JP2006271228A - Feed system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a feed system for feeding an animal in a required amount depending on the amount of activity of the animal to be fed. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus 1 for measuring and transmitting the amount of activity is installed with an amount of activity-measuring means 3 for measuring the amount of activity of the animal to be fed and an activity data-transmitting means 4 for transmitting the data of the amount of activity measured by the activity-measuring means 3. The feeding device 2 is installed with an amount of activity data-receiving means 8 for receiving the amount of activity data, a feeding means 7 for feeding the animal to be fed and a control means 6 for controlling the amount of feeding from the feeding means 7 depending on consumed energy by calculating the consumed energy of the animal using the amount of activity data received by the amount of activity data-receiving means 8. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a feeding system for feeding animals.

  Some conventional feeding devices feed a predetermined amount.

  However, if the amount of feeding is constant, excess or shortage of feeding occurs, especially if the amount of feeding is excessive, excess food will rot or it may cause obesity due to feeding more than the necessary amount, and it will be a health management issue. It is not preferable.

On the other hand, although there has been an automatic feeding apparatus as shown in JP-A-7-250585, it only feeds a predetermined amount of food at a predetermined time.
JP-A-7-250585 (paragraph number 0031)

  In the automatic feeding apparatus as disclosed in Patent Document 1, a predetermined amount is fed. However, if the amount of feeding is constant, excess or shortage of feeding occurs, especially if the amount of feeding is excessive, excess food will rot or it may cause obesity due to feeding more than the necessary amount, and it will be a health management issue. It is not preferable.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a feeding system capable of feeding a necessary amount according to the amount of activity of the animal to be fed.

  In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention of claim 1 includes activity amount measuring means for measuring an activity amount of an animal and activity amount data transmitting means for transmitting activity amount data measured by the activity amount measuring means. An activity amount measuring / transmitting device, an activity amount data receiving means for receiving the activity amount data, a feeding means for feeding the animal, and an activity amount data received by the activity amount data receiving means to calculate an energy consumption amount of the animal. A feeding device having control means for controlling the amount of feeding from the feeding means based on the energy consumed by the lever is provided.

  According to the invention of claim 1, it is possible to feed the necessary amount according to the amount of activity of the animal to be fed, and the feeding becomes excessive or too small to affect the health of the animal. Absent.

  The invention of claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention of claim 1, the feeding means is provided with means for measuring the amount of remaining food.

  According to the invention of claim 2, by knowing the amount of the remaining food, it is possible to know the health condition of the animal to be fed and to reflect it in the next feeding amount. It is also possible to prevent corruption of the product.

  In the invention of claim 3, in the invention of claim 1 or 2, a water supply device comprising a water supply means and a water supply amount calculating means for calculating the amount of water supplied by the water supply means based on the activity amount data is additionally provided. It is characterized by.

  According to the invention of claim 3, it becomes possible to give an appropriate amount of water supply according to the amount of activity of the animal to be fed.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, the feeding means includes means for supplying a plurality of types of food, and the mixing ratio of the food according to the amount of activity of the animal. It is possible to change this.

  According to the invention of claim 4, it is possible to provide an appropriate bait that does not cause excess or deficiency of nutrition, energy, etc. according to the amount of activity of the animal.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the activity amount measuring means has a function of measuring the sleep time of the animal to be fed, and the control means is measured by the activity amount measuring means. The feeding time or the feeding amount for the animal is changed from the sleeping time.

  According to the invention of claim 5, it becomes possible to set the feeding time corresponding to the wake-up time from the sleeping time of the animal to be fed, and the amount of feeding can also correspond to the health condition of the animal to be fed from the sleeping time. .

  The invention of claim 6 is characterized in that, in the invention of any one of claims 1 to 5, the feeding device has a scale for measuring the weight of an animal.

  According to the invention of claim 6, the health condition of the animal to be fed can be grasped from the body weight, and the amount of feeding can be determined accordingly.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can feed a necessary amount according to the amount of activity of an animal to be fed, and has an effect that feeding does not become excessive or too small to affect the health of the animal. .

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to embodiments.
(Embodiment 1)
As shown in FIG. 1, the feeding system according to the present embodiment includes an activity amount measurement transmission device 1 and a feeding device 2.

  The activity amount measuring / transmitting apparatus 1 is attached to each animal to be fed, and is an activity amount measuring means 3 that constantly measures the activity amount of the attached animal, and the measured activity amount data is wirelessly transmitted by radio waves or the like. It is comprised with the active mass data transmission means 4 which transmits for every fixed time using communication.

  The activity amount measuring means 3 is provided with a calculation processing function for calculating the activity amount of the animal by, for example, measuring the vibration of the animal moving by an acceleration sensor and performing calculation processing. Can be registered in advance, and the amount of activity is calculated as the amount of energy based on the product of the registered animal weight, the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor, and the operation time of the acceleration sensor. That is, since the measured acceleration is small when acceleration is given to all of the body weight, the amount of activity is actually expressed as an energy amount, and the energy amount is given by an approximate expression.

  An approximate expression of energy consumption per unit time is as shown in Expression (1).

E = m × a × α (1)
Where E: Required energy
m: animal weight
a: Acceleration fluctuation value per unit time
α: A coefficient that differs for each animal As described above, by integrating the energy amount per unit time calculated by the activity amount measuring means 3, the energy amount for each meal unit such as one day or in the morning can be calculated. . Since the number of meals varies depending on the animal to be fed, the amount of energy for each meal unit corresponding to each animal is calculated by the control means 6 provided on the feeding device 2 side.

  The activity amount data transmitting unit 4 transmits the activity amount data measured and calculated by the activity amount measuring unit 3 to the activity amount data receiving unit 5 on the feeding device 2 side, for example, by radio waves at regular intervals.

  The feeding device 2 is an activity amount data receiving means 5 for receiving activity amount data transmitted from the activity amount data transmitting means 4 of the activity amount measuring and transmitting device 1 and a control responsible for arithmetic processing / control processing of the entire feeding device 2. Means 6, feeding means 7 for storing the food to be fed by the animal to be fed and discharging the food to a feeding tray, for example, and remaining amount measuring means 8 for measuring the amount of residual food stored in the feeding means 7 The data storage means 9 and the water supply device 10 are attached to the outside, and the climate measuring means 13 and the scale 14 for measuring the weight of the animal are attached if necessary.

  Thus, in (S1) of the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, in the activity amount measuring and transmitting apparatus 1, the activity amount of the animal to be fed is measured by the activity amount measuring means 3, and the measured activity amount data is transmitted as the activity amount data. It is transmitted to the feeding apparatus 2 at regular time intervals by means 4 (S2). In the feeding apparatus 2, the energy amount per unit time sent as activity amount data is integrated and the amount of energy consumed until feeding is calculated in (S3), and is determined for each animal to be fed based on this amount of energy consumed. The amount of feeding given during the feeding time is calculated (S4), and the calculated amount of feeding is determined as the amount of food discharged from the feeding means 7 to the feeding tray. The feeding means 7 uses the determined feeding amount as a target value and measures the feed by the weighing means 7a while discharging it to the feeding tray for the target animal (S6), and feeds the feeding target animal.

  Here, there are cases where the amount of food is large or small depending on the physical condition or climate of the target animal. In addition, when the amount of food is large, there is a problem in hygiene because the food rots.

  As the solution, in this embodiment, the amount of food remaining on the feeding tray left by the remaining amount measuring means 8 for measuring the amount of remaining food is measured (S7).

  Here, after calculating the amount of energy consumed in S3, the activity amount data, the feeding amount data calculated in S4, and the remaining feed amount data measured by the remaining amount measuring means 8 in S7 are stored at each stage. Accumulated and stored in the means 9 under the control of the control means 6.

  Here, when the control means 6 calculates the next feed amount, the above-mentioned remaining feed amount data is fed back in order to adjust the feed amount to be an appropriate amount for the animal to be fed. If there is residual food, it is possible to add a device for discharging the residual food so that it does not remain until the next feeding.

  In addition, since the weather and the like are factors that affect the amount of food to be ingested, in this embodiment, the climate measurement unit 13 performs climate measurement based on temperature, humidity, weather (illuminance and precipitation), and controls the measurement data. Under the control of the means 6, the data is accumulated and stored in the data accumulating means 9, and the measurement result is reflected in the feeding amount calculated by the feeding means 6. For example, when the temperature of the animal to be fed does not change, but the amount of activity of the animal to be fed does not change, it is possible to change the amount of feeding due to climatic factors, such as increasing the amount of feeding to adjust body temperature. The change in the activity amount is determined by comparing the activity amount data stored in the data storage means 9 with the latest activity amount data by the data comparison function 6a of the control means 6.

  By the way, the amount of water intake varies depending on the amount of food and the weather climate. Therefore, if water is supplied to a tray or the like more than necessary, the water is contaminated and there is a problem in hygiene. Therefore, in this embodiment, the water supply apparatus 10 to be attached is controlled to supply a necessary amount of water.

  That is, the water supply device 10 receives the data of the weather, the amount of feeding, and the activity amount of the animal to be fed stored in the data storage unit 9 under the control of the control unit 6 and calculates the water supply amount calculating unit 11. And a water supply means 12 capable of controlling the water supply amount with the water supply amount calculated by the water supply amount calculation means 11 as a target, and the water supply amount from the water supply means 12 to the water supply tray is a required amount. .

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, a scale 14 for measuring the weight of the animal to be fed is attached, the body weight of the animal to be fed that reflects the activity and the result of feeding is measured, and the measured weight data is controlled by the control means 6. Under the control of the above, the data storage means 9 stores and saves, and the stored weight data and the latest weight data are compared by the data comparison function 6a, so that the current health condition of the target animal is grasped by the control means 6. I am doing so. For example, when the increase in body weight is significant, the control means 6 feeds back the feeding amount, for example, by adjusting the amount of feeding obtained by calculation. Of course, when weight loss is significant, feedback is performed so as to adjust the feeding amount.

  In addition, when the activity amount measuring / transmitting device 1 is always attached to the animal to be fed, the sleep state of the animal can be detected by the control means 6 of the feeding device 2. In other words, since the acceleration of the body is extremely reduced when sleeping, sleep can be determined based on the activity data. Therefore, the activity amount measuring means 3 measures the sleep time of the animal to be fed, transmits the measurement data together with the activity amount data to the feeding device 2, and the feeding device 2 detects the wake-up time from the sleep time data. Thus, the feeding time may be determined, and the accuracy of grasping the health condition of the animal from the measured sleep time may be improved, and the feeding amount may be determined according to the health condition.

By the way, the data accumulation means 9 accumulates and saves data on activity amount, feeding amount, remaining food amount, body weight, temperature, humidity, and weather, but the accumulated activity amount data and body weight data are the latest ones. Is compared with the data comparison function 6a of the control means 6 and reflected in the amount of feeding. However, it is possible to grasp the health condition of the animal to be fed by using the accumulated data. For example, it is possible to detect a poor physical condition by determining by the comparison means 13 when the weather is good but the activity state is low, or when the amount of remaining food is low. That is, the health of the animal to be fed is also controlled by the control means 6, and when a poor physical condition is detected, the health information is displayed on the display means 15 provided in the feeding device 2 to notify the owner. In addition, when it is determined that the animal subject to feeding is insufficient, the data comparison function 6a compares it with past data, and displays a walk menu or grazing time according to the lack of exercise. Is also possible.
(Embodiment 2)
In this embodiment, the feeding device 2 stores different types of food, such as calcium-enriched diet A, vitamin-enriched diet B, and high-energy diet C, as shown in FIG. This is characterized by the provision of the feeding tank 7 provided with storage tanks 7A to 7C so that the mixing ratio of the feeding A to the feeding C can be adjusted by the mixing ratio changing means 70 and discharged to the feeding tray. The control means 6 controls the change of the mixing ratio of the means 70. Of course, it is assumed that each storage tank 7A to 7C is provided with a measuring means for measuring the discharge amount.

  Since other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment, illustration of the entire configuration and description of the components are omitted.

  Thus, for example, when it is found by weighing the scale 14 that the weight of the animal to be fed has increased, the control means 7 determines that it is necessary to adjust the feeding amount so as to reduce the feeding energy amount, and the high energy The mixing ratio changing means 70 is instructed to change the mixing ratio so as to feed the foods A and B with emphasis on vitamins and calcium.

  If it is determined from the activity data and the measurement data of the climate measurement means 13 that the temperature of the animal to be fed is large, the control means 7 feeds mainly the high energy food C. A command is given to the mixing change means 70 so as to perform the above.

  In this way, by automatically controlling the type of food to be fed and its mixing ratio in consideration of the activity amount, weight, weather, etc. of the animal to be fed, the appropriate type and amount of food suitable for the physical condition of the animal Can be given.

System configuration diagram of Embodiment 1 2 is a flowchart of the operation of the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a second embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Activity amount measurement transmission device 2 Feeding device 3 Activity amount measurement means 4 Activity amount data transmission means 5 Activity amount data reception means 6 Control means 6a Data comparison function 7 Feeding means 7a Measurement means 8 Remaining amount measurement means 9 Data accumulation means 10 Water supply Device 11 Water supply amount calculating means 12 Water supply means 13 Climate measuring means 14 Weight scale 15 Display means

Claims (6)

Activity amount measuring means for measuring an activity amount of an animal, an activity amount measuring and transmitting device having activity amount data transmitting means for transmitting activity amount data measured by the activity amount measuring means, and an activity amount for receiving the activity amount data A data receiving means, a feeding means for feeding the animal, an amount of energy consumed by the animal from the activity amount data received by the activity amount data receiving means, and a feeding amount from the feeding means is controlled based on the consumed energy A feeding system comprising a feeding device having control means for performing the above-described operation. 2. The feeding system according to claim 1, wherein the feeding means is provided with means for measuring the amount of remaining food. 3. A feeding system according to claim 1, further comprising a water supply device comprising water supply means and a water supply amount calculation means for calculating the amount of water supplied by the water supply means based on the activity amount data. . 4. The feeding method according to claim 1, wherein the feeding means includes means for supplying a plurality of types of food, and the mixing ratio of the food can be changed according to the amount of activity of the animal. Any of the feeding systems described. The activity amount measuring unit has a function of measuring the sleep time of the animal to be fed, and the control unit changes a feeding time or a feeding amount for the animal from the sleep time measured by the activity amount measuring unit. A feeding system according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The feeding system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the feeding device includes a scale for measuring the weight of an animal.

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