Tracking improvement for a vision guidance system

• US 6,285,930 B1
• Filed: 02/28/2000
• Issued: 09/04/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Blue Leaf IP Incorporated (CNH Industrial N.V.), CNH Industrial America LLC (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Case Corporation (CNH Industrial N.V.)
• Inventors: Han, Shufeng, Ni, Bingcheng, Dickson, Monte Andre
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Marc-Coleman, Marthe
• Application Number:
  US09/514,475
• Time in Patent Office: 554 Days
• Field of Search: 701/23, 701/28, 701/50, 701/24, 11/25, 172/3, 172/4.5, 172/7
• US Class Current: 701/28
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0246 using a video camera in combination with image processing means
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0278 using satellite positioning signals, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30172 Centreline of tubular or elongated structure
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30188 Vegetation; Agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30252 Vehicle exterior; Vicinity of vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/11 Region-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/66 of image moments or centre of gravity
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/70 Determining position or orientation of objects or cameras camera calibration G06T7/80
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/588 Recognition of the road, e.g. of lane markings; Recognition of the vehicle driving pattern in relation to the road

Abstract

An automatic vision guidance system for an agricultural vehicle is disclosed and described. The vision guidance system uses a K-means clustering algorithm in image processing to distinguish between crop and non-crop features. The vision guidance system utilizes moment algorithms to determine the location and orientation of crop rows, from which desired wheel angles are determined and steering is commanded. The vision guidance system may adjust the location and orientation of visually determined crop rows according to a predetermined distance between crop rows. Further, the vision guidance system may utilize a redundant number of regions of interest in determining crop row locations and orientations.

Claims

1. An automatic guidance system for an agricultural vehicle, the guidance system comprising:

an electromagnetic sensor for gathering information about field characteristics, the electromagnetic sensor configured to provide a signal representative of crop rows in an agricultural field, the signal represented as pixels of an image;

an information processor having a memory and a central processing unit, and the information processor coupled to the electromagnetic sensor; and

a program in the memory of the information processor configured to be executed by the central processing unit, the program configured to divide the image into a first, a second, a third, and a fourth row region of interest, the program configured to determine location and orientation of a row through each region of interest,

wherein the program is configured to determine whether all the rows are substantially representative of the location and orientation of the crop rows.

2. The guidance system of claim 1, wherein the program is configured to divide the image into more than four row regions of interest.

3. The guidance system of claim 1, wherein the program is configured to compute the location and orientation of at least one row based on a predetermined row spacing.

4. The guidance system of claim 1, wherein the program is configured to reinitialize the row regions of interest when a predetermined number of rows are not substantially representative of the crop rows.

5. The guidance system of claim 1, wherein the location and orientation of the first and second row are determined by a moment algorithm.

6. An automatic guidance system for an agricultural vehicle, the guidance system comprising:

an electromagnetic sensor for gathering information about field characteristics, the electromagnetic sensor configured to provide a signal representative of crop rows in an agricultural field, the signal represented as pixels of an image;

an information processor having a memory and a central processing unit, and the information processor coupled to the electromagnetic sensor; and

a program in the memory of the information processor configured to be executed by the central processing unit, the program configured to divide the image into a first, a second, a third, and a fourth row region of interest, the program configured to determine location and orientation of a row through each region of interest,

wherein the program is configured to determine whether at least three of the rows are substantially representative of the location and orientation of the crop rows.

7. A method of sensing crop rows in an agricultural field, comprising:

sensing electromagnetic radiation with an electromagnetic sensor;

communicating a digital signal representative of the sensed electromagnetic radiation, and representative of pixels of an image, to a processing device;

dividing the image into a first, a second, a third, and a fourth region of interest;

determining location and orientation of a row through each region of interest; and

determining whether all the rows are substantially representative of the location and orientation of the crop rows.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

dividing the image into more than four row regions of interest.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

computing the location and orientation of at least one row based on a predetermined row spacing.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

reinitializing the row regions of interest when a predetermined number of rows are not substantially representative of the crop rows.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the location and orientation of the first and second row are determined by a moment algorithm.

12. A method of sensing crop rows in an agricultural field, comprising:

sensing electromagnetic radiation with an electromagnetic sensor;

communicating a digital signal representative of the sensed electromagnetic radiation, and representative of pixels of an image, to a processing device;

dividing the image into a first, a second, a third, and a fourth region of interest;

determining location and orientation of a row through each region of interest; and

determining whether at least three of the rows are substantially representative of the location and orientation of the crop rows.

13. An agricultural vehicle configured to be guided through a field by an automatic guidance system, the agricultural vehicle comprising:

a visual means for gathering visual input about crop rows in an agricultural field in the format of a digitized image, including pixel information; and

a processing means for dividing the image into a first, a second, a third, and a fourth region of interest, for determining the location and orientation of a row through each region of interest,

wherein the processing means is configured to determine whether all the rows are substantially representative of location and orientation of the crop rows.

14. The agricultural vehicle of claim 13, wherein the processing means is configured to determine whether at least three of the rows are substantially representative of the location and orientation of the crop rows.

15. The agricultural vehicle of claim 13, wherein the processing means is configured to divide the image into more than four regions of interest.

16. The agricultural vehicle of claim 13, further comprising:

a control means for controlling the direction of movement of the agricultural vehicle based upon the location and orientation of the rows.

17. The agricultural vehicle of claim 13, wherein the processing means is configured to compute the location and orientation of at least one row based on a predetermined row spacing.