Plant information acquisition system, plant information acquisition device, plant information acquisition method, crop management system and crop management method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10586353-B2
Application number	US-201615511059-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 12, 2016
Priority date	Jan 9, 2015
Publication date	Mar 10, 2020
Grant date	Mar 10, 2020

Abstract

Information of plant based on color of a surface of plant is acquired from image data obtained by imaging plant, allowing to acquire information of plant at low cost, compared to chlorophyll meter or spectroscopic analyzer. In crop production like rice plant, fertilization management including fertilizer application management like fertilizer amount determination, or other agricultural works, is supported through a smart phone or the like based on data to be observed, like converted leaf color value is calculated from image data obtained by crop imaging. Camera is connected to smart phone. Converted leaf color value can be obtained from image data obtained by imaging leaf of rice plant by camera. Converted leaf color value is transmitted to management server, for example, amount information of applied fertilizer is required in case where converted leaf color value is less than standard, can be obtained as management information for fertilizer application management.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A plant information acquisition system comprising:
an imaging element;
an illumination light source configured to illuminate a plant as an object;
an optical system including a lens focusing an image based on a reflected light of the plant illuminated by the illumination light source on the imaging element;
a first polarizing plate through which illumination light emitted from the illumination light source is transmitted;
a second polarizing plate through which reflection light of the plant is transmitted;
a light shielding device configured to shield outside light at the time of performing imaging by using the imaging element;
an image processing device configured to acquire color information representing a color of the plant on the basis of an image signal output from the imaging element; and
a plant information acquisition device configured to acquire plant information from the color information on the basis of a correlative relationship between the color information and the plant information relevant to the plant which is correlated with the color information,
wherein the first polarizing plate and the second polarizing plate are in a state where polarization directions of the first polarizing plate and the second polarizing plate are orthogonal to each other.

2. The plant information acquisition system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the plant information is a numerical value which becomes an index of a content of a predetermined component contained in the plant, and the color information representing the color of the plant is represented by values of one or more types of variables among values of a plurality of types of variables configuring a color space of each pixel of image data obtained by performing imaging by the imaging element and is a representative value representing values of the variables respectively corresponding to a plurality of pixels in a predetermined range of the image data.

3. The plant information acquisition system according to claim 2 ,
wherein regression analysis or multiple regression analysis is performed by setting the numerical value which becomes the index of the content of the predetermined component contained in the plant to a dependent variable and the representative value of the variable configuring the color space as the color information representing the color of the plant to an independent variable, and thus, a correlation equation for calculating the dependent variable from the independent variable is obtained, and
the plant information acquisition device calculates the numerical value which becomes the index of the content of the predetermined component contained in the plant from the representative value as the color information on the basis of the image signal output from the imaging element by using the correlation equation.

4. The plant information acquisition system according to claim 2 ,
wherein the plant information is a leaf color value which becomes the index of the content of chlorophyll as the predetermined component, and the color space includes red (R), green (G), blue (B), and gray (Gray), or hue (H), saturation (S), brightness (V), and gray (Gray), as the type of the variable.

5. The plant information acquisition system according to claim 1 comprising:
a plant information acquisition device including the imaging element, the optical system, the light source, the light shielding device, and the image processing device; and
a portable terminal including the plant information acquisition device,
wherein the plant information acquisition device is connected to the portable terminal to be capable of transmitting the color information.

6. The plant information acquisition system according to claim 5 comprising:
a server including a database in which information relevant to cultivation of the plant is stored, corresponding to the plant information,
wherein the portable terminal is capable of being connected to the server such that data communication is capable of being performed with respect to the server through Internet by wireless communication, and
in a case where the plant information is received from the portable terminal, the server extracts the information relevant to the cultivation of the plant corresponding to the received plant information from the database, and transmits the extracted information relevant to the cultivation of the plant to the portable terminal.

7. A plant information acquisition device which is provided in the plant information acquisition system according to claim 5 , images the plant, and outputs the color information representing the color of the plant.

8. The plant information acquisition system according to claim 5 ,
wherein the portable terminal is capable of being connected to a server such that data communication is capable of being performed with respect to the server through Internet by wireless communication,
the portable terminal includes a transmitting device that transmits crop information including the plant information obtained by the plant information acquisition device to the server, and
the server receives the crop information, includes management information storage device storing management information relevant to management of crop cultivation associated with the crop information, and transmits the management information which is extracted from the management information storage device on the basis of the crop information to the portable terminal.

9. The plant information acquisition system according to claim 8 ,
wherein period information representing an acquisition period of the crop information and region information representing a region in which the crop information is acquired are included in information which is transmitted from the portable terminal and are received by the server,
the management information storage device stores management information relevant to management of crop cultivation associated with the crop information, the period information, and the region information, and
the server transmits the management information which is extracted from the management information storage device on the basis of received crop information, received period information, and received region information to the portable terminal.

10. The plant information acquisition system according to claim 9 ,
wherein agricultural land information relevant to an area of an agricultural land in which the crop is cultivated is included in information which is transmitted from the portable terminal and is received by the server.

11. The plant information acquisition system according to claim 9 , wherein the server extracts the management information stored in the management information storage device on the basis of the crop information, the period information, and the region information which are transmitted from the portable terminal, and in a case where information of an amount of applied fertilizer per unit area is included in the extracted management information, the management server calculates the amount of applied fertilizer of the agricultural land on the basis of the information of the amount of applied fertilizer and the agricultural land information transmitted from the portable terminal, and transmits the amount of applied fertilizer to the portable terminal.

12. The plant information acquisition system according to claim 1 comprising:
an abnormal value sensing device configured to set the color information or the plant information to an abnormal value in a case where the acquired color information or the acquired plant information satisfies an abnormal value determination condition which is set.

Assignees

• Maxell Holdings Ltd

Inventors

• Yoshimura Hiroyuki
• Terasawa Kanryo
• Yoshimura Masashi

Classifications

• G01N2201/024

  Modular construction · CPC title

• G06T7/90 Primary

  Determination of colour characteristics · CPC title

• G01J3/2803

  using photoelectric array detector · CPC title

• G06F16/5838

  using colour · CPC title

• G01N21/251

  Colorimeters; Construction thereof · CPC title