Animal husbandry – Animal controlling or handling – Electromagnetic remote control
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-18
2003-05-13
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Animal husbandry
Animal controlling or handling
Electromagnetic remote control
Reexamination Certificate
active
06561137
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic animal containment devices and, more specifically, to an electronic animal containment and tracking device that is portable and utilizes three successive methods of sensory stimulus to reinforce the boundaries within which an animal, particularly a canine, is to be contained. Many electronic animal containment devices are shown in the prior art but are either placed underground or hardwired to render them permanently installed and are dependant upon a single external power source making the disassembly, transport, and reassembly of the containment device impractical. People often visit or travel to places and want to bring their pets but are often hindered by the facilities such as a lack of a fenced in yard or that someone inside the house has allergies or incompatible pets. The present invention allows people to bring their pets to a myriad of places that they weren't able to previously. The present invention has a transmission cable that is placed directly on the ground to define the containment area and then plugged into a base unit which can be powered by the rechargeable batteries therein or by other available external power sources thereby providing an electronic portable animal containment device that is quickly and easily installed, broken down and transported making it ideal for people who desire to bring their pet with them when traveling, camping, visiting and the like. The canine is placed within the confines of the transmission cable which has a plastic or rubberized coating that is of a blue-violet and/or a yellow hue to enhance the transmissions cable's visibility to the canine. Canines have dichromatic vision meaning that their visual spectrum consists of blue-violet and yellow and they can differentiate among shades of gray therefore making the transmission cable lying on the ground easier for the canine to visually detect since it is of a color within their spectrum. Blue-violet is the preferred color since blue does not occur naturally within the environment. The transmission cable emits radio waves originating from a frequency generator inside the base unit and activates an audible alarm in the remote unit attached to the animals collar thereby warning the animal that it is too close to the boundary and should retreat. If the animal ignores the audible alarm and continues to proceed a mild electric shock is introduced to its neck via conductive electrodes emanating through the collar from the remote unit. The animal becomes conditioned after several shocks and then responds appropriately upon hearing the audible alarm and eventually associates the blue-violet or yellow cable with the alarm and the shock and will not attempt to breach the visual barrier. The present invention will allow a conditioned animal to visually adapt to the changing parameters that are inherent in a portable unit rather than having to continually redefine the boundaries through repeated stimuli.
Since having one's pet run away and get lost is one of the greatest fears of a person traveling or camping or such, the present invention provides an optional Global Positioning Satellite system wherein the GPS transmitter is located in the remote unit worn by the monitored animal. An animal locator handset with GPS receiver helps a person locate a wayward animal by pinpointing the animal's location relative to the animal locator handset and the base unit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other shoulder harness attachments for vehicle safety belts. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,338 issued to Ronald L. Antenore on Jan. 23, 1979.
Another patent was issued to Robert G. Yarnall Sr. et al. on Mar. 29, 1988 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,633. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,695 was issued to James M. Giunta on Nov. 6, 1990 and still yet another was issued on Nov. 26, 1991 to Lee D. Weinstein as U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,441. U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,536 was issued to Edwin J. White on Dec. 17, 1996 and another patent was issued to Judy W. Gunby on Apr. 15, 1997 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,234.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,338
Inventor: Ronald L. Antenore
Issued: Jan. 23, 1979
A perimeter alarm apparatus includes a loop of wire to be placed around an area to be guarded and electrical circuitry connected with the loop for detecting the absence of a signal imposed on the loop. The signal imposed on the loop is produced by a sending unit worn by a child, for example, who is intended to remain within the area bounded by the loop. As long as the child is within the area, the sending unit will induce a signal on the loop, but when the child moves beyond the loop a predetermined distance, no signal is imposed on the loop, with the result that an alarm is sounded by the circuitry.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,633
Inventor: Robert G. Yarnall Sr. et al.
Issued: Mar. 29, 1988
An arrangement for controlling the movements of animals is disclosed. A pair of signal-broadcasting wire loops is used, arranged in a concentric fashion, to define the desired confinement area. As the animal approaches the inner wire loop, a receiver worn by the animal will pick up the broadcasted signal and give the animal a mild shock and/or emit an unpleasant noise. If the animal ignores these deterrents and continues to move out of the confinement area, its receiver will pick up the signal emitted by the outer wire, where this signal will trigger an alarm located at a base station (the owner's home), indicating to the owner that the animal has ignored the signals and is leaving the confinement area.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,695
Inventor: James M. Giunta
Issued: Nov. 6, 1990
A system for controlling the movement of an animal relative to an area is provided having a signal transmitter with a transmitting antenna associated with said area. A loop of wire serves as the transmitting antenna and defines the boundary of the area. An electronic receiver carried by the animal is responsive to a signal produced by the transmitting antenna for producing an animal control output, such as an annoying tone or an electrical shock, to the animal whenever the animal moves into the vicinity of the transmitting antenna. The electronic receiver has first and second orthogonal receiving antennas for receiving the signal produced by the wire loop antenna. Each antenna receives a respective component of the transmitted signal. Selection circuitry selects which of the respective components has greater magnitude and produces an actuating output to identify such component. Switch circuitry receives the respective components of the transmitted signal from each of the respective receiving antennas. The switch circuitry responds to the actuating output produced by the selection circuitry to output the respective component having greater magnitude. Control circuitry is responsive to the selected component output from the switch circuit for producing the control output to the animal to control the movement of the animal relative to the selected area. As such, the control circuitry continuously responds to the receiving antenna having the best reception to produce the animal control output.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,441
Inventor: Lee D. Weinstein
Issued: Nov. 26, 1991
An animal restraining system includes a radio frequency transmitter adapted to be located adjacent an area in which the animal is to be restrained, a transmitting antenna, and a collar unit worn by the animal. The collar unit has a multiplicity of radio signal receivers each having a highly directional receiving antenna with the receiving antennae of the multiplicity of receivers having their axes of maximum sensitivity oriented in different directions, and an analyzer for determining a composite of the field strengths of the radio signals received by the receiving antennae, and detecting when the composite field strength at the receiving antennae falls below predetermined values. When the detected composite field strength falls below a first predetermined value, a first warning signal is generated to t
Jordan Charles T.
Kroll Michael I.
Lofdahl Jordan M
LandOfFree
Portable electronic multi-sensory animal containment and... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Portable electronic multi-sensory animal containment and..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Portable electronic multi-sensory animal containment and... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3041823