Patent ID: 11944070
Assignee: HALTER USA INC
Field: Other special machines (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC A  H  Y | IPC A  H

Claim 0:
1. An apparatus for controlling animal or animal positions along a course, the animal being a livestock animal, the apparatus comprising:
a housing in a form of an animal collar configured to be worn around the neck of the animal, the collar at least partially housing a stimulus device inside the collar, the housing carrying:
at least one angular position sensing device configured to detect at least one angular position of at least part of the animal relative the course as at least one position value; and
at least one controller that is operatively connected to the at least one angular position sensing device, and programmed to read and compare the at least one angular position value with at least one predetermined value relating to the at least one angular position, for determining if a control action is required to correct at least one angular position of the animal to follow the course, the control action being transmitting a control signal to the stimulus device thereby causing the stimulus device to administer at least one form of stimulus selected from a first stimulus and a second stimulus to the animal,
wherein the stimulus device comprises two speakers that are configured to apply the first stimulus, one speaker being on a left side of the collar proximal to the animal's left ear, and the other speaker being on a right side of the collar proximal the animal's right ear, and the first stimulus is a sound that is generated by at least one of the two speakers, the sound being audible to the animal, wherein if it is determined that the control action is required, the at least one controller is configured to send the control signal to administer the first stimulus from one of the two speakers for guiding the animal along the course,
wherein the at least one position sensing device comprises an inertial measurement unit to provide information of the at least one angular position value to the controller and providing an indication that a movement of the collar is in a left and a right direction to indicate that the animal is turning its head to either the left or the right direction, and the controller is adapted to increase or decrease a volume of the sound by applying the volume of the sound at a sound level (SL) between 0% to 100% using the equation SL=B1x+B2a+B3t, where B1, B2, and B3 are distance gain, heading gain and time gain respectively; x is a distance to a boundary; a is the change in heading off-course, or a heading of the animal after crossing the boundary; and t is an elapsed time since the animal was off course or elapsed time after crossing the boundary,
wherein the stimulus device further comprises at least one electrode that is configured to apply the second stimulus, the second stimulus being an electric shock that is generated by the at least one electrode, and
wherein if the animal has not corrected its course after the SL is 100%, the controller is configured to send a further control signal to the stimulus device to apply the second stimulus to the animal.