Method and system for tracing the identity of an agricultural product

• US 20040015477A1
• Filed: 03/20/2003
• Published: 01/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deere & Company
• Original Assignee: Deere & Company
• Inventors: Pickett, Terence Daniel, Nelson, Frederick William, Beck, Andy Dwayne, Wagner, Thomas Kent
• Granted Patent: US 7,085,777 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 91/00 Methods for harvesting agricultural products
• CPC Class Codes: A01F 25/00 Storing agricultural or horticultural produce; Hanging-up harvested fruit maturing fruit A23N15/06; arrangements in barns for preparatory treatment of tobacco A24B1/02; packing or storing hops C12C3/04
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/02 Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A method and system for tracing the identity of an agricultural product comprises holding an agricultural product in a container having a tag. A container identifier of the tag is determined by reading the tag. Ancillary data is generated and is associated with a container location and the reading time. The ancillary data may include a status indicator (e.g., transaction descriptor) for the product, a custodian identifier or both. The container identifier and the ancillary data is transmitted for storage in a data storage system. A product-flow description (e.g., chain of custody) is established for the agricultural product for transport of the product from the origination location to the destination location.

Claims

1. A method for tracing the identity of an agricultural product, the method comprising:

holding an agricultural product in a container associated with a tag, the tag being readable via electromagnetic radiation;

reading the tag at a reading time at one of an origination location, a destination location, and any location between the origination location and the destination location to determine a container identifier associated with the container;

generating ancillary data associated with one of the locations and the reading time, the ancillary data including at least one of a status indicator for the product and a custodian identifier for the corresponding reading time;

transmitting the container identifier and the ancillary data for storage in a data management system; and

establishing a product-flow description for the agricultural product for transport of the product from the origination location to the destination location based on the container identifier and the corresponding ancillary data for sequential reading times.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the product-flow description comprises a chain of custody of the agricultural product or a derivative thereof.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the chain of custody is defined by a sequential list of custodians including at least one of an origination custodian, an intermediate custodian, and a destination custodian.

4. The method according to claim 1 further comprising generating ancillary data including one or more of the following:

an origination location, an origination time, an origination date, an origination custodian, an intermediate location, an intermediate time, an intermediate date, and an intermediate custodian, a destination location, a destination time, a destination date, and a destination custodian.

5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the ancillary data comprises one or more of the following:

product characteristics data, product treatment data, product storage environmental data, harvesting equipment identifier, harvested load identifier, harvested load time, transport identifier, transport load date, transport load time, transport load date, transportation time, transportation duration, storage facility identifier, storage load time, storage load date, and a processor identifier, a processor delivery date, and a processor delivery time.

6. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

providing product characteristics corresponding to the product to a recipient of the product associated with the destination location.

7. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

storing a product identifier associated with the container identifier in the data management system; and

storing the transmitted ancillary data in the data management system.

8. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

storing a product characteristic associated with the container identifier in the data management system;

storing composite data arranged from the ancillary data and the container identifier in the data management system.

9. The method according to claim 1 wherein the generating ancillary data comprises generating harvesting data about the agricultural product during a harvesting of the agricultural product.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein bundling of read tag data and generated ancillary data are accomplished by machine electronics mounted in an agricultural machine.

11. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

accessing the data management system to trace the identity of an agricultural product received at a destination location.

12. The method according to claim 1 wherein the establishing comprises establishing a historical travel path of the container and the agricultural product or a derivative thereof, the travel path including at least one of an origination location, an intermediate location, and a destination location for the agricultural product or a derivative thereof.

13. The method according to claim 1 wherein the establishing comprises maintaining historical records of previous historical travel paths of the container in addition to a present historical path of the container to determine a possible source of contamination of the agricultural product associated with the present historical path.

14. The method according to claim 1 wherein the establishing comprises establishing a validity duration for the assignment of a container identifier to a tag of the container for holding an agricultural product.

15. The method according to claim 1 wherein the establishing comprises resetting a container identifier associated with each tag after each use from the origination location to the destination location.

16. The method according to claim 1 wherein the product-flow description comprises an agricultural product traced through its transformation into a derivative product and its corresponding attributes, the product flow description including a product identifier, a first derivative product identifier through an nth derivative product identifier, where n is any whole number equal to or greater than two, product attributes for each corresponding derivative product, and a product identifier.

17. A system for tracing the identity of an agricultural product, the system comprising:

a container for holding an agricultural product, the container associated with a tag, the tag being readable via electromagnetic radiation;

a reader for reading the tag at a reading time at one of an origination location, a destination location, and any location between the origination location and the destination location to determine a container identifier associated with the container;

a data input device for generating ancillary data associated with one of the locations and the reading time, the ancillary data including at least one of a status indicator for the product and a custodian identifier for the corresponding reading time;

a first data processing system for transmitting the container identifier and the ancillary data for storage; and

a data management system for storing the transmitted container identifier and ancillary data, and for establishing a product-flow description for the agricultural product for transport of the product from the origination location to the destination location.

18. The system according to claim 17 wherein the combination of the reader and the data input device comprises a first acquisition system, the first acquisition system associated with the first data processing system, and wherein an Nth data acquisition system is associated with a Nth data processing system, where N is a whole number equal to or greater than two.

19. The system according to claim 18 wherein the first acquisition system through the nth acquisition system are each associated with different geographic sites associated with a geographic travel path of the container, and wherein the first data processing system and the Nth data processing system send obtained ancillary data and container identifiers to the stored information associated with the data management system.

20. The system according to claim 17 wherein a user interface is coupled to the data management system, the user interface facilitating retrieval of at least a portion of the stored information on the product.

21. The system according to claim 17 wherein the data processing system communicates to the data management system via a communications network,

22. The system according to claim 17 wherein the data input device and the reader are coupled to a first wireless unit;

the first data processing system is associated with the second wireless unit; and

the second wireless unit is adapted for communications with the first wireless unit.

23. The system according to claim 17 further comprising machine electronics of an agricultural machine receiving input data from the reader and the data input device, the machine electronics transmitting output data to the first data processing system.

24. The system according to claim 17 further comprising:

a communications network for facilitating communications between the first data processing system and the data management system;

a subscriber data processing system in communication with the communications network for retrieving stored information from the data management system.

25. The system according to claim 24 further comprising:

a communications network for facilitating communications between the first data processing system and the data management system;

a subscriber terminal in communication with the communications network for retrieving stored information from the data management system.

a server interposed between the data management system and the communications network for handling requests of the subscriber terminal.

26. A method for tracking product information from harvesting to a processor, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining harvesting data associated with the harvesting of agricultural product,

storing the harvesting data as stored information by transmitting the harvesting data for storage as stored information associated with a data management system;

obtaining primary transportation data associated with the transportation of the product to primary storage;

adding the primary transportation data to the stored information;

obtaining primary storage data associated with the storage of the product in the primary storage;

adding the primary storage data to the stored information.

27. The method according to claim 26 further comprising the step of:

obtaining supplemental transportation data associated with supplemental transportation of the product from the primary storage;

adding the supplemental transportation data to the stored information.

28. The method according to claim 26 further comprising the steps of:

obtaining delivery data associated with delivery of the product to a processor,

adding the delivery data to the stored information.

29. The method according to claim 26 further comprising, the steps of:

requesting at least a portion of the stored information from the data management system on the product, the stored information comprising at least one of the harvesting data, the primary transportation data, the supplemental transportation data, the primary storage data, the supplemental transportation data, and the delivery data.

30. The method according to claim 26 wherein the harvesting data comprises product characteristics, a harvester identifier and a load identifier, the primary transportation data comprises a first transport identifier, a load date and a load time, the supplemental transportation data comprising a second transport identifier, a load date, and a load time.

31. A method for tracking product information from a processing to a consumer, the method comprising the steps of:

obtaining processing data associated with processing of a product into a final product or a derivative product;

storing the obtained processing data as stored information associated with a data management system;

obtaining packaging data associated with the packaging of the derivative product or the final product;

adding the packaging data to the stored information.

32. The method according to claim 31 further comprising:

obtaining supplemental transportation data;

adding the supplemental transportation data to the stored information;

obtaining delivery data;

adding delivery data to the stored information.

33. The method according to claim 31 further comprising:

requesting the stored information to obtain at least one of the processing data and the packaging data

34. The method according to claim 31 wherein the processing data comprises at least one of processing steps, process date, and process time and wherein the packaging data comprises at least one of packaging identifier, packaged date, and packaged time.