IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,290,063
Granted Patent B2
US 12,290,063 · App. 17/626,694 · Granted May 6, 2025

Method for generating an application map for treating a field with an agricultural equipment

Inventors: Mauricio Lopes Agnese (Cologne, DE); Marek Piotr Schikora (Cologne, DE); Umit Baran Ilbasi (Sao Paulo, BR); Holger Hoffmann (Langenfeld, DE); Thomas Rommel (Langenfeld, DE); Mirwaes Wahabzada (Cologne, DE); Sandra Selinger (Langenfeld, DE)
Assignee: BASF Agro Trademarks GmbH
A01M21/04G06T3/4038G06T7/0012G06V10/70G06V20/17G06V20/188B64U2201/104G06T2207/10032G06T2207/20081G06T2207/30188
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,290,063
App. No.
17/626,694
Granted
May 6, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Method for generating an application map ( 20 ) for treating a field with an agricultural equipment comprising the following steps: providing (S 10 ) a field map ( 10 ) of a field to be treated; determining (S 20 ) areas in the field map ( 10 ) with a weed and/or pest infestation by using an image classification algorithm; and generating (S 30 ) an application map ( 20 ) specifying areas for treating the field with an agricultural equipment, wherein the application map ( 20 ) is based on the determined areas infested by weed and/or pest infestation; wherein the method further comprises the step of providing boundary data with respect to the field.

Claims (27)

1. A method comprising:

generating, based at least in part on boundary data associated with a field to be treated, path data associated with a path to be travelled by an image collection device to collect a set of images associated with the field;

generating, based on the set of images, a field map of the field to be treated;

determining, using an image classification algorithm applied to the set of images, one or more infestation areas in the field map comprising one or more of a weed infestation or a pest infestation; and

generating an application map specifying one or more cells relating to the one or more infestation areas of the field to be treated using agricultural equipment.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising generating control data configured to be used to control the agricultural equipment, wherein the agricultural equipment is at least one of a spraying machine or a control device.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the field map is generated based on the set of images by stitching together images from the set of images.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the image collection device is an aircraft device.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising generating image collection path data for at least one image collection device.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the at least one image collection device comprises a communication interface configured to send the set of images to a computer device, wherein the computer device is configured to execute the image classification algorithm to generate the application map.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the application map is divided in cells, and wherein for each cell, at least one of a weed infestation value or a pest infestation value is provided as a percent value.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein control data is divided in cells corresponding to the cells of the application map, and wherein a threshold value for each cell is applied when generating the control data such that the cells having the at least one of the weed infestation value or pest infestation value above the threshold value are treated by the agricultural equipment.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein when generating the control data, one or more neighboring cells of an identified cell having the at least one of the weed infestation value or pest infestation value above the threshold value are treated by the agricultural equipment.

10. The method according to claim 7 , wherein control data comprises one or more of application rate data, recommended herbicides, or insecticide data.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the image classification algorithm is based on results of a machine learning algorithm.

12. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising generating, based on the application map, control data to be used to control the agricultural equipment.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the path data comprises data associated with one or more of path locations, position marks, flight heights, landing zones, or image locations.

14. A system comprising:

at least one processing unit configured to generate, based at least in part on boundary data associated with a field to be treated, path data associated with a path to be travelled by an image collection device to collect a set of images associated with the field;

at least one processing unit configured to generate, based on the set of images, a field map of the field to be treated;

at least one processing unit configured to determine, using an image classification algorithm applied to the set of images, one or more infestation areas in the field map comprising one or more of a weed infestation or a pest infestation; and

at least one processing unit configured to generate an application map specifying one or more cells relating to the one or more infestation areas of the field to be treated using agricultural equipment.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the one or more processors to:

generating, based at least in part on boundary data associated with a field to be treated, path data associated with a path to be travelled by an image collection device to collect a set of images associated with the field;

generating, based on the set of images, a field map of the field to be treated;

determining, using an image classification algorithm applied to the set of images, one or more infestation areas in the field map comprising one or more of a weed infestation or a pest infestation; and

generating an application map specifying one or more cells relating to the one or more infestation areas of the field to be treated using agricultural equipment.

Assignments (4)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 21, 2022
From: SCHIKORA, MAREK PIOTR; ILBASI, UMIT BARAN; HOFFMANN, HOLGER; ROMMEL, THOMAS; WAHABZADA, MIRWAES; SELINGER, SANDRA
To: BASF AGRICULTURAL SOLUTIONS SEED GMBH
Reel/Frame 061169/0856 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 21, 2022
From: LOPES AGNESE, MAURICIO
To: BASF S.A.
Reel/Frame 061169/0895 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 21, 2022
From: BASF AGRICULTURAL SOLUTIONS SEED GMBH
To: BASF AGRO TRADEMARKS GMBH
Reel/Frame 061169/0928 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 21, 2022
From: BASF S.A.
To: BASF AGRO TRADEMARKS GMBH
Reel/Frame 061170/0004 →
Priority Claims (1)
EP 19186343 · Jul 15, 2019 · regional
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20220256834A1 · Aug 18, 2022
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