Cage telemetry module and system

• US 7,667,588 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2004
• Issued: 02/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Industry Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Industry Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Fleischer, Maximilian, Gulden, Peter, Glanzer, Martin, Ahmed, Osman
• Primary Examiner(s): Blount; Eric M
• Application Number:
  US10/951,450
• Publication Number:
  US 20060071773A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,975 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.22
• US Class Current: 340/521
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 1/031 Cages for laboratory animals; Cages for measuring metabolism of animals

Abstract

A remote sensor assembly includes a silicon substrate, a plurality of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensors supported on the silicon substrate, a wireless communication circuit supported on the silicon substrate, and a processing device supported on the silicon substrate. The processing device is operable to obtain measurement values from at least one of plurality of MEMS sensors, perform a first filtering operation on the measurement values, and determine whether to cause the communication circuit to transmit a signal to an external device based on the first filtering operation.

Claims

1. A remote sensor assembly for monitoring an animal cage comprising:

a silicon substrate;

a plurality of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensors supported on the silicon substrate;

a wireless communication circuit supported on the silicon substrate;

a processing device supported on the silicon substrate, the processing device operable to obtain measurement values from at least one of plurality of MEMS sensors, perform a first filtering operation on the measurement values, and determine whether to cause the communication circuit to transmit a signal to an external device based on the first filtering operation, wherein the first filtering operation includes determining whether a sensor-derived value differs from a stored reference value by more than a threshold amount, and a plurality of conduction paths formed in the silicon substrate, wherein at least a part of a plurality of MEMS sensors are disposed on a separate substrate that is supported on a surface of the silicon substrate and connected to the processing circuit at least in part through the conductive paths.

2. The remote sensor assembly of claim 1, wherein the processing device is integrally formed with the silicon substrate.

3. The remote sensor assembly of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of conduction paths formed in the silicon substrate, wherein at least a part of a plurality of MEMS sensors are disposed on a separate substrate that is supported on a surface of the silicon substrate and connected to the processing circuit at least in part through the conductive paths.

4. The remote sensor assembly of claim 1, wherein the MEMS sensors include integrated temperature, carbon dioxide, ammonia and humidity sensors.

5. The remote sensor assembly of claim 1 wherein the reference value is based on a previous sensor-derived value.

6. The remote sensor assembly of claim 1 wherein the reference value corresponds to an alarm threshold value.

7. The remote sensor assembly of claim 1 wherein the plurality of MEMS sensors are integrated into a MEMS sensor module that is disposed on the substrate, and wherein the sensor-derived value is a value received from the MEMS sensor module.

16. The remote sensor assembly of claim 1, wherein the sensor-derived value comprises an average of a plurality of sensor values.

17. The remote sensor assembly of claim 16, wherein the first filtering operation further comprises determining whether an absolute value of a difference between the average of the plurality of sensor values and the stored reference value exceeds the threshold amount.

18. The remote sensor assembly of claim 1, wherein the first filtering operation further comprises determining whether an absolute value of a difference between the sensor-derived value and the stored reference value exceeds the threshold amount.

19. The remote sensor assembly of claim 18, wherein the processing circuit is further operable to determine a first of the absolute values that is greater than zero and does not exceed the threshold amount.

20. The remote sensor assembly of claim 17, wherein the processing circuit is further operable to determine a first of the absolute values that is greater than zero and does not exceed the threshold amount.

21. The remote sensor assembly of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further operable to determine a first difference between the sensor-derived value and the stored reference value that does not exceed the threshold amount.

8. A method of obtaining sensor data from an animal cage, comprising:

a) obtaining data regarding at least one environmental factor using a sensor assembly that is disposed proximal to the animal cage, the sensor assembly including a silicon substrate, a plurality of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) sensors supported on the silicon substrate, a wireless communication circuit supported on the silicon substrate, and a processing device supported on the silicon substrate;

b) performing digitally a first filtering operation on measurement values received from at least one of plurality of MEMS sensors, the first filtering operation including a low pass filtering operation, and

c) determining whether to cause the communication circuit to transmit a signal to an external device based on the first filtering operation.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the processing device is integrally formed with the silicon substrate.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the silicon substrate includes a plurality of conduction paths formed therein, and wherein the plurality of MEMS sensors comprise a separate module that is disposed on a surface of the silicon substrate and which is coupled to the plurality of conduction paths.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of MEMs sensors includes at least two of the group consisting of temperature, carbon dioxide, ammonia and humidity sensors.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the first filtering operation includes determining whether a sensor-derived value differs from a stored reference value by more than a threshold amount.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the reference value is based on a previous sensor-derived value.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the reference value corresponds to an alarm threshold value.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of MEMS sensors are integrated into a MEMS sensor module that is disposed on the silicon substrate, and wherein the sensor-derived value is a value received from the MEMS sensor module.