SYSTEM FOR MEASURING PLANT ATTRIBUTES USING A PRIORI PLANT MAPS

• US 20160338267A1
• Filed: 05/19/2015
• Published: 11/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deere & Company
• Original Assignee: Deere & Company
• Inventors: Anderson, Noel W., Dybro, Niels
• Granted Patent: US 10,039,231 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 45/02 of maize , i.e. kernel harvesting for ensilage maize A01D43/081
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 45/021 Cornheaders
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 75/00 Accessories for harvesters or mowers
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 21/08 for measuring thickness
• CPC Class Codes: G01B 21/10 for measuring diameters
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 3/30 by applying a single impulsive force, e.g. by falling weight

Abstract

A system for measuring plant attributes comprises a plant attribute sensor (103, 108, 110); a digital a priori plant location map (118); and an ECU (126) coupled to the plant attribute sensor (103, 108, 110) and configured to retrieve and use the a priori plant map and to anticipate a plant measurement based upon the a priori plant map and to use that anticipation to improve the accuracy of the plant measurement.

Claims

1. A system for measuring plant attributes during harvesting of a row crop comprising:

a plant attribute sensor (103, 108, 110);

a digital a priori plant location map (118); and

an ECU (126) coupled to the plant attribute sensor (103, 108, 110) and configured to retrieve and use the a priori plant location map (118) to anticipate the presence of a plant to be harvested and to use the anticipated presence of a plant to improve accuracy of a plant measurement, wherein the plant measurement is provided by the plant attribute sensor (103, 108, 110).

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the ECU (126) is configured to create a sensor sampling window (210), wherein the ECU (126) is further configured to receive data from the plant attribute sensor (103, 108, 110) during the sensor sampling window (210) and wherein the ECU (126) is further configured to reject data from the plant attribute sensor (103, 108, 110) outside of the sensor sampling window.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the anticipated plant measurement is used to adjust a value of as-received data from the plant attribute sensor (103, 108, 110).

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the plant attribute sensor (103, 108, 110) comprises at least one of a feeler-based plant sensor (103), a stripper plate plant sensor (108), and a plant impact sensor (110).

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the feeler-based plant sensor (103) is a vehicle guidance sensor.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the stripper plate plant sensor (108) is configured to generate a signal indicative of a plant stalk thickness for a crop plant disposed between two stripper plates (104).

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the plant impact sensor (110) is configured to respond to impacts of ears of corn on a stripper plate (104).

8. The system of claim 4, wherein the system further comprises a second plant attribute sensor (103, 108, 110), wherein the second plant attribute sensor (103, 108, 110) is coupled to the ECU (126), and wherein the second plant attribute sensor (103, 108, 110) comprises at least another of the feeler-based plant sensor (103), the stripper plate plant sensor (108), and the plant impact sensor (110).

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the plant to be harvested is planted in a row.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the plant to be harvested is a corn plant.