CN217883843U - Living animal transportation tracking device and system - Google Patents

Abstract

A living animal transport tracking apparatus and system are disclosed. The tracking device includes: a battery configured to power the tracking device; a sensor configured to sense an ambient environment proximate to the tracking device; a processor configured to process data received from the sensor to derive environmental information; the processor transmits the environment information to an external wireless hub through the antenna; and a main body in which the battery, the sensor, the processor, and the antenna are accommodated.

Description

Living animal transportation tracking device and system

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of aviation, and in particular to live animal transport by aircraft.

Background

Many live animals, including pets, are transported by aircraft each year using shipping containers or cages. The ever increasing demand and ever increasing expectations and regulations mean that airlines, regulators and airports continually seek better solutions to ensure that live animals are transported in the safest, most humane and most cost-effective manner. While the containers or cages currently in use are able to meet the stringent safety requirements of live animals, aircraft and managers, existing solutions do not provide additional "intelligent" functionality that can further enhance the comfort and health of the live animals being transported, and can also be used by live animal custodians or managers on the aircraft along with the live animals during transport.

Some companies have developed smart cages for pets. However, they are only concerned with the most common container sizes. In fact, different sizes of animals require different sized cages. For example, large dogs cannot fit into a medium size cage.

Furthermore, after each transport, the cage must be subjected to a thorough cleaning and disinfection process. This means a large amount of water and cleaning solution, which is not friendly to intelligent cages containing electronics.

Some pet trackers already exist. However, because these pet trackers are not developed for aviation, they cannot work in shipping. Even if they pass the required tests and are allowed to be used in shipment, they will not be able to send data because they cannot connect to the wireless network.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

A brief summary of the disclosure is provided below in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. It should be understood that this summary is not an exhaustive overview of the disclosure. It is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure or to delineate the scope of the disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is discussed later.

In view of the above, it is an object of the present disclosure to improve the tracking and monitoring capabilities of a living animal, such as a pet, when transported by an aircraft, thereby improving the safety and experience of the living animal and its owner.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a living animal transport tracking apparatus including: a battery to power the tracking device; a sensor that senses an ambient environment near the live animal transport tracking device; a processor that processes data received from the sensor to derive environmental information; the processor transmits the environment information to an external wireless hub through the antenna; and a body in which the battery, the sensor, the processor, and the antenna are housed.

In a preferred embodiment, the environmental information is the temperature and humidity around the tracking device and the living animal during transport.

In a preferred embodiment, the body of the tracking device is waterproof or water-tight. This ensures that the tracking device does not fail in the event of exposure to liquid.

In a preferred embodiment, the tracking device further comprises a through hole formed by the body of the tracking device and configured to pass a fastener, such as a chain or a string. The tracking device is attached to the live animal transport cage by fasteners.

In a preferred embodiment, the tracking device further comprises a light emitting diode indicating the connection status or the power status of the tracking device.

In a preferred embodiment, the battery is a button cell battery.

In a preferred embodiment, the processor is further configured to acquire location information of the tracking device from surrounding devices using short-range communication techniques, and further configured to transmit the location information to the wireless hub. The wireless hub may be located on an aircraft.

In a preferred embodiment, the processor is further configured to transmit the context information and/or the location information to the wireless hub at fixed time intervals.

In a preferred embodiment, the wireless hub is configured to transmit the environmental and/or location information received from the processor to a remote server, and the remote server is configured to transmit the environmental and/or location information to the client device.

According to a further aspect of the present disclosure, the live animal transport tracking device is attached by a fastener, such as a chain or rope, to the exterior of a live animal transport cage or container for transporting the live animal by aircraft.

In a preferred embodiment, the tracking device, when attached to the outside of the cage, is also adhered to the hard surface of the cage.

In a preferred embodiment, the tracking device is placed inside a cage, and a box for housing the tracking device is arranged inside the cage.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a living animal transport tracking system is provided. The tracking system includes: a live animal transport tracking device according to the present disclosure; a wireless network; a wireless hub which receives the environmental information and/or the location information transmitted by the tracking device through a wireless network and transmits the environmental information and/or the location information to a remote server through the wireless network; a remote server transmitting the environment information and/or the location information received from the wireless hub to the client device; and a client device on which an application program for notifying the environment information and/or the location information is installed.

Preferably, the wireless hub includes a cache for temporarily storing environmental and/or location information received from the tracking device in the event of an inability to connect to a wireless network.

Additional aspects of the disclosed embodiments are set forth in the description section that follows, wherein the detailed description is presented to fully disclose preferred embodiments of the disclosed embodiments without imposing limitations thereon.

Drawings

The disclosure may be better understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like or similar reference numerals are used throughout the figures to designate like or similar components. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification, further illustrate preferred embodiments of the present disclosure and explain the principles and advantages of the present disclosure, are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. Wherein:

fig. 1 is a block diagram of a live animal transport tracking device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary implementation of the live animal transport tracking device of FIG. 1;

figures 3A and 3B schematically illustrate the live animal transport tracking device of figure 2 attached to the outside of a cage;

figures 4A and 4B schematically illustrate the live animal transport tracking device of figure 2 attached to the inside of a cage;

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a live animal transport tracking system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a flow chart for air transport of live animals;

fig. 7 is a flow chart of a method for tracking a consigned living animal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the interest of clarity and conciseness, not all features of an actual implementation are described in the specification. It will of course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual embodiment, numerous implementation-specific decisions may be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which will vary from one implementation to another.

Here, it should be further noted that, in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure with unnecessary details, only components closely related to the scheme according to the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, and other details not so related to the present disclosure are omitted.

In addition, in describing the components of the present disclosure, terms such as first, second, a, B, (a), (B), etc. may be used herein. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element, and the attribute, order, sequence, and the like of the respective elements are not limited by the respective terms. In the case where one component is described as being "connected to" or "coupled to" another component, it should be construed that the one component may be directly "connected to" or "coupled to" the other component, or may be "connected to" or "coupled to" the other component via an intermediate component. Unless terms such as "including" and "having" are used herein with the term "only," these terms are generally intended to allow for the addition of other components. Any reference to the singular also includes the plural unless specifically stated otherwise.

As described above, in order to improve the tracking and monitoring ability of live animals while being transported by aircraft, the present disclosure proposes an intelligent live animal transport tracking device that can be attached to any existing aircraft transport cage to collect position information, temperature and humidity information, etc., and transmit these information to a nearby wireless Hub (Hub) over a wireless network. The wireless hub may be arranged in an aircraft, in an airport, in a transport vehicle and in a ground station. The wireless Hub then sends this information over the wireless network to a remote server such as a cloud. The remote server stores this information and sends the corresponding information over a wireless network to a client device such as a personal computer or mobile device. The owner of the animal and the air transport service personnel can utilize the application on the client device to: knowing the real-time location, route and delivery time of the animal; and knowing the ambient temperature and humidity in the vicinity of the animal during transport and alerting when the temperature or humidity is too high or too low to take action in time.

A tracking device 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is described below with reference to fig. 1 to 4B.

Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a live animal transportation tracking device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 1, the tracking device 1 includes a main body 10, a battery 11, a sensor 12, a processor 13, and an antenna 14. The body 10 may be of any suitable shape, for example oval, circular or square, and houses the battery 11, sensor 12, processor 13 and antenna 14. The battery 11 is used to supply power to the electronic components of the tracking device 1, and is preferably a button battery to reduce the volume and weight of the tracking device 1. The sensor 12 senses the environment, such as temperature and humidity, in the vicinity of the tracking device 1 and sends the sensed data to the processor 13. The processor 13 processes the received sensed data to derive environmental information, and transmits the environmental information to an external wireless Hub through the antenna 14 via a wireless network.

It should be noted that the working distance of the sensor 12 is typically between 20 and 200 meters, depending on the environmental conditions. For example, the working distance may be up to 200 meters or more if there is no wall or sheet metal barrier between them. In the context of the present disclosure, the working distance of the sensor 12 is between 20 and 30 meters, for example in an airport or aircraft.

In a preferred embodiment, the body 10 of the tracking device 1 is waterproof or watertight. This ensures that the tracking device 1 does not malfunction if exposed to liquid.

Preferably, the processor 13 also acquires the current location information of the tracking device 1 from surrounding devices through a short-range communication technique, and transmits the location information together with environmental information to nearby wireless hubs through a wireless network. For example, the processor 13 may transmit the environment information and/or the location information to the wireless Hub at fixed time intervals.

It will be appreciated that from the time a live animal enters the consignment program, the processor 13 can obtain, in real time, via the surrounding equipment, the location information of the tracking device 1 being consigned with that animal. The surrounding devices may be, for example, mobile devices of staff, GPS systems of aircraft or ground stations, etc.

It should be noted that in the present disclosure, the tracking device 1 may employ any existing short-range communication technology to obtain the location information, such as bluetooth, irDA (infrared data transmission), zigBee, RFID (radio frequency identification), NFC (near field communication), and the like. Preferably, a short-range communication technology with low power consumption, such as Zigbee, may be employed, thereby extending the service life of the battery 11.

Fig. 2 is an exemplary implementation of the tracking device 1 of fig. 1. The body 10 of the tracking device 1 as shown in fig. 2 has an exemplary shape of an oval and is, for example, 60 mm long, 38 mm wide and 10 mm thick or less.

As shown in fig. 2, the tracking device 1 optionally further comprises an LED 15 for indicating the connection status or power status of the tracking device 1, so that the staff member can confirm whether the tracking device 1 is working properly.

As shown in fig. 2, optionally, the tracking device 1 further comprises a through hole 16 formed by the body of the tracking device and configured to pass a fastener, such as a rope or chain, thereby attaching the tracking device 1 to a live animal transport cage for transporting an animal.

It should be understood that although the tracking device 1 shown in fig. 2 is oblong, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and may take any suitable shape, such as circular, square, etc., according to actual needs.

Fig. 3A and 3B schematically show the tracking device 1 attached to the outside of the live animal transport cage. As shown in fig. 3A, the tracking device 1 can be hung on the handle of the cage by means of a chain passing through the through hole 16. As shown in fig. 3B, the tracking device 1 may also be hung on a grid door of a cage.

Preferably, the tracking device 1, in addition to being hung on the cage, can be further fixed to a hard surface of the cage in an adhesive manner, for example by means of adhesive tape. For example, in the case where the tracking device 1 is hung on a handle of a cage as shown in fig. 3A, it is also possible to fix the tracking device 1 to an upper lid surface of the cage by means of, for example, adhesion, so that the tracking device 1 can be attached to the cage more firmly and send various signals to the outside more stably.

Fig. 4A and 4B schematically show the tracking device 1 placed inside a live animal transport cage. In order to prevent the animal from biting and swallowing, in the case where the tracking device 1 is placed inside a live animal transportation cage, the cage needs to be equipped with a case for housing the tracking device 1 as shown in fig. 4B. The cartridge may be placed in any suitable location within the cage as desired.

It should be noted that the tracking device 1 according to the present disclosure is not limited to the attachment means shown in fig. 3A, 3B and 4A, but may be attached to the cage at a suitable position by various suitable means depending on the actual situation.

From the above description, it can be seen that the present disclosure proposes a novel tracking device capable of:

-connected to the inside or outside of any living animal transport cage by a simple and reliable connection mechanism;

saving power by using only sensors instead of cameras to detect the status of living animals;

thanks to the easy disassembly, it is not affected by the wet cleaning and sterilization of the cage;

by using a wireless Hub to reduce the power consumption of the tracking device, the tracking device can operate continuously for 6 months to 1 year without charging, and the data transmission cost is reduced;

-any existing cage for transporting a living animal, such that the animal owner can select a cage to which the animal is accustomed before traveling; and

-acquiring data or alarms at a first time and taking corresponding measures taking real-time conditions into account.

It should be noted that although the tracking device of the present disclosure is described above in connection with air transport, the present disclosure is not so limited. Indeed, the tracking device according to the present disclosure may also be used in other live animal transport cases, such as buses, trains, ships, trucks, and the like.

A tracking system 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is described below in conjunction with fig. 5. As shown in fig. 5, the tracking system 100 includes a tracking device 1 according to the present disclosure, a wireless Hub 20, a remote server 30, a client device 40, and a wireless network 50.

Fig. 5 shows only one wireless Hub 20 for purposes of simplicity, but it should be understood that multiple wireless hubs 20 should be present at various points in the animal transport process, such as airports, ground stations, baggage/animal transport vehicles, aircraft, etc., to transmit environmental information such as temperature and humidity and/or location information received from the tracking device 1 to the remote server 30 in real time.

For example, the tracking device 1 may transmit the environmental information and/or location information to the nearby wireless Hub 20 at fixed time intervals, such as 1 minute, which the wireless Hub 20 in turn transmits to the remote server 30. The remote server 30 transmits the environmental information and/or location information from the wireless Hub 20 to the respective client device 40 after receiving them. It should be noted that these communications are made over a wireless network 50, and that the wireless network 50 may be implemented using any existing wireless communication technology, such as WiFi.

It should be noted that the client device 40 may be, for example, a personal computer or a mobile device on which an application is installed to notify a user or a worker of temperature and humidity information and position information about the live-animal transportation cage. The notification may be provided at regular intervals, under the inquiry of the worker or owner of the animal, or each time the mode of transportation changes.

Preferably, the wireless Hub 20 may include a buffer for temporarily storing temperature and humidity information and location information in the event of an inability to connect to the wireless network 50.

Fig. 6 schematically illustrates a flow of air transportation of a living animal. As shown in fig. 6, at step 601, an aircraft company counter checks the check-in for the animal to be shipped. At step 602, a live animal transport cage containing an animal enters an airport baggage/animal consignment system. The cage is transported by a baggage/animal transfer cart in step 603 and loaded into the aircraft in step 604. At step 605, the aircraft completes the entire voyage. The cage is loaded from the aircraft into a baggage/animal transporter at step 606 and transported by the baggage/animal transporter at step 607. At step 608, the cage enters the airport baggage/animal check-in system. Finally, at step 609, the cage containing the animal leaves the airport, thereby ending the entire shipping process.

Fig. 7 is a flow chart of a method for tracking a consigned living animal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 700 of fig. 7 is described below in conjunction with the tracking device 1 shown in fig. 2 and the tracking system 100 shown in fig. 5.

As shown in fig. 7, first, in step 701, the tracking device 1 is attached to a live animal transport cage containing a live animal to be shipped.

Next, in step 702, the tracking device 1 senses the surrounding environment, e.g. temperature and humidity, by its sensor 12 and processes the sensed data by its processor 13 to derive environmental information.

Next, in step 703, the tracking apparatus 1 acquires current position information from the surrounding devices by the short-range communication technique. The surrounding device may be, for example, a mobile device of a worker, a ground station or a GPS system on an aircraft, etc.

Next, in step 704, the processor 13 of the tracking device 1 transmits the environmental information and the location information to the wireless Hub 20 disposed nearby through the wireless network 50 via the antenna 14. For example, the wireless Hub 20 may be disposed in an airport, on a luggage/animal transporter, on an aircraft, or the like.

Next, in step 705, the wireless Hub 20 transmits the environmental information and the location information to the remote server 30 via the wireless network 50. Preferably, the wireless Hub 20 includes a buffer for temporarily storing the environment information and location information in the event of an inability to connect to the wireless network 50.

Finally, in step 706, the remote server 30 transmits the environmental information and the location information to the corresponding client device 40 through the wireless network 50. It should be noted that the remote server 30 may transmit the environment information and the location information to the respective client devices 40 at fixed time intervals, under the inquiry of a worker or an owner of the animal, or at every change of the transportation manner.

At least some embodiments are defined by the examples given below.

Example 1. A living animal transportation tracking apparatus, comprising:

a battery configured to track device power;

a sensor configured to sense an ambient environment proximate the live animal transport tracking device;

a processor configured to process data received from the sensor to derive environmental information;

the processor transmits the environment information to an external wireless hub through the antenna; and

a main body in which a battery, a sensor, a processor, and an antenna are accommodated.

Example 2. The tracking device according to example 1, characterized in that the environmental information is temperature and humidity in the vicinity of the tracking device and the living animal during transportation.

Example 3. The tracking device according to example 1, further comprising a through hole formed by the body of the tracking device and configured to pass a fastener, wherein the tracking device is attached to the cage by the fastener.

Example 4. The tracking device according to example 1, further comprising a light emitting diode that indicates a connection status or a power status of the tracking device.

Example 5. The tracking device according to example 1, wherein the battery is a button battery.

Example 6. The tracking device according to example 2, wherein the processor further obtains location information of the tracking device from surrounding devices using a short-range communication technique.

Example 7. The tracking device according to example 6, wherein the processor further transmits the location information to the wireless hub.

Example 8. The tracking device according to example 7, wherein the processor transmits the environment information and/or the location information to the wireless hub at regular time intervals.

Example 9. The tracking device according to example 8, wherein the wireless hub transmits the environmental and/or location information received from the processor to a remote server, and the remote server transmits the environmental and/or location information to the client device.

Example 10. The tracking device according to example 3, wherein the tracking device is attached to the exterior of the cage by fasteners.

Example 11. The tracking device according to example 10, characterized in that the cage is used for transporting a living animal.

Example 12. The tracking device according to example 10, characterized in that the tracking device is also adhered to a hard surface of the cage when attached to the outside of the cage.

Example 13. The tracking device according to example 1, characterized in that the tracking device is placed inside a cage, and wherein a box for accommodating the tracking device is arranged inside the cage.

Example 14. A living animal transport tracking system, comprising:

the live animal transportation tracking device according to any one of examples 1 to 13;

a wireless network;

a wireless hub configured to receive the environmental and/or location information transmitted by the tracking device over a wireless network and transmit the environmental and/or location information to a remote server over the wireless network;

a remote server configured to transmit the environment information and/or the location information received from the wireless hub to the client device; and

a client device having an application program installed thereon for notifying the environment information and/or the location information.

Example 15 the tracking system according to example 14, wherein the wireless hub includes a buffer for temporarily storing the environmental information and/or location information received from the tracking device in the event of an inability to connect to the wireless network.

Example 16. A living animal transportation tracking method, comprising:

attaching a tracking device according to any one of examples 1 to 13 to a cage containing a living animal to be consigned;

the tracking device senses the surrounding environment through its sensors and processes the sensed data through its processor to derive environmental information;

the tracking device acquires current position information from surrounding equipment through a short-distance communication technology;

the tracking device transmits the environmental information and the location information to a wireless hub disposed nearby through a wireless network;

the wireless hub transmits the environment information and the position information to a remote server through a wireless network;

the remote server transmits the environment information and the location information to the corresponding client device through a wireless network.

The various embodiments described above can be combined to provide further embodiments. The foregoing and other changes can be made to the embodiments described in detail above. In general, in the following claims, the terms used should not be construed to limit the claims to the specific embodiments disclosed in the specification and the claims, but should be construed to include all possible embodiments along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. Accordingly, the claims are not limited by the disclosure.

While the disclosure has been disclosed by the description of the specific embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various modifications, improvements, or equivalents of the disclosure within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Such modifications, improvements and equivalents are also intended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims (15)

1. A live-animal transport tracking apparatus, comprising:

a battery configured to power the living animal transport tracking device;

a sensor configured to sense an ambient environment proximate the living animal transport tracking device;

a processor configured to process data received from the sensor to derive environmental information;

an antenna through which the processor transmits the environment information to an external wireless hub; and

a body in which the battery, the sensor, the processor, and the antenna are housed.

2. The live animal transportation tracking device of claim 1, wherein the environmental information is a temperature and a humidity in a vicinity of the live animal transportation tracking device and at least one live animal during transportation.

3. The living animal transport tracking device of claim 1, further comprising a through hole formed by the body of the living animal transport tracking device and configured to pass a fastener, wherein the living animal transport tracking device is attached to a cage by the fastener.

4. The live-animal transport tracking device of claim 1, further comprising a light emitting diode configured to indicate a connection state or a power state of the live-animal transport tracking device.

5. The live animal transportation tracking device of claim 1, wherein the battery is a button battery.

6. The live-animal transportation tracking apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to acquire the position information of the live-animal transportation tracking apparatus from surrounding devices using a short-range communication technique.

7. The live-animal transportation tracking device of claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to send the location information to the wireless hub.

8. The live-animal transportation tracking device of claim 7, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the environmental information and/or the location information to the wireless hub at fixed time intervals.

9. The live-animal transportation tracking device of claim 8, wherein the wireless hub is configured to transmit the environmental information and/or the location information received from the processor to a remote server, and the remote server is configured to transmit the environmental information and/or the location information to a client device.

10. The live animal transport tracking device of claim 3, characterized in that the live animal transport tracking device is attached to the outside of the cage by the fastener.

11. The live animal transportation tracking apparatus of claim 10, wherein the cage is for transporting live animals.

12. The living animal transport tracking device of claim 10, further adhered to a hard surface of the cage when the living animal transport tracking device is attached to the outside of the cage.

13. The live-animal transport tracking device according to claim 1, characterized in that the live-animal transport tracking device is placed inside a cage box, inside which a box for housing the live-animal transport tracking device is arranged.

14. A live animal transport tracking system, comprising:

the live-animal transportation tracking device according to any one of claims 1 to 13;

a wireless network;

a wireless hub configured to receive environmental information and/or location information transmitted by the living animal transportation tracking device over the wireless network and transmit the environmental information and/or the location information to a remote server over the wireless network;

the remote server configured to transmit the environmental information and/or the location information received from the wireless hub to a client device; and

the client device is provided with an application program used for notifying the environment information and/or the position information.

15. The live animal transportation tracking system according to claim 14, wherein the wireless hub includes a buffer for temporarily storing the environmental information and/or the location information received from the live animal transportation tracking device in a case where the wireless hub cannot be connected to the wireless network.

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