Method and arrangement for monitoring the collection of plant material

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9880559-B2
Application number	US-201615263776-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 13, 2016
Priority date	Sep 14, 2015
Publication date	Jan 30, 2018
Grant date	Jan 30, 2018

Abstract

A method of and arrangement for monitoring the collection of plant material includes the following steps and apparatus for executing these steps, respectively: collecting plant location and attribute data with respect to plant material, before and/or during and/or after harvesting the plant material, providing the plant location and attribute data on a collecting vehicle adapted to collect the harvested plant material, moving the collecting vehicle to the harvested plant material based on the plant location data, collecting the harvested plant material, sensing attribute data of the harvested plant material before and/or during and/or after the collecting, and comparing the sensed attribute data with the plant attribute data and generating an output dependent on the result of the comparison.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of monitoring the collection of plant material, the method comprising the following steps:
on a worksite, collecting plant location and attribute data suited for a later identification of the respective plant material, before, during, and/or after harvesting the plant material on the worksite;
providing the plant location and the attribute data to a collecting vehicle configured to collect the harvested plant material;
moving the collecting vehicle to the harvested plant material on the worksite, based on the plant location data;
collecting the harvested plant material in a loading space of the collecting vehicle;
sensing attribute data of the harvested plant material during the collecting;
comparing the sensed attribute data with the plant attribute data and generating an output dependent on a result of the comparison; and
presenting the result of the comparison to an operator of the collecting vehicle via a user interface including displaying an error message if the comparison reveals that the stored plant attribute data and the sensed plant attribute data do not match.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the attribute data comprise at least one of a number, a size, a weight, a color, a location, an orientation, a type, one or more ingredients of the plant material, or an identification data of an electronically or optically readable marker, provided during harvesting on the plant material and/or a container thereof.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the attribute data concern one plant or a plurality of plants or one part of one plant or more parts of one plant or parts of a plurality of plants.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further including wirelessly submitting the result of the comparison to a remote location or server.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plant material is wood or agricultural material.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein providing the plant location and the attribute data to a collecting vehicle comprises transmitting the plant location and/or the attribute data to the collecting vehicle by a wireless data transmission or a physical data carrier.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the plant location and/or attribute data are collected by sensing means provided on a harvesting vehicle and/or on a separate device.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the separate device includes one of a robot, a drone, or a device carried by a person.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sensed attribute data are collected by sensing means provided on the collecting vehicle and/or on a separate device.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the separate device includes one of a robot, a drone, or a device carried by a person.

11. An arrangement for monitoring the collection of plant material, the arrangement comprising:
a plant data collection assembly configured to collect plant location and attribute data suited for a later identification of the respective plant material before, during, and/or after harvesting the plant material on a worksite;
a data transfer device configured to transfer the plant location and attribute data to a collecting vehicle that is configured to move to the harvested plant material on the worksite based on the plant location data and to collect the harvested plant material in a loading space of the collecting vehicle;
at least one sensor configured to sense attribute data of the harvested plant material during the collecting;
a data processor configured to compare the sensed attribute data with the plant attribute data and to generate an output dependent on a result of the comparison; and
a user interface configured to present the result of the comparison to an operator of the collecting vehicle and to display an error message if the comparison reveals that the stored plant attribute data and the sensed plant attribute data do not match.

12. The arrangement according to claim 11 , wherein the attribute data comprise at least one of a number, a size, a weight, a location, an orientation, a color, a type, one or more ingredients of the plant material, or an identification data of an electronically or optically readable marker, provided during harvesting on the plant material and/or a container thereof.

13. The arrangement according to claim 11 , comprising:
(a) a user interface on the collecting vehicle configured to present the result of the comparison to an operator of the collecting vehicle, and/or
(b) a wireless communications device for wirelessly submitting the result of the comparison to a remote location or a server.

14. The arrangement according to claim 11 , wherein the plant material is wood and the collecting vehicle is a self-propelled forwarder with a loading arm for grabbing one or more logs at a time and a loading space into which the collected logs are deposited.

15. The arrangement according to claim 11 , wherein the plant material is agricultural material and the collecting vehicle is a vehicle for collecting the plant material that has been baled or filled in a container by a harvesting machine.

16. The arrangement according to claim 11 , wherein the plant location and/or attribute data is configured to be transmitted to the collecting vehicle by a wireless communications device or a physical data carrier.

17. The arrangement according to claim 11 , wherein the plant data collection assembly is provided on a harvesting vehicle and/or on a separate device.

18. The arrangement according to claim 17 , wherein the separate device includes one of a robot, a drone, or a device carried by a person.

19. The arrangement according to claim 11 , wherein the sensor for sensing the attribute is provided on the collecting vehicle and/or on a separate device.

20. The arrangement according to claim 19 , wherein the separate device includes one of a robot, a drone, or a device carried by a person.

Assignees

• Deere & Co

Inventors

• Putkonen Aki Juha Antero
• Kaarnametsä Johannes
• Siltanen Vesa

Classifications

• A01G23/08

  Felling trees · CPC title

• G06Q10/0631

  Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations · CPC title

• G06F16/29

  Geographical information databases · CPC title

• G06Q50/02

  Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining · CPC title

• G01C21/20

  Instruments for performing navigational calculations (G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence) · CPC title