Crop attribute map input for vehicle guidance
First Claim
1. A method for controlling a harvester for harvesting a crop in a field, the method comprising:
- a) providing site specific information comprising ground elevation information of the field and a multi-spectral image of the field, the site specific information related to one or more attributes of the crop;
b) inputting the site specific information to a processor;
c) providing an attribute map of an estimated crop attribute level for the at least one crop attribute utilizing the site specific information and a plurality of samples taken at a plurality of sampling points, the providing of the attribute map comprising;
determining a plurality of zones of the crop attributes;
generating the sampling points within a homogenous area of each zone;
excluding sample points in one or more transition areas between different zones of crop attribute levels, where the transition areas are defined by a slope, the slope determined based on a ratio between a change in a number of the zones and the distance between the zones,and analyzing the samples from the sampling points; and
d) during harvesting, controlling the harvester utilizing the attribute map to steer the harvester and segregate harvested crop according to the estimated crop attribute level based on the elevation information of the field and the multi-spectral image of the field.
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Abstract
A method for dividing a field into zones with similar crop attributes and developing a mission plan for steering the harvester to selectively harvest crops based on one or more of the attributes. The attributes include protein level, starch level, oil level, sugar content, moisture level, digestible nutrient level, or any other crop characteristic of interest. The method can be applied to selectively harvest and/or segregate according to attribute any crop, including grains such as wheat, corn, or beans, fruits such as grapes, and forage crops. Directed crop sampling provides absolute value and variance information for segregated batches of harvested crop.
93 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method for controlling a harvester for harvesting a crop in a field, the method comprising:
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a) providing site specific information comprising ground elevation information of the field and a multi-spectral image of the field, the site specific information related to one or more attributes of the crop; b) inputting the site specific information to a processor; c) providing an attribute map of an estimated crop attribute level for the at least one crop attribute utilizing the site specific information and a plurality of samples taken at a plurality of sampling points, the providing of the attribute map comprising; determining a plurality of zones of the crop attributes; generating the sampling points within a homogenous area of each zone; excluding sample points in one or more transition areas between different zones of crop attribute levels, where the transition areas are defined by a slope, the slope determined based on a ratio between a change in a number of the zones and the distance between the zones, and analyzing the samples from the sampling points; and d) during harvesting, controlling the harvester utilizing the attribute map to steer the harvester and segregate harvested crop according to the estimated crop attribute level based on the elevation information of the field and the multi-spectral image of the field. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for determining a path of a steerable harvester for harvesting a crop in a field, the method comprising:
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a) providing site specific information related to one or more attributes of the crop, the site specific information comprising ground elevation information of the field and a multi-spectral image of the field; b) inputting the site specific information to a processor; c) providing an attribute map of an estimated crop attribute level for the at least one crop attribute utilizing the site specific information and a plurality of samples taken at a plurality of sampling points, the providing of the attribute map comprising; determining a plurality of zones of the crop attributes; generating the sampling points within a homogenous area of each zone; excluding sample points in one or more transition areas between different zones of crop attribute levels, where the transition areas are defined by a slope, the slope determined based on a ratio between a change in a number of the zones and the distance between the zones, and analyzing the samples from the sampling points; and d) during harvesting of the crop, steering the harvester utilizing the attribute map to segregate harvested crop according to the estimated crop attribute level based on the elevation information of the field and the multi-spectral mage of the field. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for segregating harvested product for a harvester, the method comprising:
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a) providing site specific information related to one or more attributes of the crop, the site specific information comprising ground elevation information of the field and a multi-spectral image of the field; b) providing an attribute map of an estimated crop attribute level for the at least one crop attribute utilizing the site specific information and a plurality of samples taken at a plurality of sampling points, the providing of the attribute map comprising; determining a plurality of zones of the crop attributes; generating the sampling points within a homogenous area of each zone; excluding sample points in one or more transition areas between different zones of crop attribute levels, where the transition areas are defined by a slope, the slope determined based on a ratio between a change in a number of the zones and the distance between the zones, and analyzing the samples from the sampling points; and c) during harvesting of the crop, controlling the harvester utilizing the attribute map to segregate the crop being harvested according to the estimated crop attribute level, the step of controlling including steering the harvester in dependence on the attributes of the crop based on the elevation of the field and the multi-spectral image of the field. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for segregating harvested product for a harvester, the method comprising:
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a) providing site specific information related to crop attributes of a crop, the site specific information comprising ground elevation information of the field and a multi-spectral image of the field; b) determining a plurality of zones of the crop attributes from the site specific information; c) generating a plurality of sampling points within a generally homogenous area of each zone, d) taking a plurality of attribute samples at a plurality of identified sampling locations that exclude sampling locations in transition areas between different zones of crop attribute levels, where the transition areas are defined by a slope, the slope determined based on a ratio between a change in number of zones and the distance between the zones; e) providing an attribute map of an estimated crop attribute level for the at least one crop attribute level utilizing the site specific information and attribute samples;
the attribute map comprising the determined zones of the crop attributes, and analyzing the samples from the sampling points; andf) controlling the harvester utilizing the attribute map to segregate harvested crop according to the estimated crop attribute level based on the elevation information of the field and the multi-spectral image of the field. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification