Image processing spout control system
First Claim
1. A spout control system for controlling and aiming a crop delivery spout of a material collecting vehicle with respect to a separate material hauling vehicle moving alongside the collecting vehicle, the control system comprising:
- an image device for viewing a field of view including a portion of the hauling vehicle and generating an image signal;
a control unit receiving the image signal, processing the image signal and automatically generating a spout command signal as a function thereof; and
an actuator which moves the spout automatically in response to the spout command signal.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A spout control system controls and aims a spout and a spout cap of a crop harvesting vehicle with respect to a separate crop hauling vehicle moving with the harvesting vehicle. The control system includes a video camera which is mounted on the cap and which views a field of view which includes a portion of the hauling vehicle. An image signal generated by the camera is received by an image processing unit. The image processing unit processes a digitized form of the image signal and automatically generates spout and cap control signals as a function thereof. Actuators automatically aim the spout and the cap in response to the control signal.
-
Citations
31 Claims
-
1. A spout control system for controlling and aiming a crop delivery spout of a material collecting vehicle with respect to a separate material hauling vehicle moving alongside the collecting vehicle, the control system comprising:
-
an image device for viewing a field of view including a portion of the hauling vehicle and generating an image signal;
a control unit receiving the image signal, processing the image signal and automatically generating a spout command signal as a function thereof; and
an actuator which moves the spout automatically in response to the spout command signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. In a material collecting vehicle having a spout with a pivotal cap on an end thereof for directing material to a separate material hauling vehicle moving with the collecting vehicle, a control system for controlling the spout and the cap, the control system comprising:
-
an image device for viewing a field of view including a portion of the hauling vehicle and generating an image signal;
an image processing unit receiving the image signal and automatically generating a spout control signal and a cap control signal as a function thereof;
a spout motor which moves the spout automatically in response to the control signal; and
a cap motor which moves the cap automatically in response to the cap control signal.
-
-
21. A spout control system for controlling and aiming a crop delivery spout of a material collecting vehicle with respect to a separate material hauling vehicle moving alongside the collecting vehicle, the control system comprising:
-
a control unit generating a spout command signal as a function of sensed parameters; and
an actuator which moves the spout in response to the spout command signal, the control unit generating a data table including a set of spout displacement values, and a set of spout actuator energizing time values, each spout displacement value representing an amount of spout displacement which would result from operating the actuator for the corresponding actuator operating time value, the control unit generating a later spout command signal as a function of information stored in the data table. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
-
-
31. A spout control system for controlling and aiming a crop delivery spout of a material collecting vehicle with respect to a separate material hauling vehicle moving alongside the collecting vehicle, the control system comprising:
-
a pair of image devices having overlapping fields of view including a portion of the hauling vehicle, each image device generating an image signal;
a control unit receiving the image signals, forming a combined image therefrom, processing the combined image and automatically generating a spout command signal as a function thereof; and
an actuator which moves the spout automatically in response to the spout command signal.
-
Specification