Toilet for animal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11470810-B2
Application number	US-202016908741-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 23, 2020
Priority date	Dec 25, 2015
Publication date	Oct 18, 2022
Grant date	Oct 18, 2022

Abstract

A toilet for animal, including: an upper container having a plurality of holes formed on a bottom portion, the plurality of holes penetrating in an up-down direction; a lower container that includes a receiving section receiving excrement that has passed through the plurality of holes, gravity of the upper container not acting on the lower container; and an output unit that outputs a signal changing according to an amount of the excrement received by the receiving section.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A toilet for animal, comprising:
an upper container having a plurality of holes formed on a bottom portion of the upper container, the plurality of holes penetrating in an up-down direction of the upper container;
a lower container including a receiving section for receiving excrement that has passed through the plurality of holes, gravity of the upper container not acting on the lower container; and
an output unit configured to output a signal changing according to an amount of the excrement received by the receiving section,
wherein
the bottom portion has a level plane surface portion,
the plurality of holes is provided in the level plane surface portion, and
an outer shape of each of the plurality of holes has curved portions at two ends in a longitudinal direction of the upper container, as viewed from above.

2. The toilet for animal according to claim 1 , wherein
the upper container includes a sidewall portion that constitutes an outer wall of the upper container, and
an average thickness of the level plane surface portion is greater than an average thickness of the sidewall portion.

3. The toilet for animal according to claim 1 , further comprising an absorbent sheet configured to absorb the excrement, wherein
the absorbent sheet is configured to be placed on the receiving section.

4. The toilet for animal according to claim 1 , wherein
the output unit is waterproof.

5. A toilet for animal, comprising:
an upper container having a plurality of holes formed on a bottom portion of the upper container, the plurality of holes penetrating in an up-down direction of the upper container;
a lower container including a receiving section for receiving excrement that has passed through the plurality of holes, gravity of the upper container not acting on the lower container;
an output unit configured to output a signal changing according to an amount of the excrement received by the receiving section; and
a floor plate in which the output unit is provided and that is configured to be installed on a floor,
wherein
the lower container includes
a contact portion in two end portions in a direction orthogonal to a longitudinal direction of the lower container; and
a non-contact portion between the two end portions in the direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the lower container,

the contact portion is a portion that comes into contact with the floor plate, and
the non-contact portion is a portion that does not come into contact with the floor plate.

6. The toilet for animal according to claim 5 , wherein
the floor plate includes a control unit configured to detect an amount of the excrement based on the signal outputted from the output unit.

7. The toilet for animal according to claim 6 , wherein
the control unit is configured to detect an amount of the excrement each time by calculating a difference between a signal outputted before excretion and a signal outputted after excretion.

8. A toilet for animal, comprising:
an upper container having a plurality of holes formed on a bottom portion of the upper container, the plurality of holes penetrating in an up-down direction of the upper container;
a lower container including a receiving section for receiving excrement that has passed through the plurality of holes, gravity of the upper container not acting on the lower container; and
an output unit configured to output a signal changing according to an amount of the excrement received by the receiving section,
wherein
the upper container includes an extending wall portion that extends downward,
a lower end of the extending wall portion is located below lower ends of the plurality of holes,
the upper container and the lower container are separatable from each other, and
the bottom portion and the extending wall portion are provided in the upper container in not-separable manner.

9. A toilet for animal, comprising:
an upper container having a plurality of holes formed on a bottom portion of the upper container, the plurality of holes penetrating in an up-down direction of the upper container;
a lower container including a receiving section for receiving excrement that has passed through the plurality of holes, gravity of the upper container not acting on the lower container; and
an output unit configured to output a signal changing according to an amount of the excrement received by the receiving section,
wherein
an outer shape of each of the plurality of holes has curved portions in two ends in a longitudinal direction of the upper container, as viewed from above,
the upper container further includes a sidewall portion,
the bottom portion has a plane surface portion that is located lowermost in the up-down direction,
the plane surface portion is level,
a thickness of the plane surface portion is greater than a thickness of the sidewall portion,
the plane surface portion has the plurality of holes formed thereon,
an outer shape of the plane surface portion including two first straight portions, two second straight portions, and four curved portions,
each of the first straight portions extends along the longitudinal direction of the upper container,
each of the second straight portions extends along a transverse direction of the upper container, and
the four curved portions connect ends of each of the two first straight portions and ends of each of the two second straight portions.

10. A toilet for animal, comprising:
an upper container having a plurality of holes formed on a bottom portion of the upper container, the plurality of holes penetrating in an up-down direction of the upper container;
a lower container including a receiving section for receiving excrement that has passed through the plurality of holes, gravity of the upper container not acting on the lower container;
an output unit configured to output a signal changing according to an amount of the excrement received by the receiving section; and
an absorbent sheet configured to absorb the excrement and to be placed on the receiving section,
wherein the receiving section is capable of being taken into and out of the lower container.

11. A toilet for animal, comprising:
an upper container having a plurality of holes formed on a bottom portion of the upper container, the plurality of holes penetrating in an up-down direction of the upper container;
a lower container including a receiving section for receiving excrement that has passed through the plurality of holes, gravity of the upper container not acting on the lower container;
an output unit configured to output a first signal changing according to an amount of the excrement received by the receiving section; and
a control unit configured to output a second signal to cause a display section to display an accumulated amount of the excrement based on the first signal that has been output from the output unit, the display section being provided in a terminal that is different from the toilet.

12. A toilet for animal, comprising:
an upper container having a plurality of holes formed on a bottom portion of the upper container, the plurality of holes penetrating in an up-down direction of the upper container;
a lower container including a receiving section for receiving excrement that has passed through the plurality of holes, gravity of the upper container not acting on the lower container; and
an output unit configured to output a first signal changing according to an amount of the excrement received by the receiving section,
a control unit configured to output a second signal for calculating an accumulated amount of the excrement based on the first si

Assignees

• Unicharm Corp

Inventors

• Kaneko Shinya

Classifications

• A01K29/00

  Other apparatus for animal husbandry · CPC title

• A01K23/00

  Manure or urine pouches · CPC title

• A61B2503/40

  Animals · CPC title

• A01K1/0107 Primary

  Cat trays; Dog urinals; Toilets for pets · CPC title

• A01K1/0114 Primary

  Litter boxes with screens for separating excrement from litter · CPC title