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US 10,539,545 B2Granted
Systems and methods for monitoring agricultural products
AssigneeAgerpoint, Inc.
InventorK. Thomas McPeek
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention relates to systems and methods for monitoring agricultural products. In particular, the present invention relates to monitoring fruit production, plant growth, and plant vitality.
Claims16
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that are executed by a processor to perform operations comprising:
- assembling point cloud data for a plant with a laser scanner in three dimensions to create a plurality of three dimensional vertices having three dimensional coordinates;
- generating photographic data for the plant with a camera to create an image;
- providing a location of a transport vehicle with a global positioning satellite (“GPS”) receiver;
- geo-registering the assembled point cloud data such that each three dimensional vertex of the assembled point cloud data is associated with a GPS coordinate based on the location of the transport vehicle;
- geo-registering the photographic data such that each three dimensional vertex of the assembled point cloud data is associated with a pixel of the photographic data;
- providing a color of the plant based on the photographic data of the plant;
- providing classification data of the plant comprising stem diameter, height, volume, and leaf density, wherein the classification data is determined using the GPS coordinates of the assembled point cloud data;
- providing plant quality based on the color of the plant and one of the plant's stem diameter, height, volume, and leaf density;
- and
- providing instructions to control a fruit tree sprayer to spray the plant, wherein the instructions control when the fruit tree sprayer sprays, how long the fruit tree sprayer sprays, and what chemicals the fruit tree sprayer sprays on the plant based on the quality of the plant.
7 more elements
A plant analyzer comprising:
- a means for assembling point cloud data of a plant by creating a plurality of three dimensional vertices having three dimensional coordinates;
- a means for collecting photographic data of the plant by taking an image of the plant;
- a means for measuring a location of a transport vehicle;
- a server configured to receive the assembled point cloud data, the photographic data, and the location of the transport vehicle;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- geo-register the assembled point cloud data by associating each three dimensional vertex of the assembled point cloud data with a GPS coordinate based on the location of the transport vehicle,
- geo-register the photographic data by associating each three dimensional vertex of the assembled point cloud data with a pixel of the photographic data based on the location of the transport vehicle,
- determine a color of the plant based on the photographic data of the plant,
- provide classification data of the plant comprising stem diameter, height, volume, and leaf density using the GPS coordinates of the assembled point cloud data,
- determine plant quality based on the color of the plant and one of the plant's stem diameter, height, volume, and leaf density, and
- provide instructions that control a fruit tree sprayer to spray the plant, wherein the instructions control when the fruit tree sprayer sprays, how long the fruit tree sprayer sprays, and what chemicals the fruit tree sprayer sprays on the plant based on the quality of the plant.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.