FLEXER HAGAI (IL)
| US6536377B2 | 2003-03-25 | |||
| US6129686A | 2000-10-10 | |||
| US6616607B2 | 2003-09-09 | |||
| US6348665B1 | 2002-02-19 |
WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:
1. An apparatus, attachable to an animal for measuring said animal's posture, said apparatus comprised of:
• a slope's gauge for indicating said animal's posture; and
• a controller operative for: o sequentially receiving incline measure from said slope's gauge; o counting the duration of each incline position; and o storing and/or transmitting the inclination and the duration of each of said incline positions.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, further includes a communication unit that capable to transmit an receive information via a transceiver and/or a connector
3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said apparatus is designed to use as a lying-meter of a ruminant by the way of counting and reporting the lying frequency of said ruminant in a predetermined period of time and counting and reporting the duration of each of said lying.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein said slope's gauge provides binary incline measure indications, first indication for the inclination range between vertical and a predetermined inclination threshold and second indication for an inclination that passes said threshold to horizontal.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said slope's gauge is a tilt-switch.
6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said apparatus is attachable to a leg of said animal in order to measure the frequency of said animal's lying and the duration of each lying and wherein said lying information is collected and stored and/or transmitted by said controller.
7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said apparatus is attachable to a leg of said animal in order to measure the frequent of standing versus walking or running of said animal - by defining walking and running as a threshold frequency of said binary incline measure indication changes - and wherein said controller collects said measured information including standing and walking time and walk's duration and frequency.
8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said slope's gauge has spatial slope detection capability.
9. An apparatus attachable to an animal's leg for measuring said animal's posture, particularly for use as an animal's lying-meter, said apparatus comprised of:
• a housing, attachable to said animal's leg;
• a slope's gauge for indicating said animal's posture, located inside said housing, capable to detect a predetermined inclination threshold and to report said detection; and
• a controller, connected to said slope's gauge and operative for: o receiving said detections from said slope's gauge; o counting the duration of each detection position; o storing and/or transmitting the time and duration of each of said detections; o using said detection's information to calculate at least one of the followings, according to a predetermined period of time: i) the quantity of animal's changes to lay position; ii) the time and the duration of each of said lying positions; iii) the quantity of animal's changes to stand position; iv) the time and the duration of each of said stand positions; v) the quantity of animal's changes to walking position; vi) the time and the duration of each of said walking positions; and/or vii) the walking frequency of said walking position; and o storing and/or transmitting said calculations; and
• a communication unit that capable to transmit said calculations' results and receives information, via a transceiver and/or a connector.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said apparatus further includes a pedometer and said controller receives information from said pedometer in order to output and/or to use said information.
11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said slope's gauge is a tilt-switch that changes from off to on and vice versa, when said tilt-switch is inclined over a predetermined threshold angle.
12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said tilt-switch is an omni-directional tilt-switch. |
AN APPARATUS FOR MEASURING AN ANIMAL'S POSTURE, PARTICULARLY FOR MEASURING A RUMINANT'S POSTURE.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of dairy management and controlling. More specifically, the present invention relates to the behavior measuring of animals, particularly ruminants.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The frequency and duration of each kind of posture of an animal are useful indications that providing important information. For example, lying down and ruminate - which is a major part of the daily cycle of ruminants - have a very significant influence on the milk productivity.
Ruminant's comfort and relief ness is a new developing practice that should provide better tools for planning the lying and resting parameters of a dairy.
Ruminants' behavior - as a group or as an individual - supplies useful information and therefore should be measured and analyzed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is an apparatus, attachable to an animal - preferably to a leg of the animal, for measuring the animal' s posture. The provided apparatus is comprised of:
• a slope's gauge for indicating the animal' s posture, e.g., according to the inclination of the animal's leg; and
• a controller operative for: o sequentially receiving incline measure from the slope's gauge; o counting the duration of each incline position; and o storing and/or transmitting the inclination and the duration of each of the incline positions.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention the apparatus further includes a communication unit that capable to transmit an receive information via a transceiver and/or a connector
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention the apparatus is provided wherein the apparatus is designed to use as a lying-meter of a ruminant by the way of counting and reporting the lying frequency of the ruminant in a predetermined period of time and counting and reporting the duration of each lying.
According to another preferred embodiment, the present invention is provided wherein the slope's gauge provides binary incline measure indications, first indication for the inclination range between vertical and a predetermined inclination threshold
and second indication for an inclination that passes the threshold to horizontal, e.g., tilt-switch.
According to another preferred embodiment, the present invention is provided wherein the apparatus is attachable to a leg of the animal in order to measure the frequency of animal's lying and the duration of each lying and wherein the lying information is collected and stored and/or transmitted by the controller.
According to another preferred embodiment, the present invention is provided wherein the apparatus is attachable to a leg of the animal in order to measure the frequent of standing versus walking or running of the animal - by defining walking and running as a threshold frequency of the binary incline measure indication changes - and wherein the controller collects the measured information including standing and walking time, and walk's duration and frequency.
According to another preferred embodiment, the present invention is provided wherein the slope's gauge has spatial slope detection capability.
According to another aspect of the present invention, it is provided an apparatus attachable to an animal's leg for measuring the animal's posture. This apparatus is particularly for use as an animal's lying-meter. This apparatus is comprised of: • a housing, attachable to the animal's leg;
• a slope's gauge for indicating the animal's posture, located inside the housing, capable to detect a predetermined inclination threshold and to report this detection; and
• a controller, connected to the slope's gauge and operative for: o receiving the detections from the slope's gauge; o counting the duration of each detection position; o storing and/or transmitting the time and duration of each detection; o using the detection's information to calculate at least one of the followings, according to a predetermined period of time: i. the quantity of animal's changes to lie position; ii. the time and the duration of each lying position; iii. the quantity of animal's changes to stand position; iv. the time and the duration of each stand position; v. the quantity of animal's changes to walking position; vi. the time and the duration of each walking position; and/or vii. the walking frequency of the walking position; and o storing and/or transmitting the calculations; and
• a communication unit that capable to transmit the calculations' results and receive information e.g., controller's update, via a transceiver and/or a connector.
According to a preferred embodiment of the mentioned apparatus, it is provided wherein the apparatus further includes a pedometer and the controller receives information from this pedometer in order to output and/or to use this information.
According to another preferred embodiment of the mentioned apparatus, the apparatus is provided wherein the slope's gauge is a tilt-switch that changes from off to on and vice versa, when the tilt-switch is inclined over a predetermined threshold angle.
According to yet another preferred embodiment of the mentioned apparatus, the apparatus is provided wherein the tilt- switch is an omni-directional tilt-switch.
The present invention successfully addresses the shortcomings of the existing technologies by providing an apparatus for measuring the animal's posture particularly for use as an animal's lying-meter. The apparatus of the present invention is simple, reliable, and inexpensive.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
The invention is herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. With specific reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the present invention only, and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the
description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice.
In the figures: Figure 1 illustrates the present invention in general.
Figure 2 illustrates a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the invention that includes pedometer.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERED EMBODIMENTS The present invention is an apparatus, attachable to an animal for measuring the animal's posture. The animal's postures could be standing, walking, running and lying. The apparatus is built of two main parts, a slope's gauge and a controller. The slope's gauge is attached to an animal e.g., to an animal's leg - static vertical position indicates "standing", static inclined position indicates "lying" and rapid inclination changes indicates "walking" or "running" (according to the changes' frequency). The controller collects information from the slope's gauge in accordance to time and calculates variety of animal's behavior information.
The principles and operation of the apparatus according to the present invention may be better understood with reference to the drawing and the accompanying description.
Referring now to the drawing, Figure 1 illustrates the present invention in general. The apparatus 12 is attached to the animal's 11 leg. The apparatus 12 includes slope's gauge 13 that
is connected to a controlling unit 14 that includes a controller and memory. Usually, the controlling unit has the identification details of the animal to which it is attached. The information could be transmitting to a remote receiver or to output via the communication unit 75 that also enables receiving information e.g., controller's update or animal's details.
Figure 2 illustrates a block diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that includes pedometer. The illustrated embodiment is a tag 12 with a controller 16 that receives information from a slope's gauge 13 that in this case is a tilt-switch device with a threshold of 60 degrees. Tilt-switch device is a well-known device that is used as a slope's gauge. In additional the controller 16 receives information from the pedometer 20 that includes two vertical tilt-switches (1 & 2). The position of the tilt-switch device 13 and its' frequency of changes are translated by the- controller to the animal's posture and each posture and its' duration is saved in the memory 17. The communication unit 18 capable to receive the information from the controller 16 and transmits it to a remote receiver via the antenna 19 or to provide the information via an output connector 15. The communication unit 18 is also capable to receive updates and other information for the controller 16 or to be saved in the memory 17.
As used herein in the specification and in the claims section that follows, the term "tilt-switch" and the like refer to the device that contains switch and a gravity element. The
gravity element remains vertical when the whole device is inclined and turns the switch when inclination passes a preset or predetermined threshold. Many kinds of tilt-switches exist in the market, which differ by operation method and specifications.
Although the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art; accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations that fall within the spirit and broad scope of the appended claims.