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AssigneeDeere & Company
InventorsElijah B. Garner, Charles T. Graham
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A seeding machine, such as a row crop planter, is described which is adapted to switch between two or more seed varieties as the machine traverses a field. The control system uses a programmed quantity of seed representing a number of seeds in the seed meter that need to be substantially consumed once the flow of a first seed variety is stopped before introducing a second seed variety to minimize seed mixing. The seed quantity can be determined by a calibration process or published from the manufacturer or third parties. The seed quantity can also be part of a seeding prescription that includes assignment of where each seed variety is to be planted in a field. The seed quantity and the distance traveled to empty the meter can be used to optimize the planting operation including the machine direction which can also be part of the prescription.
A prescription for operating a seeding machine, the seeding machine including a seed meter having a housing adapted to hold a pool of seed to be singulated and delivered sequentially, a seed delivery system to provide at least two different varieties of seed to the meter, the seed delivery system having a switching mechanism to change from a first variety of seed to a second variety of seed being delivered to the meter housing, and a controller adapted to operate the switching mechanism to control which seed variety of the first and second seed varieties is delivered to the meter based on the location of the machine in a field, the controller being programmed to operate the switching mechanism based on a stored programmed quantity of seed value representing the quantity of seed in the meter housing, the prescription comprising:
A prescription for operating a seeding machine, the seeding machine including a seed meter having a housing adapted to hold a pool of seed to be singulated and delivered sequentially, a seed delivery system to provide at least two different varieties of seed to the meter, the seed delivery system having a switching mechanism to change from a first variety of seed to a second variety of seed being delivered to the meter housing, and a controller adapted to operate the switching mechanism to control which seed variety of the first and second seed varieties is delivered to the meter based on the location of the machine in a field, the prescription comprising:
A seed distributing machine comprising:
A seed distributing machine comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.