Combine harvester control and communication system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10310455-B2
Application number	US-201715629260-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 21, 2017
Priority date	Jun 19, 2017
Publication date	Jun 4, 2019
Grant date	Jun 4, 2019

Abstract

A logic system aggregates metrics from a plurality of combine harvesters and controls a communication system to send aggregated metrics back to the combine harvesters and to send both machine performance metrics and aggregate metrics to a remote user computing system, for remote user control.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing system, comprising:
multi-machine aggregation logic configured to obtain and aggregate a set of machine performance metrics indicative of performance of a plurality of remote harvesting machines;
group metric generator logic configured to generate a set of group performance metrics based on the aggregated machine performance metrics;
a communication system; and
analytics logic configured to control the communication system to send the set of group performance metrics to each of the plurality of remote harvesting machines from which the set of machine performance metrics are obtained, and to send the obtained machine performance metrics and the set of group performance metrics to a remote computing system corresponding to the plurality of remote harvesting machines.

2. The computing system of claim 1 wherein the multi-machine aggregation logic is configured to control the communication system to obtain the set of machine performance metrics from a first plurality of remote harvesting machines and wherein the analytics logic is configured to control the communication system to send machine performance metrics obtained from a subset of the remote harvesting machines to the remote computing system corresponding to the subset of remote harvesting machines.

3. The computing system of claim 2 and further comprising:
a data store storing mappings that map remote harvesting machines to remote computing systems.

4. The computing system of claim 3 wherein the analytics logic is configured to access the mappings to identify the subset of remote harvesting machines corresponding to the remote computing system.

5. The computing system of claim 4 wherein the analytics computing system is configured to access the mappings to identify a plurality of subsets of remote harvesting machines that are each mapped to a different remote computing system.

6. The computing system of claim 5 wherein the analytics logic is configured to control the communication system to send the machine performance metrics from each of the plurality of subsets of remote harvesting machines to the different remote computing systems to which they are mapped.

7. The computing system of claim 6 wherein the group metric generator logic comprises:
fleet benchmark generator logic configured to generate a fleet benchmark for each machine performance metric in the set of machine performance metrics, based on machine performance metrics aggregated by the multi-machine aggregation logic for a fleet of remote harvesting machines that are run by a same organization.

8. The computing system of claim 6 wherein the group metric generator logic comprises:
performance distribution and range generator logic configured to generate a performance distribution based on machine performance metrics aggregated by the multi-machine aggregation logic.

9. A computer implemented method, comprising:
obtaining a set of machine performance metrics, from a plurality of different remote harvesting machines, indicative of performance of the plurality of different remote harvesting machines;
aggregating the sets of machine performance metrics to obtain aggregated machine performance metrics, aggregated across the plurality of different remote harvesting machines;
generating a set of group performance metrics based on the aggregated machine performance metrics;
controlling a communication system to send the set of group performance metrics to each of the plurality of different remote harvesting machines from which the set of performance metrics are obtained; and
controlling the communication system to send the obtained machine performance metrics and the set of group performance metrics to a remote computing system corresponding to the plurality of different remote harvesting machines.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9 wherein obtaining the set of machine performance metrics comprises controlling the communication system to obtain the set of machine performance metrics from a first plurality of remote harvesting machines and wherein controlling the communication system to send the obtained machine performance metrics comprises:
controlling the communication system to send machine performance metrics obtained from a subset of the remote harvesting machines to the remote computing system corresponding to the subset of remote harvesting machines.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 10 and further comprising:
accessing mappings that map remote harvesting machines to remote computing systems to identify the subset of remote harvesting machines corresponding to the remote computing system.

12. The computer implemented method of claim 11 wherein accessing the mappings comprises:
accessing the mappings to identify a plurality of subsets of remote harvesting machines that are each mapped to a different remote computing system.

13. The computer implemented method of claim 12 wherein controlling the communication system to send the machine performance metrics comprises:
controlling the communication system to send the machine performance metrics from each of the plurality of subsets of remote harvesting machines to the different remote computing systems to which they are mapped.

14. The computer implemented method of claim 13 generating a set of group performance metrics comprises:
generating a fleet benchmark for each machine performance metric in the set of machine performance metrics, based on the aggregated machine performance metrics aggregated for a fleet of remote harvesting machines that are run by a same organization.

15. The computer implemented method of claim 13 generating a set of group performance metrics comprises:
generating a performance distribution metric based on the aggregated machine performance metrics.

16. A computing system, comprising:
multi-machine aggregation logic configured to obtain and aggregate a set of machine performance metrics, indicative of performance of a plurality of remote harvesting machines, from the plurality of remote harvesting machines;
group metric generator logic configured to generate a set of group performance metrics based on the aggregated machine performance metrics;
a communication system; and
analytics logic configured to control the communication system to send the set of group performance metrics to each of the plurality of remote harvesting machines from which the set of machine performance metrics are obtained, and to send the set of machine performance metrics obtained from a subset of the remote harvesting machines to a remote computing system corresponding to the subset of remote harvesting machines, and to send the set of group performance metrics to the remote computing system.

17. The computing system of claim 16 and further comprising:
a data store storing mappings that map remote harvesting machines to remote computing systems, wherein the analytics logic is configured to access the mappings to identify the subset of remote harvesting machines corresponding to the remote computing system.

18. The computing system of claim 17 wherein the analytics computing system is configured to access the mappings to identify a plurality of subsets of remote harvesting machines that are each mapped to a different remote computing system and to control the communication system to send the machine performance metrics from each of the plurality of subsets of remote harvesting machines to the different remote computing systems to which they are mapped.

19. The computing system of

Assignees

• Deere & Co

Inventors

• Blank Sebastian
• Donini Mario L
• Pfeiffer Dohn W
• Hoffman Joshua D

Classifications

• G06G7/66

  for control systems {(for optimisation G06G7/122)} · CPC title

• G06Q10/06393

  Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis · CPC title

• G06Q50/02

  Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining · CPC title

• G06Q10/06

  Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title

• H04Q9/00

  Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom · CPC title