System for controlling and monitoring agricultural field equipment and method

• US 6,337,971 B1
• Filed: 10/14/1997
• Issued: 01/08/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Reintech, LLC
• Original Assignee: PivoTrac.com, LLC
• Inventors: Abts, Gerald L.
• Primary Examiner(s): CUMMING, WILLIAM D
• Application Number:
  US08/950,323
• Time in Patent Office: 1,547 Days
• Field of Search: 455/31.1, 455/256, 340/310.1, 331/65, 119/498
• US Class Current: 340/7.2
• CPC Class Codes: A01G 25/092 movable around a pivot centre
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A pager system for monitoring the operation of a plurality of controllers in each one of a plurality of agricultural field equipment in a group. A plurality of sensors are provided at each location of agricultural field equipment wherein a sensor connects through an isolation device to one of the controllers for issuing a status signal corresponding to the present status of the connected controller. Whenever the status of a controller changes, the remote terminal unit immediately transmits the changed status symbol as well as the status of the other sensors to a central control computer. The central control computer analyzes the transmitted status signals for generating a changed status paging message and delivers the changed status paging message, identifying the agricultural field equipment having the changed status, as well as the unchanged status messages from all remaining agricultural field equipment in the group. The paging messages are delivered to a pager held by an operator at a remote location with the changed status paging message marked so that the operator can identify which piece of agricultural field equipment had its status changed.

Claims

1. A pager message system for monitoring the operation of a plurality of controllers in each one of a plurality of agricultural field equipment, said pager message system comprising:

a plurality of sensors at each of said plurality of agriculture field equipment, one of said plurality of sensors connected to one of said plurality of controllers for issuing a status signal corresponding to the status of said connected controller,

a plurality of remote terminal units, one of said plurality of remote terminal units connected to said plurality of sensors at each of said plurality of agriculture field equipment, said remote terminal unit transmitting status signals whenever one status signal changes and whenever a predetermined time period elapses,

a central control computer receiving said transmitted status signals from said transmitting remote terminal unit, said central control computer analyzing said transmitted status signals for generating at least one changed status paging message only when a changed status signal occurs,

a paging terminal, said central control computer delivering said at least one changed status paging message for all remaining agriculture field equipment in said plurality of agriculture field equipment to said paging terminal whenever one of said remote plurality of terminal units transmits said changed status signals,

at least one pager, said paging terminal delivering said delivered changed status paging messages to said at least one pager, said at least one pager displaying said changed status paging messages, said changed status paging message being marked when displayed.

2. The pager message system of claim 1 wherein said agricultural field equipment is pivot irrigation equipment.

3. The pager message system of claim 2 wherein said plurality of controllers at least includes control circuit power, speed control, and wet control and wherein said plurality of sensors at least includes a power control sensor, a pivot running sensor and a wet control sensor.

4. The pager message control system of claim 3 wherein said at least one changed status paging message is at least derived from the status signals from said power control sensor, said speed control sensor and said wet control sensor.

5. The pager message control system of claim 1 wherein said agriculture field equipment is potato cellar storage equipment.

6. The pager message control system of claim 5 wherein said plurality of controllers at least includes control circuit power, fan power, and an alarm, and wherein said plurality of sensors at least includes a power control sensor, a fan sensor, and an alarm sensor.

7. The pager message control system of claim 6 wherein said changed status is at least derived from the status signals from said power control sensor, said fan sensor, and said alarm sensor.

8. The pager message control system of claim 1 further comprising an isolation device between said one of said plurality of sensors connected to said one of said plurality of controllers.

9. The pager message control system of claim 1 wherein said central control computer generates a loss of communication changed status paging message whenever communication is lost with one of said plurality of field equipment for a predetermined period of time.

10. The pager message control system of claim 1 wherein said displayed changed status messages marks changed agricultural field equipment with a “

( )”

.

11. The pager message control system of claim 1 wherein said displayed changed and unchanged status paging messages use graphical icons.

12. The pager message control system of claim 11 wherein the outer shape of the graphical icon defines the type of said agricultural field equipment and wherein the inner design of the graphical icon defines the status message.

13. A pager message system for monitoring the operation of a plurality of controllers in each one of a plurality of pivot irrigation equipment, said pager message system comprising:

a plurality of isolation devices at each of said plurality of pivot irrigation equipment,

a plurality of sensors at each of said plurality of pivot irrigation equipment, one of said plurality of sensors connected through one of said plurality of isolation devices to one of said plurality of controllers for issuing a status signal corresponding to the status of said connected controller,

a plurality of remote terminal units, one of said plurality of remote terminal units connected to said plurality of sensors at each of said plurality of pivot irrigation equipment, said remote terminal unit transmitting status signals whenever one status signal changes,

a central control computer receiving said transmitted status signals from said transmitting remote terminal unit, said central control computer analyzing said transmitted status signals for generating at least one changed status paging message for said transmitting remote terminal unit,

a paging terminal, said central control computer delivering said changed status paging message for all remaining pivot irrigation equipment in said plurality of pivot irrigation equipment to said paging terminal whenever one of said remote plurality of terminal units transmits said changed status signals,

at least one pager, said paging terminal delivering said delivered changed status paging message to said pager, said pager displaying said changed status paging messages, said changed status paging message being marked when displayed, said plurality of controllers at least includes power control, speed control, and wet control and wherein said plurality of sensors at least includes a power control sensor, a speed control sensor and a wet control sensor.

14. The pager message control system of claim 13 wherein said at least one changed status paging message is a least derived from the status signals from said power control sensor, said speed control sensor and wet control sensor.

15. A pager message system for monitoring the operation of a plurality of controllers in each one of a plurality of pivot irrigation equipment, said pager message system comprising:

a plurality of isolation devices at each of said plurality of pivot irrigation equipment,

a plurality of sensors at each of said plurality of pivot irrigation equipment, one of said plurality of sensors connected through one of said plurality of isolation devices to one of said plurality of controllers for issuing a status signal corresponding to the status of said connected controller,

a plurality of remote terminal units, one of said plurality of remote terminal units connected to said plurality of sensors at each of said plurality of pivot irrigation equipment, said remote terminal unit transmitting status signals whenever one status signal changes,

a central control computer receiving said transmitted status signals from said transmitting remote terminal unit, said central control computer analyzing said transmitted status signals for generating at least one changed status paging message for said transmitting remote terminal unit,

a paging terminal, said central control computer delivering said changed status paging message for all remaining pivot irrigation equipment in said plurality of pivot irrigation equipment to said paging terminal whenever one of said remote plurality of terminal units transmits said changed status signals,

at least one pager, said paging terminal delivering said delivered changed status paging messages to said pager, said pager displaying said changed status paging messages, said changed status paging message being marked when displayed, said central control computer generates a loss of communication changed status paging message whenever communication is lost with one of said plurality of pivot irrigation equipment for a predetermined period of time.

16. A pager message system for monitoring the operation of a plurality of controllers in each one of a plurality of pivot irrigation equipment, said pager message system comprising:

a plurality of isolation devices at each of said plurality of pivot irrigation equipment,

a plurality of sensors at each of said plurality of pivot irrigation equipment, one of said plurality of sensors connected through one of said plurality of isolation devices to one of said plurality of controllers for issuing a status signal corresponding to the status of said connected controller,

wherein said plurality of controllers at least includes power control, speed control, and wet control and wherein said plurality of sensors at least includes a power control sensor, a speed control sensor and a wet control sensor,

a plurality of remote terminal units, one of said plurality of remote terminal units connected to said plurality of sensors at each of said plurality of pivot irrigation equipment, said remote terminal unit transmitting status signals whenever one status signal changes,

a central control computer receiving said transmitted status signals from said transmitting remote terminal unit, said central control computer analyzing said transmitted status signals for generating at least one changed status paging message for said transmitting remote terminal unit,

wherein said changed status paging message is at least derived from the status signals from said power control sensor, said speed control sensor and said wet control sensor and wherein said central control computer generates a loss of communication changed status paging message whenever communication is lost with one of said plurality of pivot irrigation equipment for a predetermined period of time,

a paging terminal, said central control computer delivering said changed status paging message for all remaining pivot irrigation equipment in said plurality of pivot irrigation equipment to said paging terminal whenever one of said remote plurality of terminal units transmits said changed status signals,

at least one pager, said paging terminal delivering said delivered changed status paging message to said pager, said pager displaying said changed status paging message, said changed status paging message being marked when displayed.

17. A method for monitoring the operation of a plurality of controllers in each one of a plurality of agricultural field equipment, said method for monitoring comprising the steps of:

issuing from a remote terminal unit status signals corresponding to the status of the plurality of controllers,

transmitting over a communication channel the issued status signals to a central control computer whenever one status signal changes,

receiving the transmitted status signals at the central control computer,

analyzing the received status signals at the central control computer,

generating at the central control computer at least one changed status paging message identifying the location of the agricultural field equipment having the one status signal change,

generating at the central control computer unchanged status paging messages identifying the location of the remaining agricultural field equipment,

delivering the changed status paging message and unchanged status messages to a least one pager,

displaying at said pager said changed and unchanged status paging messages, said changed status paging message being marked when displayed thereby marking the agricultural field equipment issuing the changed status paging message,

wherein the step of transmitting the issued status signals further includes the step of transmitting the issued status signals as radio frequency signals, wherein the step of delivering further comprises the steps of;

delivering the changed and unchanged status paging messages over a telephony link to a pager control system,

the pager control system delivering the changed and unchanged status paging messages over a paging link to at least one pager.

18. A method for monitoring the operation of a plurality of controllers in each one of a plurality of agricultural field equipment, said method for monitoring comprising the steps of:

issuing from a remote terminal unit status signals corresponding to the status of the plurality of controllers,

transmitting over a communication channel the issued status signals to a central control computer whenever one status signal changes,

receiving the transmitted status signals at the central control computer,

analyzing the received status signals at the central control computer,

generating at the central control computer at least one changed status paging message identifying the location of the agricultural field equipment having the one status signal change,

generating at the central control computer unchanged status paging messages identifying the location of the remaining agricultural field equipment,

delivering the changed status paging message and unchanged status messages to at least one pager,

displaying at said pager said changed and unchanged status paging messages, said changed status paging message being marked when displayed thereby marking the agricultural field equipment issuing the changed status paging message, wherein each unchanged status message is displayed in the form of;

location, status

and wherein the changed status message is displayed in the form of;

(location, status)

wherein the () marks the changed status message.

19. A method for monitoring the operation of a plurality of controllers and for commanding the operation of a least one power circuit in each one of a plurality of agricultural field equipment, said method for monitoring comprising the steps of:

issuing at least one command signal for an identified agricultural field equipment from a remote location,

delivering the issued at least one command signal to a first pager located at a central control computer,

the central control computer transmitting the delivered at least one command signal to the at least one power circuit at the identified agricultural field equipment,

commanding the operation of the at least one power circuit at the identified agricultural field equipment,

issuing from an RTU status signals corresponding to the status of the plurality of controllers,

transmitting over a communication channel the issued status signals to a central control computer whenever one status signal changes such as in response to the commanded operation;

receiving the transmitted status signals at the central control computer,

analyzing the received status signals at the central control computer,

generating at a central control computer at least one changed status paging message identifying the location of the agricultural field equipment having the one status signal change,

generating at a central control computer unchanged status paging messages identifying the location of the remaining agricultural field equipment,

delivering said at least one changed status paging message and unchanged status messages to a second pager at the remote location,

displaying said at least one changed and unchanged status paging messages in the second pager, said changed status paging message being marked when displayed thereby marking the agricultural field equipment issuing the changed status paging message.