Method and apparatus for tracking plants with electronic tag

• US 8,279,066 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2008
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Hyde, Roderick A., Ishikawa, Muriel Y., Kare, Jordin T., Wood, Lowell L. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): BLOUNT, ERIC
• Application Number:
  US12/077,066
• Publication Number:
  US 20090231099A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,663 Days
• Field of Search: 3405721-5728, 340/539.1, 47/10.1 R
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 7/00 Botany in general
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 9/006 Labels or label holders specially adapted for plant receptacles
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/48 Transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2209/47 using RFID associated with sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13095 PIN / Access code, authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 9/00 Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems for selectively calling a substation from a main station, in which substation desired apparatus is selected for applying a control signal thereto or for obtaining measured values therefrom

Abstract

One or more plants may be associated with an electronic tag including a memory circuit and interrogation interface. The memory circuit in the electronic tag may include data corresponding to the one or more plants. According to an embodiment the data may include plant care information such as a record of treatments received by the one or more plants and/or plant care instructions. The data may be structured.

Claims

1. A method for receiving plant care information, comprising:

receiving at least one plant with an associated electronic tag, the electronic tag carrying data corresponding to care of the at least one plant;

interrogating the electronic tag to receive the data;

parsing the received data to determine a treatment history of the at least one plant;

comparing the parsed data to an internal or network clock to determine an elapsed time since a treatment; and

displaying a treatment recommendation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic tag includes at least one selected from the group consisting of a radio frequency tag, a passive radio frequency tag, an active radio frequency tag, a backscatter radio frequency tag, a half-duplex radio frequency tag, a full-duplex radio frequency tag, a touch memory device, a proximity card, a photonic tag, and a smart card.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein interrogating the electronic tag to receive the data includes performing radio frequency interrogation;

performing touch memory interrogation, performing proximity card interrogation, performing photonic tag interrogation, and performing smart card interrogation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data corresponding to the plant care information includes data corresponding to a record of treatments received by the at least one plant.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the data corresponding to the record of treatments includes data corresponding to at least one selected from the group consisting of seed variety, seed batch, seed source, sprouting date, cutting variety, cutting batch, cutting date, cutting source, rizome variety, rizome batch, rizome harvest date, rizome source, bulb variety, bulb batch, bulb source, bulb harvest date, corm variety, corm batch, corm source, corm harvest date, planting date, graft date, soil temperature, air temperature, light intensity, light duration, light schedule, soil pH, air humidity, soil humidity, watering volume, watering duration, watering schedule, fertilizer type, fertilizer amount, fertilizer application, fertilizer schedule, pesticide type, pesticide amount, pesticide application, pesticide schedule, herbicide type, herbicide amount, herbicide application, herbicide schedule;

fungicide type, fungicide amount, fungicide application, fungicide schedule, forcing conditions, pruning application, pruning schedule, pruning style, caretaker identity, plant source identity, shipper identity, ship date, packer identity, and packing date.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data corresponding to the plant care information includes data corresponding to plant care instructions for the at least one plant.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the data corresponding to plant care instructions includes data corresponding to at least one selected from the group consisting of watering instructions, sunlight instructions, planting instructions, fertilizing instructions, temperature instructions, type of soil instructions, soil pH instructions, and pruning instructions.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the data corresponding to plant care instructions includes data corresponding to one or more region or geographical location.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the data corresponding to plant care instructions includes data corresponding to one or more time intervals.

10. A method for receiving plant care information, comprising:

receiving at least one plant with an associated electronic tag, the electronic tag carrying structured data corresponding to care of the at least one plant;

interrogating the electronic tag to receive the data;

parsing the received data to determine a treatment history of the at least one plant;

assessing a need for a treatment of the at least one plant from the parsed data; and

performing a query of an external resource to determine a nominal interval for a recommended treatment for the at least one plant.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the data includes structured data including at least one application data identifier or data tag corresponding to a record of at least one previous treatment.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the data includes structured data including at least one application data identifier or data tag corresponding to instructions for care of the at least one plant.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the data includes structured data including at least one application data identifier corresponding to an industry-assigned code corresponding to at least one data field carrying the data corresponding to care of the at least one plant.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

processing the parsed data.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein processing the parsed data includes at least one selected from the group consisting of printing the processed data, visually displaying the processed data, and providing an audio presentation of the processed data.

16. A system for providing plant care information, comprising:

an electronic tag interrogator configured to interrogate an electronic tag associated with at least one plant;

an electronic controller operatively coupled to the electronic tag interrogator and configured to receive electronic tag data; and

a software program configured to run on the electronic controller and configured to parse the electronic tag data to receive data corresponding to care of the at least one plant, to assess a need for a treatment of the at least one plant from the parsed data, and to output plain language care instructions for the at least one plant at least partially based on the treatment assessment;

a computer network configured to carry a communication signal between the electronic tag interrogator and the electronic controller; and

wherein the electronic controller includes a server coupled to the computer network.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the electronic tag interrogator is configured to interrogate at least one selected from the group consisting of a radio frequency tag, a passive radio frequency tag, an active radio frequency tag, a backscatter radio frequency tag, a half-duplex radio frequency tag, a full-duplex radio frequency tag, a touch memory device, a photonic tag, and a smart card.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the electronic controller includes a microprocessor embedded in the electronic tag interrogator.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a communication interface between the electronic tag interrogator and the electronic controller.

20. A system for providing plant care information, comprising:

an electronic tag interrogator configured to interrogate an electronic tag associated with at least one plant;

an electronic controller operatively coupled to the electronic tag interrogator and configured to receive electronic tag data; and

a software program configured to run on the electronic controller, the software program including a data parsing module configured to recognize a structured data format and to parse the electronic tag data to determine a treatment history of the at least one plant and compare the parsed data to an internal or network clock to determine an elapsed time since a treatment of the at least one plant.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the data parsing module is configured to recognize a data header in the electronic tag data.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the data parsing module is configured recognize an application data identifier or a data tag in the electronic tag data.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein:

the data parsing module is configured to generate a data field request for a data field corresponding to the care for the at least one plant, and receive the data field;

wherein the electronic controller is configured to transmit the data field request to the electronic tag interrogator, and receive the requested data field from the electronic tag interrogator; and

wherein the electronic tag interrogator is configured to receive the data field request from the electronic tag interrogator, interrogate the electronic tag to retrieve the requested data field, and transmit the requested data field to the electronic controller.

24. A system for providing plant care information, comprising:

an electronic tag interrogator configured to interrogate an electronic tag associated with at least one plant;

an electronic controller operatively coupled to the electronic tag interrogator and configured to receive electronic tag data;

a software program configured to run on the electronic controller and configured to parse the electronic tag data to determine a treatment history of the at least one plant, and to compare the parsed data to an internal or network clock to determine an elapsed time since a treatment of the at least one plant, the software program further configured to query an external resource to determine a nominal interval between treatments of the at least one plant and to display a recommended treatment of the at least one plant in response to the comparison of the parsed data and the query; and

a plurality of the electronic tags associated with a corresponding plurality of instances of the at least one plant, the electronic tags including memory circuitry holding structured data including data corresponding to the plant care information.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the data corresponding to the plant care information includes data corresponding to a record of treatments received by the at least one plant.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the data corresponding to the record of treatments includes data corresponding to at least one selected from the group consisting of seed variety, seed batch, seed source, sprouting date, cutting variety, cutting batch, cutting date, cutting source, rizome variety, rizome batch, rizome harvest date, rizome source, bulb variety, bulb batch, bulb source, bulb harvest date, corm variety, corm batch, corm source, corm harvest date, planting date, graft date, soil temperature, air temperature, light intensity, light duration, light schedule, soil pH, air humidity, soil humidity, watering volume, watering duration, watering schedule, fertilizer type, fertilizer amount, fertilizer application, fertilizer schedule, pesticide type, pesticide amount, pesticide application, pesticide schedule, herbicide type, herbicide amount, herbicide application, herbicide schedule;

fungicide type, fungicide amount, fungicide application, fungicide schedule, forcing conditions, pruning application, pruning schedule, pruning style, caretaker identity, plant source identity, shipper identity, ship date, packer identity, and packing date.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the data corresponding to plant care instructions includes data corresponding to one or more region or geographical location.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the data corresponding to plant care instructions includes data corresponding to at least one selected from the group consisting of watering instructions, sunlight instructions, planting instructions, fertilizing instructions, temperature instructions, soil type instructions, soil pH instructions, and pruning instructions.

29. A method for associating plant care information with at least one plant, comprising:

providing an electronic tag carrying data corresponding to care for at least one plant;

physically associating the electronic tag with the at least one plant;

after physically associating the electronic tag with the at least one plant,

interrogating the electronic tag to receive the data;

parsing the received data to determine a treatment history of the at least one plant;

assessing a need for a treatment by comparing the parsed data to an internal or network clock to determine an elapsed time since a treatment;

displaying a recommended treatment at least partially based on the treatment assessment; and

writing data to the electronic tag to record data in a memory of the electronic tag corresponding to the time and type of the treatment applied to the at least one plant.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the electronic tag includes at least one selected from the group consisting of a radio frequency tag, a passive radio frequency tag, an active radio frequency tag, a backscatter radio frequency tag, a half-duplex radio frequency tag, a full-duplex radio frequency tag, a touch memory device, a proximity card, and a smart card.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising writing the data corresponding to the care for the at least one plant to the electronic tag through an interrogation interface.

32. The method of claim 29, further comprising writing the data corresponding to the care for the at least one plant to the electronic tag through an interrogation interface selected from the group consisting of a radio frequency interrogation interface;

a touch memory interrogation interface, a proximity card interrogation interface, and a smart card interrogation interface.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein the data includes data corresponding to instructions for care of the at least one plant.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein the data corresponding to the plant care information includes data corresponding to a record of treatments received by the at least one plant.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the data corresponding to the record of treatments includes data corresponding to at least one selected from the group consisting of seed variety, seed batch, seed source, sprouting date, cutting variety, cutting batch, cutting date, cutting source, rizome variety, rizome batch, rizome harvest date, rizome source, bulb variety, bulb batch, bulb source, bulb harvest date, corm variety, corm batch, corm source, corm harvest date, planting date, graft date, soil temperature, air temperature, light intensity, light duration, light schedule, soil pH, air humidity, soil humidity, watering volume, watering duration, watering schedule, fertilizer type, fertilizer amount, fertilizer application, fertilizer schedule, pesticide type, pesticide amount, pesticide application, pesticide schedule, herbicide type, herbicide amount, herbicide application, herbicide schedule;

fungicide type, fungicide amount, fungicide application, fungicide schedule, forcing conditions, pruning application, pruning schedule, pruning style, caretaker identity, plant source identity, shipper identity, ship date, packer identity, and packing date.

36. The method of claim 29, wherein the data corresponding to the plant care information includes data corresponding to plant care instructions for the at least one plant.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the data corresponding to plant care instructions includes data corresponding to at least one selected from the group consisting of watering instructions, sunlight instructions, planting instructions, fertilizing instructions, temperature instructions, soil type instructions, soil pH instructions, and pruning instructions.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the data corresponding to plant care instructions includes data corresponding to one or more region or geographical location.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein the data corresponding to plant care instructions includes data corresponding to one or more time intervals.

44. The method of claim 29, wherein providing an electronic tag carrying data corresponding to the care for at least one plant includes providing the electronic tag and writing the data corresponding to the care for the at least one plant to the electronic tag through an interrogation interface.

45. The method of claim 29, wherein providing an electronic tag carrying data corresponding to the care for at least one plant includes receiving the electronic tag including the data corresponding to the care for the at least one plant.

46. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

providing at least one treatment to the at least one plant; and

wherein providing an electronic tag carrying data corresponding to the care for at least one plant includes providing the electronic tag and writing data corresponding to the at least one treatment provided the at least one plant to the electronic tag through an interrogation interface.

47. The method of claim 29, wherein physically associating the electronic tag with the at least one plant includes attaching the electronic tag to the exterior of the at least one plant.

48. The method of claim 29, wherein physically associating the electronic tag with the at least one plant includes at least partially embedding the electronic tag within the at least one plant.

49. The method of claim 29, wherein physically associating the electronic tag with the at least one plant includes attaching the electronic tag to a container of the at least one plant.

50. The method of claim 29, wherein physically associating the electronic tag with the at least one plant includes disposing the electronic tag on or within soil physically associated with the at least one plant.

40. A method for associating plant care information with at least one plant, and treating the at least one plant, comprising:

providing an electronic tag carrying structured data corresponding to care for the at least one plant;

physically associating the electronic tag with the at least one plant;

parsing the structured data to determine a treatment history of the at least one plant;

comparing the parsed data to an internal or network clock to determine an elapsed time since a treatment;

performing a query of an external resource to determine a nominal interval between treatments of the at least one plant;

applying a treatment to the at least one plant corresponding to the elapsed time since a treatment and the nominal interval; and

writing data to the electronic tag to record data in a memory of the electronic tag corresponding to the time and type of the treatment applied to the at least one plant.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the structured data includes at least one application data identifier or data tag corresponding to a record of at least one treatment.

42. The method of claim 40 wherein the structured data includes at least one application data identifier or data tag corresponding to instructions for care of the at least one plant.

43. The method of claim 40 wherein the structured data includes at least one data identifier corresponding to an industry-assigned code corresponding to at least one data field carrying the data corresponding to care of the at least one plant.