CN113301793A

CN113301793A - Information management system

Info

Publication number: CN113301793A
Application number: CN201980087167.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 中村翔一; 三宅康司; 西井康人
Original assignee: Yanmar Power Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Yanmar Power Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-01-29
Filing date: 2019-11-28
Publication date: 2021-08-24
Also published as: JP7153577B2; WO2020158142A1; JP2020122997A; KR20210119383A

Abstract

An automatic travel system (100) is provided with a position acquisition unit (64), a stored information selection unit (82), a storage unit (83), and a communication processing unit (72). A position acquisition unit (64) can acquire the position of a rice planting machine (1) that operates a field. A stored information selection unit (82) enables a user to select operation information to be stored, the operation information being detected by a sensor, from a plurality of types of operation information indicating operations performed by the rice planting machine (1). A storage unit (83) stores the job information selected by the stored information selection unit (82) as job log information in association with the position information acquired by the position acquisition unit (64). The communication processing unit (72) can transmit job log information stored in the storage unit (83) to the management server (9) via the network. The storage unit (83) and the communication processing unit (72) are provided in a wireless communication terminal (7) that can be carried by a user.

Description

Information management system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an information management system.

Background

Conventionally, an information management system used when a work vehicle performs work on a field is known. Such an information management system is disclosed in patent document 1, for example.

In the agricultural work information management system of patent document 1, when the combine harvester performs a work related to a farm field in a field, the state of the agricultural work is grasped as agricultural work information by various measurement units, and the work position of the combine harvester is detected by a satellite positioning system. The obtained agricultural operation information and operation positioning information are temporarily stored in a control device of the combine harvester. The agricultural work information stored in the control device is transmitted to an agricultural work information management device configured by a management server or the like.

Documents of the prior art

Patent document

Patent document 1: japanese patent No. 5881573

Disclosure of Invention

In recent years, with the development of information and large data applications in various industries such as agriculture, more detailed data is required for jobs executed by work vehicles. However, in the configuration as in patent document 1, when detailed information is to be obtained as the farm work information, the amount of data inevitably increases, which increases the communication cost with the management server and takes time for communication, and there is room for improvement.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an information management system capable of efficiently performing data communication.

The problems to be solved by the present invention are as described above, and means for solving the problems and effects thereof will be described below.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information management system having the following configuration. That is, the information management system includes a position acquisition unit, a selection unit, a storage unit, and a communication processing unit. The position acquisition unit can acquire the position of a work vehicle that performs work on a field. The selection unit allows a user to select, from a plurality of types of work information indicating a work performed by the work vehicle, work information to be stored in a state detected by a sensor. The storage unit stores the job information selected by the selection unit as the job information in association with the position information obtained by the position acquisition unit. The communication processing unit may transmit the operation information stored in the storage unit to a management server via a network. The storage unit and the communication processing unit are provided in a wireless communication terminal that can be carried by a user.

As a result, the operation information obtained by associating the position information with the job information can be transmitted to the management server via the wireless communication terminal only for the information selected by the user among the plurality of types of job information obtained for the job performed by the work vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to suppress an increase in data traffic and communication time, and to manage detailed job log information by the management server.

The information management system is preferably configured as follows. That is, the operation as a condition for starting the storage of the job information into the storage section differs depending on what job information is selected in the selection section.

This makes it possible to appropriately consider that the timing at which the operation information is to be acquired differs depending on the job information, and therefore, the operation information can be efficiently acquired.

The information management system is preferably configured as follows. That is, the information management system includes an automatic travel control unit that can automatically travel the work vehicle along a travel route set in advance in the field based on the position information obtained by the position acquisition unit. When the work information selected by the selection unit is the work information related to automatic travel of the work vehicle, the storage of the work information is started on the condition that an operation for instructing the automatic travel of the work vehicle is performed.

Thus, the operation information related to the automatic travel of the work vehicle can be acquired in an appropriate time range.

The information management system is preferably configured as follows. That is, the work performed on the field by the work vehicle includes: and a planting part of the working vehicle plants the seedlings to the field. When the operation information selected by the selection unit is information related to the operation state of the planting unit, the operation information is stored on condition that an operation for instructing the planting unit to perform a planting operation is performed.

Thus, the operation information related to the planting operation of the planting unit can be acquired in an appropriate time frame.

The information management system is preferably configured as follows. That is, the information management system is capable of transmitting, to the management server, management information including information indicating a position of the work vehicle, in addition to the work information, the work information being acquired at a time interval different from the management information.

Thus, the 2 kinds of information can be acquired with an appropriate data amount according to the respective purposes and appropriately stored in the management server.

The information management system is preferably configured as follows. That is, the management information is transmitted from a management terminal different from the wireless communication terminal to the management server. The management terminal is fixed to the work vehicle.

In this way, since the management information for grasping the position of the work vehicle itself is transmitted from the management terminal fixed to the work vehicle to the management server, it is possible to realize appropriate communication. In addition, by providing a management terminal exclusively, the reliability of management of the work vehicle can be improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a side view of a rice transplanter used in an automatic travel system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the rice transplanter.

Fig. 3 is a functional block diagram of the automatic travel system and the management server.

Detailed Description

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a side view of the rice transplanter 1. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the rice transplanter 1. Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the automatic traveling system 100.

An automatic travel system 100 of the present embodiment shown in fig. 1 and the like can automatically travel a rice transplanter (work vehicle) 1 that plants seedlings in a field. Here, the automatic travel means: at least automatically performs steering to cause the rice planting machine 1 to travel along a predetermined travel path. In the present embodiment, the user performs settings related to automatic travel using the wireless communication terminal 7, and causes the rice transplanter 1 to automatically travel based on the settings.

The automatic travel system 100 includes a wireless communication terminal 7 capable of remotely operating the transplanter 1. In the present embodiment, the wireless communication terminal 7 is mounted at an appropriate position of the rice transplanter 1 so that the user can operate the rice transplanter in a state of riding on the rice transplanter 1. However, the wireless communication terminal 7 may be detached from the rice transplanter 1 and carried by the user.

In the present embodiment, a management server 9 for managing the transplanter 1 is provided. The management server 9 is connected to the internet. The management server 9 exchanges information with the automatic travel system 100, and manages various kinds of information. Therefore, the automatic traveling system 100 functions as an information management system.

First, a rice transplanter 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to fig. 1 to 3.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the rice transplanter 1 includes a body 11, left and right 1 pairs of front wheels 12, left and right 1 pairs of rear wheels 13, and a planting unit 14.

An engine 22 is disposed inside an engine cover 21 disposed in a front portion of the vehicle body portion 11. The power generated by the engine 22 is transmitted to the transmission 23, and then transmitted to the front wheels 12 and the rear wheels 13. The power transmitted to the transmission case 23 is also transmitted to the planting portion 14 via the PTO shaft 24 disposed at the rear portion of the vehicle body portion 11.

A driver seat 25 is provided between the front wheels 12 and the rear wheels 13 in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body portion 11. The user can ride in the driver seat 25. A steering column is disposed in front of the driver seat 25. A steering wheel 26 for a user to steer the rice planting machine 1 is disposed on the upper portion of the steering column. A shift pedal 27 operated by the user to instruct the speed of the rice planting machine 1 is disposed near the steering column.

The planting portion 14 is connected to the rear of the vehicle body portion 11 via a lifting link mechanism 31. The lifting link mechanism 31 is constituted by a known parallel link. The body part 11 and the planting part 14 are connected to each other by the lift cylinder 32. The raising and lowering cylinder 32 is extended and contracted to raise and lower the entire planting unit 14.

The planting unit 14 mainly includes a planting input box 33, a plurality of planting units 34, a seedling stage 35, and a plurality of hulls (floats) 36.

Each planting unit 34 includes a planting transmission case 41 and a rotation case 42. The power is transmitted to the planting transmission case 41 through the PTO shaft 24 and the planting input case 33. Rotary cases 42 are attached to both sides of each planting transmission case 41 in the vehicle width direction. Each rotary box 42 is provided with 2 planting claws 43. Planting in 1 ridge with the 2 planting claws 43.

As shown in fig. 1, the seedling stage 35 is disposed in front of and above the planting unit 34. The mat for raising seedlings may be placed on the seedling stage 35. The seedling support 35 is configured to be capable of reciprocating and moving in the lateral direction (capable of sliding in the lateral direction). The seedling stage 35 is configured to intermittently feed and convey the mat in the vertical direction downward at the reciprocating end of the seedling stage 35. Thereby, the seedling stage 35 can supply the seedlings on the seedling mat to each planting unit 34. Thus, in the rice transplanter 1, seedlings are sequentially supplied to the planting units 34 and continuously planted.

The hull 36 shown in fig. 1 is provided at a lower portion of the planting portion 14, and is disposed so that a lower surface thereof can contact the ground. By bringing the hull 36 into contact with the ground, the field surface can be leveled before planting seedlings. The hull 36 is provided with a hull sensor, not shown, for detecting the swing angle of the hull 36. The swing angle of the hull 36 corresponds to the distance between the ground and the planting part 14. The rice transplanter 1 can maintain the ground height of the planting unit 14 constant by operating the lift cylinder 32 based on the swing angle of the hull 36 to vertically displace the planting unit 14.

A preliminary seedling stage 38 is disposed on the vehicle width direction outer side of the engine cover 21. The seedling raising box containing the preliminary mat seedlings can be mounted on the preliminary seedling table 38. Upper portions of the left and right preliminary seedling stages 38 are connected to each other by a connecting frame 37 extending in the vertical direction and the vehicle width direction.

A communication case 39 is disposed at the center of the connecting frame 37 in the vehicle width direction. Inside the communication case 39, a positioning antenna 61, an inertia measurement device 62, and a communication antenna 63 are disposed.

The positioning antenna 61 is capable of receiving radio waves from positioning satellites constituting a satellite positioning system (GNSS). The position of the rice transplanter 1 can be acquired by performing known positioning calculation based on the radio waves.

The inertia measurement device 62 includes 3 gyro sensors (angular velocity sensors) and 3 acceleration sensors. The angular velocity and acceleration of the rice planting machine 1 detected by the inertia measuring device 62 are used as an aid, and thus the positioning accuracy using the positioning antenna 61 can be improved.

The communication antenna 63 is an antenna for performing short-range wireless communication with the wireless communication terminal 7.

Next, the management terminal 4 will be explained.

The management terminal 4 is a wireless communication terminal for remotely managing the transplanter 1. The management terminal 4 is fixed to a proper position of the rice transplanter 1. Although the specific mounting position of the management terminal 4 is not shown in the drawings, it is preferably mounted so as not to be easily detached in order to prevent theft or the like of the rice transplanter 1.

The management terminal 4 includes a positioning antenna 45 and a communication antenna 46.

As with the positioning antenna 61, the positioning antenna 45 can receive satellite waves of GNSS.

The communication antenna 46 is an antenna for mobile communication for performing communication using a mobile phone line and the internet.

The management terminal 4 always transmits the result of GNSS positioning using the positioning antenna 45 to the management server 9 as management information using a mobile phone line. This enables the management server 9 to acquire the current position of the rice transplanter 1, and therefore, useful information for planning the work can be acquired. In addition, an effect of suppressing theft can be expected.

The management terminal 4 transmits additional information indicating the state of the rice planting machine 1 together with the position information of the rice planting machine 1. The additional information is various, and for example, information such as whether or not an abnormality such as a failure has occurred or information such as a remaining fuel amount can be listed.

Next, the electric structure of the transplanter 1 will be described with reference to fig. 3.

As shown in fig. 3, the rice transplanter 1 includes a control unit (automatic travel control unit) 50. The control unit 50 includes a storage unit 51, a travel control unit 52, and a work machine control unit 53.

Specifically, the control unit 50 is configured as a known computer, and includes a CPU, a storage device, an input/output unit, and the like, which are not shown. The CPU can read and execute various programs and the like from the storage device. Various programs and data are stored in the storage device. In addition, the control unit 50 can be caused to operate as the storage unit 51, the travel control unit 52, and the work machine control unit 53 by cooperation of the hardware and the software. The control unit 50 may be 1 piece of hardware, or may be a plurality of pieces of hardware that can communicate with each other.

In addition to the inertia measurement device 62, the control unit 50 is connected to a position acquisition unit 64, a communication processing unit 65, a vehicle speed sensor 66, and a steering angle sensor 67. For example, the above-described devices may be connected by using a known CAN-BUS cable, but the present invention is not limited thereto. CAN is the abbreviation of controller Area Network.

The position acquisition unit 64 is electrically connected to the positioning antenna 61. The position acquisition unit 64 acquires the position of the rice planting machine 1 as latitude and longitude information, for example, based on a positioning signal based on the radio wave received by the positioning antenna 61. The position acquiring unit 64 receives a positioning signal from a base station, not shown, by a suitable method, and then performs positioning by a known GNSS-RTK method. However, positioning using, for example, a differential GNSS, single-point positioning, or the like may be performed instead. Alternatively, the location may be acquired based on the radio wave intensity of a wireless LAN or the like.

The communication processing unit 65 is electrically connected to the communication antenna 63. The communication processing unit 65 can perform modulation processing or demodulation processing in an appropriate manner to transmit and receive data to and from the wireless communication terminal 7. This data transmission and reception is performed by so-called short-range communication.

The vehicle speed sensor 66 is disposed at an appropriate position of the rice planting machine 1, for example, at the axle of the front wheel 12. The vehicle speed sensor 66 is configured to generate a pulse corresponding to rotation of an axle, for example. Data of the detection result obtained by the vehicle speed sensor 66 is output to the control unit 50.

The steering angle sensor 67 is a sensor that detects the steering angle of the front wheels 12. The steering angle sensor 67 is provided on a kingpin, not shown, provided on the front wheel 12, for example. Data of the detection result obtained by the steering angle sensor 67 is output to the control unit 50. Further, the steering angle sensor 67 may be provided in the steering wheel 26.

The travel control unit 52 controls the speed and the steering of the rice planting machine 1. The travel control unit 52 can perform both the vehicle speed control and the steering control, and can perform only either control. For example, when the travel control unit 52 performs only the steering control, the vehicle speed is controlled by a manual operation of the user.

The vehicle speed control is control for adjusting the vehicle speed of the transplanter 1 based on a predetermined condition. Specifically, the travel control unit 52 changes at least one of the gear ratio of the transmission in the transmission 23 and the rotation speed of the engine 22 so that the current vehicle speed obtained from the detection result of the vehicle speed sensor 66 approaches the target vehicle speed. The vehicle speed control also includes control for stopping the rice planting machine 1 by setting the vehicle speed to zero.

The steering control is control for adjusting the steering angle of the transplanter 1 based on a predetermined condition. Specifically, the travel control unit 52 drives a steering actuator provided on, for example, a rotating shaft (steering shaft) of the steering wheel 26 so that the current steering angle obtained from the detection result of the steering angle sensor 67 approaches the target steering angle. Further, the travel control unit 52 may be configured as follows: the turning angle of the steering wheel 26 is not directly adjusted, but the turning angle of the front wheels 12 of the transplanter 1 is directly adjusted.

The work machine control unit 53 can control the operation (the raising and lowering operation, the planting operation, and the like) of the planting unit 14 based on a predetermined condition.

Next, an electrical configuration of the management terminal 4 will be explained.

The management terminal 4 includes a control unit 48. The control unit 48 is configured as a known computer, and includes a CPU, a storage device, an input/output unit, and the like, which are not shown. The CPU can read and execute various programs and the like from the storage device.

The position acquisition unit 47 is electrically connected to the positioning antenna 45. The position acquisition unit 47 acquires the position of the rice planting machine 1 as latitude and longitude information, for example, based on a positioning signal based on the radio wave received by the positioning antenna 45. The position acquiring unit 47 acquires the position of the rice planting machine 1 by single-point positioning.

The communication processing unit 49 is electrically connected to the communication antenna 46. The communication processing unit 49 performs communication using the internet using a mobile phone line.

The control unit 48 of the management terminal 4 generates and transmits management information. The control unit 48 and the control unit 50 of the rice planting machine 1 are connected by, for example, a CAN-BUS cable, and CAN communicate with each other. The control unit 48 combines the position information acquired by the position acquiring unit 47 and the additional information acquired by communication with the control unit 50 of the rice planting machine 1 to generate management information. The control unit 48 transmits the generated management information to the management server 9 via the communication processing unit 49.

Next, an electrical configuration of the wireless communication terminal 7 will be explained.

The wireless communication terminal 7 is a tablet computer. The wireless communication terminal 7 includes a communication antenna 71, a communication processing unit 72, a display unit 73, an operation unit 74, and a control unit 80. The wireless communication terminal 7 is not limited to a tablet computer, and may be a smartphone or a notebook computer. The wireless communication terminal 7 performs various processes related to the automatic travel of the rice transplanter 1, and at least a part of the processes can be executed by the arithmetic device of the rice transplanter 1. Conversely, at least a part of various processes related to automatic travel performed by the rice transplanter 1 can be performed by the wireless communication terminal 7.

The communication antenna 71 is an antenna for short-range communication for wireless communication with the rice planting machine 1. The communication antenna 71 may include: an antenna for mobile communication for performing communication by using a mobile phone line and the Internet.

The communication processing unit 72 is electrically connected to the communication antenna 71. The communication processing unit 72 can perform modulation processing or demodulation processing in an appropriate manner to transmit and receive data to and from the rice transplanter 1 and the like.

The display unit 73 is a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, or the like, and is configured to be capable of displaying an image. The display unit 73 can display, for example, information related to automatic travel, information related to setting of the rice planting machine 1, detection results of various sensors, warning information, and the like.

The operation unit 74 includes a touch panel and hardware keys. The touch panel is disposed so as to overlap the display unit 73, and can detect an operation by a user's finger or the like. The hardware keys are disposed on a side surface of the housing of the wireless communication terminal 7, around the display unit 73, and the like, and can be pressed by the user to be operated. Further, the wireless communication terminal 7 may be formed in the following structure: only one of the touch panel and the hardware key is provided.

The control unit 80 includes an automatic travel instruction unit 81, a stored information selection unit 82, a storage unit 83, and a stored information transmission unit 84.

Specifically, the control unit 80 is configured as a known computer, and includes a CPU, a storage device, an input/output unit, and the like, which are not shown. The CPU can read and execute various programs and the like from the storage device. The storage device stores various programs and data. In addition, the control unit 80 can be caused to operate as the automatic travel instructing unit 81, the stored information selecting unit 82, the storage unit 83, and the stored information transmitting unit 84 by cooperation of the hardware and the software. The processing executed by each part of the control unit 80 will be described later.

Next, an electrical configuration of the management server 9 will be explained.

The management server 9 is a known computer that communicates with the wireless communication terminal 7 and the management terminal 4 via the internet. The management server 9 includes an information storage unit 91 capable of storing various information. The information storage unit 91 stores data received by the management server 9 from the communication terminal of the rice transplanter 1 and the communication terminals of other work vehicles (e.g., tractors or combine harvesters).

The management server 9 can perform at least a part of the processing executed by the rice transplanter 1, the wireless communication terminal 7, and the management terminal 4. The management server 9 may store at least a part of the information stored in the transplanter 1, the wireless communication terminal 7, and the management terminal 4.

Next, various configurations provided in the control unit 80 of the radio communication terminal 7 will be described.

The automatic travel instruction unit 81 instructs the transplanter 1 to start/end the automatic travel after various preparatory processes for automatically traveling the transplanter 1 are performed to plant a field.

Specifically, the user appropriately operates the operation unit 74 to cause the automatic travel instruction unit 81 to generate a route (travel route) for the automatic travel based on information such as the position and shape of the field. Information such as the position and shape of the field is registered in advance by the user.

Then, the automatic travel instruction unit 81 transmits the information of the generated travel route to the control unit 50 of the rice planting machine 1. Next, the user operates the operation unit 74 to instruct the start of the automatic travel. Thus, the automatic travel instructing unit 81 transmits an automatic travel start signal to the rice transplanter 1 by the communication processing unit 72. The control unit 50 of the rice transplanter 1 that has received the information by the communication processing unit 65 starts the automatic travel. At any timing during automatic traveling, the user can operate the operation unit 74 to instruct the end of automatic traveling. Thus, the automatic travel instructing unit 81 transmits an automatic travel completion signal to the rice transplanter 1 by the communication processing unit 72. The control unit 50 of the rice transplanter 1 that has received the information by the communication processing unit 65 terminates the automatic travel.

The stored information selection unit 82 can select information acquired by the wireless communication terminal 7 and output as information to the management server 9, among information indicating the status of work performed on a field by the work vehicle.

That is, in addition to the information transmitted from the management terminal 4 to the management server 9, the automatic traveling system 100 according to the present embodiment can acquire detailed information on the work performed by the rice transplanter 1 using various sensors, temporarily store the information in the wireless communication terminal 7, and transmit the information to the management server 9. Hereinafter, the detailed information may be referred to as job information.

As the work information, for example, information related to the automatic travel may be considered. Hereinafter, this information may be referred to as automatic travel information. The automatic travel information may include, for example, the posture or acceleration of the rice planting machine 1 detected by the inertia measuring device 62, the engine speed, the detection value of the vehicle speed sensor 66, the detection value of the steering angle sensor 67, and the like. These pieces of information are sequentially acquired at short time intervals while being associated with the position of the rice planting machine 1 acquired by the positioning antenna 61 based on the detection results of various sensors such as the inertia measuring device 62. Hereinafter, the series of data obtained in this way may be referred to as automatic travel log information. The automatic travel log information is one of job log information (work information) that associates job information with position information.

As the job information, information related to the planting job is also considered. Hereinafter, this information may be referred to as planting work information. The planting operation information may include, for example, an operation position of the operation lever 28, a height of the planting unit 14, a detected value of the hull sensor, and the like. These pieces of information are sequentially acquired at short time intervals while being associated with the position of the rice planting machine 1 acquired by the positioning antenna 61. Hereinafter, the series of data obtained in this way is sometimes referred to as planting job log information. The planting job log information is one kind of job log information.

The job information is not limited to the above example, and various information may be used. The operation information and the position information are generated on the rice transplanter 1 side and transmitted from the rice transplanter 1 to the wireless communication terminal 7 by wireless.

However, the position information transmitted from the management terminal 4 to the management server 9 is repeatedly acquired at a relatively long cycle (for example, once every 1 second or so). On the other hand, the above-described detailed work information can be repeatedly acquired at a relatively short cycle (for example, once every 0.1 second or so). Therefore, data of an information amount suitable for detailed analysis later can be acquired as a log. For example, when the rice transplanter 1 that is traveling automatically is greatly deviated from the travel route for some reason and stopped, if the automatic travel log information is obtained in advance, the situation at that time can be confirmed in detail.

The stored information selecting unit 82 allows the user to select job information to be acquired by appropriately operating the operating unit 74 and displaying the job information on the display unit 73 in, for example, a list format. The user selects, for example, automatic traveling information from the displayed list. The stored information selecting unit 82 stores what job information the user has selected.

The storage section 83 acquires the job information selected by the user using the stored information selection section 82, and stores a combination of the position information and the job information as job log information. The timing of start/stop of acquisition of job log information differs depending on the type of job log information set by the stored information selection unit 82.

For example, it is conceivable that the stored information selecting unit 82 selects the subject of acquiring the automatic travel log information. In this case, the storage of the automatic travel log information in the storage unit 83 is started on the condition that the user instructs the start of the automatic travel as described above and the automatic travel instruction unit 81 causes the start of the automatic travel. The accumulation of the automatic travel log information into the storage unit 83 is completed by the automatic travel stop. Therefore, detailed data on the operation of the rice transplanter 1 during automatic travel can be appropriately acquired.

On the other hand, it is conceivable that acquisition of the planting job log information is selected by the stored information selecting unit 82. In this case, the planting operation log information is stored in the storage unit 83 on the condition that the user operates the work lever 28 as described above and instructs the planting unit 14 to descend. When the user operates the work lever 28 to instruct the planting unit 14 to ascend and accordingly, the planting unit 14 ascends to a predetermined position, the accumulation of the planting work log information into the storage unit 83 is completed. Therefore, detailed data on the operation of the rice transplanter 1 during the period when the planting operation is substantially performed can be appropriately acquired.

The storage information transmitting unit 84 transmits the job log information stored in the storage unit 83 to the management server 9 by using the communication processing unit 72.

Specifically, after the planting operation of the planting unit 14 of the rice planting machine 1 is completed, the wireless communication terminal 7 is brought back to the user's house or the like. Therefore, when the content to be transmitted to the management server 9 is stored in the storage unit 83, the storage information transmitting unit 84 of the wireless communication terminal 7 monitors whether or not the wireless communication terminal 7 is connected to a wireless LAN set in advance. When detecting that the wireless communication terminal 7 is connected to the wireless LAN, the stored information transmitting unit 84 transmits the job log information stored in the storage unit 83 to the management server 9. When the transmission of the job log information is completed, the job log information stored in the storage unit 83 is discarded.

In the present embodiment, the job log information stored in the storage unit 83 is automatically transmitted from the wireless communication terminal 7 to the management server 9. This prevents forgetting to transmit and reduces the labor and man-hours of the user. However, the transmission of the job log information of the wireless communication terminal 7 may be performed on the condition that the user operates the operation unit 74 and instructs the transmission.

The operation log information is information for acquiring detailed information of the rice planting machine 1 as described above, and the time interval for acquiring the operation information constituting the log is also short. Therefore, the job log information is easily changed into data of a large capacity. In this regard, in the present embodiment, the job log information is temporarily stored in the wireless communication terminal 7 and transmitted from the wireless communication terminal 7 to the management server 9 by using the wireless LAN. Therefore, it is possible to transmit a large amount of job log information to the management server 9 at a high speed at an extremely low communication cost by flexibly utilizing the portability of the wireless communication terminal 7.

After storing the job log information in the management server 9, the user logs in the management server 9 using an appropriate computer, thereby being able to browse the data stored in the information storage unit 91 of the management server 9. This enables data to be appropriately managed. For example, a personal computer at home of the user or a mobile computer such as a smartphone carried by the user can be used to browse data. It is needless to say that the data of the management server 9 can be browsed by using the wireless communication terminal 7.

As described above, the automatic traveling system 100 according to the present embodiment includes the position acquisition unit 64, the stored information selection unit 82, the storage unit 83, and the communication processing unit 72. The position acquiring unit 64 can acquire the position of the rice planting machine 1 that operates on the field. The stored information selecting unit 82 allows the user to select the operation information to be stored by detecting the status by the sensor from among a plurality of pieces of operation information indicating the operations performed by the rice planting machine 1. The storage section 83 stores the job information selected in the stored information selecting section 82 as job log information in association with the position information obtained by the position obtaining section 64. The communication processing unit 72 can transmit the job log information stored in the storage unit 83 to the management server 9 via the network. The storage unit 83 and the communication processing unit 72 are provided in the wireless communication terminal 7 that can be carried by the user.

Thus, the job log information obtained by associating the position information with the job information can be transmitted to the management server 9 via the wireless communication terminal 7 only for the information selected by the user among the plurality of types of job information obtained regarding the job executed by the rice transplanter 1. Therefore, it is possible to suppress an increase in data traffic and communication time, and to manage detailed job log information by the management server 9.

In the automatic traveling system 100 according to the present embodiment, the operation as a condition for starting the storage of the job log information in the storage unit 83 differs depending on what job information is selected in the stored information selection unit 82.

This makes it possible to appropriately consider that the timing at which the job log information is to be acquired differs depending on the job information, and therefore, the job log information can be efficiently acquired.

The automatic travel system 100 according to the present embodiment includes the control unit 50, and the control unit 50 can cause the rice transplanter 1 to automatically travel along a travel route set in advance in a field based on the position information obtained by the position obtaining unit 64. When the operation information selected by the stored information selection unit 82 is operation information related to automatic travel of the rice transplanter 1, the storage of the operation log information is started on the condition that the user operates the operation unit 74 in order to instruct the rice transplanter 1 to perform automatic travel.

This makes it possible to acquire job log information (automatic travel log information) during automatic travel in an appropriate time range.

In the automatic travel system 100 according to the present embodiment, the operation of the rice transplanter 1 on the field includes: the planting unit 14 of the rice transplanter 1 plants the seedlings in the field. When the job information selected by the stored information selecting unit 82 is information related to the operating state of the planting unit 1, the storing of the job log information is started on condition that the operation of the work lever 28 instructing the planting unit 14 to perform the planting job is performed.

This makes it possible to acquire job log information (planting log information) at the time of performing a planting job in an appropriate time range.

In addition, the automatic travel system 100 according to the present embodiment can transmit management information including information indicating the position of the rice transplanter 1 to the management server 9 in addition to the work log information. The job log information is acquired at a different time interval from the management information.

Thus, 2 types of information having different purposes can be acquired with an appropriate data amount according to each purpose and appropriately stored in the management server 9.

In the automatic travel system 100 according to the present embodiment, management information is transmitted from the management terminal 4 different from the wireless communication terminal 7 to the management server 9. The management terminal 4 is fixed to the rice transplanter 1.

Thus, since the management information for grasping the position of the rice transplanter 1 itself is transmitted from the management terminal 4 fixed to the rice transplanter 1 to the management server 9, it is possible to realize reasonable communication. In addition, by providing the management terminal 4 exclusively, the reliability of management of the rice transplanter 1 can be improved.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the above configuration may be modified as follows, for example.

In the above embodiment, when the work log information is stored in the wireless communication terminal 7, the position information of the rice transplanter 1 and the work information are transmitted from the rice transplanter 1 to the wireless communication terminal 7 at any time. However, the storage unit 51 on the rice transplanter 1 side, for example, may be used as a storage buffer and may be transmitted to the wireless communication terminal 7 after waiting until a certain amount of data is obtained.

The job log information stored in the wireless communication terminal 7 may be transmitted to a personal computer equipped at home or the like by a wired method (for example, a USB cable), and then transmitted from the personal computer to the management server via a wired LAN.

The configuration may be such that: the start/stop of the automatic travel is instructed by operating an appropriate operation member provided on the rice transplanter 1 side, for example, without using the wireless communication terminal 7.

In the above embodiment, the rice transplanter 1 is configured to travel automatically while a user rides in the vehicle, but the rice transplanter 1 that is not seated by the user may be configured to travel automatically.

The working vehicle is not limited to the rice transplanter 1 as long as it works the field. The information management system of the present invention can also be implemented using, for example, a tractor, a combine.

It will be apparent that the invention is capable of numerous modifications and variations in light of the above teachings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the present invention may be practiced in other methods than those described in the present specification in the claims that follow.

Description of the reference numerals

1 … rice transplanter (working vehicle); 4 … management terminal; 7 … wireless communication terminal; 9 … management server; 14 … planting part; 28 … work bars; a 50 … control unit (automatic travel control unit); a 64 … position acquisition section; 72 … communication processing section; 82 … storage information selection part; 83 … storage part; 100 … automatic running system (information management system).

Claims

1. An information management system characterized in that,

the information management system includes:

a position acquisition unit that can acquire the position of a work vehicle that performs work on a field;

a selection unit that allows a user to select, from a plurality of types of work information indicating a work performed by the work vehicle, work information to be stored in a state detected by a sensor;

a storage unit that stores the job information selected by the selection unit and the position information obtained by the position acquisition unit in association with each other as operation information; and

a communication processing unit capable of transmitting the operation information stored in the storage unit to a management server via a network,

the storage unit and the communication processing unit are provided in a wireless communication terminal that can be carried by a user.

2. The information management system according to claim 1,

the operation as a condition for starting the storage of the job information into the storage section differs depending on what job information is selected in the selection section.

3. The information management system according to claim 1 or 2,

the information management system includes an automatic travel control unit that can automatically travel the work vehicle along a travel route set in advance in the field based on the position information obtained by the position obtaining unit,

when the work information selected by the selection unit is the work information related to automatic travel of the work vehicle, the storage of the work information is started on the condition that an operation for instructing the automatic travel of the work vehicle is performed.

4. The information management system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,

the work performed on the field by the work vehicle includes: the planting part of the working vehicle plants the seedlings to the field,

when the operation information selected by the selection unit is information related to the operation state of the planting unit, the operation information is stored on condition that an operation for instructing the planting unit to perform a planting operation is performed.

5. The information management system according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

in addition to the work information, it is possible to transmit management information including information indicating the position of the work vehicle to the management server,

the operation information is acquired at a different time interval from the management information.

6. The information management system according to claim 5,

the management information is transmitted from a management terminal different from the wireless communication terminal to the management server,

the management terminal is fixed to the work vehicle.