Treatment system for plant specific treatment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12490734-B2
Application number	US-202118030911-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 14, 2021
Priority date	Oct 14, 2020
Publication date	Dec 9, 2025
Grant date	Dec 9, 2025

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and a method for operating a treatment device ( 120 ) applying a treatment product to an agricultural area, the method comprising: obtaining (S 210 ) at least one dataset of an area of interest within the agricultural area ( 110 ) to a control system ( 12.10 ); determining (S 220 ), by the control system ( 12.10 ), from the at least one dataset a plant indicator, wherein a basic threshold for triggering application of the treatment product is dynamically adjustable in relation to the plant indicator; and providing a control signal (S 230 ), by the control system, to control the treatment device ( 120 ) based on the determined plant indicator and the threshold for triggering application of the treatment product.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A method for operating a treatment device applying a treatment product to an agricultural area, the method comprising:
obtaining at least one dataset of an area of interest within the agricultural area to a control system; determining, by the control system, from the at least one dataset a plant indicator, wherein a basic threshold for triggering application of the treatment product is dynamically adjustable in relation to the plant indicator, wherein the dynamic adjustment of the basic threshold includes a dynamic threshold for threshold adjustment relating to an association between detection of vegetative specie(s) and/or vegetative type(s) and coverage of the vegetative specie(s) and/or vegetative type(s) in the area of interest; and providing a control signal, by the control system, to control the treatment device based on the determined plant indicator and the threshold for triggering application of the treatment product.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plant indicator relates to a plant number value and/or a plant size value.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a dynamic set of thresholds relating to the plant indicator is provided to the control system.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a basic threshold for triggering application of the treatment product relating to a basic parameter is provided to the control system, wherein the dataset is analyzed to determine the basic parameter, and wherein the control signal is provided to control the treatment device based on the determined basic parameter and the basic threshold.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plant indicator is a crop indicator relating to crop number value and/or crop size value.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plant indicator is a weed indicator relating to weed number value and/or weed size value.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein based on the weed size value an application rate to be applied to the agricultural area is determined and the treatment device is controlled based on the determined application rate.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plant indicator is a relative indicator relating to a plant density or to a ratio between weed coverage and crop coverage.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a set of thresholds is provided by a cloud-based preparation system or by a treatment device-based system as embedded software or by a combination thereof.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein plant metadata associated with the area to be treated is provided to the control system, and the dynamic adjustment of threshold is activated based on plant metadata.

11 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of determining the plant indicator is performed by use of a data driven model, wherein the data driven model is used to analyze the dataset for determining the plant indicator.

12 . A control system for operating a treatment device for applying a treatment product to an agricultural area, wherein the control system is configured to:
obtain at least one dataset of an area of interest within the agricultural area to a control system; determine, by the control system, from the at least one dataset a plant indicator, wherein a basic threshold for triggering application of the treatment product is dynamically adjustable in relation to the plant indicator, wherein the dynamic adjustment of the basic threshold includes a dynamic threshold for threshold adjustment relating to an association between detection of vegetative specie(s) and/or vegetative type(s) and coverage of the vegetative specie(s) and/or vegetative type(s) in the area of interest; and provide a control signal, by the control system, to control the treatment device based on the determined plant indicator and the threshold for triggering application of the treatment product.

13 . A treatment device for applying a treatment product to an agricultural area, the treatment device comprising:
at least one detection component, and the control system of claim 12 connected to the at least one detection component.

14 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a data processing unit, cause the data processing unit to perform the method according to claim 1 .

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic adjustment of the basis threshold includes an overwrite of the basic threshold directly based on the plant indicator.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic adjustment of the basic threshold includes an overwrite of the basic threshold indirectly based on the plant indicator.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic adjustment of the basic threshold is geo-location specific based on real-time data obtained while the treatment device travels through the agricultural area applying the treatment product.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic adjustment of the basic threshold includes dynamic thresholds for threshold adjustments relating to vegetative specie(s) and vegetative type(s).

19 . A control system for operating a treatment device for applying a treatment product to an agricultural area, wherein the control system is configured to:
obtain at least one dataset of an area of interest within the agricultural area to a control system; determine, by the control system, from the at least one dataset a plant indicator, wherein a basic threshold for triggering application of the treatment product is dynamically adjustable in relation to the plant indicator, wherein the dynamic adjustment of the basic threshold includes a dynamic threshold for threshold adjustment relating to an association between detection of vegetative specie(s) and/or vegetative type(s) and coverage of the vegetative specie(s) and/or vegetative type(s) in the area of interest, wherein the dynamic adjustment of the basis threshold includes an overwrite of the basic threshold directly and/or indirectly based on the plant indicator, wherein the dynamic adjustment of the basic threshold is geo-location specific based on real-time data obtained while the treatment device travels through the agricultural area applying the treatment product; and provide a control signal, by the control system, to control the treatment device based on the determined plant indicator and the threshold for triggering application of the treatment product.

Assignees

• Basf Agro Trademarks Gmbh

Inventors

• Werner Nicolas
• Delatree Clemens Christian
• Schmeer Hubert
• Scheel Carvin Guenther

Classifications

• G05B2219/45107

  Weed robot · CPC title

• G05B19/4155

  characterised by program execution, i.e. part program or machine function execution, e.g. selection of a program · CPC title

• A01M21/043 Primary

  by chemicals · CPC title

• A01M7/0089 Primary

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