IP Library Granted Patent US 11,138,677
Granted Patent B2
US 11,138,677 · App. 16/393,320 · Granted Oct 5, 2021

Machine learning in an online agricultural system

Inventors: David Patrick Perry (Memphis, TN); Barry Loyd Knight (Cordova, TN); Eric Michael Jeck (San Mateo, CA); Rachel Ariel Raymond (Memphis, TN); Neal Hitesh Rajdev (Lincoln, MA); Geoffrey Albert von Maltzahn (Boston, MA); Robert Berendes (Riehen, CH); Nathan Post (Cambridge, MA); Philip Gabriel Sheets-Poling (Arlington, MA); Rodney Connor (Dwight, IL); Jonathan Hennek (Medford, MA); Ean Shaughnessy Wahl Mullins (Brighton, MA)
Assignee: Indigo AG, Inc.
G06Q50/02G01W1/10G05D1/0214G06F3/0482G06F9/451G06K9/00657G06N20/00G06Q10/06315G06Q10/087G06Q10/0832G06Q10/0833G06Q10/0836G06Q10/08345G06Q10/08355G06Q30/0202G06Q30/0206G06Q30/0283G06Q30/0605G06Q30/0641G06Q40/04G08G1/096805G06Q50/30G16Y10/05
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,138,677
App. No.
16/393,320
Granted
Oct 5, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

An online agricultural system manages and optimizes interactions of entities within the system to enable the execution of transaction and the transportation of crop products. The online agricultural system accesses historic and environmental data describing factors that may impact crop product transactions and/or transportation to determine market prices for crop products and crop product transportation. Responsive to receiving a request from an entity, the online agricultural system determines an optimal transaction for the entity, such as a price for selling a crop product, an available crop product for purchase, or a transportation opportunity to transport a crop product.

Claims (58)

1. A method for training and applying a machine-learned model in an online agricultural system comprising:

receiving, from a first crop producer, a first request to list a first crop product within an online agricultural system, the first request identifying a reported first quality specification of the first crop product and a first crop product type and at least one of: a first quantity of the first crop product, a first crop product price, and a first location of the first crop product;

receiving, from a second crop producer, a second request to list a second crop product having the same crop product type as the first request within an online agricultural system, the second request identifying a reported second quality specification of the second crop product and at least one of: a second quantity of the second crop product, a second crop product price, and a second location of the second crop product;

generating a training set of data comprising remote sensor data corresponding to the crop product type of the first crop product and associated historic quality specification data corresponding to the crop product type of the first crop product;

training a machine-learned model configured to predict a quality specification for the first crop product based on remote sensor data corresponding to the first crop product using the training set of data;

receiving, from a first prospective acquiring entity, a third request to acquire a third crop product, the third request identifying a third crop product type, a third quantity of the third crop product, a third crop product price, a quality requirement of the third crop product, and a third location to which the third crop product is to be delivered;

in response to 1) the first quality specification failing to satisfy the quality requirement, 2) the second quality specification failing to satisfy the quality requirement, and 3) a combination of a fourth quantity of the first crop product and a fifth quantity of the second crop product satisfying the quality requirement:

accessing remote sensing data from one or more remote sensors corresponding to the first and second locations;

applying the trained machine-learned model to the accessed remote sensing data to verify the first and second quality;

calculating a supplier trustworthiness score for the first and second producer based on a difference between the reported qualities and verified qualities; and

in response to the supplier trustworthiness score for both the first and second producers being above a threshold score, modifying an interface of a device of the first prospective acquiring entity to display the combination of a fourth quantity of the first crop product and a fifth quantity of the second crop product.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

automatically arranging for a transfer of possession of the fourth quantity of first crop product and the fifth quantity of the second crop product crop product to the first prospective acquiring entity.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein arranging for the transfer of possession of the fourth quantity of first crop product and the fifth quantity of the second crop product crop product to the first prospective acquiring entity comprises one of: automatically sending transportation instructions to a transportation entity, confirming that the first crop producer and the second crop product are responsible for the transfer of possession, and confirming that the first prospective acquiring entity is responsible for the transfer of possession.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the transportation instructions include the first location, the second location, the third location, and a delivery window.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first quality specification, the second quality specification, and the quality requirement identify one or more physical or chemical attributes of a crop product comprising one or more of: a variety, a genetic trait or lack thereof, a genetic modification or lack thereof, a genomic edit or lack thereof, an epigenetic signature or lack thereof, a moisture content, a protein content, a carbohydrate content, an ash content, a fiber content, a fiber quality, a fat content, an oil content, a color, a whiteness, a weight, a transparency, a hardness, a percent chalky grains, a proportion of corneous endosperm, a presence or absence of foreign matter, a number or percentage of broken kernels, a number or percentage of kernels with stress cracks, a falling number, a farinograph, an adsorption of water, a milling degree, an immature grains, a kernel size distribution, an average grain, a length, an average grain breadth, a kernel volume, a density, an L/B ratio, a wet gluten, a sodium dodecyl, a sulfate sedimentation, toxin levels (for example, mycotoxin levels, including vomitoxin, fumonisin, ochratoxin, or aflatoxin levels), and damage levels (for example, mold, insect, heat, cold, frost or other material damage).

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first quality specification, the second quality specification, and the quality requirement identify one or more attributes of a production method of a crop product or an environment in which the crop product was produced comprising one or more of: a soil type, a soil chemistry, a soil structure, a climate, weather, a magnitude or frequency of weather events, a soil or air temperature, a soil or air moisture, degree days, a measure of rain, an irrigation type, a tillage frequency, a cover crop (present and/or historical), a crop rotation, organic grown, shade grown, greenhouse grown, levels and types of fertilizer use, levels and types of chemical use, levels and types of herbicide use, pesticide-free grown, levels and types of pesticides use, no-till grown, fair wage grown, a geography of production (for example, country of origin, American Viticultural Area, mountain grown), pollution-free grown, and carbon neutral grown.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first quality specification, the second quality specification, and the quality requirement identify one or more attributes of how the crop product is stored comprising one or more of: a type of storage, environment conditions of the storage, a preservation type, and a length of time of storage.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first quality specification, the second quality specification, and the quality requirement identify a grading or certification by an organization or agency.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third crop product price is a price ladder.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the price ladder is a quality based price ladder.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first request identifies the first location of the first crop product and wherein the second request identifies the location of the second crop product.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the first location and the second location comprise one or more of: a field boundary, a production location, and a storage location.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first crop product and the second crop product comprise one or more of: an unprocessed crop, a crop that has not been harvested, or a crop that has been harvested.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first crop product is a crop that has not been harvested.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein one or more of the first crop product type, the first quantity of the first crop product, and the first quality specification of the first crop product is inferred from the remote sensing data.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the third quantity of the third crop product comprises a number of units of transportation selected from: truck loads, train car loads, and barge loads.

17. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

displaying, by the online agricultural system within the interface of the device of the first prospective acquiring entity, an expected distribution of prices or an expected average price of the third crop product for the first prospective acquiring entity to acquire the third quantity of the third crop product.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

displaying, by the online agricultural system within the interface of the device of the first prospective acquiring entity, a distribution of geographic locations from which the third crop product is expected to be acquired for the first prospective acquiring entity to acquire the third quantity of the third crop product.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the interface comprises a map.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first crop product type, the second crop product type, and the third crop product type are the same.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first crop product type, the second crop product type, and the third crop product type are different.

22. A system for training and applying a machine-learned model in an online agricultural system comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed, cause the system to perform steps comprising:

receiving, from a first crop producer, a first request to list a first crop product within an online agricultural system, the first request identifying a reported first quality specification of the first crop product and a first crop product type and at least one of: a first quantity of the first crop product, a first crop product price, and a first location of the first crop product;

receiving, from a second crop producer, a second request to list a second crop product having the same crop product type as the first request within an online agricultural system, the second request identifying a reported second quality specification of the second crop product and at least one of: a second quantity of the second crop product, a second crop product price, and a second location of the second crop product;

 generating a training set of data comprising remote sensor data corresponding to the crop product type of the first crop product and associated historic quality specification data corresponding to the crop product type of the first crop product;

 training a machine-learned model configured to predict a quality specification for the first crop product based on remote sensor data corresponding to the first crop product using the training set of data;

receiving, from a first prospective acquiring entity, a third request to acquire a third crop product, the third request identifying a third crop product type, a third quantity of the third crop product, a third crop product price, a quality requirement of the third crop product, and a third location to which the third crop product is to be delivered;

in response to 1) the first quality specification failing to satisfy the quality requirement, 2) the second quality specification failing to satisfy the quality requirement, and 3) a combination of a fourth quantity of the first crop product and a fifth quantity of the second crop product satisfying the quality requirement:

accessing remote sensing data from one or more remote sensors corresponding to the first and second locations;

applying the trained machine-learned model to the accessed remote sensing data to verify the first and second quality;

calculating a supplier trustworthiness score for the first and second producer based on a difference between the reported qualities and verified qualities; and

in response to the supplier trustworthiness score for both the first and second producers being above a threshold score, modifying an interface of a device of the first prospective acquiring entity to display the combination of a fourth quantity of the first crop product and a fifth quantity of the second crop product; and

a hardware processor configured to execute the instructions.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions for training and applying a machine-learned model in an online agricultural system, the instructions, when executed by a hardware processor, configured to cause the hardware processor to perform steps comprising:

receiving, from a first crop producer, a first request to list a first crop product within an online agricultural system, the first request identifying a reported first quality specification of the first crop product and a first crop product type and at least one of: a first quantity of the first crop product, a first crop product price, and a first location of the first crop product;

receiving, from a second crop producer, a second request to list a second crop product having the same crop product type as the first request within an online agricultural system, the second request identifying a reported second quality specification of the second crop product and at least one of: a second quantity of the second crop product, a second crop product price, and a second location of the second crop product;

generating a training set of data comprising remote sensor data corresponding to the crop product type of the first crop product and associated historic quality specification data corresponding to the crop product type of the first crop product;

training a machine-learned model configured to predict a quality specification for the first crop product based on remote sensor data corresponding to the first crop product using the training set of data;

receiving, from a first prospective acquiring entity, a third request to acquire a third crop product, the third request identifying a third crop product type, a third quantity of the third crop product, a third crop product price, a quality requirement of the third crop product, and a third location to which the third crop product is to be delivered;

in response to 1) the first quality specification failing to satisfy the quality requirement, 2) the second quality specification failing to satisfy the quality requirement, and 3) a combination of a fourth quantity of the first crop product and a fifth quantity of the second crop product satisfying the quality requirement:

accessing remote sensing data from one or more remote sensors corresponding to the first and second locations;

applying the trained machine-learned model to the accessed remote sensing data to verify the first and second quality;

calculating a supplier trustworthiness score for the first and second producer based on a difference between the reported qualities and verified qualities; and

in response to the supplier trustworthiness score for both the first and second producers being above a threshold score, modifying an interface of a device of the first prospective acquiring entity to display the combination of a fourth quantity of the first crop product and a fifth quantity of the second crop product.

Assignments (6)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 15, 2026
From: INDIGO AG, LLC
To: INDIGO AGRICULTURE, INC.
Reel/Frame 075279/0881 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 15, 2026
From: INDIGO AGRICULTURE, INC.
To: TERION AI, INC.
Reel/Frame 075280/0039 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Oct 25, 2023
From: CORTLAND CAPITAL MARKET SERVICES LLC
To: INDIGO AG, INC.; INDIGO AGRICULTURE, INC.
Reel/Frame 065344/0780 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Aug 10, 2023
From: INDIGO AGRICULTURE, INC.; INDIGO AG, INC.
To: CORTLAND CAPITAL MARKET SERVICES LLC, AS AGENT
Reel/Frame 064559/0438 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Sep 29, 2020
From: CORTLAND CAPITAL MARKET SERVICES LLC
To: INDIGO AGRICULTURE, INC.; INDIGO AG, INC.
Reel/Frame 053926/0211 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 10, 2019
From: PERRY, DAVID PATRICK; KNIGHT, BARRY LOYD; JECK, ERIC MICHAEL; RAYMOND, RACHEL ARIEL; VON MALTZAHN, GEOFFREY ALBERT; RAJDEV, NEAL HITESH; BERENDES, ROBERT; POST, NATHAN; SHEETS-POLING, PHILIP GABRIEL; CONNOR, RODNEY; HENNEK, JONATHAN; MULLINS, EAN SHAUGHNESSY WAHL
To: INDIGO AG, INC.
Reel/Frame 050333/0881 →
Continuity (4)
Provisional Application 62662209 · Apr 24, 2018
Provisional Application 62668247 · May 7, 2018
Provisional Application 62703846 · Jul 26, 2018
Related Publication 20190325533A1 · Oct 24, 2019