UPDATING EXECUTION OF TASKS OF AN AGRICULTURAL PRESCRIPTION

• US 20160071410A1
• Filed: 07/28/2015
• Published: 03/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Climate LLC (Bayer AG)
• Original Assignee: The Climate Corporation (Bayer AG)
• Inventors: Rupp, Craig Eugene, Kull, A. Corbett S., Dumstorff, Patrick Lee, Mikelson, Christopher Sears
• Granted Patent: US 9,904,963 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 41/1274 for drives
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/02 Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/00 Traffic control systems for road vehicles arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00 ; automatic vehicle control B62D
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

A method begins by a computing device allocating a plurality of tasks of an agricultural prescription for a farming geographic area to a fleet of farming equipment. While executing tasks of the plurality of tasks, the method continues with at least some of the fleet of farming equipment collecting task execution data. Based on the task execution data, the method continues with the computing device updating at least one of the agricultural prescription, the plurality of tasks, and the allocation of at least one task of the plurality of tasks.

Claims

1. A method comprises:

allocating, by a computing device, a plurality of tasks of an agricultural prescription for a farming geographic area to a fleet of farming equipment;

while executing tasks of the plurality of tasks, collecting, by at least some of the fleet of farming equipment, task execution data; and

based on the task execution data, updating, by the computing device, at least one of the agricultural prescription, the plurality of tasks, and the allocation of at least one task of the plurality of tasks.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the allocating the plurality of tasks comprises:

obtaining, by the computing device, capabilities of each piece of farm equipment of the fleet of farming equipment; and

affiliating, by the computing device, a task of the plurality of tasks with a piece of farm equipment based on the capabilities of the piece of farm equipment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the agricultural prescription comprises one or more of:

a planting plan;

a tillage plan;

a crop transportation plan;

a speed plan;

a fertilizing plan;

a watering plan;

a weeding plan; and

a harvesting plan.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the task execution data comprises at least one of:

adherence information regarding performance of an allocated task of the plurality of tasks;

farm equipment sensor data;

farm equipment location information; and

farm equipment operational data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the updating comprises:

interpreting the task execution data in accordance with expected performance of the agricultural prescription to produce an actual performance level; and

when the actual performance level is unfavorable, determining whether to update the agricultural prescription, the plurality of tasks, or the allocation of at least one task of the plurality of tasks.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the updating comprises:

gathering weather information;

determining that weather is adversely affecting execution of one or more tasks of the plurality of tasks or may adversely affect future execution of the one or more tasks of the plurality of tasks; and

to minimize the adverse effects of the weather, updating the at least one of the agricultural prescription, the plurality of tasks, and the allocation of at least one task of the plurality of tasks.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the updating comprises:

interpreting the task execution data to detect one or more of;

unfavorable combine waste, unfavorable planting errors, and unfavorable application data; and

when the one or more of;

unfavorable combine waste, unfavorable planting errors, and unfavorable application data is detected, determining whether to update the agricultural prescription, the plurality of tasks, or the allocation of at least one task of the plurality of tasks.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

updating the plurality of tasks by one or more of;

adding a new task to the plurality of tasks;

deleting an existing task of the plurality of tasks; and

modifying a task of the plurality of tasks.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

updating the agricultural prescription by one or more of;

changing execution scheduling of one or more tasks of the plurality of tasks;

adding, deleting, or modifying one or more planting steps;

adding, deleting, or modifying one or more speed steps;

adding, deleting, or modifying one or more fertilizing steps;

adding, deleting, or modifying one or more watering steps;

adding, deleting, or modifying one or more weeding steps; and

adding, deleting, or modifying one or more harvesting steps.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

updating the allocation of at least one task of the plurality of tasks by one or more of;

reallocating an unexecuted task of the plurality of tasks from one piece of farming equipment to another piece of farming equipment of the fleet of farming equipment;

reallocating a partially completed task of the plurality of tasks from the one piece of farming equipment to the other piece of farming equipment of the fleet of farming equipment; and

allocating a new task to one of the fleet of farming equipment.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprises:

at least one memory section that stores operational instructions that, when executed by one or more processing modules of one or more computing devices affiliated with agriculture equipment of a computing system, causes the one or more computing devices to;

allocate, by a computing device, a plurality of tasks of an agricultural prescription for a farming geographic area to a fleet of farming equipment;

while executing tasks of the plurality of tasks, collect, by at least some of the fleet of farming equipment, task execution data; and

based on the task execution data, update, by the computing device, at least one of the agricultural prescription, the plurality of tasks, and the allocation of at least one task of the plurality of tasks.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more processing modules functions to execute the operational instructions stored by the at least one memory section to cause the one or more computing devices of the computing system to allocate the plurality of tasks by:

obtaining, by the computing device, capabilities of each piece of farm equipment of the fleet of farming equipment; and

affiliating, by the computing device, a task of the plurality of tasks with a piece of farm equipment based on the capabilities of the piece of farm equipment.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the agricultural prescription comprises one or more of:

a planting plan;

a tillage plan;

a crop transportation plan;

a speed plan;

a fertilizing plan;

a watering plan;

a weeding plan; and

a harvesting plan.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the task execution data comprises at least one of:

adherence information regarding performance of an allocated task of the plurality of tasks;

farm equipment sensor data;

farm equipment location information; and

farm equipment operational data.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more processing modules functions to execute the operational instructions stored by the at least one memory section to cause the one or more computing devices of the computing system to update by:

interpreting the task execution data in accordance with expected performance of the agricultural prescription to produce an actual performance level; and

when the actual performance level is unfavorable, determining whether to update the agricultural prescription, the plurality of tasks, or the allocation of at least one task of the plurality of tasks.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more processing modules functions to execute the operational instructions stored by the at least one memory section to cause the one or more computing devices of the computing system to update by:

gathering weather information;

determining that weather is adversely affecting execution of one or more tasks of the plurality of tasks or may adversely affect future execution of the one or more tasks of the plurality of tasks; and

to minimize the adverse effects of the weather, updating the at least one of the agricultural prescription, the plurality of tasks, and the allocation of at least one task of the plurality of tasks.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more processing modules functions to execute the operational instructions stored by the at least one memory section to cause the one or more computing devices of the computing system to update by:

interpreting the task execution data to detect one or more of;

unfavorable combine waste, unfavorable planting errors, and unfavorable application data; and

when the one or more of;

unfavorable combine waste, unfavorable planting errors, and unfavorable application data is detected, determining whether to update the agricultural prescription, the plurality of tasks, or the allocation of at least one task of the plurality of tasks.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 further comprises:

the at least one memory section stores further operational instructions that, when executed by the one or more processing modules, causes the one or more computing devices of the computing system to;

update the plurality of tasks by one or more of;

adding a new task to the plurality of tasks;

deleting an existing task of the plurality of tasks; and

modifying a task of the plurality of tasks.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 further comprises:

the at least one memory section stores further operational instructions that, when executed by the one or more processing modules, causes the one or more computing devices of the computing system to;

update the agricultural prescription by one or more of;

changing execution scheduling of one or more tasks of the plurality of tasks;

adding, deleting, or modifying one or more planting steps;

adding, deleting, or modifying one or more speed steps;

adding, deleting, or modifying one or more fertilizing steps;

adding, deleting, or modifying one or more watering steps;

adding, deleting, or modifying one or more weeding steps; and

adding, deleting, or modifying one or more harvesting steps.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 further comprises:

the at least one memory section stores further operational instructions that, when executed by the one or more processing modules, causes the one or more computing devices of the computing system to;

update the allocation of at least one task of the plurality of tasks by one or more of;

reallocating an unexecuted task of the plurality of tasks from one piece of farming equipment to another piece of farming equipment of the fleet of farming equipment;

reallocating a partially completed task of the plurality of tasks from the one piece of farming equipment to the other piece of farming equipment of the fleet of farming equipment; and

allocate a new task to one of the fleet of farming equipment.