Reward-Aware Job Scheduling for Agricultural Machinery Sharing

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Solution Overview

Problem

The increasing costs of smart agricultural machinery and electrification pose challenges for initial investments in sharing services, necessitating improved utilization rates and productivity, while existing scheduling methods fail to adequately consider spatial, temporal, and uncertainty factors.

Innovation Solution

A schedule formulation aiding system that optimizes job execution plans using geographic information, resource information, and temporal reward distributions to select jobs resulting in higher rewards, considering uncertainties and spatial constraints.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If agricultural machinery sharing services are introduced to improve utilization rates, then productivity and resource efficiency are improved, but device complexity and operational planning difficulty increase due to multiple spatial, temporal, and uncertainty factors

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveutilization rate of agricultural machineryVSAvoidcomplexity of scheduling system
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The scheduling problem is segmented into multiple independent modules: spatial constraint satisfaction, temporal reward distribution optimization, uncertainty factor analysis, and job contract evaluation. Each module processes specific aspects separately before integrating results, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining comprehensive optimization capability

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system introduces a temporal reward distribution dimension that transforms traditional static scheduling into dynamic multi-dimensional optimization. By adding time-dependent reward values and temporal constraints to the scheduling model, the system optimizes across space, time, and reward dimensions simultaneously, improving productivity without proportionally increasing complexity

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

2Reliability

If comprehensive spatial and temporal constraints are considered in scheduling, then job execution quality and reward optimization are improved, but calculation time and processing complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvequality of job execution planVSAvoidscheduling calculation time
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary filtering of job contracts based on spatial constraints and basic feasibility criteria before conducting detailed temporal optimization. By pre-processing and eliminating infeasible options early, the system reduces the search space for subsequent complex calculations, maintaining high execution quality while reducing overall computation time

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system dynamically adjusts optimization parameters and constraint weights based on problem characteristics and computational resources available. By changing parameters such as reward distribution functions, constraint strictness levels, and algorithmic depth, the system balances solution quality against calculation time requirements for different scheduling scenarios

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

3Productivity

If multiple job contracts with different temporal rewards are accepted, then total reward and productivity are improved, but scheduling difficulty and resource coordination complexity increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetotal reward from job contractsVSAvoidease of resource scheduling
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system implements feedback mechanisms that continuously evaluate the impact of accepting additional job contracts on overall scheduling feasibility and reward optimization. By providing real-time feedback on resource utilization, temporal conflicts, and reward projections, the system guides operators in making informed decisions about job contract acceptance, simplifying the operational complexity while maximizing total reward

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentEP4641458A1Scheduling support system and scheduling support method
Publication Date: 2025.10.29 HITACHI LTD
  • EP4641458A1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4641458A1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4641458A1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

In a schedule formulation aiding system, an input unit receives, for each of the plurality of jobs, an input of a job execution period serving as a temporal constraint in scheduling the jobs, geographic information indicating a position where the resource is used for the job, resource information related to a plurality of the resources for executing the job, and job information including a temporal reward distribution that is dependent on timing of job execution; a processing unit is configured to create a tentative job set enabling a job execution time required for execution of the jobs to fall within the job execution period, based on the job information and the resource information, and to determine a subset of jobs enabling greater reward to be achieved, based on the temporal reward distribution, the job execution period, the geographic information, and the resource information; and an output unit outputs the determined subset of jobs.