Abstract
A method and system for the continuous monitoring of animal physiology and behavior through the use of a smart body worn animal harness, smart collar or restraint system which captures, pre-processes, monitors, and transmits data captured from a plurality of externally-based, skin contact-based, and internally located RFID implants to a cloud-based infrastructure for further processing and augmentation to support real time alerting and animal health analytical systems.
Claims
1. A system comprising: a wearable article with a plurality of attachment positions comprising at least a first attachment position and a second attachment position; a first sensor configured to obtain at least one first physiology reading and wireless transmit a signal related to the at least one first physiology reading; an electronics enclosure removably attached to the wearable article at one of the first attachment position or the second attachment position, wherein the electronics enclosure comprises: a first antenna configured to receive reflected ultrawideband signals; a second antenna configured to receive the signal related to the at least one first physiology reading obtained by the first sensor; a third antenna; a processor configured to interpret the reflected ultrawideband signals as a second physiology reading; and a memory storing: a first configuration associated with the first attachment position, a second configuration associated with the second attachment position, and a selection of one of the first configuration or the second configuration, wherein, in each of the first configuration and the second configuration, the processor is configured to obtain the second physiology reading, wherein the processor is configured to send, via the third antenna, the at least one first physiology reading and the second physiology reading, wherein, based on the selection of one of the first configuration or the second configuration, the processor identifies the second physiology reading associated with one of the first attachment position or the second attachment position, and wherein the first sensor is configured to operate based on commands from the processor.
2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the wearable article is a collar.
3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the wearable article is a harness.
4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising: a battery located within the electronics enclosure, wherein the battery is electrically connected to the processor and provides power to the processor.
5. The system according to claim 4, further comprising: an ultrawideband transmit antenna spaced from the first sensor, wherein the first antenna is an ultrawideband receive antenna, wherein the processor outputs an ultrawideband signal to the ultrawideband transmit antenna and receives, from the ultrawideband receive antenna, a reflected ultrawideband signal.
6. The system according to claim 1, further comprising: a second sensor spaced from the first sensor, wherein the processor is configured to receive, via the second antenna, a third physiology reading obtained by the second sensor.
7. The system according to claim 4, wherein the second antenna is configured to receive Bluetooth signals.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein, based on the selection of the first configuration, the processor identifies the second physiology reading as a heart rate reading.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein, based on the selection of the second configuration, the processor identifies the second physiology reading as a respiratory rate reading.
10. A system comprising: a support structure having a plurality of positions; at least two sensors attached to the support structure, with the at least two sensors selected from a group of three sensors, wherein each sensor is located at one of the plurality of positions; a memory storing two or more configurations; and a processor attached to the support structure, wherein the processor determines which sensors are present and obtains readings from the sensors, and wherein the processor is configured to transmit readings differently based on a selected one of the configurations.
11. The system according to claim 10, further comprising: an ultrawideband transmit antenna spaced from at least one of the at least two sensors; and an ultrawideband receive antenna, wherein the processor is further configured to output an ultrawideband signal to the ultrawideband transmit antenna and receive, via the ultrawideband receive antenna, a reflected ultrawideband signal.
12. A method comprising: receiving, from a memory, a first configuration; receiving, from a first sensor, a first physiology reading; receiving, from a second sensor, a first ultrawideband radar signal; interpreting, via a processor and based on the first configuration, the first ultrawideband radar signal as a second physiology reading; storing the first and second physiology readings; receiving, from the memory, a second configuration; receiving, from the second sensor, a second ultrawideband radar signal; interpreting, via the processor and based on the second configuration, the second ultrawideband radar signal as a third physiology reading; and storing the third physiology reading.
13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising: determining, via the processor and of a collection of sensor types, a sensor type of the first sensor, wherein the storing of the first physiology reading is based on a determination of the sensor type of the first sensor.
14. The method according to claim 12, further comprising; determining, via the processor, whether a third sensor is present; and obtaining, based on a determination that the third sensor is present, a fourth physiology reading from the third sensor; and storing, in the memory, the fourth physiology reading.
15. The method according to claim 12, further comprising: outputting, via the processor, at least one of the stored first, second, or third physiology readings.
16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the outputting the at least one of the stored first, second, or third physiology readings is based on one of the first configuration or the second configuration, and wherein the outputting based on the first configuration differs from the outputting based on the second configuration.
17. The method according to claim 12, wherein the receiving the first configuration identifies the second physiology reading as a heart rate reading, and wherein the interpreting the first ultrawideband radar signal as the second physiology reading comprises interpreting the first ultrawideband radar signal as the heart rate reading.
18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the receiving the second configuration identifies the third physiology reading as a respiration rate reading, and wherein the interpreting the second ultrawideband radar signal as the third physiology reading comprises interpreting the second ultrawideband radar signal as the respiration rate reading.
19. The method according to claim 12, wherein the receiving the first configuration identifies the second physiology reading as a respiration rate reading, and wherein the interpreting the first ultrawideband radar signal as the second physiology reading comprises interpreting the first ultrawideband radar signal as the respiration rate reading.
20. The method according to claim 12, wherein receiving the first physiology reading comprises receiving a body temperature reading.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] FIG. 1 shows an animal with a harness in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.
[0017] FIGS. 2A and 2B show open and closed versions of a collar in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.
[0018] FIG. 3 shows an illustrative environment showing a collar or harness in combination with other systems in accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure.
[0019] FIG. 4 shows an illustrative example of components in a harness or collar in accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure.
[0020] FIG. 5 shows an illustrative example of interaction of at least two components on an animal in accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure.
[0021] FIG. 6 shows an illustrative example of various inputs, processes, configuration settings, and outputs associated with a sensor monitoring system in accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0022] FIG. 1 shows an animal, in this case a canine 100, in a post-op recovery environment with a smart harness 101 and an optional soft smart collar attached 102 to the harness. The body worn electronics enclosure 103 is located in a position on the harness as to not interfere with the animal's ability to turn over comfortability or interfere with a surgical site. In this particular embodiment, there is a microchip 104 inserted subcutaneously between the shoulder blades of the animal. Other sensors or antennas are located at various places to optimize their reading capabilities. In this illustration, there is an ambient temperature, light sensor and microphone located at the neck position 105 facing outward, a set of UWB antennas 106 to centrally investigate the state of the respiratory system and a set of UWB antennas 108 to investigate the heart. Alternatively, there may actually be two sets of UWB paired antennas with one set located on either side of the animal's chest to provide a left side/right side determination of potential respiratory issues. In the case of passive RFID implanted chips 104 there are special antennas 107 located in close proximity to the chip to excite the unit to transmit its information to the body worn electronics enclosure. All items described above may be attached and readjusted with the use of Velcro or like types of attachment mechanisms.
[0023] FIGS. 2A and 2B shows round versions of hard restraint collar 109. Passive hard restraint collars are typically used in non-human primate research. The collars described herein may include two or more metal or plastic partial ring segments 109A and 109B held together with one or more pins 110. Also, they may include one or more sensors and one or more processors. In this illustration, two sensor packages 111 have been snapped onto each side of the rings connected by an armored cable 112. The cable may either be continuous or be in the form of a male 113 and a female plug 114 on either side that disconnects when the collar in opened and reconnects when the collar is closed. Such a connector may be made with pins and corresponding sockets or it may be a magnetic type of connector or other known construction. The sensor packages may have multiple input/output ports 115 that may be daisy chained together so that additional modules, that may contain the same or different senor configurations, may be positioned around the collar where required. Contained in the sensor packages are microcontrollers, memory, accelerometers, and various sensors including UWB antennas that may read the micro movements of the carotid arteries and neck muscles to record various physiological signs of the restrained animal. The sensor packages may include one or more wireless transmission technologies that may be used to communicate with the smart harness described above or other to access points that may be available. In another embodiment, the restraint collar is designed to have the sensor packages installed at the time of manufacture and all of the cabling would be integrated out-of-sight into the collar housing or each collar module would communicate with other on a wireless basis. Modules may operate on an independent basis, on a slave/master basis or they may they collaborate to meet specific configuration settings objectives.
[0024] FIG. 3 shows an illustrative layout in a laboratory or clinical environment where the animal 100 wearing a smart harness 101, smart soft collar 102 or a smart hard restraint collar 109 is being monitored by a veterinary technician 116 on their rounds with a portable mobile device such as a tablet. The veterinary technician 116 at this time may review historical and real time readings on their portable display unit and also review recommendations for settings or configurations for the specific animal-based sensor system using electronics enclosure 103, 111 that they are observing. Such settings and configurations may be derived by algorithms on the central analytical server 117, by local 118 or off-site 119 knowledge workers or by the sensor module itself. For instance, based on initial data collected from the sensors or an identification of which sensors are connected to the harness or collar/via wires or wirelessly, the system may configure itself to obtain and/or provide its readings at given intervals or when one sensor or sensors has bene triggered (e.g., lack of significant movement for 20 minutes as determined by analyzing signals from an accelerometer). Alternatively or additionally, the technician may compare all of these provided recommended configurations and based on their own physical observations, make a selection or configure their own settings. The technician's mobile device 116 may also act as a communications gateway by using its Bluetooth connection to establish a connection between the electronics enclosures 103, 111 and the central analytical server 117 through the mobile device's on-board Wi-Fi or cellular capabilities. The electronic enclosures 103, 111 attached to the animal have the ability to monitor and store collected data on an independent basis even if it loses connectivity with the central-based analytical server system 117. Independently it may follow pre-stored configurations rules or derive new configurations based on locally encountered conditions. As well as the technician's mobile device, there are various ways to transfer the gathered data to the cloud or local-based central analytical server 117 which may be attached to the Internet 120 using techniques such as light, sound, WiFi 121, cellular 122 and LoRA 123-based technologies that have Internet connections themselves. Various types of knowledge workers 118 may access the server 117 located in the cloud to gain access to raw data, summarized data and derived data. Such data may also be augmented with other external collected data about the specific animal that is gathered by independent means. This may include the use of automated or manual video classification systems or veterinary technician observations of behavior or pain levels using tools such as the grimace pain scale.
[0025] FIG. 4 shows the layout of the electronics enclosure 103, 111 that may be split across several actual physical modules which contains a microcontroller 124, an internal synchronized clock 125, memory 126, sensor co-processors 127, and various digital and analogue input/output (I/O) controllers 128. These controllers are then attached to various sensors that are located both inside the enclosure 129 and outside the enclosure 130. Connected to the microcontroller 125 are various RF radios and associated antennas such as LoRa (sub-gigahertz radio) 131,135, Bluetooth 132,136, WiFi 133, 137, various on-board and off board UWB radios 134 and antennas 138,139,140, plus various RFID 141,142 antennas etc. To power all of the on-board and off-board electronics, sensors and antennas, the system may include on-board battery 143 that is then connected to a master power supply unit 144 that in turn provides specific power 145 to specific on-board components 146 and off-board components 147.
[0026] FIG. 5 shows the layers of software and firmware 148 that may be used to operate the electronic enclosure 103, 111. Included in this software stack is a micro-controller operating system 149, digital I/O 150, analogue I/O 151, and wireless I/O 152 firmware and software. Application software 153 includes various modules to run various configurations that may beneficially impact on battery availability by reducing the rate of the taking of sensor readings as well as algorithms to test the quality of the data being captured as well consolidate or compress certain readings that are not important for the overall objectives of the monitoring model. The application software may also include a module 154 to ensure that all of the radios operate in a fashion that meet their FCC or other national regulatory body RF transmission protocols. To reduce processing requirements of the main micro-controller, the system may include one or more sensor co-processors 155 that connects directly to various sensors. The co-processors 155 may include both an operating system 156 and specific application software 157.
[0027] FIG. 6 is an illustrative example of inputs 158, processes 159, configurations 160, and outputs 161 for a single enclosure or multiple enclosures for monitoring an animal. In this case, a plurality inputs are provided to the processing level such as battery level 162, ambient light 163, time of day 164, time since post-op 165, actual location of the animal clinic/laboratory/home 166, ambient facilities temperature or home setting 167, activity levels 168, animal position or orientation as measured internally and by externals means 169, ambient temp (as measured at the animal level) 170, vital signs (heart rate (HR), heart rate variation (HRV), blood pressure, respiration) 171, vet tech observations and inputs 172, and new information and configurations from the cloud-based or local-based analytical server 173. The algorithms 174 takes all of the data available and runs a confidence level to determine which configuration 175 it should run. In some cases, especially when the system is running in a non-connected manner, it may likely make that decision on its own and pick a pre-determined configuration 176 or even come up with a brand new derived configuration 177. Such configurations may change sampling frequencies, calibrations, off-sets, sequencing, triggering etc. of such activities such as capturing and determining core temperature 184, heart rate 185, HRV 186, respiration rate 187, blood pressure 188, and electronic enclosure LED display patterns 189.
[0028] An illustrative algorithm may include one or more of the following steps: [0029] A. Monitor wired and wireless inputs for additional sensors being added to the sensors known to microcontroller 124 or being removed from sensors connected to microcontroller 124; [0030] B. Add additional sensors to list of active sensors or remove the missing sensor from the list of active sensors; [0031] C. Determine if one of the sensors has either exceeded or dropped below a threshold for a given period of time; [0032] D. Upon determination, obtain readings from additional sensor or sensors; [0033] E. Store sensor readings with timestamps; and/or [0034] F. Upload sensor readings to external storage.
[0035] A number of embodiments have been described where it is understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
