Patents by Inventor Elliott Grant

Elliott Grant has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11606896
    Abstract: Implementations are described herein for predicting soil organic carbon (“SOC”) content for agricultural fields detected in digital imagery. In various implementations, one or more digital images depicting portion(s) of one or more agricultural fields may be processed. The one or more digital images may have been acquired by a vision sensor carried through the field(s) by a ground-based vehicle. Based on the processing, one or more agricultural inferences indicating agricultural practices or conditions predicted to affect SOC content may be determined. Based on the agricultural inferences, one or more predicted SOC measurements for the field(s) may be determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 21, 2023
    Assignee: MINERAL EARTH SCIENCES LLC
    Inventors: Cheng-en Guo, Jie Yang, Zhiqiang Yuan, Elliott Grant
  • Publication number: 20230074663
    Abstract: Implementations are described herein for auditing performance of large-scale tasks. In various implementations, one or more ground-level vision sensors may capture a first set of one or more images that depict an agricultural plot prior to an agricultural task being performed in the agricultural plot, and a second set of one or more images that depict the agricultural plot subsequent to the agricultural task being performed in the agricultural plot. The first and second sets of images may be processed in situ using edge computing device(s) based on a machine learning model to generate respective pluralities of pre-task and post-task inferences about the agricultural plot. Performance of the agricultural task may include comparing the pre-task inferences to the post-task inferences to generate operational metric(s) about the performance of the agricultural task in the agricultural plot. The operational metric(s) may be presented at one or more output devices.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2021
    Publication date: March 9, 2023
    Inventors: Zhiqiang Yuan, Elliott Grant
  • Publication number: 20230044622
    Abstract: Implementations set forth herein relate to using fiducial markings on one or more localized portions of an agricultural apparatus in order to generate local and regional data that can be correlated for planning and executing agricultural maintenance. An array of fiducial markings can be disposed onto plastic mulch that surrounds individual crops, in order that each fiducial marking of the array can operate as a signature for each individual crop. Crop data, such as health and yield, corresponding to a particular crop can then be stored in association with a corresponding fiducial marking, thereby allowing the certain data for the particular crop to be tracked and analyzed. Furthermore, autonomous agricultural devices can rely on the crop data, over other sources of data, such as GPS satellites, thereby allowing the autonomous agricultural devices to be more reliable.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 21, 2022
    Publication date: February 9, 2023
    Inventor: Elliott Grant
  • Publication number: 20230045607
    Abstract: Implementations relate to detecting/replacing transient obstructions from high-elevation digital images, and/or to fusing data from high-elevation digital images having different spatial, temporal, and/or spectral resolutions. In various implementations, first and second temporal sequences of high-elevation digital images capturing a geographic area may be obtained. These temporal sequences may have different spatial, temporal, and/or spectral resolutions (or frequencies). A mapping may be generated of the pixels of the high-elevation digital images of the second temporal sequence to respective sub-pixels of the first temporal sequence. A point in time at which a synthetic high-elevation digital image of the geographic area may be selected. The synthetic high-elevation digital image may be generated for the point in time based on the mapping and other data described herein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 12, 2022
    Publication date: February 9, 2023
    Inventors: Jie Yang, Cheng-en Guo, Zhiqiang Yuan, Elliott Grant, Hongxu Ma
  • Patent number: 11564357
    Abstract: In embodiments, acquiring sensor data associated with a plant growing in a field, and analyzing the sensor data to extract one or more phenotypic traits associated with the plant from the sensor data. Indexing the one or more phenotypic traits to one or both of an identifier of the plant or a virtual representation of a part of the plant, and determining one or more plant insights based on the one or more phenotypic traits, wherein the one or more plant insights includes information about one or more of a health, a yield, a planting, a growth, a harvest, a management, a performance, and a state of the plant. One or more of the health, yield, planting, growth, harvest, management, performance, and the state of the plant are included in a plant insights report that is generated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2023
    Assignee: X Development LLC
    Inventors: William R. Regan, Matthew A. Bitterman, Benoit G. Schillings, David R. Brown, Elliott Grant
  • Patent number: 11562486
    Abstract: Implementations relate to diagnosis of crop yield predictions and/or crop yields at the field- and pixel-level. In various implementations, a first temporal sequence of high-elevation digital images may be obtained that captures a geographic area over a given time interval through a crop cycle of a first type of crop. Ground truth operational data generated through the given time interval and that influences a final crop yield of the first geographic area after the crop cycle may also be obtained. Based on these data, a ground truth-based crop yield prediction may be generated for the first geographic area at the crop cycle's end. Recommended operational change(s) may be identified based on distinct hypothetical crop yield prediction(s) for the first geographic area. Each distinct hypothetical crop yield prediction may be generated based on hypothetical operational data that includes altered data point(s) of the ground truth operational data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: X DEVELOPMENT LLC
    Inventors: Cheng-en Guo, Wilson Zhao, Jie Yang, Zhiqiang Yuan, Elliott Grant
  • Patent number: 11553634
    Abstract: Implementations are described herein for analyzing vision data depicting undesirable plants such as weeds to detect various attribute(s). The detected attribute(s) of a particular undesirable plant may then be used to select, from a plurality of available candidate remediation techniques, the most suitable remediation technique to eradicate or otherwise eliminate the undesirable plants.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2023
    Assignee: X DEVELOPMENT LLC
    Inventors: Elliott Grant, Hongxiao Liu, Zhiqiang Yuan, Sergey Yaroshenko, Benoit Schillings, Matt VanCleave
  • Publication number: 20220391752
    Abstract: Implementations are described herein for automatically generating labeled synthetic images that are usable as training data for training machine learning models to make an agricultural prediction based on digital images. A method includes: generating a plurality of simulated images, each simulated image depicting one or more simulated instances of a plant; for each of the plurality of simulated images, labeling the simulated image with at least one ground truth label that identifies an attribute of the one or more simulated instances of the plant depicted in the simulated image, the attribute describing both a visible portion and an occluded portion of the one or more simulated instances of the plant depicted in the simulated image; and training a machine learning model to make an agricultural prediction using the labeled plurality of simulated images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 8, 2021
    Publication date: December 8, 2022
    Inventors: Elliott Grant, Kangkang Wang, Bodi Yuan, Zhiqiang Yuan
  • Patent number: 11510405
    Abstract: Implementations set forth herein relate to using fiducial markings on one or more localized portions of an agricultural apparatus in order to generate local and regional data that can be correlated for planning and executing agricultural maintenance. An array of fiducial markings can be disposed onto plastic mulch that surrounds individual crops, in order that each fiducial marking of the array can operate as a signature for each individual crop. Crop data, such as health and yield, corresponding to a particular crop can then be stored in association with a corresponding fiducial marking, thereby allowing the certain data for the particular crop to be tracked and analyzed. Furthermore, autonomous agricultural devices can rely on the crop data, over other sources of data, such as GPS satellites, thereby allowing the autonomous agricultural devices to be more reliable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: X DEVELOPMENT LLC
    Inventor: Elliott Grant
  • Patent number: 11501443
    Abstract: Implementations relate to detecting/replacing transient obstructions from high-elevation digital images, and/or to fusing data from high-elevation digital images having different spatial, temporal, and/or spectral resolutions. In various implementations, first and second temporal sequences of high-elevation digital images capturing a geographic area may be obtained. These temporal sequences may have different spatial, temporal, and/or spectral resolutions (or frequencies). A mapping may be generated of the pixels of the high-elevation digital images of the second temporal sequence to respective sub-pixels of the first temporal sequence. A point in time at which a synthetic high-elevation digital image of the geographic area may be selected. The synthetic high-elevation digital image may be generated for the point in time based on the mapping and other data described herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: X DEVELOPMENT LLC
    Inventors: Jie Yang, Cheng-en Guo, Zhiqiang Yuan, Elliott Grant, Hongxu Ma
  • Patent number: 11403846
    Abstract: In embodiments, obtaining a plurality of image sets associated with a geographical region and a time period, wherein each image set of the plurality of image sets comprises multi-spectral and time series images that depict a respective particular portion of the geographical region during the time period, and predicting presence of a crop at particular locations within the particular portion of the geographical region associated with an image set of the plurality of image sets. Determining crop boundary locations within the particular portion of the geographical region based on the predicted presence of the crop at the particular locations, and generating a crop indicative image comprising at least one image of the multi-spectral and time series images of the image set overlaid with indication of crop areas, wherein the crop areas are defined by the determined crop boundary locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: X Development LLC
    Inventors: Cheng-en Guo, Jie Yang, Elliott Grant
  • Publication number: 20220217894
    Abstract: Implementations are described herein for predicting soil organic carbon (“SOC”) content for agricultural fields detected in digital imagery. In various implementations, one or more digital images depicting portion(s) of one or more agricultural fields may be processed. The one or more digital images may have been acquired by a vision sensor carried through the field(s) by a ground-based vehicle. Based on the processing, one or more agricultural inferences indicating agricultural practices or conditions predicted to affect SOC content may be determined. Based on the agricultural inferences, one or more predicted SOC measurements for the field(s) may be determined.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2021
    Publication date: July 14, 2022
    Inventors: Cheng-en Guo, Jie Yang, Zhiqiang Yuan, Elliott Grant
  • Publication number: 20220219329
    Abstract: Implementations are described herein for coordinating semi-autonomous robots to perform agricultural tasks on a plurality of plants with minimal human intervention. In various implementations, a plurality of robots may be deployed to perform a respective plurality of agricultural tasks. Each agricultural task may be associated with a respective plant of a plurality of plants, and each plant may have been previously designated as a target for one of the agricultural tasks. It may be determined that a given robot has reached an individual plant associated with the respective agricultural task that was assigned to the given robot. Based at least in part on that determination, a manual control interface may be provided at output component(s) of a computing device in network communication with the given robot. The manual control interface may be operable to manually control the given robot to perform the respective agricultural task.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2022
    Publication date: July 14, 2022
    Inventors: Zhiqiang Yuan, Elliott Grant
  • Publication number: 20220215037
    Abstract: Some implementations herein relate to a graphical user interface (GUI) that facilitates dynamically partitioning agricultural fields into clusters on an individual agricultural field-basis using agricultural features. A map of a geographic area containing a plurality of agricultural fields may be rendered as part of a GUI. The agricultural fields may be partitioned into a first set of clusters based on a first granularity value and agricultural features of individual agricultural fields. The individual agricultural fields may be visually annotated in the GUI to convey the first set of clusters of similar agricultural fields. Upon receipt of a second granularity value different from the first granularity value, the agricultural fields may be partitioned into a second set of clusters of similar agricultural fields. The map of the geographic area may be updated so that individual agricultural fields are visually annotated to convey the second set of clusters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 28, 2022
    Publication date: July 7, 2022
    Inventors: David Clifford, Ming Zheng, Elliott Grant, Nanzhu Wang, Cheng-en Guo, Aleksandra Deis
  • Patent number: 11321347
    Abstract: Some implementations herein relate to a graphical user interface (GUI) that facilitates dynamically partitioning agricultural fields into clusters on an individual agricultural field-basis using agricultural features. A map of a geographic area containing a plurality of agricultural fields may be rendered as part of a GUI. The agricultural fields may be partitioned into a first set of clusters based on a first granularity value and agricultural features of individual agricultural fields. The individual agricultural fields may be visually annotated in the GUI to convey the first set of clusters of similar agricultural fields. Upon receipt of a second granularity value different from the first granularity value, the agricultural fields may be partitioned into a second set of clusters of similar agricultural fields. The map of the geographic area may be updated so that individual agricultural fields are visually annotated to convey the second set of clusters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: X DEVELOPMENT LLC
    Inventors: David Clifford, Ming Zheng, Elliott Grant, Nanzhu Wang, Cheng-en Guo, Aleksandra Deis
  • Patent number: 11321943
    Abstract: In embodiments, obtaining a plurality of image sets associated with a geographical region and a time period, wherein each image set of the plurality of image sets comprises multi-spectral and time series images that depict a respective particular portion of the geographical region during the time period, and predicting one or more crop types growing in each of particular locations within the particular portion of the geographical region associated with an image set of the plurality of image sets. Determining a crop type classification for each of the particular locations based on the predicted one or more crop types for the respective particular locations, and generating a crop indicative image comprising at least one image of the multi-spectral and time series images of the image set overlaid with indications of the crop type classification determined for the respective particular locations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: X Development LLC
    Inventors: Cheng-en Guo, Jie Yang, Elliott Grant
  • Publication number: 20220122298
    Abstract: Some implementations herein relate to a graphical user interface (GUI) that facilitates dynamically partitioning agricultural fields into clusters on an individual agricultural field-basis using agricultural features. A map of a geographic area containing a plurality of agricultural fields may be rendered as part of a GUI. The agricultural fields may be partitioned into a first set of clusters based on a first granularity value and agricultural features of individual agricultural fields. The individual agricultural fields may be visually annotated in the GUI to convey the first set of clusters of similar agricultural fields. Upon receipt of a second granularity value different from the first granularity value, the agricultural fields may be partitioned into a second set of clusters of similar agricultural fields. The map of the geographic area may be updated so that individual agricultural fields are visually annotated to convey the second set of clusters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2020
    Publication date: April 21, 2022
    Inventors: David Clifford, Ming Zheng, Elliott Grant, Nanzhu Wang, Cheng-en Guo, Aleksandra Deis
  • Patent number: 11285612
    Abstract: Implementations are described herein for coordinating semi-autonomous robots to perform agricultural tasks on a plurality of plants with minimal human intervention. In various implementations, a plurality of robots may be deployed to perform a respective plurality of agricultural tasks. Each agricultural task may be associated with a respective plant of a plurality of plants, and each plant may have been previously designated as a target for one of the agricultural tasks. It may be determined that a given robot has reached an individual plant associated with the respective agricultural task that was assigned to the given robot. Based at least in part on that determination, a manual control interface may be provided at output component(s) of a computing device in network communication with the given robot. The manual control interface may be operable to manually control the given robot to perform the respective agricultural task.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2022
    Assignee: X DEVELOPMENT LLC
    Inventors: Zhiqiang Yuan, Elliott Grant
  • Publication number: 20210256702
    Abstract: Implementations relate to detecting/replacing transient obstructions from high-elevation digital images, and/or to fusing data from high-elevation digital images having different spatial, temporal, and/or spectral resolutions. In various implementations, first and second temporal sequences of high-elevation digital images capturing a geographic area may be obtained. These temporal sequences may have different spatial, temporal, and/or spectral resolutions (or frequencies). A mapping may be generated of the pixels of the high-elevation digital images of the second temporal sequence to respective sub-pixels of the first temporal sequence. A point in time at which a synthetic high-elevation digital image of the geographic area may be selected. The synthetic high-elevation digital image may be generated for the point in time based on the mapping and other data described herein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2020
    Publication date: August 19, 2021
    Inventors: Jie Yang, Cheng-en Guo, Zhiqiang Yuan, Elliott Grant, Hongxu Ma
  • Publication number: 20210150209
    Abstract: In embodiments, obtaining a plurality of image sets associated with a geographical region and a time period, wherein each image set of the plurality of image sets comprises multi-spectral and time series images that depict a respective particular portion of the geographical region during the time period, and predicting one or more crop types growing in each of particular locations within the particular portion of the geographical region associated with an image set of the plurality of image sets. Determining a crop type classification for each of the particular locations based on the predicted one or more crop types for the respective particular locations, and generating a crop indicative image comprising at least one image of the multi-spectral and time series images of the image set overlaid with indications of the crop type classification determined for the respective particular locations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 29, 2021
    Publication date: May 20, 2021
    Inventors: Cheng-en Guo, Jie Yang, Elliott Grant