US 11,896,003 B2
Applying and using fiducial markings on agricultural apparatuses
Elliott Grant, Woodside, CA (US)
Assigned to MINERAL EARTH SCIENCES LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by Mineral Earth Sciences LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Oct. 21, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/971,303.
Application 17/971,303 is a continuation of application No. 16/543,111, filed on Aug. 16, 2019, granted, now 11,510,405.
Prior Publication US 2023/0044622 A1, Feb. 9, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. A01B 69/00 (2006.01); A01M 7/00 (2006.01); A01G 13/02 (2006.01); A01M 21/04 (2006.01); G05D 1/02 (2020.01)
CPC A01M 7/0089 (2013.01) [A01G 13/0262 (2013.01); A01M 7/0042 (2013.01); A01M 21/043 (2013.01); G05D 1/0234 (2013.01); G05D 1/0259 (2013.01); A01G 13/0287 (2013.01); G05D 2201/0201 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An agricultural apparatus comprising:
at least one strip of synthetic mulch configured to be lain over an agricultural area, wherein the strip of synthetic mulch defines a plurality of openings to facilitate growth of a plurality of plants; and
a plurality of fiducials configured to detect one or more properties of soil of the agricultural area and disposed on the strip of synthetic mulch, wherein each of the plurality of fiducials are disposed on the synthetic mulch at defined spatial relationships relative to the plurality of openings and are detectable by one or more robots;
wherein each of the plurality of fiducials is usable by one or more of the robots to generate correspondence data that correlates each fiducial of the plurality of fiducials to one or more of the openings.