Arrangement and method for a milking system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9510553-B2
Application number	US-201314402711-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Jun 12, 2012
Publication date	Dec 6, 2016
Grant date	Dec 6, 2016

Abstract

A combined teat position and breeding rating determining arrangement for a milking system having a milking stall, a movable robot arm for automatically attaching teat cups to the teats of the milking animal, and a control device for controlling the movement of the robot arm based on determined positions of the teats of the milking animal. The arrangement includes a three-dimensional camera directed towards the udder of the milking animal that repeatedly records three-dimensional images of the udder, and a processing unit that repeatedly detects the udder or teats of the milking animal, determines their positions based on the recorded three-dimensional images, automatically determines the shapes of the udder or teats based on the repeatedly recorded three-dimensional images, and automatically calculates a breeding rating based on the determined shapes of the udder or teats of the milking animal.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A combined teat position and breeding rating determining method, said method comprising:
in a milking system ( 3 ) comprising a milking stall ( 5 ) that houses a milking animal ( 8 ) during milking of the milking animal, a movable robot arm ( 15 ) that automatically attaches teat cups ( 11 ) to teats of the milking animal in the milking stall, and a control device ( 19 ) that controls movement of said robot arm based on determined positions of the teats of the milking animal, the control device ( 19 ) including a processing part ( 21 ), performing:
a recording step of automatically and repeatedly recording ( 42 ) three-dimensional images of the milking animal in real time by a three-dimensional camera ( 21 ) directed ( 41 ) towards an udder of the milking animal in the milking stall;
a position determination step of the processing part repeatedly and automatically detecting and determining one of the group consisting of i) the udder of the milking animal and the udder's position, and ii) the teats of the milking animal and teat ( 4 ) positions, based on said repeatedly recorded three-dimensional images;
a shape determining step of the processing part ( 21 ) automatically determining ( 45 ) one of the group consisting of i) the shape of the udder, and ii) the shapes of the teats, based on at least one of said repeatedly recorded three-dimensional images; and
a breeding rating step of the processing part ( 21 ) automatically calculating ( 46 ) a breeding rating based on one of the group consisting of i) the determined shape of the udder, and ii) the determined shapes of the teats.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein,
in said position determination step, the processing part repeatedly and automatically detects the udder of the milking animal and determines the udder's position,
in the shape determining step, the processing part ( 21 ) automatically determines the shape of the udder, and
in the breeding rating step, the processing part ( 21 ) automatically calculates ( 46 ) the breeding rating based on the determined shape of the udder.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising the further step of:
based on said repeatedly recorded three-dimensional images from said recording step, automatically determining at least one of the group consisting of:
lengths of the teats of the milking animal,
circumferences of the teats of the milking animal,
thicknesses of the teats of the milking animal,
conicities of the teats of the milking animal,
distances between the teats of the milking animal, orientations of the teats of the milking animal,
a comparison of orientations of front teats to orientations of rear teats of the milking animal,
a distance between the udder and a floor on which the milking animal stands,
a comparison of a distance between the udder and the floor for a front portion of the udder to a distance between the udder and the floor for a rear portion of the udder of the milking animal, and
a comparison of a distance between the udder and the floor for a left portion of the udder to a distance between the udder and the floor for a right portion of the udder of the milking animal,
wherein, in said breeding rating step, in addition to the determined shapes of the teats of the milking animal, said breeding rating is automatically calculated based on at least one of the group consisting of:
the lengths of the teats of the milking animal,
the circumferences of the teats of the milking animal,
the thicknesses of the teats of the milking animal,
the conicities of the teats of the milking animal,
the distances between the teats of the milking animal, orientations of the teats of the milking animal,
the comparison of orientations of front teats to orientations of rear teats of the milking animal,
the distance between an udder and a floor on which the milking animal stands,
the comparison of a distance between the udder and the floor for a front portion of the udder to a distance between the udder and the floor for a rear portion of the udder of the milking animal, and
the comparison of a distance between the udder and the floor for a left portion of the udder to a distance between the udder and the floor for a right portion of the udder of the milking animal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said recording step is performed with the animal in the milking stall and prior to the milking of the milking animal, and
comprising the further steps of:
directing the three-dimensional camera towards the udder of the milking animal in the milking stall;
with the three-dimensional camera directed towards the udder of the milking animal in the milking stall and subsequent to the milking of the milking animal, an udder recording step of recording at least one three-dimensional udder image of the udder of the milking animal; and
a further shape determining step of determining the shapes of the teats of the milking animal based on the at least one three-dimensional udder image recorded in said udder recording step,
wherein said calculation of the breeding rating in said breeding rating step is also based on the shapes of the teats of the milking animal as determined from said further shape determining step from the at least one three-dimensional udder image recorded in said udder recording step.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein,
during said recording step, the three-dimensional camera ( 21 ) is directed towards the udder of the milking animal in the milking stall and three-dimensional images of the udder of the milking animal are repeatedly recorded at a plurality of consecutively performed milkings of said milking animal,
for each of said plurality of consecutively performed milkings, the shapes of the teats of the milking animal are automatically determined based on said repeatedly recorded three-dimensional images of the udder, and
in said breeding rating step, the breeding rating is calculated from the determined shapes of the teats of the milking animal from the repeatedly recorded plurality of consecutively performed milkings of said milking animal.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein,
during said recording step, the three-dimensional camera ( 21 ) is directed towards the udder of the milking animal in the milking stall and three-dimensional images of the udder of the milking animal are repeatedly recorded at a plurality of non-consecutively performed milkings of said milking animal, said recording at the non-consecutively performed plurality of milkings being performed at a frequency of one of the group consisting of once a day, once a week, once a month, and once a year,
for each of said plurality of non-consecutively performed milkings, the shapes of the teats of the milking animal are automatically determined based on said repeatedly recorded three-dimensional images of the udder, and
in said breeding rating step, the breeding rating is calculated from the determined shapes of the teats of the milking animal from the repeatedly recorded plurality of non-consecutively performed milkings of said milking animal.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising the further steps of:
automatically comparing i) the determined shapes of the teats of the milking animal from a first milking with ii) the determined shapes of the teats of the milking animal from a following second milking; and
automatically initiating an alarm when the comparing step determines that the determined shapes of the teats of the milking animal in the first and second milkings differ from one another to more than a threshold extent.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein, concurrently with the initiation of said alarm, instructions are automatically sent to the milking system to not milk the milking animal.

9. The meth

Assignees

• Delaval Holding Ab

Inventors

• Anglart Dorota
• Kallman Mikael
• Mellberg Sten

Classifications

• A01J5/007

  Monitoring milking processes; Control or regulation of milking machines · CPC title

• A01J5/003

  Movable milking machines · CPC title

• A01J5/0175 Primary

  Attaching of clusters · CPC title

• A01K29/005

  Monitoring or measuring activity · CPC title

• A01J7/00

  Accessories for milking machines or devices · CPC title