Method and apparatus for automated plant necrosis

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12020465-B2
Application number	US-202117348752-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 15, 2021
Priority date	Mar 7, 2012
Publication date	Jun 25, 2024
Grant date	Jun 25, 2024

Abstract

A method of real-time plant selection and removal from a plant field including capturing a first image of a first section of the plant field, segmenting the first image into regions indicative of individual plants within the first section, selecting the optimal plants for retention from the first image based on the first image and the previously thinned plant field sections, sending instructions to the plant removal mechanism for removal of the plants corresponding to the unselected regions of the first image from the second section before the machine passes the unselected regions, and repeating the aforementioned steps for a second section of the plant field adjacent the first section in the direction of machine travel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
storing, in an accessible computer-readable memory of a farming machine, historical data each time the farming machine traverses a crop row in a field comprising a plurality of plants, the historical data comprising information describing plants untreated by the farming machine and plants treated with spray treatment by the farming machine, and the farming machine configured to traverse the field multiples times;
accessing an image of the field comprising the plurality of plants, the image captured on a current farming pass of a farming machine traversing a crop row in the field;
segmenting the image into a plurality of regions, each region of the plurality of regions identifying a plant of the plurality of plants within a two-dimensional area in the image;
selecting, for an identified plant of the plurality of plants on the crop row, a spray treatment for the identified plant based on characteristics of the identified plant and historical data regarding previously treated plants in the field of plants accessed from the accessible computer-readable memory, wherein the historical data comprises information stored in the accessible computer-readable memory describing plants untreated by the farming machine and plants treated with spray treatment on at least one previous traversal of the crop row; and
sending treatment instructions for the identified plant to a nozzle of the farming machine, the treatment instructions indicating the selected spray treatment to apply to the identified plant as the farming machine travels through the field during the current farming pass.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one previous traversal of the crop row occurs during a first period of time and the current farming pass occurs during a second period of time after the first period of time.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the image is captured by the farming machine during the current farming pass in the field.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying a first distinct plant having a first plant portion overlapping a second plant portion of a second distinct plant as the identified plant; and
in response to identifying the overlapping plant portions, generating a plant pattern to identify two sets of plants, a first set of plants to be retained in the field and including at least the identified plant, and a second set of plants to be removed from the field and including at least the second distinct plant.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the spray treatment is based on an amount of overlap of the identified plant in a region of the plurality of regions with a second plant in a second region of the plurality of regions.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein segmenting the image into the plurality of regions and each region of the plurality of regions, each region of the plurality of regions identifying a plant further comprises:
identifying a point of interest within a region of the plurality of regions;
determining that the point of interest indicates a feature of the plant;
determining properties of the point of interest and the region based on a set of cultivation parameters; and
localizing the plant in the region based on the properties of the point of interest and the set of cultivation parameters.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the spray treatment for the identified plant comprises:
determining, based on historical data from the at least one previous traversal of the crop row, if a first substance or a second substance is suitable for removing the identified plant from the field; and
selecting the first substance or the second substance as the spray treatment based on the determination.

8. A system comprising:
a farming machine traversing a crop row in a field of plants and configured to traverse the field of plants multiple times;
a camera configured to capture an image of the field of plants;
a processor physically attached to the farming machine;
a spray treatment mechanism comprising a nozzle; and
a non-transitory computer-readable medium:
configured for storing historical information comprising information describing plants untreated by the farming machine and plants treated with spray treatment by the farming machine, and
storing instructions that, when executed, cause the processor physically attached to the farming machine to:
store, each time it traverses the crop row in the field of plants, information describing plants untreated by the farming machine and plants treated with spray treatment by the farming machine;
access the image of the field comprising a plurality of plants, the image captured by the farming machine moving through the field on a current farming pass;
segment the image into a plurality of regions, each region of the plurality of regions identifying a plant of the plurality of plants within a two-dimensional area in the image;
select, for an identified plant of the plurality of plants on the crop row, a spray treatment for the identified plant based on characteristics of the identified plant and historical data regarding previously treated plants in the field of plants accessed from an accessible computer-readable memory, wherein the historical data comprises information stored in the accessible computer-readable memory describing plants untreated by the farming machine and plants treated with spray treatment on at least one previous traversal of the crop row; and
send treatment instructions for the identified plant to the nozzle of the farming machine, the treatment instructions indicating the selected spray treatment to apply to the identified plant as the farming machine traverses through the field on the current farming pass.

9. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:
identifying a first distinct plant having a first plant portion overlapping a second plant portion of a second distinct plant as the identified plant; and
in response to identifying the overlapping plant portions, generating a plant pattern to identify two sets of plants, a first set of plants to be retained in the field and including at least the identified plant, and a second set of plants to be removed from the field and including at least the second distinct plant.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein selecting the spray treatment is based on an amount of overlap of the identified plant in a region of the plurality of regions with a second plant in a second region of the plurality of regions.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein segmenting the image into the plurality of regions, each region of the plurality of regions identifying a plant further comprises:
identifying a point of interest within a region of the plurality of regions;
determining that the point of interest indicates a feature of a plant;
determining properties of the point of interest and the region based on a set of cultivation parameters; and
localizing the plant in the region based on the properties of the point of interest and cultivation parameters.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein selecting the spray treatment for the identified plant comprises:
determining, based on historical data from the at least one previous traversal of the crop row, if a first substance or a second substance is suitable for removing the identified plant from the field; and
selecting the first substance or the second substance as the spray treatment based on the determination.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the information describing retained and removed plants in the historical data comprises position, size, and shape information of plants retained in the field.

Assignees

• Blue River Tech Inc

Inventors

• Redden Lee Kamp

Classifications

• A01M21/00

  Apparatus for the destruction of unwanted vegetation, e.g. weeds (control of undesirable vegetation on roads or permanent ways of railways E01H11/00) · CPC title

• A01B41/06

  with electric, e.g. photo-electric control of thinning operations · CPC title

• G06V20/68

  Food, e.g. fruit or vegetables · CPC title

• G06V20/188

  Vegetation · CPC title

• G06V10/145

  Illumination specially adapted for pattern recognition, e.g. using gratings · CPC title