JP5621324B2 - Livestock monitoring device, livestock monitoring device program, livestock monitoring method and livestock monitoring system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a livestock monitoring device, a livestock monitoring program, and a livestock monitoring system.

  Companies operating the animal husbandry industry, such as cattle and sheep, are monitoring to detect abnormalities such as poor physical condition and escape behavior of grazing livestock. The case where abnormalities such as poor physical condition of grazing livestock are suspected is described below.

  For example, when each livestock in the group is moving at a speed of about 0.25 to 0.7 meters / second, it can be determined that the foraging behavior is taken. When a domestic animal with a lower rank and an upper animal in the group approach each other during the feeding behavior of the livestock, the lower animal usually escapes. However, when the upper livestock escapes, generally the poor health of the upper livestock is suspected. Therefore, in such a case, it is necessary to examine and treat a higher individual, that is, a domestic animal having a higher rank.

  In order to detect livestock in need of inspection and treatment from grazing livestock, a company that operates the livestock industry spent a lot of manpower to monitor livestock.

  As described above, in order to perform monitoring for detecting abnormalities such as poor physical condition of grazing livestock, ranking of social ranks within the group is performed for each livestock. In this connection, for example, by determining the order of livestock in a group based on the order of entry and exit to a specific location, the so-called push-out behavior of other livestock, etc., the animals that are higher in the group are identified. Conventional techniques have been proposed. According to this prior art, for example, a group of animals can be efficiently guided to a predetermined section.

JP 2002-272299 A

  Conventionally, since monitoring of livestock has been carried out with a large number of human resources, there is a problem that the human burden and cost burden required for detecting abnormalities in livestock are large. In addition, when prioritizing livestock using the above-described conventional technology, equipment such as a dedicated gate or facility for consolidating livestock is required, which requires extra costs for capital investment. It will be.

  The disclosed technology has been made in view of the above, and includes a livestock monitoring device, a livestock monitoring program, and a livestock monitoring system that can reduce human burden and cost burden required for monitoring abnormalities in livestock. The purpose is to provide.

  In one aspect, a livestock monitoring device disclosed in the present application includes an acquisition unit, a livestock data storage unit, a detection unit, and a notification unit. The acquisition unit acquires position information of the livestock and an identifier uniquely given to the livestock from a position sensor attached to each of the plurality of livestock. The livestock data storage unit stores rank data within the flock for each livestock identifier and escape distance for taking escape behavior from other livestock. The detection unit reads out the rank data and the escape distance associated with the identifier acquired by the acquisition unit from the livestock data storage unit. Based on the read rank data and the escape distance, and the position information acquired by the acquisition unit, the detection unit detects the two animals whose distance from the other livestock was within the escape distance for a certain period of time. Detect livestock. An alerting | reporting part performs the following processes about two domestic animals detected by the detection part based on the positional information acquired by the acquisition part, and the order | rank data read from the livestock data storage part. In other words, the notification unit notifies the user that there is a possibility of poor physical condition in the upper livestock when it is determined that the livestock in the higher rank data has escaped from the lower livestock.

  According to one aspect of the technology disclosed in the present application, it is possible to reduce the human burden and the cost burden required for monitoring abnormalities in livestock.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the livestock monitoring apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the livestock monitoring apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of data stored in the livestock information DB according to the second embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of data stored in the behavior pattern information DB according to the second embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of data stored in the social ranking information DB according to the second embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of data of a livestock pair that satisfies the contact condition according to the second embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the flow of overall processing according to the second embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the flow of the social ranking update process according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a flow of escape possibility notification processing according to the second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a flow of the poor physical condition notification process according to the second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a computer that executes a livestock monitoring program.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a livestock monitoring device, a livestock monitoring program, and a livestock monitoring system disclosed in the present application will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, the technique which this application discloses is not limited by the Example mentioned later as one Embodiment of the livestock monitoring apparatus, livestock monitoring program, and livestock monitoring system which this application discloses.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the livestock monitoring apparatus according to the first embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the livestock monitoring apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment includes an acquisition unit 11, a livestock data storage unit 12, a detection unit 13, and a notification unit 14.

  The acquisition unit 11 acquires position information of livestock and an identifier uniquely given to the livestock from sensors attached to each of the plurality of livestock. The livestock data storage unit 12 stores rank data within the flock for each livestock identifier and escape distance for taking escape behavior from other livestock.

  The detection unit 13 reads out the rank data and the escape distance associated with the identifier acquired by the acquisition unit 11 from the livestock data storage unit 12. Then, the detection unit 13 continues for a certain period of time when the distance from the other livestock is within the escape distance based on the read rank data and the escape distance and the position information acquired by the acquisition unit 11. Detects livestock in the head. The notification unit 14 performs the following processing on the two livestock detected by the detection unit 13 based on the position information acquired by the acquisition unit 11 and the rank data read from the livestock data storage unit 12. That is, the notification unit 14 notifies the user that there is a possibility that the upper livestock may be in poor physical condition when it is determined that the upper livestock has escaped from the lower livestock.

  The livestock monitoring apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment stores in advance a social rank in a group of livestock, and based on the rank of each livestock and position information acquired by a position sensor attached to each livestock, Is detected and notified. Because of this, it is possible to reduce the human burden and cost burden required for monitoring abnormalities in livestock. Since the above-mentioned escape distance differs for each livestock, the livestock data storage unit 12 stores the escape distance for each livestock identifier. However, in order to simplify the process, the escape distance common to each livestock is stored. It is also possible to memorize the distance and monitor whether or not the distance from any other livestock is within this common escape distance.

[System configuration (Example 2)]
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of the livestock monitoring apparatus according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the livestock monitoring apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment is connected to the livestock sensor 100 and the user terminal 300 via a mobile communication network such as a wireless local area network (LAN), as shown in FIG. Send and receive information.

  The livestock sensor 100 is a device that transmits position information of livestock to the livestock monitoring device 200, and is attached to each of a plurality of livestock. The livestock sensor 100 includes a GPS (Global Positioning System) module, a wireless communication module, and the like, and acquires livestock position information using the GPS module. Furthermore, the livestock sensor 100 determines the advancing direction and moving speed of the livestock based on the temporal change of the position information acquired by the GPS module. Then, the livestock sensor 100 transmits the position information and the moving speed of the livestock to the livestock monitoring apparatus 200 using the wireless communication module. Note that a speed measurement module may be mounted on the livestock sensor 100.

  The user terminal 300 is, for example, a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone, a PHS (Personal Handy phone System), or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), and each user possesses a livestock grazing. For example, the user terminal 300 receives notification from the livestock monitoring apparatus 200 that there is a possibility that the livestock is in poor physical condition or may escape.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the livestock monitoring apparatus 200 includes a livestock information DB (Data Base) 210, an action pattern information DB 220, and a social order information DB 230. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2, the livestock monitoring apparatus 200 includes a livestock information acquisition unit 240, a behavior pattern determination unit 250, a contact determination unit 260, a livestock abnormality notification unit 270, and a social rank update unit 280.

  The livestock information DB 210 and the social order information DB 230 correspond to, for example, the livestock data storage unit 12 according to the first embodiment. The livestock information acquisition unit 240 corresponds to, for example, the acquisition unit 11 according to the first embodiment. The contact determination unit 260 corresponds to, for example, the detection unit 13 according to the first embodiment. The livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 corresponds to the notifying unit 14 according to the first embodiment, for example.

  The livestock information DB 210 stores livestock position information and movement speed data received from the livestock sensor 100. The livestock information DB 210 stores livestock position information and moving speed in association with the livestock ID, for example. The livestock ID is an identifier uniquely assigned to each livestock. The position information is latitude and longitude position data. The moving speed is speed data in units of meters per second.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of data stored in the livestock information DB according to the second embodiment. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the livestock information DB 210 stores position information “(x1, y1)” and a moving speed “A” in association with the livestock ID “1111”. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the livestock information DB 210 stores position information “(x2, y2)” and a movement speed “B” in association with the livestock ID “2222”. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the livestock information DB 210 stores position information “(x3, y3)” and a moving speed “C” in association with the livestock ID “3333”.

  The behavior pattern information DB 220 stores data for determining the behavior pattern of a herd of livestock. For example, the behavior pattern information DB 220 stores the minimum movement speed and the maximum movement speed of the group in association with each category of the behavior pattern. The minimum moving speed and the maximum moving speed are speed data in units of meters per second.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of data stored in the behavior pattern information DB according to the second embodiment. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the behavior pattern information DB 220 stores a minimum movement speed “0” and a maximum movement speed “0.25” in association with the behavior pattern “rest”. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the behavior pattern information DB 220 stores a minimum movement speed “0.26” and a maximum movement speed “0.75” in association with the behavior pattern “foraging”. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the behavior pattern information DB 220 stores a minimum movement speed “0.76” and a maximum movement speed “−” in association with the behavior pattern “movement”. The maximum moving speed “−” corresponds to all speeds greater than 0.76 meters per second.

  The social ranking information DB 230 stores in advance the social ranking of animals and the individual space. For example, the social rank information DB 230 is associated with the livestock ID, the upper livestock ID having a higher social rank than the corresponding livestock, the lower livestock ID having a lower social rank than the corresponding livestock, and the corresponding livestock. Memorize the solid space. The social rank is a rank indicating the superiority or inferiority of social animals that form a group and live, and is determined by the power relationship between livestock individuals in the group, such as physique and physical strength. The individual space is an exclusive area that is determined according to the age of each livestock individual forming the flock. In general, when individual spaces overlap, animals with a low social order take escape behavior. The individual space can be represented by, for example, a circular area having a radius of several meters centered on the center of gravity of the individual.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of data stored in the social ranking information DB according to the second embodiment. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the social ranking information DB 230 is associated with the livestock ID “1111”, the upper livestock ID “−”, the lower livestock ID “2222, 3333,. “7” is stored. Further, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, the social ranking information DB 230 is associated with the livestock ID “2222”, the upper livestock ID “1111, 3333”, the lower livestock ID “. “5” is stored. Further, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, the social ranking information DB 230 is associated with the livestock ID “3333”, the upper livestock ID “1111”, the lower livestock ID “2222,. “7” is stored.

  According to the data shown in FIG. 5, it can be seen that the social ranking of the livestock forming the flock is arranged in the order of “1111 → 3333 → 2222,. Note that FIG. 5 shows a case where relative data is stored as the social ranking, but for example, the absolute social ranking for each livestock ID such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. Data may be stored.

  The livestock information acquisition unit 240 acquires position information and moving speed of each livestock. When the livestock information acquisition unit 240 receives the livestock ID, the position information, and the moving speed from the livestock sensor 100, the livestock information acquisition unit 240 stores the position information and the moving speed in the livestock information DB 210 in association with the livestock ID.

  The behavior pattern determination unit 250 determines a behavior pattern of a herd of livestock. For example, the behavior pattern determination unit 250 acquires the movement speed of each livestock from the livestock information acquisition unit 240. Next, the behavior pattern determination unit 250 calculates the movement speed of the herd using the movement speed of each domestic animal acquired by the livestock information acquisition unit 240. For example, the behavior pattern determination unit 250 calculates the average moving speed of each livestock as the moving speed of the herd. Then, the behavior pattern determination unit 250 refers to the behavior pattern information DB 220 to determine a group behavior pattern corresponding to the group movement speed.

  For example, when the movement speed of the group is “0 to 0.25 meters / second”, the behavior pattern determination unit 250 refers to the behavior pattern information DB 220 and determines the behavior pattern of the group as “rest”. To do. For example, when the movement speed of the group is “from 0.26 meters to 0.75 meters per second”, the behavior pattern determination unit 250 refers to the behavior pattern information DB 220 to determine the behavior pattern of the group as “ It is determined as “Foraging”. For example, when the movement speed of the group is “0.76 meters or more per second”, the behavior pattern determination unit 250 refers to the behavior pattern information DB 220 and determines the movement pattern of the group as “movement”. .

  If the behavior pattern determination unit 250 determines that the behavior pattern of the group is “foraging”, the behavior pattern determination unit 250 instructs the contact determination unit 260 to determine the contact condition. If the behavior pattern determination unit 250 determines that the behavior pattern of the group is “movement”, the behavior pattern determination unit 250 instructs the social rank update unit 280 to update the social rank.

  The contact determination unit 260 determines whether or not there is a livestock pair that satisfies a predetermined contact condition when the behavior pattern determination unit 250 determines that the behavior pattern of the herd of livestock is foraging. . Here, the predetermined contact condition is whether or not the overlapping of the individual spaces continues for a certain period of time, and excludes just passing of livestock.

  For example, when receiving an instruction from the behavior pattern determination unit 250 to determine the contact condition, the contact determination unit 260 acquires each livestock ID and the latest position information associated with the livestock ID from the livestock information DB 210. To do. Further, the contact determination unit 260 acquires, for each livestock ID acquired from the livestock information DB 210, the upper livestock ID, the lower livestock ID, and the individual space associated with the livestock ID from the social rank information DB 230. The contact determination unit 260 may directly acquire each livestock ID and the latest position information associated with the livestock ID from the livestock information acquisition unit 240.

  Then, the contact determination unit 260 has a constant overlap between the two livestocks in which the distance from the other livestock is within the escape distance for a certain period of time, that is, the individual space overlaps. It is determined whether there is a pair of livestock that has continued for a certain period of time. For example, the contact determination unit 260 determines whether or not there is a pair of domestic animals with overlapping individual spaces in a group of domestic animals that are foraging based on the position information of the domestic animals and the individual space.

  As a result of the determination, if there is a livestock pair with overlapping individual spaces, the contact determination unit 260 continuously acquires the position information of each corresponding livestock pair from the livestock information acquisition unit 240 for a certain period of time. And the contact determination part 260 extracts the livestock pair which continues for a fixed time, without overlapping of an individual space by monitoring the acquired positional information. Then, for each livestock pair in which the overlap of the individual space has continued for a certain period of time, the contact determination unit 260 displays the livestock ID combination, the upper livestock ID, the lower livestock ID, and the position information corresponding to each livestock ID as a livestock abnormality. The notification is sent to the notification unit 270.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of data of a livestock pair that satisfies the contact condition according to the second embodiment. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, as an example of livestock pair data, a pair livestock ID “1111, 2222”, a higher livestock ID “1111”, a lower livestock ID “2222”, and position information “(x7-1 , Y7-1), (x7-2, y7-2) ”. The data “(x7-1, y7-1)” on the left side of the position information is position information corresponding to the upper livestock ID “1111”. Further, the data “(x7-2, y7-2)” on the right side of the position information is position information corresponding to the lower livestock ID “2222”.

  When the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 receives data of livestock pairs satisfying the contact condition from the contact determination unit 260, the livestock abnormality notification unit 270 acquires grazing section position information from a storage unit such as an internal memory. Next, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 acquires one piece of livestock pair data that satisfies the contact condition. Subsequently, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 compares the position information of the grazing section and the position information of the livestock pair, and determines whether or not the livestock pair is located near the grazing boundary between the grazing section and the outside of the grazing section. . As a result of the determination, when a pair of livestock is located in the vicinity of the grazing boundary, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 executes an escape possibility notifying process.

  On the other hand, as a result of the determination, when the pair of livestock is not located near the grazing boundary, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 executes a physical condition abnormality notifying process. Then, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 determines whether or not the process has been completed for all data of the livestock pair that satisfies the contact condition, and performs the same process for the remaining data that has not been processed.

  Here, the escape possibility notification process executed by the livestock abnormality notification unit 270 will be described. The livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 identifies the social rank based on the upper livestock ID and the lower livestock ID included in the data of the livestock pair that satisfies the contact condition. Then, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 refers to the position information of the livestock whose social rank is lower, and if the lower livestock is located on the grazing boundary side, there is a possibility that the lower livestock may escape. Is sent to the user terminal 300.

  Next, the poor physical condition notification process executed by the livestock abnormality notification unit 270 will be described. The livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 identifies the social rank based on the upper livestock ID and the lower livestock ID included in the data of the livestock pair that satisfies the contact condition. Next, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 acquires the movement speed of the group from the behavior pattern determination unit 250, and starts monitoring the acquired movement speed of the group. At the same time, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 continuously acquires the position information of the livestock pair from the livestock information acquisition unit 240 for a certain period of time, and starts monitoring the acquired position information. Note that the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 may acquire the position information of the livestock pair from the livestock information DB 210.

  Then, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 determines whether escape behavior by the upper livestock has occurred before the movement of the herd starts based on the monitoring result of the herd movement speed and the monitoring result of the position information of the livestock pair. . For example, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 determines that if the position information of the upper livestock changes in a direction away from the position information of the lower livestock before the movement speed of the herd becomes a speed corresponding to the movement, It is determined that escape behavior by the upper livestock occurred before the movement started.

  As a result of the determination, if escape behavior by the upper livestock occurs before the movement of the herd starts, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 notifies the user that there is a possibility of poor physical condition in the livestock that has taken the escape behavior. It transmits to the terminal 300. Then, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 updates the social rank information DB 230 by switching the order of the livestock that took the escape action and the order of the livestock that did not take the escape action in this livestock pair.

  When the behavior pattern determination unit 250 determines that the behavior pattern of the herd of livestock is movement, the social ranking update unit 280 performs social ranking update processing.

  For example, when the social rank update unit 280 receives an instruction from the behavior pattern determination unit to update the social rank, the livestock ID and the latest position information associated with the livestock ID are obtained from the livestock information DB 210. Get continuously. Next, the social rank update unit 280 determines whether or not the herd of livestock has shifted to a complete movement state based on the transition of the position information acquired from the livestock information DB 210. For example, the social rank updating unit 280 may determine that the group of livestock is in a completely moving state when each livestock forming the group of livestock keeps moving at a certain distance from other livestock. It is determined that has been transferred to.

  When it is determined that the group of livestock has shifted to a complete movement state, the social rank update unit 280 identifies the arrangement order of the livestock IDs of the respective livestock that are moving by forming a group. Next, the social rank update unit 280 acquires the social rank associated with the livestock ID of each livestock forming the flock from the social rank information DB 230, and sets the livestock ID of each livestock according to the social order. Rearranges. Subsequently, the social rank update unit 280 determines whether or not the arrangement order of the livestock IDs of the livestock being moved matches the arrangement order of the livestock IDs rearranged according to the social order.

  As a result of the determination, when the order of livestock IDs of the livestock being moved matches the order of livestock IDs rearranged according to the social order as a result of the determination, the social order update unit 280 does not change the social order. The update process ends. On the other hand, when the order of livestock ID of each livestock that is moving does not match the order of livestock IDs rearranged according to the social order, the social rank update unit 280 stores the social rank information DB 230 in the social rank information DB 230. Update remembered social ranking. For example, the social rank update unit 280 updates the social rank stored in the social rank information DB 230 so as to coincide with the arrangement order of the livestock IDs of the livestock being moved.

  Generally, livestock moving in groups tend to move in front of lower livestock as the social ranking is higher. Therefore, the social rank update unit 280 can update the social rank on the basis of the movement order because the livestock are aligned and moved according to the natural and social rank when the group of livestock shifts to the complete movement state. If the order of livestock IDs of the livestock being moved does not match the order of livestock IDs rearranged according to the social order, the power relationship between livestocks may change or a new group of livestock Entry is considered. When releasing a new livestock to a herd, the livestock sensor 100 to which a unique livestock ID is assigned can be attached.

  Note that the livestock information acquisition unit 240, the behavior pattern determination unit 250, the contact determination unit 260, the livestock abnormality notification unit 270, and the social rank update unit 280 of the livestock monitoring apparatus 200 include, for example, an electronic circuit or an integrated circuit. Examples of the electronic circuit include a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and an MPU (Micro Processing Unit). Examples of integrated circuits include ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) and FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

[Processing by livestock monitoring device (Example 2)]
The flow of processing by the livestock monitoring apparatus according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

[Overall processing]
First, the flow of overall processing according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the flow of overall processing according to the second embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 7, when the behavior pattern determination unit 250 determines that the behavior pattern of the group is “foraging” (step S <b> 701, YES), the contact determination unit 260 determines the contact condition. Instruct to do.

  When the contact determination unit 260 receives an instruction from the behavior pattern determination unit 250 to determine the contact condition, the contact determination unit 260 determines whether there is a livestock pair that satisfies the predetermined contact condition (step S702). . As a result of the determination, when there is a pair of livestock that satisfies a predetermined contact condition (step S702, YES), the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270, for example, grazes from a storage unit such as an internal memory. Is acquired (step S703).

  Next, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 acquires one pair of data from livestock pair data satisfying the contact condition received from the contact determination unit 260 (step S704). Subsequently, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 compares the position information of the livestock pair with the position information of the grazing section, and determines whether or not this livestock pair is located near the grazing boundary (step S705). Note that the data received by the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 from the contact determination unit 260 includes a combination of livestock IDs of a livestock pair that satisfies the contact conditions, a higher livestock ID, a lower livestock ID, and position information corresponding to each livestock ID. ing.

  If the result of determination is that the livestock pair is located in the vicinity of the grazing boundary (step S705, YES), the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 executes escape possibility notification processing (step S706). On the other hand, as a result of the determination, if the livestock pair is not located near the grazing boundary (step S705, NO), the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 executes a physical condition abnormality notifying process (step S707).

  After executing the process of step S706 or step S707, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 determines whether or not the process has been performed for all the data of the livestock pair that satisfies the contact condition received from the contact determining unit 260 (step). S708). As a result of the determination, when the process is executed for all the data of the livestock pair (step S708, YES), the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 ends the process of FIG. On the other hand, if the result of determination is that processing has not been performed for all of the livestock pair data (NO in step S708), the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 returns to step S704 described above, and steps S705 to S707 described above. Process up to.

  Here, the description returns to step S701. If the behavior pattern determination unit 250 determines that the behavior pattern of the group is not “foraging” (step S701, NO), the behavior pattern determination unit 250 determines whether the behavior pattern of the group is “movement state” (step S701). Step S709). As a result of the determination, when the behavior pattern of the group is “moving state” (step S709, YES), the behavior pattern determination unit 250 instructs the social ranking update unit 280 to update the social ranking. .

  When the social rank update unit 280 receives an instruction from the behavior pattern determination unit to update the social rank, the social rank update unit 280 executes the social rank update process (step S710), and ends the process illustrated in FIG.

  Here, the description returns to step S709. If the result of determination is that the behavior pattern of the group is not “moving state” (step S709, NO), the behavior pattern determination unit 250 ends the processing illustrated in FIG.

[Social ranking update processing]
Next, the flow of the social ranking update process according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the flow of the social ranking update process according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 8, when the social rank update unit 280 receives an instruction from the behavior pattern determination unit to update the social rank, the social rank update unit 280 forms a herd after the herd of livestock is completely moved. The arrangement order of the livestock ID of each livestock that is moving is specified (step S801). For example, the social rank updating unit 280 may determine that the group of livestock is in a completely moving state when each livestock forming the group of livestock keeps moving at a certain distance from other livestock. It is determined that has been transferred to.

  Next, the social rank update unit 280 acquires the social rank associated with the livestock ID of each livestock forming the flock from the social rank information DB 230, and sets the livestock ID of each livestock according to the social order. Rearrange (step S802). Then, the social rank update unit 280 determines whether or not the arrangement order of the livestock IDs of the livestock being moved matches the arrangement order of the livestock IDs rearranged according to the social order (step S803). .

  As a result of the determination, if the arrangement order of the livestock ID of each livestock that is moving matches the arrangement order of the livestock ID rearranged according to the social order (step S803, YES), the social order update unit 280 Ends the social ranking update process as it is. On the other hand, as a result of the determination, if the order of livestock IDs of the livestock being moved does not match the order of livestock IDs rearranged according to the social order (step S803, NO), the social order is updated. The unit 280 performs the following processing. That is, the social ranking update unit 280 updates the social ranking according to the arrangement order of the livestock ID of each moving livestock (step S804). Then, the social rank update unit 280 ends the social rank update process.

[Escape possibility notification process]
Next, a flow of escape possibility notification processing according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a flow of escape possibility notification processing according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 9, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 identifies the social ranking of livestock pairs that are currently processed based on livestock pair data that satisfies the contact conditions (step S <b> 901). Then, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 determines whether or not the lower livestock is located on the grazing boundary side with reference to the position information of the livestock whose social rank is lower (step S902).

  As a result of the determination, if the lower livestock is located on the grazing boundary side (step S902, YES), the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 transmits a notification to the user terminal 300 that the lower livestock may escape. (Step S903). On the other hand, as a result of the determination, if the lower livestock is not located on the grazing boundary side (step S902, NO), the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 ends the escape possibility notifying process.

[Physical condition notification processing]
Next, the flow of the poor physical condition notification process according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a flow of the poor physical condition notification process according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 10, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 identifies the social rank of the livestock pair currently being processed based on the livestock pair data that satisfies the contact condition (step S1001). Next, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 starts monitoring herd movement speed and livestock pair position information (step S1002).

  Then, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 determines whether escape behavior by the upper livestock has occurred before the movement of the herd starts based on the monitoring result of the herd movement speed and the monitoring result of the position information of the livestock pair. (Step S1003). For example, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 determines that if the position information of the upper livestock changes in a direction away from the position information of the lower livestock before the movement speed of the herd becomes a speed corresponding to the movement, It is determined that escape behavior by the upper livestock occurred before the movement started.

  As a result of the determination, if escape behavior by the upper livestock occurs before the movement of the herd starts (step S1003, YES), the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 may have a poor physical condition in the livestock that has taken the escape behavior. A notification to that effect is transmitted to the user terminal 300 (step S1004). Then, the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 updates the social rank information DB 230 by switching the order of the livestock that took the escape action and the order of the livestock that did not take the escape action in this livestock pair (step S1005).

  Here, the description returns to step S1003. As a result of the determination, if the escape behavior by the upper livestock has not occurred before the movement of the herd has started (step S1003, NO), the livestock abnormality notifying unit 270 ends the poor physical condition notification process.

[Effects of Example 2]
As described above, the livestock monitoring apparatus 200 stores in advance the social rank in the group of livestock, and based on the rank of each livestock and the position information acquired by a sensor attached to each livestock, Anomalies are automatically detected and notified. Therefore, according to the second embodiment, it is not necessary to monitor the livestock visually by spending a lot of manpower, and it is possible to reduce the human burden and cost burden required to monitor the abnormality of the livestock.

  For example, the livestock monitoring apparatus 200 determines whether or not the upper livestock of the livestock pairs whose individual spaces overlap each other has escaped from the lower livestock. When the upper livestock takes an escape action, the livestock monitoring apparatus 200 automatically transmits to the user terminal 200 a notification that the upper livestock may be in poor physical condition. Therefore, according to Example 2, the human burden and cost burden for alert | reporting that there exists a possibility of poor physical condition in livestock can be reduced.

  In addition, as described above, the livestock monitoring apparatus 200 changes the social rank of the livestock pairs by changing the social rank of the livestock pairs so that the rank of the livestock that took the escape action among the livestock pairs with overlapping individual spaces becomes lower. The social ranking stored in the information DB 230 is updated. Therefore, according to the second embodiment, the social rank can be easily updated according to the poor physical condition of the livestock.

  In addition, during the foraging behavior, livestock whose rank is lower in the end of the grazing area, that is, in the vicinity of the fence, is generally in a state of confusion if it is threatened by the upper livestock and loses its place of departure. I often run away. In other words, if it is threatened by the upper livestock and the order is low, but the livestock is likely to escape outside the grazing area, that is, if it is located on the boundary side of the lower livestock grazing area, it is necessary to capture the lower livestock. Become.

  Therefore, the livestock monitoring device 200 determines whether or not the lower livestock is located on the grazing boundary side among the livestock pairs whose individual spaces overlap, and if the lower livestock is located on the grazing boundary side, A notification to the effect that there is a possibility of escape of the livestock is automatically transmitted to the user terminal 300. Therefore, according to the second embodiment, it is possible to reduce the human burden and the cost burden for notifying that there is a possibility of escape for livestock.

  Moreover, based on the comparison result of the order of movement of the livestock when the livestock forming the flock is in a moving state and the rank of the social rank of the livestock forming the flock, it is stored in the social rank information DB 230. Update social ranking. That is, by waiting for the livestock group to be completely moved, the social ranking of each livestock is automatically determined by changing the power relationship between livestock and entering a new livestock group. Therefore, according to the second embodiment, the social ranking can be easily updated only by comparing the movement order of livestock and the ranking of the social ranking.

  In Example 2 described above, the social ranking is updated after the livestock forming the flock is in a moving state, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, at the same time when the livestock starts to move, the social order of each livestock may be provisionally determined, and the provisionally determined social order may be updated after the movement state of the herd is determined.

  In the second embodiment described above, when the movement speed of the livestock is monitored and a livestock whose movement speed is lower than a predetermined reference value is detected, the user is notified of the possibility of the poor health of the livestock. You can also do it.

  In the above-described second embodiment, the case where the livestock sensor 100 is attached to livestock and the position information of the livestock is acquired has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a livestock video captured by a WEB camera may be acquired via a network, and the acquired video may be analyzed to grasp the position information of the livestock.

  Hereinafter, other embodiments of the livestock monitoring device, the livestock monitoring program, and the livestock monitoring system disclosed in the present application will be described.

(1) Device Configuration, etc. For example, the configuration of the livestock monitoring device 200 shown in FIG. 2 is functionally conceptual and does not necessarily need to be physically configured as illustrated. For example, the livestock information acquisition unit 240, the behavior pattern determination unit 250, the contact determination unit 260, the livestock abnormality notification unit 270, and the social rank update unit 280 illustrated in FIG. 2 may be integrated functionally or physically. That is, all or part of the livestock monitoring apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment can be functionally or physically distributed and integrated in arbitrary units according to various loads and usage conditions.

(2) Livestock monitoring program Various processes executed by the livestock monitoring apparatus 200 described in the second embodiment are realized by executing a program prepared in advance using an electronic device such as a personal computer. You can also. For various processes executed by the livestock monitoring apparatus 200, see, for example, FIGS.

  Therefore, in the following, an example of a computer that executes a livestock monitoring program that realizes the same function as the processing executed by the livestock monitoring apparatus 200 described in the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a computer that executes a livestock monitoring program.

  As shown in FIG. 11, a computer 400 that realizes the same function as the process executed by the livestock monitoring apparatus 200 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 410 that executes various arithmetic processes. The computer 400 also includes an input device 420 and an output device 430 that receive data input from the user.

  Note that the input device 420 corresponds to, for example, a keyboard or a mouse. The output device 430 corresponds to a monitor, a display, or the like. When the input device 420 includes a mouse, the pointing device function can be realized in cooperation with the monitor included in the output device 430. Also, when the input device 420 has another input device such as a touch pad, the pointing device function can be realized as in the case of the mouse.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the computer 400 includes a medium reading device 440 that reads a program and the like from a storage medium, and a network interface device 450 that exchanges data with other computers via a network. Further, as shown in FIG. 11, the computer 400 includes a RAM (Random Access Memory) 460 that temporarily stores various information and a hard disk device 470. Each device 410 to 470 is connected to a bus 480.

  Instead of the CPU 410 described above, for example, an electronic circuit such as an MPU (Micro Processing Unit) or an integrated circuit such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) can be used. Further, instead of the RAM 460, a semiconductor memory device such as a flash memory can be used.

  The hard disk device 470 stores a livestock monitoring program 471 and livestock monitoring data 472 that perform the same functions as the processing executed by the livestock monitoring device 200 described above. The livestock monitoring program 471 may be appropriately distributed and stored in a storage unit of another computer that is communicably connected via a network.

  The CPU 410 reads out the livestock monitoring program 471 from the hard disk device 470 and expands it in the RAM 460, whereby the livestock monitoring program 471 functions as a livestock monitoring process 461 as shown in FIG. The livestock monitoring process 461 expands various data such as the livestock monitoring data 472 read from the hard disk device 470 in an area allocated to itself on the RAM 460 as appropriate, and executes various processes based on the expanded various data.

  The livestock monitoring process 461 is performed by, for example, the livestock information acquisition unit 240, the behavior pattern determination unit 250, the contact determination unit 260, the livestock abnormality notification unit 270, and the social rank update unit 280 of the livestock monitoring apparatus illustrated in FIG. Includes processing to be performed.

  The livestock monitoring program 471 is not necessarily stored in the hard disk device 470 from the beginning. For example, each program is stored in a “portable physical medium” such as a flexible disk (FD), a CD-ROM, a DVD disk, a magneto-optical disk, and an IC card inserted into the computer 400. Then, the computer 400 may read and execute each program from these.

  Further, each program is stored in “another computer (or server)” connected to the computer 400 via a public line, the Internet, a LAN, a WAN, or the like. Then, the computer 400 may read and execute each program from these.

  The following supplementary notes are further disclosed with respect to the embodiments including the above examples.

(Additional remark 1) From the sensor attached to each of several livestock, the acquisition part which acquires the position information on the livestock, and the identifier given uniquely to the livestock,
A livestock data storage unit for storing rank data within a herd for each identifier of each livestock, and an escape distance for taking escape behavior from other livestock,
The rank data and escape distance associated with the identifier acquired by the acquisition unit are read from the livestock data storage unit, the read rank data and escape distance, and the position information acquired by the acquisition unit Based on the detection unit for detecting two domestic animals in which the distance from other livestock was within the escape distance for a certain period of time;
Based on the position information acquired by the acquisition unit and the rank data read out from the livestock data storage unit, the upper livestock is the lower livestock for the two livestock detected by the detection unit. A livestock monitoring apparatus comprising: a notification section for notifying a user that there is a possibility of poor physical condition in the upper livestock when it is determined that he / she has escaped.

(Supplementary Note 2) A grazing section data storage unit that stores position information of grazing sections where the plurality of livestock are grazed,
A determination unit that refers to the position information of the grazing area and further determines whether or not the two livestock detected by the detection unit are both located near the boundary between the grazing area and the outside of the grazing area; ,
The notification unit determines that the two livestock detected by the detection unit are both located in the vicinity of the boundary between the grazing area and the outside of the grazing area, and the ranking data includes the lower livestock and the upper livestock. The livestock monitoring according to appendix 1, wherein the user is further notified that there is a possibility of escaping when there is a possibility that the lower livestock evacuates in a direction outside the section from the positional relationship with the livestock. apparatus.

(Additional remark 3) The order of the two livestocks is changed and stored in the livestock data storage unit so that the order of the livestock that has performed the escape behavior is lower among the two livestocks detected by the detection unit. The livestock monitoring apparatus according to appendix 1, further comprising an update unit that updates the ranking data being recorded.

(Additional remark 4) When the said update part detects that the flock of livestock became the movement state based on transition of the positional information acquired by the said acquisition part, the order of the movement of the livestock which forms this flock The livestock monitoring apparatus according to appendix 3, wherein the rank data stored in the livestock data storage unit is updated based on a comparison result between the rank data of the livestock forming the flock and the rank order of the livestock.

(Supplementary Note 5) When it is detected that the herd of livestock is in a moving state based on the transition of the position information acquired by the acquiring unit, the herd is determined based on the order of movement of the livestock forming the herd. The livestock monitoring apparatus according to appendix 1 or 2, further comprising a rank temporary determination unit that temporarily determines the rank in the inside.

(Additional remark 6) When the said alerting | reporting part detects the domestic animal from which the moving speed has fallen from the predetermined reference value from the transition of the positional information acquired by the said acquisition part, the physical condition of this domestic animal is possible The livestock monitoring apparatus according to appendix 1, wherein the sex is notified to the user.

(Appendix 7)
An acquisition step of acquiring position information of the livestock and an identifier uniquely given to the livestock from sensors attached to the plurality of livestock,
From the livestock data storage unit that stores the rank data within the herd for each livestock identifier and the escape distance to take escape behavior from other livestock, the identifier is associated with the identifier acquired by the acquisition step The rank data and the escape distance are read, and based on the read rank data and the escape distance and the position information acquired by the acquisition step, the time when the distance from the other livestock is within the escape distance is constant. A detection step for detecting two livestock that have continued for a period of time;
Based on the positional information acquired by the acquisition step and the rank data read out from the livestock data storage unit, the upper livestock is the lower livestock for the two livestock detected by the detection step. A livestock monitoring program characterized by causing a notification step of notifying a user that there is a possibility of poor physical condition in the upper livestock when it is determined that an escape behavior has been taken.

(Appendix 8) A livestock monitoring system having a livestock monitoring device for monitoring livestock by collecting livestock information from sensors attached to each of a plurality of livestock,
The livestock monitoring device comprises:
An acquisition unit that acquires position information of the livestock and an identifier uniquely given to the livestock from the sensor;
A livestock data storage unit for storing rank data within a herd for each identifier of each livestock, and an escape distance for taking escape behavior from other livestock,
The rank data and escape distance associated with the identifier acquired by the acquisition unit are read from the storage unit, and based on the read rank data and escape distance and the position information acquired by the acquisition unit. A detecting unit for detecting two domestic animals that have continued for a certain period of time when the distance from other livestock was within the escape distance;
Based on the position information acquired by the acquisition unit and the rank data read out from the livestock data storage unit, the upper livestock is the lower livestock for the two livestock detected by the detection unit. A livestock monitoring system, comprising: a notification unit for notifying a user terminal of information indicating that there is a possibility of poor physical condition in the upper livestock when it is determined that an escape behavior has been taken.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Livestock monitoring apparatus 11 Acquisition part 12 Livestock data storage part 13 Detection part 14 Notification part 100 Livestock sensor 200 Livestock monitoring apparatus 210 Livestock information DB (Data Base)
220 Action pattern information DB (Data Base)
230 Social Ranking Information DB (Data Base)
240 Livestock Information Acquisition Unit 250 Behavior Pattern Determination Unit 260 Contact Determination Unit 270 Livestock Abnormality Notification Unit 400 Computer 410 CPU
420 Input Device 430 Output Device 440 Medium Reading Device 450 Network Interface Device 460 RAM
461 Livestock monitoring process 470 Hard disk device 471 Livestock monitoring program 472 Data for livestock monitoring

Claims (7)

An acquisition unit that acquires livestock identifiers and livestock position information from sensors attached to each of a plurality of livestock,
In association with the identifier of the livestock, and information capable of specifying an identifier of the lower livestock than identifier or the livestock higher livestock than ranking the cattle in herds the livestock belongs, depending on the proximity of other domestic animals A storage unit that stores distance information that defines an area where the livestock takes escape behavior ;
The distance information between the position indicated by the position information of the first livestock and the position indicated by the position information of the second livestock is associated with the identifier of the first livestock and stored in the storage unit A detection unit that detects that a state shorter than the predetermined time has continued for a predetermined time;
Based on the identifier of the livestock stored in the storage unit, it is detected that the first livestock is higher than the second livestock, and the acquired position information of the first livestock indicates A livestock monitoring apparatus comprising: a notification unit that performs notification when it is detected that the change in position is a change in position in a direction away from the position indicated by the position information of the second livestock. A grazing section data storage unit for storing position information of grazing sections in which the plurality of livestock are grazed;
With reference to the position information of the grazing section, it is determined whether or not both the first livestock and the second livestock detected by the detection unit are located in the vicinity of the boundary between the grazing section and the outside of the grazing section. And a determination unit for
The notification unit is determined by the determination unit to determine that both the first livestock and the second livestock detected by the detection unit are located in the vicinity of a boundary between a grazing area and a non-grazing area, 2. Livestock monitoring according to claim 1, wherein a notification is made when there is a possibility that the second livestock may go out of the grazing area from the positional relationship between the two livestock and the first livestock. apparatus. Wherein as first livestock with the first livestock has moved to the away direction of said second livestock is lower livestock than the second livestock, the stored in the storage unit The livestock according to claim 1, further comprising an updating unit that updates an identifier of an upper livestock and an identifier of a lower livestock associated with each of the first livestock and the second livestock identifier. Monitoring device. The acquisition unit acquires the position information and the identifier a plurality of times at timings separated in time,
When the update unit detects that the plurality of domestic animals are in a movement state based on the transition of the position information acquired by the acquisition unit, the update unit and the storage order Based on the comparison result between the identifier of the upper livestock and the identifier of the lower livestock associated with each of the identifiers of the livestock stored in the unit, the plurality of livestock stored in the storage unit The livestock monitoring apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the identifier of the upper livestock and the identifier of the lower livestock associated with each of the identifiers are updated. On the computer,
In association with the identifier of the livestock, and information capable of specifying an identifier of the lower livestock than identifier or the livestock higher livestock than ranking the cattle in herds the livestock belongs, depending on the proximity of other domestic animals Based on the livestock identifier and livestock position information acquired from sensors attached to each of a plurality of livestock, from the storage unit that stores the distance information that defines the area where the livestock takes escape behavior, to the acquired identifier The associated distance information is read , and the distance between the position indicated by the position information of the first livestock and the position indicated by the position information of the second livestock is read based on the identifier of the first livestock. A detecting step for detecting that a state shorter than the distance information has continued for a predetermined time or more;
Based on the identifier of the livestock stored in the storage unit, it is detected that the first livestock is higher than the second livestock, and the acquired position information of the first livestock indicates A livestock monitoring program characterized by causing a notification step to perform notification when it is detected that the change in position is a change in position away from the position indicated by the position information of the second livestock. In association with the identifier of the livestock, and information capable of specifying an identifier of the lower livestock than identifier or the livestock higher livestock than ranking the cattle in herds the livestock belongs, depending on the proximity of other domestic animals Based on the livestock identifier and livestock position information acquired from sensors attached to each of a plurality of livestock, from the storage unit that stores the distance information that defines the area where the livestock takes escape behavior, to the acquired identifier The associated distance information is read , and the distance between the position indicated by the position information of the first livestock and the position indicated by the position information of the second livestock is read based on the identifier of the first livestock. A detecting step for detecting that a state shorter than the distance information has continued for a predetermined time or more;
Based on the identifier of the livestock stored in the storage unit, it is detected that the first livestock is higher than the second livestock, and the acquired position information of the first livestock indicates A livestock monitoring characterized in that when the change in position is detected as a change in position in a direction away from the position indicated by the position information of the second livestock, the computer executes a notification step of performing notification. Method. A livestock monitoring system having a livestock monitoring device for monitoring livestock by collecting livestock information from sensors attached to each of a plurality of livestock,
The livestock monitoring device comprises:
An acquisition unit for acquiring livestock identifiers and livestock position information from the sensors;
In association with the identifier of the livestock, and information capable of specifying an identifier of the lower livestock than identifier or the livestock higher livestock than ranking the cattle in herds the livestock belongs, depending on the proximity of other domestic animals A storage unit that stores distance information that defines an area where the livestock takes escape behavior ;
The distance information between the position indicated by the position information of the first livestock and the position indicated by the position information of the second livestock is associated with the identifier of the first livestock and stored in the storage unit A detection unit that detects that a state shorter than the predetermined time has continued for a predetermined time;
Based on the identifier of the livestock stored in the storage unit, it is detected that the first livestock is higher than the second livestock, and the acquired position information of the first livestock indicates A livestock monitoring system comprising: a notification unit that performs notification when it is detected that the change in position is a change in position in a direction away from the position indicated by the position information of the second livestock.

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