Intelligent planting apparatus
OwnerCorey Craiginventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A plant tracking apparatus, system, and method for tracking planting locations of a plurality of plants configured to be planted in a ground surface using a planting utensil having a handle, a blade, and a shaft defined between the handle and the blade is disclosed herein. The plant tracking apparatus includes a housing configured to be coupled to the planting utensil. The plant track apparatus further includes a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) sensor, a planting sensor, and a controller positioned within or coupled to the housing. The controller is configured to record location data from the GNSS sensor in response to a planting signal from the planting sensor. In certain embodiments, the controller may determine the planting signal by comparing data from the planting sensor to a predetermined motion profile.
Claims20
An apparatus for tracking planting locations of a plurality of plants configured to be planted in a ground surface using a handheld planting utensil having a handle, a blade, and a shaft defined between the handle and the blade, the apparatus comprising:
- a housing configured to be coupled to one of the handle or the shaft of the handheld planting utensil;
- a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) sensor positioned within the housing, the GNSS sensor configured to generate location data;
- a triggering sensor coupled to the housing and configured to generate a trigger signal in response to motion of the housing corresponding at least in part to the blade of the handheld planting utensil being inserted into the ground surface for planting one of the plurality of plants;
- and
- a controller positioned within the housing and functionally linked to each of the GNSS sensor and the triggering sensor, the controller configured to record the location data from the GNSS sensor in response to the trigger signal of the triggering sensor to define a recorded planting location of one of the plurality of plants.
A planting system for tracking planting locations for a plurality of plants to be planted, the planting system comprising:
- a handheld planting utensil having a handle, a blade, and a shaft defined between the handle and the blade;
- a housing coupled to one of the handle or the shaft of the handheld planting utensil;
- a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) sensor positioned within the housing, the GNSS sensor configured to monitor a Global Positioning System (GPS) location of the GNSS sensor;
- a planting sensor coupled to the housing and configured to generate a planting signal in response to inserting the blade of the handheld planting utensil into a ground surface for planting one of the plurality of plants;
- a controller positioned within the housing and functionally linked to the GNSS sensor and the planting sensor, the controller configured to record the GPS location in response to the planting signal;
- and
- a wireless transceiver positioned within the housing and functionally linked to the controller, the wireless transceiver configured to transmit the recorded GPS locations from the controller to one of an external device or a cloud application.
A method of planting and monitoring planting locations of a plurality of plants using a plant tracking apparatus, the method comprising:
- (a) inserting a blade of a handheld planting utensil in a ground surface;
- (b) recording a planting location of the handheld planting utensil in response to inserting the blade into the ground surface using a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) sensor functionally linked to a controller of the plant tracking apparatus;
- (c) planting one of the plurality of plants at the recorded planting location;
- and
- (d) transmitting the recorded planting location to one of an external device or a cloud application using a communications module of the plant tracking apparatus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.