Patent ID: 8863689

Claim:
An animal feeding system, comprising: at least two animal feeders, a first animal feeder being configured to be separated from at least one other animal feeder by a first distance, the first distance being sufficient to prevent a first animal from simultaneously eating from the first feeder and interfering with at least one other animal eating from the at least one other feeder; the first animal feeder being configured to allow access to the first animal feeder by a first animal when a condition to allow access by the first animal is met, and to communicate with at least one other animal feeder different from the first animal feeder to facilitate coordinating at least one action between the first animal feeder and the at least one other animal feeder; the at least one other animal feeder being configured to allow access by at least one other animal different from the first animal when a condition to allow access by the at least one other animal is met, and to communicate with the first animal feeder to facilitate coordinating at least one action between the first animal feeder and the at least one other animal feeder, where an animal feeder comprises: a computing device; a food container; a cover coupled to the food container, the cover being moveable between a closed position and an open position, the food container being inaccessible to an animal when the cover is in the closed position, the food container being accessible to the animal when the cover is in the open position; a cover-moving device operably coupled to the cover, the cover-moving device being operable, in response to a signal from the computing device, to move the cover from a closed position to an open position, and from an open position to a closed position; a power supply; a communication circuit operable to communicate with at least one other animal feeder; an animal detection logic; and an animal notification device.