US 11,944,087 B2
Agricultural sprayer with real-time, on-machine target sensor
Akira Mizushima, West Des Moines, IA (US); Michael P. Schlax, Yarmouth, ME (US); Tucker J. Schoff, Des Moines, IA (US); Steven Rees, Top Camp (AU); and Richard A. Humpal, Ankeny, IA (US)
Assigned to Deere & Company, Moline, IL (US)
Filed by Deere & Company, Moline, IL (US)
Filed on Feb. 10, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/172,294.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/128,435, filed on Dec. 21, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0192084 A1, Jun. 23, 2022
Int. Cl. G06V 20/10 (2022.01); A01M 7/00 (2006.01)
CPC A01M 7/0089 (2013.01) [G06V 20/188 (2022.01); A01M 7/0057 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An agricultural machine that travels across a field in a direction of travel, comprising:
a material reservoir;
a boom having an elongate axis that is transverse to an elongate axis of the agricultural machine;
a plurality of controllable valves mounted across the boom;
a plurality of optical sensors that each capture images of a portion of the field ahead of the plurality of controllable valves in the direction of travel;
a calibration system that, for each given optical sensor, generates a transform corresponding to the given optical sensor to apply to a received image, received by the given optical sensor to identify a location on the field corresponding to a position in the received image;
a pump that pumps material from the material reservoir to the plurality of controllable valves;
a target identification system that identifies a target in the received image and applies the transform to the received image to identify a location on the field corresponding to the target; and
a valve controller that generates a valve control signal to control the plurality of controllable valves to apply the material to the target.