Agricultural Work Management System and Crop Harvester

• US 20150242799A1
• Filed: 09/09/2013
• Published: 08/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kubota Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kubota Corporation
• Inventors: Seki, Mitsuhiro, Takahara, Kazuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 10,410,149 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 41/1277 for measuring grain quality
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/02 Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining
• CPC Class Codes: G16Y 10/05 Agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: G16Y 20/10 relating to the environment, e.g. temperature; relating to location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

An agricultural work management system includes: a data input unit configured to receive, from an agricultural crop harvester, harvesting position data indicating a harvesting work position as agricultural land information, harvest amount data indicating a harvest amount of the agricultural crop harvested in the agricultural land, and quality data indicating the quality thereof as agricultural crop information; a database server configured to store the agricultural land information and the agricultural crop information such that they can be associated with each other; an agricultural work evaluation unit configured to perform agricultural work evaluation on the agricultural land based on the agricultural land information and the agricultural crop information; and a data output unit configured to send out the agricultural work evaluation data generated by the agricultural work evaluation unit.

Claims

1. An agricultural work management system configured to manage agricultural land information relating to an agricultural land in which harvesting work is performed by an agricultural crop harvester, and agricultural crop information relating to an agricultural crop obtained with the harvesting work, the agricultural work management system comprising:

a data input unit configured to receive, from the agricultural crop harvester, harvesting position data indicating a harvesting work position in the agricultural land as the agricultural land information, harvest amount data indicating a harvest amount of the agricultural crop harvested in the agricultural land, and quality data indicating the quality thereof as the agricultural crop information;

a database server configured to store the agricultural land information and the agricultural crop information such that they can be associated with each other;

an agricultural work evaluation unit configured to perform agricultural work evaluation of the agricultural land based on the agricultural land information and the agricultural crop information; and

a data output unit configured to send out the agricultural work evaluation data generated by the agricultural work evaluation unit.

2. The agricultural work management system according to claim 1, wherein

the agricultural land information is generated in association with small plots obtained by the agricultural land that is to be subject to work being divided by a predetermined size, and the agricultural crop information is also generated in association with the small plots.

3. The agricultural work management system according to claim 2, wherein

the agricultural work evaluation unit performs data conversion according to which time-based agricultural crop information generated in correspondence with a travel route of the agricultural crop harvester is allocated to the small plots.

4. The agricultural work management system according to claim 1, wherein

the agricultural crop harvester is a combine for grain, the harvest amount data is generated based on a threshing processing amount per unit time, and the quality data is generated based on a measurement result of a taste sensor unit equipped in the combine.

5. The agricultural work management system according to claim 4, wherein the quality data includes moisture of harvested grain.

6. An agricultural crop harvester configured to send, to an agricultural work management computer system, agricultural land information relating to an agricultural land in which harvesting work is performed, and agricultural crop information relating to an agricultural crop obtained with the harvesting work, the agricultural crop harvester comprising:

a positioning module configured to measure the crop harvester'"'"'s position;

a yield sensor configured to measure a harvest amount of an agricultural crop harvested in the agricultural land;

a quality sensor configured to measure quality of the agricultural crop harvested in the agricultural land;

an agricultural land information generation unit configured to, based on a measurement result of the positioning module, generate harvesting position data indicating a harvesting work position in the agricultural land as the agricultural land information;

an agricultural crop information generation unit configured to generate harvest amount data as the agricultural crop information based on a measurement result of the yield sensor, and generate quality data as the agricultural crop information based on a measurement result of the quality sensor;

a transmission information management unit configured to create transmission information by associating the agricultural land information and the agricultural crop information with each other; and

a communication module configured to send the transmission information to the agricultural work management computer system.

7. The agricultural crop harvester according to claim 6, wherein the agricultural crop information includes harvest amount per work travel distance.

8. The agricultural crop harvester according to claim 6, wherein

the agricultural land information is generated in association with small plots obtained by the agricultural land that is to be subjected to work being divided by a predetermined size, and the agricultural crop information is also generated in association with the small plots.

9. The agricultural crop harvester according to claim 6, wherein

the agricultural crop is rice, the quality sensor can detected moisture of unhulled rice, and the moisture of unhulled rice retained in a built-in grain tank or a dryness level required for the unhulled rice is transmitted along with a retention amount thereof to an external drying facility via a communication module.

10. A grain harvester comprising:

a grain tank configured to store grain sent from a threshing apparatus configured to carry out threshing processing on grain stalks cut from a field;

a yield sensor configured to measure yield of the grain;

a taste sensor configured to measure taste of the grain;

a measurement data management unit configured to, in a time series, manage yield measurement data input from the yield sensor and taste measurement data input from the taste sensor; and

a harvest evaluation unit configured to generate harvested grain property information by linking together information on position in the field, the yield measurement data, and the taste measurement data.

11. The grain harvester according to claim 10, wherein

the yield sensor is a load cell included in the grain tank, the taste sensor is an optical non-contact sensor for measuring moisture of grain, and the taste sensor is arranged in the grain tank or is arranged on a grain conveyance path extending from the threshing apparatus to the grain tank.

12. The grain harvester according to claim 10, wherein

as the yield, the yield of the grain harvested in a predetermined region of the field is calculated based on a travel route and a yield per unit travel distance, and as the taste, the moisture of the grain harvested in the predetermined region of the field is calculated based on the travel route and an average taste of the grain harvested per unit travel distance.

13. The grain harvester according to claim 10, further comprising:

a GPS module configured to measure a cutting position of the grain stalks in the field,

wherein the harvested grain property information includes the cutting position, and the yield and moisture of the grain harvested in a predetermined region of the field are calculated based on the harvested grain property information.

14. The grain harvester according to Claim 10, further comprising:

a storage unit configured to store the harvested grain property information.

15. The grain harvester according to claim 10, further comprising:

a data input/output unit capable of data communication with a mobile communication terminal,

wherein the measurement data management unit and the harvest evaluation unit are constructed in the mobile communication terminal, and the harvested grain property information is sent to a management center via a line communication unit of the mobile communication terminal.

16. The grain harvester according to claim 10, wherein

the information on the position in the field is a small plot obtained by dividing a field into a plurality of small plots.