Patent ID: 8955458
Filing Date: 2015-02-17
Classification: A01K

Abstract:
1. A system for detecting flinching motion of a foot of an animal, comprising: a single sensing coil comprising a wire wound into a coil, said coil defining a perimeter that surrounds the whole of an animal; an AC generator electrically coupled to said wire; a circuit electrically coupled to said wire, said circuit adapted to detect AC current flowing through said wire; a tag attached to a foot of said animal, said tag comprising an inductive element and a capacitive element, wherein said tag is within the perimeter of said coil but not necessarily coplanar with said coil, and wherein said circuit electrically coupled to said wire, said circuit comprises an output capacitor providing an AC-coupled output indicative of rate of motion of said tag rather than absolute position of said tag, said circuit produces biphasic output pulses corresponding to flinching motions of said foot, wherein the rate of tag motion is indicated by an amplitude of each phase of the biphasic output pulse and an upward or downward direction of tag motion is indicated by a positive or negative polarity of each phase of said biphasic output pulse; and, a pulse counter counts said output pulses from said circuit so as to count the number of flinching motions of said foot over a time period.