Sensor arrangement for monitoring an unloading process of an agricultural harvester

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9973710-B2
Application number	US-201415103217-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2014
Priority date	Dec 10, 2013
Publication date	May 15, 2018
Grant date	May 15, 2018

Abstract

A sensor arrangement for a forage harvester. The sensor arrangement includes a frame, a CCD or CMOS camera mounted to the frame in a first position, and a time-of-flight camera mounted to the frame in a second position. The CCD or CMOS camera is mounted to the frame in the first position such that, when a filling wagon is located with respect to the forage harvester in a filling position, a first image of at least a portion of the filling wagon is capturable by the first camera. The time-of-flight camera is mounted to the frame in the second position such that, when the filling wagon is located with respect to the forage harvester in the filling position, a second image of a segment of the portion is capturable by the second camera.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A sensor arrangement for monitoring an unloading process of harvested material from an agricultural harvester into a filling wagon, the sensor arrangement comprising:
a frame;
a first camera mounted to the frame at a first position such that, when the filling wagon is located in a filling position with respect to the agricultural harvester, a first image of at least a portion of the filling wagon is capturable by the first camera; and
a second camera mounted to the frame at a second position such that, when the filling wagon is located in the filling position, a second image of a segment of the portion is capturable by the second camera,
wherein the first camera is provided with one of a CCD and a CMOS sensor such that an angular location of the filling wagon relative to the agricultural harvester is derivable from the first image, and wherein the second camera is provided with a time-of-flight sensor such that a distance between the agricultural harvester and the filling wagon is derivable from the second image.

2. The sensor arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the first camera is provided to capture images with a first resolution, and wherein the second camera is provided to capture images with a second resolution, wherein the first resolution is larger than the second resolution.

3. The sensor arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the first camera has a first viewing angle and the second camera has a second viewing angle, wherein the first viewing angle is larger than the second viewing angle.

4. The sensor arrangement of claim 1 , further comprising an image processor operationally connected to the first camera and the second camera to process images from the first and second camera.

5. The sensor arrangement of claim 4 , wherein the image processor is configured to detect in the first image at least a first intensity peak and to detect in the second image at least a second intensity peak, wherein the image processor is further configured, based on the detected intensity peaks, to layer the first and second images such that information in the first image is combinable with information in the second image.

6. The sensor arrangement of claim 5 , wherein the image processor comprises a first image processing path, configured to obtain an angular location and a distance of the filling wagon with respect to the agricultural harvester based on information in images of the first and the second cameras, and a second image processing path, configured as a fallback path to obtain a location and distance of the filling wagon with respect to the agricultural harvester based on images of only the first camera.

7. The sensor arrangement of claim 4 , wherein the image processor is operationally connected to a steering mechanism of a filling spout such that the filling spout is steerable based on the derived angular location of the filling wagon and the derived distance between the agricultural harvester and the filling wagon.

8. A method for monitoring an unloading process of harvested material from an agricultural harvester into a filling wagon, the method comprising the steps of:
capturing a first image via a first camera mounted on a frame on the agricultural harvester, which first camera is provided with one of a CCD and a CMOS sensor, the first image showing, when the filling wagon is located in a filling position with respect to the agricultural harvester, at least a portion of the filling wagon;
capturing a second image via a second camera mounted on the frame, which second camera is provided with a time-of-flight sensor, the second image showing, when the filling wagon is located in the filling position, a segment of the portion; and
detecting the filling wagon position based on the first image and the second image.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the step of detecting comprises sub-steps of:
detecting in the first image at least a first intensity peak,
detecting in the second image at least a second intensity peak, and
layering the first and second images based on the detected intensity peaks.

10. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the step of detecting comprises processing the first image to detect an angular location of the filling wagon with respect to the agricultural harvester, and processing the second image to detect a distance between the filling wagon and the harvester.

11. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the step of detecting comprises calculating a fingerprint from a part of the first image, and tracking the fingerprint over successive images of the first camera.

12. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the step of detecting the filling wagon position based on the first image and the second image comprises:
a first implementation of determining the filling wagon position with respect to the harvester based on both the first image and the second image, and
a second implementation, as a fallback implementation, of determining the filling wagon position with respect to the harvester based on only the first image.

13. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising the step of calculating the filling degree of the filling wagon.

14. The method according to claim 8 , further comprising the step of steering a filling spout of the agricultural harvester based on the detected filling wagon position.

Assignees

• Cnh Ind America Llc

Inventors

• Boydens Joachim
• Missotten Bart M A
• Vanysacker Pieter
• Viaene Karel M C

Classifications

• H04N23/90 Primary

  Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums · CPC title

• G06T7/70

  Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras (camera calibration G06T7/80) · CPC title

• A01D43/087 Primary

  with controllable discharge spout · CPC title

• A01D41/1217

  Unloading mechanisms · CPC title

• A01D2101/00

  Lawn-mowers · CPC title