FORESTRY INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS STREAMLINED BY AUTOMATIC BIOMETRIC DATA PRIORITIZATION

• US 20170103263A1
• Filed: 10/12/2016
• Published: 04/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DroneSeed, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Drone Seed Co.
• Inventors: PROUTY, Jeff, ULLYOTT, Logan, CANARY, Grant
• Granted Patent: US 10,078,784 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/045 Explanation of inference; Explainable artificial intelligence [XAI]; Interpretable artificial intelligence
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/96 Management of image or video recognition tasks
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/17 taken from planes or by drones
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/188 Vegetation

Abstract

Methods and systems are presented for obtaining photographic data recently taken via one or more airborne vehicles (drones, e.g.) and for prioritizing forestry-related review and decision-making as an automatic response to the content of the photographic data even where remote decision-makers are only available via limited-bandwidth connections.

Claims

1. A time-sensitive forestry information management method comprising:

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to configure one or more sensors aboard one or more airborne vehicles to obtain photographic data in memory thereof by detecting at least some optical energy at a first time T1 from a land tract;

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to obtain a depiction of said land tract that includes said photographic data from the one or more airborne vehicles at a second time T2, wherein a first location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is associated with a first position of said land tract, wherein a second location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is associated with a second position of said land tract, and wherein a third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is associated with a third position of said land tract;

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to determine that a scalar value of said first location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is below a range;

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to determine that a scalar value of said second location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is above said range;

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to determine that a scalar value of said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is within said range;

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured automatically to generate an automatic prioritization of said third position of said land tract over said first and second positions of said land tract partly based on said scalar value of said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being within a range, partly based on said scalar value of said first location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being below said range, and partly based on said scalar value of said second location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being above said range;

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured automatically to transmit said prioritization of said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction over said first and second location-specific artificial biometrics of said depiction partly based on said scalar value of said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being within a range, partly based on said scalar value of said first location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being below said range, and partly based on said scalar value of said second location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being above said range, wherein said first time T1 at which said optical energy from said land tract was detected and said second time T2 at which said depiction of said land tract that includes said photographic data was obtained were both within 6 months before said third time at which said verdict concerning said third position of said land tract was received;

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to receive a verdict concerning said third position of said land tract at a third time T3 from a party who has received said prioritization of said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction over said first and second location-specific artificial biometrics of said depiction partly based on a scalar value of said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being within a range, partly based on a scalar value of said first location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being below said range, and partly based on a scalar value of said second location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being above said range, wherein said first time T1 at which said optical energy from said land tract was detected and said second time T2 at which said depiction of said land tract that includes said photographic data was obtained were both within 6 months before said third time T3 of receiving said verdict concerning said third position of said land tract; and

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to act upon said verdict.

2. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 1, wherein said first, second, and third location-specific artificial biometrics indicate at least one of a growth indicator, a foliage height, a health indicator, or a mortality.

3. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 1, wherein said invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to obtain said depiction of said land tract that includes said photographic data from the one or more airborne vehicles comprises:

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to include selectively in said depiction a photograph of at least a part of said land tract that overlaps said third position while selectively omitting from said depiction at least a portion of said photographic data that depicts the first or second positions of said land tract.

4. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 1, wherein said prioritization manifests a conditional notification sent in response to said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being within said range and to said first and second location-specific artificial biometrics of said depiction being outside said range.

5. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 1, wherein said depiction includes said prioritization and wherein said prioritization ranks said third position above said first and second positions as a conditional response to said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being within said range and to said first and second location-specific artificial biometrics of said depiction being outside said range.

6. A time-sensitive forestry information management method comprising:

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to obtain a current depiction of a land tract that includes aerial photographic data from one or more aircraft, wherein a first location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is associated with a first position of said land tract, wherein a second location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is associated with a second position of said land tract, and wherein a third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is associated with a third position of said land tract; and

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to receive a verdict concerning said third position of said land tract from a first party who has received an automatic prioritization of said third position over said first and second positions partly based on a current scalar value of said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being within a range, partly based on a current scalar value of said first location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being below said range, and partly based on a current scalar value of said second location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being above said range, wherein all of said scalar values of said location-specific artificial biometrics resulted from the one or more aircraft having received optical energy while airborne at a time T1 less than six months before a time T2 of the current depiction and also less than six months before a time T3 of said verdict.

7. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 6, further comprising:

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to compute several distance estimates each as a corresponding one of said current scalar values of said first, second, and third location-specific artificial biometrics.

8. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 6, further comprising:

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to configure one or more sensors aboard the one or more aircraft to obtain said aerial photographic data by detecting said optical energy at or before said time T1 from said land tract;

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to use at least some additional aerial photographic data taken after said time T1 and before said time T2 of the current depiction in configuring the current depiction;

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to configure one or more sensors aboard the one or more aircraft to obtain other aerial photographic data by detecting other optical energy at least 24 hours at a prior time T0 before time T1 from said land tract;

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to configure said one or more sensors aboard the one or more aircraft to obtain said aerial photographic data by detecting said optical energy at said time T1 from said land tract; and

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to obtain said first, second, and third location-specific artificial biometrics of said depiction as a component of the current depiction at least by comparing said photographic data from said time T1 against the other photographic data from said prior time T0.

9. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 6, further comprising:

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to determine that said current scalar value of said first location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is below said range;

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to determine that said current scalar value of said second location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is above said range; and

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to determine that said current scalar value of said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is within said range.

10. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 6, further comprising:

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to receive at least a component of said range before the current depiction of said land tract is obtained and before said first party receives said automatic prioritization of said third position over said first and second positions.

11. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 6, further comprising:

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to allow a second party to configure one or more sensors aboard the one or more aircraft and to select and to configure said range before the current depiction of said land tract is obtained and before said first party receives said automatic prioritization of said third position over said first and second positions.

12. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 6, further comprising:

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to obtain a positive decision concerning one or more drone routes or an organic species identification or a payload module identifier as a component of said verdict.

13. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 6, further comprising:

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to obtain a drone-executable command sequence as a first component of said verdict; and

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to obtain at least one of an herbicide identification or a pesticide identification as a second component of said verdict.

14. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 6, wherein said first, second, and third positions are first, second, and third microsites, further comprising:

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to extend said third position to include a succession of additional adjacent microsites partly based on the value of the biometric of each microsite in the succession being within said range and partly based on each microsite of the succession being adjacent another microsite of the succession.

15. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 6, wherein said prioritization manifests a conditional notification sent in response to said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being within said range and to said first and second location-specific artificial biometrics of said depiction being outside said range.

16. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 6, wherein a server receives said verdict at time T3 within 3 hours of both said time T1 at which said optical energy was detected and said time T2 at which said current depiction was generated.

17. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 6, wherein said invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to obtain said depiction of said land tract that includes aerial photographic data from one or more aircraft comprises:

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to include selectively in said depiction an aerial photograph of at least a part of said land tract that overlaps said third position while selectively omitting from said depiction at least a portion of said photographic data that depicts the first or second positions of said land tract as a component of automatically prioritizing said third position over said first and second positions partly based on said current scalar value of said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being within said range, partly based on said current scalar value of said first location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being below said range, and partly based on said current scalar value of said second location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being above said range.

18. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 6, wherein said invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to obtain said depiction of said land tract that includes aerial photographic data from one or more aircraft comprises:

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to include selectively in said depiction an aerial photograph of at least a part of said land tract that overlaps said third position while selectively omitting from said depiction at least a portion of said photographic data that depicts the first or second positions of said land tract.

19. The time-sensitive forestry information management method of claim 6, wherein said invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to receive said verdict concerning said third position of said land tract from said first party who has received said automatic prioritization of said third position over said first and second positions partly based on said current scalar value of said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being within a range, partly based on said current scalar value of said first location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being below said range, and partly based on said current scalar value of said second location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being above said range comprises:

invoking transistor-based circuitry configured to include selectively in said depiction an aerial photograph of at least a part of said land tract that overlaps said third position while selectively omitting from said depiction at least a portion of said photographic data that depicts the first or second positions of said land tract as a component of automatically prioritizing said third position over said first and second positions partly based on said current scalar value of said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being within said range, partly based on said current scalar value of said first location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being below said range, and partly based on said current scalar value of said second location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being above said range.

20. A time-sensitive forestry information management system comprising:

transistor-based circuitry configured to obtain a current depiction of a land tract that includes aerial photographic data from one or more aircraft, wherein a first location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is associated with a first position of said land tract, wherein a second location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is associated with a second position of said land tract, and wherein a third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction is associated with a third position of said land tract; and

transistor-based circuitry configured to receive a verdict concerning said third position of said land tract from a first party who has received an automatic prioritization of said third position over said first and second positions partly based on a current scalar value of said third location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being within a range, partly based on a current scalar value of said first location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being below said range, and partly based on a current scalar value of said second location-specific artificial biometric of said depiction being above said range, wherein all of said scalar values of said location-specific artificial biometrics resulted from the one or more aircraft having received optical energy while airborne at a time T1 less than six months before a time T2 of the current depiction and also less than six months before a time T3 of said verdict.