Acoustically Enhanced Pet Animal Collar for Health & Vital Signs Monitoring, Alert and Diagnosis

A system comprising:

• I. an acoustically enhanced collar for non-invasively monitoring vital signs of a pet animal, wherein the pet animal is a dog or cat, the collar comprising:
• a band of elastic material having a first surface configured to wrap around a portion of the pet animal and a second surface facing in an opposite direction to the first surface;
• sensor elements situated at one or more regions along a circumference of the band, the sensor elements including:
• (A) at least one acoustic sensor configured to measure at least one of heart rate and respiration rate and configured to output at least one signal representing vital sign data for the at least one of heart rate and respiration, the at least one acoustic sensor including at least one piezoelectric element embedded in the band,
• at least one acoustic concentrator integrally formed with the band and projecting, toward a body portion of the pet animal from the first surface at the one or more regions along the circumference, the at least one acoustic concentrator conveying an acoustic signal to the band containing the at least one piezoelectric element;
• at least one acoustic balancer integrally formed with the band and projecting from the second surface at the one or more regions along the circumference, the at least one acoustic balancer situated at the region along the circumference at least partly behind the at least one acoustic concentrator, the at least one acoustic balancer configured to balance the acoustic signal conveyed by the at least one acoustic concentrator against noise and thereby increase a readability of an acoustic signal provided to the at least one acoustic sensor,
• each of the at least one acoustic concentrator tapered inwardly from a concentrator base end to a concentrator top end, the concentrator top end distal from the band, and each of the at least one acoustic balancer tapered inwardly from a balancer base end to a balancer top end, the balancer top end distal from the band,
• each of the at least one acoustic concentrator configured in shape to penetrate a fur of the pet animal at an area of an artery of the pet animal and conduct the at least one signal from a neck portion of the pet animal to the at least one acoustic sensor;
• and
• (B) one or both of:
• (i) one or more temperature sensors to measure temperature and
• (ii) at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer sensor to measure at least one of movement and posture;
• and
• II. a processor configured by software to execute algorithms to interpret an interdependence of the vital sign bioparameter data to arrive at a tentative diagnosis of the pet animal and wherein the vital sign bioparameter data includes at least two of (i) at least one of heart rate and respiration rate, (ii) temperature and (iii) at least one of movement and posture.

A system comprising:

• I. an acoustically enhanced collar for non-invasively monitoring vital signs of a pet animal, wherein the pet animal is a dog or cat, the collar comprising:
• a band of elastic material having a working surface configured to wrap around a portion of the pet animal and a rear surface facing in an opposite direction to the working surface;
• sensor elements situated at one or more regions along a circumference of the band, the sensor elements including:
• (A) at least one acoustic sensor configured to measure at least one of heart rate and respiration rate and configured to output at least one signal representing vital sign data for the at least one of heart rate and respiration, the at least one acoustic sensor including at least one piezoelectric element embedded in the band,
• at least one acoustic concentrator integrally formed with the band and projecting, toward a body portion of the pet animal from the working surface at the one or more regions along the circumference, the at least one acoustic concentrator conveying an acoustic signal to the band containing the at least one piezoelectric element;
• at least one acoustic balancer integrally formed with the band and projecting from the rear surface at the one or more regions along the circumference, the at least one acoustic balancer situated at the region along the circumference at least partly behind the at least one acoustic concentrator, the at least one acoustic balancer configured to balance the acoustic signal conveyed by the at least one acoustic concentrator against noise and thereby increase a readability of an acoustic signal provided to the at least one acoustic sensor,
• each of the at least one acoustic concentrator tapered inwardly from a concentrator base end to a concentrator top end, the concentrator top end distal from the band, and each of the at least one acoustic balancer tapered inwardly from a balancer base end to a balancer top end, the balancer top end distal from the band
• each of the at least one acoustic concentrator configured in shape to penetrate a fur of the pet animal at an area of an artery of the pet and conduct the at least one signal from a neck portion of the pet to the at least one acoustic sensor;
• and
• (B) one or both of:
• (i) one or more temperature sensors to measure temperature and
• (ii) at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope and a magnetometer sensor to measure at least one of movement and posture;
• and
• II. one or more processors, wherein the sensor elements and the one or more processors are configured to detect at least three of the following:
• an indication of the dog lying down laterally, an indication of the dog lying down sternally (head up/down), an indication of the dog sitting, an indication of the dog standing on four legs and an indication of the dog exhibiting a posture associated with eating or drinking.