ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,302,780, issued on May 20, was assigned to Deere & Co. (Moline, Ill.).
"Site-specific seed orientation" was invented by Jeremy A. Leifker (Grimes, Iowa), Cole L Murray (Polk City, Iowa), Thomas G. Mueller (Waukee, Iowa) and Noel W. Anderson (Fargo, N.D.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for planting a seed (124) with a desired planted seed orientation (141) within an agricultural field (90), the method comprising: determining, with a processor (140), a seed orienter (120) position within the agricultural field (90) using position data from at least one of a planter (302) or an agricultural vehicle (300); determining, with the proce...