Patent EA-002229-B1 (EA)
Title: The method for timber harvesting and system for forestry
IPC: A01G23/02
Filed: 1998-04-28
Abstract: 1. A method for forest harvesting by means of a harvesting machine comprising a vehicle and a harvesting arrangement mounted thereon, characteristics of a forest portion in question being, prior to harvesting, registered, analysed and processed to a data base having a high geographical accuracy and a high precision as to the characteristics of the forest stand, a harvesting plan being made based on the data base and the result of the harvesting being compared to the harvesting plan, a first computer arrangement being provided on the vehicle, said computer arrangement being adapted to register quality and/or size with regard to harvested pieces of timber, comprising harvesting using a position determining device arranged on the harvesting machine and capable of determining, by wirelessly receivable signals, the position of the harvesting machine or the harvesting arrangement, co-ordinating data regarding the position of the harvesting machine or the harvesting arrangement, by the first computer arrangement, with data regarding quality and/or size of pieces of timber, transferring co-ordinated data to a second computer arrangement containing the data base, and using said co-ordinated data as a basis for correcting the harvesting plan and accordingly the execution of the harvesting by the second computer arrangement. 2. A method for forest harvesting by a harvesting machine comprising a vehicle and a harvesting arrangement mounted thereon, characteristics of a forest portion in question being, prior to harvesting, registered, analysed and processed to a data base having a high geographical accuracy and a high precision with respect to characteristics of the forest stand, the harvesting plan being made on basis of the data base, comprising harvesting using a position determining device arranged on the harvesting machine and capable of determining, by wirelessly receivable signals, the position of the harvesting machine or the harvesting arrangement, presenting a reproduction of that part of the forest stand which is ahead of the driver and which is contained in the data based harvesting plan to a driver of the harvesting machine together with indication of a harvesting proposal by a first computer arrangement provided on the harvesting machine. 3. A method according to claim 2, characterised in that the first computer arrangement is adapted to automatically control the harvesting machine to harvest in accordance with the harvesting proposal. 4. A method for forest harvesting by a harvesting machine comprising a vehicle (2), a harvesting arrangement (3) mounted thereon, a computer arrangement (31) provided on the vehicle to register quality and/or size with respect to harvested pieces of timber and a marking device (9) arranged on the vehicle to apply a marking (13) on pieces (10) of timber obtained from trees, comprising  determining the position of the harvesting machine by at least one position determining device (5) arranged on the harvesting machine, said position determining device (5) being capable of determining the position of the harvesting machine from external, wirelessly receivable signals, in connection n with felling a tree, and marking at least one piece of timber obtained from the tree by the marking device (10, 9) with information from said position determining device or a code, wherein the piece of timber is associatable to position information, or the code being used for associating with quality and/or size data concerning the pieces of timber in question. 5. Method according to claim 4, characterised in that the piece of timber also is marked with information regarding quality and/or size. 6. Method according to claim 5, characterised in that in the case that a plurality of pieces of timber are obtained from a tree, every current piece of timber is marked with information regarding its location in the timber log. 7. Method according to any of claims 4 to 6, characterised in that information regarding a buyer and/or a seller of an individual piece of timber is stored and that the piece of timber is associated to said information about buyer and/or seller by position information or the code. 8. Method according to any of claim 4 to 7, characterised in that the marking is carried out by a marking technique contacting the piece of timber. 9. Method according to any of claims 4 to 8, characterised in that the marking is carried out by a non-contacting marking technique. 10. Method according to any of claims 4 to 9, characterised in that the harvesting machine position information refers to the position of the harvesting arrangement of the harvesting machine. 11. Method according to any of claims 4 to 10, characterised in that the marking of the piece of timber is carried out on an end thereof. 12. Method according to any of claims 4 to 10, characterised in that the marking is carried out on a portion of the mantle surface of the piece of timber optionally after said portion has been relieved from bark. 13. Method according to any of claims 4 to 12, characterised in that data determined at the harvesting and regarding growth locations, qualities, sizes and optionally locations in the tree of the pieces of timber are stored for evaluating purposes and are compared with prognoses concerning the outcome of the harvesting, said prognoses being made before the harvesting. 14. Method according to any of claims 1 to 13, characterised in that an evaluation of standing forest timber is accomplished before the harvesting concerning single trees or relatively small timbered surfaces within an area that is to be harvested or thinned, by remote analyses. 15. Method according to claim 14, characterised in that the harvesting is controlled with the aid of said evaluation of standing forest timber by data provided to the harvesting machine so that the harvesting of timber qualities and sizes demanded for the moment are prioritized during the harvesting. 16. Method according to any of claims 4 to 15, pieces of timber obtained being sawn to boards in a sawmill, characterised in that in the sawmill the marking on an individual piece of timber is read and stored together with information about the piece of timber, said information comprising data on the quality and/or size and/or other properties thereof and/or the yield from the piece of timber from the sawing and that these data are utilised for evaluation/correction of the harvesting prognoses made. 17. Method for sawing of pieces of timber harvested according to the method in any pf claims 4 to 16 to boards, characterised in that the marking of an individual piece of timber is read before the sawing and stored and that boards from this piece of timber are provided with a marking including at least information about the growth location of the original tree or a code, by which the boards may be associated to information present in a data base about this place of growth. 18. Method for sawing pieces of timber harvested according to the method in any of claims 4 to 16 to boards, characterised in that an end surface of the piece of timber is reproduced before the sawing to provide information concerning said timber and information in this reproduction regarding shape, and/or growth, is registered and stored, for example diameter and bark thickness and width of the annular rings. 19. Method according to claim 18, characterised in that analyses and prognoses regathe annular ringsrding forest growth over a time period are carried out supported by said information about shape and/or growth concerning the forest area from which the pieces of timber emanate or that comparisons are made with harvesting plans made prior to harvesting. 20. Method according to any of claims 4 to 19, characterised in that trees, which are to be harvested by means of the harvesting machine, are scanned by a scanner before the tree is felled, said scanner being arranged on the harvesting machine, and that the scanning information is utilised as guiding means for the cross-cutting or a cross-cutting prognosis. 21. System for forestry including timber harvesting by a harvesting machine (1) comprising  a vehicle (2), a harvesting arrangement (3) mounted thereon, a marking device (9) arranged on the harvesting machine (1), said marking device being arranged to apply a mark (13) on at least one piece (10) of timber obtained from a tree, and a computer arrangement (31) arranged on the harvesting machine, said computer arrangement being arranged to control the marking device to mark the piece of timber, wherein at least one position determining device (5) is arranged on the harvesting machine for determining the position of the harvesting machine by external, wirelessly receivable signals, and  the computer arrangement (31) is arranged to control the marking device (9) to mark the piece of timber with position information or a code, whereby the piece of timber is associatable to position information stored in a data base, on the basis of position information received from the position determining device (5). 22. System according to claim 21, characterised in that the harvesting machine comprises means for determining/input of information regarding the quality and/or size of the piece of timber and that the computer arrangement (31) is arranged to control the marking device to mark the piece of timber with quality and size information or register said information as associatable to the piece of timber by said code. 23. System according to any of claims 21 or 22, characterised in that the harvesting machine comprises means for an automatic determining/manual input of information regarding the location of a current piece of timber in a log from said tree and that the computer arrangement is arranged to control the marking device in order to mark the piece of timber with this location information or register this location information as associatable to the piece of timber by means of the code. 24. System accor