Methods and Systems for Monitoring Crop Management and Transport

• US 20120284264A1
• Filed: 04/10/2012
• Published: 11/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: David Lankford, Francis T. Lichtner Jr
• Original Assignee: David Lankford, Francis T. Lichtner Jr
• Inventors: Lankford, David, Lichtner, Francis T. Jr.
• Application Number:
  US13/443,814
• Publication Number:
  US 20120284264A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/736
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 21/007 Determining fertilization requirements
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/16 Control of watering
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/167 Control by humidity of the soil itself or of devices simulating soil or of the atmosphere; Soil humidity sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/02 Automatically-operated arrangements

Abstract

Methods and system for multi-dimensional environmental monitoring, systematic dissection of interpretive relationships and extensive computational analysis, which can be displayed in a visual real-time data-rich web-based configuration called AdviroGuard™ interpretive analysis. Additionally, methods and systems for monitoring crop production, the logistics of crop transport, and the impact of crop production and transport on the environment.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

(a) receiving data related to crop management;

(b) determining a crop management profile from the data;

(c) generating a unique identifier that is associated with the crop management profile; and

(d) providing the crop management profile to a user in response to a request for the unique identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the unique identifier is associated with a symbol affixed to a product.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the data related to crop management is received from a plurality of sensors.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data related to crop management is received from a grower.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the crop management profile to a user in response to a request for the unique identifier comprises displaying the crop management profile to a user at a kiosk or a website.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the website is a social networking website.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data related to crop management comprises a plurality of data readings, and wherein determining a crop management profile comprises determining a metric based at least on a difference between a first reading in a plurality of data readings and a second reading in a plurality of data readings, wherein the metric has a value.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of data readings comprise time-stamped resource measurements from a plurality of sensors in a medium.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the metric is moisture in a medium.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the medium is soil.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein determining a metric based at least on a difference between a first reading in the plurality of data readings and a second reading in the plurality of data readings comprises subtracting a value of the first reading from a value of the second reading, wherein the second reading occurred later in time than the first reading.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the data comprises one or more of weather, soil salinity, tillage operations, crop protection applications, fertilizer applications, or irrigation.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the crop management profile comprises one or more of crop water use efficiency, crop nutrient efficiency, or total carbon usage.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the metric is one or more of a season-end metric or an in-season metric.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the crop management data ranks crop-growing performance.

16. A method, comprising:

(a) receiving data related to crop transport;

(b) determining a crop transport profile from the data;

(c) generating a unique identifier that is associated with the crop transport profile; and

(d) providing the crop transport profile to a user in response to a request for the unique identifier.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the unique identifier is associated with a symbol affixed to a product.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the data related to crop transport is received from a plurality of sensors.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the data related to crop transport comprises data obtained during crop manipulation.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the data obtained during crop manipulation comprises one or more of water cleanliness, oxidation-reduction potential, pH, sanitizer content, or microbial testing results.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the data related to crop transport comprises time-stamped product exchange data.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the crop transport profile comprises one or more of microbial loads, taste levels, or remaining shelf-life.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein providing the crop transport profile to a user in response to a request for the unique identifier comprises displaying the crop transport profile to a user at a kiosk or a website.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the website is a social networking website.

25. A system, comprising:

a memory comprising a plurality of computer-executable instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory and configured to carry out the steps of;

(a) receiving data related to crop management;

(b) determining a crop management profile from the data;

(c) generating a unique identifier that is associated with the crop management profile; and

(d) providing the crop management profile to a user in response to a request for the unique identifier.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the data related to crop management is received from a plurality of sensors.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the data related to crop management is received from a grower.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the unique identifier is associated with a symbol affixed to a product.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein providing the crop management profile to a user in response to a request for the unique identifier comprises displaying the crop management profile to a user at a kiosk or a website.

30. A system, comprising:

a memory comprising a plurality of computer-executable instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory and configured to carry out the steps of;

(a) receiving data related to crop transport;

(b) determining a crop transport profile from the data;

(c) generating a unique identifier that is associated with the crop transport profile; and

(d) providing the crop transport profile to a user in response to a request for the unique identifier.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the unique identifier is associated with a symbol affixed to a product.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein the data related to crop transport is received from a plurality of sensors.

33. The system of claim 30, wherein providing the crop transport profile to a user in response to a request for the unique identifier comprises displaying the crop transport profile to a user at a kiosk or a website.