Driver assistance system

• US 10,653,064 B2
• Filed: 09/18/2017
• Issued: 05/19/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Deere & Company
• Original Assignee: Deere & Company
• Inventors: Bollin, Douglas J., Seidel, Emily L., Taylor, Marguerite, Donini, Mario L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kan, Yuri
• Application Number:
  US15/706,904
• Publication Number:
  US 20190082593A1
• Time in Patent Office: 974 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A01D 41/127 Control or measuring arrangements specially adapted for combines
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/08 Interaction between the driver and the control system
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/021 in which a variable is automatically adjusted to optimise the performance

Abstract

User interfaces are displayed so that a user can select a plurality of different performance issues, along with a severity level for each issue. A solution (or a set of solutions) that address(es) the performance issues is identified and the solution (or set) is surfaced for user interaction. A control signal is generated based on user interaction with the surfaced solution (or set of solutions), in order to take corrective action on the harvester based upon the selected solution.

Claims

1. A mobile harvesting machine, comprising:

at least one processor;

memory storing instructions executable by the at least one processor, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the mobile harvesting machine to;

generate a user interface with an issue selection user input mechanism;

detect a user actuation of the issue selection user input mechanism indicative of a machine performance issue that is one of multiple machine performance options presented though the user interface;

select the machine performance issue based on the detection of the user actuation of the issue selection user input mechanism;

generate the user interface with a severity level user input mechanism;

detect a user actuation of the severity level user input mechanism indicative of a severity level that is one of multiple severity level options presented through the user interface as user selectable severity level options specifically associated with the selected machine performance issue;

select the severity level based on the detected user actuation of the severity level user input mechanism;

identify a solution that has a corresponding actions, based on a combination of the selected machine performance issue and the selected severity level; and

generate a control signal that controls the mobile harvesting machine based on the corresponding solution and its corresponding action.

2. The mobile harvesting machine of claim 1 wherein the control signal controls a controllable subsystem to perform the corresponding actions.

3. The mobile harvesting machine of claim 2 wherein the control signal controls the controllable subsystem to modify at least one of machine settings in the controllable subsystem, or machine configuration of the mobile harvesting machine.

4. The mobile harvesting machine of claim 1 wherein, when the action corresponding to the identified solution comprise a manual action.

5. The mobile harvesting machine of claim 1 wherein the multiple machine performance options are each identified through the user interface as a characteristic of operation performance of the harvesting machine that can be visually observed by an operator during operation of the mobile harvesting machine.

6. The mobile harvesting machine of claim 1 wherein the severity level user input mechanism is actuatable to identify a different severity level corresponding to each of the multiple machine performance options presented through the user interface.

7. The mobile harvesting machine of claim 6 wherein the instructions further cause the mobile harvesting machine to:

detect when the actions corresponding to the identified solution is completed; and

generate a timeout signal that disables a performance issue detection function for a timeout period to allow the mobile harvesting machine to perform harvesting operations during the timeout period, prior to detecting a subsequent actuation of the issue selection user input mechanism.

8. The mobile harvesting machine of claim 1 wherein the instructions further cause the mobile harvesting machine to:

identify a set of possible solutions, including said solution, based on said combination.

9. The mobile harvesting machine of claim 8 wherein the instructions further cause the mobile harvesting machine to generate an interactive solution display that displays the set of possible solutions on the user interface, with a solution selection user input mechanism that is actuated to select one of the set of possible solutions for application to the mobile harvesting machine.

10. The mobile harvesting machine of claim 9 wherein the instructions further cause the mobile harvesting machine to:

rank the set of possible solutions; and

generate the interactive solution display that displays the set of possible solutions in rank order.

11. The mobile harvesting machine of claim 1 wherein identifying the solution based on the combination further comprises identifying the solution based on at least one other selected machine performance issue and an associated user-identified security level.

12. A mobile harvesting machine, comprising:

one or more processors;

severity level detection logic, implemented by at least one of the processors, and configured to;

generate a severity level user input mechanism;

detect user actuation of the severity level user input mechanism, the user actuation of the severity level user input mechanism being indicative of a user-initiated identification of a user-adjustable severity level for a corresponding user-selected performance issue; and

select, the severity level based on the detected user actuation of the severity level user input mechanism;

a solution identification system, implemented by at least one of the processors, and configured to identify a solution that has a corresponding action based at least on the selected severity level; and

a control signal generator, implemented by at least one of the processors, and configured to generate a control signal that controls the mobile harvesting machine based on the action that corresponds to the identified solution.

13. The mobile harvesting machine of claim 12 wherein the solution identification system comprises:

solution identifier logic configured to identify a set of possible solutions that includes said solution and that is based at least on the selected severity level, and wherein the solution identification system is configured to generate an interactive solution display that displays the set of possible solutions, with a solution selection user input mechanism that is actuated to select one of the set of possible solutions for application to the mobile harvesting machine.

14. The mobile harvesting machine of claim 13 wherein the solution identification system comprises:

ranking logic configured to rank the set of possible solutions based on a likelihood of addressing the identified machine performance issues, the solution identification system being configured to generate the interactive solution display that displays the set of possible solutions in rank order.

15. The mobile harvesting machine of claim 12 wherein the control signal generator is configured to generate the control signal as a plurality of different control signals that control a plurality of different controllable subsystems to perform the corresponding action.

16. A method of controlling a mobile harvesting machine, the method comprising:

generating a user interface with an issue selection user input mechanism that is actuatable to identify a machine performance issue;

generating a severity level user input mechanism that is actuatable to identify a severity level corresponding to the identified machine performance issue;

detecting actuation of the severity level user input mechanism that indicates the severity level corresponding to the identified machine performance issue;

identifying a solution that has a corresponding action, wherein identifying comprises identifying based on a combination of the identified machine performance issue and the severity level corresponding to the identified machine performance issue;

generating an action signal based on the action that corresponds to the identified solution; and

controlling the mobile harvesting machine based at least on the action signal.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein generating an action signal comprises:

generating a control signal that controls a controllable subsystem to perform the actions.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein generating a user interface with an issue selection user input mechanism comprises:

generating the issue selection user input mechanism as being actuatable to identify a plurality of different machine performance issues that include said machine performance issue.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein generating a severity level user input mechanism comprises:

generating the severity level user input mechanism as being actuatable to identify a different severity level corresponding to each of the plurality of different machine performance issues.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein identifying the solution comprises:

ranking a set of possible solutions that includes said solution; and

generating and displaying an interactive solution display that displays the set of possible solutions.