US 12,073,475 B2
Upward facing light sensor for plant detection
Matthew Stephen Colgan, San Francisco, CA (US); and Charles McCauley Ross, Los Altos, CA (US)
Assigned to BLUE RIVER TECHNOLOGY INC., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed by Blue River Technology Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)
Filed on Jul. 27, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/360,756.
Application 18/360,756 is a continuation of application No. 18/170,551, filed on Feb. 17, 2023, granted, now 11,756,136.
Application 18/170,551 is a continuation of application No. 16/789,406, filed on Feb. 12, 2020, granted, now 11,615,486, issued on Mar. 28, 2023.
Prior Publication US 2024/0037676 A1, Feb. 1, 2024
Int. Cl. G06Q 50/02 (2024.01); A01M 7/00 (2006.01); G01N 21/25 (2006.01); G06T 7/00 (2017.01); G06V 10/60 (2022.01); G06V 20/00 (2022.01)
CPC G06Q 50/02 (2013.01) [A01M 7/0071 (2013.01); G01N 21/255 (2013.01); G06T 7/0004 (2013.01); G06V 10/60 (2022.01); G06V 20/38 (2022.01); G06T 2207/30188 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A plant identification system comprising:
an image acquisition system configured to capture an image of a plant in a field, the image acquisition system removably couplable from a farming machine and configured for capturing an image of the plant using an image sensor directed in a downwards orientation towards the plant;
a light measurement system removably couplable from the farming machine configured to measure light incident on the light measurement system, the light measurement system measuring the incident light using a light sensor directed in an upwards orientation away from the plant;
a control system including a processor, the processor configured to:
measure, using the light measurement system, a characteristic of light incident upon the light sensor,
capture the image of the plant in the field using the image acquisition system configured to operate based on the measured characteristic of incident light, wherein capturing the image of the plant comprises adjusting a configuration of the image acquisition system by modifying one or more exposure parameters of the image acquisition system based on a difference between an actual reflectance and a perceived reflectance of the plant,
identify the plant in the image based on (1) pixels in the image identified as representing the plant and (2) image properties of the captured image corresponding to the measured characteristic of light and configuration of the image acquisition system, and
generate a control signal that, when received by a plant treatment mechanism of the farming machine, actuates the plant treatment mechanism to treat the identified plant.