Detection of animal intrusions and control of a repellent mechanism for detected animal intrusions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11636745-B2
Application number	US-202016798653-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 24, 2020
Priority date	Feb 24, 2020
Publication date	Apr 25, 2023
Grant date	Apr 25, 2023

Abstract

An electronic apparatus and a method are provided for detection of animal intrusions and control of a repellent mechanism to prevent such intrusions. The electronic apparatus controls an image-capture device to acquire an image of a house yard and selects a set of zones in the acquired image based on a user-specified setting. The electronic apparatus detects an animal in the acquired image and controls the repellent mechanism based on a determination that the detected animal is in a zone which is among the selected set of zones, to target the detected animal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic apparatus, comprising:
circuitry communicatively coupled to a repellent mechanism, wherein the circuitry is configured to:
control an image-capture device to acquire an image of a house yard;
select a set of zones in the acquired image based on a user-specified setting;
detect, in the acquired image, an animal in a first zone of the set of zones;
detect a presence of a child or a known person in the first zone where the animal is detected; and
control the repellent mechanism to target the detected animal in a case where the detected animal moves to a second zone of the selected set of zones, wherein the first zone is different from the second zone.

2. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
control the image-capture device to acquire a preview image of a Field-of-View (FoV) region of the image-capture device;
control a user device to display the acquired preview image; and
determine a plurality of zones in the acquired preview image.

3. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
generate a heatmap of the determined plurality of zones in the acquired preview image, wherein the heatmap indicates a frequency of historical animal intrusions in each zone of the determined plurality of zones;
control the user device to display a user-selectable recommendation comprising the set of zones to be protected from an animal intrusion based on the generated heatmap;
receive a user input via the user device over the displayed user-selectable recommendation;
select, from the determined plurality of zones, the set of zones which are to be protected from the animal intrusion based on the received user input; and
store the selection of the set of zones as the user-specified setting on the electronic apparatus.

4. The electronic apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
control the user device to display a plurality of user-selectable options onto the displayed preview image;
receive, via the user device, a user input over the displayed plurality of user-selectable options;
select, from the determined plurality of zones, the set of zones which are to be protected from an animal intrusion based on the user input; and
store the selection of the set of zones as the user-specified setting on the electronic apparatus.

5. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
detect, via a sensor installed in the house yard, a presence of the animal in the house yard or in vicinity of the house yard; and
control, based on the detected presence of the animal, the image-capture device to acquire the image of the house yard.

6. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the circuitry is further configured to share a notification with a user device based on the detection of the animal in the acquired image, and
the notification comprises the acquired image and a prompt that requests a user action on an animal intrusion.

7. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the repellent mechanism comprises one or more of: a water spray, a water jet, a sound alarm, a stink bomb, a chemical repellent spray, or a light flash.

8. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the repellent mechanism is a barricade setup installed in a compacted configuration, and
the circuitry is further configured to:
set the barricade setup to an uncompacted configuration in the first zone; and
adjust a z-height of the set barricade setup based on a height of the detected animal.

9. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
classify the detected animal as one of a user's pet animal or a stray animal; and
control the repellent mechanism further based on a determination that the detected animal is classified to be the stray animal, to target the detected animal.

10. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
determine a type of the detected animal; and
select a deterrence strategy of a set of deterrence strategies stored on the electronic apparatus based on the determined type of the detected animal; and
control the repellent mechanism further based on the selected deterrence strategy, to target the detected animal.

11. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
control the image-capture device to acquire a sequence of images;
track a path of the detected animal in a sequence of images; and
control the repellent mechanism to target the detected animal along the tracked path of the detected animal.

12. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:
detect a valuable object in the first zone where the animal is detected; and
control the repellent mechanism to target the detected animal when the animal moves to the second zone of the selected set of zones.

13. A method, comprising:
in an electronic apparatus:
controlling an image-capture device to acquire an image of a house yard;
selecting a set of zones in the acquired image based on a user-specified setting;
detecting, the acquired image, an animal in a first zone of the set of zones;
detecting a presence of a child or a known person in the first zone where the animal is detected; and
controlling a repellent mechanism to target the detected animal in a case where the detected animal moves to a second zone of the selected set of zones.

14. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:
controlling the image-capture device to acquire a preview image of a Field-of-View (FoV) region of the image-capture device;
controlling a user device to display the acquired preview image; and
determining a plurality of zones of the house yard in the acquired preview image.

15. The method according to claim 14 , further comprising:
controlling the user device to display a plurality of user-selectable options onto the displayed preview image;
receiving, via the user device, a user input over the displayed plurality of user-selectable options;
selecting, from the determined plurality of zones, the set of zones which are to be protected from an animal intrusion based on the user input; and
storing the selection of the set of zones as the user-specified setting on the electronic apparatus.

16. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:
classifying the detected animal as one of: a user's pet animal or a stray animal; and
controlling the repellent mechanism further based on a determination that the detected animal is classified to be the stray animal, to target the detected animal.

17. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:
controlling the image-capture device to acquire a sequence of images;
tracking a path of the detected animal in a sequence of images; and
controlling the repellent mechanism to target the detected animal along the tracked path of the detected animal.

18. An electronic apparatus, comprising:
circuitry configured to:
control an image-capture device to acquire a preview image of a Field-of-View (FoV) region of the image-capture device;
determine a plurality of zones in a house yard in the acquired preview image;
control a user device to display the acquired preview image;
control the user device to display a plurality of user-selectable options onto the displayed preview i

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Candelore Brant

Classifications

• A01M31/002 Primary

  Detecting animals in a given area · CPC title

• G06V10/764

  using classification, e.g. of video objects · CPC title

• G06V2201/07

  Target detection · CPC title

• G06F3/04847

  Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials · CPC title

• G06V10/25

  Determination of region of interest [ROI] or a volume of interest [VOI] · CPC title