Apparatus and method for monitoring an article dispensing device such as a seed planter and the like

An article counting system for counting a total number of articles comprising:

• (a) a plurality of separate article counting devices, each of which contains
• (1) an article path,
• (2) a sensor adjacent an article path which produces sensor signals in accordance with characteristics of at least one article passing along said article path,
• (3) a circuit for conditioning said sensor signals,
• (4) a sensor signal generating and processing unit which receives said sensor signals and generates a count signal corresponding to the number of articles passing in said article path,
• (5) at least one memory area capable of storing electrical signals,
• (6) an accumulator which receives said count signal and generates an accumulated count signal corresponding to the sum of the count signals for a predetermined time, and
• (7) a communication controller which receives said accumulated count signal after said predetermined time and generates an output count signal;
• (b) a master unit which receives each output count signal from each article counting device and accumulates a total count signal, and
• (c) a communication network which electrically connects each article counting device to each other and to said master unit.

An apparatus for counting articles passing along an article path comprising:

• a sensor adjacent the article path for generating a signal in accordance with characteristics of at least one article passing along the article path, said signal progressing from a quiescent level through a first threshold level to a peak level and back through a second threshold level to said quiescent level as said at least one article passes said sensor;
• means receiving said signal for measuring the duration of time between the time that said first threshold level is reached and the time that said second threshold level is reached;
• means receiving said signal for approximately integrating said signal over said duration thereby generating an area measurement;
• and
• output means responsive to said duration and said area measurement for producing an output signal representative of the number of articles passing said sensor during said duration.

A method of counting articles passing along an article path comprising:

• generating a signal in accordance with characteristics of at least one article passing along the article path, said signal progressing from a quiescent level through a first threshold level to a peak level and back through a second threshold level to said quiescent level as said at least one article passes a point along the article path;
• measuring the duration of time between the time that said first threshold level is reached and the time that said second threshold level is reached;
• approximately integrating said signal over said duration thereby generating an area measurement;
• and,
• generating an article count from said duration and said area measurement.