Camera winch control for dynamic monitoring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11089227-B1
Application number	US-202016785252-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Feb 7, 2020
Priority date	Feb 7, 2020
Publication date	Aug 10, 2021
Grant date	Aug 10, 2021

Abstract

A method for controlling a sensor subsystem, the method including receiving one or more metrics representing one or more characteristics of livestock, including one or more livestock objects, contained in an enclosure and monitored by one or more sensors coupled to a winch subsystem. The method further includes determining a position to move the one or more sensors based on the metrics and determining an instruction that includes information related to a movement of the one or more sensors. The method further includes sending the instruction to the winch subsystem to change the position of the one or more sensors.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method performed by a biomass monitoring system, the method comprising:
receiving one or more metrics representing one or more characteristics of livestock, including one or more livestock objects, contained in an enclosure and monitored by one or more sensors coupled to a winch subsystem,
wherein receiving the one or more metrics representing the one or more characteristics of the livestock includes determining a median distance from the one or more sensors to the livestock, the median distance corresponding to a median value of each distance from each of the one or more livestock objects to the one or more sensors;
determining that the median distance is greater than or equal to an upper threshold median distance;
based on determining that the median distance is greater than or equal to the upper threshold median distance, determining a position to move the one or more sensors;
determining an instruction that comprises information related to a movement of the one or more sensors, wherein the information of the instruction relates to moving the one or more sensors closer to the livestock; and
sending the instruction to the winch subsystem to change the position of the one or more sensors.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more metrics includes a number of individual livestock object detections, a number of stereo matched livestock tracks, a median depth offset of the livestock, a median object track duration of the livestock, or a median livestock track angle.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving sensor data from the one or more sensors; and
generating, using the sensor data, the one or more metrics.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the winch subsystem, the instructions; and
changing, by the winch subsystem, the position of the one or more sensors according to the instructions.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an approximate number of livestock objects of the livestock;
determining that the approximate number of livestock objects is less than a threshold number of livestock objects; and
wherein the information of the instruction relates to a change in position of the one or more sensors from a first depth within the enclosure to a second depth within the enclosure.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a first depth within the enclosure of the one or more sensors;
calculating a depth offset value being a difference between the first depth and a reference depth within the enclosure of the one or more sensors;
determining that the depth offset value is greater than or equal to a threshold depth offset value; and
wherein the information of the instruction relates to a change in position of the one or more sensors from the first depth within the enclosure to a second depth within the enclosure.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a first depth within the enclosure of the one or more sensors;
calculating a depth offset value being a difference between the first depth and a reference depth within the enclosure of the one or more sensors;
determining that the depth offset value is greater than or equal to a threshold depth offset value; and
wherein the information of the instruction relates to a change in position of the one or more sensors from the first depth within the enclosure to a second depth within the enclosure.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a median track angle of the livestock, the median track angle corresponding to a median value of one or more angles formed between a track of one or more livestock objects and a horizontal line;
determining that the median track angle of the livestock is greater than or equal to a threshold track offset value; and
wherein the information of the instruction relates to a change in an angle of the winch subsystem from an initial angle to an updated angle.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a median distance from the one or more sensors to the livestock, the median distance corresponding to a median value of each distance from each of the one or more livestock objects to the one or more sensors; and
determining that the median distance is less than or equal to a lower threshold median distance;
wherein the information of the instruction relates to moving the one or more sensors farther from the livestock.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating, using the metrics, a belief matrix comprising a plurality of entries each representing a likelihood of livestock being at a certain location within the enclosure.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the belief matrix further comprises, for each of the likelihoods of the plurality of entries, a confidence score for the likelihood.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the information of the instruction relates to moving the one or more sensors to a particular location within the enclosure that corresponds to a particular entry of the belief matrix the particular location having the greatest likelihood of livestock being present at the particular location compared to other locations within the enclosure.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors include a camera, an IR sensor, a UV sensor, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a hydrophone, a water current sensor, or a water quality sensor such as one that detects oxygen saturation or an amount of a dissolved solid.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the characteristics of the livestock include being hungry, sick, hurt, or dead.

15. A biomass monitoring system comprising:
one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:
receiving one or more metrics representing one or more characteristics of livestock, including one or more livestock objects, contained in an enclosure and monitored by one or more sensors coupled to a winch subsystem,
wherein receiving the one or more metrics representing the one or more characteristics of the livestock includes determining a median distance from the one or more sensors to the livestock, the median distance corresponding to a median value of each distance from each of the one or more livestock objects to the one or more sensors;
determining that the median distance is greater than or equal to an upper threshold median distance;
based on determining that the median distance is greater than or equal to the upper threshold median distance, determining a position to move the one or more sensors;
determining an instruction that comprises information related to a movement of the one or more sensors, wherein the information of the instruction relates to moving the one or more sensors closer to the livestock; and
sending the instruction to the winch subsystem to change the position of the one or more sensors.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the one or more sensors include a camera, an IR sensor, a UV sensor, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a hydrophone, a water current sensor, or a water quality sensor such as one that detects oxygen saturation or an amount of a dissolved solid.

17. The system of claim 15 , the operations further comprising:
receiving, by the winch subsystem, the instructions; and
changing, by the winch subsystem, the position of the one or more sensors according to the instructions.

18. The system of claim 15 , the operation

Assignees

• X Dev Llc

Inventors

• James Barnaby John
• Kichkaylo Tatiana
• Kimball Peter
• Thornton Christopher

Classifications

• H04N23/695 Primary

  Control of camera direction for changing a field of view, e.g. pan, tilt or based on tracking of objects · CPC title

• G06T2207/30242

  Counting objects in image · CPC title

• A01K61/13

  Prevention or treatment of fish diseases · CPC title

• G06T7/50

  Depth or shape recovery · CPC title

• G06T2207/30232

  Surveillance · CPC title