Indian Patents. 271147:A MOBILE BASED ADVILSORY SYSTEM

Title of Invention	A MOBILE BASED ADVILSORY SYSTEM
Abstract	A systen and method for mobile based advising is provided.The system and method involve the user with his mobile terminal formulating a query based on his own input and external sensor input and then sending the query to a remote server, which sends it to an expert group who devise an expert advice,which is then sent back to the user

Full Text	FORM - 2 THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 (39 of 1970) & THE PATENTS RULES, 2003 PROVISIONAL (See section 10 and rule 13) A MOBILE BASED ADVISORY SYSTEM TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED an Indian Company of Bombay House, 24, Sir Homi Mody Street, Mumbai 400 001, Maharashtra, India, THE FOLLOWING SPEC IFICATION DESCRIBES THE INVENTION. Field of Invention The invention relates to the field of telecommunications. Background of Invention: Meteorological institutes give the weather conditions prevailing in a region. This information issued cannot be very reliable as there may be sudden changes in the weather. These sudden changes in the weather may cause serious damage to life and property. It is very essential to have prior information of such weather changes especially during trekking, biking or skiing so as to prevent danger. This information is also useful for planning various agricultural operations. Conventionally farmers get advice or information by information available in the newspapers, TV and radio programs or through direct interaction with the experts. But the queries of farmers are not solved by the general information passed through the media. The ratio of experts to farmers is typically very much skewed and hence, only a small fraction of the total number of farmer population is benefited through direct interaction mode. United States patent 6,553,299 describes integration of Real Time Kinematics (RTK) global positioning system (GPS) technology with precision farming methodologies to provide highly accurate seeding, cultivating, planting and/or harvesting operations. However, system does not extend to forming a human or machine generated expert advice to a specific query of a farmer and providing answer on a mobile terminal. 2 United States Patent 6,590,529 describes an individualized, location specific weather forecasting system in which the location of an electronic device is detected; and weather data is generated and transmitted to the electronic device so that subscribers receive weather forecast data specific to their current location. This invention does extend to presenting location specific weather forecasting advise on a mobile terminal in response to a user's query and use of human or machine to generate appropriate agricultural advice to the farmer. United States Patent 7,212,922 describes a method of using climate data to determine activity index values for a given activity. The invention indicates that the activity index values may be used to answer. However, the invention does not extend to use of various sensors such as soil, weather, camera phone to get time and location specific information and use it to answer queries generated on a mobile terminal and provide an expert advice on the same device through a remote server. United States Patent 7,209,922 describes a system and method useful for organization of information and retrieval of information adapted for use in a computer system. However the invention does not extend to getting time and location specific data from sensors over wireless network arranging it on a remote store to answer queries generated by user through mobile terminal by a human or machine expert. United States Patent 7,184,859 describes the use of remotely sensed spectral image data to develop a Vegetation Index file which represents spatial variations of actual crop vigor throughout a field that is under cultivation. A query can be formulated, which is forwarded via email or FTP to a central 3 processing site. A reply is returned via email or FTP to on-side farm personnel. United States Patent 7,171,912 A map of site-specific amounts of a soil nutrient, to be applied in fertilizer to an agricultural field is created using a map of site-specific amounts of the soil nutrient needed to produce maximum possible yield at the particular site. United States Patent 7,047,133 describes a method and system of evaluating crop performance facilitates characterization of the environmental impact of a geographic region or areas within the region for growing plant-life. Environmental measurements are obtained. This invention does not extend to expert or machine generating expert advice remotely based on the sensor data obtained through wireless network and transferring this expert advice to a mobile terminal in response to a farm personnel's query from a mobile terminal. United States Patent 6,990,459 describes a system comprised of hardware, software and business processes for developing an optimal custom farm management plan, and in particular, a single year or multi-year crop selection, acreage allocation, and resource management strategies for production agriculture by using mathematical programming and sensitivity analysis to help the user determine optimal allocations of controllable resources such as land, capital, labor, water, machinery, and chemicals in the context of farm management objectives. United States Patent 6,141,614 describes a computer-aided farming system having a first control system which receives data defining a plurality of 4 parameters and determines a plurality of nodes located at an agricultural field, and determines a condition status associated with each node. The system also has a second control system located on an agricultural machine which receives data defining the nodes and the condition status at each node and plans a path as a function of the nodes, and determines a desired work operation relative to each node. United Kingdoms patent 2407230 describes a mobile device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) or mobile phone to obtain its geographic location, using for example a global positioning system (GPS), and provides the location to a sever, preferably through a wireless connection. Japanese patent 2001160193 describes a system to report information corresponding to an inquiry from a mountain climber by reporting the rapid change of weather or the like corresponding to registered contents for every mountain climber, avoiding the danger thereof. The above inventions do not extend to obtaining time specific, location specific, crop specific data through sensors and passing it to a remote store for generating expert advice by human or machine for the farm personnel in local language in response to a query generated through a mobile terminal by farm personnel. Objects of invention: The object of this invention is to provide personalized expert advice by means of a mobile terminal. 5 One more object of this invention is to enable a user to generate a query from a mobile terminal. Yet another object of this invention is to provide time specific, location specific information regarding parameters like weather, traffic density and the like to a user using sensors. Another object of this invention is to make query generation simple so that even illiterate people can generate a query and receive a reply or advice by using the mobile terminal. Yet another object of this invention is to enable the expert advice to reach large number of user. Still one more object of this invention is to prevent or minimize damage caused due to sudden weather changes. Still one more object of this invention is to help a user in performing certain operations by supplying necessary information. Another object of this invention is to provide an advisory system which is easy to use and reliable. Still one more object of this invention is to provide a mobile advisory system which is affordable. 6 Summary of the Invention: The system in accordance with this invention envisages a means for providing time specific and location specific advice and information to a user. This system which allows the user get personalized advice or information, in text or voice form, on a mobile terminal which is either generated by a human expert or by an intelligent system on a machine. The mobile terminal has means for obtaining its location at any given time using a GPS (Global Positioning System) modem. In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, input means are provided at the user end. These include input means for entering data into the mobile terminal in response to a user interface screen and a voice menu and provision for accepting input through speech. In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, there are sensor means at the user end for collecting information regarding weather, soil, traffic, crop and the like parameters automatically. The sensor outputs are transmitted to a data logger periodically. The data logger is provided with a means for obtaining its location at any given time using GPS system. In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, the system has a query formulation means for generating query from the input means at the user end. In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, a preprocessing means is provided at the user end for rearranging the sensor 7 data and query data before transmission. A personalization means for stamping the query and the sensor data with time & date, location and other identification parameters is also provided. In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, the system has an interface means at user end for providing mobile terminal interface to transmit query and receive answers from the data carrying wireless network. Interface means are provided at server end to transmit and receive data to and from wireless network or Internet. In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, language script rendering means are provided for displaying the text in the local language of the farmer. Language processing means are provided for converting the text to voice and recognizing the voice commands. In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, the system is provided with an advice formulation means at the server end for providing relevant, personalized advice and information to the user. This advice formulation means is either a human expert group or an expert workstation. The advice sent to the farmer will guide him in regards to different farming operations like ploughing, sowing, addition of fertilizers, harvesting and the like. In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, the server end of the system is provided with a data tagging, arranging and processing means for linking data with the user's query. 8 In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, there is provided an application script means for processing camera phone images, sensor data, and voice and text menu at user end. Application script means are also provided at server end for processing input query and routing the results to appropriate remotely located expert workstations. In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, the advisory system will send alerts to the farmer on his mobile terminal in case of sudden weather changes. Also, the farmer will be provided with forecast of the weather conditions for upcoming week. In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, the farmer may request in his query for the current and future rates of transport means via different routes and the prices of the agricultural produce at the market places near the location of the farmer. Also, the farmer can request for information as to which factories have a demand for his agricultural produce. The server acquires this data from the Internet and sends it to the mobile terminal of the farmer. In accordance with another practical embodiment of this invention, the farmer will receive advertisements from different companies related to agricultural goods like seeds suppliers, fertilizer producers, tractor manufacturers, transporters and the like whose services are required by the farmers. These advertisements are transmitted to the mobile terminal of the farmer when he sends a query or receives an advice. 9 Brief Description of Drawing: The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal based advisory system in accordance with this invention; Figure 2 is a flow diagram of operation of the mobile terminal based advisory system in accordance with this invention. Detailed Description of the Invention: According to this invention there is provided a system which allows a user to get location and time specific personalized advice / information, in text or voice form, on their mobile terminal (mobile phone, laptop, pocket PC or any such specialized computer communication device) which is generated by a human expert or by an intelligent system on a machine. Referring to the drawings there is shown in Figure 1 a block diagram of the mobile terminal based advisory system. A Mobile Terminal (MT) is a user device. The mobile terminal (MT) is programmed to download specific application script (AS), Indian language script rendering engine (LSRE), and text and voice menu. Input means (I) are provided at user end which include means for entering data into the mobile terminal (MT) in response to user interface screens and a voice menu with the provision for accepting input through speech. The system has a query formulation (QF) means for generating a query from the input means (I) at the user end. A language 10 processing means (LPM) is provided for converting the text to voice and recognizing the voice commands. Sensors are provided at the user end for collecting information regarding weather (WS), soil (SS), crop and the like parameters automatically. The data logger (DL) is provided with a means for obtaining its location at any given time using GPS modem (GPSM). The mobile terminal is provided with a camera for capturing images of soil or crops. An application script means is provided for processing camera phone images, sensor data, and voice and text menu at user end. A preprocessing means (PP) is provided at user end for rearranging sensor data and query data before transmission. A personalization means (PM) for stamping the query and sensor data with time & date, location and other identification parameters is also provided. The system has means at mobile terminal (MT) to transmit query and receive answers from the data carrying wireless network or Internet. Means are provided at server (S) end to transmit and receive data to and from wireless network or Internet. Application script means are also provided at server (S) end for processing input query and routing the results to appropriate remotely located expert workstations. The server has a database (DB) which stores a profile of all the farmers alongwith the farm id, farmer id, soil data, past crop data, fertilizer data, pesticide data and the like. The server (S) receives the query along with the transmitted data and retrieves the relevant data from its database or Internet. 11 This information is sent to a human expert group or an expert workstation for analysis (14). The system is provided with an advice formulation (AF) means for providing relevant, personalized advice and information at server (S) end. The advice sent to the farmer will guide him in regards to different farming operations like ploughing, sowing, addition of fertilizers, harvesting and the like. Contact details like telephone number or e-mail id of a human expert are provided along with the advice sent to the farmer. The server (S) end of the system is provided with a data tagging, arranging and processing means (DPM) for linking data with the user's query. Referring to the drawings there is shown in Figure 2 the work flow of the mobile terminal based advisory system. The operation of the invention can be described as follows: Region specific application required for the system to operate is downloaded by a farmer on his mobile terminal (1). The farmer launches the downloaded application by pressing a key (2). The application acquires the location of the mobile terminal using a GPS modem (3). Menu in the local language of the farmer is displayed on the mobile terminal (4). Along with this, the application in the mobile terminal plays the voice menu in the local language of the farmer (5). 12 The farmer responds to this menu by pressing appropriate keys or ICONS or by giving certain voice commands (6). The weather parameters are obtained using sensors installed in the field (7). Sensors placed in the field detect soil parameters like moisture content, salinity, Ph, fertility level and the like and send these to the mobile terminal or to a remote server (8). The data from the sensors is periodically transmitted to a data logger. The data logger acquires the location of the system using a GPS modem (9). The farmer can also capture some images and attach it to his query (10). The pre processing unit arranges the image, sensor data, weather parameters, location parameters and the like in a specific format (11). A personalization means stamp the data with identification parameters like farmer id, farm id and mobile number (12). This data is transmitted as a query to a remote server via a wireless network or Internet (13). The server receives the query along with the transmitted data and retrieves the relevant data from its database or Internet. This information is sent to a human expert group or an expert workstation for analysis (14). The expert launches a browser and connects to the server. The human expert or an expert workstation read the queries sent to it and analyzes the query using the weather and soil parameters and images sent by the server (15). 13 The expert group or the expert workstation then formulates an advice (16). This advice is then sent to the server or mobile terminal of the fanner directly via a wireless network or Internet (17). The advice is sent to the mobile terminal in the local language of the farmer. The mobile terminal displays this advice or converts it to a voice format in the local language of the farmer (18). The mobile terminal advisory system sends alerts to the farmer on his mobile terminal in case of sudden weather changes. Also, the farmer will be provided with forecast of the weather conditions for upcoming week. The farmer may request in his query for the current rates of transport means via different routes and the prices of the agricultural produce at the market places near the location of the farmer. Also, the farmer can request for information as to which factories have a demand for his agricultural produce. The server (S) acquires this data from the Internet and sends it to the mobile terminal of the farmer. This helps the farmer to decide the best place to sell his produce to gain maximum benefit. The farmer receives advertisements from different companies on his mobile terminal related to agricultural goods like seed suppliers, fertilizer producers, tractor manufacturers, transporters and the like whose services are required by the farmers. Thus the advertisers pay the bulk of cost of required for this purpose while the farmers are required to pay only a nominal registration charges. 14 This system may be used to obtain information and advice regarding weather conditions for various activities like agriculture, adventure sports like trekking, skiing, biking and fishing or for obtaining information about the traffic conditions on the roads and market rates of different commodities. While all these applications of this invention are possible, the system of this invention is particularly used for providing advice and information regarding agricultural activities. Advantages: This system provides soil, weather, crop related and other such information through the use of sensors such as soil, weather, and leaf and camera phone in response to a farmer's query. The time, location and crop specific information and in addition to farmer's profile, help human experts or machine application running on a remote computer system to answer farmer's query effectively. This method is similar to a physical visit of an expert to the farm that would conduct test on the soil, visually inspect the crop and get to know the local weather and come up with a specific answer to a farmer's query. Additional advantage of this invention over physical visit is the availability of various tools such as best farming practices, pest model, and pictorial dictionary of plant diseases to the expert. Since the system is electronic, it can scale up easily and reach hundreds of millions of farmers which conventional system will not be able to do. While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the components and component parts of the preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that 15 many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the invention. These and other changes in the preferred embodiment as well as other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the invention and not as a limitation. Dated this 6th day of June 2007. 16

Full Text

FORM - 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
PROVISIONAL
(See section 10 and rule 13)
A MOBILE BASED ADVISORY SYSTEM
TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED
an Indian Company
of Bombay House, 24, Sir Homi Mody Street, Mumbai 400 001,
Maharashtra, India,
THE FOLLOWING SPEC IFICATION DESCRIBES THE INVENTION.

Field of Invention
The invention relates to the field of telecommunications.
Background of Invention:
Meteorological institutes give the weather conditions prevailing in a region. This information issued cannot be very reliable as there may be sudden changes in the weather. These sudden changes in the weather may cause serious damage to life and property. It is very essential to have prior information of such weather changes especially during trekking, biking or skiing so as to prevent danger. This information is also useful for planning various agricultural operations.
Conventionally farmers get advice or information by information available in the newspapers, TV and radio programs or through direct interaction with the experts. But the queries of farmers are not solved by the general information passed through the media. The ratio of experts to farmers is typically very much skewed and hence, only a small fraction of the total number of farmer population is benefited through direct interaction mode.
United States patent 6,553,299 describes integration of Real Time Kinematics (RTK) global positioning system (GPS) technology with precision farming methodologies to provide highly accurate seeding, cultivating, planting and/or harvesting operations. However, system does not extend to forming a human or machine generated expert advice to a specific query of a farmer and providing answer on a mobile terminal.
2

United States Patent 6,590,529 describes an individualized, location specific weather forecasting system in which the location of an electronic device is detected; and weather data is generated and transmitted to the electronic device so that subscribers receive weather forecast data specific to their current location. This invention does extend to presenting location specific weather forecasting advise on a mobile terminal in response to a user's query and use of human or machine to generate appropriate agricultural advice to the farmer.
United States Patent 7,212,922 describes a method of using climate data to determine activity index values for a given activity. The invention indicates that the activity index values may be used to answer. However, the invention does not extend to use of various sensors such as soil, weather, camera phone to get time and location specific information and use it to answer queries generated on a mobile terminal and provide an expert advice on the same device through a remote server.
United States Patent 7,209,922 describes a system and method useful for organization of information and retrieval of information adapted for use in a computer system. However the invention does not extend to getting time and location specific data from sensors over wireless network arranging it on a remote store to answer queries generated by user through mobile terminal by a human or machine expert.
United States Patent 7,184,859 describes the use of remotely sensed spectral image data to develop a Vegetation Index file which represents spatial variations of actual crop vigor throughout a field that is under cultivation. A query can be formulated, which is forwarded via email or FTP to a central
3

processing site. A reply is returned via email or FTP to on-side farm personnel.
United States Patent 7,171,912 A map of site-specific amounts of a soil nutrient, to be applied in fertilizer to an agricultural field is created using a map of site-specific amounts of the soil nutrient needed to produce maximum possible yield at the particular site.
United States Patent 7,047,133 describes a method and system of evaluating crop performance facilitates characterization of the environmental impact of a geographic region or areas within the region for growing plant-life. Environmental measurements are obtained. This invention does not extend to expert or machine generating expert advice remotely based on the sensor data obtained through wireless network and transferring this expert advice to a mobile terminal in response to a farm personnel's query from a mobile terminal.
United States Patent 6,990,459 describes a system comprised of hardware, software and business processes for developing an optimal custom farm management plan, and in particular, a single year or multi-year crop selection, acreage allocation, and resource management strategies for production agriculture by using mathematical programming and sensitivity analysis to help the user determine optimal allocations of controllable resources such as land, capital, labor, water, machinery, and chemicals in the context of farm management objectives.
United States Patent 6,141,614 describes a computer-aided farming system having a first control system which receives data defining a plurality of
4

parameters and determines a plurality of nodes located at an agricultural field, and determines a condition status associated with each node. The system also has a second control system located on an agricultural machine which receives data defining the nodes and the condition status at each node and plans a path as a function of the nodes, and determines a desired work operation relative to each node.
United Kingdoms patent 2407230 describes a mobile device such as a personal digital assistant (PDA) or mobile phone to obtain its geographic location, using for example a global positioning system (GPS), and provides the location to a sever, preferably through a wireless connection.
Japanese patent 2001160193 describes a system to report information corresponding to an inquiry from a mountain climber by reporting the rapid change of weather or the like corresponding to registered contents for every mountain climber, avoiding the danger thereof.
The above inventions do not extend to obtaining time specific, location specific, crop specific data through sensors and passing it to a remote store for generating expert advice by human or machine for the farm personnel in local language in response to a query generated through a mobile terminal by farm personnel.
Objects of invention:
The object of this invention is to provide personalized expert advice by means of a mobile terminal.
5

One more object of this invention is to enable a user to generate a query from a mobile terminal.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide time specific, location specific information regarding parameters like weather, traffic density and the like to a user using sensors.
Another object of this invention is to make query generation simple so that even illiterate people can generate a query and receive a reply or advice by using the mobile terminal.
Yet another object of this invention is to enable the expert advice to reach large number of user.
Still one more object of this invention is to prevent or minimize damage caused due to sudden weather changes.
Still one more object of this invention is to help a user in performing certain operations by supplying necessary information.
Another object of this invention is to provide an advisory system which is easy to use and reliable.
Still one more object of this invention is to provide a mobile advisory system which is affordable.
6

Summary of the Invention:
The system in accordance with this invention envisages a means for providing time specific and location specific advice and information to a user. This system which allows the user get personalized advice or information, in text or voice form, on a mobile terminal which is either generated by a human expert or by an intelligent system on a machine. The mobile terminal has means for obtaining its location at any given time using a GPS (Global Positioning System) modem.
In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, input means are provided at the user end. These include input means for entering data into the mobile terminal in response to a user interface screen and a voice menu and provision for accepting input through speech.
In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, there are sensor means at the user end for collecting information regarding weather, soil, traffic, crop and the like parameters automatically. The sensor outputs are transmitted to a data logger periodically. The data logger is provided with a means for obtaining its location at any given time using GPS system.
In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, the system has a query formulation means for generating query from the input means at the user end.
In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, a preprocessing means is provided at the user end for rearranging the sensor
7

data and query data before transmission. A personalization means for stamping the query and the sensor data with time & date, location and other identification parameters is also provided.
In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, the system has an interface means at user end for providing mobile terminal interface to transmit query and receive answers from the data carrying wireless network. Interface means are provided at server end to transmit and receive data to and from wireless network or Internet.
In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, language script rendering means are provided for displaying the text in the local language of the farmer. Language processing means are provided for converting the text to voice and recognizing the voice commands.
In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, the system is provided with an advice formulation means at the server end for providing relevant, personalized advice and information to the user. This advice formulation means is either a human expert group or an expert workstation. The advice sent to the farmer will guide him in regards to different farming operations like ploughing, sowing, addition of fertilizers, harvesting and the like.
In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, the server end of the system is provided with a data tagging, arranging and processing means for linking data with the user's query.
8

In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, there is provided an application script means for processing camera phone images, sensor data, and voice and text menu at user end. Application script means are also provided at server end for processing input query and routing the results to appropriate remotely located expert workstations.
In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, the advisory system will send alerts to the farmer on his mobile terminal in case of sudden weather changes. Also, the farmer will be provided with forecast of the weather conditions for upcoming week.
In accordance with one practical embodiment of this invention, the farmer may request in his query for the current and future rates of transport means via different routes and the prices of the agricultural produce at the market places near the location of the farmer. Also, the farmer can request for information as to which factories have a demand for his agricultural produce. The server acquires this data from the Internet and sends it to the mobile terminal of the farmer.
In accordance with another practical embodiment of this invention, the farmer will receive advertisements from different companies related to agricultural goods like seeds suppliers, fertilizer producers, tractor manufacturers, transporters and the like whose services are required by the farmers. These advertisements are transmitted to the mobile terminal of the farmer when he sends a query or receives an advice.
9

Brief Description of Drawing:
The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying
drawing, in which
Figure 1 is a block diagram of a mobile terminal based advisory system in
accordance with this invention;
Figure 2 is a flow diagram of operation of the mobile terminal based
advisory system in accordance with this invention.
Detailed Description of the Invention:
According to this invention there is provided a system which allows a user to get location and time specific personalized advice / information, in text or voice form, on their mobile terminal (mobile phone, laptop, pocket PC or any such specialized computer communication device) which is generated by a human expert or by an intelligent system on a machine.
Referring to the drawings there is shown in Figure 1 a block diagram of the mobile terminal based advisory system. A Mobile Terminal (MT) is a user device. The mobile terminal (MT) is programmed to download specific application script (AS), Indian language script rendering engine (LSRE), and text and voice menu. Input means (I) are provided at user end which include means for entering data into the mobile terminal (MT) in response to user interface screens and a voice menu with the provision for accepting input through speech. The system has a query formulation (QF) means for generating a query from the input means (I) at the user end. A language
10

processing means (LPM) is provided for converting the text to voice and recognizing the voice commands.
Sensors are provided at the user end for collecting information regarding weather (WS), soil (SS), crop and the like parameters automatically. The data logger (DL) is provided with a means for obtaining its location at any given time using GPS modem (GPSM). The mobile terminal is provided with a camera for capturing images of soil or crops. An application script means is provided for processing camera phone images, sensor data, and voice and text menu at user end. A preprocessing means (PP) is provided at user end for rearranging sensor data and query data before transmission. A personalization means (PM) for stamping the query and sensor data with time & date, location and other identification parameters is also provided.
The system has means at mobile terminal (MT) to transmit query and receive answers from the data carrying wireless network or Internet. Means are provided at server (S) end to transmit and receive data to and from wireless network or Internet.
Application script means are also provided at server (S) end for processing input query and routing the results to appropriate remotely located expert workstations.
The server has a database (DB) which stores a profile of all the farmers alongwith the farm id, farmer id, soil data, past crop data, fertilizer data, pesticide data and the like. The server (S) receives the query along with the transmitted data and retrieves the relevant data from its database or Internet.
11

This information is sent to a human expert group or an expert workstation for analysis (14).
The system is provided with an advice formulation (AF) means for providing relevant, personalized advice and information at server (S) end. The advice sent to the farmer will guide him in regards to different farming operations like ploughing, sowing, addition of fertilizers, harvesting and the like. Contact details like telephone number or e-mail id of a human expert are provided along with the advice sent to the farmer.
The server (S) end of the system is provided with a data tagging, arranging and processing means (DPM) for linking data with the user's query.
Referring to the drawings there is shown in Figure 2 the work flow of the mobile terminal based advisory system. The operation of the invention can be described as follows:
Region specific application required for the system to operate is
downloaded by a farmer on his mobile terminal (1).
The farmer launches the downloaded application by pressing a key
(2).
The application acquires the location of the mobile terminal using a
GPS modem (3).
Menu in the local language of the farmer is displayed on the mobile
terminal (4).
Along with this, the application in the mobile terminal plays the voice
menu in the local language of the farmer (5).
12

The farmer responds to this menu by pressing appropriate keys or ICONS or by giving certain voice commands (6). The weather parameters are obtained using sensors installed in the field (7).
Sensors placed in the field detect soil parameters like moisture content, salinity, Ph, fertility level and the like and send these to the mobile terminal or to a remote server (8).
The data from the sensors is periodically transmitted to a data logger. The data logger acquires the location of the system using a GPS modem (9).
The farmer can also capture some images and attach it to his query (10).
The pre processing unit arranges the image, sensor data, weather parameters, location parameters and the like in a specific format (11). A personalization means stamp the data with identification parameters like farmer id, farm id and mobile number (12).
This data is transmitted as a query to a remote server via a wireless network or Internet (13).
The server receives the query along with the transmitted data and retrieves the relevant data from its database or Internet. This information is sent to a human expert group or an expert workstation for analysis (14).
The expert launches a browser and connects to the server. The human expert or an expert workstation read the queries sent to it and analyzes the query using the weather and soil parameters and images sent by the server (15).
13

The expert group or the expert workstation then formulates an advice (16).
This advice is then sent to the server or mobile terminal of the fanner directly via a wireless network or Internet (17). The advice is sent to the mobile terminal in the local language of the farmer. The mobile terminal displays this advice or converts it to a voice format in the local language of the farmer (18).
The mobile terminal advisory system sends alerts to the farmer on his mobile terminal in case of sudden weather changes. Also, the farmer will be provided with forecast of the weather conditions for upcoming week.
The farmer may request in his query for the current rates of transport means via different routes and the prices of the agricultural produce at the market places near the location of the farmer. Also, the farmer can request for information as to which factories have a demand for his agricultural produce. The server (S) acquires this data from the Internet and sends it to the mobile terminal of the farmer. This helps the farmer to decide the best place to sell his produce to gain maximum benefit.
The farmer receives advertisements from different companies on his mobile terminal related to agricultural goods like seed suppliers, fertilizer producers, tractor manufacturers, transporters and the like whose services are required by the farmers. Thus the advertisers pay the bulk of cost of required for this purpose while the farmers are required to pay only a nominal registration charges.
14

This system may be used to obtain information and advice regarding weather conditions for various activities like agriculture, adventure sports like trekking, skiing, biking and fishing or for obtaining information about the traffic conditions on the roads and market rates of different commodities. While all these applications of this invention are possible, the system of this invention is particularly used for providing advice and information regarding agricultural activities.
Advantages:
This system provides soil, weather, crop related and other such information
through the use of sensors such as soil, weather, and leaf and camera phone
in response to a farmer's query.
The time, location and crop specific information and in addition to farmer's
profile, help human experts or machine application running on a remote
computer system to answer farmer's query effectively.
This method is similar to a physical visit of an expert to the farm that would
conduct test on the soil, visually inspect the crop and get to know the local
weather and come up with a specific answer to a farmer's query.
Additional advantage of this invention over physical visit is the availability
of various tools such as best farming practices, pest model, and pictorial
dictionary of plant diseases to the expert.
Since the system is electronic, it can scale up easily and reach hundreds of
millions of farmers which conventional system will not be able to do.
While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the components and component parts of the preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that
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many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the invention. These and other changes in the preferred embodiment as well as other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the invention and not as a limitation.
Dated this 6th day of June 2007.
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Documents:

http://ipindiaonline.gov.in/patentsearch/GrantedSearch/viewdoc.aspx?id=zmlFCvg+ifi0aMsGHIVYSQ==&loc=vsnutRQWHdTHa1EUofPtPQ==

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Patent Number

271147

Indian Patent Application Number

1078/MUM/2007

PG Journal Number

06/2016

Publication Date

05-Feb-2016

Grant Date

04-Feb-2016

Date of Filing

06-Jun-2007

Name of Patentee

TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED

Applicant Address

NIRMAL BUILDING, 9TH FLOOR, NARIMAN POINT, MUMBAI 400021, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA.

Inventors:

#	Inventor's Name	Inventor's Address
1	PANDE ARUN	TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED., YANTRA PARK SDC 5 ODC G, OPP.VOLTAS HRD TRG,CENTRE, SUBASH NAGAR, POKHRAN ROAD NO.2, THANE (W)-400601.

PCT International Classification Number

G06Q30/00

PCT International Application Number

N/A

PCT International Filing date

PCT Conventions:

#	PCT Application Number	Date of Convention	Priority Country
1			NA