Lures and sensors for insect trapping

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12433283-B2
Application number	US-202318388445-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2023
Priority date	Mar 29, 2019
Publication date	Oct 7, 2025
Grant date	Oct 7, 2025

Abstract

A system includes an acoustic lure and a sensor package disposed within an interior volume of an insect trapping container and a computing device in communication with the acoustic lure and the sensor package configured to instruct the acoustic lure to output an acoustic tone. The computer device is further configured to receive sensor data from the sensor package, the sensor data representative of insects within the interior volume. Responsive to receiving the sensor data, the computing device is configured to instruct an imaging device to capture image data representative of the insects within the interior volume or determine insect count data based on the sensor data. The computing device is configured to then transmit output data to a remote computing system, the output data including at least one of a first portion of the image data or a second portion of the insect count data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
an acoustic lure and a sensor package disposed within an interior volume of an insect trapping container, the acoustic lure including a speaker component being positioned at a distance selected to tune one or more properties of a first acoustic tone emitted from an entrance hole of the interior volume and a height above a bottom of the interior volume corresponding to the height of the entrance hole;
a computing device in communication with the acoustic lure and the sensor package, including one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to at least:
instruct the acoustic lure to output the first acoustic tone;
receive sensor data from the sensor package, the sensor data representative of insects within the interior volume;
responsive to receiving the sensor data:
instruct an imaging device to capture image data representative of insects within the interior volume; or
determine insect count data based on the sensor data; and
transmit output data to a remote computing system, the output data comprising at least one of a first portion of the image data or a second portion of the insect count data.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more properties of the first acoustic tone are adjusted depending on a type of insect population, the one or more properties comprising a frequency, a volume, or a duration.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the sensor package comprises:
an infra-red sensor transmitter disposed on a first side of the entrance hole of the insect trapping container;
an infra-red sensor receiver disposed on a second side of the entrance hole; and
an optics lens disposed between the entrance hole and the infra-red sensor receiver.

4. The system of claim 1 , further configured to instruct an insect killing component located in the interior volume to emit an insecticide.

5. The system of claim 1 , further configured to receive operational instructions from at least one of the remote computing system or a different remote computing system.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the insect trapping container comprises the bottom, a lid, and at least one wall that together define the interior volume, at least one of the bottom, the lid, or the at least one wall formed from a transparent or translucent material.

7. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more computing systems, cause the one or more computing systems to:
instruct an acoustic lure located within an interior volume of an insect trapping container to output an acoustic tone, the acoustic lure including a speaker component being positioned at a distance selected to tune one or more properties of a first acoustic tone emitted from an entrance hole of the interior volume and a height above a bottom of the interior volume corresponding to the height of the entrance hole;
receive sensor data from a sensor package located within the interior volume of the insect trapping container, the sensor data representative of insects within the interior volume;
responsive to receiving the sensor data:
instruct an imaging device to capture image data representative of insects within the interior volume; or
determine insect count data based on the sensor data; and

transmit output data to a remote computing system, the output data comprising at least one of a first portion of the image data or a second portion of the insect count data.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the one or more properties of the first acoustic tone are adjusted depending on a type of insect population, the one or more properties comprising a frequency, a volume, or a duration.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the sensor package comprises:
an infra-red sensor transmitter disposed on a first side of the entrance hole of the insect trapping container;
an infra-red sensor receiver disposed on a second side of the entrance hole; and
an optics lens disposed between the entrance hole and the infra-red sensor receiver.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , further comprising instructions to instruct an insect killing component located in the interior volume to emit an insecticide.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , further comprising instructions to receive operational instructions from at least one of the remote computing system or a different remote computing system.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 7 , wherein the insect trapping container comprises the bottom, a lid, and at least one wall that together define the interior volume, at least one of the bottom, the lid, or the at least one wall formed from a transparent or translucent material.

13. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
accessing a computing device in communication with an acoustic lure and a sensor package, including one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions executable by the computing device;
instructing, by the computing device, the acoustic lure located within an interior volume of an insect trapping container to output an acoustic tone, the acoustic lure including a speaker component being positioned at a distance selected to tune one or more properties of a first acoustic tone emitted from an entrance hole of the interior volume and a height above a bottom of the interior volume corresponding to the height of the entrance hole;
receiving, by the computing device, sensor data from the sensor package located within the interior volume of the insect trapping container, the sensor data representative of insects within the interior volume;
responsive to receiving the sensor data:
instructing, by the computing device, an imaging device to capture image data representative of insects within the interior volume; or
determining, by the computing device, insect count data based on the sensor data; and

transmitting, by the computing device, output data to a remote computing system, the output data comprising at least one of a first portion of the image data or a second portion of the insect count data.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more properties of the first acoustic tone are adjusted depending on a type of insect population, the one or more properties comprising a frequency, a volume, or a duration.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the sensor package comprises:
an infra-red sensor transmitter disposed on a first side of the entrance hole of the insect trapping container;
an infra-red sensor receiver disposed on a second side of the entrance hole; and
an optics lens disposed between the entrance hole and the infra-red sensor receiver.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , further comprising instructing, by the computing device, an insect killing component located in the interior volume to emit an insecticide.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , further comprising receiving, by the computing device, operational instructions from at least one of the remote computing system or a different remote computing system.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , wherein the insect trapping container comprises the bottom, a lid, and at least one side wall that together define the interior volume, at least one of the b

Assignees

• Verily Life Sciences Llc
• Google Llc

Inventors

• Ritchie Scott A
• Staunton Kyran M
• Xiang Wei
• Han Yu
• Snoad Nigel
• Liu Jianyi
• Crawford Jacob
• Desnoyer Mark

Classifications

• A01M1/026

  combined with devices for monitoring insect presence, e.g. termites (bait stations A01M1/2005; detecting other animals in a given area A01M31/002) · CPC title

• A01M1/2016 Primary

  for flying insects · CPC title

• A01M1/145

  Attracting and catching insects using combined illumination or colours and adhesive surfaces · CPC title

• A01M2200/012

  Flying insects · CPC title

• A01M1/04

  Attracting insects by} using illumination {or colours (A01M1/08 and A01M1/145 take precedence) · CPC title