Patent ID: 8010261

Claim:
A method for automatically steering an agricultural harvesting machine, comprising the steps of: planting crops in rows utilizing a row planter; generating and storing a map of information representative of locations of the rows of crops planted by the row planter, the map identifying and storing a centerline of the row of crops in a swath formed by the row planter; providing an automatic guidance system for guiding the harvesting machine along the rows; retrieving the map for use by the harvesting machine; aligning row dividers of the harvesting machine with the rows; determining a steering command to steer the harvesting machine row dividers along the rows, wherein fewer row dividers of the harvesting machine are provided in which to align to rows in each swath formed by the row planter relative to a greater number of rows planted by the row planter in each swath; providing an apparatus for re-calculating a new centerline from a combination of the previous map and present row alignment information by i. providing a pair of sensors disposed on row dividers of a header and having a portion of each sensor extending to a centerline of the harvesting machine for ii. sensing an amount of misalignment between a centerline of the harvesting machine as compared to the centerline of the row planter previously defined by the map and outputting information representative thereof, and iii. sensing an amount of misalignment between at least one of the row dividers and at least one of the rows of crops and outputting information representative thereof; and if the amount of misalignment is beyond a predetermined range: i. determining if the steering command will maintain the amount of misalignment beyond the predetermined range; and ii. correcting the steering command as a function of a) the amount of misalignment between the previously defined centerline and the centerline defined by the harvesting machine row dividers, and b) the amount of misalignment between the row dividers and the row of crops; and executing the steering command.