Patent ID: 7715979

Claim:
A method for selectively adjusting a swath path location relative to a vehicle and associated implement comprising the following steps: providing a vehicle with an associated implement; providing a vehicle guidance system having a vehicle position receiver; providing a swath generation apparatus (SGA) having a processing capability and an SGA memory device, the SGA being communicatively coupled to the guidance system, providing an operator input device; defining within the SGA a coordinate system for vehicle position; communicating a baseline swath path to the SGA, the baseline swath path having at least three spaced apart position data points with swath path segments disposed between adjacent pairs of the at least three position data points; determining a first vehicle heading at a position corresponding to a first point of the at least three position data points; receiving by the SGA a swath path adjustment input from the operator input device, the swath path adjustment being applied in a direction perpendicular to the first vehicle heading; determining orthogonal values of the adjustment input with respect to the coordinate system, the orthogonal values comprising an x-direction value and a y-direction value in the coordinate system; storing the orthogonal values in the SGA memory; determining a second vehicle heading with respect to the coordinate system at a position corresponding to a second point of the at least three position data points; adjusting the second position data point by the stored orthogonal values based on a difference, relative to the coordinate system, between the first and second vehicle headings, the amount of adjustment applied at each position data point in the swath varies based on the heading of the vehicle when the swath path adjustment input was received and a heading of the vehicle when subsequent position data points are adjusted, wherein the adjustment of the data points is made in both north-south and or east-west directions with respect to a northern heading.