Systems, methods and devices for use in assessing fat and muscle depth
AssigneeBiotronics
InventorsDoyle E. Wilson, Viren R. Amin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods, systems and devices are implemented in connection with measuring subcutaneous fat and loin depth in a portion of muscle tissue. Consistent with one such method a probe is presented to the portion of muscle tissue. The probe produces a response-provoking signal in the muscle tissue used to determine the fat and loin depth in the portion of muscle tissue.
Claims23
An automated method of determining subcutaneous fat depth and muscle depth in a portion of a food animal, comprising:
- presenting a probe to the portion of the food animal, the probe producing a response-provoking signal;
- sensing pressure exerted between the probe and the food animal portion;
- determining, in response to the response-provoking signal and the sensed pressure, a skin-fat boundary, a fat-muscle boundary, and a rib-muscle boundary;
- and
- calculating the fat depth and muscle depth from the determined boundaries.
An automated method of determining subcutaneous fat depth and muscle depth in a portion of a food animal, comprising:
- presenting a probe to the portion of the food animal, the probe producing a response-provoking signal;
- determining, in response to the response provoking signal, a skin-fat boundary, a fat-muscle boundary, and a rib-muscle boundary;
- calculating the fat depth and muscle depth from the determined boundaries
- wherein the step of determining the skin-fat boundary, the fat-muscle boundary, and the rib-muscle boundary includes capturing an image representing responses of the response-provoking signal as a function of depth in the animal portion, and analyzing the captured image
- and wherein the step of analyzing the captured image further includes the steps of
- calculating intensity average values for vertical stripes moving across a width of the captured image below the fat-muscle boundary,
- comparing the calculated intensity average values for the vertical stripes, and
- based upon the comparison, identifying rib shadow column locations.
A system for measuring the subcutaneous fat depth and muscle depth in a portion of muscle tissue in a food animal, the system comprising:
- a probe configured and arranged to carry a response-provoking signal to the portion of muscle tissue;
- and
- a data processor configured and arranged to automatically
- generate a plurality of images from the response-provoking signal;
- select a subset of a plurality of images in response to an indicia of image quality;
- determine a skin-fat boundary, a fat-muscle boundary, and a rib-muscle boundary as a function of the response-provoking signal and the selected subset of images, and
- to calculate the fat depth and muscle depth from the determined boundaries.
A device assessing the subcutaneous fat depth and muscle depth of a portion of muscle tissue from a food animal, comprising:
- an image sensor configured and arranged to image the portion of muscle tissue;
- pressure sensors configured and arranged to detect pressure exerted between the food animal and the image sensor;
- an image processor configured and arranged for generating image parameters from images obtained from the image sensor and for generating an assessment of the subcutaneous fat depth and muscle depth of the portion of muscle tissue;
- and
- a user interface configured and arranged to allow human interaction with the device.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising:
- computer executable instructions adapted to perform the steps of:
- in response to a probe presented to a food animal and producing a response-provoking signal to muscle tissue from the food animal;
- generating a plurality of images from the response-provoking signal;
- selecting a subset of a plurality of images in response to an indicia of image quality;
- determining, in response to the response-provoking signal and the selected subset of images, a skin-fat boundary, a fat-muscle boundary, and a rib-muscle boundary;
- and
- calculating the fat depth and muscle depth from the determined boundaries.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.