Method and system for tracing the identity of an agricultural product using data handoff

• US 20040059737A1
• Filed: 03/20/2003
• Published: 03/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deere & Company
• Original Assignee: Deere & Company
• Inventors: Nelson, Federick William, Pickett, Terence Daniel, Beck, Andy Dwayne, Wagner, Thomas Kent
• Granted Patent: US 7,062,513 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/100
• 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

Initial data is acquired on an agricultural product associated with a harvesting time. The acquired initial data is transmitted (e.g., handed off) via an electromagnetic signal or wireless communication to an intermediate data processing system associated with a handler of the agricultural product. Additional data is appended to the acquired initial data received at the intermediate data processing system to form composite data. The composite data is transmitted via an electromagnetic signal or wireless communication to at least one of a receiver and a data processing system for processing or storing the composite data. The composite data is transferred to or made available to a data management system, which may be accessible to one or more users who seek access to at least one of the initial data, the additional data, and the composite data on the agricultural product or a derivative thereof.

Claims

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

acquiring data on an agricultural product associated with a harvesting time to form initial data;

transmitting the initial data to an intermediate data processing system associated with a handler of the agricultural product;

appending additional data to the initial data received at the intermediate data processing system to form composite data;

transmitting the composite data to at least one of a receiver and a reporting data processing system for processing the composite data and transferring the processed data to a data management system.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the transmitting of the initial data is associated with a first stage of handling of the agricultural product and wherein the transmitting of the composite data is associated with an intermediate stage of handling the agricultural product.

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein the intermediate stage comprises a second stage, the second stage being associated with transportation of the agricultural product.

4. The method according to claim 2 further comprising an additional intermediate stage comprising a third stage, the third stage being associated with storage of the agricultural product.

5. The method according to claim 1 further comprising determining the additional data based on an identity of a handler.

6. The method according to claim 1 wherein the composite data represents a link in a chain of custody for the agricultural product for transport of the product from an origination location to a destination location.

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

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

8. 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.

9. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

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

10. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

providing chain-of-custody data on the chain of custody corresponding to the agricultural product to a recipient of the product associated with the destination location, the established chain of custody comprises a list of successive custodians of the product that had custody of the product at corresponding reading times for a product transported from the origination location to the destination location.

11. The method according to claim 1 wherein the additional 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.

12. 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.

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

an initial acquisition system for acquiring data on an agricultural product associated with a harvesting time to form initial data;

an initial transmitter for transmitting the initial data to an intermediate data processing system associated with a handler of the agricultural product;

a data manager, of the intermediate data processing system, adapted to append additional data to the initial data received at the intermediate data processing system to form composite data; and

an intermediate transmitter for transmitting the composite data to at least one of a receiver and a reporting data processing system for processing the composite data and transferring the processed data to a data management system.

14. The system according to claim 13 wherein the initial transmitter is associated with a first stage of handling of the agricultural product and wherein the intermediate transmitter is associated with an intermediate stage of handling the agricultural product.

15. The system according to claim 14 wherein the intermediate stage comprises a second stage, the second stage being associated with transportation of the agricultural product.

16. The system according to claim 14 further comprising an additional intermediate stage comprising a third stage, the third stage being associated with storage of the agricultural product.

17. The system according to claim 13 wherein the composite data represents a link in a chain of custody for the agricultural product for transport of the product from an origination location to a destination location.

18. The system according to claim 13 wherein the additional data comprises one or more of the following:

an originating 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.

19. The system according to claim 13 further comprising:

a data management system in communication with the reporting data processing system;

a subscriber terminal capable of communicating with the data management system to retrieve chain-of-custody data corresponding to the agricultural product, the established chain of custody comprising a list of successive custodians of the product that had custody of the product at corresponding reading times for a product transported from the origination location to the destination location.

20. The system according to claim 19 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.

21. The system according to claim 13 wherein the additional 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.

22. The system according to claim 13 further comprising:

data management system in communication with the reporting data processing system to trace the identity of an agricultural product received at a destination location.

23. 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 locally stored information in initial data storage;

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

adding the primary transportation data to the locally stored information for storage in an intermediate data storage downstream from the initial data storage;

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

adding the primary storage data to the locally stored information for storage in another intermediate data storage downstream from the initial data storage, where the locally stored information in the initial data storage and the intermediate data storage is physically and geographically separate from any data storage of a central data repository.

24. The method according to claim 23 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 locally stored information for storage in a further intermediate storage downstream from the initial data storage, where the further intermediate storage is physically and geographically separate from any data storage of a central repository.

25. The method according to claim 23 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 for storage in additional intermediate storage downstream from the initial data storage, where the additional intermediate storage is physically and geographically separate from any data storage of a central repository.

26. The method according to claim 23 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.

27. The method according to claim 23 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.

28. 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 locally stored information associated with an intermediate data storage;

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

adding the packaging data to the stored information in a proceeding intermediate data storage, where the intermediate data storage is physically and geographically separate from any data storage of a central repository.

29. The method according to claim 28 further comprising:

obtaining supplemental transportation data;

adding the supplemental transportation data to the locally stored information in a later intermediate data storage;

obtaining delivery data; and

adding delivery data to the locally stored information in a subsequent intermediate data storage, where the later intermediate data storage and subsequent intermediate data storage is physically and geographically separate from any data storage of a central repository.

30. The method according to claim 28 further comprising:

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

31. The method according to claim 28 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.