# US 10,482,748 B2 · Method and system for monitoring livestock

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- Number: US 10,482,748 B2
- Document ID: US10482748B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/163,080
- Filed: 2018-10-17
- Published: 2019-05-02
- Granted: 2019-11-19
- Earliest claimed: 2017-10-31
- Assignees: Tionesta, LLC
- Applicants: Tionesta, LLC
- Inventors: Paul Struhsaker; Paul Posner; Michael Landers; Nicholas Armstrong
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10482748B2

## CPC

- G08B 21/18: Status alarms (G08B21/02 takes precedence)
- A01K 11/008: {incorporating global positioning system [GPS]}
- A01K 29/005: {Monitoring or measuring activity}
- A61B 5/00: Measuring for diagnostic purposes (radiation diagnosis A61B6/00; diagnosis by ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves A61B8/00); Identification of persons
- G01S 5/0263: {by combining or switching between positions derived from two or more separate positioning systems}
- H04L 67/025: for remote control or remote monitoring of applications
- H04L 67/125: involving control of end-device applications over a network
- H04W 4/021: Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
- H04W 4/029: Location-based management or tracking services
- H04W 4/38: for collecting sensor information
- H04W 4/70: Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
- H04W 4/80: Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
- H04W 88/10: adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points
- A61B 5/01: Measuring temperature of body parts {; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue} (clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20)
- A61B 5/021: Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels
- A61B 5/024: Measuring pulse rate or heart rate
- A61B 5/1112: {Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS}
- A61B 5/1123: {Discriminating type of movement, e.g. walking or running (A61B5/1116, A61B5/112 take precedence)}
- A61B 5/6861: {Capsules, e.g. for swallowing or implanting}
- A61B 2503/40: Animals
- G01S 19/13: Receivers
- H04B 5/77: for interrogation
- H04L 67/10: in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46)
- H04L 67/12: specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
- H04W 84/12: WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
- H04W 84/18: Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
- H04W 92/20: between access points
- Y02A 40/70: in livestock or poultry
- G08B: SIGNALLING SYSTEMS, e.g. PERSONAL CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS
- A01K: ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; AVICULTURE; APICULTURE; PISCICULTURE; FISHING; REARING OR BREEDING ANIMALS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NEW BREEDS OF ANIMALS
- A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D)
- G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)
- H04B: TRANSMISSION
- Y02A: TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE

## Abstract

A system for monitoring livestock in a ranching environment. The system includes tag sensors attached to animals, and configured to collect monitoring data from the animals, a first access point, configured to receive the collected monitoring data from the tag sensors and to process the collected monitoring data, an Internet of Things (IoT) link established between each of the tag sensors and the access point, and an IoT communication protocol overlay that enables synchronized uplinks from the tag sensors to the first access point via the IoT links. The IoT communication protocol overlay governs transmissions of monitoring data by the tag sensors to the access point. The system further includes a hub/cloud platform configured to receive the processed monitoring data from the first access point, perform data analytics on the processed monitoring data, and provide a user interface that enables a user to monitor the livestock.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system for monitoring livestock in a ranching environment, the system comprising:
a two-tier access point comprising a first tier broadband communication interface and a second tier narrowband communication interface, and configured to:
receive, using the second tier narrowband communication interface and using an Internet of Things (IoT) protocol, monitoring data from tag sensors that are attached to animals and configured to collect the monitoring data from the animals; and
transmit, using the first tier broadband communication interface, the received monitoring data to a hub/cloud platform that provides a user interface enabling a user to monitor the livestock,
wherein the IoT protocol comprises a repeating pattern of superframes, each superframe comprising a plurality of frames, wherein the repeating pattern of superframes governs wireless data communication between the two-tier access point and the tag sensors.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the second tier narrowband communication interface is an Internet of Things (IoT) interface.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The system of claim 2, wherein the IoT interface is based on one selected from a group consisting of a LoRa and a SigFox protocol.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein the first tier broadband communication interface is a wireless local area network (WLAN).

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The system of claim 4, wherein the WLAN is based on the Wi-Fi standard.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, further comprising additional two tier access points, wherein the access point and the additional two tier access points interface using the first tier broadband communication interface.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, wherein the interfacing two tier access point and the additional two-tier access points form a mesh.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The system of claim 7, wherein the two tier access point is a primary access point, providing an uplink, and each of a subset of the additional two tier access points directly interfaces with the primary access point.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The system of claim 7, wherein the two tier access point is a primary access point, providing an uplink, and a subset of the additional two tier access points interface with the primary access point in a daisy-chain configuration.

### Claim 10 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, wherein the two tier access point and the additional two tier access points provide a spatially overlapping coverage in a region, enabling a tag sensor to simultaneously communicate with at least three of the two tier access points.

### Claim 11 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, further comprising a hub proving an uplink to a cloud environment, wherein the hub/cloud platform executes on at least one selected from a group consisting of the hub and the cloud environment.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1, wherein one of the tag sensors comprises:
sensors configured to obtain measurements from the animal equipped with the tag sensor;
a processor configured to process the obtained measurements;
an IoT transceiver, configured to transmit the processed measurements to the first access point;
a battery that powers the tag sensor; and
a fastener configured to affix the tag sensor to the animal.

### Claim 13 (depends on 12)

The system of claim 12, wherein the one of the tag sensors further comprises an RFID tag, programmed with an identifier of the animal that can be read out by an RFID reader in proximity of the animal.

### Claim 14 (depends on 12)

The system of claim 12, wherein the tag sensors comprise at least one selected from a group consisting of an accelerometer, a temperature probe, a heart rate sensor and a blood pressure sensor.