Custom-shape wireless dog fence system and method

摘要

A custom-shaped wireless fence system is provided that contains one or more dogs in a user-defined containment area without the need for a physical fence or underground wire. The system, which is easy to set up and use, includes at least three base units and at least one collar and, preferably, a remote controller. A virtual fence is defined around the containment area, as well as around optional exclusion zones within the containment area, during system set up through communication between the base units and a trackable device as the user walks around the desired border. Visualization software enables the user to verify that the location of the fence is as desired and that the system is operating properly using a computing device having a display screen. In use, the system employs improved filtering of consecutive distance measurement values taken between the base units and the collar to discount errant measurement values in terms of their contribution to the current calculation of the dog's location. These filtering techniques, in combination with improved signal strength and antenna diversity in the communication between the base units and the collar, improve the accuracy and consistency with which the dog's location within a containment area is tracked so that unwanted corrections are not administered to the dog.

主权项

1. A wireless fence system for containing one or more dogs in a user-defined roaming area comprising:
a master base unit including a transceiver unit and at least two slave base units each having a transceiver unit, said master base unit and said slave base units being positioned in spaced relationship to one another within a generally central location; a master base unit activating mechanism for activating the master base unit during a system topology set-up stage to initiate a communication sequence between the master base unit and the slave base units during which respective distances and spatial relationships between the master base unit and the slave base units are determined and placed on a predefined planar coordinate system in which said distances and spatial relationships are identified by respective coordinates within said planar coordinate system to define an overall base unit topology; at least one collar worn by a dog, said collar including a transceiver unit in signal communication with the transceiver units of said master base unit and said slave base units, each of said base units being configured to continuously obtain distance values between itself and the collar on a real time basis using said transceiver units and to communicate said distance values to the master base unit for calculation of a tracking location value indicating a location of the dog within the planar coordinate system using a trilateration process; a trackable device configured to communicate with the master base unit and the slave base units during a fence set-up stage during which said base units track consecutive positions of the trackable device as the trackable device is moved around a user-defined perimeter surrounding the generally central location, said user-defined perimeter defining a custom-shaped fence, an area inside the fence constituting the user-defined roaming area and an area outside said roaming area constituting a trigger zone; said collar including a correction unit that initiates administration of a correction to the dog when the tracking location value calculated by the system indicates the dog is in the trigger zone; and said system being further configured to weight and filter a plurality of said continuously obtained distance values when calculating the tracking location value and to assign less weight to distance values considered suspect due to disparity between said suspect distance values and previously measured distance values and previously calculated tracking location values indicating the location of the dog within the planar coordinate system.