US 2020/0345271 A1 · QUADRUPED LAMENESS DETECTION

Abstract

Systems and methods for detecting lameness in a limb of an animal are described herein. In an embodiment, a lameness detection system comprises a plurality of wearable footwear elements. Each of the footwear elements comprises a housing that is configured to fit snugly on a paw of the animal during ordinary gait. Each of the footwear elements comprise a sensor or matrix of sensors that is configured to detect and generate data representative of pressure or force exerted by the paw on a ground surface. Each footwear element additionally comprises a wireless transceiver that is configured for short-distance communication of the data captured by the sensors. The system further comprises a computing device with a wireless transceiver configured to communicate with the transceivers of the footwear elements and instructions which, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to analyze lameness in a limb of the animal based on data received from the sensors.

Claims25

Dependent claims

A lameness measurement system for a small quadruped animal, comprising:

a plurality of wearable footwear elements, each of the footwear elements comprising a sensor that is configured to detect and generate kinematic or kinetic data of a paw of the animal during a movement event, and a first wireless transceiver that is configured for wireless communication of the first data captured by the sensor;
and
a computing device comprising a second wireless transceiver that is configured to communicate wirelessly with the first wireless transceiver, and comprising a non-transitory computer-readable data storage medium storing sequences of instructions which, when executed by the computing device cause:
obtaining the first data from each sensor of the footwear elements;
transforming the first data to produce a data set indicating usage of a paw of the animal relative to one or more other paws of the animal;
determining, from the data set indicating the usage of the paw of the animal relative to the one or more other paws of the animal, that the animal is being affected by lameness;
and causing display of an analysis of lameness of the animal on a client computing device.

4 more elements

A data processing method comprising:

receiving, at a wireless data relay device, from a first wireless transceiver communicatively coupled to first one or more sensors attached to a footwear element worn on a first paw of an animal, first kinematic or kinetic data of a first paw of the animal during a movement event measured by the first one or more sensors;
receiving, at the wireless data relay device, from a second wireless transceiver communicatively coupled to second one or more sensors attached to a footwear element worn on a second paw of an animal, second kinematic or kinetic data of a second paw of the animal during the movement event measured by the second one or more sensors;
using digitally programmed logic to determine whether a limb of the animal is affected by lameness based, at least in part, on a comparison of the first data to the second data;
displaying, on a client computing device, an indication as to whether the limb of the animal is affected by lameness;
wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

2 more elements

One or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions which, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performing:

receiving, at a wireless data relay device, from a first wireless transceiver communicatively coupled to first one or more sensors attached to a footwear element worn on a first paw of an animal, first kinematic or kinetic data of a first paw of the animal during a movement event measured by the first one or more sensors;
receiving, at the wireless data relay device, from a second wireless transceiver communicatively coupled to second one or more sensors attached to a footwear element worn on a second paw of an animal, second kinematic or kinetic data of a second paw of the animal during the movement event measured by the second one or more sensors;
using digitally programmed logic to determine whether a limb of the animal is affected by lameness based, at least in part, on a comparison of the first data to the second data;
displaying, on a client computing device, an indication as to whether the limb of the animal is affected by lameness.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Quadruped lameness detection

Life of this patent

Quadruped lameness detection

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims25