IP Library Granted Patent US 12,367,532
Granted Patent B2
US 12,367,532 · App. 16/713,122 · Granted Jul 22, 2025

Controlled agricultural systems and methods of managing agricultural systems

Inventors: Timo Bongartz (Munich, DE); Sebastian Olschowski (Munich, DE); Norbert Haas (Langenau, DE); Guido Angenendt (Munich, DE); Marek Burza (Munich, DE); Norbert Magg (Berlin, DE)
Assignee: FLUENCE BIOENGINEERING, INC.
G06Q50/02A01G31/042G06Q10/0639A01G9/247
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,367,532
App. No.
16/713,122
Granted
Jul 22, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present disclosure relates to different techniques of controlling an agricultural system, as for example a controlled agricultural system, an agricultural light fixture and a method for agricultural management. Furthermore, the disclosure relates to an agricultural system, which comprises a plurality of processing lines for growing plants of a given plant type, wherein a first processing line in the plurality of processing lines is configured to move a first plurality of plants through the agricultural system along a route; and apply a first growth condition to the first plurality of plants to satisfy a first active agent parameter for the first plurality of plants.

Claims (44)

1. A horticultural platform, comprising:

a first communications interface configured to:

receive raw input data from a plurality of input devices, each of the plurality of input devices providing the raw input data in a format specific to the input device, the raw input data including at least plant growth data for one or more plants; and

transmit output data to a plurality of output devices;

a second communications interface configured to:

receive application input from one or more applications via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs), the application input including input from at least a third party application and including a growth goal for the one or more plants provided by a user; and

transmit application output to the one or more applications via the one or more APIs, at least one of the one or more APIs including a user identification; and

one or more processors configured to:

process the raw input data into standardized plant growth input data by classifying the raw input data into a plurality of input types and by standardizing, for each input type, the raw input data classified as that input type, the plurality of input types including at least one of structured/relational data and unstructured data; and

generate the output data and the application output based on the standardized plant growth input data and the application input, the application output including data regarding growth of one or more plants in an indoor horticultural environment, the output data including control commands for controlling at least one of the plurality of output devices to affect growth of the one or more plants in the indoor horticultural environment to achieve the growth goal for the one or more plants,

wherein the one or more processors generate the control commands for controlling at least one of the plurality of output devices at least partially based on selecting specific control commands that have a highest probable success score for reaching the growth goal of the one or more plants within constraints of the horticultural platform from among a list of possible control commands.

2. The horticultural platform of claim 1 , wherein:

the application input comprises a request for the application output and/or output data; and

the one or more processors are further configured to:

select one or more of the plurality of input types based on the request; and

generate the application output and/or output data based on the standardized plant growth input data of the selected input types.

3. The horticultural platform of claim 1 , wherein each output device receives data in a format specific to the output device.

4. The horticultural platform of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of input devices comprises at least one of a sensor, a lighting fixture, a third-party data service, and an environmental control system.

5. The horticultural platform of claim 1 , wherein the application input further comprises input from the user.

6. The horticultural platform of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of output devices comprises at least one of an actuator, a sensor, a lighting fixture, a computing device, a third-party data service, and an environmental control system.

7. The horticultural platform of claim 1 , wherein:

the one or more processors are further configured to determine correlations between the standardized plant growth input data; and

the application output and the output data are generated based on the determined correlations.

8. The horticultural platform of claim 1 , further comprising:

a memory configured to store the raw input data, the application input, the standardized plant growth input data, the determined correlations, the application output, and the output data.

9. The horticultural platform of claim 1 , wherein the raw input data further comprises at least one of sensor data, user input, environmental data of the indoor horticultural environment, lighting data, and data collected by third parties.

10. The horticultural platform of claim 1 , wherein the output data comprises at least one of operational parameters for at least one of the plurality of output devices, plant lighting recipes, plant growth recipes, pest control programs, disinfection procedures, and yield prediction.

11. The horticultural platform of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of input types further includes results of data analytics.

12. The horticultural platform of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of input types further includes blockchain data.

13. The horticultural platform of claim 1 , wherein the raw input data is processed into standardized plant growth input data based on ideal plant growth data sets.

14. A method of providing a horticultural platform as a service, comprising:

receiving, at a first communications interface, raw input data from a plurality of input devices, each of the plurality of input devices providing the raw input data in a format specific to the input device, the raw input data including at least plant growth data for one or more plants;

receiving, at a second communications interface, application input from one or more applications via one or more application programming interfaces (APIs), the application input including input from at least a third party application and including a growth goal for the one or more plants provided by a user;

processing, by one or more processors, the raw input data into standardized plant growth input data by classifying, by the one or more processors, the raw input data into a plurality of input types and by standardizing, by the one or more processors, for each input type, the raw input data classified as that input type, the plurality of input types including at least one of structured/relational data and unstructured data;

generating, by the one or more processors, output data and application output based on the standardized plant growth input data and the application input, the application output comprising data regarding growth of the one or more plants in an indoor horticultural environment, and the output data comprising control commands for controlling at least one of a plurality of output devices to affect growth of the one or more plants in the indoor horticultural environment to achieve the growth goal for the one or more plants, the control commands being generated at least partially based on selecting specific control commands that have a highest probable success score for reaching the growth goal of the one or more plants within constraints of the indoor horticultural environment from among a list of possible control commands;

transmitting, by the first communications interface, the output data to the plurality of output devices; and

transmitting, by the second communications interface, the application output to the one or more applications via the one or more APIs, at least one of the one or more APIs including a user identification.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the application input comprises a request for the application output and/or output data and the method further comprises:

select one or more of the plurality of input types based on the request; and

generate the application output and/or output data based on the standardized plant growth input data of the selected input types.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein each output device receives data in a format specific to the output device.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the application input comprises input from at least one of the user and a third party application.

18. The method of claim 14 , the method further comprising:

determining, by the one or more processors, correlations between the standardized plant growth input data, wherein the application output and the output data are generated based on the determined correlations.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 3, 2021
From: OSRAM GMBH
To: FLUENCE BIOENGINEERING, INC.
Reel/Frame 058277/0183 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 13, 2019
From: BONGARTZ, TIMO; OLSCHOWSKI, SEBASTIAN; HAAS, NORBERT; ANGENENDT, GUIDO; BURZA, MAREK; MAGG, NORBERT
To: OSRAM GMBH
Reel/Frame 051272/0671 →
Priority Claims (32)
DE 10 2018 202 552.5 · Feb 20, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 204 524.0 · Mar 23, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 205 193.3 · Apr 6, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 205 654.4 · Apr 13, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 207 877.7 · May 18, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 208 843.8 · Jun 5, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 211 810.8 · Jul 16, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 212 402.7 · Jul 25, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 212 752.2 · Jul 31, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 213 214.3 · Aug 7, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 213 632.7 · Aug 13, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 214 193.2 · Aug 22, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 214 676.4 · Aug 29, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 214 888.0 · Aug 31, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 216 800.8 · Sep 28, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 217 145.9 · Oct 8, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 217 664.7 · Oct 15, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 217 830.5 · Oct 18, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 217 848.8 · Oct 18, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 217 855.0 · Oct 18, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 218 004.0 · Oct 22, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 218 295.7 · Oct 25, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 218 297.3 · Oct 25, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 218 578.6 · Oct 30, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 218 779.7 · Nov 5, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 219 367.3 · Nov 13, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 219 875.6 · Nov 20, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 219 883.7 · Nov 20, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 220 493.4 · Nov 28, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 220 902.2 · Dec 4, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 221 544.8 · Dec 12, 2018 · national
DE 10 2018 221 552.9 · Dec 12, 2018 · national
Continuity (2)
Continuation 16275476 · Feb 14, 2019
Related Publication 20200134741A1 · Apr 30, 2020
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