Work management methods, work management systems, and programs

Abstract

To provide information on the work of a work device so as to increase the rate that the needs of a user are satisfied.SOLUTION: A work management method includes determining a virtual area where at least one of a plurality of work devices worked, on the basis of positions where the work devices worked. The work management method further includes: comparing the determined virtual area with work areas where the work devices worked to determine an integrated area where two or more of the work devices worked; and outputting output information indicating the integrated area.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

Technical Field

[0006] , , , , ,

[0001] The present invention relates to a work management method, a work management system, and a program.

Background Art

[0002] In recent years, with the progress of agricultural informatization, technologies have been developed to provide users such as workers and farm managers with information about the work areas where work equipment has been used.

[0003] In this regard, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for automatically identifying the areas where each device has performed work based on the position information of the work performed by the work device, and providing information related to the work area.

[0004] Also, Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for determining the work area where the work device has performed work based on the position information of the work performed by the work device. In the technique of Patent Document 2, when it is estimated that the area where the same work device has performed work corresponds to two or more farms based on the position information, it is divided and managed into two or more areas.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0005] <�

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0006] In the technology described in Patent Document 1, even if multiple work devices operate in the same area (for example, a single field), the areas operated by each work device are managed separately. In contrast, in the technology described in Patent Document 2, while areas that should be divided within an area operated by a single work device may be managed separately, areas operated by multiple work devices are managed separately even if they are the same area. Therefore, when multiple work devices operate in the same area, information about that same area may not be provided, and the information provided may not meet the user's needs.

[0007] In light of the above circumstances, one of the objectives of this disclosure is to increase the degree to which information regarding the operation of the work apparatus meets the needs of users. Other objectives can be understood from the following description and the description of the embodiments. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The means for solving the problem are described below using the numbers and symbols used in the embodiments for carrying out the invention. These numbers and symbols are added in parentheses for reference to show an example of the correspondence between the claims and the embodiments for carrying out the invention. Therefore, the claims should not be interpreted restrictively because of the parenthetical statements.

[0009] The work management method according to the embodiment includes: determining a virtual area (LA) in which at least one of the multiple work devices (20) performed work based on the location where the multiple work devices (20) performed work; determining an integrated area (CA) in which two or more of the multiple work devices (20) performed work based on the determined virtual area (LA) and the work area (A) in which each of the multiple work devices (20) performed work; and outputting output information (D3b) indicating the integrated area.

[0010] The work management device according to the embodiment includes a virtual determination unit (130) that determines a virtual area (LA) where at least one of the multiple work devices (20) performed work, based on the positions where the multiple work devices (20) performed work, The system includes a virtual determination unit (130) that determines a virtual area (LA) and a work area (A) in which each of the multiple work devices (20) performed work, and an integrated determination unit (140) that determines an integrated area (CA) in which two or more of the multiple work devices (20) performed work, and an output unit (150) that outputs output information (Db3) indicating the integrated area (CA).

[0011] The program according to the embodiment causes the computer to perform the following actions: determine a virtual area (LA) in which at least one of the multiple work devices (20) performed work based on the location where each of the multiple work devices (20) performed work; determine an integrated area (CA) in which two or more of the multiple work devices (20) performed work based on the determined virtual area (LA) and the work area (A) in which each of the multiple work devices (20) performed work; and output output information (D3b) indicating the integrated area (CA). [Effects of the Invention]

[0012] According to the above format, the proportion of information provided about the operation of the work equipment that matches the user's needs is high. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0013] [Figure 1] This is a block diagram showing the configuration of a work management system according to one embodiment. [Figure 2] This is a block diagram showing the configuration of a work management device and a terminal device according to one embodiment. [Figure 3] This figure shows an example of individual area information according to one embodiment. [Figure 4] This figure shows an example of integrated area information according to one embodiment. [Figure 5]It is a flowchart representing the processing of a work management system according to an embodiment. [Figure 6] It is a diagram showing an example of an individual work area according to an embodiment. [Figure 7] It is a diagram showing an example of an overall area according to an embodiment. [Figure 8] It is a diagram showing an example of the division of an overall area according to an embodiment. [Figure 9] It is a diagram showing an example of an integrated area and a work area according to an embodiment. [Figure 10A] It is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by the work management system according to an embodiment. [Figure 10B] It is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by the work management system according to an embodiment.

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0014] (First Embodiment) The work management system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the work management system 1 includes a work management device 10 and a terminal device 30. The work management device 10 is communicably connected to a plurality of work devices 20 and the terminal device 30 via a network NT. Examples of the network NT include the Internet and an intranet.

[0015] The work management system 1 of this embodiment manages information indicating the work content performed by a plurality of work devices 20 in association with a work area by using the position information of the work devices 20. When it is estimated that two or more work devices 20 are working in the same area, for example, the same farm field, in addition to or instead of individual work areas, the work management system 1 further manages information about an integrated area corresponding to the same area. For this reason, when a plurality of work devices 20 are working in the same area, the work management system 1 displays the area where the work has been performed in the same area as one integrated area. This display highly meets the needs of users who want to check information in area units, such as the owner of the farm field. Thus, the work management system 1 highly meets the needs of users when providing information about the area where the work device 20 has worked.

[0016] When the following work areas are not distinguished from each other, they are represented as work area A, and when they are distinguished, they are indicated by attaching numbers such as work area A1 to work area A5. Similarly, when the integrated areas are not distinguished from each other, they are called integrated area CA, and when they are distinguished, they are indicated by attaching numbers such as integrated area CA1 to integrated area CA3.

[0017] The configuration of the work management system 1 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the work management device 10 included in the work management system 1 includes an input / output device 12, an arithmetic device 14, a communication device 16, and a storage device 18. The work management device 10 is, for example, a computer or a server device including a cloud.

[0018] Information for the arithmetic device 14 to execute processing is input to the input / output device 12. Further, the input / output device 12 outputs the result of the processing executed by the arithmetic device 14. The input / output device 12 includes various input devices and output devices, and includes, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a display, a speaker, a touch panel, and the like. The input / output device 12 may be omitted.

[0019] The communication device 16 is connected to the network NT in a communicative manner and communicates with external devices (e.g., work devices 20 and terminal devices 30) of the work management device 10 via the network NT. The communication device 16 transfers information acquired from the multiple work devices 20 and terminal devices 30 to the arithmetic unit 14. It also transfers information generated by the arithmetic unit 14 to either the work devices 20 or the terminal devices 30, or both. The communication device 16 includes various interfaces such as NIC (Network Interface Card) and USB (Universal Serial Bus).

[0020] The storage device 18 stores a program P1, which includes various data and instructions for the work management system 1 of this embodiment to execute the processes described later. The storage device 18 is used as a non-transitory tangible storage medium for storing this data and instructions. The program P1 may be provided as a computer program product recorded on a computer-readable storage medium M1. Alternatively, the storage medium M1 may be a storage device of an external server that stores the program P1. In this case, the data including the program P1 may be provided as a computer program product that can be downloaded from the server.

[0021] The arithmetic unit 14 reads and executes a program P1 from the storage device 18, which contains instructions and data for managing information about the area worked on by the work device 20. For example, the arithmetic unit 14 includes a central processing unit (CPU).

[0022] The arithmetic unit 14 reads and executes program P1 to realize the functional units of the work management device 10 described later (for example, the acquisition unit 110, individual decision unit 120, virtual decision unit 130, integrated decision unit 140, and output unit 150 shown in Figure 2).

[0023] In this embodiment, the work device 20 is an agricultural machine that performs work in the field. Examples of the work device 20 include vehicles that perform agricultural work in the field, such as harvesters, tractors that tow various work machines such as tillers and fertilizer spreaders, and seedling transplanters such as rice transplanters. Other examples of the work device 20 include aerial agricultural equipment such as drones that perform agricultural work. The work device 20 has a positioning device that repeatedly acquires its own position and the current time (e.g., date, hour, minute, second, etc.) using a positioning system such as a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). The positioning device in this embodiment measures the position and time of the work device 20 at a predetermined interval (e.g., every 5 seconds). The work device 20 also has sensors that measure the operating status in the field (e.g., speed, engine speed, clutch on / off status, and the amount of pesticide or compost applied at each time, etc.). The work device 20 then outputs operational information to the work management device 10, which includes location information indicating the location and time at which work was performed in the field, and work information indicating the operating status at the measured time.

[0024] The terminal device 30 comprises an input / output unit 32, an arithmetic unit 34, a communication unit 36, and a storage unit 38. Examples of the terminal device 30 include computers, tablets, and mobile phones. The input / output unit 32 receives information for the arithmetic unit 34 to perform processing to display a screen based on the output information. The input / output unit 32 also outputs the results of the processing performed by the arithmetic unit 34. The input / output unit 32 includes various input and output devices, such as a keyboard, mouse, microphone, display, speaker, and touch panel.

[0025] The communication unit 36 ​​is connected to the network NT in a communicative manner and communicates with external devices (e.g., work management device 10, work device 20, etc.) via the network NT. The communication unit 36 ​​transfers information acquired from the work management device 10 to the arithmetic unit 34. It also transfers information generated by the arithmetic unit 34 to the work management device 10. The communication unit 36 ​​includes various interfaces such as transceivers used for wireless communication such as wireless LAN (Local Area Network) and cellular networks, NIC (Network Interface Card), and USB (Universal Serial Bus).

[0026] The storage unit 38 stores various data, such as program P2, for displaying a screen based on output information acquired from the work management device 10. The storage unit 38 is used as a non-transitory tangible storage medium for storing program P2. Program P2 may be provided as a computer program product recorded on a computer-readable storage medium M2. Alternatively, the storage medium M2 may be a storage device of an external server that stores program P2. In this case, program P2 may be provided as a computer program product downloadable from the server.

[0027] The calculation unit 34 reads and executes program P2, and, as will be described later, works in cooperation with the input / output unit 32 to realize a function that displays a screen based on output information from the work management device 10 (for example, the display unit 310 in Figure 2).

[0028] With the physical configuration shown in Figure 1, the work management device 10 and the terminal device 30 realize the functional units shown in Figure 2. As an example, the arithmetic unit 14 of the work management device 10 realizes the functions of the acquisition unit 110, individual decision unit 120, virtual decision unit 130, integrated decision unit 140, output unit 150, and information storage unit 160 by executing program P1.

[0029] The information storage unit 160 stores the information acquired by the acquisition unit 110, and the information generated by the individual decision unit 120, the virtual decision unit 130, and the integrated decision unit 140. The information storage unit 160 also provides the stored information to the individual decision unit 120, the virtual decision unit 130, the integrated decision unit 140, and the output unit 150. For example, the information storage unit 160 stores operational information D2, individual area information D3a, and integrated area information D3b. Details of each piece of information stored by the information storage unit 160 will be described later.

[0030] Operation information D2 stores, for example, operation information including the location information and work information of multiple work devices 20, associated with the work devices 20. As described above, the operation information includes, for example, location information indicating the position and time of work of the work device 20 when it was working in the field, and work information indicating the operating status of the work device 20.

[0031] Individual area information D3a stores, as shown in Figure 3 as an example, information identifying the work device 20 that performed the work (work device ID), information identifying the work area A which is the area where each of the work devices 20 performed work (individual area ID), information indicating the location of work area A (area definition information), and information indicating the content of the work performed in work area A (individual work information), in association with each other. The individual area ID is the identifier for each work area A. The area definition information is information indicating the geographical location and extent of work area A. For example, the area definition information includes information defining the geographical extent of the convex hull, which includes the location information of the work device 20 that performed work in that work area A. The individual work information includes multiple individual index values ​​indicating the content of the work performed in the work area A, which are generated from work information obtained from the work device 20 that performed work in the individual work area A.

[0032] In this embodiment, individual work information includes work time, work duration, average speed, work area, etc. For example, work time indicates the date and time when the work device 20 performed work in the work area A. Work duration indicates the total time the work device 20 performed work in the work area A. Average speed indicates the average movement speed of the work device 20 when it performed work in the work area A. Work area indicates the area of ​​the work area A where the work device 20 performed work. Individual work information may also include other indicator values ​​that indicate the work performed by the work device 20 in the work area A, such as harvest yield or pesticide application amount.

[0033] As shown in Figure 4 as an example, the integrated area information D3b stores the following information in association: information identifying each integrated area CA (integrated area ID), information indicating the location of the integrated area CA (area definition information), information identifying the work equipment 20 that performed work in that integrated area CA (work equipment ID), and information indicating the content of the work performed in that integrated area CA (integrated work information). The integrated area ID is the identifier of each integrated area CA. The area definition information is information indicating the geographical location and range of the integrated area CA. The work equipment ID is the identifier that identifies the work equipment 20 that performed work in that integrated area CA. The integrated work information includes multiple integrated index values ​​that indicate the content of the work in the integrated area CA, generated from the individual work information of the work area A included in that integrated area CA. In this embodiment, the integrated work information includes work time, work duration, average speed, work area, etc. The specific process by which the integrated determination unit 140 generates integrated area information D3b from individual area information D3a will be described later.

[0034] The acquisition unit 110 shown in Figure 2 acquires information including operational information D2 from the storage device 18, user input using the input / output device 12, and terminal devices 30, etc. The acquisition unit 110 transmits the acquired information to each functional part, such as the individual decision unit 120, virtual decision unit 130, integrated decision unit 140, output unit 150, and information storage unit 160.

[0035] As described later, the individual determination unit 120 determines the work area A that each of the multiple work devices 20 has worked on, based on the positions of the multiple work devices 20 indicated by the operation information D2. The individual determination unit 120 also determines individual index values ​​indicating the work content in each work area A, based on the work information of the multiple work devices 20 included in the operation information D2. The individual determination unit 120 generates individual area information D3a that associates the information indicating the determined work area A and the individual index values ​​with the work devices 20. The individual determination unit 120 transmits the generated individual area information D3a to the information storage unit 160.

[0036] The virtual determination unit 130 generates one or more virtual areas LA, which are areas where at least one of the working devices 20 performed work, based on the positions of the multiple working devices 20 indicated by the operation information D2. If two or more of the multiple working devices 20 performed work in the same field, the virtual determination unit 130 can determine virtual areas LA corresponding to fields where two or more working devices 20 (and working areas A) are estimated to have performed work. The specific process by which the virtual determination unit 130 determines the virtual areas LA will be described later.

[0037] The integrated decision unit 140 determines an integrated area CA corresponding to the area where the work device 20 worked, based on the virtual area determined by the virtual decision unit 130. If two or more work devices 20 worked in the same area (for example, the same field), the integrated decision unit 140 determines the area where the two or more work devices 20 worked as the integrated area CA. In this case, the integrated area CA includes two or more work areas A corresponding to the two or more work devices 20. The integrated decision unit 140 generates integrated area information D3b indicating the determined integrated area CA based on the information about the work area A indicated by the individual area information D3a that the virtual decision unit 130 has determined to correspond to the same virtual area LA. In this embodiment, the integrated decision unit 140 defines the location and range of the integrated area CA as the integrated area information D3b, and determines an integrated index value indicating the work content in the integrated area CA. The integrated decision unit 140 transmits the generated integrated area information D3b to the information storage unit 160.

[0038] The output unit 150 outputs output information, including individual area information D3a and integrated area information D3b, to an external device (for example, a terminal device 30).

[0039] The terminal device 30 realizes the display unit 310 when the calculation unit 34 executes the program P2. Based on the output information output by the output unit 150 of the work management device 10, the display unit 310 displays information to the user that associates the integrated area CA with the work area A included in the integrated area CA. For example, the display unit 310 displays the location and range of the integrated area CA with the content of the work performed in the integrated area CA. Furthermore, the display unit 310 displays the location and range of the work area A in a manner that allows the user to recognize which integrated area CA those work area A belong to. The display unit 310 also displays the content of the work performed in each work area A in association with the work area A. Specific examples of screens displayed by the display unit 310 will be described later.

[0040] (Operation of the work management system) The work management system 1, with the functional configuration described above, performs the processing shown in Figure 5 to provide the user with information on the areas (e.g., integrated area CA) where multiple work devices 20 have performed work. For example, when the work management device 10 of the work management system 1 outputs operational information from an external source (e.g., a work device 20), it starts the processing shown in Figure 5.

[0041] In step S1002, the acquisition unit 110 of the work management device 10 first acquires operation information D2, which includes the location information of the work device 20, output by the work device 20. For example, the acquisition unit 110 acquires operation information D2 from each of the multiple work devices 20, each time the work device 20 performs work in the field, including location information indicating its position and work information indicating its operating status, and stores it in the information storage unit 160. Alternatively, the acquisition unit 110 may acquire operation information D2 from an external server that collects operation information from the work devices 20.

[0042] In this embodiment, the location information of the operational information D2 acquired in step S1002 includes the location information of each time the work device 20 is performing work in the field, but does not include the location when it is not performing work, for example, when it is moving along a road. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the work device 20 (or the server if the operational information D2 is acquired from an external server) has removed the location information when the work device 20 is not performing work before the acquisition unit 110 acquires it. Hereinafter, if multiple fields are not distinguished from each other, they will be referred to as Field F, and if they are distinguished, they will be indicated with numbers such as Field F1 to Field F5.

[0043] In the example shown in Figure 6, the acquisition unit 110 acquires operational information from multiple work devices 20 (for example, the first to fifth work devices 20) that performed work in fields F1, F3, and F5 among the fields F1 to F5. In the example shown in Figure 6, the white circle indicates the location of the first work device 20, indicated by M001 in the "Work Device ID" of the individual area information D3a in Figure 3. The white triangle in Figure 6 indicates the location of the second work device 20, indicated by M002 in the individual area information D3a in Figure 3. Similarly, the white square indicates the location of the third work device 20, indicated by M003 in the individual area information D3a. The black triangle indicates the location of the fourth work device 20, indicated by M004 in the individual area information D3a. The black square indicates the location of the fifth work device 20, indicated by M005 in the individual area information D3a.

[0044] Next, in step S1004 of Figure 5, the individual determination unit 120 of the work management device 10 determines the work area A of each work device 20 based on the position information included in the operation information D2. For example, as shown in Figure 6, the individual determination unit 120 determines the convex hull of the position of each work device 20 indicated by the position information of the operation information D2. The convex hull represents the region that includes all the target positions and has the smallest area. The individual determination unit 120 then determines the convex hull determined for each work device 20 as the work area A where each work device 20 performed its work.

[0045] In the example shown in Figure 6, the convex hull encompassing all the positions of the first work device 20, indicated by the white circles, is determined as the work area A1 of the first work device 20. Similarly, the convex hull encompassing all the positions of the second work device 20, indicated by the white triangles, is determined as the work area A2 of the second work device 20; the convex hull encompassing all the positions of the third work device 20, indicated by the white squares, is determined as the work area A3 of the third work device 20; the convex hull encompassing all the positions of the fourth work device 20, indicated by the black triangles, is determined as the work area A4 of the fourth work device 20; and the convex hull encompassing all the positions of the fifth work device 20, indicated by the black squares, is determined as the work area A5 of the fifth work device 20.

[0046] The individual determination unit 120 generates area definition information indicating the location and range of the determined work area A, and records the generated area definition information in individual area information D3a, associating it with the individual area ID indicating the work area A and the work device ID indicating the work device 20 that performed the work. In addition, the individual determination unit 120 creates individual work information indicating the content of the work in work area A based on the work information of each work device 20 included in the operation information D2, and records it in individual area information D3a, associating it with the individual area ID.

[0047] The individual determination unit 120 also determines individual work information for work area A. In the example in Figure 3, the individual work information determined by the individual determination unit 120 includes work time, work duration, average speed, and work area. For example, the individual determination unit 120 determines the work time, work duration, and work area from the time information included in the position information of each work device 20 that worked in work areas A1 to A5. For example, the individual determination unit 120 determines the earliest time among the position information of the work device 20 corresponding to each work area A as the work start time and the latest time as the work end time. The work duration is determined from the difference between the work start time and the work end time. The individual determination unit 120 also determines the average speed by averaging the speeds included in the operating information acquired from each work device 20. Furthermore, the individual determination unit 120 calculates the area of ​​each work area as the work area. The types of individual work information for work areas A1 to A5 and the method for generating each item of the individual work information may be determined based on the settings. The individual determination unit 120 transmits the individual area information D3a generated in this manner to the information storage unit 160, causing the individual area information D3a to be stored in the information storage unit 160.

[0048] Next, the virtual determination unit 130 of the work management device 10 determines a virtual area LA in which it is estimated that at least one of the multiple work devices 20 has performed work, based on the processing in steps S1006 and S1008 of Figure 5.

[0049] First, in step S1006 of Figure 5, the virtual decision unit 130 of the work management device 10 determines the overall area EA which includes the locations of all of the work devices 20 to be processed, as shown in Figure 7. For example, as shown in Figure 7, the virtual decision unit 130 determines a convex hull which includes the locations of all of the work devices 20 (the first to fifth work devices 20) to be processed, as indicated by the operation information D2. The virtual decision unit 130 then determines this convex hull as the overall area EA.

[0050] Next, in step S1008 of Figure 5, the virtual determination unit 130 determines the virtual area LA from the work device 20. For example, based on the position of the work device 20 indicated by the operation information D2, the virtual determination unit 130 determines a virtual area by excluding the area from the overall area EA where it is estimated that no work is being performed. Hereafter, if the virtual areas are not distinguished, they will be called virtual area LA, and if they are distinguished, they will be referred to with numbers such as virtual area LA1 to virtual area LA3.

[0051] In this embodiment, the virtual determination unit 130 determines the virtual area LA by excluding the sections of the overall area EA in which the positions of the work devices 20 indicated by the operation information D2 are fewer than a predetermined standard. However, if there are no sections within the overall area EA in which the positions of the work devices 20 are fewer than a predetermined standard, for example, the virtual determination unit 130 determines the overall area EA as the virtual area LA.

[0052] In this embodiment, the virtual determination unit 130 first divides the entire area EA into a mesh of rectangular sub-sections S having the same area and shape, as shown in Figure 7. Here, the virtual determination unit 130 divides the entire area EA into sub-sections S by cutting it into a mesh with virtual lines along the outer perimeter of the entire area EA. This makes it possible to set up multiple sub-sections S along the ridge direction of the field F, for example, and increases the degree to which the shape of the virtual area LA matches the shape of the actual field F.

[0053] The virtual determination unit 130 further excludes the sub-sections S that divide the overall area EA, where the position information of the work device 20 indicated by the operation information D2 is less than a predetermined threshold (in this example, the position of the work device 20 is 1), as sub-sections S where no work is being performed. Then, as shown in Figure 8, the virtual determination unit 130 determines the areas enclosed by the outer perimeter of the convex hull of the overall area EA and the outer perimeter of the deleted sub-sections S as separate virtual areas LA. In the example in Figure 7, as a result of excluding the shaded sub-sections S, the overall area EA is divided into multiple virtual areas LA (virtual areas LA1 to LA3).

[0054] Through this process, the virtual determination unit 130 excludes any portion of the overall area EA in which none of the work devices 20 are performing work. Therefore, the virtual determination unit 130 can determine the area in which it is estimated that at least one of the work devices 20 has performed work as the virtual area LA.

[0055] Next, in step S1010 of Figure 5, the integrated decision unit 140 associates individual work areas A (for example, work areas A1 to A5) with virtual area LA based on the location and range of work area A indicated by individual area information D3a.

[0056] For example, the integrated determination unit 140 associates a virtual area LA with a work area A included in that virtual area LA (for example, a work area A that is at least partially included in that virtual area LA). As an example, the integrated determination unit 140 associates virtual area LA with work area A when the area occupied by virtual area LA includes the position of a point located inside work area A (representative position). For example, the representative position may represent the center of work area A. In this case, the integrated determination unit 140 first determines the geometric centers G1 to G5 of work areas A1 to A5 as their respective representative positions. Then, the virtual determination unit 130 determines which of the virtual areas LA1 to LA3 the determined representative positions of work areas A1 to A5 are contained within. The virtual determination unit 130 associates work area A with virtual area LA, which includes the representative position of work area A.

[0057] In the example shown in Figure 8, the center G1 of work area A1 is inside virtual area LA1, the center G2 of work area A2 and the center G3 of work area A3 are inside virtual area LA2, and the center G4 of work area A4 and the center G5 of work area A5 are inside virtual area LA3. Accordingly, the integrated determination unit 140 associates work area A1 with virtual area LA1, work areas A2 and A3 with virtual area LA2, and work areas A4 and A5 with virtual area LA3.

[0058] In this way, in step S1010 of Figure 5, the integrated decision unit 140 of the work management device 10 determines one or more work areas A corresponding to the same virtual area LA. In particular, through the processing in step S1010, the integrated decision unit 140 determines two or more work areas A corresponding to the same virtual area LA: work areas A2 and A3 corresponding to virtual area LA2, and work areas A4 and A5 corresponding to virtual area LA3.

[0059] Next, in step S1012 of Figure 5, the integration decision unit 140 determines an integrated area CA that includes the individual work area A associated with each virtual area LA. For example, as shown in Figure 9, the integration decision unit 140 first determines, based on the individual area information D3a, that the work equipment 20 that performed work in the work area A included in each virtual area LA is the work equipment 20 that performed work in that virtual area LA. Then, the integration decision unit 140 extracts the positions of the work equipment 20 that performed work in each virtual area LA from the positions of the work equipment 20 indicated by the individual area information D3a, and determines the convex hull that includes all of these positions as the integrated area CA. The integrated area CA corresponds to the virtual area LA if it is estimated that two or more of the work equipment 20 performed work in the same virtual area LA. In the example of Figures 6 to 9, integrated area CA2 corresponds to field F3 where the second and third work equipment 20 performed work. Also, integrated area CA3 corresponds to field F5 where the fourth and fifth work equipment 20 performed work.

[0060] In Figure 9, the outer perimeter of the integrated area CA is shown with a solid line, and the outer perimeter of the work area A is shown with a dotted line. In Figure 9, to clearly illustrate the points where the outer perimeters of the integrated area CA and the work area A completely coincide, the solid line representing the outer perimeter of the integrated area CA is shifted outward from the dotted line representing the outer perimeter of the work area A. The same applies to Figure 10A.

[0061] The integrated decision unit 140 generates area definition information indicating the location and range of the determined integrated area CA. The integrated decision unit 140 stores in the integrated area information D3b an integrated area ID indicating the integrated area CA and a work device ID indicating the work device 20 that performed the work there, in association with each other. The integrated decision unit 140 also determines the work area A included in each integrated area CA as the work area A corresponding to the integrated area CA, and stores the identifier of the corresponding individual area indicating the determined work area A in the integrated area information D3b, for example as "corresponding individual area," in association with the integrated area CA. The virtual decision unit 130 also creates integrated work information indicating the content of the work in each integrated area CA based on the work information of each work device 20 included in the operation information D2, and records it in the integrated area information D3b in association with the integrated area ID.

[0062] In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 4, the integrated work information determined by the integrated decision unit 140 includes the following items corresponding to the individual work information in Figure 3: work time, work duration, average speed, and work area. The integrated decision unit 140 determines the integrated index value of the corresponding integrated work information item based on the individual index value of each item of the individual work information of the work area A included in each integrated area CA. For example, the integrated decision unit 140 determines the earliest work start time indicated by the time information of the work area A included in the integrated area CA as the work start time, and the latest work end time as the work end time, and determines these work start and end times as the work time of the integrated area CA. The integrated decision unit 140 also calculates the difference between the work start time and work end time of the integrated work information determined in this way to determine the work duration of the integrated area CA. Alternatively, the integrated decision unit 140 may determine the total work duration, which is the sum of the work durations of the work areas A included in the integrated area CA, as the work duration of the integrated area CA.

[0063] Furthermore, the integrated decision unit 140 may determine the integrated index value of the corresponding integrated work information item based on the operation information of the work equipment 20 that performed work in the integrated area CA, from the operation information of the work equipment 20 indicated by the operation information D2. For example, the integrated decision unit 140 calculates the area of ​​the integrated area CA and determines it as the work area. The integrated decision unit 140 transmits the integrated area information D3b generated in this way to the information storage unit 160, and stores the integrated area information D3b in the information storage unit 160.

[0064] Next, in S1014 of Figure 5, the output unit 150 of the work management device 10 outputs output information indicating the integrated area CA and the work area A. For example, the output unit 150 generates output information including integrated area information D3b, which is information indicating the integrated area CA, and individual area information D3a, which is information indicating the work area A, and outputs it to the terminal device 30. In the integrated area information D3b included in this output information, the work area A included in each integrated area CA is stored in association, as shown in Figure 4.

[0065] Next, at S1016 in Figure 5, the display unit 310 of the terminal device 30 displays information about the integrated area CA and work area A to the user based on the output information. For example, as shown in Figure 10A, the display unit 310 generates a screen showing the geographical location and range of the work area A indicated by the individual area information D3a of the output information and the integrated area CA indicated by the integrated area information D3b, and displays it on the input / output unit 32. In the example of Figure 10A, the integrated area CA1 and the work area A1 contained therein, the integrated area CA2 and the work areas A2 and A3 contained therein, and the integrated area CA3 and the work areas A4 and A5 contained therein are displayed. The display unit 310 may also display codes (e.g., integrated area ID and individual area ID) indicating the integrated area CA and work area A attached to each area. The display unit 310 may further display the combination of the integrated area CA and the work area A contained therein in a manner that can be understood by the user. For example, the display unit 310 may display each combination of integrated area CA and the work area A contained therein in a different color. Alternatively, the display unit 310 may assign the same code to each combination of integrated area CA and the work area A contained therein.

[0066] In Figure 10A, information indicating the integrated area CA and work area A is displayed overlaid on the map images of fields F1 to F5. The map images of fields F1 to F5 may be obtained from an external server via the input / output unit 32 using, for example, the location information of work area A and integrated area CA.

[0067] The display unit 310 may further display Figure 10B as information indicating the integrated area CA and the work area A. In Figure 10B, the information indicating the integrated area CA and the work area A is shown in a table format as text information. Specifically, the information that can identify the integrated area CA in Figure 10A (e.g., integrated area ID) is displayed as "area name". In addition, the information that can identify the work equipment 20 used in each integrated area CA (e.g., work equipment ID) is displayed as "work equipment", and the information that can identify the work content in the integrated area CA (e.g., integrated work information) is displayed as "work content", each corresponding to the information that can identify the integrated area CA. Furthermore, information indicating each work area A included in the integrated area CA is displayed in a manner that allows the user to understand the correspondence with the integrated area CA. Here, as a subcategory of the "area name" indicating the integrated area CA, the information indicating the work area A included in that integrated area CA (e.g., individual area ID) is displayed as "sub-area". For example, information indicating the work equipment 20 used in work area A (e.g., work equipment ID) is displayed as "work equipment," and information that can identify the work performed in work area A (e.g., individual work information) is displayed as "work details," further linked to the information that can identify work area A.

[0068] Thus, the work management system 1 manages two or more work areas A that should be managed as the same area among the work areas A where the work device 20 has performed work, as an integrated area CA. Therefore, when the work management system 1 provides information on the areas where the work device 20 has performed work to the user, it has a high degree of compatibility with the user's needs.

[0069] (modified version) The configuration described in the embodiment is just one example, and the configuration can be changed as long as it does not impair the functionality.

[0070] For example, instead of the work management system 1 determining the work area A where multiple work devices 20 have worked using the individual determination unit 120, it may acquire this information as existing data from an external device (e.g., a manufacturer's server). In this case, the acquisition unit 110 acquires the individual area information D3a from the external device as existing data and stores it in the information storage unit 160.

[0071] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the location information of the operational information D2 acquired in step S1002 was described as including the location information at each time when the work device 20 performed work in field F, but not including the location when it was not performing work. In other words, the location information when it was not performing work was removed in advance by an external device (for example, a server provided by the manufacturer of the work device 20). However, this is not the only option, and the work management device 10 may remove location information of the work device 20 that is not related to work in field F. In this case, as an example, the work management device 10 may determine that the work device 20 is moving without performing agricultural work when its speed is higher than a predetermined threshold, and may remove such location information before proceeding with subsequent processing.

[0072] Furthermore, the individual determination unit 120 determined the convex hull containing the positions of the work devices 20 as the work area A. However, the work area A is not limited to such a convex hull. For example, the individual determination unit 120 may determine a work area A with a different shape from the convex hull. For example, the individual determination unit 120 may apply an alpha shape algorithm to the positions indicated by the position information of each work device 20 and determine a concave polygon (concave hull) containing all the positions of each work device 20 as the work area A.

[0073] Furthermore, the individual determination unit 120 may perform a process to exclude areas where it is presumed that work is not being performed by the work device 20, as explained in Figures 7 and 8, for each work area A. In this case, as a result of excluding areas where it is presumed that work is not being performed by the work device 20, the individual determination unit 120 may determine two or more work areas A for one work device 20. In this case, the individual determination unit 120 determines individual work information corresponding to each divided work area A based on the work information of the locations included in each of the divided work areas A from the operation information D2.

[0074] Furthermore, the individual determination unit 120 may determine the work area A as a region expanded by the working width of the work device 20 from the convex hull including the position of the work device 20. In this case, the working width of the work device 20 is stored in advance as a set value. Alternatively, the work management device 10 may accept user input indicating the working width using the input / output device 12. Furthermore, the integrated determination unit 140 may also modify the integrated area CA so as to expand from the convex hull in Figure 9 by the working width of the work device 20.

[0075] Furthermore, the virtual determination unit 130 may determine the overall area EA in a way different from that described in step S1006 of Figure 5. For example, instead of a convex hull containing all the positions of the multiple work devices 20 indicated by the operation information D2, the smallest rectangle containing the positions of the multiple work devices 20 indicated by the operation information D2 may be determined as the overall area EA. Alternatively, after determining the virtual area LA in Figure 8, the virtual determination unit 130 may modify the virtual area LA to an area expanded by the working width of the work device 20.

[0076] Furthermore, the virtual determination unit 130 may divide the overall area EA in a way different from that described in step S1008 of Figure 5 to determine the virtual area LA. For example, when the virtual determination unit 130 divides the overall area EA into sub-partitions S, the shape and size of the sub-partitions S can be arbitrarily set. For example, the shape of the sub-partition S may be a hexagon or a triangle. Alternatively, the virtual determination unit 130 may merge adjacent sub-partitions S that were not excluded from the overall area EA in Figure 7 to determine the virtual area LA. Also, the virtual determination unit 130 may determine the virtual area LA without dividing the overall area EA. For example, the virtual determination unit 130 may determine the virtual area LA by clustering the positions of multiple work devices 20 included in the operation information D2 using a known clustering method such as the k-means method. In this case, the virtual determination unit 130 determines the convex hull of the positions included in each cluster as the virtual area LA.

[0077] In the above-described embodiment, the integration determination unit 140 determined the integrated area CA corresponding to the virtual area LA by determining the convex hull including the position of the work device 20 that performed work in the virtual area LA. However, the work management system 1 may omit the processing shown in Figure 9 and determine the virtual area LA determined in the above-described embodiment or modified example as the integrated area CA. Furthermore, if a certain virtual area LA corresponds to only one work area A, the work management system 1 may not determine the integrated area CA for that work area A and may output only information about work area A as output information. In this case, the output information may include information about integrated area CAs that correspond to two or more work areas A.

[0078] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the integrated determination unit 140 determined the correspondence between work area A and virtual area LA based on the area occupied by virtual area LA and the geometric center of work area A as the representative position. However, the system is not limited to this, and any position within each work area A can be adopted as the representative position. For example, the position of the work device 20 corresponding to the midpoint between the start time and end time of work in each work area A may be adopted as the representative position of work area A. Alternatively, the integrated determination unit 140 may determine that work area A corresponds to virtual area LA if both the position of the work device 20 corresponding to the midpoint between the start time and end time of work in each work area A are located within virtual area LA. Moreover, the integrated determination unit 140 may determine the representative position within work area A based on the distance from the edge of work area A. For example, the integrated determination unit 140 may adopt the position with the greatest distance from the nearest point on the edge among all positions within work area A as the representative position. Alternatively, the integrated decision unit 140 may select as the representative position the position that is the closest to the vertex of the work area A, out of all positions within the work area A.

[0079] The integration determination unit 140 may, after determining the integration area CA, modify the integration area CA to expand it by the amount of the working width of the work device 20. In this case, for integration areas CA corresponding to two or more work devices 20, the average of the working widths of the corresponding work devices 20 is adopted as the working width of the integration area CA. Alternatively, the integration determination unit 140 may adopt the widest working width among the corresponding work devices 20 to modify the integration area CA.

[0080] Furthermore, the screen displayed by the display unit 310 is not limited to those shown in Figures 10A and 10B. For example, the display unit 310 does not have to display information indicating the integrated area CA and information indicating the work area A simultaneously. For example, the terminal device 30 may display information in either a first display mode, which displays the integrated area CA but not the work area A, or a second display mode, which displays the work area A but not the integrated area CA, depending on the user input received. In addition to displaying the integrated area CA in the first display mode, the display unit 310 may also display integrated work information for the integrated area CA. Also, in the first display mode, individual work information for the work area A does not have to be displayed. Also, in the second display mode, the display unit 310 may display individual work information for the work area A in addition to displaying the work area A. Also, in the second display mode, integrated work information for the integrated area CA does not have to be displayed. Furthermore, depending on the settings, the display unit 310 may display only the information for the integrated area CA and not display information for the work area A. Accordingly, the output unit 150 may output only the information of the integrated area CA as output information. For example, the output unit 150 may output output information that includes at least a part of the integrated area information D3b (for example, the "integrated area ID" and its "area definition information" from the integrated area information D3b in Figure 4) as information indicating the integrated area, but does not include information indicating the work area A (for example, individual area information D3a).

[0081] Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the work management system 1 comprises a work management device 10 and a terminal device 30. However, the work management system 1 does not necessarily have to include the terminal device 30. In this case, the output unit 150 of the work management device 10 may have a display and show a screen based on the output information (for example, the screens in Figures 10A and 10B) to the user. Alternatively, the output unit 150 may output to an external terminal (for example, a mobile phone or an external personal computer). As an example, the output information may be provided to an external server, and the information on which the integrated area CA and work area A are associated may be used on the external server. Even with such a configuration, the work management system 1 can achieve the effect of providing users with information on the areas worked on by the work device 20, with a high degree of matching the user's needs. In addition, the work management system 1 may obtain the operation information D2 from an external server that manages the operation information of the work device 20, rather than from the work device 20 itself. Thus, the work management system 1 can function even with only the work management device 10.

[0082] Alternatively, even if the acquisition unit 110 knows the range occupied by multiple fields F to be processed, if it determines in the above processing that this integrated area CA spans two or more fields F, the integration determination unit 140 may modify the integrated area CA to divide the fields F again based on the field information.

[0083] Furthermore, if the geographical conditions of the field F to be processed are known, the work management system 1 may determine the integrated area CA based on the range of the field F to be processed. For example, the acquisition unit 110 acquires field information indicating the geographical range of the field F to be processed from an external source using the input / output device 12. Then, if the virtual area LA determined by the virtual determination unit 130 includes both the part inside the field F indicated by the field information and the part outside the range, the integrated determination unit 140 modifies the virtual area LA to exclude the part outside the range. Alternatively, if a certain virtual area LA spans multiple fields F, the integrated determination unit 140 modifies the virtual area LA to divide it to correspond to multiple fields F. Then, the integrated determination unit 140 may determine the integrated area CA based on the range of the modified virtual area LA and the representative location of the work area A.

[0084] Furthermore, instead of modifying the virtual area LA, the integrated determination unit 140 may determine the integrated area CA by excluding the position of the work device 20 corresponding to work area A if it determines that the representative position of work area A is outside the range of field F indicated by the field information. Alternatively, the integrated determination unit 140 may modify the integrated area CA after determining it, by excluding the portion of the integrated area CA that is not included in the field F to be processed. The work management device 10 may acquire field information from the work device 20 or an external server that manages field F, or it may acquire it based on user input. Alternatively, if field information is pre-stored in the storage device 18, the field information may be acquired from the storage device 18.

[0085] (Note) The work management method, work management system, and program described in each embodiment can be described as follows.

[0086] The work management method relating to the first aspect is: Based on the positions where multiple work devices performed their work, a virtual area is determined where at least one of the multiple work devices performed their work. Based on the determined virtual area and the multiple work areas in which each of the multiple work devices performed work, an integrated area is determined in which two or more of the multiple work devices performed work. Outputting output information indicating the aforementioned integrated area, Includes.

[0087] The work management method relating to the second aspect is the work management method relating to the first aspect, Determining the aforementioned integrated area Based on the range occupied by the plurality of work areas or the position where the plurality of work devices performed work, and the range occupied by the virtual area, the virtual area corresponding to two or more of the plurality of work areas is determined. The integrated area is determined based on the virtual areas corresponding to the two or more work areas, It also includes.

[0088] The work management method relating to the third aspect is the work management method relating to the second aspect, Determining a virtual area corresponding to the two or more work areas further includes determining the virtual area corresponding to the two or more work areas based on the extent occupied by the virtual area and the representative position of the work area.

[0089] The work management method relating to the fourth aspect is a work management method relating to the second or third aspect, The method further includes determining the two or more work areas that correspond to the integrated area based on the correspondence between the virtual area and the work area, The output includes outputting output information that includes the work area which has been determined to correspond to the integrated area.

[0090] The work management method relating to the fifth aspect is the work management method relating to the fourth aspect, To acquire operational information including individual indicator values ​​that show the work performed in the aforementioned work area, Based on the individual index values ​​of the work area corresponding to the determined integrated area, an integrated index value is generated that indicates the work performed in the integrated area. It further includes, The output described above includes outputting output information that further includes the generated integrated index value.

[0091] The work management method relating to the sixth aspect is the work management method relating to the fifth aspect, The output information further includes displaying the integrated area and the content of the work performed in the integrated area based on the integrated index value included in the output information.

[0092] The work management method relating to the seventh aspect is a work management method relating to any of the fourth to sixth aspects, The system further includes simultaneously displaying the integrated area and the work area corresponding to the integrated area, based on the output information.

[0093] The work management method relating to the eighth aspect is a work management method relating to any of the fourth to seventh aspects, Based on the output information that has been output, the integrated area is displayed in a first display mode that displays the integrated area, Based on the output information that has been output, the work area is displayed in a second display mode that displays the work area, It also includes.

[0094] The work management method relating to the ninth aspect is a work management method relating to any of the first to eighth aspects, The process further includes acquiring field information indicating the fields on which the aforementioned multiple work devices have performed their work, Determining the integrated area further includes determining the extent of the integrated area based on the extent of the fields to be treated as indicated by the field information.

[0095] The work management method relating to the 10th aspect is a work management method relating to any of the 1st to 9th aspects, Determining the aforementioned virtual area Based on the positions where the multiple work devices performed their work, the overall area including all the positions where the work devices performed their work is determined. Based on the positions where the multiple work devices performed their work, the virtual area is determined by excluding at least a portion of the overall area. Includes.

[0096] The work management system relating to the 11th aspect is: A virtual determination unit that determines a virtual area where at least one of the multiple work devices performed work, based on the positions where the multiple work devices performed work, An integrated determination unit determines an integrated area where two or more of the multiple work devices performed work, based on the virtual area determined by the virtual determination unit and the work area where each of the multiple work devices performed work. An output unit that outputs output information indicating the aforementioned integrated area, It is equipped with.

[0097] The program relating to the 12th aspect is: On the computer, A process to determine a virtual area where at least one of the multiple work devices performed work, based on the positions where the multiple work devices performed work, A process to determine an integrated area where two or more of the multiple work devices performed work, based on the determined virtual area and the work area where each of the multiple work devices performed work, A process that outputs output information indicating the aforementioned integrated area, Make it run. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0098] 1. Work Management System 10 Work management device 12 Input / Output Devices 14 Arithmetic unit 16. Communication equipment 18 Storage device 110 Acquisition Department 120 Individual Decision Section 130 Virtual Decision Unit 140 Integrated Decision-Making Department 150 Output section 160 Information storage section 20 Working equipment 30 Terminal devices 32 Input / output section 34 Arithmetic section 36 Communications Department 38 Memory section 310 Display section P1, P2 Program M1, M2 storage medium Microsoft Network D2 Operation Information D3a Individual Area Information D3b Integrated Area Information F1-F5 Fields A1-A5 Work Area EA overall area LA1~LA3 Virtual Area CA1~CA3 Integrated Area G center S Small section

Claims

1. Based on the positions where multiple work devices performed their work, a virtual area is determined where at least one of the multiple work devices performed their work. Based on the determined virtual area and the multiple work areas in which each of the multiple work devices performed work, an integrated area is determined in which two or more of the multiple work devices performed work. Based on the representative location of the aforementioned work area and the determined integrated area, two or more work areas corresponding to the integrated area are determined. Outputting output information indicating the aforementioned integrated area, Includes, The output includes outputting output information that further includes information indicating the work area which is determined to correspond to the integrated area, Work management methods.

2. Determining the aforementioned integrated area Based on the range occupied by the plurality of work areas or the position where the plurality of work devices performed work, and the range occupied by the virtual area, the virtual area corresponding to two or more of the plurality of work areas is determined. The integrated area is determined based on the virtual areas corresponding to the two or more work areas, This also includes, The work management method according to claim 1.

3. Determining a virtual area corresponding to the two or more work areas further includes determining the virtual area corresponding to the two or more work areas based on the range occupied by the virtual area and the representative position of the work area. The work management method described in claim 2.

4. The determination of the virtual area is The process involves determining the overall area including the location where the aforementioned multiple work devices performed their work, The virtual area is determined by excluding from the overall area the area in which the density of locations where the multiple work devices performed work is less than a predetermined standard, including, The work management method according to claim 1.

5. To acquire operational information including individual indicator values ​​that show the work performed in the aforementioned work area, Based on the individual index values ​​of the work area corresponding to the determined integrated area, an integrated index value is generated that indicates the work performed in the integrated area. It further includes, The output includes outputting output information further including the generated integrated index value, The work management method according to claim 1.

6. The output information further includes displaying the integrated area and the content of the work performed in the integrated area, based on the integrated index value included in the output information. The work management method described in claim 5.

7. The further includes simultaneously displaying the integrated area and the work area corresponding to the integrated area based on the output information, The work management method according to claim 1.

8. Based on the output information that has been output, the integrated area is displayed in a first display mode that displays the integrated area, Based on the output information that has been output, the work area is displayed in a second display mode that displays the work area, This also includes, The work management method according to claim 1.

9. The process further includes acquiring field information indicating the fields on which the aforementioned multiple work devices have performed their work, Determining the integrated area includes determining the extent of the integrated area based on the extent of the fields to be processed as indicated by the field information. The work management method according to claim 1.

10. Determining the aforementioned virtual area Based on the positions where the multiple work devices performed their work, the overall area including all the positions where the work devices performed their work is determined. Based on the positions where the multiple work devices performed their work, the virtual area is determined by excluding at least a portion of the overall area. including, The work management method according to claim 1.

11. A virtual determination unit that determines a virtual area where at least one of the multiple work devices performed work, based on the positions where the multiple work devices performed work, An integrated determination unit determines an integrated area where two or more of the multiple work devices performed work, based on the virtual area determined by the virtual determination unit and the work area where each of the multiple work devices performed work. An output unit that outputs output information indicating the aforementioned integrated area, Equipped with, The integration determination unit is configured to determine two or more work areas corresponding to the integrated area based on the representative position of the work area and the determined integrated area. The output unit is configured to output output information that further includes information indicating the work area which has been determined to correspond to the integrated area. Work management system.

12. On the computer, A process to determine a virtual area where at least one of the multiple work devices performed work, based on the positions where the multiple work devices performed work, A process to determine an integrated area where two or more of the multiple work devices performed work, based on the determined virtual area and the work area where each of the multiple work devices performed work, A process for determining two or more work areas corresponding to the integrated area, based on the representative location of the work area and the determined integrated area, A process that outputs output information indicating the aforementioned integrated area, A program to execute, The output process includes outputting output information that further includes information indicating the work area which has been determined to correspond to the integrated area, program.

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