CROP YIELD PER LOCATION MEASURER

• US 20130124239A1
• Filed: 11/15/2011
• Published: 05/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Trimble Inc.
• Original Assignee: Trimble Inc.
• Inventors: Lange, Arthur F., Rosa, Uriel, Lindores, Robert J.
• Application Number:
  US13/296,463
• Publication Number:
  US 20130124239A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.11
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 41/127 Control or measuring arrangements specially adapted for combines
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 46/00 Picking of fruits, vegetables, hops, or the like; Devices for shaking trees or shrubs
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 87/00 Loaders for hay or like field crops combined with mowers A01D43/06
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 87/02 with conveyor belts or conveyor chains, with or without pick-up means
• CPC Class Codes: G01G 11/003 Details; specially adapted accessories details of weighing apparatus in general G01G21/00; auxiliary devices for weighing apparatus in general G01G23/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/02 Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining

Abstract

A crop yield per location measurer is disclosed. In general, the crop yield measurer includes a crop collector for a field of crops. The crop collector includes a navigation satellite system location determiner to determine location information at periodic times during a crop collection process. The crop collector also includes a weighing mechanism to determine a weight of collected crops at the periodic times during the crop collection process. In addition, a database is used for storing the location information and the weight at the periodic times during the crop collection process. A crop yield overview generator is then utilized to provide a user accessible crop yield per location overview for the field of crops based on the information stored at the database.

Claims

1. A method for measuring crop yield, said method comprising:

collecting a crop from a first tree in a field into a collection device;

obtaining position information from a navigation satellite system location device for the first tree in the field;

measuring a weight of the crop collected from the first tree;

repeating the collecting, obtaining position information and measuring the weight of the harvest for at least a second tree in the field; and

generating a user interactive crop output report, the crop output report providing crop yield and location information for the first and at least the second tree in the field.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

repeating the collecting, obtaining position information and measuring the weight of the harvest for each of n trees in the field; and

generating the crop output report providing crop yield and location information per tree for each of n trees in the field.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

utilizing a conveyor belt measuring system for measuring the weight of the crop collected.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

measuring a total weight of the crop transported across the conveyor belt for a period of time to generate a gross crop weight for a location.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

beginning said measuring approximately 1 second after collecting is commenced at the location; and

concluding said measuring approximately 3 seconds after collecting is ended at the location.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

utilizing a cart measuring system for measuring the weight of the crop collected.

7. A crop yield measurer comprising:

a crop collector for a field of crops, said crop collector comprising;

a navigation satellite system location determiner to determine location information at periodic times during a crop collection process; and

a weighing mechanism to determine a weight of collected crops at the periodic times during the crop collection process;

a database for storing the location information and the weight at the periodic times during the crop collection process; and

a crop yield overview generator to provide a user accessible crop yield per location overview for the field of crops based on the information stored at the database.

8. The crop yield measurer of claim 7 wherein the crop yield is determined per plant for every plant in the field of plants.

9. The crop yield measurer of claim 7 wherein the crop yield is determined per a row of plants in the field of plants.

10. The crop yield measurer of claim 7 wherein the crop yield is determined by sampling one or more of the plants in the field of plants.

11. The crop yield measurer of claim 7 wherein the weighing mechanism comprises:

a conveyor belt to determine the weight of harvested crops.

12. The crop yield measurer of claim 7 wherein the weighing mechanism comprises:

a cart weighing system to determine the weight of harvested crops.

13. A method for determining crop yield for a field of plants, said method comprising:

harvesting a crop from a field of plants;

utilizing a navigation satellite system to determine the location of the harvesting;

measuring the weight of the harvested crop to generate a crop yield metric; and

generating a user interactive crop output map of the field of plants, the map comprising crop information including location and weight information obtained during the harvesting of the crop.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the crop yield metric is determined per plant for every plant in the field.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the crop yield metric is determined per a row of plants in the field.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the crop yield metric is determined by sampling one or more of the plants in the field of plants.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

utilizing the sampling of one or more of the plants in the field of plants to generate a future harvesting plan for the field of plants.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

utilizing previous known plant information in conjunction with the sampling of one or more of the plants in the field of plants to generate the future harvesting plan for the field of plants.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the previous known plant information is selected from the group consisting of:

previous harvest information, age of plant, location of plant with respect to water resources, user observable input, animal activity and plant health.

20. The method of claim 13 wherein the position information from the navigation satellite system location device is obtained from the position signal(s) group consisting of:

is global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signal(s), regional navigation satellite system signal(s), satellite based augmentation system (SBAS) signal(s), and ground based augmentation systems (GBAS) signal(s).

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the GNSS signal(s) are selected from the group consisting of:

GPS signal(s), Glonass signal(s), Galileo signal(s), and Compass signal(s).

22. The method of claim 20 wherein the regional navigation satellite system signal(s) are selected from the group consisting of:

Omnistar signal(s), StarFire signal(s), Centerpoint signal(s), Beidou signal(s), Doppler orbitography and radio-positioning integrated by satellite (DORIS) signal(s), Indian regional navigational satellite system (IRNSS) signal(s), and quasi-zenith satellite system (QZSS) signal(s).

23. The method of claim 20 wherein the SBAS signal(s) are selected from the group consisting of:

wide area augmentation system (WAAS) signal(s), European geostationary navigation overlay service (EGNOS) signal(s), multi-functional satellite augmentation system (MSAS) signal(s), and GPS aided geo augmented navigation (GAGAN) signal(s).

24. The method of claim 20 wherein the GBAS signal(s) are selected from the group consisting of:

local area augmentation system (LAAS) signal(s), ground-based regional augmentation system (GRAS) signals, Differential GPS (DGPS) signal(s), and continuously operating reference stations (CORS) signal(s).