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EP-4740848-A2 - OPTIMIZING ORGANIC GROWTH USING SPECTRIAL MEASUREMENT

EP4740848A2EP 4740848 A2EP4740848 A2EP 4740848A2EP-4740848-A2

Abstract

A system for measuring a market performance metric of an animal comprising: a sensor unit that detects an emitted spectrum from the animal wherein the sensor unit filters the received emitted spectra to a set of spectral values; and a memory unit that comprises a set of predetermined chemometric data correlated to at least the market performance metric, wherein the memory unit is correlated to the set of spectral values.

Inventors

  • EDEN, Eric John
  • FARIS, Richard Joel
  • MELCHIOR, Delphine Marie Pierre

Assignees

  • Can Technologies, Inc.

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20190904

Claims (15)

  1. A process for spectra classifying animals, comprising the steps of: i. taking sample scans of an animal with a spectrometer; ii. comparing the sample scans to data of known animals; iii. passing the sample scans to an analytics server via a communication connection, wherein the analytics server reviews the sample scans for unique spectral signatures and associates the unique spectral signatures to market yield metrics related to the animal; iv. sending the market yield metrics from the analytics server to a recommendation engine, wherein the recommendation engine uses the unique spectral signatures associated with the market yield metrics related to the animal to make a recommendation for the animal; and v. passing the recommendation from the recommendation engine back to a device for a recommendation to a care attendant; wherein the market yield metrics are weight or chemical composition.
  2. The process of claim 1, wherein the sample scans capture a variety of information on the animal such as estimated weight, fat depth, loin depth, fat content, chemical pigment, nutritional content or coloration.
  3. The process of any preceding claim, wherein the sample scans are passed to the analytics server in real time, sequentially or in batch format.
  4. The process of any preceding claim, wherein the recommendation includes feed, supplementation, water, environmental conditions, exclusion/cull recommendations.
  5. The process of any preceding claim, wherein in step (v) the recommendation is passed back to either a spectrometer or another mobile communication device such as a mobile phone.
  6. The process of any preceding claim, wherein the animal is selected from bovine, cattle, poultry or aquatic livestock.
  7. The process of claim 6, wherein the animal is poultry.
  8. The process of claim 7, wherein the animal is scanned in the abdomen/groin area.
  9. The process of claim 8, wherein the sample scans provide measurements of fat pad weight, body weight or body composition.
  10. The process of claim 1, further comprising scanning excreta of the animal with the spectrometer.
  11. The process of claim 10, wherein the recommendation generated by the recommendation engine is for feed, water or environmental supplementation.
  12. The process of claims 10 or 11, wherein the sample scan of the excreta comprises a scan of the feed, the animal ingesting the feed and a scan on nutritional remainder in the excreta.
  13. The process of claims 10-12, wherein the sample scan of excreta of the animal is made in aggregate format or aligned to specific livestock.
  14. The process of claims 10-13, wherein any sample scan result outside a defined margin of error is resolved into a feed, water, environmental or supplementation recommendation or a request to review whether the animal is receiving the correct feed type or supplementation.
  15. A means for a portable spectral measurement, comprising; i) a portable device comprising a sensing element that illuminates and records emitted spectra of a target animal and writes it to a local memory on the device, wherein the portable device optionally transmits in real time, or in batch, recorded spectra via wireless, wired or cellular means, the measurements associated with a particular animal to a remote server as defined in ii); and ii) a remote server that contains a corpus of market descriptors pertaining to the target animal as well as a reference set of norms for that class, wherein the remote server transmits back to the portable device a set of values corresponding to a market metric, environmental metric or an advisory metric for the target animal; optionally wherein the portable device includes a mobile phone with a spectral sensor or the camera element of that mobile phone optimized to sense a useful set of spectra.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/728,332, filed September 7, 2018 and entitled OPTIMIZING ORGANIC GROWTH USING SPECTRIAL MEASUREMENT, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD This document pertains generally, but not by way of limitation, to optimizing growth of livestock using non-invasive measuring means to compare a current set of scanned biological parameters to preset chemometric data that is predictive of that livestock's present or future state productive performance conditions. BACKGROUND Management of livestock typically endeavors to optimize the yield of each individual livestock when it comes to market via on feed, medical or pharmaceutical care processes to keep each animal growing and healthy. There is a problem however, that each livestock is subjected to a significant number of other growth or yield inputs during its premarket lifespan and that those various combinations of inputs result in a wide variance of market yields of similar livestock despite having similar feed, medical treatment and preventive care. SUMMARY The present inventors have recognized, among other things that a solution of this problem include ongoing measurement of the livestock with non-invasive means using spectral scanning of livestock and/or their excreta (individually or collectively). Also, the present inventors recognize that the correlation of these scanning measurements with a data set of previously measured livestock scans allows the consistent compilation of various growth factors that also result in a measure of the potential yield of an individual livestock. These ongoing spectra measurements can also be correlated with any other ongoing monitoring solutions of each/aggregated livestock to provide feedback or metrics on feed, water, health, environmental conditions or pharmaceutical efficacy. By example, scanning feeder pigs with a portable spectrometer through a portion of their premarket lifespan to estimate or diagnose several aspects characterizing their growth is a concrete expression of this solution. The present subject matter can help provide an additional solution to this problem, such as by use of ongoing spectra scanning of livestock and correlation to a detectable health condition or potential associated comorbidity condition. Another manner of describing this solution would be to describe at an early stage a "good" animal to continue its current course of feed, water, supplementation, or a "bad" animal that would be flagged for remedial treatment, additional feed, water, supplementation or diversion to another processing stream. There are several aspects to this solution that the inventors have established. The first aspect of this solution is that using livestock spectral emissions at various stages of growth to classify individual animals against an established set of premeasured normative metrics. (i.e. a "good" animal for the use intended (good animal) vs. an "bad" animal that will result in a poor yield for the use intended (bad animal.) This first aspect allows the animal owner to selectively change feed, water, or supplementation, or divert the bad animal portions of the group of animals to optimize the market potential of the group, saving feed, energy and other resources that would otherwise be used to raise a "bad animal." Another second aspect is the case where a "bad" animal is identified, a feed differential may be measured between a "good" animal where the goal is to raise both "good and "bad" animals to a general media value rather than to maximize each animal. The second aspect in this case would be to drive each animal to that median value by decreasing/increasing various feed/water/supplementation. A third aspect is that this scanned information would also inform a secondary decision by a lower skilled worker that that normally would be reserved for a veterinary analysis. It is easy to appreciate the benefit of removing the need/cost for a veterinarian analysis for each animal/herd. This third aspect of the solution would allow an untrained animal handler to make informed choices and change feed, water, supplementation, without incurring an additional cost or time required for a highly skilled veterinarian technician. A fourth aspect of the solution is that using a portable spectrometer that allows many variants of spectral measurements to be made on the animal in its normal habitat. The immediate benefit of this fourth aspect in field measurement allows an unstressed animal measurement to occur in the natural surroundings of the animal. This fourth aspect further includes the aspect of using the portable spectrometer to be utilized on the measured animal's dermis, skin or fur as well as being used on a specific type of excreta of that measured animal. A fifth aspect of this solution is that the spectral measurements may be combined with other standard metr