Wireless Location Assisted Zone Guidance System

Abstract

A look-up table is defined by at least one reference point, and rows and columns that are offset from the reference. The table rows and columns correspond to ordinate and abscissa data points representing geographic locations. Each data point offset in the table corresponds to a predefined geographic offset. The look-up table contains machine-stored values at each table location, with each value representing a particular one of several guidance zones. The real-time determination of the guidance zone is made by first determining present location using GPS or other wireless location signals. The corresponding table location is identified by calculating latitudinal and longitudinal offsets from a reference point, and using these offsets as the two indices to access a double-indexed array. The value retrieved from the indexed array identifies the guidance zone. Each guidance zone has an associated set of characteristics used to provide behavioral guidance to an animal.

1 . A wireless location assisted zone guidance system adapted to assist in the training and management of an animal, having a collar, a wireless location determination apparatus, at least one animal stimulation apparatus carried by said collar, a processor coupled to said wireless location determination apparatus and operative to receive latitude and longitude information therefrom, memory accessible by said processor, a human interface, and a plurality of guidance zones defined using said latitude and longitude information, each one of said plurality of guidance zones having an associated unique set of characteristics used by said processor to provide behavioral guidance stimulation to said animal through said animal stimulation apparatus, wherein the improvement comprises a data table stored in said memory as a two-dimensional array having an ordinate and abscissa, a first one of said ordinate and abscissa corresponding to longitude and a second one of said ordinate and abscissa corresponding to said latitude, with each value stored in said data table identifying a one of said plurality of guidance zones. 
     
     
         2 . The wireless location assisted zone guidance system adapted to assist in the training and management of an animal of  claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of tiles of two-dimensional data, each one of said plurality of tiles representative of unique geographic latitude and longitude locations. 
     
     
         3 . The wireless location assisted zone guidance system adapted to assist in the training and management of an animal of  claim 2 , wherein each one of said plurality of tiles of two-dimensional data further comprises a reference location corresponding to a specific geographic latitude and longitude. 
     
     
         4 . The wireless location assisted zone guidance system adapted to assist in the training and management of an animal of  claim 3 , wherein said processor is adapted to operatively selectively load a unique one of said plurality of tiles of two-dimensional data into said memory responsive to reception by said processor of latitude and longitude information from said wireless location determination apparatus and comparison of said received latitude and longitude information with said tile reference locations. 
     
     
         5 . A method of storing behavioral guidance zone indicia in a double-indexed array having a pair of indices in electronically accessible memory and electronically retrieving behavioral modification actions associated with a current geographic location, comprising the steps of:
 electronically associating a first one of said double-indexed array indices to a latitudinal offset from a geographic reference point;   electronically associating a second one of said indices to a longitudinal offset from said geographic reference point; and   storing a value at each individual array location representing a single behavioral guidance zone selected from a plurality of distinct behavioral guidance zones;   storing a unique set of behavioral processes associated with each one of said plurality of distinct behavioral guidance zones in electronically accessible memory;   representing said current geographic location by latitude and longitude points;   electronically determining a latitudinal offset and a longitudinal offset between said current geographic location and said geographic reference point;   electronically retrieving said stored value representing said single behavioral guidance zone from an individual array location defined by said latitudinal offset and said longitudinal offset; and   electronically retrieving said unique set of behavioral processes associated with said stored value.   
     
     
         6 . A wireless location assisted zone guidance system adapted to assist in the training and management of an animal, comprising:
 a wireless location determination apparatus;   at least one animal stimulation apparatus;   a processor coupled to said wireless location determination apparatus and operative to receive latitude and longitude information therefrom and coupled to said at least one animal stimulation apparatus and adapted to operatively control a generation of stimulation;   memory coupled with and accessible by said processor;   a human interface adapted to operatively enable selective control over said processor;   a data table stored in said memory as a two-dimensional array having a first index adapted to operatively represent an ordinate and having a second index adapted to operatively represent an abscissa; and   a plurality of geographically defined guidance zones operatively stored in said data table, a first one of said ordinate and abscissa corresponding to longitude and a second one of said ordinate and abscissa corresponding to said latitude, respectively, with each value stored in said data table identifying a one of said plurality of geographically defined guidance zones;   said processor adapted to operatively receive said latitude and longitude information from said wireless location determination apparatus, retrieve a value stored in a location in said data table using said longitude information as said first array index and said latitude information as said second array index, and use said retrieved value to determine a one of said plurality of guidance zones that said latitude and longitude information from said wireless location determination apparatus is associated with, and provide behavioral guidance stimulation to said animal through said animal stimulation apparatus responsive thereto.   
     
     
         7 . The wireless location assisted zone guidance system of  claim 6 , wherein said processor is further adapted to operatively divide said unique geographic latitude and longitude locations into a plurality of tiles each containing unique two-dimensional data. 
     
     
         8 . The wireless location assisted zone guidance system of  claim 7 , wherein each one of said plurality of tiles of two-dimensional data further comprises a reference location corresponding to a specific geographic latitude and longitude. 
     
     
         9 . The wireless location assisted zone guidance system of  claim 8 , wherein said processor is adapted to operatively selectively load a unique one of said plurality of tiles of two-dimensional data into said memory responsive to reception by said processor of said latitude and longitude information from said wireless location determination apparatus and comparison by said processor of said received latitude and longitude information with said tile reference locations.