System and method for communicating grain bin condition data to a smartphone

• US 9,716,966 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2016
• Issued: 07/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intragrain Technologies Inc. (Calian Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Intragrain Technologies Inc. (Calian Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Folk, Kyle
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Simon
• Application Number:
  US15/149,269
• Publication Number:
  US 20160330270A1
• Time in Patent Office: 442 Days
• Field of Search: 455418-420, 455557
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72409 by interfacing with external accessories hands-free H04M1/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]

Abstract

Sensed conditions are communicated from a cable sensing array suspended in one or more grain storage bins using an adapter which includes a port for making a wired connection with a cable output of the cable sensing array. The adapter further includes a sensor receiver in connection with the port to receive sensed conditions from the cable sensing array, and an interface. In a preferred embodiment, the interface forms a wired connection with a headphone jack of a smartphone. A program executable on the smartphone communicates a sampling instruction from the smartphone to the adapter through the interface to cause the adapter to retrieve the sensed condition data from the sensing array and transmit the sensed condition data back to the smartphone. The program on the smartphone may include further instructions to transmit the data over a wireless network to a remote server for access by internet enabled devices.

Claims

1. A data communication system for communication between a mobile computer device and a condition sensor array comprising at least one condition sensor received within an agricultural storage bin for sensing a condition at a respective location of the condition sensor, the system comprising:

an adapter comprising;

a portable housing;

a port on the housing adapted to form a releasable wired connection to the condition sensor array;

a sensor receiver in connection with the port for communicating with said at least one condition sensor of the sensor array;

an interface on the housing for communicating with the mobile computer device;

a controller which is operatively connected to;

i) the sensor receiver for retrieving the sensed condition data from said at least one condition sensor through the sensor receiver; and

ii) the interface for receiving instructions from the mobile computer device and for transmitting the sensed condition data from the controller to the mobile computer device; and

an internal battery within the portable housing of the adapter for providing power to the controller; and

a program loadable onto and executable by the mobile computer device so as to generate a power up instruction and a sampling instruction by the mobile computer device;

the controller of the adapter being operable in a powered down state in which the controller only monitors for a connection to the mobile computer device and a powered up state in which the controller is receptive to operating instructions from the mobile computer device to communicate with the condition sensor array;

the controller being arranged to change from the powered down state to the powered up state only in response to the power up instruction from the mobile computer device; and

the controller of the adapter being arranged to retrieve the sensed condition data from said at least one condition sensor and to transmit the sensed condition data to the mobile computer device only in response to the sampling instruction generated by the mobile computer device subsequent to being changed into the powered up state by the power up instruction.

2. The system according to claim 1 for use with a sensor array comprising a cable suspended within the agricultural storage bin having a plurality of the condition sensors supported thereon and a connector at an output end of the cable in communication with each of the condition sensors, wherein the port on the housing of the adapter is arranged for forming a releasable mating connection with the connector of the sensor array.

3. The system according to claim 1 for use with a sensor array comprising a plurality of the condition sensors, each having a respective sensor identification, wherein the controller is arranged to retrieve the respective sensor identification in association with each sensed condition of the sensor condition data.

4. The system according to claim 3 for use with a sensor array comprising a plurality of cables suspended within one or more agricultural storage bins, each cable having a cable identification and a plurality of the condition sensors supported thereon, wherein the controller is arranged to retrieve the respective cable identification in association with each sensed condition of the sensor condition data.

5. The system according to claim 1 for use with a mobile computer device having a display, wherein the program includes instructions for displaying the retrieved sensor condition on the display of the mobile computer device.

6. The system according to claim 1 for use with a mobile computer device having a memory, wherein the program includes instructions for storing the retrieved sensor condition on the memory of the mobile computer device.

7. The system according to claim 1 for use with a mobile computer device having an antenna for communication with a remote server over a wireless network, wherein the program includes transmitting instructions generated by the mobile computer device for transmitting the retrieved sensor condition from the mobile computer device to the remote server over the wireless network.

8. The system according to claim 7 wherein the mobile computer device comprises a smartphone and the wireless network includes a cellular network.

9. The system according to claim 1 wherein the interface of the adapter comprises a wire harness for making a wired connection between the adapter and the mobile computer device.

10. The system according to claim 9 wherein the wire harness comprises a headphone pin arranged to form a mating connection with a headphone jack of the mobile computer device and wherein the program includes instructions for transmitting data from the mobile computer device to the adapter using an output channel of the headphone jack of the mobile computer device and for receiving data from the adapter to the mobile computer device using an input channel of the headphone jack of the mobile computer device.

11. The system according to claim 10 wherein the headphone pin includes a first channel connector for mating with a first output channel of the headphone jack of the mobile computer device, a second channel connector for mating with a second output channel of the headphone jack of the mobile computer device, a third channel connector for mating with an input channel of the headphone jack of the mobile computer device, and a ground connector for mating with a ground connector of the headphone jack of the mobile computer device.

12. The system according to claim 11 wherein the controller monitors the first output channel of the headphone jack using the first channel connector for changing the adapter to the powered up state in response to receiving the power up instruction from the program on the mobile computer device over the first output channel, and wherein in the powered up state the controller of the adapter monitors the second output channel using the second channel connector for the sampling instruction from the mobile computer device.

13. A method of communicating between a mobile computer device and a condition sensor array comprising at least one condition sensor received within an agricultural storage bin for sensing a condition at a respective location of the condition sensor, the method comprising:

providing an adapter comprising a portable housing, a communication port capable of forming a wired connection with the condition sensor array, a sensor receiver in connection with the port, an interface on the housing, a controller which is operatively connected to sensor receiver and the interface in which the controller is operable in a powered down state in which the controller only monitors for a connection to the mobile computer device and a powered up state in which the controller is receptive to operating instructions from the mobile computer device to communicate with the condition sensor array;

providing a program loadable onto and executable by the mobile computer device such that the mobile computer device is arranged to generate a power up instruction and a sampling instruction;

forming a wired connection between the communication port of the adapter and the condition sensor array;

executing the program on the mobile computer device so as to communicate the power up instruction generated by the mobile computer device from the mobile computer device to the controller of the adapter so as to change the adapter from the powered down state to the powered up state, followed by the sampling instruction from the mobile computer device to the controller of the adapter through the interface; and

using the controller of the adapter in the powered up state to retrieve the sensed condition data from said at least one condition sensor through the communication port and transmitting the sensed condition data from the controller to the mobile computer device using the interface in response to receiving said sampling instruction generated by the mobile computer device.

14. The method according to claim 13 for use with a remote server wherein mobile computer device includes an antenna for communication with the remote server over a wireless network, the method including transmitting the retrieved sensor conditions from the mobile computer device to the remote server over the wireless network responsive to transmitting instructions generated by the program executed on the mobile computer device.

15. The method according to claim 13 further comprising:

executing the program on the mobile computer device to change the adapter from the powered down state to the powered up state prior to forming the wired connection between the communication port of the adapter and the condition sensor array; and

instructing the adapter to retrieve the sensed condition data from said at least one condition sensor responsive to forming the wired connection between the communication port of the adapter and the condition sensor array.