Methods, apparatus, and systems for determining in-season crop status in an agricultural crop and alerting users

• US 9,113,590 B2
• Filed: 08/06/2012
• Issued: 08/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Superior Edge, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Superior Edge, Inc.
• Inventors: Johnson, Jerome Dale
• Primary Examiner(s): McNally, Kerri
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lau, Kevin
• Application Number:
  US13/568,109
• Publication Number:
  US 20140035752A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,114 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 21/007 Determining fertilization requirements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15

Abstract

A crop'"'"'s status may be determined from analysis of information regarding the crop received from, for example, a user, an in-season data gathering source, a database, a data feed, an aerial sensor, a UAV, and/or a remote sensor via a communication network. The received data may be compared to, for example, a benchmark, a parameter, a previously determined crop status, and/or a baseline associated with the crop and the comparison may be scored. When the score exceeds a predetermined threshold, an alert may be generated and provided to a user via the communication network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer from a plurality of data sources, data associated with at least a portion of a field of plants, the data received from each of the plurality of data sources corresponding to a different one of a plurality of categories regarding a status of at least the portion of the field of plants, the plurality of categories including at least a crop stress category, an added fertility category, and a soils category, each of the plurality of categories associated with a plurality of category-specific sub-categories corresponding to data received from at least one of the plurality of data sources, wherein the crop stress category is associated with at least a near-infrared (NIR) imagery sub-category, wherein the added fertility category is associated with at least a frequency of nitrogen application sub-category, and wherein the soils category is associated with at least a soil texture category;

determining, by the computer, an overall score for the received data that indicates a nutrient status of at least the portion of the field of plants, wherein

determining the overall score comprises;

determining a sub-category score for each of the plurality of sub-categories;

applying a weighting factor to each sub-category score to determine a plurality of weighted sub-category scores;

determining a sub-score for each category by aggregating the plurality of weighted sub-category scores corresponding to the respective category, each sub-score corresponding to a category-specific nutrient status of at least the portion of the field of plants;

applying a weighting factor to each of the sub-scores to determine a plurality of weighted sub-scores; and

aggregating the plurality of weighted sub-scores to determine the overall score;

determining, by the computer, that the overall score satisfies a threshold value; and

outputting, by the computer, an alert in response to determining that the overall score satisfies the threshold value.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the data associated with at least the portion of the field of plants comprises receiving image data of at least the portion of the field of plants.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the image data comprises receiving the image data from an image sensor carried by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of categories further includes a drainage category, an improvements category, a weather impact on availability category, a management practices category, a production history category, and a planting category.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the crop stress category is further associated with a normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI) sub-category, a chlorophyll indices sub-category, a color imagery sub-category, and a visual inspection sub-category.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the added fertility category is further associated with a timing of nitrogen application sub-category, a starter fertilizer sub-category, a manure sub-category, a residue sub-category, and a nitrogen as applied sub-category.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the soils category is further associated with a soil variability sub-category, a tillage sub-category, an organic matter sub-category, a pH sub-category, and a soil tilth sub-category.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert is provided within a time period that enables a user to take corrective action to improve the status of at least the portion of the field of plants.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the overall score satisfies the threshold value comprises automatically comparing the overall score to at least one of a benchmark, a parameter, a previously determined overall score, and a baseline associated with at least the portion of the field of plants.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

using at least one of the received data, the comparison, and the overall score to update at least one of the benchmark, the parameter, the previously determined overall score, and the baseline.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

using at least one of the received data, the comparison, and the overall score to generate at least one of the benchmark, the parameter, the previously determined crop status, and the baseline.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

storing at least one of the received data, the comparison, the overall score, and the alert in a database.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, by the computer from the plurality of data sources, additional data associated with at least the portion of the field of plants;

accessing, by the computer, at least one of the stored received data, the comparison, the overall score, and the alert;

comparing, by the computer, the additional received data the accessed one of the stored received data, the comparison, the overall score, and the alert; and

determining, by the computer, a change in the overall score responsively to the comparison.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining, by the computer, a trend in the overall score of responsively to the comparison.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving instructions from a user regarding how to process the received data; and

processing the received data according to the received instructions.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert is generated upon an occurrence of at least one of a weather event, a detected presence of a pest, a detected presence of a pollutant, a detected water level, a detected level of damage to the plants, a detected level of stress to the plants, and a predicted yield from the plants.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold value is user configurable.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the data associated with at least the portion of the field of plants comprises receiving data from at least one of a user, a contact of the user, an in-season data gather source, a database, a data feed, an aerial sensor, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and a remote sensor via a communication network.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert indicates a level of distress to plants within at least the portion of the field of plants.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert indicates a location of distressed plants within at least the portion of the field of plants.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a recommendation responsively to determining that the overall score satisfies the threshold value, the recommendation providing one or more actions that may be taken to address subject matter of the alert.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

tailoring the alert according to at least one of a user characteristic, a user preference, a type of alert, an amount by which the overall score exceeds the threshold value, and a type of the overall score.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert includes at least one of the overall score, a visual representation of a location of plants that do not satisfy the threshold value, a visual representation of a trend of a status of the field of plants over a period of time, a chart showing one or more trends of a status of the field of plants, a visual display of locations of the field of plants excluded from status determinations, and a visually enhanced display of one or more portions of the received data as selected by a user.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert includes received data for at least the portion of the field of plants received at different times.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of receiving the data associated with at least the portion of the field of plants and outputting the alert is executed via a social networking service.

26. A device comprising:

one or more processors; and

at least one storage device encoded with instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

determine an overall score for data received from a plurality of data sources and associated with at least a portion of a group of crops, each of the plurality of data sources corresponding to a different one of a plurality of categories regarding a status of at least the portion of the group of crops, the plurality of categories including at least a crop stress category, an added fertility category, and a soils category, each of the plurality of categories associated with a plurality of sub-categories, wherein the crop stress category is associated with at least a near-infrared (NIR) imagery sub-category, wherein the added fertility category is associated with at least a frequency of nitrogen application sub-category, wherein the soils category is associated with at least a soil texture category, and wherein determining the overall score comprises;

determining a sub-category score for each of the plurality of sub-categories;

applying a weighting factor to each sub-category score to determine a plurality of weighted sub-category scores;

determining a sub-score for each category by aggregating the plurality of weighted sub-category scores corresponding to the respective category, each sub-score corresponding to a category-specific status of at least the portion of the group of crops;

applying a weighting factor to each of the sub-scores to determine a plurality of weighted sub-scores; and

aggregating the plurality of weighted sub-scores to determine the overall score; and

output an alert in response to determining that the overall score satisfies a threshold value.

27. A system comprising:

at least one computer;

an image sensor; and

a Crop Status Analyzer and Alert Generator executable by the at least one computer and configured to;

receive, from a plurality of data sources that includes the image sensor, data for at least a portion of a field of crops, the data received from each of the plurality of data sources corresponding to one of a plurality of categories regarding a status of at least the portion of the field of crops, the plurality of categories including at least a crop stress category, an added fertility category, and a soils category, each of the plurality of categories associated with a plurality of sub-categories, wherein the crop stress category is associated with at least a near-infrared (NIR) imagery sub-category, wherein the added fertility category is associated with at least a frequency of nitrogen application sub-category, and wherein the soils category is associated with at least a soil texture category;

determine, based on the received data, an overall score corresponding to a nutrient status of at least the portion of the field of crops by at least determining a sub-category score for each of the plurality of sub-categories, applying a weighting factor to each sub-category score to determine a plurality of weighted sub-category scores, aggregating the plurality of weighted sub-category scores corresponding to the respective category to determine a sub-score for each category, applying a weighting factor to each of the sub-scores to determine a plurality of weighted sub-scores, and aggregating the plurality of weighted sub-scores to determine the overall score;

determine that the overall score is not included within a range of acceptable overall scores; and

output an alert in response to determining that the overall score is not included within a range of acceptable overall scores.

28. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer from a plurality of data sources, data corresponding to crops, the data received from each of the plurality of data sources corresponding to a different one of a plurality of categories, the plurality of categories including at least a crop stress category, an added fertility category, and a soils category, each of the plurality of categories associated with one or more sub-categories, wherein the crop stress category is associated with at least a near-infrared (NIR) imagery sub-category, wherein the added fertility category is associated with at least a frequency of nitrogen application sub-category, and wherein the soils category is associated with at least a soil texture category;

determining, by the computer, a category score for each category based on an aggregation of weighted sub-category scores corresponding to each sub-category associated with a respective category;

applying, by the computer, a weight to each category score;

aggregating, by the computer, the weighted category scores to determine a crop status score; and

outputting, by the computer, an alert in response to determining that the crop status score satisfies a threshold value.