Automatic pet door with prey detection and method for its use

Abstract

A method and a system for detecting the proximity of a pet (10) attempting to pass through a pet door and preventing access if the pet is carrying another live animal (12). Upon determining that the input signal (308) from the proximity sensor is indicative of the presence of the pet (10), a received UWB return signal (310) is analyzed for vital signs (20, 22). If the analysis of the UWB return signal (310) results in detection of vital signs from more than one animal, an opening mechanism for the pet door is disabled (306). If, on the other hand, the analysis of the UWB return signal results in detection of vital signs from no more than one animal, the opening mechanism for the pet door is activated.

Description

AUTOMATIC PET DOOR WITH PREY DETECTION AND METHOD FOR ITS USETECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to pet doors, and in particular to pet doors and pet door systems that are capable of detecting pets and live animals carried by the pets.BACKGROUND

[0002] Pet doors are doors that allow pets to freely enter or leave buildings or pass through fences or walls without the assistance of humans. Traditionally, pet doors have been little more than a flap that covers a hole the pet can pass through. The pet door may be hinged or flexible and allows the animal to push it open and after the animal has passed the door is returned to its original position by force of gravity, the flexibility of the flap, or by being spring- loaded - or any combination of these.

[0003] Modern versions of the pet door are often more elaborate in order to provide better protection against cold, rain, draft, noise, and the like. Other additions include timers that lock the pet door at certain times of the day, and electronic locks that only open upon detection of electronic or magnetic tags carried by pets while preventing strays or wild animals from entering or giving selective access to the outdoors for only some pets.

[0004] Some pet doors are provided with cameras that capture approaching animals and analyze captured images in order to determine whether the animal is carrying prey. The pet door may then remain closed even if the pet is recognized electronically, for example based on a tag or implanted chip.

[0005] Pet doors as sophisticated as the ones with cameras and image analysis in order to determine whether a pet carries prey may be able to address some problems associated with giving pets freedom to enter and leave as they wish. However, this approach alone may not be able to determine whether a pet is actually carrying a live animal, for example a bird or a mouse captured by a cat to be carried into a house. Basing the determination only on video may give too many false positives, which in turn means that the owner will have to manually let the pet into the house even if the pet does not actually carry a live animal. Alternatively, making the threshold higher for positive detection of prey could result in too many false negatives, i.e., situations where the pet is carrying prey that is not detected and the pet is allowed to pass through the pet door and into the house carrying the prey.

[0006] It is, of course, preferable to prevent the pet from carrying any unwanted object in through the pet door. But inanimate objects such as twigs are preferable over dead prey, and dead prey is preferable over live prey. If a captured animal escapes after having been carried into the house it may hide, and perhaps die, in some location where it will be difficult to locate it and subsequently remove it. Having a dead bird behind the books in a bookshelf, or livemice in the walls, is clearly undesirable. This problem could be addressed by preventing access to pets if they carry live prey. Consequently, there is a need for solutions that are able to allow identified pets to pass through a pet door provided that it is not determined with some certainty that the pet is carrying a captured animal. This could be combined with other methods to provide systems where reasons for preventing a pet from entering through a pet door could be enforced more or less strict, for example that even a low confidence that the pet is carrying a live animal could be sufficient to prevent entry, while preventing entry for carrying an inanimate object could require higher confidence.SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0007] In order to address the needs outlined above a method has been developed for detecting whether a pet that is about to pass through a pet door is carrying live prey, and preventing the pet from passing by disabling the pat door opening mechanism if live prey is detected.

[0008] A method according to the invention comprises monitoring a received input signal from a proximity sensor configured to detect the proximity of a pet attempting to pass through the pet door. Upon determining that the input signal from the proximity sensor is indicative of the presence of a pet, a UWB return signal is received from a UWB module and the received UWB return signal is analyzed for vital signs. If the analysis of the UWB return signal results in detection of vital signs from more than one animal, an opening mechanism for the pet door is disabled. If, on the other hand, the analysis of the UWB return signal results in detection of vital signs from no more than one animal, the opening mechanism for the pet door is activated. It should be noted that in this context disabling or activating an opening mechanism should be considered equivalent to activating or deactivating a locking mechanism, meaning that if the mechanism has an active and a passive state, either state may be the one that allows (or prevents). The mechanism may also have two active states, and the mechanism may or may not involve actual movement of the pet door as opposed to simply allowing the pet to open the door.

[0009] In some embodiments the method further comprises, upon determining that the input signal from the proximity sensor is indicative of the presence of a pet, activating the UWB module to transmit UWB signals that, when they are reflected by the body of one or more animals constitute the reflected UWB signals that are analyzed for vital signs. The transmitted UWB signals may be impulse radio ultra-wideband signals (IR-UWB).

[0010] In methods consistent with the principles of the invention the detected vital signs may include at least one of breathing and heart rate.

[0011] Various methods for detecting and recognizing vital signs in a return signal are known in the art. In some embodiments of the invention signal components indicative of the presence of an animal are detected using methods selected from the group consisting oftransformation to the frequency domain, segmentation in the time domain, pattern recognition, and machine learning.

[0012] As mentioned above, the opening mechanism may be one that simply prevents access, or it may be one that actively opens the pet door. As such, in embodiments of the invention the activation of an opening mechanism may include at least one of deactivating a locking mechanism, and activating a motor that lifts or flips a door.

[0013] In order to provide additional security or, for example, prevent entry at night or during bad weather, a method according to the invention may include disabling the opening mechanism based on one or more rules associated with a period of the day, a period of time following a positive detection of more than one animal, and a received signal indicative of weather conditions.

[0014] In another aspect of the invention a system is provided for preventing a detected pet from entering through a pet door if an additional animal is also detected. The system comprises an actuator or an actuator interface configured to control an opening mechanism for the pet door, a proximity sensor interface configured to receive an input signal from a proximity sensor indicative of the presence of one or more animals in the vicinity of the pet door, a UWB module configured to transmit UWB signals and receive UWB return signals, a software module stored in memory. The software module includes instructions enabling a processor to activate the UWB module when a signal has been received over the proximity sensor interface indicative of the presence of at least one animal, analyze received UWB return signals to detect vital signs in the signals, and if the analysis of the UWB return signal results in detection of vital signs from more than one animal, issuing an instruction to the actuator or actuator interface to disable the opening mechanism for the pet door, and if the analysis of the UWB return signal results in detection of vital signs from no more than one animal, issuing an instruction to the actuator to activate the opening mechanism for the pet door.

[0015] In some embodiments of the invention the proximity sensor is selected from the group consisting of: capacitive proximity sensors, inductive proximity sensors, magnetic proximity sensors, optical proximity sensors, ultrasonic proximity sensors, RFID or NFC tag reader, cameras, and UWB radars. If the proximity sensor is some type of tag reader, for example RFID or NFC, the proximity sensor may also be configured to detect or read information from a tag attached to a pet.

[0016] In some embodiments the software module further includes instructions which enables the processor to process information from the proximity sensor to determine the identity of an animal in the vicinity of the pet door based on at least one of: information read from a tag attached to a pet, and image recognition.

[0017] The UWB module may be, or may be configured to be connected to, a radar transmitter configured to transmit impulse radio ultra-wideband signals (IR-UWB). Theopening mechanism may be or include at least one of: a locking mechanism, and a motor that lifts or flips a door.

[0018] In some embodiments the software module may further include instructions which enable the processor to disable the opening mechanism based on one or more rules associated with a period of the day, a period of time following a positive detection of more than one animal, and a received signal indicative of weather conditions.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] The attached drawings show non-limiting illustrations of concepts consistent with the principles of the invention. The examples as illustrated or described may include elements that do not necessarily have to be present in all embodiments.

[0020] FIG. 1 is an illustration of a pet carrying another animal through a pet door;

[0021] FIG. 2 is an illustration of the main physical components of one embodiment of the invention;

[0022] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating hardware / software combinations that constitute modules of a system according to an embodiment of the invention; and

[0023] FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating activities performed as part of a method according to an embodiment of the invention.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] In the following description of various embodiments, reference will be made to the drawings, in which like reference numerals denote the same or corresponding elements. The drawings are not necessarily to scale. Instead, certain features may be shown exaggerated in scale or in a somewhat simplified or schematic manner, wherein certain conventional elements may have been left out in the interest of exemplifying the principles of the invention rather than cluttering the drawings with details that do not contribute to the understanding of these principles.

[0025] It should be noted that, unless otherwise stated, different features or elements may be combined with each other whether or not they have been described together as part of the same embodiment below. The combination of features or elements in the drawings are intended to facilitate understanding of the invention rather than limit its scope to specific embodiments, and to the extent that alternative elements with substantially the same functionality are shown in respective embodiments, they are intended to be interchangeable. However, for the sake of brevity no attempt has been made to disclose a complete description of all possible permutations of features. As such, the different drawings do not represent embodiments that are alternatives to each other. Instead, the drawings focus, for example, on different aspects or different levels of detail. Alternative embodiments to those shown in thedrawings are arrived at by adding features, by removing features, or by configuring features in a different arrangement than that shown in the exemplary drawings. Unless features are explicitly identified as required or they functionally depend on each other to function they may be omitted, reconfigured, or made to interoperate with additional features not described herein in any manner that is within the capabilities and knowledge of a skilled person having studied this disclosure.

[0026] Consequently, those with skill in the art will understand that the invention may be practiced without many of the details included in this detailed description. Conversely, some well-known structures or functions may not be shown or described in detail, in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the relevant description of the various implementations. The terminology used in the description presented below is intended to be interpreted in its broadest reasonable manner, even though it is being used in conjunction with a detailed description of certain specific implementations of the invention.

[0027] Reference is now made to FIG. 1 which illustrates a problem encountered by many pet owners. A pet, in this example a cat 10, has captured a mouse 12 and carries it through a pet door 14. Pets do not capture prey for food but only because their instincts tell them to hunt. Consequently, they do not necessarily kill and eat their prey, and cats in particular are known to play with or carry home small animals like mice and birds that they have captured but that are still alive.

[0028] FIG. 2 shows a similar situation from the side. In this case the cat 10 is still carrying a mouse 12 as it approaches a pet door 14. The pet door 14 is operated by or connected to an opening mechanism 16 which is activated by a proximity sensor 18. For the purposes of the present disclosure the opening mechanism 16 may simply be a lock that prevents or allows the pet 10 from opening the pet door 14, or it may be a mechanism that actually opens the pet door 14, for example a motor that lifts a gate. In the present disclosure, as well as in the claims, the term opening mechanism is intended to include mechanisms that simply lock the pet door such that it cannot be pushed open by an animal (or by the wind for that matter) and that may be deactivated in order to allow the animal access, but also to include mechanisms that actually open the pet door for example by lifting or turning the door. As such, the opening mechanism may be any mechanism that has at least two states, one of which enables access and the other of which prevents it, and activating the opening mechanism is intended to include disabling a lock, while disabling the opening mechanism is intended to include activating a lock.

[0029] The proximity sensor 18 may be a sensor that detects the motion or presence of an object in the vicinity of the pet door 14 (e.g. based on microwave pulse sensors or passive infrared sensors), or it may be a more sophisticated sensor that is capable of identification of the pet 10 based, for example, on tags (not shown) implanted in or attached to the pet 10 and based on, for example, RFID or some other radio near field technology (NFC). The proximitysensor may even be a camera combined with image recognition capabilities in an associated computing device which is capable of recognizing types of animals or even individual animals.

[0030] The proximity sensor 18 may ensure that the opening mechanism 16 is deactivated most of the time, thus preventing the pet door 14 from allowing wind and weather to influence the indoor environment more than necessary. If the proximity sensor 18 is also capable of discriminating between individual animals, for example based on some type of ID tag or image recognition, it will also prevent unwanted animals from using the pet door 14.

[0031] In addition to the proximity sensor, the opening mechanism may be connected to a timer (not shown) which may ensure that the pet door can only be opened during certain periods of the day, or to a weather sensor (not shown) which may ensure that the pet door cannot be opened if, for example, it is raining or windy. The timer may also be configured to be activated following a positive detection of more than one animal. This may help prevent the pet from gaining access while still carrying the prey if the prey dies or becomes so weak that vital signs are not detectable. This may, of course, still happen, but with a time out period it is more likely that the pet will tire of carrying the prey and leave it outdoors before again trying to access through the pet door.

[0032] When the pet 10 approaches the pet door 14 the proximity sensor 18 is configured to detect its presence and activate the opening mechanism 16. The pet will now be able to pass through the pet door 14 and enter the area inside, for example the interior of a home. If the pet 10 is carrying a captured animal - or if the pet 10 is accompanied by another animal such as another cat - the carried or accompanying animal may end up inside the building together with the pet 10.

[0033] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the invention. The embodiment may be a device or a system comprising several modules in a combination of hardware and firmware or software. The illustrated embodiment includes a processor 302 which is configured to execute instructions that may be embodied in software 304. The embodiment further includes an actuator or an interface to an actuator 306 which may receive instructions from the processor to activate the opening mechanism 16. Also shown is a communication interface 308 for the proximity sensor 18. As already mentioned, the proximity sensor may be any one of (or combination of) a passive infrared sensor (PIR), a pulsed microwave motion sensor, a camera, an RFID or NFC reader, or any other type of sensor known to a person skilled in the art. It will therefore also be understood that the information received from the proximity sensor may be a signal that positively indicates the detection of the proximity of something, or it may simply be a signal that must be processed by the processor 302 under control of instructions in software 304 in order to determine the presence of something. Furthermore, whether the determination is made by the proximity sensor itself or by the processor 302, detection of something may in different embodiments range from simply detecting that something interrupted a light beam, something moved in the field of view of the sensor, something is giving off IR radiation warmer than the background, arecognizable RFID signature is received, or an animal is identified in an image. Again, the invention is not limited with respect to the nature of the proximity sensor so any and all of these examples, as well as others, should be considered possibilities in this and any embodiment of the invention.

[0034] Finally, the illustrated embodiment includes an ultra-wideband (UWB) module 310. The UWB module 310 includes or is in communication with an antenna, a transceiver, or other hardware or hardware / software combinations. The UWB module 310 operates in accordance with principles that are known from other contexts, for example in vital signs monitoring of the human body where UWB is used to monitor heart rate and respiration, and in gait analysis and fall detection. UWB pulse Doppler radars transmit wide bandwidth pulses and receive reflections that are frequency shifted if the reflecting surface is moving towards or away from the UWB antenna. In embodiments of the present invention the reflected signal is analyzed in order to determine the presence of signal components that are indicative of the presence of a pet, and whether there is also information in the received signal that indicate the presence of an additional live animal.

[0035] The information that is looked for may be information that is representative of the heartbeat of one or more animals, but other information may also be contemplated such as, for example, respiration. Both of these will be represented as regular patterns in the received signal. If two animals are present within the range of the UWB module 310 similar signals will be present for both animals, but they will have different characteristics such as frequency and amplitude. They can therefore be identified using frequency domain analysis, for example Fourier analysis.

[0036] The drawing illustrates this in the form of a cat 10 carrying a live mouse 12. The heart of the cat 20 beats with a first heart rate, while the heart of the mouse 22 beats with a second heart rate. The UWB pulses will be reflected from the two hearts and result in two distinct patterns in the Doppler shifts of the received signal. Based on the presence of these two signal components the processor 302, when performing an analysis of the received signals in accordance with instructions in the software code 304, will be able to determine that two live animals are present near the pet door 14. The processor 302 may then issue an instruction to the opening mechanism actuator or actuator interface 306 preventing the actuator from engaging and thus preventing the pet door 14 from being opened despite detection of the pet received over the proximity sensor interface 308 from the proximity sensor 18.

[0037] The various components and modules illustrated in FIG. 3 are in communication with each other over a common communication bus 312. Data, including computer code that is part of the software 304 as well as configuration parameters, user instructions or setting, logs and other information may be stored in a data storage unit 314.

[0038] It should be noted that this example is given in order to facilitate understanding of the principles of the invention. The illustration is not intended to show one embodiment thatis distinct from other embodiments, but to demonstrate how the functionality provided by the invention may be implemented in a number of modules and components that interact. Some of this functionality may be implemented in different ways, some of it may be excluded from some embodiments, and some features that are described in other parts of this disclosure may be present in any combination with the features shown in this drawing unless they are inherently mutually exclusive. It should also be understood that the proximity sensor 18 may share some components with the UWB module. They may, for example, use the same antenna. The proximity sensor 18 may even be based on UWB technology. In some embodiments the proximity sensor 18 and the UWB module are largely one and the same. In such embodiments the proximity sensor comprises functionality that analyzes the UWB return signal to determine the presence of one animal - possibly with predetermined characteristics consistent with a known pet - and the UWB module 310 comprises functionality that analyzes the UWB return signal to determine the presence of any additional animal.

[0039] Consequently, both the UWB module 310, the proximity sensor 18, and the proximity sensor interface 308 may comprise a combination of hardware and software functionality that is implemented partly as external sensor hardware, partly as external signal processing capabilities, and partly as signal or information processing capabilities embodied in the software 304 as executed by the processor 302. FIG. 3 is intended to illustrate all of these possibilities, since the actual selection of sensor types and distribution of signal and information processing is largely a question of implementation details. It should be understood that since are a number of configuration possibilities for various embodiments of the invention, including, for example, whether the sensors are continuously transmitting and / receiving or only activated in specific circumstances. In the present disclosure, therefore, as well as in the claims, the term activating the UWB module does not necessarily imply that the UWB radar was turned off and is being turned on (although this is one possibility), but means that the associated software module starts processing signals provided by the UWB radar.

[0040] FIG. 4 is a flow chart that illustrates the general operation of embodiments of the invention. The method starts with the system in a monitoring state 401 wherein the proximity sensor 18 is monitored. As long as no pet (or other animal) is detected by the proximity sensor 18, illustrated here as decision point 402, the system remains in the monitoring state 401.

[0041] If, however, the proximity of a pet, or something that may be a pet, is detected by the proximity sensor 18 the process continues to step 403 where the UWB radar is activated (if it is not already active) and return signals are analyzed. Vital sign detection in humans has been subject to considerable research and development in the last few years, and various forms of radar approaches such as continuous wave (CW), stepped frequency continuous wave (SFCW), and frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) has been suggested. Perhaps even more promising is ultra-wideband radar (UWB) and in particular impulse radio ultra-wideband (I R- UWB), which has high resolution, good penetration, low power requirement and simplehardware design. Applications include, for example, monitoring the well-being of elderly people as well as detecting drowsiness in drivers of automobiles. The essentials of this technology is therefore well known to people skilled in the art, and reference is made to Khan F, Azou S, Youssef R, Morel P, Radoi E. IR-UWB Radar-Based Robust Heart Rate Detection Using a Deep Learning Technique Intended for Vehicular Applications. Electronics. 2022; ll(16):2505. https: / / doi.org / 10.3390 / electronicslll62505, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

[0042] In applications as those mentioned above a challenge may be to separate signals associated with breathing from signals associated with heartrate. In the present invention the challenge is to separate heart rate signals (or vital signs in general) from two different animals. It is, however, generally not necessary to analyze the signals in order to detect specific states. For example, when monitoring a person for health or drowsiness it may be desirable to analyze patterns that are indicative of specific conditions. This is not necessary in the context of the present invention, where it is sufficient to distinguish two different signals, for example two heart rate signals. This can be done by examining a number of aspects of the signals including frequency, pattern and amplitude of the doppler shifts in the return signal, and Fourier analysis may be used to identify the different signals. This processing may be performed by the processors 302 in accordance with instructions in the software module 304 as described above. As an alternative to Fourier analysis, the signals may remain in the time domain where it may be processed to remove unwanted components resulting from reflections from the background. The filtered time domain signal may be subject to pattern recognition wherein a time window is examined for patterns that may indicate the presence of none, one or more than one animal. Different pattern recognition methods are known in the art and include machine learning using artificial neural networks that have been trained on relevant known signals.

[0043] It will be realized that in the context of the present invention, false negatives as well as false positives will be more acceptable than when monitoring the health or drowsiness of a person, and this may provide greater flexibility in the design of the system.

[0044] If analysis of the UWB return signal in step 403 results in the conclusion that no additional animal is detected, decision point 404 allows the process to continue to step 404, where the opening mechanism 16 is activated and the door 14 is opened (or unlocked allowing the animal to open the door by pushing). If, however, the conclusion is that an additional animal is detected the opening mechanism is disabled (or remains disabled) in step 405 and the process returns to step 401 where the proximity sensor 18 is monitored 401. Detection of an additional animal may, optionally, result in a delay for a predetermined period of time or a requirement that the proximity of the detected animal is brought to an end before the process can be concluded. This may help prevent a pet from entering with prey that has just died while being carried or for which the vital signs are so weak that they are not continuously detected.

Claims

CLAIMS1. Method of preventing an animal from passing through a pet door if carrying another live animal, comprising: monitoring (401) a received input signal from a proximity sensor (18) configured to detect the proximity of a pet (10) attempting to pass through the pet door; upon determining (402) that the input signal from the proximity sensor (18) is indicative of the presence of a pet (10), receiving a UWB return signal from a UWB module and analyzing (403) the received UWB return signal for vital signs; if the analysis (403) of the UWB return signal results in detection of vital signs from more than one animal (10, 12), disabling (405) an opening mechanism (16) for the pet door (14); and if the analysis (403) of the UWB return signal results in detection of vital signs from no more than one animal (10), activating (404) the opening mechanism (16) for the pet door (14).

2. Method according to claim 1, further comprising: upon determining (402) that the input signal from the proximity sensor (18) is indicative of the presence of a pet (10), activating the UWB module to transmit UWB signals that, when they are reflected by the body of one or more animals constitute the reflected UWB signals that are analyzed (403) for vital signs.

3. Method according to claim 2, wherein the transmitted UWB signals are impulse radio ultra-wideband signals (IR-UWB).

4. Method according to one of the previous claims, wherein the detected vital signs include at least one of: breathing and heart rate.

5. Method according to one of the previous claims wherein signal components indicative of the presence of an animal are detected using methods selected from the group consisting of: transformation to the frequency domain, segmentation in the time domain, pattern recognition, and machine learning.

6. Method according to one of the previous claims, wherein activating (404) an opening mechanism (16) includes at least one of: deactivating a locking mechanism, and activating a motor that lifts or flips a door.

7. Method according to one of the previous claims, wherein the opening mechanism is disabled based on one or more rules associated with: a period of the day, a period of time following a positive detection of more than one animal, and a received signal indicative of weather conditions.

8. A system for a preventing a detected pet from entering through a pet door if an additional animal is also detected, comprising: an actuator or an actuator interface (306) configured to control an opening mechanism (16) for the pet door (14); a proximity sensor interface (308) configured to receive an input signal from a proximity sensor (18) indicative of the presence of one or more animals in the vicinity of the pet door (14); a UWB module (310) configured to transmit UWB signals and receive UWB return signals; a software module (304) stored in memory (314) and including instructions enabling a processor (302) to- activate the UWB module (310) when a signal has been received over the proximity sensor interface (308) indicative of the presence of at least one animal,- analyze (403) received UWB return signals to detect vital signs in the signals, and- if the analysis (403) of the UWB return signal results in detection of vital signs from more than one animal (10, 12), issuing an instruction to the actuator or actuator interface (306) to disable (405) the opening mechanism (16) for the pet door (14), and- if the analysis (403) of the UWB return signal results in detection of vital signs from no more than one animal (10), issuing an instruction to the actuator (306) to activate (404) the opening mechanism (16) for the pet door (14).

9. A system according to claim 8, wherein the proximity sensor is selected from the group consisting of: capacitive proximity sensors, inductive proximity sensors, magnetic proximity sensors, optical proximity sensors, ultrasonic proximity sensors, RFID or NFC tag reader, cameras, and UWB radars.

10. A system according to claim 9, wherein the proximity sensor is configured to detect or read information from a tag attached to a pet.

11. A system according to one of the claims 8 to 10, wherein the software module (304) further includes instructions which enables the processor (302) to process information from the proximity sensor to determine the identity of an animal in the vicinity of the pet door (14) based on at least one of: information read from a tag attached to a pet, and image recognition.

12. A system according to one of the claims 8 to 11, wherein the UWB module (310) is, or is configured to be connected to, a radar transmitter configured to transmit impulse radio ultra-wideband signals (IR-UWB).

13. A system according to one of the claims 8 to 12, wherein the opening mechanism (16) is or includes at least one of: a locking mechanism, and a motor that lifts or flips a door (14).

14. A system according to one of the claims 8 to 13, wherein the software module (304) further includes instructions which enable the processor (302) to disable the opening mechanism (16) based on one or more rules associated with: a period of the day, a period of time following a positive detection of more than one animal, and a received signal indicative of weather conditions.

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