as to selectively establish a threshold between said non-ambulatory movements.

16. The method defined in claim 14 that comprises automatically repositioning said electronically created boundary, so as to reestablish circumscription of the animal specimen subsequent to its displacement to a new location in the observation area.

17. The steps in the method of monitoring the activity and behavior of an animal specimen, which method comprises projecting a plurality of spaced beams of radiation across a test specimen observation area to produce uniform field of beams that are interrupted by activity of the specimen;

separately sensing interruptions of each of said beams and producing respective voltage signals for each beam in a separate circuit channel;

subjecting the voltage signals in each channel to a memory function that detects the occurrence of the first beam interruption and transmits the resulting first signal for accumulation, all repetitions signals being isolated by said memory function;

interconnecting the memory functions of each channel whereby each memory function terminates said isolation of all the other memory functions;

automatically accumulating said transmitted first voltage signals as ambulatory activity signals; and

separately automatically accumulating all voltage signals from all beam interruptions as total activity signals.

18. The method defined in claim 17 wherein the voltage signals in each channel travel along a first slower path and a second faster path;

wherein the second faster path feeds a reset input of said memory function; and

wherein all of the reset inputs of all of the memory functions are commonly connected.

19. The method defined in claim 17 wherein the voltage signals in each channel travel along a first slower path and a second faster path;

wherein the second faster path includes a switch that is actuated responsive to the occurrence of said first beam interruption.

20. The method defined in claim 17 wherein the voltage signals in each channel travel along a first slower path and a second faster path and wherein said total activity signals are accumulated from said first slower path.