US 11,134,864 B2 · Tracking method and system for small animal research

Abstract

A method and system for detecting a position of an animal in laboratory conditions based on ultrasonic tracking is disclosed. The animal has an attached mobile device comprising an ultrasonic receiver. Ultrasonic signals emitted from ultrasonic emitters either have an envelope with a shape that is chosen with the first derivative restricted by condition |dE/dt|<A/T and/or with the second derivative restricted by condition |d2E/dt2|<A/T2, wherein E(t) is the envelope curve, t is time, A is the maximum amplitude of the ultrasonic signals and T is the period of the base frequency of the ultrasonic signals; or oscillations of voltage or current of ultrasonic emitters during signal transmission have envelopes described by a special function for amplitude of the oscillations. The mobile device receives an optical or radio synchronization signals from signal sources connected with the ultrasonic emitters. Analog or digital filters are used to separate ultrasonic signals from animal's vocalization. In some embodiments coordinates are obtained by using optical scanning sources with ultrasonic emitter placed at the axes of rotation of one or two emitted rotating planar scanning light beams. Tracking for multiple animals is disclosed.

Claims33

Dependent claims

A method of detecting a position of an animal, the method comprising:

attaching a mobile device to the animal, wherein the mobile device comprises an ultrasonic receiver;
emitting at least one ultrasonic signal as a pulse from at least one ultrasonic emitter at a known location at a transmission time, wherein the at least one ultrasonic signal has an envelope with a shape that is chosen with the first derivative restricted by condition |dE/dt|<A/T and/or with the second derivative restricted by condition |d2E/dt2|<A/T2 in each time point of the envelope, wherein E(t) is the envelope curve, t is time, A is the maximum amplitude of the at least one ultrasonic signal and T is the period of the base frequency of the at least one ultrasonic signal;
receiving the at least one ultrasonic signal by the mobile device at a receipt time, and
determining the animal position using:
the known location of the at least one ultrasonic emitter and
a time difference between emission and reception of the at least one ultrasonic signal emitted from the at least one ultrasonic emitter.

3 more elements

A system for detecting a position of an animal comprising:

at least one ultrasonic emitter with a known location, configured to generate at least one ultrasonic signal as a pulse at a predetermined time, wherein oscillations of voltage or current at the at least one ultrasonic emitter during pulse transmission has an envelope described by the function
E
⁡
(
t
)
=
B
·
(
(
sin
α
⁡
(
π
⁢
⁢
t
T
)
+
δ
⁡
(
t
)
)
,
where E(t) is the instantaneous amplitude of voltage or current at the at least one ultrasonic emitter, t is time counted from the start of the envelope, B is the maximum amplitude of voltage or current at the at least one ultrasonic emitter, α is a positive constant, π is the mathematical constant 3.14159 . . . , T is the duration of the envelope and δ(t) is any function of time or random noise with an absolute value smaller than 0.25 (i.e., |δ(t)|<0.25 for any t from the interval [0, T]);
and
at least one mobile device attached to the animal, wherein the at least one mobile device is configured to receive at least one ultrasonic signals from the at least one ultrasonic emitter with the known location;
and
a processing module computing a time difference between the transmission time and the receipt time of the at least one ultrasonic signal to determine the position of the animal.

31 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Tracking method and system for small animal research

Life of this patent

Tracking method and system for small animal research

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims33