A timber trailer for transporting timber and a method for determining the properties of at least one piece of timber.

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a timber trailer (1) for transporting timber (10). [Solution] The timber trailer (1) comprises a timber support base (2) and at least one sensor device (5). The at least one sensor device (5) defines a sensor area (11) established by the detection environment of the at least one sensor device (5). The timber trailer also comprises a control circuit (20). The control circuit (20) is configured to detect when the at least one piece of timber (10) held by the grapple (12) enters the sensor area (11), and to acquire image data (13) of the at least one piece of timber upon detection of the grapple (12) within the sensor area. The image data (13) is captured by the at least one sensor device (5) and depicts at least one bottom (10a) and side (10b) of the at least one piece of timber (10), and / or opposing bottoms (10a) and (10a') of the at least one piece of timber (10). Furthermore, the control circuit is configured to detect the at least one piece of wood (10) in the image data (13) and to determine the characteristics of the at least one piece of wood (10) based on the detected piece of wood (10) in the image data (13).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a wood trailer for transporting wood and a method for determining at least one property of wood.

Background Art

[0002] In forestry, methods and systems for measuring wood properties are indispensable. This is because the means they provide for obtaining wood properties are useful for inventory management. Accurate measurement of wood properties reduces discrepancies and fosters a more efficient and reliable wood supply chain.

[0003] In general, in the prior art, the properties of wood and wood bundles have been determined by specific measurement systems installed in the form of stations. These systems are usually installed in specific areas designed to create a microenvironment. In addition, for these systems, in order to start the measurement process, it is usually necessary to drive the wood trailer loaded with the wood bundle on its platform into the relevant area. Further, within the relevant area, specific devices are configured to be able to determine the properties of the wood within the wood bundle. For this reason, such systems are time-inefficient and expensive, while occupying excessive space. In addition, such systems and methods cannot provide sufficient accuracy when determining wood properties, as the wood properties are measured directly from the platform of the wood trailer.

[0004] As described above, the methods and systems for determining data related to wood properties in the prior art are very bulky, expensive, time-inefficient, and inaccurate.

[0005] From this perspective, it can be said that there is room for consideration in the present technical field in relation to the means according to the prior art, in order to provide a means for more efficiently measuring the properties of wood and wood bundles. Specifically, it is a means improved in terms of speed, accuracy, cost, and compactness.

[0006] Therefore, it is desirable to provide means that satisfy the requirements for efficiency when determining the properties of timber and logs. [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0007] In other words, the object of this disclosure is to provide a timber trailer and method that eliminates at least some of the aforementioned drawbacks and improves efficiency. This object is achieved by the timber trailer and method as defined in the appended claims. This disclosure is based at least in part on the insight that by providing such a method and trailer, the efficiency of measuring the properties of timber and timber bundles can be improved. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] This disclosure relates to a timber trailer for transporting timber, comprising a timber support (or a plurality of timber supports) defined by a base and a plurality of vertically extending supports. The timber support extends in a first direction along a first axis between its first and second ends. The at least one timber (preferably a bundle of timber) is positioned such that it can be placed longitudinally between the ends. woodThe trailer is positioned on or off a support. The trailer also includes at least one sensor device attached to at least one of its ends. The at least one sensor device defines a sensor area established by the detection environment of the at least one sensor. Furthermore, the trailer includes a control circuit configured to detect when the at least one piece of timber (at least a portion thereof) held by the grapple / crane enters the sensor area. The control circuit is configured to acquire image data of the at least one piece of timber upon detection of the grapple within the sensor area. Here, the image data is captured by the at least one sensor device and depicts / shows at least one bottom and side of the at least one piece of timber, and / or the opposing bottom of the at least one piece of timber. The control circuit is also configured to detect the at least one piece of timber in the image data and to determine the characteristics of the at least one piece of timber (or each of any multiple pieces of timber) based on the detected at least one piece of timber in the image data.

[0009] Preferably, the at least one sensor device is mounted on the trailer so as to be stationary. Thus, the at least one sensor device is mounted on a wooden support (e.g., a support column) or the driver's cab. The aforementioned woodThe advantage of mounting the sensor on a support or in the driver's cab is that the detection environment can be kept stationary (compared to, for example, mounting the sensor device on the grapple), which brings greater consistency and stability to the viewpoint when capturing image data. Also, a stationary sensor device can capture data because the possibility of movement or blurring is reduced. The advantage of the timber trailer according to this disclosure is that it enables a process to measure the properties of the timber more quickly without reducing accuracy. Since the control circuit can detect that the grapple holding the timber is within the sensor area, it can derive the properties of the timber "in operation," i.e., the properties of the timber while the grapple is loading or unloading the timber from the timber support of the timber trailer.

[0010] Accordingly, the control circuit may be configured to control the at least one sensor device to capture image data depicting at least one bottom and side of the at least one piece of wood, upon detecting that a grapple holding at least one piece of wood has entered the sensor area, thereby acquiring said image data. In some embodiments, the control circuit may control the grapple to be operable until the at least one sensor device captures image data depicting at least one bottom and side of the at least one piece of wood, thereby rotating the at least one piece of wood relative to the at least one sensor device.

[0011] In the additional or alternative embodiments described above, the at least one sensor device may capture image data depicting the opposing bottoms of the at least one piece of wood. This can also be done by rotating the wood / grapple relative to the (stationary) sensor device until the at least one sensor device captures image data depicting the opposing bottoms.

[0012] Therefore, the control circuit can determine the captured / acquired (required) image data before determining the characteristics. For this reason, if the control circuit cannot determine that the captured image data is the required image data, the control circuit can provide a notification to the user that the requested image data has not yet been acquired. In this case, for example, if the grapple is controlled by the user, the user may need to rotate the wood held by the grapple so that the sensor device can acquire the requested image data. The control circuit may also be configured to provide a notification indicating that the required image data has been captured after determining the acquired image data. In this way, the control circuit can verify the acquired image data and determine whether or not the required data has been acquired.

[0013] Furthermore, in an embodiment in which the user rotates the grapple, the control circuit can send a notification to the user to control the grapple so that the control circuit can acquire the required image data. The control circuit can also provide a notification to the user when it determines that it has acquired the required image data. This allows the user to, for example, move the wood to the wood It can be released onto a support. In other embodiments, the control circuit may autonomously control the grapple to acquire the requested image data. Thus, the control circuit may be configured to detect the orientation of the wood in the sensor area and to control the at least one sensor device to acquire the image data.

[0014] In other words, the control circuit can transmit a control signal (to either the grapple or the user) to rotate the grapple by at least 90 degrees within the sensor area. That is, by transmitting a signal that controls the grapple to rotate within the sensor area, the at least one piece of wood is positioned at at least one desired position relative to the at least one sensor. This allows the control circuit to acquire image data of the at least one piece of wood at the at least one desired position. Here, the at least one desired position may be a position in which the at least one sensor device can capture image data showing the opposing bottoms of the at least one piece of wood, or image data showing at least one bottom and side of the at least one piece of wood.

[0015] An advantage of this is that the number of sensor devices attached to the timber trailer can be reduced, thus reducing costs. Therefore, the timber trailer may be equipped with only one sensor device. The control circuit can then transmit a control signal to rotate the grapple holding at least one piece of timber within the sensor area established by the sensor device, thereby acquiring the required image data (the required image data includes image data depicting at least one of the opposing bottoms of the timber or a plurality of the timbers, as well as image data depicting the bottom and sides of the timber or a plurality of the timbers).

[0016] In other embodiments of this disclosure, the trailer may include, for example, at least two sensor devices which may be positioned opposite each other, thereby eliminating the need for the grapple to rotate the timber within the sensing environment. Furthermore, in such a case, the control circuit may be configured to synchronize the opposing sensor devices with respect to each other.

[0017] The control circuit may be configured to detect when the grapple holding the at least one piece of wood is located within / enters the sensor area in a specific gripping orientation. The specific gripping orientation refers, for example, to a state in which the length of the at least one piece of wood extends along the first direction. Therefore, when the control circuit detects that the wood has entered the sensor area, it also determines the specific gripping orientation of the grapple. Based on the gripping orientation of the grapple relative to the at least one sensor device, the control circuit can determine whether or not the required image data has been acquired.

[0018] One advantage of this is that the control circuit can operate with low power consumption as long as the grapple holding the at least one piece of wood is not detected within the sensor area. When the grapple holding the at least one piece of wood is detected, the control circuit responds by operating the sensor device to capture high-resolution image data of the at least one piece of wood. This allows the control circuit to derive characteristics from the acquired image data. Thus, when the control circuit detects at least one piece of wood within the sensor area, it can adjust the power state of the at least one sensor from a power-sustaining state to an operating state. In some embodiments, before acquiring image data, the control circuit may send a control signal to the at least one sensor device to acquire the image data. Before sending such control signal, the control circuit may send a control signal to the grapple or the user operating the grapple to rotate the grapple to at least one desired position where the at least one sensor device can capture the requested image data. By repeating this process, the control circuit can acquire image data from multiple desired positions.

[0019] In some embodiments, when the trailer performs a loading operation in which it loads multiple pieces of lumber onto the support platform, the control circuit may be configured to collect the amount of lumber loaded thereand the characteristics of each piece of lumber loaded thereand to transmit the amount to a remote device.

[0020] The control circuit may be stored in a cloud computing system.

[0021] In some embodiments, the at least one sensor device is at least one pair of opposing sensors that establish the sensor area between them. The pair of sensor devices are located on opposing sides of the timber support on the timber trailer. This makes it possible to capture images of the opposing bottoms of at least one piece of timber (simultaneously) by the pair of sensor devices when acquiring the image data. The control circuit may also be configured to synchronize the opposing sensor devices with respect to each other and / or to synchronize the data captured by the opposing sensor devices. The sensor devices may be synchronized to enable data fusion in order to ensure consistency of the image data captured by each sensor device.

[0022] Advantageously, this allows for more accurate and faster analysis.

[0023] The control circuit may be configured to synchronize by combining / fusing measured values / data from multiple (image) frames captured by each sensor in order to optimize the image or data resolution. By optimizing / improving the data / image resolution, it becomes possible to derive further characteristics from at least one piece of wood in the image, or to determine the characteristics to be determined with higher accuracy. Therefore, characteristics can be determined at least partially based on fused image data (derived from both opposing sensor devices), that is, based on image data captured from synchronized sensor devices.

[0024] Synchronization is (preferably dynamically) performed by an algorithm in a module (e.g., a synchronization module) in the control circuit. This algorithm may be based on machine learning or artificial intelligence. The synchronization enables the control circuit to perform depth information, three-dimensional reconstruction, dimension, and size determination.

[0025] In some embodiments, the control circuit is configured to detect the gripping orientation of the grapple holding the at least one piece of timber when the grapple is within the sensor zone. Preferably, the orientation is relative to the loading cradle. Further, the control circuit may be configured to adjust the power state of the at least one sensor device from a power maintenance state to an operating state upon detecting the at least one piece of timber within the sensor zone. In other words, it may be configured to perform such adjustment upon detecting that the at least one piece of timber has entered the zone. As a difference between the power maintenance state and the operating state, in the power maintenance state, the control circuit captures data at a lower frequency and / or lower resolution compared to the operating state. However, the control circuit can operate in the maintenance state to monitor the sensor zone, and can detect whether at least one piece of timber has entered the zone.

[0026] In some embodiments, upon detecting the grapple holding the at least one piece of timber, the control circuit is configured to transmit a control signal (to the sensor device) to rotate the grapple to at least one desired position. This allows the at least one sensor device to capture the required image data. Preferably, the control circuit is configured to repeatedly transmit the control signal to facilitate acquisition of image data from a plurality of desired positions.

[0027] The present disclosure also provides a method for determining the properties of at least one piece of timber during the handling operation of the at least one piece of timber. The method includes the step of gripping the at least one piece of timber with a grapple and moving the timber to a sensor zone established by the sensing environment of at least one sensor device. The method also includes the step of acquiring / capturing image data of the at least one piece of timber while the at least one piece of timber is gripped within and positioned in the sensor zone. Here, the image data is captured by the at least one sensor device, and depicts at least one bottom portion and side portion of the at least one piece of timber, or opposite bottom portions of the at least one piece of timber. Furthermore, the method includes the steps of detecting the at least one piece of timber in the image data, and determining the properties of the at least one piece of timber based on the detected at least one piece of timber in the image data.

[0028] The above method provides at least the same advantages as the timber trailer described in the present disclosure. Therefore, to avoid unnecessary repetition, reference should be made to the foregoing content for the advantages and features already explained in the present disclosure. Accordingly, the control circuit of the timber trailer is capable of executing any of the steps described in the present method / outputting signals for executing these steps, and vice versa.

[0029] The properties include at least one of the volume, diameter distribution, length, bark information, timber condition information, and tree species information for each of the at least one piece of timber held by the grapple. The timber condition information may include information indicating at least one of whether the timber is sound, whether it is corroded, whether it is decayed, and the age of the timber. The tree species information may include the tree species to which the timber belongs.

[0030] The image data includes at least one of the spatial data, depth data, color data, and multispectral data of the at least one piece of wood, or any combination thereof. Spatial data may refer to image data that includes visual information represented on a grid. Depth data may refer to image data that includes visual information of an object indicating its distance to the at least one sensor device. In other words, depth data is an image that includes information about how far each part of the image is from the viewpoint. Multispectral data refers to image data collected from multiple spectral bands or channels of the electromagnetic spectrum, each spectral band capturing information about the reflection or emission of light from the imaged object at a specific wavelength.

[0031] Furthermore, in some embodiments, the method includes a step in the determination step of detecting the at least one piece of wood in at least a plurality of frames of the image data. Here, at least one of the plurality of frames depicts at least one bottom of the at least one piece of wood. Another frame of the plurality of frames depicts a side of the at least one piece of wood. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the determination step includes one frame of the plurality of frames depicting a first bottom of the at least one piece of wood, and the other frame of the plurality of frames depicting an opposing second bottom of the at least one piece of wood. Thus, the method can derive the characteristics of the at least one piece of wood from images depicting two opposing bottoms or its side and bottom.

[0032] The method / control circuit may, when detecting the at least one piece of wood, divide the image data to detect the at least one piece of wood. This also applies when there is a bundle of wood (i.e., when there are 2 to 10 pieces of wood in the grapple). In that case, the image data can be divided to detect the multiple pieces of wood.

[0033] Advantageously, this not only allows for the determination of the characteristics of each piece of wood, but also makes it possible to measure the quantity of wood being loaded onto and unloaded from the support platform.

[0034] The at least one sensor device may be at least one pair of opposing sensor devices that establish the sensor area between them. The pair of sensor devices are located on opposing sides of the timber support on the trailer. This makes it possible to capture images of the opposing bottoms of the at least one piece of timber by the pair of sensor devices during the acquisition process.

[0035] An advantage of this embodiment is that there is no need to rotate the grapple, and the two sensor devices can acquire the required image data while the wood is within the sensor area.

[0036] The Disclosure further provides a computer-readable storage medium containing one or more programs configured to be executed by a control circuit. The one or more programs include instructions for performing the method described in the Disclosure.

[0037] The term "sensor device" as used herein may refer to any of the following: a LiDAR sensor device, a color camera (color imaging device), a multispectral sensor, an infrared sensor, and a near-infrared sensor, or any combination thereof. The expression "each sensor device" may refer to a pair of sensor devices consisting of a LiDAR sensor device and a color camera device, or any other combination of the aforementioned sensor devices. Therefore, "each sensor device" may be replaced with "each pair of sensor devices." [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0038] These and other features and advantages of this disclosure will be further clarified and described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings. [Figure 1]This is a side view of a timber trailer according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] This is a decision flowchart relating to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] This embodiment of the disclosure is a side view showing a timber trailer holding multiple pieces of timber. [Figure 4] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, this is a side view showing a timber trailer with multiple pieces of timber on its loading platform. [Figure 5] This diagram shows a flowchart illustrating the method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0039] The following detailed description describes some embodiments relating to this disclosure. However, unless otherwise stated, features of different embodiments are interchangeable between embodiments and can be combined in various ways. The following description includes many specific details to provide a more complete understanding of this disclosure, although it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that this disclosure can be implemented without these specific details. In other cases, detailed descriptions of well-known configurations and functions are omitted to avoid obscuring this disclosure.

[0040] Furthermore, please understand that the terms used in this disclosure are for the purpose of describing specific aspects and are not intended to be limiting. Note that the articles “one,” “one,” “that,” and “the foregoing” used in the specification and the appended claims mean that there is one or more such elements unless otherwise explicitly stated in the context. Thus, for example, the expression “one unit” or “the unit” may refer to one or more units depending on the context. In addition, the words “equip,” “include,” and “contain” do not exclude other elements or processes. The term “equipment / includes” in this specification should be interpreted as specifying the presence of the described feature, component, process, or component. This does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, components, processes, components, or groups thereof. The expression “and / or” may be interpreted as meaning “both” while each being optional. More specifically, the expression "one or more" in a set of elements (for example, "one or more of A, B, and C" or "at least one of A, B, and C") is interpreted either conjunctively or disjunctively. In other words, it can refer to all elements in the set, a single element, or a combination of two or more elements. For example, the expression "A, B, and C" can be interpreted as A or B or C, A and B and C, A and B, B and C, or A and C.

[0041] Furthermore, while terms such as "first," "second," etc., may be used in describing various elements and features in this specification, it should be understood that these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are merely used to distinguish one element from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the embodiment, the first element can be referred to as the second element, and similarly, the second element can be referred to as the first element. Both the first and second elements are elements, but they are not the same element.

[0042] In this specification, expressions such as "the first," "the second," etc., may be replaced with other expressions within the scope of this disclosure.

[0043] The term "timber" can refer to cylindrical or other shaped logs. The phrase "at least one piece of timber" could mean "a bundle of timber."

[0044] The term "timber trailer" may refer to a vehicle configured for transporting timber. Therefore, such a trailer may be equipped with a transmission system, steering system, engine, wheels, and other components / systems necessary to enable the timber trailer to move and carry timber.

[0045] The term "sensor area" may refer to an area detected by at least one sensor device. For example, if the sensor device is an imaging device, the sensor area may refer to the environment in which the imaging device can acquire image data.

[0046] The term “grapple” may refer to a mechanical gripping device / crane configured for handling timber during loading, unloading, and transport. A grapple is operable to grip one or more pieces of timber. It is also operable to rotate and pivot in order to manipulate the timber in various directions and positions. The grapples referred to in this disclosure may be mounted on a timber trailer or installed externally to a timber trailer. A grapple may be connected to a control room to allow a user to control the grapple.

[0047] The term “image data” as used in this disclosure may be represented by point clouds (e.g., acquired by LiDAR sensors or other optical sensors), images / pixels (e.g., acquired by color cameras), and meshes. Images consist of frames, each frame having pixels, each pixel representing a combination of red, green, and blue values. Accordingly, each sensor device in this disclosure is operable to acquire at least one of spatial data, depth / distance data, color data, and multispectral data in the form of pixel representation, point cloud representation, and mesh representation.

[0048] Figure 1 is a side view of a timber trailer 1 for transporting timber 10. The timber trailer includes a timber support platform 2 defined by a base 2a and a plurality of vertically extending support columns 2b. As shown in Figure 1, wood Trailer 1 has two wood It is equipped with a support base 2. Each wooden support base 2 extends in a first direction along a first axis x1 between its first end e1 and second end e2. Furthermore, at least one piece of wood 10 can be installed longitudinally between end e1 and end e2 / along its length, the at least one piece of wood 10 wood On the support base 2 or wood Position it so that it can be moved from the support stand 2. Furthermore, wood Trailer 1 may have at least one sensor device 5 attached to at least one of end e1 and end e2, or may be connected to said sensor device 5. The at least one sensor device 5 defines a sensor area 11 established by the detection environment of the at least one sensor device 5. Therefore, the sensor device 5, Lumber trailer It may be attached to the support column 2b of 1, or to a vehicle compartment such as a driver's cab or cockpit connected to the grapple 12. The timber trailer 1 also includes, or is connected to, a control circuit 20 configured to detect when at least one piece of timber 10 held by the grapple 12 enters the sensor area 11. 11Upon detecting the grapple 12 inside, the control circuit 20 will turn the at least one piece of wood 10 The system is configured to acquire image data 13 of the at least one piece of wood 10. Here, the image data 13 is captured by the at least one sensor device 5. The image data 13 depicts at least one bottom 10a and side 10b of the at least one piece of wood 10, and / or opposing bottom 10a and 10a' of the at least one piece of wood 10. Furthermore, the control circuit 20 is configured to detect the at least one piece of wood 10 in the image data 13 and to determine the characteristics of the at least one piece of wood 10 based on the detected at least one piece of wood 10 in the image data 13.

[0049] In this way, the characteristics of each piece of wood 10 can be determined simply by acquiring image data 13 of the opposing bottoms 10a, 10a' or the bottom 10a and side 10b. Here, characteristics refer to at least one of volume, diameter, length, bark information, wood condition information, and tree species information. Preferably, when determining the characteristics based on images of the opposing bottoms 10a, 10a' of at least one piece of wood 10, wood Trailer 1 is shown in Figure 1. wood The trailer 1 is equipped with opposing sensor devices 5 as shown on the left side. Each sensor device 5 includes an imaging module that acquires color image data and an optical / distance module that acquires optical / distance data, preferably represented in the form of a point cloud space. In some embodiments, the grapple 12 may also be equipped with sensor devices 5.

[0050] Furthermore, the control circuit 20 can be configured to adjust / synchronize opposing sensor devices 5 (or any sensor devices in this disclosure) relative to each other (and the base) so that the wood 10 can be identified / divided even when viewed from different directions, and can also be configured to obtain the length of each piece of wood even though only the bottoms 10a', 10a of each piece of wood are captured by the sensor devices 5. The opposing sensor devices 5 can be synchronized in terms of the timing (clock) of data acquisition. In addition, the opposing sensor devices 5 can be synchronized so that their fields of view are spatially aligned so that they overlap appropriately. And the opposing sensor devices 5 can be synchronized to enable data fusion. By synchronizing the sensor devices 5, the control circuit 20 can be configured to divide the individual pieces of wood grasped by the grapple more efficiently. This synchronization may include aligning / correlating the image data 13 captured by each sensor device 5. It should also be noted that, for the purpose of obtaining higher resolution, the control circuit 20 can combine measurements from multiple frames captured by each sensor 5.

[0051] As shown in Figure 1, the control circuit 20 may include one or more storage devices 21. The storage device 21 may include any volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory. Such memory includes, but is not limited to, persistent memory, solid memory, remotely installed memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (e.g., hard disks), and removable storage media (e.g., flash drives, compact discs (CDs), or digital video discs (DVDs)). In addition or alternatively, the storage device 21 may include any other volatile or non-volatile, non-temporary, device-readable, and / or computer-executable storage device that stores information, data, and / or instructions that can be utilized by each of the associated control circuits 20. Each storage device 21 may store appropriate instructions, data, or information, including, for example, computer programs, software, or applications containing one or more logic, rules, codes, tables, etc. In addition or alternatively, it may also include other instructions that can be executed and utilized by the control circuit 20. The storage device 21 is used to store any calculation results performed by the control circuit 20 and / or any data received via the input / output interface 22. In some embodiments, each control circuit 20 and each storage device 21 may be considered as a single unit.

[0052] Each storage device 21 can also store data that can be acquired, manipulated, created, or saved by the control circuit 20. This data may include, for example, image data, trained algorithms (and / or models, components, and data used in the trained algorithms), other algorithms, and other data. Therefore, algorithms may be stored in the storage device 21. Preferably, the control circuit 20 includes a machine learning element (not shown) that detects wood 10 in the image data 13 and / or detects when wood 10 enters the sensor area 11 by executing the algorithm based on the image data 13 in the detection module 23 of the control circuit 20. The determination module 24 can also determine the characteristics of each piece of wood 10. These characteristics are determined using an algorithm such as a trained algorithm executed by the machine learning element of the control circuit 20. The trained algorithm may be trained based on previous / past (image) data. The image data may be stored in one or more databases. These one or more databases may be connected to the control circuit 20 via a high-bandwidth field area network (FAN) or wide area network (WAN), or any communication network.

[0053] The control circuit 20 may include, for example, one or more central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs) dedicated to arithmetic processing, and / or other processing units. The storage device 21 includes one or more computer-readable media and can store information accessible by the control circuit 20. This information includes instructions / programs that can be executed by the control circuit 20.

[0054] Figure 2 is a schematic decision flowchart. Figure 2 shows that the control circuit 20 can be configured to detect when the wood 10 enters the sensor area. As shown in Figure 2, the control circuit 20 transmits a control signal to rotate the grapple 12 within the sensor area 11 to position at least one piece of wood at at least one desired position relative to at least one sensor. This allows the control circuit to acquire the image data. Thus, the control circuit 20 can detect a specific gripping orientation of the grapple 12 / wood orientation of the wood 10 and transmit a control signal to rotate the grapple 12 within the sensor area 11 based on that specific gripping orientation. Figure 3 is a side view showing the trailer 1 with the grapple 12 gripping a bundle of wood 10. As shown in Figure 3, when the wood 10 enters the sensor area 11, the control circuit 20 can detect that the wood 10 has entered the sensor area 11.

[0055] Figure 4 shows that the grapple 12 has already grasped the bundle of wood 10. wood After releasing onto receiving stand 2 wood This is a side view of trailer 1. Therefore, as shown in Figure 4, the control circuit 20 can collect the quantity / number of loaded lumber 10 and the characteristics of each loaded piece of lumber 10 to generate aggregated data 201, and transmit this aggregated data 201 to the remote device 200. For this reason, the remote device 200 may be a cloud computing device. The advantage of this is that since the characteristics of each piece of lumber 10 are determined during its operation, the aggregated data 201 is accumulated by measurements for each division unit, thereby providing more accurate measurements.

[0056] Figure 5 is a flowchart of a method 100 for determining the properties of at least one piece of wood during the operation of moving the at least one piece of wood. The method includes a step 101 of grasping the at least one piece of wood with a grapple and moving the wood into a sensor area established by the detection environment of at least one sensor device. The method 100 also includes a step 102 of acquiring image data of the at least one piece of wood while it is grasped and located within the sensor area. Such image data is captured by the at least one sensor device. The image data depicts at least one bottom and side of the at least one piece of wood, or the opposite bottom of the at least one piece of wood. Furthermore, the method 100 includes a step 103 of detecting the at least one piece of wood in the image data, and a step 104 of determining the properties of the at least one piece of wood based on the detected at least one piece of wood in the image data.

[0057] figure 5 The method 100 may further include step 101a of detecting when the at least one piece of wood held by the grapple enters the sensor area.

[0058] Method 100 detects at least one piece of wood by dividing the image data. This can be performed using a trained algorithm (machine learning algorithm). Although the above description assumes Method 100, it can be similarly applied and performed by the control circuit 20 mentioned in this disclosure, and vice versa. Method 100 / control circuit can also fuse image data captured by multiple sensors before division, and then divide the fused image data.

Claims

1. A timber trailer (1) for transporting timber (10) is provided with a timber support (2), at least one sensor device (5), and a control circuit (20), The wooden support base (2) is defined by a base (2a) and a plurality of vertically extending support columns (2b), and extends in a first direction along a first axis (x1) between the first end (e1) and the second end (e2) of the wooden support base (2), At least one piece of wood (10) can be installed longitudinally between the end (e1) and the end (e2) by arranging the at least one piece of wood (10) to be movable on or off the support base (2), The at least one sensor device (5) is attached to at least one of the ends (e1) and (e2), and defines a sensor area (11) established by the detection environment of the at least one sensor device (5), The control circuit (20) is The system detects when the at least one piece of wood (10) held by the grapple (12) enters the sensor area (11), Upon detecting the grapple (12) within the sensor area, image data (13) of at least one piece of wood is acquired. The image data (13) detects at least one piece of wood (10), Based on the image data (13) in which the characteristics of the at least one piece of wood (10) are detected, the system is configured to determine the characteristics of the at least one piece of wood (10). The timber trailer (1) is characterized in that the image data (13) is captured by the at least one sensor device (5) and depicts at least one bottom (10a) and side (10b) of the at least one piece of timber (10), and / or opposing bottoms (10a) and (10a') of the at least one piece of timber (10).

2. The timber trailer (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the control circuit (20) is configured to transmit a control signal to rotate the grapple (12) within the sensor area (11) in order to position the at least one piece of timber (10) at at least one desired position relative to the at least one sensor (5).

3. The timber trailer (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the control circuit (20) is configured to detect the gripping direction of the grapple (12) holding the at least one piece of timber (10) when the grapple (12) is within the sensor area (11).

4. The at least one sensor device (5) is a pair of opposing sensors that establish the sensor area (11) between them, and the pair of sensor devices (5) are located on opposite sides of the timber support base (2) on the timber trailer (1), so that when acquiring the image data, images of the opposing bottoms of the at least one piece of timber can be captured by the pair of sensor devices. The control circuit is configured to synchronize the opposing sensor devices (5) with respect to each other in order to enable data fusion by synchronizing the sensor devices (5), as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, for the timber trailer (1).

5. The timber trailer according to claim 4, characterized in that the control circuit is configured to synchronize by combining measurements from multiple frames captured by each sensor (5) in order to optimize the resolution.

6. The control circuit (20) is configured to detect the gripping direction of the grapple (12) when the grapple (12) is within the sensor area (11), and holds the at least one piece of wood (10). The timber trailer according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that when at least one piece of timber is detected within the sensor area, the power state of the at least one sensor device is adjusted from a power maintenance state to an operating state.

7. The control circuit is configured to transmit a control signal to rotate the grapple to at least one desired position so that the at least one sensor device can capture the requested image data when it detects the grapple holding the at least one piece of wood. Preferably, the control circuit is configured to repeatedly transmit the control signal in order to prompt the acquisition of image data from a plurality of desired locations, characterized in that the timber trailer is as described in any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. A method (100) for determining the properties of at least one piece of wood during the movement of at least one piece of wood, The process (101) involves grasping at least one piece of wood with a grapple and moving the piece of wood to a sensor area established by the detection environment of at least one sensor device, The steps include: (102) acquiring image data of the at least one piece of wood when it is being held and located within the sensor area, The steps include detecting at least one piece of wood within the image data (103), The process includes (104) determining the characteristics of the at least one piece of wood based on the at least one piece of wood detected in the image data, The method (100) is characterized in that the image data is captured by the at least one sensor device and depicts at least one bottom and side of the at least one piece of wood, or the opposite bottoms of the at least one piece of wood.

9. The method according to 8 (100), characterized in that the aforementioned characteristics include at least one of volume, diameter distribution, length, bark information, wood condition information, and tree species information.

10. The method according to 8 or 9 (100), characterized in that the image data includes at least one of the spatial data, depth data, color data, and multispectral data of the at least one piece of wood.

11. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 10 (100), characterized in that the detection step is performed by dividing the image data to detect the at least one piece of wood.

12. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 11 (100), characterized in that the at least one sensor device is at least a pair of opposing sensors that establish the sensor area between them, and the pair of sensor devices are located on opposing sides of the timber support on the trailer, so that in the acquisition step, images of the opposing bottoms of the at least one piece of timber can be captured by the pair of sensor devices.

13. The method (100) according to any one of claims 8 to 13, wherein, when acquiring the image data, the method (100) includes the step of rotating the grapple within the sensor area such that the at least one piece of wood is positioned at at least one desired position relative to the at least one sensor, thereby enabling the control circuit to acquire image data of the at least one piece of wood at the at least one desired position.

14. A computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured to be executed by a control circuit, wherein the one or more programs include instructions for performing the method (100) described in any one of claims 8 to 14.

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