Agricultural Support System

Abstract

To provide an agricultural support system capable of creating a schedule for spraying pesticides that is effective in dealing with problems. [Solution] According to one aspect of the present invention, an agricultural support system is provided which includes a processor configured to execute each of the following steps by reading a program, wherein an input information acquisition step acquires input information including at least a pesticide spraying history and damage occurrence information indicating the risk of plant damage, and a schedule creation step generates a pesticide spraying schedule including at least the type of pesticide to be sprayed and the spraying time of the pesticide based on the input information and reference information, wherein the reference information includes a correlation between the input information and the type of pesticide and the spraying time.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an agricultural support system. [Background technology]

[0002] As disclosed in the following documents, a device that predicts damage (diseases, pests, and physiological damage) that will occur in plants (crops) using a learning model is known. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-93957 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The above-mentioned device can predict the occurrence of a failure, but cannot obtain information on how to respond to the failure.

[0005] In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides an agricultural support system capable of creating a schedule for spraying pesticides that is effective in dealing with problems. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an agricultural support system comprising a processor configured to execute each of the following steps by reading a program, wherein an input information acquisition step acquires input information including at least a pesticide spraying history and damage occurrence information indicating a risk of plant damage, and a schedule creation step generates a pesticide spraying schedule including at least the type of pesticide to be sprayed and the spraying time of the pesticide based on the input information and reference information, wherein the reference information includes a correlation between the input information and the type of pesticide and the spraying time.

[0007] According to this embodiment, it is possible to create a pesticide spraying schedule that can suppress the occurrence of problems. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an agricultural support system 1. [Diagram 2] 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an information processing device 2. FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a user terminal 3. [Figure 4] 2 is a block diagram showing functions realized by an information processing device 2 (processor 23). FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a schedule display screen CD displayed on a user terminal 3. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is an activity diagram showing the flow of information processing (schedule creation processing) executed by the agriculture support system 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Various characteristic features shown in the following embodiments can be combined with each other.

[0010] Incidentally, a program for realizing the software appearing in one embodiment may be provided as a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, or may be provided so as to be downloadable from an external server, or may be provided so that the program is launched on an external computer and its functions are realized on a client terminal (so-called cloud computing).

[0011] In addition, in various information processing according to an embodiment, an input and an output according to the input can be realized. Here, as long as an output is obtained as a result of the input, the form of information referenced in such information processing (hereinafter referred to as reference information) is not limited. The reference information may be, for example, rule-based information such as a database, a lookup table, or a predetermined function (including a judgment formula such as a regression formula constructed by a statistical method), or may be a trained model that has previously trained the correlation between the input and the output, or may be a large-scale language model that can output a desired result by inputting a prompt.

[0012] In one embodiment, the term "unit" may include, for example, a combination of hardware resources implemented by a circuit in the broad sense and software information processing that can be specifically realized by these hardware resources. In one embodiment, various information is handled, and this information is represented by, for example, physical values ​​of signal values ​​representing voltage and current, high and low signal values ​​as a binary bit collection consisting of 0 or 1, or quantum superposition (so-called quantum bits), and communication and calculation can be performed on the circuit in the broad sense.

[0013] Furthermore, a circuit in the broad sense is a circuit realized by at least appropriately combining a circuit, circuitry, a processor, and a memory. The processor may be a general-purpose processor or a dedicated circuit. In other words, it includes an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (e.g., a simple programmable logic device (SPLD), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), and a field programmable gate array (FPGA)), etc.

[0014] 1. Hardware Configuration This section describes the hardware configuration.

[0015] <Agricultural Support System 1> 1 is a configuration diagram showing an agriculture support system 1. The agriculture support system 1 provides services such as providing pesticide spray schedules and forecasting the occurrence of problems to multiple users.

[0016] The agriculture support system 1 includes an information processing device 2 and a plurality of user terminals 3. The information processing device 2 and the user terminals 3 are configured to be capable of communicating with each other via a telecommunications line.

[0017] In one embodiment of the agriculture support system 1, the agriculture support system 1 is composed of one or more devices or components. For example, if the agriculture support system 1 is composed only of an information processing device 2, the agriculture support system 1 can be the information processing device 2. These components will be described below.

[0018] <Information processing device 2> 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the information processing device 2. The information processing device 2 includes a communication bus 20, a communication unit 21, a storage unit 22, and a processor 23. The communication unit 21, the storage unit 22, and the processor 23 are electrically connected via the communication bus 20 inside the information processing device 2.

[0019] <Communications Division 21> The communication unit 21 is preferably a wired communication means such as USB, IEEE1394, Thunderbolt (registered trademark), wired LAN network communication, etc., but may also include wireless LAN network communication, mobile communication such as LTE / 5G, BLUETOOTH (registered trademark) communication, etc. as necessary. In other words, it is more preferable to implement it as a collection of multiple communication means. In other words, the information processing device 2 may communicate various information from the outside via the communication unit 21 and the network.

[0020] <Storage section 22> The storage unit 22 stores various information defined by the above description. This can be implemented, for example, as a storage device such as a solid state drive (SSD) that stores various programs and the like related to the information processing device 2 executed by the processor 23, or as a memory such as a random access memory (RAM) that stores temporarily required information (arguments, arrays, etc.) related to the program calculations. The storage unit 22 stores various programs, variables, etc. related to the information processing device 2 executed by the processor 23.

[0021] <Processor 23> The processor 23 processes and controls the overall operations related to the information processing device 2. The processor 23 is, for example, a central processing unit (CPU). The processor 23 realizes various functions related to the information processing device 2 by reading out a predetermined program stored in the storage unit 22. That is, information processing by software stored in the storage unit 22 can be specifically realized by the processor 23, which is an example of hardware, and executed as each functional unit included in the processor 23. These will be described in more detail in the next section. Note that the processor 23 is not limited to being single, and the information processing device 2 may have multiple processors 23 for each function. Furthermore, the information processing device 2 may have a configuration that combines these.

[0022] The information processing device 2 may be an on-premise type or a cloud type. As the information processing device 2 in the cloud type, the above-mentioned functions and processes may be provided in the form of, for example, SaaS (Software as a Service) or cloud computing.

[0023] <User terminal 3> Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the user terminal 3. As shown in Fig. 3, the user terminal 3 includes a communication bus 30, a communication unit 31, a storage unit 32, a processor 33, an output unit 34, and an input unit 35. The communication unit 31, the storage unit 32, the processor 33, the output unit 34, and the input unit 35 are electrically connected via the communication bus 30 inside the user terminal 3. Descriptions of the communication unit 31, the storage unit 32, and the processor 33 are omitted because they are similar to the descriptions of the respective units in the information processing device 2.

[0024] <Output section 34> The output unit 34 displays a screen of a graphical user interface (GUI) that can be operated by the user. The output unit 34 may be included in the housing of the user terminal 3, or may be attached externally. Specifically, the output unit 34 may be implemented as a display device such as a CRT display, a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, a plasma display, or the like. It is preferable that these display devices are implemented by selectively using them according to the type of the user terminal 3.

[0025] <Input section 35> The input unit 35 accepts an operation input made by a user. The operation input is transferred as a command signal to the processor 33 via the communication bus 30. The processor 33 may execute a predetermined control or calculation based on the transferred command signal as necessary. The input unit 35 may be included in the housing of the user terminal 3, or may be externally attached. For example, the input unit 35 may be implemented as a touch panel integrated with the output unit 34. When the input unit 35 is implemented as a touch panel, the user can input a tap operation, a swipe operation, or the like to the input unit 35. As the input unit 35, a switch button, a mouse, a track pad, a QWERTY keyboard, or the like can be adopted instead of a touch panel.

[0026] 2. Functional configuration In this section, the functional configuration of the present embodiment will be described. Information processing by software stored in the storage unit 22 is specifically realized by the processor 23, which is an example of hardware, and can be executed as each functional unit included in the processor 23.

[0027] 4 is a block diagram showing functions realized by the information processing device 2 (processor 23). Specifically, the information processing device 2 (processor 23) includes a registration unit 231, a forecast unit 232, an input information acquisition unit 233, a schedule creation unit 234, a schedule display control unit 235, a recording unit 236, an order arrangement unit 237, and an artificial intelligence unit 240.

[0028] <Registration 231> The registration unit 231 registers users who use the user terminal 3. The users are, for example, farmers or employees of organizations (farmers or companies) that manage farms. The registration unit 231 registers user data including personal information of the users (name, address, contact information, organization, etc.) of the users as well as user ID, type of plant (crop) being cultivated, managed habitat (field address), stock of pesticides held, history of pesticide spraying, etc., in a user database stored in, for example, the storage unit 22. For a user who has multiple habitats, the registration unit 231 registers the addresses of the multiple habitats. In addition, when the user is a farmer or an employee of a company, one habitat can be shared by multiple users in the user data.

[0029] In this embodiment, "pesticides" refers to chemicals for controlling diseases or pests (fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, etc.) and chemicals for improving physiological disorders (enhancing or suppressing physiological functions) (growth promoters, germination inhibitors, etc.).

[0030] The registration unit 231 also registers material supply organizations that sell materials. Material supply organizations are organizations that sell materials such as pesticides to users. Material supply organizations include, for example, associations such as agricultural cooperatives (JA: Japan Agricultural Co-operatives), and material companies (distributors) such as pesticide manufacturers. Material supply organizations may also include organizations that provide services such as providing pesticide spraying schedules via the agriculture support system 1 (service operators of the agriculture support system 1). The registration unit 231 registers the inventory of pesticides held by the material supply organizations in an organization database stored, for example, in the memory unit 22.

[0031] <Forecast Division 232> The forecast unit 232 is configured to forecast the possibility of damage occurring to the plant. Specifically, the forecast unit 232 estimates a forecast value indicating the possibility of damage based on forecast conditions including the forecast date and time, the type of plant, the growing area of ​​the plant, etc., and the first reference information.

[0032] The disorders for which the forecast unit 232 estimates the forecast value include diseases, pests, and physiological disorders. The physiological disorders include deficiencies of components such as magnesium and calcium, and water shortages. The forecast unit 232 also predicts the occurrence probability (i.e., forecast value) of disorders for a "type of plant" for each "type of disorder." The "type of plant" is a category indicating varieties such as strawberry, radish, onion, broccoli, and cabbage. Furthermore, the "type of plant" may be subdivided by subcategories such as varieties of crops such as onion, such as "Sonic" and "Neo Earth," and harvest days such as "early" and "mid-season." The "type of disorder" is, for example, disease names such as black sooty mold and black rot, pest names such as cutworms and aphids, or physiological disease phenomenon names such as magnesium deficiency and water shortage.

[0033] The first reference information includes a correlation between the forecast conditions and the forecast values ​​of each fault, and is stored in, for example, the storage unit 22. The first reference information may include, for example, a table, a function, a simple algorithm, or the like, indicating a correlation between a feature amount extracted from the forecast conditions and the forecast value. The correlation included in the first reference information can be constructed, for example, by statistically analyzing data that combines an actually occurring fault with the occurrence conditions and records the combined data. The first reference information may also include a forecast value estimation model (artificial intelligence) that has been previously subjected to machine learning. The forecast value estimation model is included in the artificial intelligence unit 240.

[0034] The forecast value estimation model is trained so that it can input forecast conditions and output forecast values. When using such a forecast value estimation model, the forecast unit 232 inputs the type of plant to be predicted, the region, and the date and time (including future dates and times) to the forecast value estimation model, and causes the forecast value estimation model to output at least one possible failure and the probability of occurrence of each of the at least one failure (forecast value). The forecast unit 232 may also input forecast conditions including weather forecast values ​​(weather, air pressure, temperature, humidity, etc.) for the region for which the forecast value is to be output to the forecast value estimation model. As such forecast conditions, for example, in addition to weather forecast values ​​for the next few weeks, average values ​​of weather for the past few years, long-term forecasts of average climate (information such as "slightly high temperature" and "slightly rainy"), average values ​​of forecast values ​​(risk of pest occurrence) for the past few years, etc. can be used.

[0035] The prediction value estimation model used by the forecast unit 232 is constructed by machine learning using, as teacher data, a record associating the type of plant where a failure occurred in the past, the type of failure that occurred, the area where the plant grew, and the date and time of the failure. When a weather forecast value is used as a forecast condition, a record associating the weather (weather, air pressure, temperature, humidity, etc.) at the time of the failure in addition to the above-mentioned plant type, type of failure, area, and date and time of the failure is used as teacher data. In the prediction value estimation ability model, parameters calculated, tuned, etc. by learning configure the correlation of the first reference information.

[0036] The forecast values ​​predicted by the forecast unit 232 are linked to the input conditions (type of plant, area, date and time, weather forecast value, etc.) and stored in a forecast value database in the storage unit 22, for example.

[0037] <Input information acquisition unit 233> The input information acquisition unit 233 is configured to acquire input information including at least a history of pesticide spraying and damage occurrence information indicating the risk of damage to plants.

[0038] The "pesticide spray history" includes at least the type of pesticide sprayed and the time when the pesticide was sprayed. The "type of pesticide" may be the product name of the pesticide, or may be information indicating the type (e.g., active ingredient, dosage form, or a combination of these). The "time when the pesticide was sprayed" may be a date, or may be information indicating a specified period (e.g., "the second week of April").

[0039] The "pesticide application history" may further include the dilution rate (net application amount) of the pesticide applied. In addition, if the user has multiple habitats or grows multiple types of plants, the "pesticide application history" may include the habitats or types of plants to which the pesticide was sprayed.

[0040] The input information acquisition unit 233 acquires the pesticide spray history from, for example, user data registered in the user database. The pesticide spray history included in the user data is, for example, input (or reported) by the user from the user terminal 3.

[0041] The "trouble occurrence information" is information for estimating the magnitude of future trouble occurring in plants grown by the user. The trouble occurrence information may include at least one of first information including the type of trouble that has occurred in the past and the date and time of the trouble, and second information including the type of trouble predicted to occur and the probability of the trouble occurring. This allows a pesticide spraying schedule to be generated based on the history of past trouble occurrence and / or the probability of future trouble occurrence, thereby improving the effectiveness of the pesticide spraying schedule while maintaining the flexibility of the input information.

[0042] The failure occurrence information may include only the first information, may include only the second information, or may include both the first information and the second information. Furthermore, the failure occurrence information may include information other than the first information and the second information.

[0043] The first information is a fault occurrence history in the user's habitat or in the area including the habitat. The input information acquisition unit 233 acquires the first information, for example, from user data registered in a user database or from area management data. The first information included in the user data is, for example, input (or reported) by the user from the user terminal 3. The area management data is data in which information such as fault occurrence history is recorded for each area. The first information includes not only the fault occurrence history registered by the user himself, but also the fault occurrence history registered by other users (farmers), farm instructors, etc. in the same area.

[0044] The second information is a forecast value predicted by the forecast unit 232 in the user's habitat or a region including the habitat. The input information acquisition unit 233 acquires, as the second information, for example, a forecast value from the present to the harvest time of the plant in the target habitat from the forecast value database.

[0045] The input information acquisition unit 233 may acquire input information including at least one of the effective damage, ingredients, and upper limit of use of the sprayed pesticide in addition to the spray history and the fault occurrence information. This allows a pesticide spray schedule to be created that takes into account drug resistance, the upper limit of use, etc., so that the user can spray pesticides in a rotation that enhances the effectiveness of each pesticide.

[0046] The input information acquisition unit 233 acquires, for example, the effective hazards of pesticides, their ingredients, and the upper limit of the number of times they can be used from a pesticide database in which these pieces of information are registered. The pesticide database may be one stored in the memory unit 22, or may be an external database of the information processing device 2. The input information acquisition unit 233 may also accept input of these pieces of information from the user terminal 3. The information indicating the effective hazards of pesticides may be, for example, RAC codes, MoA (Mode of Action), etc. The information indicating the effective hazards of pesticides may also be a table that defines the correspondence between a plurality of pesticides and their respective effective hazards.

[0047] The input information acquired by the input information acquisition unit 233 may further include the degree of effectiveness (effectiveness level) of the pesticide against effective damage.

[0048] The input information acquisition unit 233 may acquire input information including at least one of the pesticide inventory held by the user and the pesticide inventory held by the material supply organization registered in the organization database, in addition to the spraying history and the fault occurrence information. This allows a pesticide spraying schedule to be constructed using pesticides that the user can use (pesticides that the user owns or pesticides that can be purchased), and therefore a highly practical pesticide spraying schedule can be presented to the user.

[0049] "Pesticide stock held by user" is information indicating the type of pesticide held by the user and the amount of said pesticide. "Pesticide stock held by material supply organization" is information indicating the type of pesticide that the material supply organization can deliver to the user, the amount of said pesticide that can be delivered, and the delivery period of said pesticide. The input information acquisition unit 233 acquires the pesticide stock from, for example, a user database or an organization database.

[0050] The input information acquisition unit 233 may acquire input information including location information of the habitat where the pesticide was sprayed in addition to the spray history and the fault occurrence information. This makes it possible to create a pesticide spraying schedule that takes into account the geographical conditions of the habitat. For example, since the resistance of pests to pesticides differs from region to region, the occurrence of pests can be effectively suppressed by selecting pesticides suited to the region and creating a pesticide spraying schedule in which the spraying timing is determined (i.e., pesticide rotation).

[0051] "Location information of the habitat" is information indicating the address of the habitat, the latitude and longitude of the habitat, the region in which the habitat is located (administrative district, geographical division, etc.), the altitude, etc. The input information acquisition unit 233 acquires the location information of the habitat from user data registered in the user database, for example. The location information included in the user data is, for example, information input by the user from the user terminal 3, or location information transmitted from the user terminal 3 (location information acquired by the GPS of the user terminal 3).

[0052] <Schedule Creation Unit 234> The schedule creation unit 234 is configured to generate a pesticide spraying schedule including at least the type of pesticide to be sprayed and the time of spraying the pesticide, based on the input information acquired by the input information acquisition unit 233 and the second reference information.

[0053] The "pesticide spraying time" may be in units of days such as "September 14th", in units of weeks such as "week of September 14th", or in units of months such as "September". The schedule creation unit 234 may determine the particle size (unit) of the pesticide spraying time depending on the growing period, crop type, etc. of the plant to be sprayed with the pesticide.

[0054] A pesticide application schedule is created for each growing area of ​​the user or for each plant that the user is growing, covering the period of one plant's crop (from sowing or planting to harvest).

[0055] A pesticide spraying schedule is composed of a collection of schedule data that combines types of pesticides and their spraying times. For example, a pesticide spraying schedule includes multiple schedule data such as "pesticide A is sprayed the week of September 14th," "pesticide B is sprayed the week of September 30th," and "pesticide A is sprayed the week of October 7th." Note that a pesticide spraying schedule may include multiple different types of pesticides sprayed at the same spraying time. In other words, a pesticide spraying schedule may include schedule data in which multiple types of pesticides are linked to one spraying time.

[0056] The second reference information includes correlations between the input information and the type and spraying time of the pesticide, and is stored, for example, in the storage unit 22. The second reference information may include, for example, a table, a function, a simple algorithm, or the like, indicating the correlations between the feature amount extracted from the input information and the type and spraying time of the pesticide. The correlations included in the second reference information can be constructed, for example, by statistically analyzing recorded data that combines the actual occurrence status or predicted occurrence value (forecast value), pesticide spray history, pesticide spray results (presence or absence of occurrence of a problem), etc., for each region and / or type of plant.

[0057] The second reference information may include a schedule generation model (artificial intelligence) that has been previously subjected to machine learning. This makes it possible to create a highly effective pesticide spraying schedule based on a large number of records such as past failure occurrence statuses and pesticide spraying histories. The schedule generation model is included in the artificial intelligence unit 240.

[0058] The schedule generation model is trained so that it can receive input information and output a pesticide spraying schedule. When using such a schedule generation model, the schedule creation unit 234 inputs the input information to the schedule generation model and causes the schedule generation model to output a pesticide spraying schedule.

[0059] The schedule generation model used by the schedule creation unit 234 is constructed by machine learning using, as training data, records that correspond, for example, the pesticide spray history (type of pesticide, spray date, dilution ratio, area sprayed, target plant, etc.) to the failure occurrence history (type of failure, occurrence date and time, type of plant where the failure occurred, area where the failure occurred) and / or the failure occurrence prediction value (type of failure, forecast value for each date and time, type of plant to be predicted, etc.). The training data may include an ideal pesticide spray history (type of pesticide and spraying time that was not actually sprayed but was desirable to spray) created by the user for a specific failure. Furthermore, the training data may include the effective failure, effectiveness, ingredients, upper limit of the number of times of use, location information of the growing area, etc. of the sprayed pesticide. In the schedule generation model, parameters calculated, tuned, etc. by learning constitute the correlation of the second reference information.

[0060] The schedule creation unit 234 may input the user's pesticide inventory and / or the material supplier's pesticide inventory to the schedule generation model, and cause the schedule generation model to output a pesticide spray schedule that takes these inventories into consideration.

[0061] Alternatively, the schedule creation unit 234 may adjust the type of pesticide included in the pesticide spraying schedule generated by the schedule generation model based on the user's pesticide inventory and / or the material provider's pesticide inventory included in the input information. Specifically, when "pesticide A" included in the pesticide spraying schedule is in short supply in both the user's inventory and the material provider's inventory, the schedule creation unit 234 may create a pesticide spraying schedule that incorporates "pesticide B," which has a common effective failure with "pesticide A" and is available in sufficient quantity in the user's inventory or the material provider's inventory, as an alternative pesticide.

[0062] The alternative pesticide may be defined by a table or the like, or may be output by an alternative pesticide output model included in the artificial intelligence unit 240. The alternative pesticide output model is a learning model trained to be able to output an alternative pesticide for an input pesticide. The alternative pesticide output model may be a learning model trained using a combination of pesticides in a substitution relationship as teacher data, or may be a generation AI such as a large-scale language model. For example, when the alternative pesticide output model is a large-scale language model, the schedule creation unit 234 inputs the target pesticide and an instruction to output a pesticide in a substitution relationship with this pesticide to the alternative pesticide output model.

[0063] The schedule creation unit 234 may update the pesticide spraying schedule for each growing area at a predetermined timing. The "predetermined timing" may be, for example, a timing when new input information is acquired (a timing when an occurrence of a pest is reported, a timing when a forecast value by the forecast unit 232 is updated, etc.), a timing when a predetermined period has elapsed since the last update, a timing when an instruction to update the pesticide spraying schedule is received from a user, etc.

[0064] <Schedule display control unit 235> The schedule display control unit 235 is configured to display the pesticide spraying schedule created by the schedule creation unit 234 on the user terminal 3. The schedule display control unit 235 may display the entire pesticide spraying schedule on the user terminal 3, or may display only a part of the pesticide spraying schedule (schedule data for a specified date and time) on the user terminal 3.

[0065] For example, upon receiving an instruction to display the pesticide spraying schedule from the user terminal 3, the schedule display control unit 235 causes the user terminal 3 to display schedule data of the pesticide spraying schedule (a combination of spraying time and type of pesticide) in chronological order of spraying time. In addition, the schedule display control unit 235 may cause the user terminal 3 to display, in the form of a notification such as a push notification, pesticides whose spraying time has arrived (for example, pesticides scheduled to be sprayed within this week) together with the spraying time.

[0066] The schedule display control unit 235 may display the type of pesticide to be sprayed, the effective hazard of the pesticide, and the risk of occurrence of the effective hazard for each pesticide spraying time included in the pesticide spraying schedule on the user terminal 3. This allows the user to see what kind of effective hazard the pesticide spraying is intended to counter, and thus to get an overview of the risk of hazard and the countermeasures.

[0067] The "risk of occurrence" displayed together with the pesticide spraying schedule is, for example, information indicating the magnitude of the forecast value output by the forecast unit 232. The "risk of occurrence" may be displayed as a numerical value, or may be displayed as text expressing the magnitude of the risk of occurrence, an image in which the numerical value is graphed, or the like.

[0068] The schedule display control unit 235 may display a pesticide spraying schedule including spraying times from the past and a pesticide spraying schedule including spraying times from the future on the user terminal 3. This allows the user to check past spraying history as well as future spraying schedules, making it easier to manage pesticides.

[0069] The schedule display control unit 235 may display, as a pesticide spraying schedule that includes spraying times earlier than the present, all schedule data included in the pesticide spraying schedule whose spraying times have passed, or may display only schedule data whose past spraying times are within a predetermined period from the present, or may display only a predetermined number of schedule data in order of the past spraying times closest to the present.

[0070] In addition, the schedule display control unit 235 may display, as a pesticide spraying schedule that includes spraying times further in the future than the present, all schedule data included in the pesticide spraying schedule whose spraying time has not yet passed, or may display only schedule data whose planned spraying time is within a predetermined period from the present, or may display only a predetermined number of schedule data in order of the planned spraying time closest to the present.

[0071] The schedule display control unit 235 may display the pesticide spraying schedule on the user terminal 3 together with a report reception object that receives input of a spraying report for each pesticide. This allows the user to input a record of pesticide spraying with, for example, one click or one tap on the screen where the user checks the pesticide spraying schedule. This reduces the user's effort in recording and reporting pesticide spraying.

[0072] Specifically, when one schedule data contains one pesticide, the schedule display control unit 235 displays one report reception object (button) in the schedule data, and when one schedule data contains multiple pesticides, the schedule display control unit 235 displays a number of report reception objects corresponding to the number of pesticides in the schedule data.

[0073] Furthermore, the schedule display control unit 235 may display a report reception object or accept input to a report reception object only for schedule data in which the current time is the spraying period (the current date and time is included in the spraying period).

[0074] The schedule display control unit 235 may display the pesticide spraying schedule on the user terminal 3 together with an order receiving object that receives an order input for each pesticide. This allows the user to purchase the necessary pesticides on the screen where the pesticide spraying schedule is confirmed. This allows the user to seamlessly purchase pesticides online without having to change screens on the user terminal 3.

[0075] Specifically, when one schedule data contains one pesticide, the schedule display control unit 235 displays one order receiving object (button) in the schedule data, and when one schedule data contains multiple pesticides, the schedule display control unit 235 displays a number of order receiving objects corresponding to the number of pesticides in the schedule data.

[0076] Furthermore, the schedule display control unit 235 may display an order receiving object or receive input to an order receiving object only for schedule data in which the current time is the spraying time (the current date and time is included in the spraying time).

[0077] Furthermore, the schedule display control unit 235 may display an order receiving object for a pesticide included in the schedule data for which the spraying time is in the future, and may receive a reservation order for the pesticide from the order receiving object. The schedule display control unit 235 may also receive a selection of a plurality of pesticides to be ordered through the order receiving object, and may display a confirmation receiving object on the user terminal 3 separately, which receives a confirmation input for the order of the selected pesticide.

[0078] In addition, the schedule display control unit 235 may display an order receiving object that receives an order for a newly added pesticide (a temporary pesticide that is not included in the pesticide spraying schedule before the update and is included in the updated (most recent) pesticide spraying schedule) when updating the pesticide spraying schedule. For example, the schedule display control unit 235 displays the order receiving object on the user terminal 3 together with a notification of the newly added pesticide (notification of a change in the pesticide spraying schedule) a predetermined number of days (e.g., several days to 20 days) before the spraying time of the newly added pesticide.

[0079] The schedule display control unit 235 may accept an input of an order quantity of pesticide from the user terminal 3. For example, after accepting an input to an order receiving object, the schedule display control unit 235 may cause the user terminal 3 to display a screen for accepting the input of the order quantity. In addition, the schedule display control unit 235 may cause the user terminal 3 to display a plurality of order receiving objects (on which the order quantity is displayed) prepared for each order quantity.

[0080] The schedule display control unit 235 may display a report reception object and / or an order reception object in a pesticide spraying schedule other than a pesticide spraying schedule created by the schedule creation unit 234 (e.g., a pesticide spraying schedule created by a user, farm leader, etc. through manual input, etc.).

[0081] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a schedule display screen CD displayed on the user terminal 3. In the schedule display screen CD, a pesticide spraying schedule for one habitat or one plant is displayed. Specifically, in the schedule display screen CD, the first schedule data SD1, the second schedule data SD2, and the third schedule data SD3 included in the pesticide spraying schedule created by the schedule creation unit 234 are displayed in chronological order. In the example of FIG. 5, the third schedule data SD3, the first schedule data SD1, and the second schedule data SD2 are displayed in this order from the top. Note that, in FIG. 5, one third schedule data SD3 and one second schedule data SD2 are displayed, but multiple third schedule data SD3 or multiple second schedule data SD2 may be displayed in chronological order on the schedule display screen CD.

[0082] The first schedule data SD1 is schedule data for which the spraying time corresponds to the present. A current label CL is attached to the first schedule data SD1 to emphasize that it is a schedule for spraying to be performed in the near future. On the schedule display screen CD, spraying time information SI, sprayed pesticide information PI, and fault information DI are displayed as the contents of the first schedule data SD1.

[0083] The spraying time information SI may be the spraying time itself included in the schedule data, or may be a representative date and time of the spraying time. For example, if the spraying time is the "week of October 14th," the representative date and time of the weekend of that week, "October 19th and October 20th," may be displayed as the spraying time information SI.

[0084] The sprayed pesticide information PI includes the type of sprayed pesticide (pesticide name), dilution ratio, the time when the sprayed pesticide should be sprayed relative to the harvest date, the total number of sprays of the sprayed pesticide in the entire pesticide spraying schedule, and the cumulative number of sprays including the current spray.

[0085] The damage information DI indicates the type of damage (effective damage) that the sprayed pesticide is intended to cause. In addition, a risk label RL is attached to damage that has a high risk of occurrence (forecast value exceeds a predetermined threshold).

[0086] In the display frame of the first schedule data SD1, there are displayed a growth label BL indicating the growth stage of the target plant at the time of spraying, a report reception button B11 for receiving input of a spray report for each sprayed pesticide, and an order reception button B12 for receiving input of an order for each sprayed pesticide. When an input operation is performed on the report reception button B11, information indicating that the sprayed pesticide displayed as the sprayed pesticide information PI was sprayed at the time displayed as the spray time information SI is registered in the user database. When an input operation is performed on the order reception button B12, an order for the sprayed pesticide displayed as the sprayed pesticide information PI is received.

[0087] The second schedule data SD2 is schedule data for which the spraying period is later than the present. On the schedule display screen CD, the contents of the second schedule data SD2 are displayed as spraying period information SI, sprayed pesticide information PI, and fault information DI, which are the same as those of the first schedule data SD1. Also, within the display frame of the second schedule data SD2, a growth label BL and an order acceptance button B12 for accepting input of a reservation order for each sprayed pesticide are displayed. Note that the report acceptance button B11 is not displayed for the second schedule data SD2.

[0088] The third schedule data SD3 is schedule data for which the spraying time corresponds to a time in the past (i.e., pesticide spraying has been completed). On the schedule display screen CD, the contents of the third schedule data SD3 are displayed as spraying time information SI and sprayed pesticide information PI, similar to those of the first schedule data SD1. However, the sprayed pesticide information PI of the third schedule data SD3 is simpler than that of the first schedule data SD1. Furthermore, the report acceptance button B11 and order acceptance button B12 are not displayed for the third schedule data SD3.

[0089] <Recording Section 236> The recording unit 236 is configured to record the type and spraying date of the pesticide for which a spraying report has been received from the user terminal 3 by the report reception object. The type of pesticide recorded by the recording unit 236 is the type of pesticide in the schedule data to which the report reception object is attached. The spraying date recorded by the recording unit 236 is, for example, the date on which an input operation was performed on the report reception object. The recording unit 236 may cause the user terminal 3 to present an input screen for accepting input of the spraying date, and record the spraying date input from the user terminal 3. Furthermore, the recording unit 236 may further record the growing area where the pesticide for which a spraying report has been received was sprayed, the plant to which it was sprayed, the dilution ratio, and the like. This information is registered in the user database as a spraying history.

[0090] <Order Arrangement Department 237> The order arrangement unit 237 is configured to transmit the order received from the user terminal 3 by the order reception object to a terminal used by the material supply organization (material supply organization having stock of the ordered pesticide) registered in the organization database. The material supply organization that receives the order from the information processing device 2 delivers the ordered pesticide to the user and collects the payment from the user. In the case of a reservation order, the material supply organization delivers the ordered pesticide at a specified date and time (the time of spraying the pesticide for which the reservation order was received). In addition, if the material supply organization is a service operating business of the agricultural support system 1, the information processing device 2 may be selected as the terminal used by the material supply organization. In other words, the order arrangement unit 237 may transmit the order internally to a functional unit that processes the order in the processor 23.

[0091] The order arrangement unit 237 may calculate the order amount of the pesticide according to the area of ​​the growing area to be sprayed with the ordered pesticide, and transmit the order including the order amount to the material supply organization. This allows the user to order an appropriate amount of pesticide with one click or one tap without specifying the order amount of the pesticide. The area of ​​the growing area is obtained, for example, from a user database. The order arrangement unit 237 calculates the order amount by multiplying the area of ​​the growing area by the amount of the pesticide required to be sprayed per unit area. The required amount to be sprayed is obtained, for example, from a pesticide database.

[0092] The order arrangement unit 237 may collectively receive orders for multiple pesticides included in a pesticide spray schedule for a period for one crop of plants, and transmit the received orders to the terminal of the registered material supply organization. This allows the user to collectively order pesticides for one crop in advance, thereby reducing the user's effort in managing the pesticides. The order arrangement unit 237, for example, displays on the user terminal 3 an object for accepting bulk orders together with a list of pesticides to be purchased, and accepts the bulk order from the user terminal 3. The material supply organization that receives the bulk order from the information processing device 2 delivers the ordered pesticides to the user within an appropriate delivery time.

[0093] <Artificial Intelligence Department 240> The artificial intelligence unit 240 is configured to receive input from each functional unit and return an instructed output. The artificial intelligence used by each functional unit of the information processing device 2 may be a common one, or may be prepared individually for each functional unit.

[0094] Specific algorithms for machine learning in artificial intelligence include nearest neighbor methods, naive Bayes methods, decision trees, support vector machines, deep learning using neural networks, regression models, etc.

[0095] The artificial intelligence unit 240 has a trained model constructed by a learning method such as supervised learning, unsupervised learning, or self-supervised learning. In supervised learning, machine learning is performed using training data (training data). The training data is composed of a pair of input data for learning and output data (correct answer data). The learning model included in the artificial intelligence unit 240 can perform additional learning as transfer learning or fine tuning using new data acquired from the user terminal 3 or the like.

[0096] 3. Information processing method This section describes an information processing method of the information processing device 2. In this information processing method, the functions of the respective units of the information processing device 2 are executed as respective steps.

[0097] This information processing method includes an input information acquisition step, a schedule data creation step, and a schedule display control step. In the input information acquisition step, input information including at least a pesticide spray history and damage occurrence information indicating the risk of damage to plants is acquired. In the schedule creation step, a pesticide spraying schedule including at least the type of pesticide to be sprayed and the time of spraying the pesticide is generated based on the input information and reference information. In the schedule display control step, the pesticide spraying schedule is displayed.

[0098] 6 is an activity diagram showing the flow of information processing (schedule creation processing) executed by the agriculture support system 1. Below, the information processing will be described along with each activity in this activity diagram.

[0099] The schedule creation process begins with a user inputting an instruction to create a pesticide spraying schedule into the user terminal 3 (activity A110). The information processing device 2 (processor 23) accepts the creation instruction from the user terminal 3 and acquires the input information (activity A120). After acquiring the input information, the information processing device 2 creates a pesticide spraying schedule and transmits it to the user terminal 3 (activity A130). As a result, the pesticide spraying schedule is displayed on the user terminal 3 (activity A140).

[0100] After the pesticide spraying schedule is displayed, the user inputs data to a report receiving object, an order receiving object, etc. on the user terminal 3 (activity A150). The information processing device 2 receives the input data to the objects on the user terminal 3, and executes corresponding processing such as recording the spraying history and transmitting an order for pesticides (activity A160).

[0101] 4. Effect The operation of the present embodiment can be summarized as follows: That is, it is possible to create a pesticide spray schedule that can suppress the occurrence of problems.

[0102] Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be modified as appropriate without departing from the technical concept of the invention.

[0103] 5.Other In the above embodiment, the information processing device 2 performs various storage and control, but multiple external devices may be used instead of the information processing device 2. That is, various information and programs may be distributed and stored in multiple external devices using block chain technology or the like.

[0104] The aspect of the present embodiment is not limited to the agriculture support system 1, and may be an agriculture support method or a program. The agriculture support method includes each step of the agriculture support system 1. The program causes a computer to execute each step of the agriculture support system 1.

[0105] The agriculture support system 1 does not necessarily have to include the forecast unit 232, the recording unit 236, and the order arrangement unit 237.

[0106] It may be provided in any of the following ways:

[0107] (1) An agricultural support system comprising a processor configured to execute each of the following steps by reading a program: an input information acquisition step acquires input information including at least a pesticide spraying history and damage occurrence information indicating a risk of plant damage; and a schedule creation step generates a pesticide spraying schedule including at least the type of pesticide to be sprayed and the spraying time of the pesticide based on the input information and reference information, wherein the reference information includes a correlation between the input information and the type of pesticide and the spraying time.

[0108] (2) In the agricultural support system described in (1) above, the reference information includes a schedule generation model that has been trained to use the input information as input and to be able to output the pesticide spraying schedule, and in the schedule creation step, the input information is input into the schedule generation model and the schedule generation model is caused to output the pesticide spraying schedule.

[0109] (3) In the agricultural support system described in (1) or (2) above, the fault occurrence information includes at least one of first information including a type of fault that has occurred in the past and a date and time of occurrence, and second information including a type of fault that is predicted to occur and a probability of occurrence.

[0110] (4) In the agricultural support system described in any one of (1) to (3) above, in the input information acquisition step, in addition to the spraying history and the fault occurrence information, the input information acquired further includes at least one of the effective fault, ingredients, and upper limit of the number of times of use of the sprayed pesticide.

[0111] (5) In the agricultural support system described in any one of (1) to (4) above, in the input information acquisition step, in addition to the spraying history and the fault occurrence information, the input information further includes at least one of the pesticide inventory held by the user and the pesticide inventory held by a registered material supply organization.

[0112] (6) In the agricultural support system described in any one of (1) to (5) above, in the input information acquisition step, in addition to the spraying history and the fault occurrence information, the input information acquired further includes location information of the growing area where the pesticide was sprayed.

[0113] (7) In the agricultural support system described in any one of (1) to (6) above, the processor is configured to further execute the following step, in which in the schedule display control step, the type of pesticide to be sprayed, the effective hazards of the pesticide, and the risk of occurrence of the effective hazards are displayed on a user terminal for each pesticide spraying time included in the pesticide spraying schedule.

[0114] (8) In the agricultural support system described in any one of (1) to (7) above, the processor is configured to further execute the following step, and in the schedule display control step, the pesticide spraying schedule including spraying times in the past than the present and the pesticide spraying schedule including spraying times in the future than the present are displayed on a user terminal.

[0115] (9) In the agricultural support system described in any one of (1) to (8) above, the processor is configured to further execute the following steps: in a schedule display control step, the pesticide spraying schedule is displayed on a user terminal together with an object that accepts input of a spraying report for each pesticide, and in a recording step, the type of pesticide and the spraying date for which the spraying report was accepted are recorded in the agricultural support system.

[0116] (10) In the agricultural support system described in any one of (1) to (9) above, the processor is configured to further execute the following steps: in a schedule display control step, the pesticide spraying schedule is displayed on a user terminal together with an object that accepts order input for each pesticide, and in an order arrangement step, the accepted order is sent to a registered material supply organization.

[0117] (11) In the agricultural support system described in (10) above, in the order arrangement step, the amount of pesticide to be ordered is calculated based on the area of ​​the growing ground to be sprayed with the pesticide for which the order has been accepted, and the order including the amount of the order is transmitted to the material supply organization.

[0118] (12) In the agricultural support system described in any one of (1) to (9) above, the processor is configured to further execute the following steps: in the order arrangement step, orders for multiple pesticides included in the pesticide spraying schedule covering a period for one plant crop are accepted in bulk, and the accepted orders are sent to a registered material supply organization. Of course, this is not the case.

[0119] Finally, although various embodiments according to the present disclosure have been described, these are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The novel embodiment can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. The embodiments and their modifications are included within the scope and spirit of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents described in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0120] 1: Agricultural support system 2: Information processing equipment 3: User terminal 20: Communication bus 21: Communications Department 22: Storage section 23: Processor 30: Communication bus 31: Communications Department 32: Storage section 33: Processor 34: Output section 35: Input section 231: Registration Department 232: Forecast Department 233: Input information acquisition unit 234: Schedule Creation Department 235: Schedule display control section 236: Recording Department 237: Order Processing Department 240: Artificial Intelligence Department B11: Report acceptance button B12: Order acceptance button BL: Growth label CL : Current label DI: Fault Information PI: Pesticide spray information RL: Danger Label CD: Schedule display screen SD1: First schedule data SD2: Second schedule data SD3: 3rd Schedule Data SI: Sowing time information

Claims

1. An agricultural support system, comprising: A processor is provided. The processor is configured to execute the following steps by reading the program: In the input information acquisition step, input information including at least a pesticide spray history and damage occurrence information indicating a risk of damage to a plant is acquired, In the schedule creation step, a pesticide spraying schedule including at least the type of pesticide to be sprayed and the time of spraying the pesticide is generated based on the input information and the reference information; Here, the reference information includes a correlation between the input information and the type and application time of the pesticide, In the schedule display control step, the agricultural support system causes a user terminal to display the type of pesticide to be sprayed, the effective hazards of the pesticide, and the risk of occurrence of the effective hazards for each pesticide spraying period included in the pesticide spraying schedule.

2. The agricultural support system according to claim 1, The reference information includes a schedule generation model that is trained to use the input information as input and to be able to output the pesticide spray schedule, In the schedule creation step, the input information is input to the schedule generation model, and the schedule generation model is caused to output the pesticide spraying schedule.

3. The agricultural support system according to claim 1, The fault occurrence information includes at least one of first information including the type of fault that has occurred in the past and the date and time of occurrence, and second information including the type of fault that is predicted to occur and the probability of occurrence.

4. The agricultural support system according to claim 1, In the input information acquisition step, the agricultural support system acquires input information that further includes at least one of the effective hazard, ingredients, and maximum number of uses of the sprayed pesticide in addition to the spraying history and the fault occurrence information.

5. The agricultural support system according to claim 1, In the input information acquisition step, the agricultural support system acquires input information that further includes, in addition to the spraying history and the fault occurrence information, at least one of the pesticide inventory held by the user and the pesticide inventory held by a registered material supply organization.

6. The agricultural support system according to claim 1, In the input information acquiring step, the input information further including location information of the growing area where the pesticide has been sprayed, in addition to the spraying history and the failure occurrence information, is acquired.

7. The agricultural support system according to claim 1, In the schedule display control step, the agricultural support system causes the user terminal to display the pesticide spraying schedule including spraying times in the past and the pesticide spraying schedule including spraying times in the future.

8. The agricultural support system according to claim 1, In the schedule display control step, the pesticide spraying schedule is displayed on the user terminal together with an object for receiving input of a spraying report for each pesticide, In the recording step, the agricultural support system records the type and spray date of the pesticide for which the spray report is received.

9. In the agricultural support system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, In the schedule display control step, the pesticide spray schedule is displayed on the user terminal together with an object for receiving an order input for each pesticide, In the order arrangement step, the accepted order is transmitted to a registered material supply organization in the agricultural support system.

10. In the agricultural support system according to claim 9, In the order arrangement step, the agricultural support system calculates the amount of pesticide to be ordered based on the area of ​​the growing ground to be sprayed with the pesticide for which the order was received, and transmits the order including the order amount to the material supply organization.

11. In the agricultural support system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, The processor is further configured to perform the steps of: In the order arrangement step, the agricultural support system collectively accepts orders for multiple pesticides included in the pesticide spraying schedule covering the period of one crop, and transmits the accepted orders to a registered material supply organization.

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