Method and apparatus for reporting and matching lost animal

Abstract

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method and apparatus for quickly reporting and finding a lost animal The method for reporting and matching a lost animal, according to the present invention, comprises the steps of: receiving, from a reporter, a loss report including personal information, loss location information, and loss time information of a lost animal; transmitting a notification message for the loss report to user devices located within a predetermined spatial range from a loss location; and when a report of the discovery of an animal matching the lost animal is received, transmitting a discovery notification message to the reporter .

Description

Method and device for reporting and matching lost animals

[0001] The present invention relates to a method and device for reporting and matching lost animals.

[0002] In modern society, demand for companion animals, which can live alongside humans and provide emotional support, is on the rise. However, there's a risk of losing an animal while out and about. When an animal is lost, it's often found close to the location of the loss, but quickly disseminating information to nearby residents can be challenging. Existing methods of response include posting flyers or reporting to the local district office, but these methods have limitations: limited coverage and slow response times.

[0003] While biometrics like noseprints and faces can be used to identify animals, biometric imaging can be difficult for lost animals. For example, lost animals may be wary of humans or found from a distance. Furthermore, there is currently no platform that integrates lost and found information for lost animals and allows for location-based identification.

[0004] An embodiment of the present invention provides a method and device for quickly reporting and finding a lost animal.

[0005] A method for reporting and matching a lost animal according to the present invention comprises the steps of: receiving a report of loss from a reporter including personal information of the lost animal, information on the location of the loss, and information on the time of the loss; transmitting a notification message regarding the report of the loss to user devices located within a certain spatial range from the location of the loss; and transmitting a discovery guide message to the reporter when a report of the discovery of an animal matching the lost animal is received.

[0006] In an embodiment of the present invention, a web or app page corresponding to the lost animal report can be generated based on the personal information of the lost animal and the lost location information.

[0007] In an embodiment of the present invention, the personal information may include at least one of the name, age, species information, and biometric information of the lost animal.

[0008] In an embodiment of the present invention, the biometric information may include at least one of a face photo, a nose photo, and a full body photo of the lost animal.

[0009] In an embodiment of the present invention, the lost location information may be displayed as an icon at a point corresponding to the lost location on the map on the web or app page.

[0010] In an embodiment of the present invention, the personal information of the lost animal, the lost location information, and a comment window for contacting the reporter may be output through the web or app page.

[0011] In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of transmitting the notification message may include: transmitting the notification message to user devices located within a first spatial range from the lost location; and, if no discovery report is received for a certain period of time after transmitting the notification message, transmitting the notification message to user devices located within a second spatial range extended from the first spatial range.

[0012] In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of transmitting the notification message may include the step of monitoring whether information on a similar animal having a similarity level higher than a threshold value with the lost animal is received from an animal shelter located within a first spatial range from the lost location; and the step of monitoring whether information on the similar animal is received from an animal shelter located within a second spatial range extended from the first spatial range if information on the similar animal is not received for a certain period of time after the loss report is received.

[0013] In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of transmitting the discovery guidance message may include the step of calculating the similarity between the lost animal and the found animal; and the step of transmitting the discovery guidance message if the similarity is greater than a reference value.

[0014] In an embodiment of the present invention, the step of calculating the similarity may include the step of extracting the features of the found animal for each of a plurality of feature items; and the step of calculating the similarity by comparing the features of the lost animal and the found animal for each of the feature items.

[0015] In an embodiment of the present invention, the characteristic items may include one or more of breed, fur color and pattern, size and body shape, face shape, ear shape and position.

[0016] In an embodiment of the present invention, the feature is extracted by inputting an image of the lost animal and an image of the found animal into a feature extraction model, and the feature extraction model can output the feature from the input image according to the plurality of feature items and classification criteria defined for each feature item.

[0017] In an embodiment of the present invention, the similarity can be calculated by applying different weights to each feature item.

[0018] In an embodiment of the present invention, if the similarity is less than a threshold, the found animal is excluded from the identity candidate group for the lost animal, and if the similarity is greater than or equal to the threshold, the found animal is included in the identity candidate group, and a list of identical candidate animals can be sorted in order of high similarity within the identity candidate group.

[0019] A device for reporting and matching lost animals according to the present invention comprises a memory; and a processor electrically connected to the memory. The processor is configured to perform the steps of: receiving a lost animal report from a reporter, the report including personal information of the lost animal and information on the location of the lost animal; transmitting a notification message regarding the lost animal report to user devices located within a certain spatial range from the location of the lost animal; and transmitting a discovery notification message to the reporter when a report of the discovery of an animal matching the lost animal is received.

[0020] According to the present invention, a lost animal can be quickly found by transmitting a report of the loss of the lost animal to a nearby user device.

[0021] Figure 1 illustrates the overall process of reporting and matching a lost animal.

[0022] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an electronic device that performs a method for reporting and matching lost animals according to the present invention.

[0023] Figure 3 is a flowchart showing a method for reporting and matching lost animals according to the present invention.

[0024] Figures 4a and 4b illustrate examples of the process for reporting a lost animal.

[0025] Figures 5a and 5b illustrate examples of web or app pages containing reporting information for lost animals.

[0026] Figures 6a and 6b illustrate examples of a process for sending a notification message to a reporter when an animal similar to a lost animal is found.

[0027] Figure 7 illustrates an example of an interface in which lost and found animals are displayed on a map.

[0028] Figures 8a and 8b are flowcharts showing an example of a process for transmitting a notification message for a lost animal.

[0029] Figure 9 illustrates an example of expanding the spatial range for transmitting a notification message for a lost animal.

[0030] Figure 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the process of sending a discovery guidance message to a reporter.

[0031] Figure 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a process for calculating the similarity between a lost animal and a found animal.

[0032] Figure 12 shows examples of feature items used to calculate similarity and appearance features for each feature item.

[0033] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily implement the present invention. The present invention may be implemented in various different forms and is not limited to the embodiments described herein.

[0034] In order to clearly explain the present invention, parts that are not related to the description are omitted, and the same reference numerals are used for identical or similar components throughout the specification.

[0035] In addition, in various embodiments, components having the same configuration are described only in representative embodiments using the same symbols, and in other embodiments, only configurations different from the representative embodiments are described.

[0036] Throughout the specification, when a part is said to be "connected (or coupled)" with another part, this includes not only cases where it is "directly connected (or coupled)" but also cases where it is "indirectly connected (or coupled)" with other elements in between. Furthermore, when a part is said to "include" a component, this does not mean that it excludes other components, but rather that it may include other components, unless otherwise specifically stated.

[0037] Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention pertains. Terms defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant technology, and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless explicitly defined herein.

[0038] Hereinafter, a method for reporting and matching lost animals according to the present invention will be described. Figure 1 illustrates the image acquisition process for animal biometric identification. Figure 1 also illustrates the overall process for reporting and matching lost animals. The method for reporting and matching lost animals according to the present invention can be performed through a website or app page that provides lost animal reporting and matching services.

[0039] The user device (200, 300) is an entity corresponding to a general user who reports a lost or found animal. The user device (200, 300) may be a smartphone, tablet device, personal computer (PC), or wearable device. The server (100) is an entity corresponding to a business operator that provides lost animal reporting and matching services. The shelter device (400) is an entity corresponding to an animal shelter that manages abandoned or lost animals.

[0040] Referring to Fig. 1, when a lost animal occurs, the user device (200) of the reporter who reports the occurrence of the lost animal reports the occurrence of the lost animal to the server (100) through a web or app page that provides a lost animal reporting and matching service (S101). When a report of a lost animal is received, the server (100) transmits a message notifying information about the lost animal to a nearby user device (300) or shelter device (400) (S102). When an animal similar to the lost animal is found, the nearby user device (300) or shelter device (400) provides information about the found animal to the server (100) (S103). The server (100) checks whether the found animal matches the lost animal, and if so, transmits the matching result with the found animal to the user device (200) (S104).

[0041] In this document, the "reporter" refers to a user device (200) reporting a lost animal. The platform or platform server refers to a server (100) that receives reports of lost animals and provides services to find similar animals. The "finder" refers to a nearby user device (300) that finds the lost animal. The "shelter" refers to a shelter device (400) of an organization that protects lost animals.

[0042] When information about a found animal is received, the server (100) can provide the information about the found animal to the user device (200). The server (100) can provide information about the user who found the found animal to the user device (200), or provide an infrastructure that allows the person who reported the lost animal and the person who found the animal to contact each other.

[0043] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of an electronic device that performs a lost animal reporting and matching method according to the present invention. The electronic device of Figure 2 can be applied to a server (100), a user device (200, 300), and a shelter device (400).

[0044] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of an electronic device (1000) according to the present invention. The electronic device (1000) is a device for reporting and matching lost animals according to the present invention. The method for reporting and matching lost animals according to the present invention can be executed by a server providing services through an application installed on a device such as a smartphone or a web page. Here, the application includes an application running on a mobile device such as a smartphone or a personal computer (PC), and an application running on a web-based basis.

[0045] An electronic device (1000) according to the present invention may correspond to a mobile device such as a smartphone, or a server. The electronic device (1000) according to the present invention includes a memory (150) and a processor (110) electrically connected to the memory (150). In addition, the electronic device (1000) may include a communication module (120) for transmitting or receiving data with other devices, a display (130) for visually outputting information, and an input / output interface (140) for connecting with other devices or inputting and outputting information.

[0046] The processor (110) can perform calculations and data processing for performing operations of the electronic device (1000), and control each module of the electronic device (1000). The processor (110) can execute one or more software programs stored in the memory (150). The processor (110) can include a general-purpose processor (e.g., CPU) that executes an operating system that manages the overall operation of the electronic device (1000). In addition, the processor (110) can include a dedicated processor (e.g., GPU, NPU) for specific calculation processing. The processor (110) can include one or more processing circuits. The operating method of the electronic device (1000) described below can be executed by the processor (110).

[0047] The communication module (120) provides an environment in which the electronic device (1000) and an external entity (e.g., an authentication server, a base station, an IoT device, a user device) can communicate. The communication module (120) may include a device for performing wired or wireless communication. The communication module (120) may provide data received from an external entity to the processor (110). The communication module (120) may convert the data provided from the processor (110) and transmit it to the external entity.

[0048] The display (130) is a device that outputs visual information and may include a panel and a control circuit. The memory (150) may store programs such as an operating system and applications (apps) for the operation of the electronic device (1000), and data used during the execution of the programs. The memory (150) may include volatile memory (e.g., DRAM) and non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory). In addition, the memory (150) may include a mass storage device for configuring a database.

[0049] Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating a lost animal reporting and matching method according to the present invention. The lost animal reporting and matching process described below can be executed by the processor (110) of an electronic device (1000) corresponding to the platform.

[0050] The method for reporting and matching a lost animal according to the present invention includes a step (S310) of receiving a report of loss from a reporter including personal information of the lost animal and information on the location of the loss, a step (S320) of transmitting a notification message regarding the report of loss to user devices located within a certain spatial range from the location of the loss, and a step of transmitting a discovery guidance message to the reporter when an animal matching the lost animal is found.

[0051] In step S310, the person reporting the lost pet submits a report via their user device. The reporter can submit the report to the platform server via a platform that provides lost pet reporting and matching services. The reporter transmits the report to the platform server, which may include the pet's personal information and location. Additionally, the report may include the time of loss.

[0052] Figures 4a and 4b illustrate examples of the process for reporting a lost animal. Figure 4a illustrates a screen for a reporter to report a lost animal through a platform service, and Figure 4b illustrates a screen for displaying information about a lost animal after a report has been received. Referring to Figure 4a, when reporting a lost animal, a reporter can input personal information (410) of the lost animal, information about the location of the loss (415), and information about the time of loss (420). The personal information (410) of the lost animal may include at least one of the name, age, species information (dog breed), and biometric information of the lost animal. The personal information (410) of the lost animal may be pre-registered on the platform server. Alternatively, the personal information (410) of the lost animal may be input by the reporter. The biometric information of the lost animal may include at least one of a face photo, a nose photo, and a full body photo of the lost animal.

[0053] When a report of a lost animal is received, a web or app page corresponding to the lost animal report is created based on the animal's personal information, lost location information, and lost time information. The web or app page is provided to externally disclose information about the lost animal and to enable the reporter and finder to communicate with each other when a similar animal is found. As illustrated in FIG. 4b, information about the reported lost animal can be displayed by overlapping it on a map through the screen of an application program that provides lost animal reporting and matching services. A photo of the lost animal is displayed by overlapping it at the entered lost location on the map screen (425). When the user touches the photo of the animal, information (430) about the lost animal is displayed. The information (430) about the lost animal includes the entered name of the lost animal, the lost location, the lost time, and a comment icon (431). When the area displaying the information (430) about the lost animal is touched, a web or app page displaying the lost animal report can be output. Additionally, a comment icon (431) is displayed, allowing the reporter to send a message with information about the lost animal (430). A finder who finds a similar animal nearby can touch the comment icon (431) to leave a comment on the web or app page reporting the lost animal.

[0054] Figures 5a and 5b illustrate examples of web or app pages containing information on reporting lost animals. Referring to Figures 5a and 5b, the web or app page containing information on reporting lost animals may include the species and name of the lost animal (505), an external photo of the lost animal (510), the time of loss (515), the location of the loss (520), the reporter's post (525), information on the location of the loss (530), a page sharing icon (535), and a comment window (540). Other users can check information on the lost animal through web or app pages such as Figures 5a and 5b, and communicate with the reporter through the comment window (540).

[0055] Figures 6a and 6b illustrate examples of the process for sending a notification message to a reporter when an animal similar to a lost animal is found. Figure 6a illustrates an example of a message sent to a reporter when a similar animal is found, and Figure 6b illustrates an example of a comment posted on a web or app page when a similar animal is received by a shelter.

[0056] Referring to Figure 6a, a message (605) is sent to the reporter notifying that an animal similar to the lost animal has been received at an animal shelter. Furthermore, when a report of an animal similar to the lost animal is received on the platform, a message (610) is sent to the reporter notifying that the similar animal has been found. Figure 6b is a screen that appears when the message (605) indicating that a similar animal has been received at an animal shelter in Figure 6a is touched. In Figure 6b, a comment notifying that a similar animal has been received at an animal shelter is automatically generated and posted in the comment window (615) of the web or app page.

[0057] Fig. 7 illustrates an example of an interface for displaying lost and found animals on a map. The screen of Fig. 7 may correspond to the map screen (425) of Fig. 4b or the location information (530) of Fig. 5b. On the lost animal web or app page, location information may be displayed as an icon marked at a point corresponding to the lost animal location on the map. In Fig. 7, an icon (710) representing a missing animal may be displayed on the map. The icon (710) may include a photograph of the missing animal's appearance. When the icon (710) is touched, information (715) about the lost animal may be output at the bottom of the screen. Additionally, an icon (720) representing an animal reported as having been sighted (found) and an icon (730) representing an animal being protected by an animal shelter may be displayed on the map. When there is a touch on the icon (720, 730), information about reported animals or animals being cared for at an animal shelter may be displayed at the bottom of the screen.

[0058] In step S320, when a lost animal report is received by the platform, the platform sends a notification message containing the lost animal information to user devices located near the lost animal location. For example, upon receiving a lost animal report, the platform may send the lost animal information to users registered with the service and located near the lost animal location. In another example, the platform may send the lost animal information to all user devices within a certain radius of the lost animal location. The platform may receive information about user devices located nearby from government agencies or telecommunications providers and send the lost animal information to the user devices located nearby. Upon receiving a report of a found animal from a user device located nearby, the platform may provide the reporter with information about the found animal.

[0059] Figures 8a and 8b are flowcharts illustrating an example of a process for transmitting a notification message regarding a lost animal. Figures 8a and 8b correspond to an example of step S320 of Figure 3.

[0060] In Fig. 8a, the step of transmitting a notification message (S320) may include a step of transmitting a notification message regarding a lost animal report to user devices located within a certain spatial range (first spatial range) from the lost animal location (S810), a step of determining whether a found animal report is received (S820), and a step of transmitting a notification message to user devices located within an extended spatial range (second spatial range) if no found animal report is received for a certain period of time after transmitting the notification message (S830). When a found animal report is received, the platform may determine whether the found animal and the lost animal match, and if so, may stop transmitting the notification message.

[0061] According to the present invention, when a lost item report is received, the platform transmits a notification message to user devices within a certain spatial range from the location of the loss, notifying the occurrence of the lost item report. For example, the platform may transmit a notification message to user devices within a 1km radius from the location of the loss. If no animal found report is received in response to the lost item report within a certain period of time (e.g., 1 hour), the platform may expand the range of notification messages to transmit the notification messages. For example, the platform may expand the range of notification messages to a 2km radius from the location of the loss and transmit the notification messages. If no animal found report is received, the platform may further expand the range of notification messages. If no animal found report is received, the platform may expand the range of notification messages to a maximum range (e.g., a 10km radius).

[0062] Referring to FIG. 9, the platform may transmit a notification message notifying users within a first radius (e.g., 1 km) of the lost animal location (910) where the lost animal was reported. If no animal discovery report is received within a waiting period (e.g., 1 hour), the platform may transmit a notification message notifying users within a second radius (e.g., 2 km) of the lost animal location (910) of the message transmission range.

[0063] Additionally, the platform can monitor whether there are any newly found animals from animal shelters located around the lost location and, if there are any newly found animals, can transmit information about the newly found animals to the reporter.

[0064] In Fig. 8b, the step of transmitting a notification message (S320) includes a step of monitoring whether information on a similar animal having a similarity level higher than a standard value (e.g., 50% or more) with the lost animal is received from an animal shelter located within a certain spatial range (first spatial range) from the lost animal location (S860), a step of determining whether a lost animal report is received from the shelter (S820), and a step of monitoring whether information on a similar animal is received from an animal shelter located within an extended spatial range (second spatial range) if no information on finding a lost animal is received for a certain period of time after the lost animal report is received (S870). In Fig. 9, the platform can monitor whether information on an animal similar to the lost animal is received from an animal shelter within a first reception radius (e.g., 10 km) from the lost animal location (910) where a report of the lost animal has been received. If no lost animal is received from an animal shelter within the first reception radius for a waiting period (e.g., 1 day) from the time of loss, the platform can extend the range to a second reception radius (e.g., 20 km) and monitor whether information on animals similar to the lost animal is received from an animal shelter within the second reception radius.

[0065] After reporting a lost animal through the above process, if a report of discovery is received by the platform, the platform can provide the reporter with the details of the discovery report. In step S330, if a report of discovery of an animal matching the lost animal is received, the platform can send a discovery notification message to the reporter. The platform can determine whether the animal found by the finder matches the lost animal. The platform calculates the similarity between the found animal and the lost animal, and if the similarity is above a threshold or is the highest compared to other animals, the platform can confirm that the found animal matches the lost animal. If the reported discovery matches the lost animal, the platform can send the reporter information about the found animal in a discovery notification message.

[0066] Fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process for transmitting a discovery notification message to a reporter. Fig. 10 corresponds to an example of step S330 of Fig. 3. The step (S330) of transmitting a discovery notification message in Fig. 10 may include a step (S1010) of calculating the similarity between a lost animal and a found animal, a step (S1020) of determining whether the similarity is above a threshold, and a step (S1030) of transmitting a discovery notification message if the similarity is above the threshold.

[0067] The platform can calculate the similarity between a lost animal and a found animal by using the appearance or biometric information of the lost animal and the appearance or biometric information of the found animal. Fig. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process for calculating the similarity between a lost animal and a found animal. Fig. 11 corresponds to an example of step S1010 of Fig. 10. The step of calculating the similarity (S1010) in Fig. 11 may include a step (S1110) of extracting the appearance features of the found animal for each of a plurality of feature items, and a step (S1120) of calculating the similarity by comparing the appearance features of the lost animal and the found animal for each feature item.

[0068] When a lost animal report is received, the platform can extract the animal's physical characteristics using its photograph. Furthermore, when a found animal report is received, the platform can extract the animal's physical characteristics. These physical characteristics define the external criteria that distinguish the animals from each other, defined for each characteristic. The characteristics defining the physical characteristics may include one or more of the following: breed, fur color and pattern, size and body shape, facial shape, and ear shape and position.

[0069] (i) Breed: This is the most important factor because if the breed is the same, the appearance, size, body type, etc. are likely to be similar.

[0070] (ii) Coat color and pattern: Coat color and pattern are the most noticeable features and are often unique to each dog.

[0071] (iii) Size and body shape: Size and body shape are important factors that determine the overall appearance of a dog, and although there may be individual differences even within the same breed.

[0072] (iv) Facial shape and features: The shape and features of the face are very important factors in determining the appearance of an individual dog.

[0073] (v) Ear shape and position: The shape and position of the ears are one of the detailed characteristics of a dog, and although they are relatively less important than other factors, they are still an important comparison factor.

[0074] Appearance features can be input by a user (reporter or finder) or extracted from an image of the animal. Appearance features can be extracted by inputting images of lost and found animals into a feature extraction model. The feature extraction model can extract appearance features from the input image based on multiple feature items and classification criteria defined for each feature item. A feature extraction model is a model or algorithm that identifies meaningful patterns or attributes in source data (e.g., images, text, signals) and outputs data required for a specific purpose.

[0075] For example, as illustrated in Fig. 12, when an image of an animal is input, the external features of the animal can be extracted based on predefined classification criteria for each feature item (breed, fur color and pattern, size and body shape, face shape, ear shape and position).

[0076] Similarity can be calculated by applying different weights to each feature. For example, the criteria for calculating similarity for each feature could be as follows:

[0077] (i) Variety: 3 points for matching, 2 points for similar, 0 points for mismatch (match: 80% or more, similar: 20-79% matching)

[0078] (ii) Hair color and pattern: 3 points for complete match, 2 points for partial match, 0 points for mismatch

[0079] (iii) Size and body shape: 2 points for complete match, 1 point for partial match, 0 points for mismatch

[0080] (iv) Facial shape and features: 1 point if matched, 0 points if mismatched

[0081] (v) Ear shape and position: 1 point if matched, 0 points if mismatched

[0082] Based on the above criteria, the platform can numerically evaluate the similarity between a found animal and a lost animal. If any of the above criteria do not match, the two animals may be deemed as unmatched.

[0083] When a reported sighting of an animal is received, the platform extracts the physical characteristics of the found animal and matches it with the most similar or similarly high threshold value among previously reported lost animals. For example, when a sighting report of Dog A is received, the platform can compare the physical characteristics of Dog A to those of previously reported missing dogs 1 through 20 and calculate the similarity. If a matched lost animal is found, the platform can provide the reporter with information about the found animal.

[0084] If the similarity of a found animal to a lost animal is below a threshold, the found animal may be excluded from the candidate identity group generated for the lost animal. If the similarity is above the threshold, the found animal may be included in a candidate identity group, which is a group similar to the lost animal. Within the candidate identity group, a list of candidate identity animals may be sorted in descending order of similarity. For example, when a missing dog report is received for Puppy 1, the platform may compare previously reported sightings of Puppy 1 with Puppy 1 from A to Z and calculate the similarity between Puppy 1 and Puppy 1 from Puppy 1. Among Puppy 1 to Z, puppies with similarity exceeding a threshold, for example, Puppy 1 to Puppy 1, are included in the candidate identity group, while the remaining puppies F to Z are excluded from the candidate identity group. Within the candidate identity group, a list of candidate identity animals may be sorted in descending order of similarity. For example, a list may be generated in the following order: (1) Puppy A, (2) Puppy C, (3) Puppy D, (4) Puppy B, and (5) Puppy E. Within the pool of similarity candidates, information about three dogs with high similarity may be provided to the reporter. For example, information about three highly similar dogs—dogs A, C, and D—(e.g., animal photos, animal appearance information, similarity information, and contact information for the finder) may be provided to the reporter. If the reporter finds an animal among these highly similar dogs that matches the lost animal, they can contact the finder or the shelter through the platform to recover the lost animal.

[0085] The present embodiments and drawings attached to the present specification only clearly illustrate a part of the technical idea included in the present invention, and it will be obvious that all modified examples and specific embodiments that can be easily inferred by a person skilled in the art within the scope of the technical idea included in the specification and drawings of the present invention are included in the scope of the rights of the present invention.

[0086] Therefore, the idea of ​​the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, and all things that are equivalent or equivalent to the claims described below as well as the claims are considered to fall within the scope of the idea of ​​the present invention.

Claims

1. In the method for reporting and matching lost animals, A step of receiving a lost animal report including personal information of the lost animal and information on the lost location from the reporter; A step of transmitting a notification message regarding the loss report to user devices located within a certain spatial range from the lost location; and A method comprising the step of sending a discovery notification message to the reporter when a report of discovery of an animal matching the lost animal is received.

2. In paragraph 1, A method for generating a web or app page corresponding to the lost pet report based on the personal information and lost pet location information of the lost pet.

3. In paragraph 2, A method in which the above personal information includes at least one of the name, age, species information, and biometric information of the lost animal.

4. In paragraph 3, A method wherein the biometric information includes at least one of a face photo, a nose photo, and a full body photo of the lost animal.

5. In paragraph 2, A method in which the lost location information is displayed as an icon at a point corresponding to the lost location on a map on the above web or app page.

6. In paragraph 2, A method of displaying the personal information of the lost animal, the location of the lost animal, and a comment window for contacting the reporter through the web or app page.

7. In paragraph 1, The steps for sending the above notification message are: A step of transmitting the notification message to user devices located within a first spatial range from the lost location; and A method comprising the step of transmitting the notification message to user devices located in a second spatial range extended from the first spatial range if no discovery report is received for a certain period of time after transmitting the notification message.

8. In paragraph 2, The steps for sending the above notification message are: A step of monitoring whether information on similar animals having a similarity level higher than a standard value to the lost animal is received from an animal shelter located within a first spatial range from the lost location; and A method comprising the step of monitoring whether information on the similar animal is received from an animal shelter located in a second spatial range extended from the first spatial range if information on the similar animal is not received for a certain period of time after the loss report is received.

9. In paragraph 1, The step of sending the above discovery guidance message is: A step of calculating the similarity between the lost animal and the found animal; and A method comprising the step of transmitting the discovery guidance message when the similarity is greater than a threshold value.

10. In paragraph 9, The steps for calculating the above similarity are: A step of extracting the features of the discovered animal for each of the multiple feature items; A method comprising a step of calculating the similarity by comparing the characteristics of the lost animal and the found animal for each characteristic item.

11. In paragraph 10, The above characteristic items include one or more of breed, fur color and pattern, size and body type, face shape, ear shape and position.

12. In paragraph 10, The above features are extracted by inputting the image of the lost animal and the image of the found animal into a feature extraction model, The above feature extraction model is a method for outputting the features from an input image according to the plurality of feature items and classification criteria defined for each feature item.

13. In paragraph 10, The above similarity is calculated by applying different weights to each feature item.

14. In paragraph 10, If the above similarity is below the standard, the discovered animal is excluded from the candidate group for identity with the lost animal. If the above similarity is greater than the standard value, the discovered animal is included in the identity candidate group, A method for sorting a list of identical candidate animals in order of high similarity within the above identity candidate group.

15. In a device for reporting and matching lost animals, memory; and comprising a processor electrically connected to said memory, The above processor, A step of receiving a lost animal report including personal information of the lost animal and information on the lost location from the reporter; A step of transmitting a notification message regarding the loss report to user devices located within a certain spatial range from the lost location; and A device configured to execute a step of transmitting a discovery notification message to the reporter when a report of discovery of an animal matching the above-mentioned lost animal is received.

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