US 12,272,134 B2
System and method for identifying weeds within a field during an agricultural spraying operation
Andrew W. Harmon, Sheboygan, WI (US); Kevin M. Smith, Narvon, PA (US); and Trevor Stanhope, Oak Lawn, IL (US)
Assigned to CNH Industrial America LLC, New Holland, PA (US)
Filed by CNH Industrial America LLC, New Holland, PA (US)
Filed on Jun. 16, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/349,296.
Prior Publication US 2022/0405505 A1, Dec. 22, 2022
Int. Cl. G06K 9/00 (2022.01); A01C 23/00 (2006.01); A01M 7/00 (2006.01); B05B 12/12 (2006.01); G05B 19/042 (2006.01); G06F 18/24 (2023.01); G06T 7/60 (2017.01); G06T 7/70 (2017.01); G06T 7/90 (2017.01); G06V 20/00 (2022.01); G06V 20/68 (2022.01)
CPC G06V 20/00 (2022.01) [A01C 23/007 (2013.01); A01M 7/0089 (2013.01); B05B 12/122 (2013.01); G05B 19/042 (2013.01); G06F 18/24 (2023.01); G06T 7/60 (2013.01); G06T 7/70 (2017.01); G06T 7/90 (2017.01); G05B 2219/25252 (2013.01); G05B 2219/25257 (2013.01); G05B 2219/25266 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30188 (2013.01); G06V 20/68 (2022.01)] 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for identifying weeds present within a field, the system comprising: a nozzle configured to selectively dispense an agricultural fluid onto a plant present within the field; an imaging device configured to capture an image depicting a plurality of plants present within the field; and a computing system communicatively coupled to the imaging device, the computing system configured to:
receive the captured image from the imaging device; identify a stalk of each plant of the plurality of the plants depicted within the received image; determine a parameter associated with each identified stalk; receive an input indicative of an intra-row crop spacing of a crop; identify each plant of the plurality of plants as the crop or a weed based on the corresponding determined parameter and the received input; and control an operation of the nozzle to selectively dispense the agricultural fluid based on the identification of each plant as one of the crop or the weed, wherein, when identifying the stalk of each plant of the plurality of plants, the computing system is configured to:
classify each pixel of a plurality of pixels forming the received image as one of a plant pixel or a non-plant pixel based on a color of each pixel; identify each group of pixels classified as plant pixels and having a ratio of length and width within a predetermined range as the stalk of one of the plurality of plants;identify a bottom end of each plant;
identify a top end of each plant; form a line extending from the top end of each plant to the bottom end of the corresponding plant; and wherein, when identifying the bottom end of each plant, the computing system is configured to: identify interfaces between groups of pixels classified as plant pixels and groups of pixels classified as non-plant pixels; identify first and second supplementary angles defined by a given interface of the identified interfaces; and determine a distance between vertices of the identified first and second supplementary angles; and when the determined distance is within a predetermined range, identify a portion of the given interface extending between the first and second supplementary angles as the bottom end of one of the plurality of plants.