Time of flight animal monitoring
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An animal monitoring system including:
- a. an animal transceiver unit for placement on an animal having a transceiver circuit for transmitting and receiving signals;
b. a base transceiver unit for operation to monitor relative movement of the animal transceiver unit having base transceiver circuitry for transmitting and receiving signals relative to the animal transceiver unit;
wherein, at least one of the animal transceiver unit and the base transceiver unit is configured to provide an indicia of relative distance between the animal transceiver unit and the base transceiver unit in response to signal communication between the animal transceiver unit and the base transceiver unit to monitor relative movement between the base transceiver unit and the animal transceiver unit, and wherein further at least one of the animal and base transceiver units operates to provide a reference control distance and wherein at least one of the animal and base transceiver units operates to compare the relative distance between the animal transceiver unit and the base transceiver unit with the reference control distance to produce an output control signal when the comparison meets a criteria for control;
c. a motion detector for detecting movement of the animal to enable at least one of transmission and reception of signals between the animal transceiver unit and the base transceiver unit at a desired frequency of communication;
wherein at least one of the animal and base transceiver units operates to increase the frequency of communication between the animal and base transceiver units upon detection of a relative movement of the animal and base transceiver units to within a desired distance relative to the reference control distance; and
d. animal stimulus circuitry for providing a stimulus to the animal in response to the output control signal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method are provided for monitoring the movement of an animal. An animal transceiver unit is placed on the animal for transmitting and receiving signals. A base transceiver unit for transmitting and receiving signals relative to the animal transceiver unit is operated to monitor relative movement of the animal transceiver unit and the base transceiver unit. An indication of the relative distance between the base transceiver unit and the animal transceiver unit is provided in response to signal communication between the animal and base transceiver units.
54 Citations
41 Claims
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1. An animal monitoring system including:
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a. an animal transceiver unit for placement on an animal having a transceiver circuit for transmitting and receiving signals; b. a base transceiver unit for operation to monitor relative movement of the animal transceiver unit having base transceiver circuitry for transmitting and receiving signals relative to the animal transceiver unit;
wherein, at least one of the animal transceiver unit and the base transceiver unit is configured to provide an indicia of relative distance between the animal transceiver unit and the base transceiver unit in response to signal communication between the animal transceiver unit and the base transceiver unit to monitor relative movement between the base transceiver unit and the animal transceiver unit, and wherein further at least one of the animal and base transceiver units operates to provide a reference control distance and wherein at least one of the animal and base transceiver units operates to compare the relative distance between the animal transceiver unit and the base transceiver unit with the reference control distance to produce an output control signal when the comparison meets a criteria for control;c. a motion detector for detecting movement of the animal to enable at least one of transmission and reception of signals between the animal transceiver unit and the base transceiver unit at a desired frequency of communication;
wherein at least one of the animal and base transceiver units operates to increase the frequency of communication between the animal and base transceiver units upon detection of a relative movement of the animal and base transceiver units to within a desired distance relative to the reference control distance; andd. animal stimulus circuitry for providing a stimulus to the animal in response to the output control signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 37, 38, 39)
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22. A method of monitoring the movement of animal including the steps of
a. placing an animal transceiver unit for transmitting and receiving signals on an animal to be monitored; -
b. placing a base transceiver unit for transmitting and receiving signals relative to the animal transceiver unit at a location for monitoring relative movement between the base transceiver unit and the animal transceiver unit; c. providing signal communications between the animal transceiver unit and the base transceiver unit; d. detecting movement of the animal transceiver unit to enable the animal transceiver unit to at least one of transmit and receive signals relative to the base transceiver unit at a desired frequency of communication in response to movement of the animal; e. determining relative distance between the base transceiver unit and the animal transceiver unit in response to signal communications between the animal transceiver unit and the base transceiver unit to monitor the relative movement between the base transceiver unit and the animal transceiver unit; f. providing a reference control distance; g. comparing the relative distance between the animal transceiver unit and the base transceiver unit with the reference control distance; h. increasing the frequency of communication between the animal and base transceiver units when relative movement of the animal and base transceiver units is detected to be within a desired distance relative to the reference control distance; i. producing a control output signal when the comparison of the relative distance between the animal and base transceiver units and the reference control distance meets a selected criteria for control; and j. providing a stimulus to the animal in response to the output control signal. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 40, 41)
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36. A system for restricting the movement of an animal comprising:
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a. a base unit comprising a transceiver for broadcasting a wireless signal, b. an animal unit for placement on an animal comprising i) a transceiver for receiving the wireless signal and effecting signal communication between the base unit and the animal unit at a desired frequency of communication and ii) a stimulus generator for applying a stimulus wherein the animal unit interprets the signal of the base unit to determine the distance between the animal unit and base unit and signals the stimulus generator to apply a stimulus to the animal when the distance between the animal unit and the base unit meets or reaches a threshold and wherein at least one of the base and animal units operates to increase the frequency of communication between base and animal units when the distance between the animal and base units reaches a desired distance from the threshold, and c. a motion detector for detecting motion of the animal to enable at least one of transmission and reception of signals between the animal unit and the base unit at a desired frequency of communication.
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Specification