Method and apparatus monitoring operation of a work vehicle attachment for scheduling maintenance

An apparatus for monitoring operation of a loader carried on an associated tractor, the apparatus comprising:

• a vision system operable to image a set of one or more target devices carried on the loader to generate target device data representative of the image of the set of one or more target devices;
• a loader monitoring control apparatus operatively coupled with the vision system, the loader monitoring control apparatus comprising:
• a processor device;
• a non-transient memory device operatively coupled with the processor device and storing the target device data;
• a clock circuit operatively coupled with the processor device, the clock circuit generating a clock signal representative of a current time;
• and
• loader monitoring logic stored in the memory device;
• and
• a display unit operatively coupled with the loader monitoring control apparatus and comprising a screen that is viewable by an operator of the associated tractor,
• wherein the processor device is operable to execute the loader monitoring logic to:
• determine, based on the target device data, a current loader movement of the loader from a first loader pose to a second loader pose;
• generate, based on determining the current loader movement and the clock signal, first loader usage time data representative of a first time duration of the current loader movement;
• and
• generate loader maintenance alert data based on a sum of:
• i) the first time duration of the current loader movement;
• and ii) an aggregated time duration of one or more previously determined loader movements of the loader exceeding a predetermined loader maintenance time threshold,
• wherein the display unit is operable to display on the screen, based on the generated loader maintenance alert data, a loader maintenance alert image viewable by the operator of the associated tractor and comprising loader maintenance notification information to alert the operator of required loader maintenance.