JP2023020308A - Estimation method, information processing device, program and estimation system - Google Patents

Abstract

To estimate a health status of a pet when the pet only uses a toilet.SOLUTION: An estimation method includes the steps of: using optical analysis means with respect to a collection body for collecting excrement of an animal to acquire optical analysis information deriving from the collection body that has collected the excrement; and outputting information relating to a status relating to the animal on the basis of the optical analysis information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present disclosure relates to an estimation method, an information processing device, a program, and an estimation system.

Recently, with the rise of the pet boom, technologies for watching over pets and managing their health have been developed. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique for identifying a pet that uses a pet toilet.

JP 2018-007625 A

However, the technology disclosed in Patent Literature 1 only identifies the pet, and cannot estimate the health condition of the pet.

Therefore, an object of the present disclosure is to provide an estimation method, an information processing device, a program, and an estimation system capable of estimating the health condition of a pet only by using the toilet of the pet.

According to the present disclosure, optical analysis means is used for a collection body that collects excrement of an animal to acquire optical analysis information derived from the collection body that has collected the excrement; and outputting information regarding the state of the animal based on the analytical information.

Further, according to the present disclosure, analysis information acquisition for acquiring optical analysis information derived from a collection body that collects animal excrement using optical analysis means for a collection body that collects excrement of an animal. and an output unit that outputs information about the state of the animal based on the optical analysis information.

Further, according to the present disclosure, the computer acquires optical analysis information derived from the collection body that collected the excrement by using the optical analysis means for the collection body that collects the excrement of the animal. A program is provided for functioning as an analysis information acquisition unit and an output unit that outputs information regarding the state of the animal based on the optical analysis information.

Further, according to the present disclosure, a collection body for collecting excrement of an animal, optical analysis means for performing optical analysis on the collection body, and the excrement is collected using the optical analysis means. and a control device that acquires optical analysis information derived from the recovered body and outputs information regarding the state of the animal based on the optical analysis information.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to estimate the health condition of a pet only by using the toilet.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a system 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. It is a figure which shows the hardware structural example of the server 10 which concerns on the same embodiment. It is a figure which shows the software structural example of the server 10 which concerns on the same embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the image information which concerns on the same embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation|movement flow of the server 10 in the same embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the toilet 400 based on the modified example of the same embodiment.

The contents of the embodiments of the present disclosure are listed and described. The present disclosure has the following configurations.
(Item 1)
Acquiring optical analysis information derived from a collection body that collects animal excrement using an optical analysis means for the collection body that collects the excrement of the animal;
outputting information about the state of the animal based on the optical analysis information;
Estimation methods, including
(Item 2)
The collecting body is a carrier that adheres and supports the excrement,
The optical analysis information is information related to the image of the carrier to which the excreta is attached,
The method for estimating the state of health of an animal according to item 1, wherein information regarding the state of health of the animal is output based on analysis information of the image of the carrier.
(Item 3)
The carrier changes color or shape according to the characteristics of the animal's excreta,
Item 3. The method for estimating the state of health of an animal according to item 2, wherein information regarding the state of health of the animal is output based on analytical information regarding the color of the image of the carrier.
(Item 4)
The collecting body is a container having a structure for holding or passing at least the excrement,
The optical analysis information is optical analysis information derived from the portion of the structure where the excrement is present.
A method for estimating the health condition of an animal according to any one of items 1 to 3.
(Item 5)
The optical analysis means is an image sensor,
The optical analysis information is analysis information relating to the color of the portion of the structure where the excrement is present.
5. A method for estimating the state of health of an animal according to item 4.
(Item 6)
The optical analysis means is an absorbance meter,
the optical analysis information is the absorbance of the portion of the structure where the excrement resides;
6. A method for estimating the state of health of an animal according to item 4 or 5.
(Item 7)
The collecting body is a container having a structure for holding or passing at least the excrement,
The optical analysis information is optical analysis information derived from the excrement held in or passing through the container.
A method for estimating the health condition of an animal according to any one of items 1 to 6.
(Item 8)
Acquire multiple optical analysis information at different timings,
outputting information about the health status of the animal based on changes in the optical analysis information;
A method for estimating the health condition of an animal according to any one of items 1 to 7.
(Item 9)
The collecting body is arranged in a toilet bowl,
the toilet bowl is provided with a sensor for detecting use of the toilet bowl by the animal;
further comprising obtaining the optical analysis information based on the information detected by the sensor;
A method for estimating the health condition of an animal according to any one of items 1 to 8.
(Item 10)
further comprising acquiring the optical analysis information based on information indicating excretion behavior of the animal obtained from information detected by a sensor attached to the animal;
A method for estimating the state of health of an animal according to any one of items 1 to 9.
(Item 11)
the information about the health status of the animal includes information about the digestive and/or urinary status of the animal;
A method for estimating the health condition of an animal according to any one of items 1 to 10.
(Item 12)
an analysis information acquisition unit that acquires optical analysis information derived from the collection body from which excrement of the animal is collected, using an optical analysis means for the collection body that collects the excreta of the animal;
an output unit that outputs information about the state of the animal based on the optical analysis information;
An information processing device.
(Item 13)
the computer,
an analysis information acquisition unit that acquires optical analysis information derived from the collection body from which excrement of the animal is collected, using an optical analysis means for the collection body that collects the excreta of the animal;
an output unit that outputs information about the state of the animal based on the optical analysis information;
A program to function as
(Item 14)
a collecting body for collecting animal excreta;
optical analysis means for optically analyzing the recovered body;
a control device that acquires optical analysis information derived from the collection body from which the excrement has been collected using the optical analysis means, and outputs information regarding the state of the animal based on the optical analysis information;
An estimation system comprising:

<Details of Embodiment>
Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<Overview>
A system (animal health condition estimation system) 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is a system related to toilets for pets such as cats and dogs. Specifically, the system 1 obtains the state of pet excrement by optical means, analyzes the optical information, and estimates the state of the pet from the analysis results. The state of the pet can mean, for example, the state of the pet's excretion, the state of the pet's health, and the like. Information about the pet's health status may include, for example, information about the pet's digestive and/or urinary condition.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a system 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1 , system 1 has toilet 4 , camera 5 and server 10 . Also, the system 1 can communicate with the user terminal 20 through a network such as the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network).

The toilet 4 is a so-called pet toilet. The toilet 4 is equipped with a collecting body as described later. The collecting body has a function of collecting excrement of the pet 3 . For example, the collecting material may be sand that holds pet urine or feces attached thereto. Sand is one example of a carrier. Such sand may change its color according to, for example, the composition of urine or feces, pH, and other characteristics. Also, the collecting body may be a container having a structure for holding or passing excrement. Further, the toilet 4 may be provided with a sensor for detecting the use of the toilet 4 by the pet 3, the amount of excrement, and the like. Specifically, such a sensor may be a weight sensor (weight scale), an infrared sensor, a camera, or the like.

The camera 5 is an example of optical analysis means and can be provided facing the toilet 4 . Such a camera 5 may be provided in the toilet 4 or may be provided independently. The camera 5 is aimed at the collected body of the toilet 4 and generates optical analysis information (eg image information) derived from the collected body. Such image information may be transmitted to server 10 . As another example of the optical analysis means, for example, a laser and a light-receiving element may be used to detect excrement or acquire color information of excrement. Also, the optical analysis means may be an absorbance meter.

The server 10 is connected to a database (not shown) and constitutes part of the system. Server 10 may be a general-purpose computer such as a workstation or personal computer, or may be logically implemented by cloud computing.

The server 10 has a function of providing services to the user terminals 20 via applications. The user terminal 20 downloads an application from the server 10 or another server, executes this application, and accesses the server 10 via web page browsing software such as a browser, thereby transmitting and receiving information to and from the server 10. and can receive services. The service that can be received here can be, for example, the provision of information regarding excretion of the pet 3 and information regarding the health condition of the pet 3 .

The pet 3 may be equipped with a pet sensor (not shown). The pet sensor may be attached, for example, to the head, neck, body, legs, or tail of the pet 3, or may be a device that is previously attached to the skin of the pet 3 or embedded. good. Such pet sensors may include acceleration sensors, inertial sensors, motion sensors, temperature sensors (which measure body or environmental temperature), humidity sensors, sound sensors, and the like. Information obtained from such a pet sensor may be transmitted to the server 10 or the user terminal 20 via the network as appropriate.

The user terminal 20 may be, for example, a general-purpose computer such as a workstation or personal computer, or may be a smart phone, tablet, mobile terminal, or other information terminal.

<Hardware configuration>
The server 10 and the user terminal 20 according to this embodiment have, for example, the following hardware configurations. In addition, the following configuration is an example of the server 10, and may have a configuration other than this.

The server 10 is connected to a database (not shown) and constitutes part of the system. Server 10 may be a general-purpose computer such as a workstation or personal computer, or may be logically implemented by cloud computing.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the server 10 includes at least a control unit 11 , memory 12 , storage 13 , transmission/reception unit 14 , input/output unit 15 and the like, which are electrically connected to each other through a bus 16 .

The control unit 11 is an arithmetic unit that controls the overall operation of the server 10, controls transmission and reception of data between elements, executes applications, performs information processing necessary for authentication processing, and the like. For example, the control unit 11 is a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and executes each information processing by executing a program or the like stored in the storage 13 and developed in the memory 12 .

The memory 12 includes a main memory composed of a volatile memory device such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), and an auxiliary memory composed of a non-volatile memory device such as a flash memory or a HDD (Hard Disc Drive). . The memory 12 is used as a work area or the like for the control unit 11, and stores a BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) executed when the server 10 is started, various setting information, and the like.

The storage 13 stores various programs such as application programs. A database (not shown) storing data used for each process may be constructed in the storage 13 .

The transmitter/receiver 14 connects the server 10 to the network. The transmitting/receiving unit 14 may include a short-range communication interface of Bluetooth (registered trademark) and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy).

The input/output unit 15 is an information input device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and an output device such as a display.

A bus 16 is commonly connected to the above elements and transmits, for example, address signals, data signals and various control signals.

<Software configuration example>
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a software configuration example of the server 10 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The server 10 includes an optical information acquisition unit 21 , an analysis unit 22 , an estimation unit 23 , a sensor information acquisition unit 24 , an output unit 25 , an animal DB (database) 26 and an analysis result DB (database) 27 . The optical information acquisition unit 21, the analysis unit 22, the estimation unit 23, the sensor information acquisition unit 24, and the output unit 25 read the program stored in the storage 13 by the control unit 11 provided in the server 10 into the memory 12. It is realized by executing Animal DB 26 and analysis result DB 27 are implemented as part of a storage area provided by at least one of memory 12 and storage 13 .

The optical information acquisition unit 21 has a function of acquiring image information (an example of optical information) including the recovered body from the camera 5 . For example, the image information may be image information obtained by imaging the toilet 4 from above or from the side. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of image information according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 4, image 200 includes an image of toilet 4 . Specifically, the image 200 shows the state of the toilet 4 after the pet 3 has relieved himself. A basket body 40 of the toilet 4 is covered with sand 41, and areas 42A and 42B absorbing urine and feces 43 in the sand 41 are seen. The sand 41 according to the present embodiment may change its color after absorbing urine depending on, for example, the components (sugar, protein sugar) contained in the urine and pH. Further, the sand 41 according to this embodiment may change its shape after absorbing urine. For example, the sand 41 may have a different color and shape from normal urine when it absorbs urine containing components caused by kidney disease or the like. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the color of urine differs between the regions 42A and 42B. Therefore, it can be seen that the physical condition and health condition of the pet 3 have also changed due to the change in the urinary condition. The sand 41 may simply absorb urine.

The optical information acquisition section 21 may acquire image information from the camera 5 continuously or intermittently. As a result, the usage state of the toilet 4 and the state of excrement can be acquired in a time-series manner. For example, it is possible to chronologically record when, where, what kind of excrement, and how much the pet 3 excreted.

The analysis unit 22 has a function of analyzing the acquired image information and acquiring optical analysis information derived from the collected excrement body. For example, the analysis unit 22 can analyze the image information and specify the area of urine and feces in the sand 41 of the toilet 4 by image analysis. At that time, as shown in FIG. 4, the size and color of the urine area, the size and color of feces, and the like can be specified. The optical analysis information obtained here is information about the excrement, and specifically, it can be the size, color, number, etc. of the region of the excrement specified above. Further, the analysis unit 22 may specify the excrement of the new pet 3 by comparing the analysis result of the acquired image information with the analysis result of the image information acquired previously. This makes it possible to identify when excretion was performed. A known image analysis method may be used for the analysis processing by the analysis unit 22 according to the present embodiment. Such an image analysis method may employ a technique such as so-called machine learning. The analysis result by the analysis unit 22 can be output as optical analysis information.

The estimation unit 23 has a function of estimating the state of the pet 3 based on the optical analysis information. For example, the estimating unit 23 can estimate health-related conditions of the pet, such as possible health risks that the pet 3 may have, based on the color of the area 42A shown in FIG. The health risk referred to here may be, for example, a risk related to diseases related to urinary organs such as kidneys and digestive organs. Also, the health risk may be the disease itself, such as cystitis or renal failure, or a symptom or sign. For example, if the color of the area 42A alternates between acidity and alkalinity over time, it is presumed that the pH of the urine fluctuates greatly due to meals and the like, placing a burden on the urinary system. In this case, for example, the estimating unit 23 can estimate that there is a problem or risk such as the food content of the pet 3 or calculus in the bladder. Thus, the estimation unit 23 may estimate the state of the animal based on changes in the optical analysis information at different timings. In addition, the estimating unit 23 acquires information on the past history, current disease history, and health condition of the pet 3 stored in the animal DB 26, and estimates the condition of the pet 3 based on the excrement based on the information and analysis results. can be estimated. As a result, for example, it can be estimated whether the symptoms of the pet 3 are getting better or getting worse.

The estimation unit 23 can also estimate the state of the excrement based on the optical analysis information. A waste condition is an example of a condition for an animal. For example, if the carrier that adsorbs urine has properties such as color and shape that change depending on the properties of urine, the properties of urine can be estimated by analyzing the state of the carrier. The characteristics of urine include, for example, pH (alkaline, acidic) value, presence/absence of protein, content or concentration, presence/absence of carbohydrate, content or concentration, presence/absence of serum, content or concentration, specific metabolism such as bilirubin Presence/absence, content or concentration of substances, specific gravity of urine, presence/absence, content or concentration of leukocytes, presence/absence or content of crystals in urine, and the like may be used. In addition, the estimation unit 23 can estimate the state of the excrement by analyzing the color, shape, surface shape, and the like of the excrement itself. For example, from the color and shape of the stool, it is possible to estimate the presence or absence and content of specific components contained in the stool, the hardness of the stool, the degree of digestion, and the like.

The estimation unit 23 may further use sensor information acquired by the sensor information acquisition unit 24, which will be described later, to estimate the state of the pet 3 and the state of the excrement. For example, such sensor information may be sensor information obtained from a weight sensor or camera provided in the toilet 4 or sensor information obtained from a pet sensor attached to the pet 3 . Further, such sensor information may be information related to behavior of the pet 3 obtained by analyzing sensor information, such as the behavior of the pet 3 (for example, the number of excrements, the amount of excrement, the timing of excretion, etc.). good. By using such sensor information, the state of the pet 3 and excrement can be estimated with higher accuracy.

The sensor information acquisition unit 24 acquires sensor information obtained from sensors provided in the toilet 4 and pet sensors attached to the pet 3 . Such sensor information may be, for example, information detecting that the pet 3 is using the toilet 4 or information indicating excretion behavior by the pet 3 . Using such detection information, for example, the timing of acquiring image information from the camera 5 may be specified. That is, it is possible to acquire image information according to the timing of excretion based on the detection information, and to acquire optical analysis information at the timing. As a result, image information immediately after the excrement is excreted is obtained before the excrement is completely absorbed or removed, so highly accurate information can be obtained. The sensors provided in the toilet 4 can be, for example, the above-described camera 5, weight sensor, space recognition sensor, and the like. Further, the sensor information obtained from the pet sensor attached to the pet 3 may be, for example, behavior information of the pet 3 estimated based on the information obtained from the pet sensor. When the action information is information indicating "excretion action", the image information acquisition process may be performed.

The output unit 25 has a function of outputting information about the state of the pet 3, which is the estimation result. The output unit 25 outputs, for example, information about the state of the pet 3 (eg, health condition, health risk, disease, etc.) and information about excrement of the pet 3 (eg, pH of excrement, protein content, etc.) to the user terminal 20. can be output to the screen of The mode of output to the screen is not particularly limited, and text, images, and the like indicating the state of the pet 3 may be displayed, for example, in a compatible application installed in the user terminal 20, a web browser, or the like. In addition, the output unit 25 may output information such as changes in the state of the pet 3 as time-dependent information. In addition, the output unit 25 may also output information such as advice to the owner or the like obtained from the estimation result. For example, if the estimation result indicates that there is a high possibility that the urine pH fluctuates so much that the kidneys are overloaded, the output unit 25 outputs information advising the pet 3 to reconsider the diet. You may

Information output by the output unit 25 is not limited to information displayed on the screen of the user terminal 20 . For example, the information output by the output unit 25 may be stored in the animal DB 26, which will be described later, in association with information on each animal. Moreover, the optical analysis information output by the output unit 25 may be stored in the analysis result DB 27 . Also, the information output by the output unit 25 may be output to an external server or the like.

The animal DB 26 is a database that stores information on animals (pets) that use the toilet 4 . The animal DB 26 stores pet names, animal species, age, weight, body type, gender, area, health information (e.g. current illness history, past history, physical condition), preferences, food, physical characteristics, life stage, or owner information. etc. is stored. These pieces of information may be acquired, for example, by the user's operation on the user terminal 20, or may be acquired as appropriate through a service provided by an external server.

The analysis result DB 27 is a database that stores data such as optical analysis information and estimation results obtained for the pet 3 using the toilet 4 . These data can be stored in association with the pet 3 and time-series data. This makes it possible to estimate the current state of the pet 3 based on comparison with, for example, past analysis information. In addition to the optical analysis information, the analysis result DB 27 may store the sensor information acquired by the sensor information acquisition unit 24 in association with the analysis result. For example, when the weight of excreta is stored as the analysis result, the sensor information acquisition unit 24 can obtain information on the weight of excrement based on the information obtained from the weight sensor provided in the toilet 4 . Thereby, the accuracy of the estimation of the state of the pet 3 by the estimation unit 23 can be improved. The sensor information may be based not only on sensors provided on the pet 3 but also on pet sensors attached to the pet 3 . As a result, for example, behavior data of the pet 3 in the excrement at the time of abnormality can also be obtained and used for estimating the state of the pet 3 . The analysis result DB 27 can be used as learning data for machine learning, for example, for other purposes (prediction of behavior of pet 3, recommendation of meal contents, etc.).

<Processing flow and screen display example>
FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the operation flow of the server 10 in this embodiment. The flow of processing shown here is merely an example.

First, the use of the toilet 4 by the pet 3 is detected by the pet sensor attached to the toilet 4 or the pet 3 (step S101). When the sensor information acquisition unit 24 acquires such detection information, the server 10 causes the camera 5 to perform imaging processing, and the optical information acquisition unit 21 acquires image information from the camera 5 (step S103).

Next, the analysis unit 22 performs image analysis on excrement for the acquired image information (step S105). The analysis unit 22 acquires optical analysis information from the analysis result (step S107). The estimation unit 23 estimates the health condition of the pet 3 based on the optical analysis information (step S109). Then, the output unit 25 outputs information about the health condition of the pet 3, which is the estimated result (step S111).

As described above, according to the present disclosure, an optical analysis means such as a camera is provided in the toilet, the excrement collected by the collection body of the toilet is optically analyzed, and the health condition of the pet is estimated from the analysis results. can do. In addition, by performing chronological analysis, it is possible to specify what kind of excretion was performed at what timing, and to grasp changes in the health condition. In addition, by using the information detected by the toilet and other sensors attached to the pet that the pet is using the toilet or excreting, it is possible to analyze the excrement at a more suitable timing. As described above, the system 1 according to the present embodiment makes it possible to estimate the health condition of a pet just by using the toilet.

Next, a modified example of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of a toilet 400 according to a modified example of this embodiment. A toilet 400 according to this modification includes a container 402 under a basket body 401 . The container 402 has a so-called funnel shape, and liquid excrement such as urine can flow into the container 402 from the bottom of the cage 401 . Urine may be added to the channel 402a at the bottom of the container 402 and discharged to the outside from the lower end of the channel 402a. The lower end of the channel 402a may be closed to hold the urine, or the urine may be manually discharged from the container 402 as appropriate.

Container 402 can be, for example, a transparent container. A laser 501A and a light receiving element 501B, which are examples of optical analysis means, can be provided on the side of the flow path 402a. These may form an absorbance meter 501 . Note that the laser 501A is an example of a light emitter, and may be another light emitter such as an LED. The light receiving element 501B is also not particularly limited as long as it receives the light from the light emitter and converts it into an electric signal or the like.

A laser beam such as visible light or infrared light is irradiated from the laser 501A, passes through the channel 402a of the container 402 for holding or passing urine, and is received by the light receiving element 501B. At that time, urine absorbs some components of the color. Information about the wavelength of this absorbed color (ie absorbance) can be obtained as optical information. The degree of attenuation of the intensity of the laser light received by the light receiving element 501B from the laser 501A can also be obtained as optical information. Based on the information about the absorption wavelength and attenuation of the laser beam, for example, the analysis unit 22 can analyze whether the urine is cloudy, whether there is foreign matter, or whether there is occult blood. Thereby, the estimation unit 23 can estimate the state of the pet 3 based on the analysis information.

In this modified example as well, the condition of the pet can be estimated by obtaining and analyzing the condition of the urine, etc. by the optical analysis means. It should be noted that the functions of the server 10 described in the above embodiment can be appropriately applied to this modified example. In addition, in this modified example, the detection target of the absorbance meter 501 is the flow path 402a, but the present technology is not limited to this example. For example, instead of the absorbance meter 501, the camera 5 may be used to acquire an image including urine. Further, the object to be detected is not limited to the channel 402a, and may be the container 402 itself that holds urine.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings, the technical scope of the present disclosure is not limited to such examples. It is obvious that those who have ordinary knowledge in the technical field of the present disclosure can conceive of various modifications or modifications within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims. is naturally within the technical scope of the present disclosure.

The devices described herein may be implemented as a single device, or may be implemented by a plurality of devices (eg, cloud servers) partially or wholly connected via a network, or the like. For example, the control unit 11 and the storage 13 of the server 10 may be implemented by different servers connected to each other via a network.

The sequence of operations performed by the apparatus described herein may be implemented using software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. It is possible to prepare a computer program for realizing each function of the server 10 according to the present embodiment and to install it in a PC or the like. A computer-readable recording medium storing such a computer program can also be provided. The recording medium is, for example, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a flash memory, or the like. Also, the above computer program may be distributed, for example, via a network without using a recording medium.

Also, the processes described with reference to flowcharts in this specification do not necessarily have to be executed in the illustrated order. Some processing steps may be performed in parallel. Also, additional processing steps may be employed, and some processing steps may be omitted.

Also, the effects described herein are merely illustrative or exemplary, and are not limiting. In other words, the technology according to the present disclosure can produce other effects that are obvious to those skilled in the art from the description of this specification, in addition to or instead of the above effects.

4 toilet 5 camera 10 server (information processing device)
REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 11 control unit 13 storage 20 user terminal 21 optical information acquisition unit 22 analysis unit 23 estimation unit 24 sensor information acquisition unit 25 output unit 26 animal DB
27 Analysis result DB

Claims (14)

Acquiring optical analysis information derived from a collection body that collects animal excrement using an optical analysis means for the collection body that collects the excrement of the animal;
outputting information about the state of the animal based on the optical analysis information;
Methods of estimating animal health, including The collecting body is a carrier that adheres and supports the excrement,
The optical analysis information is information related to the image of the carrier to which the excreta is attached,
The method for estimating the state of health of an animal according to claim 1, wherein information regarding the state of health of the animal is output based on analytical information of the image of the carrier. The carrier changes color or shape according to the characteristics of the animal's excreta,
The method for estimating the state of health of an animal according to claim 2, wherein information regarding the state of health of the animal is output based on analytical information regarding the color of the image of the carrier. The collecting body is a container having a structure for holding or passing at least the excrement,
The optical analysis information is optical analysis information derived from the portion of the structure where the excrement is present.
The method for estimating the state of health of an animal according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The optical analysis means is an image sensor,
The optical analysis information is analysis information relating to the color of the portion of the structure where the excrement is present.
The method for estimating the health condition of an animal according to claim 4. The optical analysis means is an absorbance meter,
the optical analysis information is the absorbance of the portion of the structure where the excrement resides;
The method for estimating the health condition of an animal according to claim 4 or 5. The collecting body is a container having a structure for holding or passing at least the excrement,
The optical analysis information is optical analysis information derived from the excrement held in or passing through the container.
The method for estimating the state of health of an animal according to any one of claims 1-6. Acquire multiple optical analysis information at different timings,
outputting information about the health status of the animal based on changes in the optical analysis information;
The method for estimating the state of health of an animal according to any one of claims 1-7. The collecting body is arranged in a toilet bowl,
the toilet bowl is provided with a sensor for detecting use of the toilet bowl by the animal;
further comprising obtaining the optical analysis information based on the information detected by the sensor;
The method for estimating the state of health of an animal according to any one of claims 1-8. further comprising acquiring the optical analysis information based on information indicating excretion behavior of the animal obtained from information detected by a sensor attached to the animal;
The method for estimating the state of health of an animal according to any one of claims 1-9. the information about the health status of the animal includes information about the digestive and/or urinary status of the animal;
The method for estimating the state of health of an animal according to any one of claims 1-10. an analysis information acquisition unit that acquires optical analysis information derived from the collection body from which excrement of the animal is collected, using an optical analysis means for the collection body that collects the excreta of the animal;
an output unit that outputs information about the state of the animal based on the optical analysis information;
An information processing device. the computer,
an analysis information acquisition unit that acquires optical analysis information derived from the collection body from which excrement of the animal is collected, using an optical analysis means for the collection body that collects the excreta of the animal;
an output unit that outputs information about the state of the animal based on the optical analysis information;
A program to function as a collecting body for collecting animal excreta;
optical analysis means for optically analyzing the recovered body;
a control device that acquires optical analysis information derived from the collection body from which the excrement has been collected using the optical analysis means, and outputs information regarding the state of the animal based on the optical analysis information;
An estimation system comprising:

Images