US-12616160-B2 - Animal husbandry system and illumination unit suitable for the system

US12616160B2US 12616160 B2US12616160 B2US 12616160B2US-12616160-B2

Abstract

An animal husbandry system for a group of animals that can move about freely in an area. The system contains at least one illumination unit, each illumination unit contains a mounting structure provided with a number of illumination elements, and each is arranged for illuminating a respective subarea. The system also contains at least one camera arranged for monitoring a number of subareas, where the camera(s) is (are) arranged for repeatedly determining the illumination intensity at one or more reference surfaces in the area. The system further contains a control means, operatively connected to the illumination elements and to the camera(s), and the control means is programmed for adjusting the illumination elements, based upon the determined illumination intensity at the reference surface(s), in such a way that a predetermined desired illumination intensity pattern is achieved in the area.

Inventors

Karel Van den Berg
Paulus Jacobus Maria VAN ADRICHEM
Lucas Cornelis Maria VAN RUIJVEN

Assignees

LELY PATENT N.V.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20220311
Priority Date: 20210311

Claims (20)

1 . An animal husbandry system, wherein a group of animals can move about freely in an area, the system comprising: at least one illumination unit, each illumination unit comprising a mounting structure provided with a number of illumination elements, each arranged for illuminating a respective subarea, at least one camera arranged for monitoring a number of subareas, wherein the at least one camera is arranged for repeatedly determining an illumination intensity at one or more reference surfaces in the area, control means, operatively connected to the illumination elements and to the at least one camera, the control means being programmed for adjusting the illumination elements, based upon the determined illumination intensity at the one or more reference surfaces, in such a way that a predetermined desired illumination intensity pattern is achieved in the area, wherein the animals in the group of animals are cows, and the one or more reference surfaces are chosen on a back of the cow(s).
2 . The animal husbandry system according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more reference surfaces are movable.
3 . The animal husbandry system according to claim 1 , wherein the illumination elements each comprise an LED module.
4 . The animal husbandry system according to claim 1 , wherein the control means are programmed for adjusting at least a number of the illumination elements periodically.
5 . The animal husbandry system according to claim 1 , wherein the control means are programmed for adjusting at least a number of the illumination elements only if at least a minimum threshold difference between the determined illumination intensity in a subarea and the respective predetermined desired illumination intensity in that subarea has been established during at least a minimum threshold time.
6 . The animal husbandry system according to claim 1 , wherein the illumination elements comprise LED modules of different colours, the at least one camera is configured to determine the illumination intensity of said different colours at the one or more reference surfaces in the area, and the control means is configured to adjust the illumination elements accordingly.
7 . An illumination unit suitable for use in the animal husbandry system according to claim 1 , wherein a camera is provided on the mounting structure of the illumination unit.
8 . The illumination unit according to claim 7 , wherein the illumination elements are arranged to illuminate subareas of the area in a substantially non-overlapping manner.
9 . The illumination unit according to claim 8 , wherein the illumination elements are each mounted on the mounting structure under a different angle, so as to achieve an illumination of the respective subareas.
10 . The illumination unit according to claim 9 , wherein the illumination of the subareas is realised with an aid of lenses.
11 . The illumination unit according to claim 7 , wherein the mounting structure is provided with cooling fins.
12 . The illumination unit according to claim 7 , wherein the camera is mounted substantially in a middle of the mounting structure, between the illumination elements.
13 . An animal husbandry system, wherein a group of animals can move about freely in an area, the system comprising: at least one illumination unit, each illumination unit comprising a mounting structure provided with a number of illumination elements, each arranged for illuminating a respective subarea, at least one camera arranged for monitoring a number of subareas, wherein the at least one camera is arranged for repeatedly determining an illumination intensity at one or more reference surfaces in the area, control means, operatively connected to the illumination elements and to the at least one camera, the control means being programmed for adjusting the illumination elements, based upon the determined illumination intensity at the one or more reference surfaces, in such a way that a predetermined desired illumination intensity pattern is achieved in the area, wherein an unmanned vehicle can be moved about in the area, and the one or more chosen reference surfaces are on the unmanned vehicle.
14 . The illumination unit according to claim 13 , wherein the unmanned vehicle is a cleaning vehicle.
15 . The illumination unit according to claim 13 , wherein the animals in the group of animals are cows.
16 . The animal husbandry system according to claim 13 , wherein the illumination elements each comprise an LED module.
17 . The animal husbandry system according to claim 13 , wherein the control means are programmed for adjusting at least a number of the illumination elements periodically.
18 . The animal husbandry system according to claim 13 , wherein the control means are programmed for adjusting at least a number of the illumination elements only if at least a minimum threshold difference between the determined illumination intensity in a subarea and the respective predetermined desired illumination intensity in that subarea has been established during at least a minimum threshold time.
19 . The animal husbandry system according to claim 13 , wherein LED modules of different colours are used, the at least one camera being used to determine the illumination intensity of said different colours at the one or more reference surfaces in the area, and the control means adjusts the illumination elements accordingly.
20 . An illumination unit suitable for use in the animal husbandry system according to claim 1 , wherein a color of one or more of the reference surfaces is known.

Description

This application is a 371 application of PCT/IB2022/052195 filed Mar. 11, 2022, and claims benefit of NL 2027742, filed Mar. 12, 2021. The contents of each of these applications are incorporated herein by reference. The present invention relates to an animal husbandry system. Such systems are widely known in the art. Illumination plays an important role in such systems. WO2015/104250 discloses a method and system of rearing chickens in which a plurality of cameras is provided in a shed for monitoring the shed floor and adjusting the shed floor illumination. WO2014/118788 discloses an optical monitoring system for livestock in which various activities may be measured to determine the health state of the population of animals. Generally, an area with animals should be illuminated in dependence on the time of day, the season, the weather, etcetera. There is a need for an improved system with an efficient illumination setting and calibration mechanism. It is an object of the present invention to provide such an improved system. The invention achieves the object at least in part by means of a system according to claim 1, in particular an animal husbandry system, wherein a group of animals can move about freely in an area, the system comprising at least one illumination unit, each illumination unit comprising a mounting structure provided with a number of illumination elements, each arranged for illuminating a respective subarea, the system also being provided with at least one camera arranged for monitoring a number of subareas, wherein the camera(s) is (are) arranged for repeatedly determining the illumination intensity at one or more reference surfaces in the area, the system further comprising control means, operatively connected to the illumination elements and to the camera(s), the control means being programmed for adjusting the illumination elements, based upon the determined illumination intensity at the reference surface(s), in such a way that a predetermined desired illumination intensity pattern is achieved in the area. In this way, a highly useful, versatile and user-friendly system is realized. The invention is based on the insight that a very simple, yet efficient and automated setting and calibration of the illumination intensity in an area with a group of animals can be achieved by making use of reference surfaces, such as, for example, body parts of the animals themselves. Such a reference surface is easy to use and can be used repeatedly. No additional sensors are needed. The invention further relates to an illumination unit suitable for use in the system, wherein a camera is provided on the mounting structure of the illumination unit. Thus, a very efficient and practical, but also versatile, yet compact illumination unit is provided. Suitable and advantageous embodiments are described in the dependent claims, as well as in the description below. According to a first embodiment of the invention, the reference surface(s) is/are movable. A movable reference surface can not only be used repeatedly, but also by more than one camera. This improves the efficiency of the system. In a further embodiment of the system, the reference surface(s) is (are) chosen on the body of at least one of the animals. This is a simple, yet highly practical implementation, as the animal(s) are likely to move about in most of the area. Advantageously, if the animals are cows, the reference surface(s) is (are) chosen on the back of the cow(s). It has been found that this body part of the cow, which is normally moved at a leisurely pace, is easily and reliably detectable by the camera(s) and therefore highly suitable as a reference surface. In a further embodiment of the system, wherein an unmanned vehicle can be moved about in the area, the reference surface(s) is (are) being chosen on the unmanned vehicle. Such a vehicle, for example used for cleaning purposes, will normally move about and visit each and every corner of the area, making it also suitable to serve as a reference surface. According to a further embodiment, the illumination elements in the system each comprise an LED module. This is a straightforward but highly practical implementation. In yet a further embodiment, the control means are programmed for adjusting at least a number of the illumination elements periodically. This ensures an efficient and automated calibration of the illumination elements. Advantageously, the control means are programmed for adjusting at least a number of the illumination elements only if at least a minimum threshold difference between the determined illumination intensity in a subarea and the respective predetermined desired illumination intensity in that subarea has been established during at least a minimum threshold time. In this way, sudden, short disturbances of the predetermined desired illumination intensity pattern (cause e.g. by a cloud passing by) are filtered out, thus eliminating unwanted, superfluous adjustments of