Automatic application rate and section control based on actual planting data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10959418-B2
Application number	US-201816157440-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 11, 2018
Priority date	Oct 11, 2018
Publication date	Mar 30, 2021
Grant date	Mar 30, 2021

Abstract

A system, an apparatus and a method for automatically controlling application of an agricultural product utilize an in-cab controller and touchscreen, and a GPS receiver to generate an application prescription and related commands on-the-fly from GPS coordinated data gathered at the time of planting, in accordance with application rate parameters stored in the controller. The application parameters may be provided and modified on-the fly using the touchscreen and may include parameters relating to adjusting application rates to accommodate planting arrangements including more than one variety of seed, and/or variable population rates of planted seed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An in-cab applicator control system for automatically controlling an application rate of an agricultural product by a mobile agricultural product applicator as a function GPS coordinated planting data showing seed placement and GPS data recorded at the time of planting a crop of the seed in a field, the system comprising:
a controller and a touchscreen mountable in the cab of a propulsion vehicle configured for moving the applicator across a planted field; and
a GPS receiver operatively connected for providing a present position of the applicator to the controller;
the controller being operatively connected to the touchscreen and the GPS receiver for exchanging information and instructions with the touchscreen and GPS receiver;
the controller and touchscreen being configured for automatically generating and modifying an application prescription and related instructions for controlling the applicator on-the-fly during application of the agricultural product, from the GPS coordinated planting data gathered at the time of planting, in accordance with application rate modification parameters stored in the controller, to thereby automatically vary application rates of the agricultural product being applied by the applicator in accordance with the prescription as the applicator is moved across the field by the propulsion vehicle.

2. The control system of claim 1 , wherein at least one application parameter is provided in the cab using the touchscreen.

3. The control system of claim 1 , wherein at least one application parameter is modifiable on-the-fly using the touchscreen.

4. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the parameters include at least one parameter from a list of parameters consisting of: a parameter relating to adjustment of the application rate the of agricultural product to correspond with a desired application rate specific to each of at least two different seed varieties; and, a parameter relating to adjustment of the application rate the of agricultural to correspond with a desired application rate specific to each of at least two different population rates of planted seed.

5. The control system of claim 1 , wherein:
the controller includes a planting data storage register for receiving and storing GPS coordinated planting data recorded at the time of planting the crop, an application rate data storage register for storing a prescription including instructions for controlling the agricultural product applicator as a function of the current position of the applicator in the field, an application parameter data storage register for receiving and storing application parameters related to preparing the application rate data instructions from the planting data, an input/output (I/O) arrangement adapted for exchanging information with the applicator, and a processor operatively connected for exchanging information between the GPS receiver, the planting data storage register, the application rate storage register, the application parameter storage register, the touchscreen and the I/O arrangement;
the processor being configured for processing the GPS coordinated planting data in accordance with instructions stored in the application parameters data storage register and storing a set of application instructions linked to the GPS coordinated planting data in the application rate data register;
the processor also being configured for providing a visual display of the set of application instructions and the present position of the applicator on the touchscreen;
the processor being further configured for supplying the application instructions to the applicator via the I/O arrangement as function of the present position of the applicator.

6. The control system of claim 5 , wherein the application parameters stored in the application parameter storage register include a parameter for selecting an application rate of the agricultural product as a function of the variety of seed planted.

7. The control system of claim 6 , wherein the processor and touchscreen are configured such that application rates for two or more varieties of seed are entered via the touchscreen into a table in the application parameter data register.

8. The control system of claim 5 , wherein the application parameters stored in the application parameter storage register include a parameter for selecting an application rate of the agricultural product as a function of the seed population rate.

9. The control system of claim 8 , wherein the processor and touchscreen are configured such that application rates for two or more seed population rates are entered into a table stored in the application parameter data register.

10. The control system of claim 9 , wherein the application rates for the two or more seed population rates are entered into the table via the touchscreen.

11. The control system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured for computing an application rate as a function of a seed population rate of the planting data in accordance with a scaling equation stored in the application rate parameter data register.

12. A mobile agricultural product application apparatus for applying an agricultural product to a field at an application rate according to an application rate prescription generated on-the-fly by the application apparatus from GPS coordinated planting data recorded at the time of planting a crop in the field, the agricultural product application apparatus comprising:
an applicator adapted for operative connection to a propulsion vehicle configured for operatively moving the applicator across the field during application of the agricultural product by the applicator; and
an applicator control system operatively connected to the applicator for supplying operating commands to the applicator for controlling the application rate of the agricultural product in accordance with the prescription generated on-the-fly as the applicator is moved across the field;
the applicator control system including a controller and a touchscreen that are mountable in a cab of the propulsion vehicle and a GPS receiver operatively connected for providing a present position of the applicator to the controller;
the controller being operatively connected to the touchscreen and the GPS receiver for exchanging information and instructions with the touchscreen and GPS receiver;
the controller and touchscreen being configured for generating and storing the application prescription and related commands on-the-fly from the GPS coordinated data gathered at the time of planting, in accordance with application rate parameters stored in the controller.

13. The mobile agricultural product application apparatus of claim 12 , wherein one or more application parameters stored in the controller are provided from the cab using the touchscreen.

14. The mobile agricultural product application apparatus of claim 12 , wherein one or more of the application parameters stored in the controller are modifiable on-the-fly using the touchscreen.

15. The mobile agricultural product application apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the parameters stored in the controller include at least one parameter from the list of parameters consisting of: a parameter relating to adjusting the application rate the of agricultural product to correspond with a desired application rate specific to each of at least two different seed varieties; and, a parameter relating to adjusting the application rate the of agricultural product to a rate corresponding to a desired application rate for each of at least two different population rates of planted seed.

16. The mo

Assignees

• Cnh Ind America Llc

Inventors

• Jelenkovic Bojan
• Payne Matthew K
• Sobieszek Steven

Classifications

• B60K35/50

  Instruments characterised by their means of attachment to or integration in the vehicle (B60K35/231 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B60K35/10

  Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor · CPC title

• A01M7/0089 Primary

  Regulating or controlling systems (the delivery being related to the movement of a vehicle B05B9/06) · CPC title

• A01C21/005 Primary

  Following a specific plan, e.g. pattern · CPC title

• A01B79/005

  Precision agriculture · CPC title