GPS-BASED TICKET GENERATION IN HARVEST LIFE CYCLE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20140122147A1
• Filed: 05/08/2013
• Published: 05/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conservis Corp.
• Original Assignee: Conservis Corp.
• Inventors: Christie, Patrick P., Borman, Michael, Tevis, Joe, Larson, Paul, Shilts, Matthew, Faison, Chuck
• Granted Patent: US 9,607,342 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/02 Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining

Abstract

A system and method is presented for gathering data concerning harvests. Data tickets are generated at a point of origination (i.e., the field), local storage, processing, or a customer location. Data tickets may also be generated for supplies delivered to the field. Implements attached to a vehicle in the field (e.g., a tractor) may provide sensor data over a vehicle communication bus about how a field processing task was performed. A computing device on the vehicle periodically reads the sensor data and records the data along with the current time and GPS position of the vehicle as a data point. A plurality of data points are transmitted to a remote server as a data trail. Data trails from a plurality of vehicles are compared to find points of intersection. Sensor data in the data trails for the points of intersection are examined to determine data related to the transfer of goods between vehicles during the time of intersection.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

a) receiving, at a server computer, a first data trail from a first vehicle, the first data trail including a first vehicle identifier and a first plurality of data points with each data point including;

i) time data,

ii) a geographic location for the first vehicle for the time data,

iii) a first sensor measurement derived from a first sensor on the first vehicle;

b) receiving, at the server computer, a second data trail including a second identifier and a particular data point for a particular location at a particular time;

c) comparing the first data trail and the second data trail to identify a first touch-point relating to a first data point in the first trail when the first vehicle was proximate to the particular location at the particular time indicated in the second trail;

d) generating a first data ticket for the first touch-point, the first data ticket comprising;

i) the first vehicle identifier,

ii) the second identifier,

iii) the particular time, and

iv) sensor data derived from the first sensor measurement.

e) analyzing the data ticket to track the movement of goods over time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second data trail relates to a static location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a set of data points in the first data trail are identified in step c) as relating to the first touch-point, and wherein the sensor data in the first data ticket is derived by analyzing the sensor measurements in the set of data points.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the sensor data is derived by subtracting a minimum sensor reading in the first set of data points from a maximum sensor reading in the first set of data points.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second data trail relates to a second vehicle, wherein the second data trail includes a second plurality of data points relating to a plurality of geographic locations at a plurality of times.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein first vehicle is a first farm vehicle, further wherein crop harvested on a farm is transferred from the first vehicle to the second vehicles.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first sensor determines a weight for the goods, and the data derived from the first sensor measurement is the amount of crop transferred from the first vehicle to the second vehicle.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the first plurality of data points in the first trail includes a second sensor measurement derived from a second sensor on the first vehicle.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the second plurality of data points in the second data trail includes a second sensor measurement derived from a second sensor on the second vehicle, further comprising:

f) comparing the first sensor measurement and the second sensor measurement for the first touch-point.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

f) determine a type of data ticket by analyzing type data in the first and second trail and including the determined type of data ticket in the first data ticket.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first trail includes a first vehicle type identifier and the second trail includes a separate vehicle type identifier, wherein the type of data ticket is determined by analyzing the first and second vehicle type identifiers.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

f) receiving, at the server computer, a third data trail including a third vehicle identifier and a third plurality of data points;

g) comparing the second data trail and the third data trail to identify a second touch-point relating to the second and third data trails;

h) generating a second data ticket for the second touch-point.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

f) receiving, at the server computer, a third data trail including the first vehicle identifier and a third plurality of data points; and

g) merging the third data trail with the first data trail before the comparing step c).

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data trail identifies a first operator that is operating the first vehicle.

15. A method comprising:

a) generating a data point on a first moving vehicle at a particular time, the data point storing the particular time, the location of the first vehicle at the particular time, and sensor data relating to goods that are being transported by the moving vehicle;

b) repeating step a) at different times to generate a first trail comprising a plurality of data points for a first time period;

c) generating a second trail comprising a plurality of data points for a second vehicle during a second time period that overlaps the first time period;

d) transmitting the first and second trail to a server computer;

e) comparing, at the server computer, the first and second trails to identify a first touch-point time period during which the first and second vehicles were proximate to each other; and

f) analyzing sensor data relating to the goods in the data points for the first touch-point time period to determine the amount of goods transferred between the first and second vehicles.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

g) generating a data ticket for the first touch-point time period relating to the transfer of goods and storing the ticket in a computerized database to track the goods.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the data points on the first moving vehicle are generated in real time by a first computing device that periodically reads sensor data from a first sensor on the first moving vehicle and records that sensor data in the data point along with a time as indicated by a clock in the computing device and along with location information read from a GPS device.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the first sensor is read by the computing device over a CAN bus.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the first sensor is read by the computing device over a wireless connection between the computing device and the first sensor.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

g) analyzing the first trail to determine a field for the data ticket by comparing the location information in the first trail with a geo-fence defined for the field.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the analysis determines both a first field and a second field for the data ticket based on geo-fences defined for the first and second field.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the data ticket is divided between the first and second field based on the time duration spent by the first vehicle within the geo-fence defined for the first and second field, respectively.

23. A method comprising:

a) receiving trails from three vehicles, each trail indicating the location of the vehicle at plurality of points in time;

b) creating tickets based on the trails, including;

i) a first ticket relating to the transfer of goods between the first vehicle and the third vehicle,

ii) a second ticket relating to the transfer of goods between the second vehicle and a third vehicle,

iii) a third ticket relating to the transfer of goods off the third vehicle;

wherein only the third ticket includes an amount of goods transferred based upon sensor data included in the trails;

wherein the first and second ticket includes an amount of goods transferred based on calculations derived from the sensor data relating to the third ticket.

24. A farm vehicle comprising:

a) a first sensor to provide a reading relating to a good;

b) a CAN bus for communication with the first sensor;

c) a GPS device for determining a geographic location for the farm vehicle;

d) a computing device in communication with the global positioning system comprising;

i) a processor for the execution of software instructions,

ii) a clock to provide the current date and time,

iii) a CAN bus interface to communicate with the sensor over the CAN bus, and

iv) a tangible, non-transitory computer readable memory containing data and programming instructions that cause the processor to;

(1) periodically read the clock, the GPS, and the first sensor and store the current time, the current position of the vehicle, and data derived from the first sensor as a data point data,

(2) combine a plurality of data points into a data trail, and

(3) transmit the data trail to a remote server for analysis.

25. The farm vehicle of claim 24, further comprising a second sensor, wherein the second sensor is read by the computing device and data derived from the second sensor is stored in the data points and transmitted as part of the data trail.