Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01M—CATCHING, TRAPPING OR SCARING OF ANIMALS; APPARATUS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF NOXIOUS ANIMALS OR NOXIOUS PLANTS
  • A01M1/00—Stationary means for catching or killing insects
  • A01M1/02—Stationary means for catching or killing insects with devices or substances, e.g. food, pheronones attracting the insects
  • A01M1/026—Stationary means for catching or killing insects with devices or substances, e.g. food, pheronones attracting the insects combined with devices for monitoring insect presence, e.g. termites
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01K—ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; AVICULTURE; APICULTURE; PISCICULTURE; FISHING; REARING OR BREEDING ANIMALS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NEW BREEDS OF ANIMALS
  • A01K47/00—Beehives
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01K—ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; AVICULTURE; APICULTURE; PISCICULTURE; FISHING; REARING OR BREEDING ANIMALS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NEW BREEDS OF ANIMALS
  • A01K47/00—Beehives
  • A01K47/06—Other details of beehives, e.g. ventilating devices, entrances to hives, guards, partitions or bee escapes
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01M—CATCHING, TRAPPING OR SCARING OF ANIMALS; APPARATUS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF NOXIOUS ANIMALS OR NOXIOUS PLANTS
  • A01M1/00—Stationary means for catching or killing insects
  • A01M1/02—Stationary means for catching or killing insects with devices or substances, e.g. food, pheronones attracting the insects
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01M—CATCHING, TRAPPING OR SCARING OF ANIMALS; APPARATUS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF NOXIOUS ANIMALS OR NOXIOUS PLANTS
  • A01M1/00—Stationary means for catching or killing insects
  • A01M1/02—Stationary means for catching or killing insects with devices or substances, e.g. food, pheronones attracting the insects
  • A01M1/04—Attracting insects by using illumination or colours
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01M—CATCHING, TRAPPING OR SCARING OF ANIMALS; APPARATUS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF NOXIOUS ANIMALS OR NOXIOUS PLANTS
  • A01M1/00—Stationary means for catching or killing insects
  • A01M1/14—Catching by adhesive surfaces
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A01—AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; HUNTING; TRAPPING; FISHING
  • A01M—CATCHING, TRAPPING OR SCARING OF ANIMALS; APPARATUS FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF NOXIOUS ANIMALS OR NOXIOUS PLANTS
  • A01M31/00—Hunting appliances
  • A01M31/002—Detecting animals in a given area

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a device and method utilized to detect the numbers, health and movements of pollinator populations and various pests, generally, and to individual monitoring devices, placed at regularly occurring spatial intervals, that are used to track, map, count and record various pollinating species, specifically. Such information is then detected and transmitted as data to an analytical device ranging from programmed or induced real time to daily, weekly, monthly and regular and irregular transmissions.
• Terrestrial ecosystems are undergoing changes that have historically occurred over centuries to millennia, but are now transforming the geographic condition of earth’s surface at rates that are readily observable, now from decades to years.
• global greenhouse gases e.g. carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane
• This gradual heating of the earth’s climate system, together with dwindling pollinator habitats and the ubiquitous use of pesticides, stands as one of the primary consequences of a persistent consumption and consumerism that to date has only hastened pollinator number’s decline in rapidity and accentuated their deleterious effects. It is this decline in pollinator species that stands to adversely affect not only pollinators themselves but overall human survival going forward.
• Pollinators including insects, vertebrates and mammals
• Pollination itself, is defined as the transference of pollen or, in other words, the movement of male genetic material from the male reproductive structure of one plant to the female reproductive structure of another plant which can be via wind, animal and insect vectors or through a self-pollinating process.
• pollinators in the form of insect and animal vectors that may include any number of winged insects (bees, flies, butterflies, wasps and moths), winged mammals (birds and bats) or other mammals (primates and rodents).
• winged insects bees, flies, butterflies, wasps and moths
• winged mammals birds and bats
• primates and rodents principal among all pollinators though is the bee. Yet, it is not only the quantity of human consumable crops that undergo declines in the above situations, it is also the quality.
• the present invention consists of three main parts: a bait, a box and a microcontroller unit that is further subdivided into sensors, memory, power and data collection and transmittance modules.
• the bait consists of an interchangeable pheromone or any other suitable bait (i.e. food, honey or sugar) or decoys such as lights or sounds (or species specific pray animals) that are emitted from inside a box containing one or more gates to the internalized bait.
• the odor or light of the bait is expelled out of the box through the gates, either by natural means or facilitation (e.g. via a fan in the case of pheromones), the odor, sound or light attracts the desired pollinator to enter the box through said gates.
• the species size-adjustable gates are designed with an array of appropriately-sized detection sensors that monitor the number of designated pollinators (or non pollinator species) that enter and leave the box. What is more, these sensors can be calibrated to further track the speed, direction and, in some cases, the breed and gender, of a particular species.
• a pair of two photo-interrupter sensors are placed in the interior of each gate, 180 degrees apart, wherein the photo-interrupter itself is configured as (1) an optical emitter and (2) an optical receptor/detector that further incorporates an electrical logic-level output for data transmittance.
• the optical beam e.g. an infrared LED
• the logic output state switches to signal the interruption of the signal (beam) and thus provides data showing a body entrance or exit.
• D S (speed) x T (time).
• the relative larger size of a queen bee is known in relation to a drone bee’s size in relation to a worker bee’ s size).
• the photo (light) emitting sensor on one gate interior Teg’ is made to generate and transmit light to a photo (light) receiving sensor on the opposite, opposing inward Teg’ of the same primary (and exteriorly positioned) gate.
• a secondary gate that is positioned between the primary gate and the exterior of the present device, is designed to exhibit a photo emitting sensor that projects light in the opposite direction, in relation to the primary gate, wherein, on the interior portion on each gate‘leg’, there is a receiving sensor on each same side exhibiting an emitting sensor and an emitting sensor on each same side exhibiting a receiving sensor.
• one sensor transmits light generally from left to right
• the second sensor transmits light from right to left, and vice versa.
• This 180-degree orientation is crucial in that emissions and reception exclude the possibility of reception of photo interference by the next adjacent gate photo emitter to the matching photo receptor.
• photo-interrupter sensors are utilized specifically in the above preferred embodiment, it is within the contemplation of the applicant to use various types of sensors including, but not limited to, photogate reflective light sensors, hall effect sensors or electromagnetic sensors.
• a pollinator species may include winged insects (bees, flies, butterflies, wasps, hornets and moths), winged mammals (birds and bats) or other mammals (primates and rodents) and other non-pollinator species having interspecies and/or untoward environmental impacts (i.e. beetles and locusts) with reference to long-term human sustenance.
• winged insects bees, flies, butterflies, wasps, hornets and moths
• winged mammals birds and bats
• primates and rodents i.e. beetles and locusts
• a sticky paper in the form of a flypaper could be used to act as an alternative means of enhancing, verifying and/or validating the collected and accumulated data.
• the present invention may also contain a plurality of sensors that, in addition to measuring pollinator species, are capable of measuring light intensity, wind velocity, temperature, relative humidity, soil humidity, soil pH and the like.
• accelerometers, inclinometers and weight and rain gauges may be employed to measure ambient conditions both inside of and outside of the device in furtherance of understanding the overall health of a species (e.g. where weight and internal and external temperature play a vital role in the determining the overall health of a bee hive).
• mechanical switches and triggers, sound and motion detectors, audio and video recording devices and infrared detectors may equally be employed.
• the set of gates’ number, size and shape can be adjusted to accommodate the particular species that is being monitored.
• the box itself can be made of a material that is transparent, opaque or a combination thereof.
• Transparent materials can be used in conjunction with a decoy or bait that resembles a particular type of bird or insect in order to attract a particular species. Water, food, light, smell, sound, singly or in combination, can be used as a lure to attract particular species
• gates can be fitted with structures that look like specific flowers, flowering plants or fruits to attract certain creatures who express a specific proclivity toward such structures (e.g. hummingbirds or bats).
• the flower, flowering plants or fruits can equally be fitted with sensors to tabulate species contact with each structure.
• cameras and microphones can also be employed to capture images and sounds of creatures specific to the designated flowers, flowering plants or fruit.
• collected data from the microcontroller is stored in the device’s internal memory and may be transmitted at programmable or user-initiated intervals to a “cloud” storage via radio frequency, Wi-Fi, cellular network or any other form of suitable communication.
• the transmission frequency can be very short, such as a few minutes. If power, though, is a concern, longer intervals between transmission may be utilized (e.g. once daily, once weekly, once monthly or yearly).
• An onboard firmware with a programmable “over the air” application would allow the user a “programmable” or “re programmable” transmittance interval or a “two-way” communication avenue allowing adjustment of transmission frequencies in addition to other parameters (i.e. choice of transmission means and retention of collected data) where the user can override the transmission frequency to allow for a selectable transmission interval or to push data transference in real-time.
• a cloud application and data base stores and aggregates collected data from multiple devices and creates population maps, collectively, to track and predict population mechanics and movements of a single pollinator species or a plurality of pollinator or non-pollinator species.
• Insects such as pests (e.g. beetles and locusts), pollinators (e.g. bees, butterflies, hornets, wasps, ants, moths and flies) may be tracked.
• Other animals such as humming birds, bats, squirrels or similar mammals can also be counted and tracked.
• light interruption and timing of said light interruption between a pair of photo-interrupter sensors can be used to determine, in the case of bees, a hive’s overall health by determining the entrance and exit of a particular population based on species gender.
• a bees gender may be determined by equating relative size to photo sensor interruption timing and sequence where the time to traverse a distance by a body is calculated from interruption of said first photo interrupter to discontinuation of disruption of said second photo interrupter - where it is known that, in the case of bees, male drones have a body size greater than that of worker bees (albeit smaller than that of the queen) and shifts in population and population gender composure can signify patterns and events known to affect total hive health.
• the device may be used as part of a collection of devices, of species-specific size, may be placed on a pole at differing heights, angles and positions (with different baits or pheromones) to attract different kinds of insects and creatures within the same geographic location or across several geographic locations.
• the device can be placed (or hung) in organic structures (e.g. trees), existing structure such as buildings, homes, bridges and/or in the ground or under water.
• the collection of devices may be placed at regular or irregular intervals to cover vast territories or specific areas of interest to determine how insect or animal populations move or emerge from the ground across an area, region, an entire country or across a body of water.
• the device can be powered by a solar panel, a battery, a wind turbine or a combination of a solar panel, a battery, wind turbine or connected to another power source, renewable or non-renewable.
• lids and doors may be installed to access the lures, baits, sensors, batteries, memory devices and fly paper as deemed necessary for installation, replacement and maintenance of each component.
• a display may be affixed to the interior or exterior of the device to provide information visually to represent information such as battery power or sensor data.
• FIG. 1 depicts the present invention as it relates to detecting, tracking, counting and recording pollinator species bees.
• FIG. 2 shows photo interrupter sensors as employed on the plurality of entrance and exit gates of the present invention.
• FIG. 3 depicts the interchangeable gate array for accommodation of several detectable species.
• FIG. 4 depicts the 180-degree orientation of a set of sensor pairs in pollinator detection.
• FIG. 5 illustrates To to T3 for the detection of species entrance and exit as well as species speed, length and size.
• FIG. 6 shows a diagrammatic representation of a sensor set, microcontroller, memory, battery, transmittance module, cloud storage and user reception used in data collection, storage and conveyance.
• FIG. 7 illustrates a slack protocol of species entry and exit.
• FIG. 8 is a strict protocol algorithm for species detection and entrance and exit conformation.
• FIG. 9 shows elevated placement of the present device.
• FIG. 10 shows an alternative position of device placement.
• FIG. 11 is an expanded view of the alternative device position of FIG. 10.
• FIG. 12 is the externally mounted unit that is made to house the microcontroller, battery, sensor connectors, photo gate connectors, communication and transmission connectors and connectors and power connectors internally and entrance and exit gates externally.
• FIG. 13 is an interior view of the present device.
• FIG. 14 represents an expanded internalized view of the present invention.
• FIG. 15 shows the lure, decoy or bait platform that is used as an attractant in the present
• the representation of the present device 10 including the collection and transmittance of data collected with relation to the a specific, selected pollinator species, in this case bees, focusing on the externally mounted unit 14 that is comprised, generally, of a plurality of gates 20, an internalized microcontroller (not depicted) and a transmittance device 18 that is mounted externally to an enclosed space in the form of an enclosure 25 (e.g. a beehive).
• transmittance device 18 may also work as a receiving unit for programming and reprogramming of on-board firmware where data type and data transfer frequency may be modified by the user, in a retrograde fashion, from a user-cloud platform.
• gates 20 It is the function of gates 20 to allow for entrance and exit of a species of bees, recordation and collection of the movements and speed of this species and transmittance of that collected data to a conveyance module which is ultimately received by a cloud storage for ultimate re-transmittance to a receiving device (e.g. computer or mobile device) for user data observation, collection, storage and analysis.
• a receiving device e.g. computer or mobile device
• FIG. 2 provides a prospective view of a plurality of individual gates 20 wherein the first sensing unit 30 is superior to the second sensing unit 40 as depicted, but would find gates 20 in their installed orientation wherein the first sensing unit 30 is exterior to the second sensing unit 40 in the actual device 10 and the second sensing unit 40 is positioned between the first sensing unit 30 and the primary enclosure 140 exterior.
• signal emitting unit 35 is visible projecting a emitted signal from the interior‘leg’ of the first sensing unit 30a to a receiving portion of the interior‘leg’ of the first (outer) sensing unit 30b (not shown) and the signal detection sensor 36 of second (inner) sensing unit 40b (which is a reciprocal of the emitting unit 35) is made to receive a signal from the signal emitting unit 35 from the interior of second (inner) sensing unit 40b (not shown).
• the emitted signals from 30a and 40a are oriented 180 degrees from one another as to obviate any cross reactivity and interference that would result from light being emitted from the interior of 30a affecting the signal reception 40a and the interior signal emittance of 30b affecting the signal reception of 40b, in a same sided orientation, where emitting sensors 35 placed on the interiors of parallel sensing units are detected by reciprocal receiving units 36 and each emitting unit 35 and reciprocal receiving unit 36, deposed in the lower third of each sensing unit’s 30, 40 inner portions and each first sensing unit 30 is a set, predetermined and calculable distance from each second sensing unit for the computation of entrance, exist speed and size/gender of a species.
• FIG. 3 depicts a series of gates 20, in the form of an interchangeable photo gate array 48 that is connected to photo gate connectors 55 which relay information to the microcontroller 60. As provided in greater detail, FIG.
• first sensing unit 30 encompasses internalized sensor emission from right (emission) to left (reception) and inner gate 40 encompasses internalized sensor emission from left (emission) to right (reception) exhibited where first (outer) sensing unit 30 evidences receiving sensor 36 and second (inner) sensing unit 40 evidences emission unit 35, the direction of which are shown, via representational arrows A and B, respectively.
• first sensing unit 30 encompasses internalized sensor emission from right (emission) to left (reception)
• inner gate 40 encompasses internalized sensor emission from left (emission) to right (reception) exhibited where first (outer) sensing unit 30 evidences receiving sensor 36 and second (inner) sensing unit 40 evidences emission unit 35, the direction of which are shown, via representational arrows A and B, respectively.
• first (outer) sensing unit 30 evidences receiving sensor 36
• second (inner) sensing unit 40 evidences emission unit 35, the direction of which are shown, via representational arrows A and B, respectively.
• the data compiled in the microcontroller 60 is then transmitted, via a transmittance device 18 (FIG. 1) integrated through communications module connectors 75 wherein communication module connectors 80 may also be interchangeable to accommodate radio frequency, Wi-Fi, cellular network or any other suitable form of communication as conditions and area dictate. Further, a power connector 85 is integrated into the microcontroller 60 as to allow for battery or solar power.
• a pollinator or non-pollinator species breaks the plane of the first beam 86 of first sensing unit 30 at To.
• S Speed
• the first beam 86 is once again continuous/received (i.e. restored) to record T2.
• the second beam 88 Once the second beam 88 is restored, length, and therefore gender may be known through the equation:
• the pollinator species is a bee
• the queen is larger than drones (males) which are considerably larger than worker (females) where a greater L would equate to a larger insect and would allow the device user to determine gender where queen>drone>workers.
• sensor information such as internal hive temperature, hive health, humidity, hive cycle and season, to better understand the habits of queen bees with relation to worker bees as opposed to drone bees for example.
• microcontroller 60 is connected to a series of sensors that could include gate sensors 35, 36 or ambient sensors 90 (including accelerometers, inclinometers and weight and rain gauges may be employed to measure ambient conditions both inside of and outside of the device) coupled with a memory storage 95.
• Supplying power to the microcontroller 60 can be accomplished through a conventional battery 100 or a battery 100 that is powered by a polar panel 105.
• an interchangeable communication module 120 e.g. a wi-fi or cellular transmission
• This information may have intervals that are pre determined, programmable or requestable to be“pushed” to the user.
• FIGs. 7 and 8 represent the algorithmic slack protocol and strict protocol, respectively, for determining the interpreting a particular species position upon sensor interruption and the observance that a species has either entered or exited the device based on the sequence of interruption and the continuation or discontinuation of sensor interruption as a function of time (T).
• T time
• the slack protocol is less involved and can be relied upon to detect entrance and exits, explicitly, whereas the strict protocol allows for a nuanced and more sensitive collection of data that ultimately lends itself to not only entrance and exit but also a temporal designation that is required to determine species speed (S above) and ultimately gender where length is determinate of species gender.
• FIGS. 9 - 15 provide a diagrammatic representation of the present device 10. As shown in FIG.
• this device 10 may consist of a primary enclosure 140 that may consist of a box and lid configuration positioned atop a pole 170, or similar structure, exhibiting one to a plurality of gates 20 (that may be disguised as species specific fruit or flowers) serving as the sole point of entrance and exit (although multiple access points have been contemplated with similar gating systems).
• the primary enclosure 140 may as well contain a lure, decoy or bait compartment 150 to induce the collection of data or fly paper 155 to substantiate or validate data collection.
• the device 10 that is the present invention can be made to harbor a landing pad 160 and/or a solar panel 165 in attempts to facilitate creature landing and extended battery use, respectively. What is more FIG. 9 is illustrated with an external compartment 175 that may be made to house a microcontroller 60, ambient sensors 90, memory 95, a battery 100 and a communication module 120.
• FIG. 10 depicts a device 10 with a positional relationship between the primary enclosure 140 and an adjustable height at some location about a pole 170 upon which it rests.
• the enlarged view of device 10, as shown in FIG. 11, evidences a single, external housing unit 14 consisting of a microcontroller 60, memory 95, battery 100 and various connectors (see FIG. 3) residing on the exterior of the device 10 that is shown as a primary enclosure 140 consisting of a box structure wherein gates 20 (as provided in magnified FIG. 12) are in close proximity to data collection and data relay circuitry.
• FIGS. 13-15 exhibit a perspective view of the internal compartment of the device 10 positioned at a point below the pole’s apex wherein a removable decoy or bait compartment 150 is depicted in an internal area opposite the gated entrance of the primary enclosure 140.
• the decoy or bait compartment 150 is depicted as a passive diffusion, it is contemplated by the inventor to also encompass an active diffusion that may facilitate the emission of scents (in the form of food or pheromone scents) through induced air movement throughout the primary closure and through the externally residing gates 20. It is further contemplated that the decoy or bait compartment may be positioned in other areas within the device 10 itself and/or externally about the device 10.
• the present invention evidences many advantages over the prior art including at least the following: (1) the ability to autonomously measure and track various species - both pollinator and non-pollinators - with one modifiable device, (2) the ability to measure the entrance, exit, speed, length and gender of a species through a pair of closely related sensor gates as a function of time (T), (3) the capability to transmit data in real time, or in a time delayed fashion, via a single programmable unit, (4) the ability to accept programming instructions with which to adjust the content or timing of transmitted data by the user, and (5) the capacity to aggregate data collected from several devices collecting data across an individual species population or across several species populations in a given area, region or across several areas or regions.

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• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Pest Control & Pesticides (AREA)
• Environmental Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Insects & Arthropods (AREA)
• Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
• Zoology (AREA)
• Animal Husbandry (AREA)
• Biodiversity & Conservation Biology (AREA)
• Catching Or Destruction (AREA)

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• 2019
  • 2019-02-06 WO PCT/US2019/016840 patent/WO2020162926A1/en unknown
  • 2019-02-06 EP EP19914485.8A patent/EP3920692A4/de active Pending

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