CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0071307, filed on Jun. 2, 2021, in the Korean intellectual property office, the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a method and system for managing animal data.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

There is growing interest in detecting estrus in livestock such as pigs, cattle, dogs, horses, and goats and predicting the right time for insemination. Correctly identifying the right time for insemination in livestock highly affects increases in pregnancy rates, that is, the profitability of livestock farms, so it is important to get the right time for insemination at an early stage.

Moreover, it is also very important to measure and manage information on livestock' body—for example, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, blood sugar, heart rate, and body temperature.

The above information is only for enhancement of understanding and therefore it may contain information that does not form part of the prior art that is known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify key characteristics of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The present disclosure provides a method and system for managing animal data which are able to receive an identifier of an animal passing through a passage from a sensor inserted into the animal's body or attached to the outside of the animal's body via a first reader installed at a start portion of the passage and a second reader installed at an end portion of the passage, measure the speed of movement of the animal based on a first time of receipt of the identifier by the first reader and a second time of receipt of the identifier by the second reader, and measure whether the animal is in estrus or not based on the measured speed of movement.

The present disclosure provides a method and system for managing animal data which are able to further receive and manage information (e.g., blood pressure, oxygen saturation, blood sugar, heart rate, body temperature, etc.) on the animal's body measured via a sensor.

The present disclosure provides a method and system for managing animal data which are able to predict how the animal's health condition will change in the future and to give an alert ahead of time when the animal is expected to be at risk of a hypoglycemia shock, a decrease in oxygen saturation, a sudden change in heart rate, and abnormal body temperature.

An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure provides a system for managing animal data, the system including: a sensor inserted into the body of an animal or attached to the outside of the animal's body to provide an identifier of the animal; a first reader installed at a start portion of a passage through which the animal passes to receive the identifier of the animal from the sensor inserted into or attached to the animal when the animal moves past the start portion or the first reader and to identify a first time of receipt of the identifier; a second reader installed at an end portion of the passage to receive the identifier of the animal from the sensor inserted into or attached to the animal when the animal moves past the end portion or the second reader and to identify a second time of receipt of the identifier; and a management server that receives the identifier and the first time of receipt from the first reader, receives the identifier and the second time of receipt from the second reader, calculates the speed of movement of the animal matching the identifier, and predicts whether the animal matching the identifier is in estrus or not, based on the calculated speed of movement.

According to one aspect, the management server may be configured to calculate the speed of movement of the animal when the animal passes through the passage, based on the time difference between the second time of receipt and the first time of receipt and the length of the passage.

According to another aspect, the management server may be configured to compare the calculated speed of movement with a preset threshold and generate an estrus notification signal if the calculated speed of movement is beyond the threshold.

According to yet another aspect, the management server may be configured to generate time-series data of the movement of speed by accumulating data of the calculated speed of movement and to predict whether the animal is in estrus or not by incorporating the generated time-series data of the speed of movement into a prediction model.

According to a further aspect, the time-series data of the speed of movement may be generated by accumulating movement speed measurements taken at preset time intervals in a two-dimensional array.

According to a further aspect, the prediction model may be trained in such a way as to take the time-series data of the speed of movement as input and produce a predicted time of estrus of the animal as output.

According to a further aspect, the sensor may be configured to collect information on an animal's body and generate and provide a health condition index, and at least one of the first and second readers is configured to the health condition index from the sensor and send the same to the management sever.

According to a further aspect, the management server may be configured to generate time-series data by accumulating values of the health condition index at constant time intervals, calculating a predicted value for the health condition index for some point in the future by incorporating the generated time-series data into a health condition index prediction model, compare the calculated predicted value for the health condition index with a preset threshold, and issue a risk alert signal if the calculated predicted value for the heath condition index is beyond the threshold.

According to a further aspect, the health condition index prediction model may be trained in such a way as to take time-series data accumulated over time as input and produce, as output, a predicted value for the health condition index for at least one point in the future subsequent to the time-series data.

According to a further aspect, the management server may be configured to determine that the calculated predicted value for the health condition index is beyond the preset threshold, if the calculated predicted value for the health condition index is below a preset lower threshold, if the calculated predicted value for the health condition index is above a preset upper threshold, or if the calculated predicted value for the health condition index is within a preset threshold range.

Another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for managing animal data by a computer device including at least one processor, the method including: receiving, by the at least one processor, an identifier of an animal and a first time of receipt of the identifier from a first reader installed at a start portion of a passage through which the animal passes, when the animal moves past the start portion or the first reader; receiving, by the at least one processor, the identifier of the animal and a second time of receipt of the identifier from a second reader installed at an end portion of the passage, when the animal moves past the end portion or the second reader; calculating, by the at least one processor, the speed of movement of the animal matching the identifier based on the first time of receipt and the second time of receipt; and predicting, by the at least one processor, whether the animal matching the identifier is in estrus or not based on the calculated speed of movement.

According to one aspect, in the calculating of the speed of movement, the speed of movement of the animal matching the identifier may be calculated based on the time difference between the second time of receipt and the first time of receipt and the length of the passage. According to another aspect, the predicting of whether the animal is in estrus or not may include: comparing the calculated speed of movement with a preset threshold; and generating an estrus notification signal if the calculated speed of movement is beyond the threshold.

According to yet another aspect, the predicting of whether the animal is in estrus or not may include: generating time-series data of the movement of speed by accumulating data of the calculated speed of movement; and predicting whether the animal is in estrus or not by incorporating the generated time-series data of the speed of movement into a prediction model.

According to a further aspect, the prediction model is trained in such a way as to take the time-series data of the speed of movement as input and produce a predicted time of estrus of the animal as output.

According to a further aspect, the method may further include receiving, by the at least one processor, a health condition index from at least one of the first and second readers, wherein the health condition index is generated based on information on the animal's body which is collected from a sensor inserted into the body of the animal or attached to the outside of the animal's body.

According to a further aspect, the method may further include: generating, by the at least one processor, time-series data by accumulating values of the health condition index at constant time intervals; calculating, by the at least one processor, a predicted value for the health condition index for some point in the future by incorporating the generated time-series data into a health condition index prediction model; comparing the calculated predicted value for the health condition index with a preset threshold; and issuing a risk alert signal if the calculated predicted value for the heath condition index is beyond the threshold.

It is possible to receive an identifier of an animal passing through a passage from a sensor inserted into the animal's body or attached to the outside of the animal's body via a first reader installed at a start portion of the passage and a second reader installed at an end portion of the passage, measure the speed of movement of the animal based on a first time of receipt of the identifier by the first reader and a second time of receipt of the identifier by the second reader, and measure whether the animal is in estrus or not based on the measured speed of movement.

Moreover, it is possible to further receive and manage information (e.g., blood pressure, oxygen saturation, blood sugar, heart rate, body temperature, etc.) on the animal's body measured via a sensor.

In addition, it is possible to predict how the animal's health condition will change in the future and to give an alert ahead of time when the animal is expected to be at risk of a hypoglycemia shock, a decrease in oxygen saturation, a sudden change in heart rate, and abnormal body temperature.

