Patent Application
20070012260
Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention pertains to the field of pet rescue. More particularly, the present invention relates to a pet beacon for attracting the attention of a person and allowing that person to communicate with a designated party such as the owner, regarding arrangements for the pet.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that despite the best efforts of pet owners worldwide, pets get lost and hurt. When pets need help, any number of people may actually be near the animal. Many of those may also be in a position to render assistance. Unfortunately, there is normally no way for them to know that the pet needs help. It is also well known that pets often carry tags indicating their owner's name, address, and phone number. In today's world, the increased incidence of identity theft as well as other crimes makes this a security risk. Furthermore, it may be quite inconvenient for a person who is trying to help an animal to take the animal to the owner or even to bring it along while the person is searching for a phone.
Other devices have been developed to attempt to overcome these and similar problems associated with lost pets. Typical of the art are those devices disclosed in the following U.S. patents:
The Fehr ('610) patent discloses a system for identifying a lost pet and locating its owner. The system includes a central clearing house and a pet collar or tag with a telephone number and a unique code number printed on them. Information about the pet and its owner is stored at the central clearing house under the unique number and is retrievable by the finder of the pet.
The Shimogori ('335) patent discloses a talking pet tag with a pre-recorded message. The message is played by the finder of a lost pet by simply depressing a play button. The recording mechanism is shielded by a cover plate. The method of retrieving lost pets using the device is also disclosed. Hanson ('953) and Printz ('473) also disclose devices that allow an audio message to be recorded by the owner and then played by the finder of a lost pet. Similarly, Wasserman ('354) discloses a pet identification tag with an electronic display that displays pet owner identification information when activated by pressing a button on the tag.
The Betheil ('350) patent discloses an electronic dialing attachment adapted to be secured to a pet collar or other band member worn by a pet. The dialing element is programmable to store the telephone number of the owner of the pet and is detachable from the band member. The dialing element is adapted to be positioned near the handset of a telephone, thereby permitting the owner of the pet to be contacted without delay.
Longo ('956) discloses a system and method for anonymously making phone calls. The system includes multiple identification tags, a master control telephone calling card, a computer program, a voice synthesizer and a telephone switch. Each identification tag has visible instructions on how a finder of a pet with an identification tag can make a toll-free telephone call to the owner.
The Skelton ('018) patent discloses a lost pet notification system that includes three elements: a pet collar that automatically activates an alarm once the pet becomes lost, a portable hand held unit that continually monitors the location of the pet, and a base station that automatically transmits a signal to the owner once the portable unit determines that the pet is lost. The pet collar continually receives a polling signal from the portable unit while the pet is within transmission range. In response to each polling signal, the pet collar transmits a reply signal to the portable unit. Once the polling signal can no longer be detected by the pet collar, the pet collar automatically activates an alarm. In addition, the portable unit activates an alarm and also transmits a notification signal to the base station. Once the notification signal is received, the base station automatically places a telephone call to a predetermined telephone number and plays an associated message to alert the pet owner that the pet is lost.
Edwards ('879) discloses an animal collar for locating or tracking animals. The animal collar includes a digital video camera that generates video signals, a global positioning unit for receiving a global positioning signal and a controller in communication with the digital video camera and the global positioning unit. The controller includes a wireless communications link over which it transmits the video signals to a remote source.
Adler ('073) discloses a system that allows a pet owner to upload photographs of a lost pet, as well as other information, including contact information, to a web site. The system then distributes a photo e-mail via the internet to people in the area in which the pet is lost. The system also performs calculations using information about the pet to determine the most appropriate target area for a search.
Matarazzo ('033) discloses a lost pet retrieval collar that receives a coded radio signal and activates a puncturing device to release gas from a pressurized canister to inflate a balloon creating a visual alarm that the pet is lost. The pet collar also contains information necessary to enable a passerby to contact the pet owner.
A remotely activated pet beacon for facilitating the rescue of pets in distress is disclosed. The pet beacon, which is carried by a pet, provides a control circuit for managing the pet beacon and a communication system for remote activation and interactive, remote communication with a selected entity. When the pet owner determines the pet is in need of help, the owner contacts the pet beacon through the pet beacon's communication system and sends the activation instruction, which is relayed to the control circuit. The control circuit stores contact information provided as part of the instruction and uses a distress indicator to begin continuously signaling that the pet is in need of assistance. The signaling is designed to attract the attention of a person to detain the pet and render assistance. The pet beacon also provides an actuator for a person who is attracted by the signaling and detains the pet to cause the pet beacon's communication system to initiate an interactive, remote communication session using the previously stored contact information. Once the communication session has ended, the pet beacon returns to waiting on a communication request and an activation instruction.
The above-mentioned features of the pet beacon will become more clearly understood from the following detailed description of the pet beacon read together with the drawings in which:
A remotely activated pet beacon adapted for interactive, remote communication with a selected entity is disclosed and is illustrated generally at 10 in the figures. The pet beacon 10 is carried by a pet and facilitates the rescue of a pet when lost.
As shown in
The control circuit 32 of
The control circuit 32 is shown connected to a communication system 38 in
The communication system 38 provides for remote activation and interactive, remote communication with a selected entity. In order to provide remote activation, the communication system 38 is adapted to notify the control circuit 32 of an incoming remote communication request, to respond to a command to accept the remote communication request, and to provide information from the originator of the remote communication.
In order to provide interactive, remote communication with a selected entity, the communication system 38 is also adapted to respond to a command to initiate an interactive, remote communication session with the entity whose contact information is previously provided. The communication system 38 includes a transceiver 30 as shown in
The transceiver 30 is connected to an antenna 22 in
The transceiver 30 is also connected to a speaker 16 as is illustrated in
The transceiver 30 is further connected to a microphone 18 as shown in
The control circuit 32 illustrated in
It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that any device capable of attracting a person's attention may be used as a distress indicator without departing from the scope and spirit of the current invention or altering the result. Such devices include light emitting diodes (LEDs), 7-segment displays, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), continuous grain silicon panels, strobe-lights, and neon lights, to name just a few that produce a visible effect. Audio effects are also possible. Even Bluetooth technology, which allows messages to be sent to other Bluetooth enabled devices in the immediate vicinity, or one of the wireless Internet connection protocols such as IEEE 802.11b, could be used.
The control circuit 32 is also connected to an actuator 14, which provides the function of initiating an interactive, remote communication session with a selected entity so that arrangements for care of the pet can be made. The actuator 14 generates an electrical signal when engaged. In response to the signal from the actuator 14, the pet beacon 10 tries to establish an interactive, remote communication session using the previously provided contact information for the selected entity. In one embodiment, the actuator 14 provides the function of stopping the pet beacon 10 from signaling that the pet is in distress. The signaling can be stopped once a rescuer contacts the previously designated entity since the signaling is no longer necessary and it is likely that the signaling will irritate a rescuer who is caring for the pet temporarily. It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that the actuator 14 is a switch that either closes or opens an electrical circuit to generate a signal to the control circuit 32 and that any switch can be used without departing from the scope and spirit of the current invention or altering the result. The pet beacon 10 returns to its initial state when an interactive communication session has been terminated.
The transceiver 30 in the embodiment of
The first state is an Idle state 40. In the Idle state 40 the pet beacon 10 is waiting on instructions. The Idle state 40 is the state that the pet beacon 10 enters after power is applied, after a failure to establish a communication session and after a communication is terminated. The transition from the Idle state 40 to an Activation state 42 is triggered by a notification that a request for communication 50 has been received. If an event other than the notification that a request for communication 50 is received while the pet beacon 10 is in the Idle state 40, the event will be ignored.
When the pet beacon 10 is in the Activation state 42, a remotely initiated communication session is being established and instructions are being received and evaluated. While in the Activation state 42, the pet beacon 10 will not allow another communication session to be established. An activation event 54 occurs when the pet beacon 40 is instructed to become active and an entity to be contacted is identified during the remotely initiated communication session. When the activation event 54 occurs, the pet beacon 10 transitions to a Signaling state 44, otherwise a failed activation 58 returns the pet beacon 10 to the Idle state 40. The Activation state 42 is primarily for the support of remote communication sessions that require the pet beacon 10 to wait for a response from the remote entity, thus creating a window of opportunity for other events to occur and for the current communication session to end without the activation event 54 thus generating the failed activation 58 illustrated.
When the pet beacon 10 enters the Signaling state 44, the pet beacon begins signaling that the pet is in need of assistance. In the Signaling state 44 the pet beacon 10 is waiting for a person to detain the animal and to initiate a call request 52. A call request 52 is a request from the person who detained the pet for the pet beacon 10 to initiate an interactive, remote communication session with the entity identified in the previous Activation state 42. The pet beacon 10 does not allow the establishment of a communication session for which the pet beacon 10 is not the originator while in the Signaling state 44.
When the pet beacon 10 receives the call request 52, the pet beacon 10 enters a Calling state. The pet beacon 10 then attempts to establish an interactive, remote communication session with the entity identified in the previous Activation state 42. If the interactive, remote communication session 56 is not successfully established, a failed connection event 60 causes the pet beacon 10 to return to the Idle state 40. The pet beacon 10 does not allow a communication session in which the pet beacon 10 is not the originator to be established nor does it respond to other call requests in the Calling state 46.
If the pet beacon 10 is successful in establishing the interactive, remote communication session 56 in the Calling state 46, the pet beacon 10 enters a Talking state 48, which allows interactive communication with the previously designated entity. In the Talking state 48, the pet beacon 10 only responds to a termination event 62, which is a notification that the communication session has been terminated. Upon receiving the termination event 62, the pet beacon 10 re-enters the Idle state 40.
From the foregoing description, it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that a remotely activated pet beacon 10 for facilitating the rescue of pets in distress has been provided. The pet beacon 10 provides a control circuit for controlling the pet beacon 10, a communication system 38 for remote activation and for interactive, remote communication with a selected entity, a distress indicator 12 for signaling that a pet is in need of assistance, and an actuator 14 for initiating communication with the selected entity using the communications system 38 built into the pet beacon 10.
While the present invention has been illustrated by description of several embodiments and while the illustrative embodiments have been described in considerable detail, it is not the intention of the applicant to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. The invention in its broader aspects is therefore not limited to the specific details, representative apparatus and methods, and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly, departures may be made from such details without departing from the spirit or scope of applicant's general inventive concept.
