Device, system and methods for tracking animals

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020404883-A1
Application number	US-201916975783-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 1, 2019
Priority date	Mar 2, 2018
Publication date	Dec 31, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed are a device, system and method for animal tracking. The tracking device comprises a tracker processing component, an energy component, a transmitting component, and a securing component. The system comprises the tracking device, a receiving device and a server. The method comprising securing the tracking device to an animal, transmitting an identification of the animal, receiving the transmission via the receiving device, modifying it and forwarding it to the server, where the modified transmission is logged and analyzed to determine animal positions.

First claim

1 . A tracking device for animals, the device comprising
a tracker processing component; and an energy component; and a transmitting component configured to periodically transmit a transmission comprising at least an identification corresponding to the animal; and a securing component configured to secure the device to animals;
wherein the transmitting component is configured for short-range transmissions.

2 . The tracking device according to claim 1 wherein the maximum weight of the device comprises the lowest between
at most about 5% of the weight of the animal it is configured to track; and
5 grams.

3 . The tracking device according to claim 1 wherein the transmitting component is configured to operate via a Bluetooth® low energy protocol and wherein the tracking device is further configured to use only an advertising part of the BLE protocol.

4 . The tracking device according to claim 1 wherein the securing device is configured to release after at least a certain predetermined time in use, so that the tracking device is no longer secured to the animal.

5 . The tracking device according to claim 1 wherein the tracker processing component is configured to adjust rate of transmitting the transmission based on energy input to the energy component and wherein the processing component is configured to
decrease the rate of sending the transmission to at most 1 per 40 seconds when the energy input of the energy component comprises at most 4000 lux;
and
increase the rate of sending the transmission to at least 1 per second when the energy input of the energy component comprises at least 30 000 lux; and
adjust the rate of sending the transmission proportionally when the energy input of the energy component is between 4000 and 30 000 lux.

6 . A system for tracking animals, the system comprising
a plurality of tracking devices, each comprising
a tracker processing component; and
an energy component; and
a transmitting component configured to periodically transmit a transmission comprising at least an identification corresponding to the animal; and
a securing component configured to secure the device to animals;
wherein the transmitting component is configured for short-range transmissions; a plurality of receiving devices; each comprising
a receiver processing component; and
a receiving communication component configured to detect transmissions from the tracking device when in range; and
a receiver server communication component;
a server configured to log and analyze animal positions based on the communications from the receiving devices; wherein the receiver processing component is configured to add further data to the transmission to obtain a modified transmission; and wherein the receiver server communication component is configured to communicate the modified transmission to the server.

7 . The system according to claim 6 wherein the receiver processing component is configured to add data associated with the receiving device to the transmission and wherein the data associated with the receiving device comprises at least location of the receiving device.

8 . The system according to claim 7 wherein the server is configured to combine each location received from each receiving device for each tracking device to obtain a time-dependent position corresponding to the animal to which each tracking device is secured and wherein the server is further configured to create a time-dependent location map for each tracking device.

9 . The system according to claim 6 wherein the server is further configured to triangulate location of the tracking device when receiving a plurality of modified transmissions from a plurality of distinct receiving devices identifying the same tracking device.

10 . The system according to claim 6 wherein the server is configured to at least one of interpolate and extrapolate a path taken over a time interval by a specific tracking device secured to an animal based on the modified transmissions received from a plurality of the receiving devices and wherein the server is further configured to respectively at least one of interpolate and extrapolate the path over the time interval based on known parameters of the animal associated with the tracking device.

11 . The system according to claim 6 wherein each tracking device is assigned an access level and wherein the server is configured to grant each receiving device access to data associated with a given tracking device only if the receiving device is authorized for the access level of the given tracking device.

12 . The system according to claim 6 further comprising a first set of tracking devices associated with a first type of animal and a second set of tracking devices associated with a second type of animal and wherein
each receiving device is configured to detect transmissions from both the first set of tracking devices and the second type of tracking devices and communicate the modified transmissions to the server; and
the server is configured to process the modified transmissions and assign data associated with the first and second sets of tracking devices to separate submodules and log and analyze positions of the two type of animals separately.

13 . A method for tracking animals, the method comprising
securing a tracking device comprising a tracker processing component, an energy component, a transmitting component, and a securing component to an animal; and the tracking device periodically transmitting a transmission comprising at least an identification corresponding to the animal via the transmitting component; and a receiving device comprising a receiver processing component, a receiving communication component and a receiver server communication component receiving the transmission from the tracking device when the receiving device is in range of the tracking device's transmission; and the receiving device modifying the transmission by adding further data to it to obtain a modified transmission; and the receiving device using the receiver server communication component to communicate the modified transmission to the server; and the server logging and analyzing animal positions based on communications from a plurality of the receiving devices.

14 . The method according to claim 13 wherein the tracking device further comprises a sensor and wherein the method further comprises the tracking device adding sensor data to the transmission and the server using sensor data to determine status of the animal.

15 . The method according to claim 13 wherein analyzing animal positions by the server comprises at least one of
tracking animals over time;
determining animal state based on recent movements;
determining animal habits;
interpolating animal location based on available data; and
extrapolating animal movements based on available data.

16 . The system according to claim 6 wherein the transmitting component is configured to operate via a Bluetooth® low energy protocol and wherein each tracking device is further configured to use only an advertising part of the BLE protocol.

17 . The method according to claim 13 further comprising further comprising the server generating a map of animals corresponding to the tracking devices.

18 . The method according to claim 13 further comprising the receiving device adding location data associated with it to the transmission.

19 . The method according to claim 13 further comprising
the server receiving a Plurality of modified transmissions fro

Assignees

• Max Planck Gesellschaft

Inventors

• Abels Markus
• Gahr Manfred
• Van Emden Robin

Classifications

• G01S5/00

  Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more direction or position line determinations; Position-fixing by co-ordinating two or more distance determinations {(using active systems G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00)} · CPC title

• H04W84/10

  Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks · CPC title

• A01K11/008 Primary

  incorporating global positioning system [GPS] · CPC title

• A01K11/006 Primary

  Automatic identification systems for animals, e.g. electronic devices, transponders for animals (identification systems for access to feeding pens A01K1/0209; ear tags with electronic identification means A01K11/004) · CPC title

• G01S2013/468

  by Triangulation, i.e. two antennas or two sensors determine separately the bearing, direction or angle to a target, whereby with the knowledge of the baseline length, the position data of the target is determined · CPC title