TW202002889A - Active device for monitoring animal - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed here is an active device for monitoring animal being capable of measuring vital signs of the animal and actively signaling an external apparatus. The device comprises a pin adapted to penetrate a predetermined portion of the animal; a gasket having two ring portions formed as one piece; a base having a first sleeve portion for allowing the pin to squeeze through so as to be engaged with each other and blocking the pin from slipping off after engagement; a monitoring unit; and a cover having a second sleeve portion to receive the first sleeve portion, and being joined with the base in a waterproof manner so as to accommodate the monitoring unit therein.

Description

Active animal monitoring device

The invention relates to an active animal monitoring device, in particular to a monitoring device that can measure and actively wirelessly transmit animal vital signs such as body temperature, heartbeat, blood pressure and the like.

Because animal body temperature, heartbeat, blood pressure and other vital signs are important data to judge its health status, it is used as a key reference for taking necessary measures such as medical treatment, isolation, etc. Therefore, for pigs, cattle, sheep, horses, etc. Animals with high economic value need to perform vital sign measurement and monitoring to avoid or reduce losses.

There are various electronic devices used for animal monitoring. For example, passive electronic tags are used to attach to animal bodies for identification, and some electronic devices can be installed on animals to monitor their position, body temperature, and so on. In order to monitor vital signs such as body temperature, the monitoring device will be installed on at least one of the multiple parts of the animal. Considering the accuracy, the fixed design of the fixed fixing of the monitoring device on the animal should depend on the location of the device.

Therefore, there is a need for an active electronic monitoring device that can be reliably installed in an appropriate part of the animal's body, so as to accurately measure, for example, body temperature, heartbeat, etc. during animal rearing, so as to efficiently and actively report abnormal animal conditions and devices in real time Exceptions and other exceptional events to significantly save maintenance costs.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an active animal monitoring device can measure the vital signs of an animal and can actively send signals to an external device, which includes: a prong for passing through a predetermined part of the animal's body; a washer, which has an integral shape The double ring portion; the base, which has a first sleeve portion, which allows the pins to be squeezed through to engage with each other and prevents the pins from slipping out after being engaged; the monitoring unit; and, the cover, which has a capacity to accommodate the first sleeve portion The second sleeve portion, and, is engaged with the base portion to seal the monitoring unit therebetween in a waterproof manner. The animal is preferably a domestic animal.

Preferably, the monitoring unit includes: a sensor module for measuring vital signs of animals; a wireless communication module capable of communicating with external devices; a controller for receiving measurement data from the sensor module, and , To control the wireless communication module to transmit the measurement data to the external device; and, to supply power to the battery of the active device. The sensor module includes at least one of a temperature sensor, a blood pressure sensor, a heartbeat sensor, and an acceleration sensor.

In addition, the wireless communication module can use at least one of Lora or Zigbee wireless communication standards to communicate with the external device.

Preferably, the monitoring unit further includes a light-emitting diode indicator to display the status of the device, and when the microprocessor detects that the battery power is insufficient, the light-emitting diode is prompted to indicate that the power is insufficient.

The active animal monitoring device according to the present invention can be easily and firmly installed on animal ears, automatically and accurately measure the animal's body temperature, and can actively report the measured data, which can eliminate or reduce major infections, mass deaths, and significant Reduce feeding costs.

In the following description, numerous specific details are disclosed to help fully understand the implementation shown. However, those skilled in the art will understand that without these specific details, the disclosed embodiments can still be implemented. In other cases, conventional circuits, structures, and techniques are omitted or simplified to avoid obscuring the description.

In livestock farms where a large number of livestock are kept, continuous measurement and reporting of vital signs such as the animal's body temperature are required to timely treat and prevent a large number of livestock deaths. When installing a monitoring device on an animal's body, generally speaking, the robustness and measurement accuracy must be considered. Taking these factors into consideration, the active animal monitoring device according to the present invention is preferably installed on the ears of livestock. The active monitoring device according to the embodiment of the present invention can wirelessly transmit the measured data to external communication devices such as gateways and routers. In addition, the active animal monitoring device may be required to be able to operate normally during the rearing period of 3 years, for example, without replacing the battery.

In the following, the structure of an active animal monitoring device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

First, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an active animal monitoring device 100 according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 shows the appearance of an active animal monitoring device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the device 100. As shown in FIG. 2, the active animal monitoring device 100 includes a pin 102, a gasket 104, a base 106, a monitoring unit 108, and a cover 110.

For example, the tip 102 is formed by a larger head 1021, a post 1022 protruding from the head 1021, and a tapered tip 1023 formed at one end of the post 1022. According to an embodiment, the tapered tip 1023 may be made of metal or alloy to facilitate penetration of the body part of the animal, and other parts of the tip 102 may be made of materials such as plastic, resin, or the like. Alternatively, the integral pin 102 may be made of metal or alloy. The tip 102 is not limited to the above-mentioned structure or shape, and may be formed by any shape or structure that can pass through a predetermined animal part and engage with a corresponding part provided on the base 106 (to be described later).

According to the embodiment, for example, the gasket 104 is made of resin, rubber, plastic, silicone, or the like. Here, the gasket 104 has a double ring shape, wherein the two ring portions are connected by a hollow pipe string to form a one-piece gasket 104. Since the measurement effect of the sensor (described later) in the monitoring unit 108, especially when measuring the temperature, it is easily affected by the distance between the animal's measured part and the sensor, therefore, according to the embodiments of the present invention The washer 104 is used to make the whole device more firmly fixed to the animal's ear and other parts, and to ensure that the sensor and the measured part are maintained within a predetermined distance range, thereby significantly improving the measurement performance of body temperature and other vital signs.

The base 106, the monitoring unit 108, and the cover 110 together constitute the main body of the active monitoring device 100.

Hereinafter, the base 106 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. An inner sleeve 1062 is formed in the top of the base 106. The outer diameter of the inner sleeve 1062 is smaller than the outer sleeve 1102 provided on the top of the cover 110. Therefore, when the base 106 and the cover 110 are engaged with each other, the inner sleeve 1062 can be properly inserted into the outer sleeve 1102. It is worth noting that the inner sleeve 1062 and the outer sleeve 1102 are formed of different hardness materials. Specifically, the hardness of the material forming the inner sleeve 1062 is less than the hardness of the outer sleeve 1102. In addition, the inner diameter of the inner sleeve 1062 is smaller than the maximum outer diameter of the conical tip 1023, but its hardness is sufficiently low to allow the conical tip 1023 to squeeze through its passage. After being squeezed through the inner sleeve 1062, since the maximum outer diameter of the conical tip 1023 is greater than the inner diameter of the inner sleeve 1062, it will be blocked from sliding back out of the inner sleeve 1062. In this way, by pressing the pin 102 through the inner sleeve 1062, the entire active device 100 can be firmly fixed to a desired animal part.

In addition, the base 106 has a window 1064 formed under the inner sleeve 1062 for the sensor provided in the monitoring unit 108 to measure vital signs such as body temperature.

With the joining technique, the cover 110 and the base 106 are tightly joined to each other to seal the processing unit 108 (to be described later) therebetween in a waterproof manner. The processing unit 108 will be described in detail below.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram for explaining the monitoring unit 108 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the monitoring unit 108 includes a wireless communication module 1082, a microprocessor 1084, a light emitting diode (LED) 1086, a sensor module 1088, an antenna 1081, a battery 1087, and so on. These electronic components are mounted on the printed circuit board. Preferably, the printed circuit board can be a double-sided circuit board, so that different electronic components can be installed on different sides according to the design.

The wireless communication module 1082 can communicate with an external communication device such as a gateway via an antenna 1081. The module 1082 can transmit the data received from the outside to the microprocessor 1084 and/or transmit the data to the outside under the control of the microprocessor 1084. The wireless communication module 1082 may be configured to communicate using at least one wireless communication standard including Lora, Zigbee, and so on.

The sensor module 1088 includes at least one sensor, for example, a temperature sensor, a heartbeat sensor, an acceleration sensor, a blood pressure sensor, and so on. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the sensor module 1088 may be a temperature sensor arranged to face the window 1064 to measure the body temperature of the animal in a non-contact manner. The measurement result of the sensor module 1088 is input to the microprocessor 1084.

The microprocessor 1084 performs calculations based on data input from the sensor module 1088, and causes the wireless transmission chipset 1082 to communicate to transmit vital signs such as measured body temperature to external devices such as gateways (not shown). Then, the external device may transfer these data to the cloud system or any computing platform for management. The microprocessor 1084 can determine whether there are abnormal events, such as fever or temperature loss, based on the measured data.

The light-emitting diode 1086 displays the status of the device 100, for example, the battery status, the device operating status, and so on. The microprocessor 1084 detects the voltage of the battery 1087 that supplies power to the device, and when the measured voltage is lower than a predetermined value, causes the LED 1086 to display insufficient power.

In the above, the structure, components and functions of the active animal monitoring device of the invention have been described in detail. According to the present invention, the active animal monitoring device can be easily and firmly installed on the animal's ear, automatically and accurately measure the animal's body temperature, and can actively report the measured data, which can eliminate or reduce major infections, mass deaths, and Significantly reduce feeding costs. Although the above embodiments are described using livestock in livestock farms as examples, the active animal monitoring device of the present invention is not limited to livestock in livestock farms, but can also be applied to other animals, such as pets, poultry, and zoo animals Or even wild animals.

Although specific embodiments and examples are described in detail, those skilled in the art should understand that the details and forms can be made in various ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended patent application. Various changes. The scope of the invention is defined by the appended patent application scope, and covers all changes that fall within the equivalent scope and meaning of the patent application scope, and these examples are only for illustration rather than limitation.

100‧‧‧Active animal monitoring device 102‧‧‧Plug 104‧‧‧Gasket 106‧‧‧Base 108‧‧‧Monitoring unit 110‧‧‧Cover 1021‧‧‧Head 1022‧‧‧Post 1023 ‧‧‧ Tapered tip 1062‧‧‧Inner sleeve 1064‧‧‧Window 1081‧‧‧Antenna 1082‧‧‧Wireless communication module 1084‧‧‧Microprocessor 1086‧‧‧Light emitting diode 1088‧‧‧ Sensor module 1102‧‧‧Outer sleeve

In the following description, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, similar codes generally represent similar structures or components. The drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, but rather to reinforce the principles of the invention. FIG. 1 shows the appearance of an active animal monitoring device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is an exploded view of an active animal monitoring device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing the base of an active animal monitoring device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a monitoring unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

100‧‧‧Active animal monitoring device

102‧‧‧Plug

104‧‧‧gasket

106‧‧‧Dock

108‧‧‧Monitoring unit

110‧‧‧ lid

Claims (9)

An active animal monitoring device for measuring the vital signs of animals, and can actively send signals to external equipment, the device includes: 　　　 pin, used to pass through a predetermined part of the animal's body; 　　　 washer, with an integral molding Double ring part; 　　　 base, with a first sleeve part, allowing the pin to be squeezed through to engage with each other and prevent the pin from slipping out after being engaged; 　　　 monitoring unit, including: 　　　　　 sensor module for measuring Vital signs of the animal; 　　　　　 wireless communication module capable of communicating with the external device; controller for receiving measurement data from the sensor module, and controlling the wireless communication module to transmit the measurement data to The external device; and a battery to supply power to the active device; and a cover having a second sleeve portion capable of accommodating the first sleeve portion, and, engaged with the base portion to seal the monitoring unit therebetween in a waterproof manner . As in the device of claim 1, the sensor module includes at least one of a temperature sensor, a blood pressure sensor, a heartbeat sensor, and an acceleration sensor. For example, in the device of claim 1, the wireless communication module uses at least one of Lora or Zigbee wireless communication standards to communicate with the external device. A device as claimed in item 1 of the patent application, wherein the hardness of the first sleeve portion is lower than that of the second sleeve portion. The device as claimed in item 1 of the patent application, wherein the predetermined part of the animal's body is the ear. A device as claimed in item 5 of the patent application, wherein the sensor module is a temperature sensor module. For example, in the device of claim 6, the controller determines whether the animal's body temperature is abnormal according to the body temperature measured by the temperature sensor module. For example, the device of patent application scope item 1, wherein the animal is a domestic animal. For example, the device of any of items 1-8 of the patent application scope, the monitoring unit further includes a light-emitting diode indicator to display the status of the device, and, when the microprocessor detects that the battery power is insufficient, This causes the light-emitting diode to show insufficient power.

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