Patent Application
20240164349
The present invention relates to compositions and methods for tracking the health of animals. More specifically, the present invention relates to wearable health trackers for animals and especially horses.
Horses undergo intense care throughout all their disciplines across the world. Whether it involves competition, breeding, recreation, or veterinary care, there will always be a need to acquire more health data on the animal to optimize training, care, or medical protocols. It can be advantageous to collect data on heart rate, temperature, and GPS position in monitoring horses and other animals.
Existing management of these parameters includes laborious vital collections by hand. A veterinarian is required to examine the animal with a thermometer and stethoscope. This can be inefficient and lacking in continuous health-data availability.
There are currently no devices created or manufactured in the United States that provide remote detection of health parameters for horses. In Switzerland, Piavita AG has created a girth strap that records heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature and movement. This device only works with BLUETOOTH®, so its communication range is severely limited. The custom girth design is bulky and inconvenient to horsemanship. The hair of the horse around the thorax extremely limits a strong sensory detection with the animal. Piavita claims the ability to predict birth in the horse. In France, a heart rate device (Equisense Motion S) with GPS exists that is built into a saddle with a custom girth strap and the device is set at the horse's heart. Use of this device is very expensive because it requires a custom saddle for each horse, and it cannot collect data when the horse is unsaddled and training. GPS devices have been placed on halters to monitor position, but these do not measure health parameters.
U.S. Patent Application 2017/0055496 to McHugh discloses a patch that can be attached to an animal's tail with adhesive, secured with a wrap, or strapped attachment. The patch is able to detect temperature with a sensor and transmit the temperature wirelessly to a server for a user to view data on a website or mobile device. The patch can also detect postural changes with an accelerometer and pulse with a pulse sensor. The patch can include GPS or triangulation-based location. The patch can be used to know when a horse is sick, when ready to give birth, and provide early signs of injury. While trainers can monitor the data, there is no disclosure that the patch can be used to enhance training by detecting heart rate. The '496 application also does not clearly disclose a sensor that is attached to an expandable band like a watch that is easy to remove.
WO 2017164807 to Andersson discloses a tail-mounted sensor for the health monitoring of animals such as horses, especially at the underside of the tail. The sensor detects heart rate and temperature. The sensor includes a fastening device attached to a housing. The housing of this device includes electronics and sits above the tail and appears bulky. A microprocessor can transmit sensed data wirelessly to an external receiver. The housing can also include a global navigation satellite system receiver to record position. There is no disclosure of use of the sensor in enhancing training.
Therefore, there remains a need for an easy-to-use health tracker for horses and other animals.
The present invention provides for a health tracker device for animals, including an electronics and hardware portion operatively attached to an expandable band, wherein the electronics and hardware portion includes a mechanism for detecting and tracking heart rate, a mechanism for detecting and tracking temperature, a mechanism for detecting and tracking position by GPS, a mechanism for detecting respiratory rate, a mechanism for detecting blood oxygen levels, a mechanism for detecting and differentiating movement, and a mechanism that vibrates to simulate a slow heart rate to calm a horse down.
The present invention provides for an application for monitoring health of an animal, including a home screen, onboarding module, health tracker device module, map module, devices module, and stable module stored on non-transitory computer readable media.
The present invention provides for a method of using an application for monitoring the health of an animal, by a user onboarding with an onboarding module, the user logging in on a home screen, the user adding an animal profile in a stable module, the user adding a monitor in a health tracker device module, and the user viewing the location of animals being tracked with the map module.
The present invention provides for a method of tracking the health of an animal, by securing the health tracker device to the tail of the animal, wherein the health tracker device includes an electronics and hardware portion operatively attached to an expandable band, and detecting and tracking heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels, accelerometer (movement), temperature, and GPS position of the animal.
The present invention provides for a method of tracking the health of an animal during training, by securing the health tracker device to the tail of the animal, wherein the health tracker device includes an electronics and hardware portion operatively attached to an expandable band, detecting and tracking heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen, temperature, movement, GPS location, stride length, speed, balance/gait, force/impulsion/impact, and recovery/fitness data including heart rate return, heart rate variability, excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, and VO2 max during a training session, and adjusting the training based on data detected.
The present invention provides for a method of monitoring foals, by securing the health tracker device to the tail of a pregnant horse (wherein the health tracker device includes the electronics and hardware portion operatively attached to the expandable band), detecting and tracking heart rate, respiratory rate, pulse oxygen, temperature, and movement/activity with the health tracker device, and predicting birth of a foal in the horse.
The present invention provides for a method of calming an animal, by securing the health tracker device to the tail of the animal (wherein the health tracker device includes the electronics and hardware portion operatively attached to the expandable band), detecting and tracking heart rate, temperature, GPS position, respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels, and movement with the health tracker device, and providing vibration to the animal and simulating a low-normal heart rate to calm the animal.
Other advantages of the present invention are readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:
The present invention provides for a health tracker device 10 for horses and other animals 18 that can detect and track heart rate, temperature, position by GPS, respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels, movement, and provide vibration to simulate a slow heart rate to calm an animal down, including an electronics and hardware portion 12 operatively attached to an expandable band 14. The health tracker device 10 is generally shown in
“Animal” as used herein refers to non-human mammals, and can include horses, cows, sheep, pigs, dogs, cats, giraffes, rhinoceroses, camels, donkeys, alpacas, buffalo, goats, and others.
In general, the health tracker device 10 is shaped like a watch wherein the electronics and hardware portion 12 in a housing 22 can be secured to an animal's tail 16 with a tough, flexible, and expandable band 14, shown in
The housing 22 can be any suitable hard plastic such as acrylic, polycarbonate, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyvinyl chloride, or acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene. The housing 22 can be any suitable size to enclose all necessary hardware and devices in the electronics and hardware portion 12, such as 21.5 mm in height, 40 mm in width, and 77.9 mm in length. The housing 22 can include at least one band receiving slot 70 to receive the band 14 and secure the band 14 to the housing 22.
The band 14 can be made of soft, strong, stretchable material such as, but not limited to, neoprene, elastane (LYCRA®, the Lycra Company), nylon, polypropylene, or others. The band 14 is designed to stay in place on the animal. It needs to be tight enough to stay on the animal, because they swish their tails and rub on things, but it also needs to be “gentle” or “loose” enough that it does not too aggressively compress the device 10 against the skin that can be sensitive and cause sores when it is used for more than 24-48 hours at a time, while still promoting enough contact to ensure proper sensor readings. The band 14 allows several things. The device 10 is tightly secured so that it does not come off. The band 14 does not compress the device 10 too aggressively against the skin, while still allowing for enough contact with skin and blood vessels to ensure clear readings. The device 10 must be placed the furthest “cranially” on the tail (as close to the body as possible), as the tail is strongest and thickest here. This allows for tightening the band 14 maximally and there is a larger surface area of skin and blood vessels available here. The device 10 is not intended to be used anywhere else on the body as this location is the only one that has bare skin, accessible blood vessels, and a convenient, cylindrical structure like the tail to band 14 itself to. The band 14 can include a securing mechanism 20 such as a buckle 60 and/or hook and loop 62 to provide a tight and snug fit against the tail 16. The band 14 can have a portion that threads through a buckle 60 and folds back to secure itself with hook and loops 62, shown in
The band 14 can be a single piece or include multiple pieces such as shown in
Measurements can be taken continuously, or at set times, such as once every 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, etc. All data obtained by these mechanisms and sensors can be stored by the health tracker device 10 and/or sent electronically by BLUETOOTH® or LORAWAN® to an application 26 or communication hub 24 further described below. Preferably, up to 8 hours of data can be stored on the health tracker device 10, and once the data is transferred to the application 26 successfully, the health tracker device 10 receives an acknowledgement receipt and clears the memory in the storage.
The electronics and hardware portion 12 can also include BLUETOOTH® or LORAWAN® communication mechanisms including at least one antenna 54 for connecting with mobile devices. The antenna 54 can be created by printed undulating traces configured to optimize transmission strength and conformity according to the diameter of the animal's tail 16. The antenna 54 can feed into the band 14 to prevent an animal's body tissue from blocking signals. The antenna 54 can click into a button on the outside of the housing 22 to help water resistance. The band 14 can include a pocket 64 made of fabric to secure and house the antenna 54, and hook and loop antenna securing mechanisms 66 inside the pocket 64, shown in
The health tracker device 10 is most preferably placed around the base of the tail 16 of the horse or animal 18, where it continually reads heart rate, body temperature, GPS position information, respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels, and movement for the animal 18. As described above, the electronics and hardware portion 12 is facing against the ventral face of the tail 16 for proper data collection, due to the lack of hair on this portion of the tail 16. It is desired for the device to be contact with the animal's skin in an area where it is not easy to rub or scratch the health tracker device 10 off the animal. In a horse, one of the few places on the body with open skin is at the base of the tail, and a vein runs through this area that allows for easier measurement of heart rate. The ankle is another area on a horse that the health tracker device 10 can be placed, but this area is also prone to being scratched or covered in mud by a horse. A veterinarian can also shave off an area of hair on an animal to access skin for placement of the health tracker device 10 if needed. The health tracker device 10 preferably weighs less than 200 g. The health tracker device 10 can withstand moderate vibration from a galloping animal.
The health tracker device 10 is in electronic communication via BLUETOOTH® or LORAWAN® (LoRa Alliance) to an application 26 stored on a user's mobile device (i.e., smartphone or tablet computer) on non-transitory computer readable media. LORAWAN® can send data up to 28 miles away and is a low bandwidth, low data rate technology. BLUETOOTH® does not transmit through body tissue, so it can be extremely unreliable with horses or other animals that have a lot of body tissue so LORAWAN® provides another option for data transmission. All data tracked and collected by the health tracker device 10 can be sent to the application 26. The data can help in providing efficient training of animals, because by monitoring heart rate, one can see if the training is too easy for animal and they can be pushed harder to increase their heart rate. The data can also help veterinarians in monitoring fever (temperature) and heart rate in animals with severe illnesses.
The application 26 is further shown in
Home screen 38, shown in
Onboarding module 40 allows the user to sign up on the application 26 and enter personal details such as creating a username and password.
The health tracker device module 42 shows a list of monitors 43 (such as active monitors, recent monitors, and all monitors) and links to a monitoring map in the map module 44. By accessing all monitors, the user has a list of all monitors 43. Selecting a specific monitor 43 shows details of the monitor 43, shown in
The map module 44 allows the user to zoom in and out to view where animals being tracked or connected devices are located.
The devices module 46, shown in
The stable module 48 shows animals being tracked and allows a user to add an animal profile 50 to the stable (
A method of using the application 26 is provided, by a user onboarding with the onboarding module 40, a user logging in on the home screen 38, a user adding an animal profile 50 in the stable module 48, the user adding a monitor 43 in the health tracker device module, the user viewing the location of animals being tracked with the map module 44, and optionally the user viewing devices linked with the application in the devices module 46.
While the health tracker device 10 can communication with the application 26 directly, it can also be in electronic communication with a communications hub 24 via LORAWAN®, shown in
The health tracker device 10 can also be in electronic communication via BLUETOOTH® with a rider mobile device 72, such as a smart watch. The rider mobile device 72 can display in clear and big letters any pertinent information or parameters that the rider might want to know and view while riding such as speed, heart rate, stride length, jumping force, or any other parameters desired. This can be useful for the rider to know if they need to make adjustments in a training session.
The health tracker device 10 can remain on the animal if tracking is needed, such as for a training period to monitor training, or for longer periods to monitor illness in an animal, or to monitor the general health in an animal. The health tracker device 10 can remain on the animal for hours, days, weeks, or months. For example, the health tracker device 10 can be placed on several horses during a training period, and then taken off and put on other horses during a second training period. The health tracker device 10 can be always kept on to monitor animals when they are grazing in pastures.
The present invention provides generally for a method of tracking the health of an animal 18, by securing the health tracker device 10 to the tail 16 of the animal 18, and detecting and tracking heart rate, temperature, GPS position, respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels, and movement. The method can further include sending tracked data to the application 26 on a mobile device and/or the communications hub 24. The method can further include providing vibration to the animal to simulate a slow heart rate to calm the animal down. The method can further include any of the steps further detailed below for specific uses.
There are several uses for the health tracker device 10. The health tracker device 10 can be used to monitor health, development, and training. Various parameters can be monitored, such as, but not limited to, speed, top speed during the week, top acceleration, average daytime heart rate, and stride length.
For general health monitoring, the health tracker device 10 can be used in veterinarian clinics, farms, training facilities, or anywhere that an animal is at. There can be several reasons for general health monitoring, such as the horse is showing signs of illness, the owner wants to monitor general wellbeing, monitoring young animals to determine their abilities, to evaluate health, nutrition, and fitness, or the owner would like to track their location. For this purpose, heart rate, respiratory rate, pulse oximetry, temperature, movement/activity, and GPS location can be monitored. Averages of these data points can be sent out to the application 26 and/or communications hub 24 approximately every 5 minutes.
For training, the health tracker device 10 can be used in training centers, farms, ranches, or anywhere that the animal is at. Use in training allows for quantifying training metrics that have not previously been quantified, and analyzing all aspects of horse sports. Every sport is different and values different things such as speed, strength, gait, jumping, working cattle, etc. For this purpose, heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen, temperature, movement, GPS location, stride length (by using a combination of GPS location and the accelerometer), speed (using GPS location over time), balance/gait (using the accelerometer which can determine lameness through statistical deviations), force/impulsion/impact (using the accelerometer), and recovery/fitness data including heart rate return (how quickly the heart rate returns to baseline), heart rate variability (the change in time between each heart beat), excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (the oxygen debts that an animal has to recover after a workout), and VO2 max (the maximum amount of oxygen that an animal can utilize during intense or maximal exercise, generally considered the best indicator of cardiovascular fitness and aerobic endurance). Data can be sent to the application 26 and/or communications hub 24 once per second during training, and between once every 5 to 10 minutes during a resting period.
Therefore, the present invention provides for a method of tracking the health of an animal 18 during training, by securing the health tracker device 10 to the tail 16 of the animal 18 (wherein the health tracker device 10 includes the electronics and hardware portion 12 operatively attached to the expandable band 14), detecting and tracking heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen, temperature, movement, GPS location, stride length, speed, balance/gait, force/impulsion/impact, and recovery/fitness data including heart rate return, heart rate variability, excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, and VO2 max during a training session, and adjusting the training based on data detected.
Use with training can be used for all breeds of horses and disciplines, such as, but not limited to, Quarter Horses (rodeo, barrels, roping), thoroughbred (racing to determine speed, fitness, stride length, tracking, and recovery), hunter/jumper (to determine impulsion when jumping, gait monitoring, and stride length), polo (to determine fitness and speeds), endurance (to determine fitness, physiological status, speeds, and GPS location), standardbreds (same a thoroughbred parameters), paso finos (to determine gait, balance, and fitness), and draft horses (to determine force, impulse, and fitness).
The health tracker device 10 can provide a performance analysis, including a lameness indicator based on accelerometer mapping, or a recovery analysis. In ill animals, the health tracker device 10 can be used to monitor heart rate and temperature to monitor progress of disease state.
The health tracker device 10 can be used to monitor foals, and determine when a horse is expected to foal (birth prediction). This can be used in breeding farms, veterinary clinics, or anywhere with a pregnant horse. Horse births are extremely unpredictable and have a high rate of catastrophe for mother and baby, and therefore there is a need to monitor pregnant horses. The health tracker device 10 can monitor heart rate, respiratory rate, pulse oxygen, temperature, and movement/activity. By detecting a unique change in all of these parameters, birth can be predicted. The health tracking device 10 can send data to the application 26 and/or communications hub 24 every 10 minutes, and can be used long term for this purpose (weeks to a month).
Therefore, the present invention provides for a method of monitoring foals, by securing the health tracker device 10 to the tail 16 of a pregnant horse (wherein the health tracker device 10 includes the electronics and hardware portion 12 operatively attached to the expandable band 14), detecting and tracking heart rate, respiratory rate, pulse oxygen, temperature, and movement/activity with the health tracker device 10, and predicting birth of a foal in the horse.
The health tracker device 10 can be used to calm an animal wherein the device 10 vibrates, simulating a low-normal heart rate (around 35 bpm). This can be indicated for horses with anxiety due to disturbances such as missing their friend, travelling, wanting to go outside, etc. This can also be indicated for horses with behavioral issues like “cribbing”, “weaving”, “Stall walking” or any other issues. Horses find the vibration therapeutic. This can be used anywhere with a horse, veterinary clinics, training farms, breeding farms, small farms, or horse shipping companies. The health tracker device 10 can be placed on the horse for as long as the calming therapy is desired or needed.
Therefore, the present invention provides for a method of calming an animal 18, by securing the health tracker device 10 to the tail 16 of the animal 18 (wherein the health tracker device 10 includes the electronics and hardware portion 12 operatively attached to the expandable band 14), detecting and tracking heart rate, temperature, GPS position, respiratory rate, blood oxygen levels, and movement with the health tracker device 10, and providing vibration to the animal 18 and simulating a low-normal heart rate to calm the animal 18.
The health tracker device 10 can be used in the competitive industry, veterinary health management, general horse farming, or general horse recreation.
Throughout this application, various publications, including United States patents, are referenced by author and year and patents by number. Full citations for the publications are listed below. The disclosures of these publications and patents in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains.
The invention has been described in an illustrative manner, and it is to be understood that the terminology, which has been used is intended to be in the nature of words of description rather than of limitation.
Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible considering the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention can be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2022/018837 | 3/4/2022 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63156826 | Mar 2021 | US |
