System and Method for Determining Proximity to a Wireless Boundary of Programmable Shape Used in Animal Containment

A boundary proximity determining system for wirelessly defining a boundary having a programmable shape and for indicating the location of a rover unit with respect to the boundary, said boundary proximity determining system comprising:

• a base station unit, said base station unit generates at least one pair of orthogonal magnetic fields, each magnetic field being separately identifiable and having a principal axis, the principal axes being mutually directionally diverse and lying substantially within a common two-dimensional plane of operation;
• and
• a rover unit being mobile and including an auxiliary communications module, said rover unit measures magnetic field properties of each respective magnetic field generated by said base station unit at the current location of said rover unit, said rover unit calculates the magnetic field properties of at least one pair of calculated magnetic fields at the current location of said rover unit based on the measured magnetic field properties of the magnetic fields generated by said base station unit, the magnetic field properties measured and calculated at the current location of said rover unit indicating the current location of said rover unit with respect to said base station unit, said rover unit operates in a first mode of operation and a second mode of operation, when said rover unit operates in the first mode of operation, said rover unit defines the boundary by measuring and calculating the magnetic field properties of each respective magnetic field at a multiplicity of sample locations along the contour of the boundary and by storing the magnetic field properties measured and calculated at the sample locations, the magnetic field properties measured and calculated at each sample location indicating the location of the respective sample location with respect to said base station unit, when said rover unit operates in the second mode of operation, said rover unit determines the current location of said rover unit with respect to the boundary by comparing the magnetic field properties measured and calculated at the current location of said rover unit to the magnetic field properties measured and calculated at the sample locations, the auxiliary communications module transmitting an indicator signal indicating the location of said rover unit with respect to the boundary.

A boundary proximity determining system for wirelessly defining a boundary having a programmable shape and for indicating the location of a rover unit with respect to the boundary, said boundary proximity determining system comprising:

• a base station unit including at least one pair of solenoidal coils and a coil driver, the coil driver being in electrical communication with the solenoidal coils, the coil driver drives the solenoidal coils such that the solenoidal coils generate at least one pair of magnetic fields, each magnetic field being separately identifiable and having a directionally diverse principal axis lying substantially within a common two-dimensional plane of operation;
• a rover unit including a first processor in electrical communication with a magnetic field sensor and a memory module, the magnetic field sensor including at least one coil sensor, said rover unit being mobile within the plane of operation, said rover unit operates in a boundary capture mode and a boundary proximity detection mode;
• and
• a user interface device in communication with said rover unit, said user interface device including a user interface in electrical communication with a second processor, the second processor being in communication with the magnetic field sensor and the memory module of said rover unit, a user of said boundary proximity determining system governs whether said rover unit operates in the boundary capture mode or the boundary proximity detection mode by way of the user interface, when said rover unit operates in the boundary capture mode, the magnetic field sensor of said rover unit detects magnetic field properties of each respective magnetic field at a plurality of sample locations along the contour of the boundary, the magnetic field properties include the intensity and the polarity of each respective magnetic field as measured by each respective coil sensor of the at least one coil sensor of the magnetic field sensor, the second processor receives and processes the magnetic field properties detected at the plurality of sample locations to generate variables indicative of the respective location of each of the plurality of sample locations, whereby the plurality of sample locations define the boundary, the memory module of said rover unit receives and stores the variables generated by the second processor;
• whereby, when said rover unit operates in the boundary proximity detection mode, the magnetic field sensor detects the magnetic field properties of each respective magnetic field at the current location of said rover unit, the first processor receives and processes the magnetic field properties detected at the current location of said rover unit to generate variables indicative of the current location of said rover unit, the first processor compares the variables indicative of the current location of said rover unit and the variables indicative of the respective location of each of the plurality of sample locations and determines the current location of said rover unit with respect to the boundary.

A boundary proximity determining method for wirelessly defining a boundary having a programmable shape and for indicating the location of a rover unit with respect to the boundary, said method comprising the steps of:

• generating at least one pair of magnetic fields by way of a base station unit, each magnetic field being separately identifiable and having a principal axis lying substantially within a common two-dimensional plane of operation, the principal axes being mutually directionally diverse;
• defining the respective locations of a plurality of sample locations along the contour of the boundary in terms of a plurality of variables, the plurality of variables corresponding to the respective locations of the plurality of sample locations being based on magnetic field properties of the at least one pair of magnetic fields at each respective sample location of the plurality of sample locations, the plurality of sample locations defining the boundary, the boundary being of a programmable shape;
• storing the plurality of sample locations in terms of the plurality of variables at a rover unit;
• defining the current location of the rover unit in terms of the plurality of variables, the plurality of variables corresponding to the current location of the rover unit being based on the magnetic field properties of the at least one pair of magnetic fields at the current location of the rover unit;
• determining the location of the rover unit with respect to the boundary by comparing the plurality of variables defining the current location of the rover unit and the plurality of variables defining the respective locations of the plurality of sample locations;
• and
• activating an auxiliary communications module to indicate the location of the rover unit with respect to the boundary.

A boundary proximity determining system for wirelessly defining a boundary having a programmable shape and for indicating the location of a rover unit with respect to the boundary, said boundary proximity determining system comprising:

• a base station unit, said base station unit generates at least one pair of magnetic fields, each magnetic field being separately identifiable and having a principal axis, the principal axes being mutually directionally diverse and lying substantially within a common two-dimensional plane of operation;
• a user interface device, said user interface device measures magnetic field properties of each respective magnetic field at the current location of said user interface device, the magnetic field properties measured at the current location of said user interface device indicating the current location of said user interface device with respect to said base station unit, said user interface device defines the boundary by measuring the magnetic field properties at sample locations along the contour of the boundary and by storing the magnetic field properties measured at the sample locations;
• and
• a rover unit including an auxiliary communications module and in temporary communication with said user interface device, said rover unit receives the magnetic field properties measured at the sample locations and stored by said user interface device, said rover unit measures the magnetic field properties of each respective magnetic field at the current location of said rover unit, the magnetic field properties measured at the current location of said rover unit indicating the current location of said rover unit with respect to said base station unit, said rover unit determines the current location of said rover unit with respect to the boundary by comparing the magnetic field properties measured at the current location of said rover unit to the magnetic field properties measured at the sample locations, the auxiliary communications module transmitting an indicator signal indicating the location of said rover unit with respect to the boundary.