Remotely controlled beeper and method

Details Remotely controlled beeper and method Remotely controlled beeper and method

2001-12-27

2004-06-15

Tweel, John (Department: 2632)

Communications: electrical

Audible indication

C340S384710, C181S152000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06750758

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to collar-mounted audible beepers used for dog training, wherein the beepers produce predetermined audible sounds that enable a trainer or hunter to be aware of the location and movement of the dog(s) on which such a beeper is mounted, and more particularly to improvements which increase reliability of collar-mounted beepers and which also enable them to emit realistic natural sounds, such as the sound of a hawk screeching.
One of the assignee's prior products, the Tritronics BC 12 Beeper Collar
20
shown in
FIG. 6
, includes a collar
3
supporting a horn
50
attached to a top portion of the collar
3
and a housing
21
attached to the bottom portion of the collar. The horn
50
includes a quarter watt speaker (not shown) and directs the sound upwardly out of the opening
50
A, so the emitted sound is directed away from the ears of the dog wearing the collar
3
, so as not to distract it. The housing
21
contains the electronic circuitry and batteries which accomplish the operation that provides the beeping operation. The device
20
is a lightweight, battery-powered device designed for use with a dog working in heavy brush or other conditions were in the dog is out of sight or difficult to see. The BC 12 Beeper Collar
20
produces audible beeping sounds which indicate whether a dog is in a “range/point” mode or a “point” mode. In the range/point mode, the beeper unit beeps every five seconds while the dog is moving, and beeps once per second while the dog is stationary. If the beeper unit is set in the point mode, the beeper unit is silent until the dog stops moving, and then beeps once per second. The BC 12 Beeper Collar
20
has the capability of producing two different beeping patterns, to indicate whether the dog wearing it is a first dog or a second dog, by setting the beeper unit
20
to produce a first kind of beeping sound or a second kind of beeping sound, respectively. The Tritronics BC 12 and other prior beeper units include a collar-mounted housing positioned at the back of the dog's neck, which is counterbalanced by a rather heavy circuit/battery unit attached to the collar beneath the dog's neck and connected by wires woven through the collar to the speaker in the collar-mounted housing positioned at the back of the dog's neck. The housing
21
contains the operative electronic circuitry of the beeper unit
20
and the large, heavy batteries required to power of the circuitry and drive the quarter watt speaker. A “horn”
50
and speaker therein are mounted on top of the housing
21
.
The horns of this and other prior beeper units typically have been 2 to 3 inches in height, and often are broken off of the beeper units when the dog runs through heavy brush or the like. The prior collar-mounted beeper units have used speakers, which necessitates the use of high-power circuitry and large batteries, and hence large size and weight of the circuit/battery unit
21
in the need to locate it on the portion of the collar below the dog neck and the need to route wires to the speaker in horn
50
. Breakage of the speaker wires has been a problem of the BC12 device.
Another of the assignee's prior products, the “Tritronics Accessory Beeper”, is designated by reference numeral
20
A in FIG.
7
. It differs from the beeper unit
20
shown in
FIG. 6
in that the horn
53
in
FIG. 7
attached to the top of the housing
52
includes a piezoelectric transducer instead of a speaker, and also includes the circuitry and battery, eliminating the need for the speaker wires mentioned above in the BC12 device. The height of horn
53
is one inch, which is substantially shorter than the horn
50
in FIG.
6
. The beeper unit
1
A of
FIG. 7
can be mounted on an upper portion of a collar
3
which supports a circuit/stimulus unit (not shown) mounted on a lower portion thereof.
Yet another of the assignee's prior products, it's UPLAND SPECIAL dog training product, includes a stimulus/receiver unit, a remote transmitter, and a beeper unit similar to the above described Accessory Beeper
20
A but having the additional capability of allowing the remote transmitter to remotely turn the beeper unit on and off.
Another prior collar-mounted beeper unit (commercially available from Lovett's Electronics of St. Brazil, Ind.) produces a hawk screeching sound which is a poor representation of an actual hawk screeching sound. That unit repetitively switches the power to the sound-producing circuit on and off, repetitively charging up internal capacitance and discharging it through the sound-producing circuit in order to produce the hawk screeching sound. (A hawk screeching sound feature is desirable because hawks are predators, and a sufficiently realistic hawk screeching sound tends to cause some game birds to “freeze”. This allows a trained hunting dog an opportunity to approach the birds and deliberately flush them out, giving the hunter a good opportunity to aim and shoot. Also, the hawk screeching sound is considered by some to be more pleasant than the beeping sound usually associated with prior collar-mounted beeper units.)
U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,432 issued Aug. 16, 1983 to Lunn discloses a beeper unit for use as an aid in locating a hunting dog and providing audible information as to whether the dog is moving or stationary. The electronic circuitry includes mercury switches responsive to movement of the dog so as to cause the beeper unit to produce different audio signals when the dog is moving and when it is stationary.
Thus, there is an unmet need for an improved collar-mounted audible beeper unit which solves the above described problems of the closest prior art devices. There also is a need for a low-cost way of creating realistic sounds including high-frequency components, such as a hawk scream, which does not require a large amount of memory, wherein the high-frequency components are compatible with a piezoelectric transducer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved collar-mounted beeper unit which overcomes the foregoing problems of the prior art.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved, realistic-sound-producing algorithm and circuitry for use in an animal training device.
It is another object of the invention to provide a collar-mounted beeper unit which provides a more realistic hawk screeching sound or the like than has been achievable in the prior art.
It is another object of the invention to provide a device and technique which provides a realistic replication of a pre-recorded sound while avoiding the problems associated with prior wavelength file techniques.
It is another object of the invention to provide a collar-mounted beeper unit and technique which provides a realistic replication of a pre-recorded sound while avoiding the problems associated with harmonic resonance points of the piezoelectric transducer encountered by prior wavelength file techniques.
It is another object of the invention to provide a more reliable, less expensive collar-mounted beeper unit than has been accomplished in the prior art.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved collar-mounted beeper unit without using a flyback transformer.
It is another object of the invention to provide a reliable, inexpensive collar-mounted beeper unit which produces sound with the quality of a speaker, but without requiring the power consumption of a speaker and not having the poor sound quality of prior beeper units utilizing piezoelectric sound transducers.
Briefly described, and in accordance with one embodiment thereof, the invention provides a collar-mounted animal training device including a housing (
2
) supported by a collar (
3
). A piezoelectric transducer device (
6
) is attached to the housing (
2
). The piezoelectric transducer device (
6
) includes a piezoelectric transducer (
6
C) and a mylar cone acoustic element (
6
B) having a base portion connected to the piezoelectric transducer (
6
C). A transducer housing (
5
)

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