System and methods for real time linkage between harvest environment and marketplace

• US 6,327,569 B1
• Filed: 10/15/1998
• Issued: 12/04/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Milestone AV Technologies LLC (Legrand SA)
• Original Assignee: Milestone AV Technologies LLC (Legrand SA)
• Inventors: Reep, Paul J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hafiz, Tariq R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MEINECKE DIAZ, SUSANNA M
• Application Number:
  US09/173,222
• Time in Patent Office: 1,146 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/7, 705/8, 705/37, 705/500, 702/2, 460/7
• US Class Current: 705/37
• 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 91/00 Methods for harvesting agricultural products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 40/10 in agriculture

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for directly linking a harvest environment using precision farming techniques to the marketplace. It is a feature of this invention that properties of crops are evaluated “on-the-move,” during the harvest thereof, and are made known to users in the harvest environment to enable the real-time transaction for the sale of these crops. In a preferred embodiment, crops are harvested from an agricultural field in the harvest environment with a combine having an auger section thereon. A plurality of properties of the crops are evaluated on-the-move by flowing the harvested crops through the auger section and over an optical device. The optical device utilizes light reflected from the crops to determine the properties. Thereafter, the marketplace is searched with a computing configuration aboard the combine for a market seeking the crop properties. If a market is found, a wireless communication link between the harvest environment and the market is used to transact for a sale of the crops. The properties of the crops are correlated to a location in the agricultural field to expand the knowledge base about the field to enhance future precision farming operations.

Claims

1. A method for directly linking a harvest environment with a marketplace, the steps comprising:

harvesting a crop from an agricultural field in said harvest environment;

electromechanically evaluating at least one property of said crop contemporaneously and continuously with the harvesting thereof;

utilizing a computer and wireless link to real time process the properties of the crops as they are harvested to provide a real-time understanding of the combined properties of all the crops in the agricultural field, and to evaluate in real-time, while on the move and during the harvest, the value of the crop and to separate the properties of said crops;

utilizing a computer and wireless link to automatically contact, without human intervention and during the harvesting of the crop, one or more potential markets through the wireless link; and

transacting, automatically and in real-time, with said crop in at least one of the said markets, where said transaction occurs by a direct wireless communication between said computer and said market, said transacting occurring based upon said value and said property of said crops.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said potential markets are selected from the group consisting of commodity markets, specialty markets, and chemical markets.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of transacting with said crop further comprises the step of selling said crop via said market.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of assembling said properties of said crop into a characteristic of all said crops in said agricultural field.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein during said step of harvesting, correlating said at least one property of said crop to a location in said agricultural field continuously in real-time.

6. A method of directly linking a harvest environment with a marketplace determining the nutrient requirements of a specific location in an agricultural field comprising:

harvesting a crop from said specific location;

evaluating, automatically and via an electromechanical optical device, at least one property of said crop contemporaneously and continually with the havesting process, said evaluating occurring on the move and in real-time;

correlating, automatically via a computer, said evaluation between the qualities of the crop and the specific location of the crop in the agricultural field where harvested; and

converting, from the crop itself, at least one of the properties measured from the harvesting of the crop into a nutrient requirement for future fertilizing or improvement of said location in said agricultural field, said converting allowing a user to ascertain nutrient content and requirements in a single consolidated method particularized to a specific agricultural field, thus providing substantially greater fertilizer accuracy for that agricultural field automatically transacting with said crop from said harvest environment based on said at least one property through an electronic link with said marketplace.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein said evaluating comprises real-time measurement of at least one crop property.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein said correlating comprises real-time location measurement.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein said at least one property comprises a protein content.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein said converting comprises calculating a nitrogen requirement.

11. The method of claim 6 further comprising compiling a plurality of said properties related to specific locations into a location-specific nutrient requirement map.

12. The method of claim 6 further comprising selectively applying nutrients to a field, in a location-specific manner based on said nutrient requirement.

13. An apparatus for harvesting and transacting the simultaneous sale of a crop, said apparatus comprising:

a crop harvesting apparatus;

an automatic, real-time crop evaluation device;

a computing device;

a direct wireless communications link between the computing device and a market;

wherein at least one property of said crop is evaluated contemporaneously and continuously on the move and with the harvesting of the crop, and wherein said evaluation device reports said evaluation to said computing device;

wherein said computing device automatically transmits to a market directly through said wireless communications link said property to interested parties in the market contemporaneously with the harvesting of the crop;

wherein said computing device automatically transacts for a sale of the harvested crop; and

wherein said computing device and said communications link, after completing a sale, indicate to the user of the harvesting mechanism the final destination for the crop as it is being harvested.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said crop is output to a specific container based on said destination.

15. A system for transacting a sale of a crop comprising:

a crop harvesting device;

a real-time crop evaluating device coupled with said harvesting device for substantially and continuously evaluating at least one property of said crop while on the move during the harvesting process;

a communications and computing device located on said harvesting device said communications and computing devices being capable of automatically communicating, without human intervention, at least one property of the crop being harvested and receiving a purchase order for said crop; and

at least one computerized crop buying device, remote to said harvesting device, said at least one crop buying device being in direct communications with the computing device onboard the harvesting device so that a buyer operating said computerized crop buying device is continuously aware of at least one property of the crop being harvested so that said buyer is able to make an informed purchasing decision and communicate the purchasing decision directly to the computing device on said harvesting device.

16. A communications network for communicating between a harvest environment directly to a marketplace said network comprising:

a crop harvesting device;

a real-time crop evaluating device coupled with said harvesting device for evaluating at least one property of said crop contemporaneously and while on the move with the harvesting of said crop;

a communications and computing device located on said harvesting device and coupled to said real-time evaluating device, said communications and computing device being capable of directly communicating, without human intervention, the said at least one property of the harvested crop to a crop buying device and directly and without human intervention receiving a request to purchase said crop; and

at least one computerized crop buying device, remote to said harvesting device, said at least one crop buying device being in direct and uninterrupted communication with said communications and computing device, such that said a buyer operating said at least one crop buying device is aware of said at least one property, thus enabling said buyer to make an informed purchase decision and communicate, directly through the computing device, a purchase request.