Blade control apparatuses and methods for an earth-moving machine

A method for controlling in real time the position of a blade on a geography altering machine, said method comprising:

• providing a geography altering machine, including a blade and a computer, the computer having stored therein a reference line and a three dimensional computer model of a desired topography of a work site;
• providing a user defined offset relative to said reference line;
• determining a blade position in local coordinates;
• converting said local coordinates to reference line coordinates, said reference line coordinates including a reference station value and a reference offset value;
• calculating a slope along a segment orthogonal to said reference line at said reference station and extending said slope beyond said user defined offset, defining a temporary design surface;
• and
• moving said blade so that the actual cross slope of said blade is substantially equal to the slope of said temporary design surface.

An article of manufacture for controlling in real time the position of a blade on a geography altering machine, said article of manufacturing comprising:

• a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer usable medium including:
• computer readable program code for prompting a user for a user defined offset relative to a reference line;
• computer readable program code for determining a blade position in local coordinates;
• computer readable program code for converting said local coordinates to reference line coordinates, including reference station and reference offset values;
• computer readable program code for calculating a slope along a segment orthogonal to said reference line at said reference station and extending said slope beyond said user defined offset, defining a temporary design surface;
• and
• computer readable program code for sending blade movement commands to a blade controller for moving the blade so that the actual cross slope is substantially equal to the slope of said temporary design surface.

An earth-working machine comprising:

• a blade;
• a blade controller configured for moving said blade;
• a computer having stored therein a reference line and a three dimensional computer model of a desired topography;
• said computer being configured to prompt a user for a user defined offset relative to a reference line, determine a blade position in local coordinates, convert said local coordinates to reference line coordinates, including reference station and reference offset values, calculate a slope along a segment orthogonal to said reference line at said reference station and extend said slope beyond said user defined offset, defining a temporary design surface, and send blade movement commands to said blade controller for moving said blade so that the actual cross slope of said blade is substantially equal to the slope of said temporary design surface.

A method for controlling in real time the position of a blade on a geography altering machine, said method comprising:

• providing a geography altering machine, including a blade and a computer, the computer having stored therein a reference line for a work site;
• providing a user defined offset value relative to said reference line;
• determining a blade position in local coordinates;
• converting said local coordinates to reference line coordinates, said reference line coordinates including a reference station value and a reference offset value;
• comparing said user defined offset to said reference offset;
• and
• moving said blade in a lateral direction relative to the geography altering machine to a position wherein said reference offset is substantially equal to said user defined offset.

An article of manufacture for controlling in real time the position of a blade on a geography altering machine, said article of manufacturing comprising:

• a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer usable medium including:
• computer readable program code for prompting a user for a user defined offset relative to a reference line;
• computer readable program code for determining a blade position in local coordinates;
• computer readable program code for converting said local coordinates to reference line coordinates, including reference station and reference offset values;
• computer readable program code for comparing said user defined offset to said reference offset;
• and
• computer readable program code for sending blade movement commands to a blade controller.

An earth-working machine comprising:

• a blade;
• a blade controller for moving said blade;
• a computer having stored therein a reference line and a three dimensional computer model of a desired topography;
• said computer being configured to prompt a user for a user defined offset relative to a reference line, determine a blade position in local coordinates, convert said local coordinates to reference line coordinates, including reference station and reference offset values, compare said user defined offset to said reference offset, and send blade movement commands to said blade controller.

A graphical user interface (GUI) for displaying in real time the position of a blade on a geography altering machine relative to a work site, said GUI comprising:

• a display selected from the group consisting of:
• a top plan view including the current position of said machine and the blade;
• a cross sectional elevational view including a vertical line representing the reference line, and the actual position of said blade taken along a plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of said blade;
• and
• numeric indicia representing said station and offset values.