Patent Description:
The invention further relates to a method of obtaining images of a plant.

The invention also relates to a computer program enabling a computer system to perform such a method.

Horticulture systems, e.g. horticulture lighting systems, are becoming more and more advanced. If cameras are integrated into a horticulture system, images can be captured frequently during various growth stages of the plant or for the duration of an applied grow recipe.

For example, <CIT> discloses an image capture system for a grow pod which includes a master controller that has a processor, a memory, and cameras that are communicatively coupled to the master controller and positioned to capture images of plants or seeds. A grow recipe defines instructions for growing the plants or seeds and expected attributes corresponding to the instructions. The master controller receives, from the cameras, the images of the plants or seeds, determines attributes of the plants or seeds from the images, compares the attributes of the plants or seeds from the images to the expected attributes defined by the grow recipe, and adjusts the instructions of the grow recipe for growing the plants or seeds based on the comparison of the attributes to the expected attributes.

<CIT> discloses a method for controlling a smart LED grow lamp device, comprising: using a processor, selecting a light recipe from an online light recipe store server via a user interface of a wireless device communicatively coupled to the online light recipe store server over a network, the light recipe including spectrum type, intensity, and duration selections for LEDs included in the smart LED grow lamp device; downloading the light recipe from the online light recipe store server to the wireless device; generating control signals for the smart LED grow lamp device from the light recipe at the wireless device; and, transmitting the control signals to the smart LED grow lamp device from the wireless device to thereby control the smart LED grow lamp device. The smart LED grow lamp device can be voice activated, can include a camera, and can be intelligently controlled by using images from the camera to monitor plant growth, diagnose problems (e.g., lighting, water, temperature, etc.), generate user alerts, and automatically adjust light settings accordingly.

This horticulture system allows growers to control the growth of their plants automatically. However, a grower typically has to choose from many grow recipes for the same plant species and this horticulture system does not help growers choose a grow recipe.

It is a first object of the invention to provide a system for managing the growth of plants, which has improved human-machine interaction to help growers choose a grow recipe.

It is a second object of the invention to provide a method, which improves human-machine interaction in a system for managing the growth of plants to help growers choose a grow recipe.

In a first aspect of the invention, a system for obtaining images of a plant comprises at least one input interface, at least one output interface, and at least one processor configured to use said at least one input interface to obtain multiple images of a plant, each of said images being associated with a different capture moment, store a plurality of said multiple images of said plant with a grow protocol for growing said plant to augment said grow protocol with images of said plant at different growth stages in said grow protocol, said different growth stages corresponding to said different capture moments of said respective images, select said grow protocol separately from said plant, and use said at least one output interface to render said plurality of images upon selection of said grow protocol, each of said plurality of images being rendered along with one or more desired and/or measured conditions of said growth stage, and said one or more desired and/or measured conditions being included in said grow protocol.

The representative images stored with the grow protocol (also referred to as grow recipe) help growers see what results can be expected when the grow protocol is applied to a given plant species or a given plant variety within a given plant species. By timing the rendering of the plant images to coincide with the corresponding desired and/or measured conditions, the grower is able to get a better idea of how the desired and/or measured conditions impact the growth of the given plant species. Images of an individual plant are stored with the grow protocol for the plant species to make this possible.

Thus, captured images are used to augment a (pre-stored) grow protocol with representative images of a plant at different growth stages or even different moments in a growth stage. A graphical user interface shows a time-scale representation of the grow protocol using the plant images. Each growth stage may be a day, for example. Said one or more desired and/or measured conditions may comprise lighting conditions and/or climate conditions and/or nutrition conditions, for example. The plant may be a flowering plant, i.e. a plant that produces flowers to reproduce, or a non-flowering plant, for example.

Said at least one processor may be configured to render said plurality of images as a video sequence, said images being in order of elapsed growth time in said video sequence. By creating such a time-lapse, a grower may be able to get a visual overview of all growth stages of the grow protocol without much effort.

Said at least one processor may be configured to use said at least one input interface to receive user input comprising a user command for navigating through said growth stages and select one or more images to be rendered next from said plurality of images based on said user command. This may help a grower to explore and study particular growth stages of the grow protocol more easily.

Said at least one processor may be configured to select a representative subset of said multiple obtained images as said plurality of images before storing said plurality of images of said plant with said grow protocol. If a camera automatically provides images at a high rate, then it is often not beneficial to store all these images and it is then beneficial to select a representative subset.

Said at least one processor may be configured to use said at least one input interface to receive user input, said user input identifying a further plant and said grow protocol, obtain images of said identified further plant, determine differences between said obtained images and a plurality of images stored with said identified grow protocol, and use said at least one output interface to provide an alert if said differences are determined to exceed a predetermined threshold. Thus, images captured in real-time may be compared with representative images stored with the grow protocol. This allows a grower to select an individual plant and get an alert if the growth of the individual plant is not as expected considering the representative images stored with the grow protocol.

Said at least one processor may be configured to use said at least one output interface to transmit a capturing schedule for capturing said images of said identified further plant to one or more cameras. This may be used to prevent that images are transmitted which are not used. For example, the capturing schedule may specify that an image is taken and transmitted every day.

Said at least one processor may be configured to use said at least one input interface to receive user input, said user input comprising a camera or location identifier and information for identifying said grow protocol, store said camera or location identifier with said grow protocol, use said at least one input interface to obtain a collection of images of a plurality of plants, said collection comprising said multiple images, select said plurality of images from said collection of images based on said camera or location identifiers, and store said plurality of images of said plant with said grow protocol. Images of different individual plants may be received and then stored with different grow protocols. By storing a camera or location identifier in the grow protocol, it is easy to determine in which grow protocol a received image should be stored, i.e. by finding the grow protocol that has been associated with the camera or location identifier that was included in an image or transmitted along with the image.

Said at least one processor may be configured to use said at least one output interface to transmit a capturing schedule for capturing said multiple images to said one or more cameras. This may be used to prevent that images are transmitted which will not be stored with the growth recipe and not be used otherwise. For example, the capturing schedule may specify that an image is taken and transmitted every day.

Said at least one processor may be configured to use said at least one output interface to control one or more cameras to capture said multiple images at said different capture moments. This is beneficial, for example, if a camera is not able to use a capturing schedule, but its capturing function can be controlled remotely.

Said at least one processor may be configured to use said at least one input interface to obtain a current position of said plant with respect to said one or more cameras and use said at least one output interface to control said one or more cameras to capture one of said images at a moment which depends on said current position. If individual plants are moving on a conveyor belt or in a mobile gutter system, or moving as part of a collection of plants in a moving tray, e.g. in a vertical farm, and images of a certain individual plant are captured in order to store them in the grow protocol of a certain plant species, the images need to be captured at moments when the certain individual plant is in front of a camera.

Said one or more cameras may comprise a plurality of cameras and said at least one processor may be configured to select one of said plurality of cameras based on said current position. This is beneficial, for example, if a camera is not able to use a capturing schedule, but its capturing function can be controlled remotely. This may be used to follow a certain individual plant that is moving on a conveyor belt, e.g. in a vertical farm.

In a second aspect of the invention, a method of obtaining images of a plant comprises obtaining multiple images of a plant, each of said images being associated with a different capture moment, storing a plurality of said multiple images of said plant with a grow protocol for growing said plant to augment said grow protocol with images of said plant at different growth stages in said grow protocol, said different growth stages corresponding to said different capture moments of said respective images, selecting said grow protocol separately from said plant, and rendering said plurality of images upon selection of said grow protocol, each of said plurality of images being rendered along with one or more desired and/or measured conditions of said growth stage, and said one or more desired and/or measured conditions being included in said grow protocol. Said method may be performed by software running on a programmable device. This software may be provided as a computer program product.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores at least one software code portion, the software code portion, when executed or processed by a computer, being configured to perform executable operations for obtaining images of a plant.

The executable operations comprise obtaining multiple images of a plant, each of said images being associated with a different capture moment, storing a plurality of said multiple images of said plant with a grow protocol for growing said plant, selecting said grow protocol separately from said plant, and rendering said plurality of images upon selection of said grow protocol, each of said plurality of images being rendered along with one or more desired and/or measured conditions of a growth stage, said growth stage corresponding to a capture moment of said respective image and said grow protocol comprising a plurality of growth stages and said one or more desired and/or measured conditions being included in said grow protocol.

The executable operations further comprise determining a sensor coverage area of said plurality of presence sensor devices, including gaps in said sensor coverage area, based on said sensor locations, said sensor orientations and said sensor fields of view, determining one or more parameters for presence detection based on said gaps in said sensor coverage area, and outputting said one or more parameters or a presence detection result which has been determined using said one or more parameters.

Aspects of the present disclosure are described below with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the present invention.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of a system, a method and a computer program product according to the present invention.

<FIG> shows a first embodiment of the system for obtaining images of a plant. In the example of <FIG>, plants are grown in a vertical farm <NUM> with three layers <NUM>-<NUM> and images of the plants are captured using cameras <NUM>-<NUM>. Each of layers <NUM>-<NUM> typically comprises multiple segments (not shown). In the embodiment of <FIG>, the system is a mobile device <NUM>. The mobile device <NUM> is connected to the Internet <NUM>, e.g. via a wireless LAN access point or a cellular communication network. An Internet server <NUM> is also connected to the Internet <NUM>.

The mobile device <NUM> comprises a receiver <NUM>, a transmitter <NUM>, a processor <NUM>, memory <NUM>, and a display <NUM>. The processor <NUM> is configured to use the receiver <NUM> to obtain multiple images of a plant and store a plurality of the multiple images of the plant with a grow protocol (also referred to as a grow recipe) for growing the plant, e.g. on storage means <NUM> or on Internet server <NUM>. Each of the images is associated with a different capture moment.

The cameras <NUM>-<NUM> may be in control of the capturing and storing of images. For example, they may retrieve a grow protocol identifier and identifier of the current growth stage and store the images in this grow protocol along with these identifiers. Alternatively, the cameras <NUM>-<NUM> may receive grow protocol activation commands from the mobile device <NUM> or a horticulture system (not shown), for example. For instance, the cameras <NUM>-<NUM> may detect control commands indicating the activation of a grow protocol. Based on the properties of the grow protocol, the cameras <NUM>-<NUM> may determine or retrieve a corresponding image capturing schedule (e.g. pre-defined time intervals for the duration of the protocol). The horticulture system may control one or more of the lighting, the climate and the nutrition-dispensing.

The processor <NUM> is further configured to select the grow protocol separately from the plant and use the display <NUM> to render the plurality of images upon selection of the grow protocol. The grow protocol may be selected directly or via a different plant to which the grow protocol is applied, for example. Each of the plurality of images is rendered along with one or more desired and/or measured conditions of a growth stage. This growth stage corresponds to a capture moment of the respective image. The grow protocol, also referred to as grow recipe, comprises a plurality of growth stages and the one or more desired and/or measured conditions being included in the grow protocol.

The one or more desired and/or measured conditions typically comprise lighting conditions and/or climate conditions and/or nutrition conditions. Nutrition normally comprises fertilization and water. A light recipe typically comprises thresholds, daylight measurements and/or control parameters, supplemental light levels, and supplemental light spectra. A plant typically needs <NUM> to <NUM> hours of darkness/sleep. Growth of a plant preferably takes place during daylight, as artificial light is relatively expensive. Each growth stage is typically a period during which the grow protocol/recipe stays the same (e.g. the same light schedule, irrigation schedule, plant density). Each growth stage may, for example, have a duration of one day, but alternatively, each growth stage may have a different duration than one day, and different growth stages might even have different durations.

In the embodiment of the mobile device <NUM> shown in <FIG>, the mobile device <NUM> comprises one processor <NUM>. In an alternative embodiment, the mobile device <NUM> comprises multiple processors. The processor <NUM> of the mobile device <NUM> may be a general-purpose processor, e.g. from ARM or Qualcomm or an application-specific processor. The processor <NUM> of the mobile device <NUM> may run an Android or iOS operating system for example. The display <NUM> may comprise an LCD or OLED display panel, for example. The memory <NUM> may comprise one or more memory units. The memory <NUM> may comprise solid state memory, for example.

The receiver <NUM> and the transmitter <NUM> may use one or more wireless communication technologies such as Wi-Fi (IEEE <NUM>) to communicate with an access point to the Internet <NUM>, for example. In an altemative embodiment, multiple receivers and/or multiple transmitters are used instead of a single receiver and a single transmitter. In the embodiment shown in <FIG>, a separate receiver and a separate transmitter are used. In an alternative embodiment, the receiver <NUM> and the transmitter <NUM> are combined into a transceiver. The mobile device <NUM> may comprise other components typical for a mobile device such as a battery and a power connector. The invention may be implemented using a computer program running on one or more processors.

In the embodiment of <FIG>, the system is a mobile device. In an alternative embodiment, the system of the invention is a different device, e.g. a computer. In the embodiment of <FIG>, the system of the invention comprises a single device. In an alternative embodiment, the system of the invention comprises a plurality of devices.

<FIG> shows a second embodiment of the system for obtaining images of a plant. In the embodiment of <FIG>, the system is a computer <NUM>. The computer <NUM> is connected to the Internet <NUM> and acts as a server. The computer <NUM> comprises a receiver <NUM>, a transmitter <NUM>, a processor <NUM>, and storage means <NUM>. The processor <NUM> is configured to use the receiver <NUM> to obtain multiple images of a plant from the cameras <NUM>-<NUM> and store a plurality of the multiple images of the plant with a grow protocol for growing the plant, e.g. on storage means <NUM>. Each of the images is associated with a different capture moment.

The processor <NUM> is further configured to select the grow protocol separately from the plant and use the transmitter <NUM> to render the plurality of images upon selection of the grow protocol via a personal computer <NUM> and thereto connected monitor <NUM>, e.g. via a web/html interface. Each of the plurality of images is rendered along with one or more desired and/or measured conditions of a growth stage. This growth stage corresponds to a capture moment of the respective image. The grow protocol comprises a plurality of growth stages and the one or more desired and/or measured conditions are included in the grow protocol. In the embodiment of <FIG>, the synchronization between the rendering of the desired and/or measured conditions and the rendering of the images is performed by the processor <NUM>.

In the embodiment of the computer <NUM> shown in <FIG>, the computer <NUM> comprises one processor <NUM>. In an alternative embodiment, the computer <NUM> comprises multiple processors. The processor <NUM> of the computer <NUM> may be a general-purpose processor, e.g. from Intel or AMD, or an application-specific processor. The processor <NUM> of the computer <NUM> may run a Windows or Unix-based operating system for example. The storage means <NUM> may comprise one or more memory units. The storage means <NUM> may comprise one or more hard disks and/or solid-state memory, for example. The storage means <NUM> may be used to store an operating system, applications and application data, for example.

The receiver <NUM> and the transmitter <NUM> may use one or more wired and/or wireless communication technologies such as Ethernet and/or Wi-Fi (IEEE <NUM>) to communicate with an access point to the Internet <NUM>, for example. In an alternative embodiment, multiple receivers and/or multiple transmitters are used instead of a single receiver and a single transmitter. In the embodiment shown in <FIG>, a separate receiver and a separate transmitter are used. In an alternative embodiment, the receiver <NUM> and the transmitter <NUM> are combined into a transceiver. The computer <NUM> may comprise other components typical for a computer such as a power connector and a display. The invention may be implemented using a computer program running on one or more processors.

The method of the invention typically involves capturing multiple images of a plant over time, associating them with their corresponding growth stages and combining them to render a grow protocol representation on a display. The resulting representation is used to represent individual grow protocols in a large grow protocol database. Thus, images captured during an active grow protocol are used to represent individual grow protocols in a database. Those representative images could help growers to see what results can be expected when the grow protocol is applied to a given plant species.

Possibly, intelligence or algorithms are used to select the images which are most representative for the grow protocol. A time-lapse recording of a growing plant may be rendered using the multiple captured images to represent the grow protocol, i.e. the plurality of images is rendered as a video sequence in which the images are rendered in order of elapsed growth time. However, it is also possible to render a timeline representation representing the current grow protocol stage enriched with an image representative of the current grow protocol state and enabling the user to scroll through images representative of earlier growth stages, as shown in <FIG>.

In the first screen <NUM> of the user interface, which is shown in <FIG>, a grow protocol timeline <NUM> is annotated with an image <NUM> representing the current plant state. The user interface is rendered on a display <NUM>. Desired and/or measured conditions <NUM>-<NUM> are shown at the right side of the user interface and comprise light (spectrum) conditions <NUM>, nutrition conditions <NUM> and climate conditions <NUM>. In the example of <FIG>. The climate conditions <NUM> comprise CO2 and temperature conditions.

In the example of <FIG>, the user has selected a certain individual plant, or a certain group of individual plants in the same growth stage, and the user is now viewing the representation of the activated grow protocol, as identified by label <NUM>. The image <NUM> has been stored in the grow protocol and is normally a photograph of a plant that was grown in the past. The image <NUM> is rendered with a label <NUM> ("day <NUM>") of the growth stage that corresponds to the capture moment of the image <NUM>, which is the current growth stage of the selected individual plant in <FIG>.

It is also possible for a user to scroll back in time to see earlier growth states. This is shown in <FIG>, which depicts a second screen <NUM> of the user interface of <FIG>. An image <NUM> is rendered with a label <NUM> ("day <NUM>") of the growth stage that corresponds to the capture moment of the image <NUM>. In the example of <FIG>, the image <NUM> is a photograph of the same plant as the image <NUM> of <FIG>, normally a representative plant that was grown in the past. The desired and/or measured conditions <NUM>-<NUM> are updated accordingly, but this is not shown in <FIG>.

Thus, the system that renders the user interface of <FIG> receives user input that comprises a user command for navigating through the growth stages and selects one or more images to be rendered next from the plurality of images based on the user command. Alternatively, the user may be able to scroll back in time to check what the appearance of a selected individual plant was one or more days ago.

Not only images of the current and previous growth stages may be displayed, but it may be made possible to move the slider to the future, as the rendered images are normally of a plant that was grown in the past.

A first embodiment of the method of obtaining images of a plant is shown in <FIG>. A step <NUM> comprises obtaining multiple images of a plant. Each of the images is associated with a different capture moment. A step <NUM> comprises selecting a representative subset of the multiple obtained images, e.g. by selecting an image captured at noon each day or by using a more complex algorithm. A step <NUM> comprises storing the representative images selected in step <NUM> with the grow protocol for growing the plant.

A step <NUM> comprises selecting the grow protocol separately from the plant. A step <NUM> comprises rendering the plurality of images upon selection of the grow protocol. Each of the images is rendered along with one or more desired and/or measured conditions of a growth stage which corresponds to a capture moment of the respective image. The grow protocol comprises a plurality of growth stages and the one or more desired and/or measured conditions are included in the grow protocol.

A second embodiment of the method of obtaining images of a plant is shown in <FIG>. A step <NUM> comprises transmitting a capturing schedule for capturing multiple of a plant images to one or more cameras. Next, a step <NUM> comprises receiving the multiple images of the plant from the one or more cameras.

Since only the requested images are received in this embodiment, it is not necessary to select a representative subset and step <NUM> of <FIG> has been omitted. Step <NUM> can also be omitted in an alternative embodiment in which no capturing schedule is transmitted, but the one or more cameras are controlled to capture the multiple images at the different capture moments. After step <NUM>, steps <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG> are performed.

A third embodiment of the method of obtaining images of a plant is shown in <FIG>. First, steps <NUM> to <NUM> are performed, see e.g. <FIG>. Step <NUM> comprises obtaining multiple images of a plant. Step <NUM> comprises storing the obtained images with a grow protocol for growing the plant. Step <NUM> comprises selecting the grow protocol separately from the plant by selecting the plant species to which the grow protocol relates. Step <NUM> comprises rendering the plurality of images upon selection of the grow protocol, see <FIG>.

Steps <NUM> to <NUM> are performed at a later time. Step <NUM> comprises receiving user input that identifies a further plant, i.e. an individual plant, and the grow protocol for this plant. In the embodiment of <FIG>, a step <NUM> is performed next. Step <NUM> comprises transmitting a capturing schedule for capturing the images of the identified further plant to one or more cameras. In an alternative embodiment, these images are selected from a collection of received images or the one or more cameras are remotely controlled to capture images at certain moments.

A step <NUM> is performed after step <NUM>. Step <NUM> comprises receiving the requested images of the identified further plant from the one or more cameras. A step <NUM> comprises determining differences between the obtained images and a plurality of images stored with the identified grow protocol. A step <NUM> comprises providing an alert if the differences are determined to exceed a predetermined threshold. For instance, the grower could receive an alert on a mobile or stationary display indicating that a growth deviation has been detected, including one or multiple captured images showing the recent or current state.

Steps <NUM> and <NUM> may be implemented, for example, using a trained deep leaRNing network, e.g. a neural network. For example, the deep learning network may determine based on two input images (of the plant and the further plant in the same growth stage) whether an alarm should be generated.

A fourth embodiment of the method of obtaining images of a plant is shown in <FIG>. A step <NUM> comprises receiving user input that comprises a camera or location identifier and information for identifying a grow protocol. The grow protocol comprises a plurality of growth stages and the one or more desired and/or measured conditions are included in the grow protocol. In the embodiment of <FIG>, the input is provided by a user. For example, when a grower activates a grow protocol for a new individual plant, he may be able to indicate that he wishes images of this plant to be captured and stored with the grow protocol. In an alternative embodiment, this input is provided by a system and this may be initiated based on a schedule or based on detecting the arrival of a specific type of plant or tray, for example.

A grow protocol typically comprises at least a lighting recipe and optionally further comprises a schedule of climate and nutrition conditions. The location identifier may indicate at which segment (or device) of the horticulture system the grow protocol is activated. Then, based on the location where the grow protocol is activated, co-located camera devices may be determined that are directed towards the plants grown under the grow protocol. In a possible implementation, camera devices are associated with one or more lighting devices.

It is also possible that the cameras are integrated as part of the grow lighting devices. Multiple camera identifiers and/or location identifiers may be associated with a grow protocol. This may be beneficial, because plants are typically replanted after a certain time, e.g. after germinating. A camera or location identifier may be associated with a certain growth stage or certain sequence of growth stages. A step <NUM> comprises storing the camera or location identifier with the grow protocol.

The camera(s) determined from the user input in step <NUM> is/are controlled to capture images of the plant(s) receiving the grow protocol. In one implementation, the horticulture system sends regular control commands to the determined camera(s). Instead of sending multiple camera control commands, the horticulture system might send a time schedule to the camera devices (e.g. upon activation of a grow protocol), specifying at what points in time images need to be captured. Alternatively, the camera may continuously or frequently (e.g. daily) take images.

A step <NUM> (which is somewhat similar to step <NUM> of <FIG>) comprises obtaining a collection of images of a plurality of plants. These images have been captured with the camera(s) determined from the user input in step <NUM>. A step <NUM> comprises selecting the plurality of images from the collection of images based on the camera or location identifiers stored with the growth protocol.

A step <NUM> (which is somewhat similar to step <NUM> of <FIG>) comprises storing the plurality of images of the plant selected in step <NUM> with the grow protocol. The captured images may be stored at the camera device, the horticulture system, or the horticulture lighting system, for example. The images are stored in such a way that the corresponding grow protocol and the growth stage for each image can be determined.

This may be achieved by storing location and timestamp information for each image, for example. In an alternative implementation, each image may be annotated with data related to the active grow protocol such as its identifier or growth stage. In addition, it may be useful to store the camera identifier and/or camera location. The camera identifier helps to combine the images from one single camera in order to generate a time-based representation of the plant state over time, such as a time-lapse recording.

In <FIG>, steps <NUM> and <NUM> are only performed for the grow protocol identified by the information received in step <NUM>. However, typically, for each obtained image that is associated with a camera or location identifier, a grow protocol with this camera or location identifier would be searched and steps <NUM> and <NUM> would thus be performed for each matching grow protocol.

Step <NUM> comprises selecting the grow protocol separately from the plant. For example, a user selects the plant species to which the grow protocol relates and then chooses the grow protocol from a list of grow protocols. Step <NUM> comprises rendering the plurality of images upon selection of the grow protocol. Each of the images is rendered along with one or more desired and/or measured conditions of a growth stage which corresponds to a capture moment of the respective image.

<FIG> shows a plant <NUM> slowly moving on a conveyor belt <NUM> while images are being captured. In this situation, a fifth embodiment of the method of obtaining images of a plant may be beneficially used. In this fifth embodiment, a current position of the plant <NUM> with respect to cameras <NUM>-<NUM> is obtained and cameras <NUM>-<NUM> are controlled to capture the images at a moment which depends on the current position. As the plant <NUM> moves, the appropriate camera of cameras <NUM>-<NUM> is selected based on the current position so that the plant is in view of the camera.

This appropriate camera is controlled to capture an image when the plant <NUM> is determined or expected to be at an appropriate distance. The current position of a plant may be determined using image recognition or may be calculated based on the time when the plant was placed on the conveyor belt and the speed of the conveyor belt, for example. For example, there may be three or X times three pre-defined positions on the conveyor belt <NUM>, one or X per camera, at which images are captured.

<FIG> depicts a block diagram illustrating an exemplary data processing system that may perform the method as described with reference to <FIG>.

Various embodiments of the invention may be implemented as a computer program product for use with a computer system, where the program(s) of the program product define functions of the embodiments (including the methods described herein).

Claim 1:
A system (<NUM>,<NUM>) for obtaining images of a plant, said system (<NUM>,<NUM>) comprising:
at least one input interface (<NUM>,<NUM>);
at least one output interface (<NUM>, <NUM>); and
at least one processor (<NUM>,<NUM>) configured to:
- use said at least one input interface (<NUM>,<NUM>) to obtain multiple images of a plant, each of said images being associated with a different capture moment,
- store a plurality of said multiple images of said plant with a grow protocol for growing said plant to augment said grow protocol with images of said plant at different growth stages in said grow protocol, said different growth stages corresponding to said different capture moments of said respective images,
- select said grow protocol separately from said plant, and
- use said at least one output interface (<NUM>, <NUM>) to render said plurality of images upon selection of said grow protocol, each of said plurality of images being rendered along with one or more desired and/or measured conditions of said growth stage, said one or more desired and/or measured conditions being included in said grow protocol.