Arrangement and method for determining a body condition score of an animal
First Claim
1. An arrangement for determining a body condition score of an animal, comprising:
- a three-dimensional camera system provided for being directed towards the animal and for recording at least one three-dimensional image of the animal; and
an image processing device connected to the three-dimensional camera system and provided for;
forming a three-dimensional surface representation of a portion of the animal from the three-dimensional image recorded by the three-dimensional camera system;
statistically analyzing the surface of the three-dimensional surface representation;
determining the body condition score of the animal based on the statistically analyzed surface of the three-dimensional surface representation,wherein the statistical analyzing includes calculating statistical properties of a histogram that compares how measurement data may vary over the surface of the three-dimensional surface representation, andwherein the statistical properties comprise at least one of mean value, standard deviation, smoothness, skewness, uniformity, entropy, the width of the histogram, the width at the half maximum value, or parameters of a curve fitted to the histogram;
searching, prior to normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation, for reference points in the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal serving as control points for the normalization, said reference points including the spinal ridge and the pin or hook bones of the animal in the three-dimensional surface representation; and
normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal by rotation, translation, and scaling based on the location of the reference points such that the spinal ridge is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, a connection line between the tips of the pin or hook bones is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, and the scaling of the three-dimensional surface representation is made depending on the distance between the tips of the pin or hook bones.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An arrangement for determining a body condition score of an animal comprises a three-dimensional camera system directed towards the animal and provided for recording at least one three-dimensional image of the animal; and an image processing device connected to the three-dimensional camera system and provided for forming a three-dimensional surface representation of a portion of the animal from the three- dimensional image recorded by the three-dimensional camera system; for statistically analyzing the surface of the three-dimensional surface representation; and for determining the body condition score of the animal based on the statistically analyzed surface of the three-dimensional surface representation.
17 Citations
28 Claims
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1. An arrangement for determining a body condition score of an animal, comprising:
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a three-dimensional camera system provided for being directed towards the animal and for recording at least one three-dimensional image of the animal; and an image processing device connected to the three-dimensional camera system and provided for; forming a three-dimensional surface representation of a portion of the animal from the three-dimensional image recorded by the three-dimensional camera system; statistically analyzing the surface of the three-dimensional surface representation; determining the body condition score of the animal based on the statistically analyzed surface of the three-dimensional surface representation, wherein the statistical analyzing includes calculating statistical properties of a histogram that compares how measurement data may vary over the surface of the three-dimensional surface representation, and wherein the statistical properties comprise at least one of mean value, standard deviation, smoothness, skewness, uniformity, entropy, the width of the histogram, the width at the half maximum value, or parameters of a curve fitted to the histogram; searching, prior to normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation, for reference points in the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal serving as control points for the normalization, said reference points including the spinal ridge and the pin or hook bones of the animal in the three-dimensional surface representation; and normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal by rotation, translation, and scaling based on the location of the reference points such that the spinal ridge is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, a connection line between the tips of the pin or hook bones is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, and the scaling of the three-dimensional surface representation is made depending on the distance between the tips of the pin or hook bones. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for determining a body condition score of an animal, comprising:
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directing a three-dimensional camera system towards the animal and recording at least one three-dimensional image of the animal; forming a three-dimensional surface representation of a portion of the animal from the three-dimensional image recorded by the three-dimensional camera system; statistically analyzing the surface of the three-dimensional surface representation; determining the body condition score of the animal based on the statistically analyzed surface of the three-dimensional surface representation, wherein the statistical analyzing includes calculating statistical properties of a histogram that compares how measurement data may vary over the surface of the three-dimensional surface representation, and wherein the statistical properties comprise at least one of mean value, standard deviation, smoothness, skewness, uniformity, entropy, the width of the histogram, the width at the half maximum value, or parameters of a curve fitted to the histogram; searching, prior to normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation, for reference points in the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal serving as control points for the normalization, said reference points including the spinal ridge and the in or hook bones of the animal in the three-dimensional surface representation; and normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal by rotation, translation, and scaling based on the location of the reference points such that the spinal ridge is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, a connection line between the tips of the in or hook bones is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, and the scaling of the three-dimensional surface representation is made depending on the distance between the tips of the in or hook bones. - View Dependent Claims (21)
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22. An arrangement for determining a body condition score of an animal comprising:
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a three-dimensional camera system provided for being directed towards the animal and for recording at least one three-dimensional image of a portion of the animal; and an image processing device connected to the three-dimensional camera system and provided for; forming a three-dimensional surface representation from the three-dimensional image; statistically analyzing the surface of the three-dimensional surface representation; determining the body condition score of the animal based on the statistically analyzed surface of the normalized three-dimensional surface representation, wherein the statistical analyzing includes calculating statistical properties of a histogram that compares how measurement data may vary over the surface of the three-dimensional surface representation, and wherein the statistical properties comprise at least one of mean value, standard deviation, smoothness, skewness, uniformity, entropy, the width of the histogram, the width at the half maximum value, or parameters of a curve fitted to the histogram; searching, prior to normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation, for reference points in the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal serving as control points for the normalization, said reference points including the spinal ridge and the in or hook bones of the animal in the three-dimensional surface representation; and normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal by rotation, translation, and scaling based on the location of the reference points such that the spinal ridge is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, a connection line between the tips of the in or hook bones is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, and the scaling of the three-dimensional surface representation is made depending on the distance between the tips of the in or hook bones.
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23. A method for determining a body condition score of an animal, comprising:
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directing a three-dimensional camera system towards the animal and recording at least one three-dimensional image of a portion of the animal; forming a three-dimensional surface representation from the three-dimensional image; statistically analyzing a surface of the three-dimensional surface representation by calculating statistical properties of a histogram that compares how measurement data may vary over the surface of the three-dimensional surface representation; determining the body condition score of the animal based on the statistically analyzed surface of the normalized three-dimensional surface representation, wherein the statistical properties comprise at least one of mean value, standard deviation, smoothness, skewness, uniformity, entropy, the width of the histogram, the width at the half maximum value, or parameters of a curve fitted to the histogram; searching, prior to normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation, for reference points in the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal serving as control points for the normalization, said reference points including the spinal ridge and the in or hook bones of the animal in the three-dimensional surface representation; and normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal by rotation, translation, and scaling based on the location of the reference points such that the spinal ridge is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, a connection line between the tips of the in or hook bones is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, and the scaling of the three-dimensional surface representation is made depending on the distance between the tips of the in or hook bones.
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24. An arrangement for determining a body condition score of an animal, comprising:
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a three-dimensional camera system provided for being directed towards the animal and for recording at least one three-dimensional image of a portion of the animal; and an image processing device connected to the three-dimensional camera system and provided for; forming a three-dimensional surface representation from the three-dimensional image; recognizing anatomical features in said three-dimensional surface representation; statistically analyzing a surface of the three-dimensional surface representation by calculating statistical properties of a histogram that compares how measurement data may vary over the surface of the three-dimensional surface representation; determining the body condition score of the animal based on the statistically analyzed surface of the three-dimensional surface representation, wherein the statistical properties comprise at least one of mean value, standard deviation, smoothness, skewness, uniformity, entropy, the width of the histogram, the width at the half maximum value, or parameters of a curve fitted to the histogram; searching, prior to normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation, for reference points in the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal serving as control points for the normalization, said reference points including the spinal ridge and the in or hook bones of the animal in the three-dimensional surface representation; and normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal by rotation, translation, and scaling based on the location of the reference points such that the spinal ridge is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, a connection line between the tips of the in or hook bones is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, and the scaling of the three-dimensional surface representation is made depending on the distance between the tips of the in or hook bones.
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25. A method for determining a body condition score of an animal, comprising:
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directing a three-dimensional camera system towards the animal and recording at least one three-dimensional image of a portion of the animal; forming a three-dimensional surface representation from the three-dimensional image; recognizing anatomical features in said three-dimensional surface representation; statistically analyzing a surface of the three-dimensional surface representation by calculating statistical properties of a histogram that compares how measurement data may vary over the surface of the three-dimensional surface representation; determining the body condition score of the animal based on the statistically analyzed surface of the three-dimensional surface representation, wherein the statistical properties comprise at least one of mean value, standard deviation, smoothness, skewness, uniformity, entropy, the width of the histogram, the width at the half maximum value, or parameters of a curve fitted to the histogram; searching, prior to normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation, for reference points in the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal serving as control points for the normalization, said reference points including the spinal ridge and the in or hook bones of the animal in the three-dimensional surface representation; and normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal by rotation, translation, and scaling based on the location of the reference points such that the spinal ridge is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, a connection line between the tips of the in or hook bones is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, and the scaling of the three-dimensional surface representation is made depending on the distance between the tips of the in or hook bones.
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26. A method for managing animals using body condition score, comprising:
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obtaining at least one three-dimensional image of the animal using a camera system; forming a three-dimensional surface representation of at least a portion of the animal based on the three-dimensional image; analyzing the three-dimensional surface representation to determine a body condition score for the animal representative of a fatness or thinness of the animal; automatically triggering an alarm or an action to be taken with respect to the animal, based on the determined body condition score, wherein the analyzing includes calculating statistical properties of a histogram that compares how measurement data may vary over a surface of the three-dimensional surface representation, and wherein the statistical properties comprise at least one of mean value, standard deviation, smoothness, skewness, uniformity, entropy, the width of the histogram, the width at the half maximum value, or parameters of a curve fitted to the histogram; searching, prior normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation, for reference points in the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal serving as control points for the normalization, said reference points including the spinal ridge and the in or hook bones of the animal in the three-dimensional surface representation; and normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal by rotation, translation, and scaling based on the location of the reference points such that the spinal ridge is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, a connection line between the tips of the in or hook bones is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, and the scaling of the three-dimensional surface representation is made depending on the distance between the tips of the in or hook bones.
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27. An arrangement for managing animals using body condition score, comprising:
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a three-dimensional camera system arranged to obtain at least one three-dimensional image of the animal; and an image processing device configured to; form a three-dimensional surface representation of at least a portion of the animal based on the three-dimensional image; analyze the three-dimensional surface representation to determine a body condition score for the animal representative of a fatness or thinness of the animal; automatically trigger an alarm or an action to be taken with respect to the animal, based on the determined body condition score, wherein the analyzing includes calculating statistical properties of a histogram that compares how measurement data may vary over a surface of the three-dimensional surface representation, and wherein the statistical properties comprise at least one of mean value, standard deviation, smoothness, skewness, uniformity, entropy, the width of the histogram, the width at the half maximum value, or parameters of a curve fitted to the histogram; search, prior to normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation, for reference points in the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal serving as control points for the normalization, said reference points including the spinal ridge and the in or hook bones of the animal in the three-dimensional surface representation; and normalize the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal by rotation, translation, and scaling based on the location of the reference points such that the spinal ridge is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, a connection line between the tips of the in or hook bones is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, and the scaling of the three-dimensional surface representation is made depending on the distance between the tips of the in or hook bones.
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28. An arrangement for determining a body condition score of an animal, comprising:
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a three-dimensional camera system configured to be directed towards the animal and for recording at least one three-dimensional image of the animal; and an image processing device connected to the three-dimensional camera system and configured to; form a three-dimensional surface representation of a portion of the animal from the three-dimensional image recorded by the three-dimensional camera system, wherein the portion of the animal is a region of at least one of the back or loin of the animal, and wherein the portion of the animal has an area, which area is smaller than the area of the back of the animal, and which area is located in front of the tail head and narrow enough to not include the hip or pin bones of the animal; statistically analyze the surface of the three-dimensional surface representation; determine the body condition score of the animal based on the statistically analyzed surface of the three-dimensional surface representation, wherein the statistical analyzing includes calculating statistical properties of a histogram that compares how measurement data may vary over the surface of the three-dimensional surface representation, and wherein the statistical properties comprise at least one of mean value, standard deviation, smoothness, skewness, uniformity, entropy, the width of the histogram, the width at the half maximum value, or parameters of a curve fitted to the histogram; search, prior to normalizing the three-dimensional surface representation, for reference points in the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal serving as control points for the normalization, said reference points including the spinal ridge and the pin or hook bones of the animal in the three-dimensional surface representation; and normalize the three-dimensional surface representation of the portion of the animal by rotation, translation, and scaling based on the location of the reference points such that the spinal ridge is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, a connection line between the tips of the pin or hook bones is essentially parallel with a first axis of a Cartesian coordinate system, and the scaling of the three-dimensional surface representation is made depending on the distance between the tips of the pin or hook bones.
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Specification