Patent ID: 9326444
Filing Date: 2016-05-03
CPC Classification: A01D,G05D

Claim Text:
1. A system for facilitating the transfer of agricultural material from a transferring vehicle to a receiving vehicle, the system comprising: a receiving vehicle comprising a propelled portion for propelling the receiving vehicle and a storage portion for storing agricultural material, the storage portion comprising a container perimeter; an imaging device associated with the transferring vehicle or the receiving vehicle, the imaging device facing towards the storage portion of the receiving vehicle, the imaging device collecting image data; a container module for determining a container position or the container perimeter of the storage portion; a rotatable spout pivotally mounted on the transferring vehicle; an alignment module for determining the relative position of the spout and the container perimeter and for generating command data to shift a relative longitudinal alignment between the vehicles in or against a direction of travel of the vehicles when the discharge end of the spout is in misalignment state; an angle sensor associated with the spout for measuring an observed rotational angle of the spout, wherein the misalignment state occurs if the observed rotational angle is equal to or greater than a rotational angle limit, wherein the rotational angle limit is less than a maximum rotational angle of the spout; and in the misalignment state, a propulsion system controller associated with a propulsion system for adjusting the relative speed of the receiving vehicle, or the transferring vehicle, or both to shift the relative longitudinal alignment to place the discharge end of the spout in an alignment state with respect to a target zone of the container perimeter.