Animal identification band generator apparatus and method
Contents
1. a perspective view of an animal identification band generated by an animal tracking system according to the present invention FIG 2 illustrates schematically the animal tracking system integrated with a computerized animal management system in accordance with the present invention FIG 3 is a perspective view illustrating use of the animal identification band shown in FIG 1 for tracking animals and related articles FIG 4 is a plan view of an alternate embodiment of the animal identification band shown in FIG 1 US 7 908 174 B2 3 FIG 5 illustrates in perspective view an alternate embodi ment of the animal identification band shown in FIG 1 for tracking animals FIG 6 is a pet check in screen in an exemplary embodi ment of the animal management system having an integrated animal identification band generator according to the present invention for creating the animal identification band illus trated in FIG 1 FIG 7 is a screen image of a pop up window for directing the generation of the animal identification band illustrated in FIG 1 DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now in more detail to the drawings in which like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views FIG 1 illustrates in perspective view an animal identification band 10 according to the present invention generated by an animal identification band generator 11 that integrates with an ani mal management system 12 as illustrated in FIG 2 The ani2. foods manufac turers of equipment and supplies for caring for the pets breeders and collectors providing pets to the trade retail distributors of such products and animals and animal han dling facilities including veterinarian pet stores and animal care and kennel facilities In recent years pet care facilities have expanded signifi cantly offering new services to owners of pets Facilities known as dog parks have been developed These provide an enclosed field for owners to bring dogs for exercise running and play Other pet care facilities provide overnight or extended stay services for owners who are traveling and unable to otherwise care for the pets during extended periods These facilities handle feeding exercise grooming and vet erinarian services as required from time to time by owners of pets Services provided include separate runs or kennels for dogs or group kenneling when the dog is comfortable with getting along with other animals Televisions are provided and the pets may be scheduled for particular exercise and playtime activities In addition to these pet care and kennel facilities veterinary offices receive pets for medical care grooming including nail clipping brushing and styling and dental services and ken neling services The services and the animal need to be cor related so that the animal receives the services expected by the owner the owner is charged for the services provided and the ser
3. the animal label driver to print at least an identification code associated with the selected one of the pet animals on the information display surface of the animal identification band so that each pet animal is distinguished from other of the pet animals whereby the animal identification band attaches in a selected position in association with the selected pet animal by the attacher 2 The animal tracking system as recited in claim 1 wherein the animal identification band is separated at a selected length from a roll of media suitable for printing by the printer 3 The animal tracking system as recited in claim 1 wherein a supply of the animal identification bands is con tinuous and further comprising a cutter to separate the animal identification band at a selected length 4 The animal tracking system as recited in claim 1 wherein the animal information associated with the selected pet animal includes the identification code an owner identi fier associated with a person who owns the pet animal and a services identifier that details animal care services to be pro vided by the pet care facility which animal information is printed by the printer on the animal identification band for tracking delivery of animal care services 5 The animal tracking system as recited in claim 1 wherein the animal information database includes an animal type associated with each pet animal and the animal identi fication band is cut to a length ba
4. 0 2006 01 Caldwell amp Berkowitz PC 52 US Ch oie 705 26 707 104 1 340 573 1 340 572 1 702 178 250 253 119 859 57 ABSTRACT 58 Field of Classification Search 707 104 1 i 705 26 340 573 1 119 859 An animal tracking system integrated with a computerized See application file for complete search history animal management system operated by a microprocessor that maintains an animal information database of a plurality 56 References Cited of animals within the custody of an animal handing facility U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 956 931 A 9 1990 Selke kee EEN 40 633 5 036 610 A 8 1991 40 300 5 803 906 A 9 1998 Pratt et al wee 600 300 6 329 918 BL 12 2001 Moyer wee 340 573 1 6 353 390 Bl 3 2002 Beri etal 340 572 1 6 441 778 Bl 8 2002 Durst et al 342 357 07 6 547 726 B2 4 2003 Pratt et al ee 600 300 6 568 354 Bl 5 2003 Wasserman etal 119 859 6 577 241 B2 6 2003 Neidig etal 0 0 0 0 340 573 3 veterinary pet kennel or other pet care facility includes an animal label driver that selectively generates an animal iden tification band having information associated with a selected one of the animals printed by a printer on a first surface with an attacher such as an opposing adhesive surface for attaching to the band in association with the animal A method for generating an animal identification band by an animal man agement system is disclosed 21 Claims 5 Drawing She
5. 50 55 60 65 2 to the animal for tracking and control while the animal is in the custody ofan animal handling facility It is to such that the present invention is directed SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention meets the need in the art by provid ing a pet animal tracking system for a pet care facility that provides pet care grooming and pet sitting services that inte grates with a computerized animal management system for generating animal identification bands for pet animals within the custody of the pet care facility comprising an animal management system operated by a microprocessor that main tains an animal information database of information associ ated with each ofa plurality of pet animals within the custody of the pet care facility An animal label driver operatively engages to the animal management system for selectively generating an animal identification band for a selected one of the pet animals within the custody of the pet care facility The animal identification band comprises a sheet having an infor mation display surface A printer operated by the animal label driver prints at least an identification code associated with the selected one of the pet animals on the information display surface of the animal identification band The animal identi fication band connects with an attacher to itself in a selected position in association with the selected one of the animals during its custody by the pet care
6. US007908174B2 az United States Patent 10 Patent No US 7 908 174 B2 Starko 45 Date of Patent Mar 15 2011 54 ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION BAND 6 592 517 B2 7 2003 Pratt etal deens 600 300 GENERATOR APPARATUS AND METHOD 6 721 681 B1 4 2004 Christian et al 702 178 6 868 804 B1 3 2005 Huisma etal 119 842 2003 0023517 Al 1 2003 Marsh etal we 705 28 75 Inventor Dan G Starko Gallatin TN US 2003 0052788 Al 3 2003 Kwong Tai Chung 340 573 1 2003 0204417 Al 10 2003 Mize esssscerereser 705 2 73 Assignee Idexx Laboratories Inc Westbrook 2003 0229452 Al 12 2003 Lewis etal o 702 19 ME US 2004 0036623 Al 2 2004 Chung ue 340 825 49 2004 0150528 Al 8 2004 Natividade et al 340 573 3 x GE 2005 0110640 Al 5 2005 Chung ecese we 340 572 1 Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this 2007 0226257 Al 3k 9 2007 Yarnall Jr ER A 707 104 1 patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 1092 days OTHER PUBLICATIONS 21 Appl No 11 305 059 Technical Support AVImark Veterinary Management System www avimark net techsupport html AVImark User s Manual pp 1 1 1 2 22 Filed Dec 17 2005 3 4 15 1 15 8 22 1 22 14 www avimark net manualonline i html 2005 65 Prior Publication Data i cited by examiner US 2007 0137587 A1 Jun 21 2007 51 Int Cl Primary Examiner Vanel Frenel nt Cl 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Baker Donelson Bearman G06Q 10 0
7. ball 56 and the cushion 58 Using the button 90 the print identification band window 92 is displayed on the screen The appropriate length of the band 10 is selected by activating the button 94 The print button is activated by the cursor using the mouse or other input device The animal management system 12 transfers the information from the 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 animal management database for printing on the print surface 16 of the animal identification band In the illustrated embodi ment this includes the name 36 age 38 and coloring 42 of the pet The activities selected for the pet are printed together with the owner identification 44 and contact information 46 In the illustrated embodiment the animal management sys tem generates a coded identifier 48 which associates the par ticular pet with its records maintained by the animal manage ment system on the pet information database The elongated narrow sheet used to generate the animal identification band 10 is a consumable configured for receiving at least some information about the selected one of the animals within the custody of the animal handling facility The band 10 is readily wrapped about the pets neck and the adhesive surface 22 is exposed and attached overlappingly to the opposing end of the band to form the collar 55 For veterinary facilities performing surgery the band 10 readily attaches about a leg chest or abdomen provid
8. d material Further the print surface can be printed with other pet information in alternate embodiments as selected by a facility using the present invention to meet particular needs within the scope of the present invention FIG 3 is a perspective view of an animal 54 wearing a collar 55 made with the animal identification band 10 This is accomplished by removing a portion of the cover 20 to expose the adhesive surface 22 The collar 55 is joined by overlap ping an opposing distal end portion of the identification band with the adhesive surface 22 The animal identification band 10 also readily installs around a leg or paw of the animal or around the body as appropriate such as at a veterinarians office for tracking animals undergoing surgery In addition the cover 20 can be removed completely and the animal identification band 10 attached to toys such as the ball 56 cushions and blankets 58 and supplies generally 59 brought by the owner of the animal to the animal handling facility The bands 10 ofa short length are readily attached to medications owner supplied food pet treats beds runs runs and run cards report cards grooming cages dryers and anywhere positive identification of the animal is needed FIG 3 also illustrates a hand held scanner device 61 con figured to detect 63 the identification code 48 on the band 10 The scanner device 61 communicate a signal 65 representa tive of the identification code 48 to a receive
9. diments thereof It is to be understood however that numerous changes and variations may be made in the construction of the present hard cover product within the spirit and scope of the present invention and that modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the scope thereof as set forth in the appended claims What is claimed is 1 A pet animal tracking system for a pet care facility that provides pet care grooming and pet sitting services inte grated with a computerized pet animal management system which pet animal tracking system generates animal identifi cation bands for wearing by pet animals within the custody of the pet care facility comprising a pet animal management system operated by a micropro cessor that maintains an animal information database of information associated with each of a plurality of pet animals within the custody of a pet care facility an animal label driver operatively engaged to the pet ani mal management system for selectively generating an animal identification band for a selected one of the pet animals within the custody of the pet care facility the animal identification band wearable by the pet animal during its custody by the pet care facility and disposable after use comprising a sheet having an information dis play surface an attacher for connecting the animal identification band to itself in association with the selected one of the pet animals a printer operated by
10. e ball 56 the blanket 58 the accessories and supplies 59 and the neck collar 55 for the animal In an alternate embodiment the animal identification band 10 is generated automatically for a collar by referencing the breed field 76 Each of the breeds is associated with one of the available lengths of animal identification bands Thus when the final piece of information selected for display on the animal identification band is entered to the system the system can generate automatically a collar cut to an appropriate length for the particular type of breed The identification of the animal can be verified before administration of medicine undertaking surgery engaging in an activity feeding or grooming or for other tracking pur poses where identification is important The identification code 48 is used by the scanner devices 61 to communicate activity information and pet information to the database for tracking activities and services provided by the animal han dling facility As described herein the present invention integrates readily with animal management systems used by animal handling facilities including kennels pet care sites veteri nary facilities and other animal care and handling facilities This specification has described the present invention that provides an integrated animal identification band for an ani mal management system including the steps necessary for US 7 908 174 B2 7 making and using various embo
11. e band 10 and a close button 100 that closes the pop up window 92 It is to be appreciated that an information entry system for receiving pet information such as name description and age owner information such as owner name and contact phone number and services infor mation such as exercise feeding and grooming services for generating an animal identification band is a band generator integrated with an animal management system With reference to FIG 6 the system generates the animal identification band 10 during check in of the pet with the animal care facility The pet name is entered in the pet name field 72 Generally the last name for the pet is the last name of the owner which is entered in the last name field 70 The type of animal and breed are entered in the type and breed field 74 and 76 The activities are selected using the selection buttons in the activities field 78 Notes can be inserted in the notes field 80 The client information is entered to the system or verified during check in for previous pet visitors to the animal control facility This information includes the weight 82 and the color 83 The owner name 84 and contact infor mation 86 is entered With reference to FIG 7 one or more animal identification bands can be generated For example with reference to FIG 3 a band 10 ofa first length is generated for the neck collar 55 and shorter length bands 10 used as identification tags are generated for the
12. ed media Thermal transfer label media is also available from SATCO America Inc This media includes a general purpose adhesive coated on paper face stock on a silicone coated paper carrier With continuing reference to FIG 1 the print surface 16 on the animal identification band 10 displays information about a particular one of the animals within the custody of the animal handling facility The information in the illustrated embodiment includes a name field 36 an activities field 38 an age field 40 and a description field 42 In addition the infor mation includes the owner name field 44 and contact phone number 46 The animal identification band 10 further includes an identification code 48 as well as the name of the animal handling facility 50 and phone number 52 The iden tification code 48 is a machine readable unique identifier associated with the particular animal The identification code 48 is configured as a bar code machine readable digits and symbols or the like It is within the scope of the present invention that the identification code 48 for a particular ani mal is read by a variety of electronic detectors whereby the animal can be tracked for activities as discussed below It is to be appreciated that the coded identifier or identification 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 code 48 may comprise an RFID tag that is attached to the band 10 or incorporated by the label manufacturer into the ban
13. ely printing by the animal label driver an animal identification band comprising an elongated sheet hav ing an information display surface printed with at least an identification code from the animal information data base associated with a selected one of the pet animals within the custody of the pet care facility and c attaching the animal identification band to itself in a selected position in association with the selected pet animal for wearing as a collar during its custody by the pet care facility and disposal after use 15 The method as recited in claim 14 further comprising prior to step b the step of providing the animal identification band from a supply to a printer 16 The method as recited in claim 14 wherein step c comprises attaching the animal identification band about a portion of the selected animal 17 The method as recited in claim 16 wherein the step of attaching comprises connecting a fastener together to hold opposing end portions of the animal identification band together 18 The method as recited in claim 14 wherein the step of attaching comprises removing at least a portion of a releas able cover overlying an adhesive surface on the animal iden US 7 908 174 B2 9 tification band and attaching the adhesive surface to a portion of the animal identification band 19 The method as recited in claim 14 further comprising the step of reading at least some of the information on the information displa
14. ets US Patent Mar 15 2011 Sheet 1 of 5 US 7 908 174 B2 Fig 1 36 gt Happy Acres Pet Resort 955 555 1234 US Patent Mar 15 2011 Sheet 2 of 5 US 7 908 174 B2 Fig 3 Acres Pet Resort 5 555 1234 Landed Owners 555 555 5555 Happy Acres Pet Resort 555 555 1234 3 Years Old Landed Owners Brown Grooming 555 555 5555 Sierra EI dea Grooming US 7 908 174 B2 Sheet 3 of 5 Mar 15 2011 U S Patent POL AND PIO S4234 E S DU 00O OOS bung BLAIS CLL US 7 908 174 B2 Sheet 4 of 5 Mar 15 2011 U S Patent leet eem eessen Mi gsuoneuiocen Bll Gui nuapyuoe wodag g fasa 2 sed ON zeezezios e Se d ig ve IPIEYYOH vn w isser md an Loo ug _o6 oneng peg young dameos pagjg Eg suw da jasy A g3 ai joey a 2041 ay gt y emsopug Oo P purpunoyman paag beg va rapa 2d Squat poodag mur sen a ua Gi oun a5Gnug Sp oyy Gi nop de Gi uny dune Sdt sR 002 22 30 Gau Gi gp vd Gi aue Suwwums ug Daeerg SE sotus wm Wd 00 p 3w a a aeg eg F eu Wd 00 laut auog fsng MEE or sea are zzglauen 98 wel gi 7B Be aacgy 109S 10H gulgaeugou E paraynan x s mpa yg wdw 8L Bug g e D soz Val aay agoa pumpunoman Pes1g o Soglu0g 7 Se Pare ay se ee GEAR S S IL ssnopy uj 2811 9 SUR GH Wud sway sp wyuoddy et US 7 908 174 B2 Sheet 5
15. facility and disposable after single use custody In another aspect the present invention provides a method of tracking a pet animal within the custody of a pet care facility that provides pet care grooming and pet sitting ser vices and having a computerized animal management system with an integrated animal tracking system that generates identification bands for pet animals within the custody of the pet care facility comprising the steps of a providing an animal label driver for an animal manage ment system operated by a microprocessor to maintain an animal information database of a plurality of pet animals within the custody of a pet care facility b selectively printing by the animal label driver an animal identification band comprising an elongated sheet having an information display surface printed with at least an identifi cation code from the animal information database associated with a selected one of the pet animals within the custody of the pet care facility and c attaching the animal identification band to itself in a selected position in association with the selected pet animal for wearing as a collar during its custody by the pet care facility and disposal after single use custody Objects advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from reading of the following detailed description of the invention and claims in view of the appended drawings BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is
16. ing clearance for a surgical area yet providing access around the animal for readily verifying identification prior to surgery or for animal handling facilities generally prior to providing pet care ser vices that require tracking of services and animal As discussed above the animal identification band 10 readily forms into a loop for a collar or other encircling band for the pet In reference to the alternate embodiment in FIG 5 the band 10a forms into a loop by attaching the leading portion 112 to the trailing portion 114 This is accomplished in the illustrated embodiment by aligning one of the holes 110 at the leading portion 112 with one of the holes 110 at the trailing portion 114 The male portion 118 of the fastener 116 protrudes through the aligned openings and engages the female portion 120 Other fastener devices may likewise be used to secure the opposing ends together As noted above the pet 55 in the example illustrated in FIG 3 brought a cushion or blanket 58 and a toy 56 With reference to FIG 7 the generate animal identification band button 90 can be activated once for each of the items brought with the animal as well as activated to generate a collar 55 for the animal In the illustrated embodiment a selection button 94a is configured to print a band 10 as a short label as indicated for attaching to an article brought with the pet As shown in FIG 3 bands 10 are generated to provide a label or band for each of th
17. ion band attaches to itself in association with the selected one of the pet animals during its custody by the pet care facility and dispos able after use by removing at least a portion of the cover sheet to expose a portion of the adhesive surface for attaching
18. lly used such as clips hook and loop fasteners or other fasteners having matingly engagable members FIG 6 is a representative check in screen generated by the animal management system 12 used by an animal handling facility such as a pet kennel for checking in tracking and checking out a pet suchas a dog or cat to be cared for at the pet care facility Animal management computer systems are available commercially from various suppliers and the exem plary screen shown in FIG 6 is consistent with a data entry screen used in an animal management system provided by Kennelsoft Software Systems of Elk Rapids Mich Similar animal management systems configured for veterinary ser vices are also available and the present invention readily integrates to such systems US 7 908 174 B2 5 The display screen 60 includes management activity but tons 62 for accessing the various components of the animal management system A field 64 of hot link buttons display symbols to facilitate user access and operation of the different tasks accomplished by the animal management system An appointment section 66 includes fields for obtaining informa tion about the pet to be cared for by the animal handling facility A client section 68 provides for entering information about the owner of the pet The appointments section 66 includes a last name field 70 pet name 72 type of animal 74 dog or cat and breed 76 The keyboard is used to enter text to the last
19. mal identification band 10 in the illustrated embodiment is an elongated narrow sheet or band 14 having a printing sur face 16 and in the illustrated embodiment an opposing side 18 having a releasable cover 20 that overlies an adhesive surface 22 With reference to FIG 2 the animal management system 12 is a microprocessor based computer system that operates on a conventional personal computer 24 having a micropro cessor a video terminal display 26 conventional input devices generally 28 including keyboard mouse and other operation control devices and output devices generally 30 including printers and other document generating devices The animal management system 12 maintains on a memory device 32 a database of information associated with each of a plurality of animals within the custody of an animal handling facility such as a kennel veterinary or other facility handling large gatherings of animals A printer 34 prints the informa tion from the database on a portion of a supply 35 of the strip material A cutter incorporated within the printer 34 separates a length from the strip to form the animal identification band 10 With a printer 34 that lacks the cutter the band 10 may be manually cut from the printer The printer 34 in the illustrated embodiment is a CT400 printer available from SATCO America Inc of Charlotte N C or an equivalent The printer operates by a high speed processor and prints on thermal sensitive adhesive back
20. name 70 and the pet name 72 while conventional drop down menus are used to select information for the type and breed fields 74 76 An activities field 78 includes a plurality of activities for the pet and these are selected by positioning the mouse cursor within a selection button asso ciated with each of the various activities A notes field 80 is used for identifying articles brought with the pet to the pet care facility such as a chewing bone blanket toy or the like or other information about the pet The clients field 68 includes the animal weight 82 color 83 and other relevant information including the name of the owner 84 and contact telephone numbers 86 The other infor mation fields and functions of the animal management system are outside the scope of the present invention but can be determined by reference to the users manual provided by Kennelsoft Software Systems One activity link button 90 leads to operation of the animal identification collar generator best illustrated in FIG 7 The generator includes a window 92 for selecting and printing an animal identification band 10 In the illustrated embodiment the window 92 includes selection options for five different lengths of the animal identification band Each available length includes a selection button 94 and only one can be selected at a time The window 90 also includes a cancel button 96 to exit from the band generator a print button 98 to direct the printing of th
21. of 5 Mar 15 2011 U S Patent godag g aan z Iepdnon _uegzezo S dN Wig Veg Peyo y ugoy DON SIS E Ser _06 uoneing pe aaogy ode 10H sep Spewsy E sfaw wager E8 aam d sa dee LC egene ossis Joen Ea as ay E ev ansopu3 ou HA s o n L puejpunoynan paaig a Soga pel Raye 2 px EZERS TIS 96 wodaq oozpiiotfseu E e57 emd soyou gg 219 Pied emp ees S9 0N 26 27 sayou pz HL eud Som ezeanbs s senbey auog ing w yay ___ wrpay seyour gt s N paag prods ren Adder ON ung dune tre ews sayong Sr 76 wiw 8002 22 30 sapa on Pd Eth tear sams out BCEE amp G e ol aas 121109 QI e _ 002 22 30 daa ag orga P 1809 AI yud B eu HE puepunojmay Paag 00a ru IEA eT sjuawjuioddy cleleeleeeciaceeioowee CCEC Baseng swo g ouaaa Ka Wud At sSyusunuoddy apy ee emm sHostouusy P US 7 908 174 B2 1 ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION BAND GENERATOR APPARATUS AND METHOD TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for identification and tracking of animals More particularly the present invention relates to apparatus and methods for gener ating animal identification bands used for tracking of animals at animal handling facilities BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION People generally love animals as pets These animals include a wide range of species including various species of fish reptiles and mammals and particularly cats and dogs The pet industry includes manufacturers of
22. r input device see FIG 1 that interacts with the animal management sys tem 12 to track activities involving the animal Such scanner device can be used at a veterinary service to confirm the identity of the animal prior to surgery FIG 4 illustrates an alternate embodiment of the animal identification band 10 In this embodiment the animal infor mation printed on the print surface 16 is repeated along the length of the band 10 In this way the information is generally readily available on sides of and about the animal when the animal identification band 10 is being used as a collar as illustrated in FIG 3 FIG 5 illustrates in perspective view an alternate embodi ment of the animal identification band 10a using a label supply that lacks the adhesive surface 22 and cover 20 oppos ing the printing surface 16 In this embodiment opposing ends of the band 10a connect together by a fastener device In the illustrated embodiment the band 10a defines a plurality of holes 110 in leading and trailing end portions 112 114 The holes 110 are spaced apart for example holes 110 spaced apart one quarter 1 4 inch over a two 2 inch leading and trailing portion A button or fastener 1116 connects the opposing ends together The fastener 116 has a male portion 118 that extends through aligned holes of the leading and trailing end and engages a female portion 120 to secure the opposing ends of the band together Other fasteners may be gainfu
23. sed on the animal type for the selected pet animal 6 The animal tracking system as recited in claim 1 wherein the attacher comprises an opposing side of the ani mal identification band having a releasable cover overlying an adhesive surface whereby the animal identification band attaches by exposing a portion of the adhesive surface 7 The animal tracking system as recited in claim 6 wherein the animal identification band forms a collar attached about a neck portion of the selected pet animal by adhering an 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 uncovered portion of the adhesive surface to a portion of the releasable cover on the opposing side of the animal identifi cation band 8 The animal tracking system as recited in claim 1 wherein the attacher comprises a fastener and the animal identification band defines a plurality of holes in leading and trailing portions thereof and joined together in a loop by the fastener extending through aligned holes 9 The animal tracking system as recited in claim 1 wherein the animal information to be printed on the informa tion display surface further comprises a name of the selected pet animal information as to medicine to be communicated by the pet care facility to the selected pet animal and at least one activity for the selected pet animal 10 The animal tracking system as recited in claim 9 wherein the activity comprises exercise information groom ing and
24. veterinary services to be provided by the pet care facility for the selected pet animal 11 The animal tracking system as recited in claim 1 wherein the identification code comprises an encoded iden tifier that is readable by an electronic sensor for tracking the activities and services provided to the selected pet animal by the pet care facility 12 The animal tracking system as recited in claim 11 further comprising a communicator that communicates the identification of the encoded identifier detected by the elec tronic sensor to the animal information database to maintain a record of the activities and services 13 The animal tracking system as recited in claim 1 wherein the information as to the selected pet animal is printed in sequential repeated blocks on the length of the animal identification band whereby the animal information is readily observable 14 A method of tracking a pet animal within the custody of a pet care facility that provides pet care grooming and pet sitting services and having a computerized animal manage ment system with an integrated animal tracking system that generates identification bands for pet animals within the cus tody of the pet care facility comprising the steps of a providing an animal label driver for an animal manage ment system operated by a microprocessor to maintain an animal information database of a plurality of pet animals within the custody of a pet care facility b selectiv
25. vices provided to the animal are not billed to the incor rect owner To facilitate the receiving of pets the providing of services and the tracking of costs for pet care services computerized animal management systems have been developed for use at animal care facilities pet stores and veterinarian services These systems provide check in and check out of the pet being left with the animal handling facility as well as tracking of the costs incurred and the services provided by the facility while the pet is within the custody of the facility While these facilities provide services needed by owners of pets and have computer systems for tracking services pro vided during the stay by the pet at the facility occasionally one animal is confused for another exercise or play services may not be provided to the appropriate animal medicine or medical treatment may be delivered to the incorrect animal and even a pet is returned to the incorrect owner on occasion Owners often bring toys food medicines and other acces sories when leaving pets at animal handling facilities The services and care providers also have to keep track of these additional items for use by the pet during the care period and for return with the pet Accordingly there is a need in the art for a device integrated with animal management systems for generating animal iden tification bands that correlate animals and articles belonging 20 25 30 35 40 45
26. y surface prior to delivery of services to the selected animal 20 The method as recited in claim 14 further comprising the step of using an electronic reader to read the identification code printed on the animal identification band said reader communicates the identification code to the animal identifi cation database 21 A consumable for use with a printer in an animal tracking system integrated with a computerized animal man agement system which animal tracking system generates an animal identification band for one ofa plurality of pet animals within the custody ofa pet care facility that provides pet care grooming and pet sitting services comprising an elongated sheet having an information display surface and an opposing 10 side having a releasable cover overlying an adhesive surface the consumable engaged by a printer operated by an animal label driver that communicates with the computerized animal management system for selectively generating an animal identification band by printing with the printer on the infor mation display surface at least an identification code associ ated with a selected one of the pet animals within the custody of the pet care facility the animal management system oper ated by a microprocessor that maintains an animal informa tion database of one or more pieces of information associated with each of a plurality of pet animals within the custody of the pet care facility whereby the animal identificat
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search