System and Method for Communicating Grain Bin Condition Data to a Smartphone

摘要

Sensed conditions are communicated from a cable sensing array suspended in one or more grain storage bins using an adapter which includes a port for making a wired connection with a cable output of the cable sensing array. The adapter further includes a sensor receiver in connection with the port to receive sensed conditions from the cable sensing array, and an interface. In a preferred embodiment, the interface forms a wired connection with a headphone jack of a smartphone. A program executable on the smartphone communicates a sampling instruction from the smartphone to the adapter through the interface to cause the adapter to retrieve the sensed condition data from the sensing array and transmit the sensed condition data back to the smartphone. The program on the smartphone may include further instructions to transmit the data over a wireless network to a remote server for access by internet enabled devices.

主权项

1. A data communication system for communication between a mobile computer device and a condition sensor array comprising at least one condition sensor received within an agricultural storage bin for sensing a condition at a respective location of the condition sensor, the system comprising:
an adapter comprising:
a portable housing;a port on the housing for making a wired connection to the condition sensor array;a sensor receiver in connection with the port for communicating with said at least one condition sensor of the sensor array when the port forms a wired connection with the condition sensor array;an interface on the housing for communicating with the mobile computer device; anda controller which is operatively connected to:
i) the sensor receiver for retrieving the sensed condition data from said at least one condition sensor through the sensor receiver; andii) the interface for receiving instructions from the mobile computer device and for transmitting the sensed condition data from the controller to the mobile computer device; and a program loadable onto the mobile computer device and including a set of instructions, that when executed by the mobile computer device, causes the mobile computer device to instruct the controller of the adapter to retrieve the sensed condition data from said at least one condition sensor and to transmit the sensed condition data to the mobile computer device.