Patent ID: 8531300

Claim:
A system for identifying and locating a cotton module of harvested cotton unloaded from a harvesting vehicle and transported by at least one transport vehicle prior to physically marking the cotton module with an identifier, comprising: location system configured and operable to automatically determine information representative of a heading of the harvesting vehicle, a heading of the transport vehicle, and a location of the cotton module each time the cotton module is unloaded therefrom and loaded onto, respectively; communication network apparatus including at least one processor programmed to communicate with the harvesting vehicle, the at least one transport vehicle, the location system, and a user through a user interface, and to automatically: a) assign an identifier to the cotton module when unloaded from the harvesting vehicle, b) develop a record of information related to the cotton module including at least the identifier and the information from the location system, c)store the record in a database, and d) output the information; and an identification system including at least one reader configured and operable to communicate with a data tag, the identification system being configured and operable to communicate with the communication network apparatus, store at least the identifier on the data tag, locate the cotton module as a function of the information from the location system, and associate the data tag with the cotton module; whereby the cotton module will be identified and located for marking with an identifier as a function of the record of information representative of the locations of the cotton module and the headings of the vehicles from which the cotton module was unloaded.