Equipment architecture for high definition data

• US 9,196,100 B1
• Filed: 06/16/2014
• Issued: 11/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deere & Company
• Original Assignee: Deere & Company
• Inventors: Kilworth, Timothy J., Smith, Brent A., Smart, David C., Pilarczyk, Scott, Walter, Jason D., Roszhart, Tim, Rains, Gerald E., Mahrt, Sean, Sachs, James Lawrence
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dunn, Alex C
• Application Number:
  US14/305,937
• Publication Number:
  US 20150363982A1
• Time in Patent Office: 526 Days
• Field of Search: 701/50
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A01C 21/005 Following a specific plan, e.g. pattern
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/0423 Input/output
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23135 Display to console, panel which sends parameters, commands
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45017 Agriculture machine, tractor
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45106 Used in agriculture, tree trimmer, pruner
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3089 Monitoring arrangements determined by the means or processing involved in sensing the monitored data, e.g. interfaces, connectors, sensors, probes, agents software debugging using additional hardware using a specific debug interface G06F11/3656; performance evaluation by tracing or monitoring G06F11/3466
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/02 Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40273 the transportation system being a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/045 for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Sensor information is received from a set of sensors. First and second sets of machine monitoring data are generated from the sensor information. The first set of machine monitoring data is sent to a control system with a display in an operator compartment of a mobile machine. The second set of machine monitoring data is sent to a processing system that is separate from the control system.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving sensor information from a set of sensors;

generating, with a computer processor, a first set of machine monitoring data from the received sensor information;

transmitting the first set of machine monitoring data to a control system of a mobile machine over a first transmission link;

generating a second set of machine monitoring data from the received sensor information;

transmitting the second set of machine monitoring data to a processing system, separate from the control system, over a second transmission link;

determining whether the second transmission link is interrupted; and

if so, storing the second set of machine monitoring data on a data store and resuming transmission of the second set of machine monitoring data over the second transmission link when the second transmission link is reestablished.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the control system includes a display device in an operator compartment of the mobile machine, and further comprising:

generating an operator display on the display device based on the first set of machine monitoring data.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein receiving sensor information comprises:

receiving sensor signals from a plurality of agricultural sensors that sense parameters of an agricultural machine.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein generating the first set of machine monitoring data and generating the second set of machine monitoring data are performed by a single data processing system.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein generating the second set of machine monitoring data comprises:

generating row-by-row monitoring data indicative of individual row characteristics.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 wherein generating the second set of machine monitoring data comprises:

generating row-by-row control data to control individual row performance of the agricultural machine.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein the agricultural machine comprises a planter and wherein generating row-by-row monitoring data comprises:

generating row-by-row seed placement monitoring data indicative of row-by-row seed placement.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 wherein the agricultural machine comprises a planter and wherein generating row-by-row control data comprises:

generating row-by-row seeding control data to control row-by-row seeding operation of the planter.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein generating the first set of machine monitoring data comprises:

generating control data, based on the sensor information, that facilitates control of operations of the mobile machine; and

generating sensor data, at a first resolution, indicative of sensor signal values from the plurality of sensors.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 wherein generating the second set of machine monitoring data comprises:

generating sensor data at a second resolution, higher than the first resolution, indicative of the sensor signal values from the plurality of sensors.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 wherein generating sensor data at the second resolution comprises:

generating the sensor data at the second resolution indicative of sensor signal values from more sensors than the sensor signal data generated at the first resolution.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 wherein transmitting the first set of machine monitoring data comprises:

transmitting the first set of machine monitoring data to the control system over the first transmission link having a first transmission bandwidth.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12 wherein transmitting the second set of machine monitoring data to the processing system comprises:

transmitting the second set of machine monitoring data over the second transmission link having a second transmission bandwidth, the second transmission bandwidth being higher than the first transmission bandwidth.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 and further comprising:

storing the second set of machine monitoring on a data store, prior to transmitting it over the second transmission link.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 wherein transmitting the second set of machine monitoring data to the processing system comprises:

transmitting the second set of machine monitoring data to a remote server.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 and, in addition to transmitting the second set of machine monitoring data to the processing system, further comprising:

transmitting the second set of machine monitoring data to a remote analysis system.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15 and further comprising:

displaying the second set of machine monitoring data on a display at the remote server.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein transmitting the first and second set of machine monitoring data is performed using a single, integrated, system.

19. A data processing system, comprising:

a plurality of sensors sensing variables on a first mobile machine; and

a processing system on the first mobile machine that receives sensor information from the plurality of sensors and generates low resolution data indicative of the sensor information and that generates high resolution data, that is higher resolution than the low resolution data, and transmits the low resolution data and the high resolution data to another processing system over a transmission link.

20. The data processing system of claim 19 wherein the processing system comprises:

a low resolution processing system that generates the low resolution data; and

a high resolution processing system that generates the high resolution data.

21. The data processing system of claim 19 wherein the transmission link comprises:

a low resolution transmission link, having a first data transmission bandwidth over which the low resolution data is transmitted; and

a high resolution transmission link, having a second data transmission bandwidth that is higher than the first data transmission bandwidth, over which the high resolution data is transmitted.

22. The data processing system of claim 19 wherein the processing system transmits the low resolution data to a control system.

23. The data processing system of claim 19 wherein the processing system transmits the high resolution data to a control system.

24. The data processing system of claim 19 and further comprising:

a high resolution data store on the first mobile machine, the data processing system storing the high resolution data in the high resolution data store.

25. The data processing system of claim 24 wherein the transmission link comprises:

a controller area network (CAN) bus.

26. The data processing system of claim 24 wherein another processing system comprises:

a mobile device in an operator'"'"'s compartment of a second mobile machine coupled to the first mobile machine.

27. The data processing system of claim 24 wherein the data processing system transmits the high resolution data to a remote server.

28. The data processing system of claim 27 wherein the remote server comprises:

a remote server-based analysis system.

29. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving sensor signals from a plurality of sensors on a mobile machine;

generating, with a computer processor, high resolution data on the mobile machine, at a first resolution, from the sensor signals;

transmitting the high resolution data to a high resolution system using a high bandwidth transmission link that transmits the high resolution data at a first transmission rate;

generating low resolution data on the mobile machine, at a second resolution that is lower than the first resolution, from the sensor signals; and

transmitting the low resolution data to a low resolution system over a low bandwidth transmission link that transmits the low resolution data at a second transmission rate that is lower than the first transmission rate.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 29 and further comprising:

storing the high resolution data on the mobile machine; and

intermittently transmitting the high resolution data to a remote server.