# US 2014/0207433 A1 · Systems and methods of monitoring social interactions in a group of organisms over a period of at least 24 hours in a semi-natural environment > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2014/0207433 A1 - Document ID: US20140207433A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 14/236,674 - Filed: 2012-08-03 - Published: 2014-07-24 - Earliest claimed: 2011-08-03 - Assignees: Yeda Research and Development Co. Ltd. - Inventors: Alon Chen; Elad Schneidman; Yair Shemesh; Yehezkel Sztainberg; Oren Forkosh - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20140207433A1 ## CPC - A01K 29/005: {Monitoring or measuring activity} - A01K 1/031: {Cages for laboratory animals; Cages for measuring metabolism of animals} - A01K 1/0317: {Monitoring or measuring animal properties or behaviour} - G01S 3/14: Systems for determining direction or deviation from predetermined direction {(aerial arrangements for changing or varying the orientation or the shape of the directional pattern H01Q3/00; combinations of different interacting aerial units for giving a desired directional characteristic H01Q21/29; aerials or aerial systems providing at least two radiation patterns H01Q25/00)} - G01S 3/7864: {T.V. type tracking systems} - G06F 18/24323: {Tree-organised classifiers} - G06F 30/20: Design optimisation, verification or simulation (optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30) - A01K: ANIMAL HUSBANDRY; AVICULTURE; APICULTURE; PISCICULTURE; FISHING; REARING OR BREEDING ANIMALS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NEW BREEDS OF ANIMALS - 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 - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract A method of monitoring social interactions among a plurality of model organisms. The method comprises marking each of a plurality of model organisms in a monitored space, divided to a plurality of spatial segments, with one of a plurality of unique visual markers, capturing a sequence of images of the plurality of unique visual markers, calculating at least one spatiotemporal model of at least one of the plurality of model organisms by identifying in which of the plurality of segments each unique visual marker is located during each of a plurality of temporal frames of a period, and outputting the at least one spatiotemporal model. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of monitoring social interactions among a plurality of model organisms, comprising: marking each of a plurality of model organisms in a monitored space, divided to a plurality of spatial segments, with one of a plurality of unique visual markers; capturing a sequence of images of said plurality of unique visual markers; calculating at least one spatiotemporal model of at least one of said plurality of model organisms by automatically identifying in which of said plurality of segments each said unique visual marker is located during each of a plurality of temporal frames of a period; identifying a plurality of interactions between said plurality of model organisms using said at least one spatiotemporal model; and characterizing a social behaviour of at least some of said plurality of model organisms according to said plurality of interactions. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying at least one social related characteristic of at least one subgroup of said plurality of model organisms according to said at least one spatiotemporal model; wherein said at least one social related characteristic comprises a member of a group consisting of a group behaviour of said group, subgroup behaviour of a subgroup of said group, a social hierarchy among said plurality of model organisms, and/or an effect of external factors on said at least one subgroup. ### Claim 3 (canceled) ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of unique visual markers comprises a plurality of unique color marks. ### Claim at position 5 5-6. (canceled) ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said period is of at least 24 hours. ### Claim at position 7 8-9. (canceled) ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising characterizing at least one interaction among at least some of said plurality of model organisms by an analysis of said at least one spatiotemporal model. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, further comprising marking at least some of said plurality of segments as related to one of a plurality of distinct regions in said monitored space and characterizing said at least one interaction according to the time at least one of said plurality of model organisms spent in at least some of said plurality of distinct regions. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein said characterizing comprises using said at least one spatiotemporal model to identify a dependency in the location of one of said plurality of model organisms in relation to location of another of said plurality of model organisms in at least some of said plurality of temporal frames and performing said characterizing accordingly. ### Claim 13 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein said characterizing comprises using said at least one spatiotemporal model to identify a group behavioural pattern of at least a subgroup of organisms from said plurality of model organisms and performing said characterizing accordingly. ### Claim 14 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein said characterizing comprises using said at least one spatiotemporal model to identify a dependency between a change in at least one environmental characteristic of said monitored space and a group behavioural pattern of at least a subgroup of organisms from said plurality of model organisms and performing said characterizing accordingly. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein said characterizing is performed according to an entropy measure extracted from said at least one spatiotemporal model. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said plurality of model organisms are rodents. ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: calculating a plurality of entropy measures each for interactions in another of said plurality of subgroups, and wherein said characterizing a social behaviour of at least some of said plurality of model organisms is performed according to said plurality of entropy measures. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying a plurality of chase-escape interactions of each of a plurality of pairs of said plurality of model organisms using said at least one spatiotemporal model, and calculating a hierarchical structure of at least some of said plurality of model organisms. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The method of claim 18, wherein said identifying further comprises hierarchically ranking each said model organism according to the prevalence of its rule as a chaser or escaper in said plurality of chase-escape interactions. ### Claim 20 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprises: calculating a plurality of trials of at least some of said plurality of model organisms using said at least one spatiotemporal model, and characterizing at least one interaction among at least some of said plurality of model organisms by an analysis of said plurality of trials. ### Claim 21 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, estimating an aggressiveness level of at least some of said plurality of model organisms according to an analysis of said at least one spatiotemporal model. ### Claim 22 (canceled) ### Claim 23 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprises identifying at least one instinctive behaviour of at least one of said plurality of model organisms by an analysis of said at least one spatiotemporal model. ### Claim 24 A system of monitoring social interactions among a plurality of model organisms, comprising: an imaging system which capturing a sequence of images of a plurality of unique visual markers each of another of a plurality of model organisms in a monitored space divided to a plurality of spatial segments; an image processing module which analyses said sequence of images to identify in which of said plurality of segments each said unique visual marker is located during each of a plurality of temporal frames of a period; and a characterizing module which calculates at least one spatiotemporal model according to said identification and characterizes a social behaviour of at least some of said plurality of model organisms from at least one interaction among at least some of said plurality of model organisms by an analysis of said at least one spatiotemporal model. ### Claim 25 A method of monitoring social interactions among a plurality of model organisms, comprising: recording spatiotemporal data of a plurality of model organisms in a monitored space during of a period; analyzing said spatiotemporal data to identify a plurality of interactions between members of each of a plurality of subgroups of said plurality of model organisms; calculating a plurality of entropy measures each for interactions in another of said plurality of subgroups; and characterizing a social behaviour of at least some of said plurality of model organisms according to said plurality of entropy measures. ### Claim 26 (canceled)