WO2015069037A1

WO2015069037A1 - Smart pet care system for companion animal

Info

Publication number: WO2015069037A1
Application number: PCT/KR2014/010614
Authority: WO
Inventors: 박승곤; 조영철; 안태욱
Original assignee: 주식회사 볼레디
Priority date: 2013-11-08
Filing date: 2014-11-06
Publication date: 2015-05-14
Also published as: KR101404523B1; CN105744827A; JP6053987B2; CN105744827B; JP2016516444A

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a pet care system comprising a case having a ball injection opening, a ball discharge opening, and a feed discharge opening formed therein is provided, the pet care system comprising: a ball introduction channel having an end communicating with the ball injection opening such that a ball, which has been injected into the ball injection opening, is guided into the case; a ball discharge channel formed adjacent to a side surface of the other end of the ball injection channel (51) so as to guide the ball to the ball discharge opening; a pair of rollers arranged on an end of the ball discharge channel to discharge the ball out of the case, the first roller of the pair of rollers being a driving roller rotated by a first driving motor, and the second roller of the pair of rollers being arranged to be spaced from the first roller by a distance corresponding to the diameter of the ball; a sliding member for pushing a ball, which is seated on the other end of the ball introduction channel, to the ball discharge channel by means of a sliding operation; a second driving motor for driving the sliding member; and a companion animal feed containing chest which is arranged inside the case and has a through-hole on the bottom surface thereof, wherein, by means of a sliding operation of the sliding member, an end of the sliding member opens/closes the through-hole of the feed containing chest.

Description

Pet fat care system for pets

The present invention relates to a smart pet care system for pets, and more specifically, when the ball is put into the device, the ball is automatically discharged to the outside so that the food is supplied so that the companion can enjoy playing and exercising with the pet. It relates to a smart pet care system for animals.

Recently, more and more families are raising pets. If you have pets, you should feed, wash and play with them like a baby. However, pet owners may need to do outside activities for their work, housework, company work, etc., so they may not have enough time to spend on pets.

When pets are left alone for a long time, they cause various mental and physical diseases such as depression, emotional anxiety, lack of exercise, obesity, and diabetes. This disease can cause a social problem of being abandoned by the owner. Therefore, a device that allows pets to play, exercise, and eat food while reducing the time spent on pets is required.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a pet care system for a pet that enables play and exercise by automatically discharging a ball.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a pet care system for a pet that can supply food without a manager by automatically supplying a predetermined amount of food is provided.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in a pet care system having a case having a ball inlet, a ball outlet, and a food outlet,

A shared inlet, one end of which guides the ball introduced into the ball inlet through the ball inlet;

A ball discharge path formed adjacent to one side of the other end of the shared inflow path 51 and guiding a ball to the ball discharge port;

A pair of rollers disposed at an end of the ball discharge path and for discharging the ball out of the case, wherein a first roller is a drive roller rotated by a first drive motor, and a second roller is the first roller; A pair of rollers, spaced apart from each other by a diameter distance between the roller and the ball;

A sliding member for pushing the ball seated at the other end of the shared inlet by the sliding operation to the ball discharge path;

A second drive motor for driving the sliding member; And

It is disposed inside the case and has a feed hole for a pet having a through-hole; includes;

One end of the sliding member by the sliding operation of the sliding member provides a pet care system, characterized in that for opening and closing the through hole of the food container.

Pet care system for pets according to the present invention enables the play and exercise of pets by automatically discharging the ball.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, by automatically supplying a predetermined amount of food can be supplied without a manager.

The pet care system for pets according to the present invention is operable in various modes of operation, thereby enabling play with pets by co-emission, feeding, and pet training by a combination of co-emission and feeding.

1 is a perspective view of a pet care system for a pet according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a front view of the pet care system for a pet of an embodiment;

3 is a right side view of the pet care system for a pet of an embodiment;

4 is a left side view of the pet care system for a pet of an embodiment;

5 is a rear view of the pet care system for a pet of an embodiment;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the removed upper case of the pet care system for pets of one embodiment;

7 to 10 are perspective views showing the internal configuration of the pet care system for a pet of an embodiment from different angles,

11 is a view for explaining the operation of the sliding member 71 in the pet care system for pets of one embodiment.

[Description of the code]

10: upper case 11: ball inlet

12: ball outlet 20: lower case

22: food outlet 40: control unit

51: shared blowjob 52: shared discharge

61: food container 63: food path

71: sliding member

Objects, other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily understood through the following preferred embodiments associated with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described herein and may be embodied in other forms. Rather, the embodiments introduced herein are provided so that the disclosure may be made thorough and complete, and to fully convey the spirit of the present invention to those skilled in the art.

In the present specification, when a component is referred to as being "above" (or "below", "right", or "left") of another component, it is above (or below, right, or left) of another component. Or directly intervened with a third component therebetween. In addition, in the drawings, the thickness of the components are exaggerated for the effective description of the technical content.

In addition, the expressions such as 'top', 'bottom', 'left', 'right', 'front', 'back', etc. used to describe the positional relationship between the components in this specification are absolute criteria. It does not mean a direction or a position as, and is a relative expression used for convenience of description based on the drawings when describing the present invention with reference to each drawing.

Where the terms first, second, etc. are used herein to describe the components, these components should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one component from another. The embodiments described and illustrated herein also include complementary embodiments thereof.

In this specification, the singular also includes the plural unless specifically stated otherwise in the phrase. As used herein, the words 'comprise' and / or 'comprising' do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other components.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In describing the specific embodiments below, various specific details are set forth in order to explain the invention more specifically and to help understand. However, those skilled in the art can understand that the present invention can be used without these various specific details. In some cases, it is mentioned in advance that parts of the invention which are commonly known in the description of the invention and which are not highly related to the invention are not described in order to avoid confusion in describing the invention.

1 is a perspective view of a pet care system for a pet according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view, FIGS. 3 and 4 are a right side view and a left side view, and FIG. 5 is a rear view.

1 to 5, a pet care system according to an embodiment includes an upper case 10 and a lower case 20. On the upper surface of the upper case 10 is formed a ball inlet 11 through which the ball 80 can be inserted. Preferably, the height of the ball hole 11 is formed to be the lowest on the upper surface of the upper case 10 so that the ball rolls into the ball hole 11 even if the ball 80 is placed in any other area of the top surface. .

On the front of the pet care system combined with the upper case 10 and the lower case 20 is formed a ball discharge port 12 through which the injected ball is discharged, one side to open and close the inlet of the food container for receiving the pet food The side cover 21 is detachably attached.

In the lower part of the front part of the lower case 20 is formed a food outlet 22 for discharging the pet food supplied from the food container, the food container 30 is detachably attached to the front of the food outlet 22. Can be.

As shown in FIG. 2, the pet care system may further include one or more LED lamps 13. In one embodiment, the LED lamp 13 may serve to inform the user of a power state, an operation mode state, and the like of the pet care system.

The pet care system further includes a controller 40 on one side. In the illustrated embodiment, the controller 40 may include a power switch 41 and a mode change switch 42. The power switch 41 is a switch for selecting on / off of the power supply of the pet care system, and the mode change switch 42 is a switch for changing the operation mode of the pet care system and functions as an input unit for receiving a user input. Of course, other switches may be added in alternative embodiments.

The controller 40 controls the operation of discharging the ball 80 injected into the pet care system to the ball discharge port 12 and the operation of discharging the food to the food discharge port 22. In one embodiment, the control unit 40 may control the discharge operation of the ball and the food based on at least one of a user input signal through the mode change switch 42 and / or a detection signal of the input hole sensor to be described later.

The upper case 10 and the lower case 20 defining the appearance of the pet care system may be modified in various forms according to the specific arrangement of the components disposed therein. That is, as shown in the figure may be formed in a variety of shapes, such as a rectangular box shape, a polygonal enclosure shape, a specific character shape as well as a circular or oval shape.

In addition, each of the positions of the air inlet 11, the air outlet 12, the LED cover 13, the side cover 21, the food outlet 22, and the controller 400 in the appearance of the pet care system is also accommodated in the case. Of course, it can be changed according to the arrangement of the components to be.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a state in which the upper case of the pet care system for pets of one embodiment is removed.

Referring to FIG. 6, the pet care system includes a co-inflow passage 51, a co-discharge passage 52, a co-discharge tube 53, a food container 61, and a food passage 63 therein.

One end of the common passage 51 communicates with the ball inlet 11 of the upper case 10, and the ball discharge passage 52 is formed adjacent to the side of the other end of the common passage 51. The common flow passage 51 and the ball discharge passage 52 are formed to have a predetermined depth in consideration of the diameter of the ball used.

Guide the ball introduced into the ball inlet (11) into the case. To this end, one end of the common passage 51 (ie, the end adjacent to the ball inlet 11) is inclined to be higher than the other end (that is, the end contacting the ball outlet 52) so that the ball is caused by its own weight. It can be rolled from the one end to the other end side.

The ball discharge path 52 guides the ball delivered from the shared passage 51 to the ball discharge port 12. To this end, one end of the co-discharge path (i.e., the end adjacent to the other end of the common passage 51) is inclined to be higher than the other end (i.e., the end close to the ball discharge port 12) so that the ball is caused by its own weight. It can be rolled from the one end to the other end side.

The co-discharge tube 53 is a cylindrical member disposed between one end of the co-discharge path 52 and the co-discharge port 12 of the case, and preferably, the co-discharge tube ( The inner diameter increases toward the direction 53).

The food container 61 includes a through hole (62 of FIG. 10), which is a container for accommodating pet food and a passage through which food falls on the bottom. The food passage 63 is a passage for receiving the food falling through the through hole 62 when the through hole 62 of the food container is opened and leading to the food outlet 22 of the lower case 20.

Hereinafter, the internal structure of the pet care system will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 7 to 11.

7 to 9 are perspective views showing the internal configuration of the pet care system for a pet of an embodiment from different angles.

As described with reference to FIG. 6, the pet care system includes a co-inlet 51, a co-discharge passage 52, a co-discharge tube 53, a food container 61, and a food passage 63 therein. 7, the pet care system includes a pair of

rollers

54 and 55 supported by the support frame 59, a sliding member 71 supported by the pedestal 50, and an air inlet ( And a sensing sensor 57 disposed adjacent to 51.

The pair of

rollers

54, 55 are arranged at one end of the co-discharge path 52, that is, at the end near the co-discharge port 12. As shown in FIG. That is, the

rulers

54 and 55 are interposed between the co-discharge path 52 and the co-discharge port 12. Among the pair of

rollers

54 and 55, the first roller 55 is a driving roller that is rotated by the first driving motor 56, and the second roller 54 is installed freely without being driven by a separate driving means. do. The ball 80 used in the embodiment of the present invention is a ball having elasticity such as a sponge ball or a rubber ball. Therefore, the separation distance of the pair of

rollers

54 and 55 may be equal to, or slightly smaller than, the diameter of the ball. According to such a roller configuration, the ball rolled up to the end of the ball discharge path 52 is discharged through the ball discharge port 12 by the rotational force of the first roller 55.

The first driving motor 56 may be controlled on / off and driving speed of the operation by the control of the controller 40.

In an alternative embodiment the second roller 54 may also be implemented to be driven by the first drive motor 56 or a separate drive means, in which case the ball rolled up to the end of the ball discharge path 52 is the first roller. It is discharged to the ball discharge port 12 by the rotational force of the 55 and the 2nd roller 54. As shown in FIG.

The sensor 57 is disposed adjacent to the ball inlet 11 and detects the ball injected into the ball inlet 11. The detection signal according to the detection of the detection sensor 57 is transmitted to the control unit 40.

The sliding member 71 can slide left and right by this operation and can push the ball seated at the other end of the common passage 51 to the ball discharge path 52 by this operation. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 8, the pinion 66 is formed on the drive shaft of the second drive motor 65, and the rack 72 is formed along one surface of the sliding member 71 in the longitudinal direction. The pinion 66 and the rack 72 are engaged with each other, and the second drive motor 65 can slide the sliding member 71 by the pinion-lag method. The second drive motor 65 is controlled by the controller 40.

Now, with reference to Figure 9 will be described the process from ball input to ball discharge. When the user inputs the ball 80 into the pet care system through the ball inlet 11, the detection sensor 57 detects this and at the same time, the ball is marked at one end of the shared inlet 51, that is, A in FIG. 9. Fall to one point. Since the common passage 51 is inclined, the ball at the point A rolls to the point B by its own weight. Since the cross section of the common passage 51 is concave and formed as shown, the ball flows to the ball discharge passage 52 by the left and right jaws of the common passage 51 unless a force is applied from the outside. It will stay at point B.

At this time, when the detection sensor 57 detects the input of the ball, the detection signal is transmitted to the control unit 40, and the control unit 40 controls the second driving motor 65 according to the detection signal. For example, in consideration of the time it takes for the ball to roll from point A to point B, the controller 40 drives the second drive motor 65 after a lapse of about 1 second or 2 seconds after receiving the detection signal.

When the sliding member 71 slides in the direction of the air discharge path 52 by the driving of the second drive motor 65, the ball whose end of the sliding member 71 is positioned at the point B is placed in the ball ejecting path 52. The ball is pushed toward the point, and the ball dropped to the point C is rolled down the ball discharge path 52 by its own weight, and is discharged to the outside of the case through the ball discharge port 11 under the rotational force of the pair of

rollers

54 and 55. do.

Now, a configuration for the feeding operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the internal structure of the pet care system for pets from below, and FIG. 11 is an enlarged view of the sliding member 71.

Referring to the drawings, the food container 61 includes a through hole 62 at the bottom thereof, and the through hole 62 has a sliding member 71 positioned directly below it. Thus, in the basic default state, the through hole 62 is closed by the sliding member 71.

In this configuration, if the sliding member 71 slides in the first direction (“R” direction) in FIG. 11, the sliding member 71 is located at the point B of the common passage 51 as described above in FIG. 9. The ball seated is pushed into the ball discharge path 52. At this time, the sliding member 71 still closes the through hole 62 of the food container. In other words, the pet care system discharges the ball to the ball discharge port 12 by sliding in the first direction of the sliding member.

If the sliding member 71 slides in the second direction (“L” direction) in FIG. 11, the opening 73 formed at one end of the sliding member 71 is a through hole 62 of the food container 61. The through hole 62 is opened to move to the same position as), and the food falling through the through hole 62 is guided to the food outlet 22 of the lower case through the food passage 63. That is, the pet care system discharges the food to the food outlet 22 by sliding in the second direction of the sliding member.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the sliding member may have a plurality of operation modes by combining the sliding operation in the first direction and the second direction, and the control unit 40 may be operated by the user among the plurality of operation modes. The first drive motor 56 and the second drive motor 65 are controlled according to the selected operation mode.

In one embodiment, the plurality of operation modes may include at least one of the following three modes.

(i) First operation mode in which only the operation of the sliding member 71 in the first direction (R direction) is performed: This mode is a mode of discharging the ball 80. The number of operations is not particularly limited.

In this mode, for example, the user may discharge one ball each time the user injects the balls one by one. Alternatively, if the user injects a plurality of balls in sequence with different settings, the balls may be discharged one by one at regular time intervals. In this case, for example, whenever the user inputs three balls in sequence, the detection sensor 57 detects the ball, and the control unit 40 that receives the detection signal recognizes that a total of three balls are input. Thereafter, the controller 40 may control to repeat the sliding operation three times at intervals of a predetermined time (for example, 10 seconds).

(ii) Second operation mode in which only the operation of the sliding member 71 in the second direction (L direction) is performed: This mode is a mode in which only the food is supplied without the discharge of the ball 80. The number of operations is not particularly limited.

For example, if the user additionally set the feeding time in this mode, the user can automatically feed the pet even when the user is out for a long time.

(iii) a third operation mode in which the sliding member 71 performs one or more operations in the first direction (R direction) and one subsequent operation in the second direction (L direction): ) This mode is to supply food after one or more discharges. It is a training mode that can be used to train companion animals. The number of operations in each of the first and second directions is not particularly limited.

In one embodiment, the above-described operating modes can be switched between the respective modes by the user pressing the mode change switch 42, and the present mode is currently displayed to the user by changing the position or lamp color of the LED lamp 13 depending on each mode. Can tell the mode.

As such, those skilled in the art may make various modifications and variations from the description of the above specification. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims below and equivalents thereof.

Claims

In a pet care system having a case having a ball inlet, a ball outlet, and a food outlet,

A shared inlet 51 having one end guided into the case through the ball inlet, the ball introduced into the ball inlet;

A ball discharge path 52 formed adjacent to one side of the other end of the shared inlet 51 and guiding a ball to the ball discharge port;

A pair of rollers disposed at the end of the ball discharge path 52 and for discharging the ball out of the case, wherein the first roller is a drive roller rotated by a first drive motor, the second roller is A pair of rollers spaced apart from each other by a diameter distance between the first roller and the ball;

A sliding member (71) for pushing the ball seated at the other end of the common passage (51) to the ball discharge passage (52) by a sliding operation;

A second drive motor 65 driving the sliding member 71; And

And a pet food container (61) disposed in the case and having a through hole (62) on a bottom thereof.
The method of claim 1, wherein the sliding member 71,

When sliding in the first direction, the ball seated at the other end of the common passage 51 is pushed into the ball discharge passage 52 and at the same time closing the through hole 62 of the food container 61 and ,

Sliding in a second direction opposite to the first direction, the pet care system, characterized in that to open the through hole 62 of the food container (61).
According to claim 1, wherein the pinion is formed on the drive shaft of the second drive motor 65 and the rack is formed along the longitudinal surface of the sliding member 71, so that the second drive motor to the rack-pinion method Pet care system, characterized in that for sliding the sliding member by.
The method of claim 1,

The pet care system further includes a food passage 63 for receiving the food falling through the through hole 62 when the through hole 62 of the food container is opened and leading to the food outlet of the case. Pet care system, characterized in that.
The method of claim 1,

The pet care system, the pet care system further comprises a control unit for controlling the operation of the first drive motor and the second drive motor.
The method of claim 5,

The control unit controls the first and second driving motors according to one operation mode among a plurality of operation modes each consisting of a combination of an operation in a first direction and an operation in a second direction of the sliding member. Pet care system.
The method of claim 6,

The plurality of operation modes include (i) a first operation mode for performing only an operation in a first direction of the sliding member, (ii) a second operation mode for performing only an operation in a second direction of the sliding member, and (iii And at least one of a third operation mode which performs one or more operations in a first direction of the sliding member and a second operation in a subsequent second direction of the sliding member.
8. The pet care system of claim 7, wherein the plurality of operation modes include all of the first to third operation modes.
The method of claim 6,

The control unit includes an input unit for receiving a user input,

The controller may control the first driving motor and the second driving motor based on at least one of a user input signal through the input unit or a detection signal of the detection sensor.