INFORMATION SYSTEM

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and incorporates by reference South African Provisional Patent Application Nos. 2013/04444 filed on 14 June 2013 and 2013/04445 filed on 14 June 2013.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a graphical user interface for agricultural information systems.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION Weather models, precision sensors and geospatial technology, such as satellite images and remote sensing data, have the potential to assist farmers in addressing various challenges in agriculture, such as crop output and drought resilience. Weather models, for example, may be able to forecast weather to a relative accuracy which may provide a farmer with insight as to when his or her crops should be irrigated.

Precision sensors measuring, for example, soil minerals, leaf moisture, or soil moisture may also be able to provide the farmer with information pertaining to the status of, for example, his or her crops and whether or not irrigation and/or fertilization is necessary.

In addition to this, geographical information systems may be employed by the farmer to, for example, better manage the use of his or her land. Furthermore, remote sensing data may be able to provide further information on the status of the farmer's crops.

While these and other technologies provide farmers with valuable information pertaining to their crops, the information is often difficult to obtain and hard to collate. As such it may be difficult for farmers to make informed decisions taking into account information from a plurality of sources.

To exacerbate the problem, the information from the various sources is often provided in different formats and/or from different service providers. Clearly, difficulty in obtaining or collating information from the various sources may limit or even negate their usefulness.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with this invention there is provided an agricultural information system comprising a user communication device including:

a communication component for communicating with a remotely accessible server;

wherein the communication component is configured to receive information including at least agricultural data and messages relating to one or more user specified blocks of agricultural land, from the remotely accessible server; and

a graphics rendering component for rendering the received information for display on a display of the user communication device;

wherein the graphics rendering component is configured to render: a message area including one or more text messages conveying one or more events, the events having been identified based on calculations performed on the agricultural data;

a menu area including one or more icons, each of which corresponds to one of the user specified blocks of agricultural land; and

a user customisable printable document area including one or more widgets, each of which displays a graphically rendered selection of agricultural data.

Further features provide for the agricultural data to includes one or both of data received from at least one agricultural data source and ancillary data received from one or more independent information sources, in an original or a processed format; for the agricultural data received from the at least one agricultural data source to include field information data received from a field sensing module of the remotely accessible server; and for the field information data to includes data points corresponding to one or more of soil moisture data, leaf moisture data, irrigation data, soil mineral data, soil nutrient data and the like collected by a plurality of field information sensors.

Still further features provide for the agricultural data received from the at least one agricultural data source to include user input received from the user communication device; for the user input to include data points recorded by a user and entered into the user communication device, the data points including one or more of soil moisture measurements, leaf moisture measurements, irrigation data, soil mineral measurements, soil nutrient measurements and the like; and for the ancillary data to include data corresponding to one or more of weather data, geographic information system data, remote sensing data, satellite image data and the like.

Yet further features provide for the calculations conducted on the received agricultural data to identify events to make use of scientific formulas and data points of the received agricultural data and comparisons of outputs of the calculations or data points themselves against predefined thresholds; for the graphics rendering component to be configured to graphically render at least some of the received agricultural data as one or more charts, diagrams, tables, flow diagrams and images in a graphical user interface (GUI); and for the GUI to be configured to run in a web browser or natively on the user communication device.

A further feature provides for the graphically rendered received agricultural data of each widget to correspond to received agricultural data received from respective independent information sources or agricultural information sources.

Further features provide for the graphics rendering component to be further configured to enable the widgets displayed in the printable document area to be movable and resizable by the user within the printable document area and for any widget to be removable and replaceable with an alternative widget; and for the printable document area to include command icons which, when activated, cause the printable document area to be printed, emailed, or converted into a portable document format (PDF) file in a format that graphically resembles the printable document area as rendered by the rendering component on the user communication device display.

Further features provide for the graphics rendering component to be further configured to convert the one or more events or other messages received from the remotely accessible server into adjacent text messages for rendering in the GUI on the user communication device; for the adjacent text messages to be linearly aligned and, if a line of adjacent text messages exceeds a corresponding dimension of a display area defined by the user communication device on which the line of adjacent text messages is to be displayed, the GUI being further configured to graphically render the linearly aligned text messages to scroll across the display area. A further feature provides for the GUI to be configured to graphically render a subset of data points generated or received by the remotely accessible server from a plurality of agricultural data sources and/or independent information sources on respective charts, diagrams, tables, flow diagrams or images to be simultaneously displayed in the display area of the user communication device.

A further feature provides for the selected data points to be data points selected by the user, for the user selected data points to be in the form of user input received from the user communication device via the GUI.

A further feature provides for the GUI to be configured to graphically render the user selected data points as one or more charts, diagrams, tables, flow diagrams and images.

A further feature provides for the GUI to be configured to graphically render the one or more charts, diagrams, tables, flow diagrams and images in a graphically rendered foreground.

A further feature provides for the GUI to be configured to graphically render, simultaneously in the display area, a plurality of charts, diagrams, tables, flow diagrams and images, for each of the graphically rendered charts, diagrams, tables, flow diagrams and images to include data points from a respective agricultural data source or independent information source.

The invention further provides an agricultural information system comprising a remotely accessible server running one or more services and including:

a communications component (752) for communicating with a user communication device and one or more agricultural information sources; wherein the communications component (752) is configured to receive agricultural data from at least one agricultural data source and ancillary data relating to the agricultural data from at least one independent information source; and

wherein the communications component (752) is configured to transmit information including at least agricultural data and messages relating to one or more user specified blocks of agricultural land to the user communication device; and

a processing component for processing the agricultural and ancillary data;

wherein the processing component is configured to identify, based on calculations conducted on the agricultural and ancillary data, one or more events corresponding to data points in the received data; and

wherein the processing component is configured to, responsive to receiving a user input entered on the user communication device, select and modify for graphical rendering on the user communication device, data points of at least some of the received data; and

wherein the communications component (752) is configured to communicate the events and data points to the user communication device of the user for rendering and display on a display screen thereof by means of a GUI running in a web browser or natively on the user communication device.

Further features provide for the agricultural data received from the at least one agricultural data source to include field information data received from at least one field sensing module, the field information data including data points corresponding to soil moisture data, leaf moisture data, irrigation data, soil mineral data, soil nutrient data or the like, collected by a plurality of field information sensors; for the agricultural data received from the at least one agricultural data source to include user input received from the user communication device, the user input including data points recorded by a user and entered into the user communication device including one or more of soil moisture measurements, leaf moisture measurements, irrigation data, soil mineral measurements, soil nutrient measurements and the like; and for the ancillary data to include data corresponding to one or more of weather data, geographic information system data, remote sensing, data satellite image data and the like.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a communication device running a GUI in a web browser or natively which is configured to: receive data points of agricultural data and ancillary data from a remotely accessible server; receive events from the remotely accessible server; graphically render and display the events and data points on a display screen of the communication device; accept a user input via one or more user input devices of the communication device; responsive to an appropriate user input, requesting, and receiving from, the remotely accessible server, additional agricultural data or ancillary data.

A still further aspect of the invention provides a method performed on a user communication device and including the steps of:

receiving from a remotely accessible server information including at least agricultural data and messages conveying one or more events, the events having been identified based on calculations performed on the agricultural data which relates to one or more user specified blocks of agricultural land; and

graphically rendering the received information for display on a display of the user communication device into:

a message area including one or more of the messages;

a menu area including one or more icons, each of which corresponds to one of the user specified blocks of agricultural land; and

a user customisable printable document area including one or more user customisable widgets, each of which displays a graphically rendered selection of the agricultural data. Further features provide for the method to include the steps of receiving user input specifying one or more additional blocks of agricultural land and graphically rendering information regarding the additional blocks of agricultural land; and receiving user customisation information and adapting the graphical rendering in accordance with the user customisation information.

Still further features provide for the method to include the steps of, responsive to receiving user customisation information, moving, resizing, removing and/or replacing with alternative widgets, widgets within the printable document area.

Further aspects of the invention also provide a computer program product for graphically rendering agricultural information on a user communication device, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer-readable program code configured to: receive from a remotely accessible server, information including at least agricultural data and messages conveying one or more events, the events having been identified based on calculations performed on the agricultural data which relates to one or more user specified blocks of agricultural land; and graphically render the received information for display on a display of the user communication device into: a message area including one or more of the messages; a menu area including one or more icons, each of which corresponds to one of the user specified blocks of agricultural land; and a user customisable printable document area including one or more user customisable widgets, each of which displays a graphically rendered selection of the agricultural data.

Aspects of the invention also provide a computer program product for providing agricultural information to a user communication device for graphical rendering on the user communication device, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer-readable program code configured to: receive agricultural data from at least one agricultural data source and ancillary data relating to the agricultural data from at least one independent information source, the agricultural and ancillary data relating to one or more user specified blocks of agricultural land; identify, based on calculations conducted on the agricultural and ancillary data, one or more events corresponding to data points in the received data; responsive to receiving a user input entered on the user communication device, select and modify for graphical rendering on the user communication device, data points of at least some of the received data; and communicate the events and data points to the user communication device of the user for rendering and display on a display screen thereof by means of a GUI running in a web browser or natively on the user communication device.

Further steps may also include: receiving, from at least one agricultural data source, agricultural data; receiving, from at least one independent information source, ancillary data relating to the agricultural data; identifying, based on calculations conducted on the agricultural and ancillary data, one or more events corresponding to data points in the received data; generating an electronic message at least including the identified event and corresponding data point; and automatically transmitting the generated electronic message to a communication device of the user; continuously monitoring the at least one independent data source for changes in the ancillary data; conducting further calculations on the agricultural and ancillary data upon detection of a change in the ancillary data; and periodically generating and transmitting updated electronic messages to the communication device based on such further calculations.

The step of receiving agricultural data from at least one agricultural data source may include receiving field information data from at least one field sensing module of the remotely accessible server which, in turn, receives information from a plurality of field information sensors deployed in one or more of the blocks of agricultural land. The step of receiving agricultural data from at least one agricultural data source may include receiving user input from at least one user communication device. The step of receiving field information data from at least one field sensing module may include receiving data points corresponding to soil moisture data, leaf moisture data, irrigation data, soil mineral data, soil nutrient data or the like, and the field information data may be communicated via an application programming interface (API) or comma separated values (CSV) file.

The step of receiving ancillary data from at least one independent information source may include receiving data corresponding to weather data, geographic information system data, remote sensing data satellite image data or the like, and for the ancillary data to be communicated via an API or CSV file. The step of receiving user input from the user communication device may include receiving data points recorded by a user and entered into the user communication device, for the user input points to include soil moisture measurements, leaf moisture measurements, irrigation data, soil mineral measurements, soil nutrient measurements or the like, and for the user input to be communicated from the user communication device. A step of storing the received data in a database in association with a user profile may also be present.

The step of identifying one or more events based on calculations conducted on the agricultural and ancillary data may include the steps of calculating, using scientific formulas and data points of the received data, one or more parameters and testing the calculated parameters against predetermined thresholds. The step of identifying one or more events may include testing data points of the received data against predetermined thresholds for such data points. At least some data points of the agricultural and ancillary data may be related to other data points of the agricultural and ancillary data, the relationships between the data points may be user configurable, and each relationship may be classified as belonging to one of two tiers, where in a first tier relationship, if a data point is outside of its corresponding threshold, a message including the data point and data point of related data points may be generated; in a second tier relationship, if a data point is outside of its corresponding threshold, a message including the data point and related data points also being outside of their corresponding thresholds may be generated.

Steps of generating, upon receiving an authorised request, a report including at least some of the data points of the received data, events or related data points and of transmitting for rendering by the GUI, upon receiving an authorised request, at least some or all of data points relating to the agricultural data and ancillary data to the user communication device may also be included, may also be present. The step of transmitting the generated messages to the user communication device may include transmitting any one or more of an email message, a short messaging service (SMS) message and an instant message.

Further aspects may also include for a system to include a user communication device, at least one independent information source, at least one field sensing module, a remotely accessible server and a communication network, the user communication device being configured to receive user input and to communicate the user input over the communications network to the remotely accessible server; the field sensing module including a plurality of field information sensors being configured to sense a field parameter and to communicate corresponding field information data over the communication network to the remotely accessible server; the remotely accessible server being configured to receive the field information data, user input and ancillary data extracted from the independent information source and, identify one or more events corresponding to data points of the received and extracted data, generate an electronic message at least including the identified event and corresponding data point, and transmit the generated messages to the user communication device. The independent information source may be a server computer maintained by a third party having ancillary data stored therein, the ancillary data may include data points corresponding to weather data, geographic information system data, remote sensing data satellite image data or the like, and the ancillary data may be communicated via an API or CSV file. The field information sensors may be sensor systems configured to sense one or more field information parameters, the field information data may include data points corresponding to soil moisture data, leaf moisture data, irrigation data, soil mineral data, soil nutrient data or the like, and the field information data may be communicated over a communication network via an API or CSV file.

The remotely accessible server may be further configured to generate, upon receiving an authorised request, a report including data points of one or more of the field information data, ancillary data and user input and an analysis thereof, and the remotely accessible server may be configured to transmit for rendering by the GUI, upon receiving an authorised request, data points of one or more of the field information data points, ancillary data points and user input points to the user communication device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings:-

Figure 1 is an exemplary block-board displayed by a graphical user interface;

Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary message area forming part of the block-board of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 illustrates command icons of a printable document area of Figure 1 ;

Figure 4 illustrates settings, widget addition and logout command icons of a printable document area of Figure 1 ;

Figure 5 is a page position illustration of a printable document area, which indicates a page of a printable document being viewed;

Figure 6 illustrates an exemplary widget according to embodiments of the invention;

Figures 7 to 12 illustrate various command icons associated with widgets as shown in Figure 6;

Figures 13 to 17 illustrate exemplary alternative or additional widgets; Figure 18 illustrates a menu area forming part of the block- board of Figure 1 ;

Figures 19 to 22 illustrate various aspects of a light-box according to examples of the invention;

Figure 23 is a schematic diagram representation of a printable document area;

Figure 24 is a flow diagram illustrating various software modules of an agricultural information system operating on the remotely accessible server; Figure 25A is a block diagram illustrating a business intelligence engine testing data points of a plurality of modules against predetermined thresholds of such data points;

Figure 25B is a block diagram illustrating an event in which a first category data point exceeds its corresponding threshold;

Figure 25C is a block diagram illustrating an event in which a second category data point exceeds its corresponding threshold and the related data points are related by a first tier relationship;

Figure 25D is a block diagram illustrating an event in which a second category data point exceeds its corresponding threshold and the related data points are related by a second tier relationship;

Figure 26 is a block diagram illustrating the system architecture of the agricultural information system according to embodiments of the invention;

Figure 27 is a flow diagram illustrating the process of printing a printable document area;

Figure 28A a block diagram of an exemplary agricultural information system;

Figure 28B is a flow diagram illustrating a method of generating agricultural information messages;

Figure 29 is a block diagram which illustrates typical users of the system and their interaction therewith;

Figure 30 is a block diagram illustrating the process of adding a farm to a particular user profile;

Figure 31 is a block diagram illustrating the process of adding another block to a particular farm;

Figure 32 is a block diagram which illustrates an agricultural information system; and, Figures 33 and 34 illustrate an exemplary message configuration table.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS Embodiments of the invention are directed towards a graphical user interface (GUI) for use with, or forming part of, an agricultural information system. In broad terms, the agricultural information system includes a remotely accessible server, a plurality of field information sensors, as well as independent information sources and at least one user communication device. Communications between the field information sensors, independent information sources and user communication devices, and the remotely accessible server may be conducted and managed by means of suitable software modules resident on the remotely accessible server. In the remainder of this description, the term "module" should therefore be widely construed as including any part of the agricultural information system which is responsible for the reception, collection, collation, management, storage, referencing, processing and/or onward transmission of information from a particular source.

Furthermore, a module may be a logical grouping of functionality in code (backend or frontend) necessary for processing and displaying data being utilised by one or more widgets. For example, Season Planner Module functionality will consist of code on the backend for accessing database tables and code on the frontend for displaying this data and for receiving user input to change this data. Various different modules will be explained further in the specification which follows.

Agricultural data, such as soil moisture measurements, soil nutrient measurements, leaf moisture measurements and the like are detected by a deployment of field information sensors and communicated to the remotely accessible server via known communications protocols and infrastructure. In addition to the agricultural data the remotely accessible server also pulls ancillary data related to the agricultural data from the independent information sources, aggregates the received data and performs calculations on the aggregated data in order to detect events, generate messages and the like. The remotely accessible server transmits, for example over the Internet, a selection of this received agricultural data, aggregated agricultural data, events, calculated outputs, messages and the like (hereinafter referred to as "information") to the user communication device for rendering into a GUI and allows the user to interact therewith. Embodiments of the invention are accordingly directed towards a GUI for such an agricultural information system which is provided to a user of the system via his or her communication device such that the user may view, interpret and edit the received agricultural data, aggregated data, events and messages in a more efficient manner. Because the bulk of the processing is conducted at the remotely accessible server, embodiments of the described system facilitate a reduction in the volume of data stored at the user communication device. In an exemplary embodiment, after a user has logged on to a user account with the remotely accessible server from the user communication device, a dashboard is displayed on the user communication device which includes a menu having a plurality of icons which, when activated, will trigger the GUI to display a corresponding block-board. Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary block- board GUI, in which a 'Game Park 3' block has been selected. This block- board differs from the dashboard, which is visible after a user logon and instead shows information pertinent to, for example, a user specified field or portion of a farm or parcel of agricultural or other farming land (hereinafter referred to as a "block") as opposed to information pertinent to, for example, a user's entire farm or complete selection of usable land.

The GUI is rendered and displayed natively, or in a web browser, on the communication device of the user. When a particular block is being viewed, the display area may be divided into three areas: a message area (102), a printable document area (104) and a menu area (106). In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 1 , the message area occupies a horizontal strip at the top of the display area. The printable document area occupies a central region of the display area and the menu area occupies a horizontal strip at the bottom of the display area. It is of course anticipated that the arrangement of the message area (102), printable document area (104) and menu area (106) may be in any alternative configuration and that more or less display areas may be provided. For example, the menu area may be positioned at the top of the display area while the message area is at the bottom of the display area. In some embodiments, two areas may be provided as a contiguous area, for example a message and menu area. Many other arrangements are of course possible without departing from the scope of the invention. In one embodiment the menu area and/or command icons of the printable document area and/or the message area may be hidden from view. This may, for example be selectively activated and deactivated via a settings option. With one or more of the menu area, command icons and message area hidden in this way, the printable document area may occupy a larger portion or even the entire display area of the communication device. If the menu area and/or message area are hidden in this way, top, bottom, left and right margins or regions of the printable document area might be configured to be sensitive, such that when a pointer or other user input, is directed towards or over these sensitive margins, then the corresponding menu area and/or command icons of the printable document area and/or message area are displayed. The subsequently displayed menu area and/or command icons of the printable document area and/or message area may be graphically rendered so as to appear visually above the printed document area, for example, by making use of shadowing. For example, a user may hover a mouse pointer in a top margin or region of the display area, responsive to which the message area may be displayed by the GUI. Similarly the user may hover the mouse pointer in a bottom margin of the display area, responsive to which, the menu area may be displayed. In some embodiments, the sensitive margins may rather be confined to arrow icons which may be hovered over with a mouse pointer to cause the message area or the like to be displayed.

Each of the three areas, being the message area (102), printable document area (104) and menu area (106), will now be described in more detail with reference to accompanying figures. Figure 2 illustrates an exemplary message area (102). Messages (1 12) displayed in the message area (102) may include indications of events having been detected. Events may, for example, include a soil moisture exceeding a predetermined threshold, or a reminders set by a user, for example from a season scheduling module which reminds the user to spray a particular product on a particular day, coming up. The messages could also be generated by an administrative module, for example, warning the user that a license expires if the user does not pay for subscription fees. This message area visually resembles the menu area at the bottom of the screen with, for example, the same opacity and colour as the menu area.

Exemplary messages include: "Your soil moisture has hit the lower RAW and your stemwater potential lies at around 1350psi. The weather forecast is predicting a heat wave in 5 days from now. It is therefore advisable to irrigate a smaller session within the next 3-4 days to avoid a massive irrigation requirement after the heat wave" or "The new satellite images are uploaded and your most recent fruit ripeness sampling shows that you are getting close to the time of harvest. We suggest you look at the images to better prepare for harvesting". It should be appreciated that these messages may be determined and created at the remotely accessible server based on the agricultural data gathered by the deployed field information sensors as well as the ancillary data gathered from the independent information sources and forwarded to the user communication device where it is graphically rendered and displayed by the GUI. This implies a significant reduction in processing time as well as data storage at the user communication device.

It is foreseen that the GUI may be configured to enable messages to auto- scroll across the display area. Alternatively or in addition, using arrow icons (1 10) in the message area (102), the user can manually scroll through the messages, while the auto-scroll briefly stops. Should a message be longer than a corresponding dimension of the display area and should the user be manually scrolling through the messages, that message is then scrolled in slow motion to the end of the message.

A user may activate a message (1 12) by, for example, clicking on the message (1 12) using an input device of the user communication device on which the GUI is being displayed. Upon recognition of the user click, the GUI will then display a widget in which data points corresponding to a module associated with or responsible for the message have been graphically rendered as, for example, charts, diagrams, tables, flow diagrams or images. An irrigation module will for example generate an irrigation message by collecting weather data and soil moisture data from the other modules to compute the message. The message is then graphically rendered and displayed in the message area (102).

The message area (102) includes an envelope icon (108) which also displays the number of messages in a message inbox associated with the user account. If the icon (108) is activated an inbox is displayed in the display area over the printable document area, showing all the messages in the inbox. Embodiments of the invention anticipate the inbox having black text on a white background and occupying half of the display area.

Referring again to Figure 1 , the printable document area (104) may include block information (1 14), one or more widgets (1 16), command icons (1 18) and a page position illustration (120). The area occupied by the printable document area (104) may be customisable. Furthermore, the printable document area (104) may be customised by the user, for example by adding or removing widgets for each block. Each printable document area may have a plurality of pages.

It is foreseen that each block of a user's land may have its own printable document area (104) which may in turn be customisable by the user so that the user can select to see the most relevant information relating to a specific block. Each printable document area may, however, span over a number of pages which, to some extent at least, is determined by the size of a display of the user communication device. In setting up a new block, the user is requested to enter a set of data that is specific to that particular block. Such data may include, for example, a block name, block code, crop type, clone, size, GPS coordinates, seasons schedule, and type of irrigation associated with the block to name but a few. This data forms the block information (1 14) which is graphically rendered into tabs and placed at the top of the printable document area (104) of the block to which it corresponds. In a preferred embodiment, a leftmost tab, includes the name of the block and also includes a settings icon which, when activated, will allow the user to change/edit basic block data.

In one embodiment, command icons (1 18) are located on both the left and right side of the printable document area. The command icons on the left, illustrated in Figure 3, provide a 'print' icon (202), an 'email' icon (204) and a 'PDF' icon (206). The command icons on the right, illustrated in Figure 4, provide at least a 'settings' icon (210). The command icons are graphically rendered by the GUI to remain in their location as the user scrolls down through pages of the printable document area. Each page may be delimited by a graphically rendered, semi-transparent canvas (over which the widgets are displayed). This canvas further includes graphically rendered shadows so as to illustrate one page. A printable document may include a number of pages. Each page also corresponds to a dot in the page position illustration shown in Figure 5.

Activating the 'print' icon (202) results in the printable document area being printed, whether to a Portable Document Format (PDF) or paper printer, in such a way that the printed document visually resembles the printable document area displayed on the user communication device as closely as possible, including the exact positioning of widgets, specifically tables of widgets and their associated data (such as prior selected seasons), as was customised at least to some extent by the user. The printed document will include as many pages as necessary so as to ensure that all widgets of the printable document area being printed are included in the printed document.

Activating the 'email' icon (204) results in a PDF file being generated which includes all the information contained in the printable document area and visually resembles the printable document area with the same amount of pages. An email interface from where the user can forward the PDF document is then displayed. Activating the 'PDF' icon (206) results in a PDF file being generated which includes all the information contained in the printable document area and visually resembles the printable document area. The user is prompted to give a file name and a folder name to which the file should be saved.

When the 'settings' icon (210) on the right is activated, a menu is displayed from which a user can select one of a number of options. These options include, for example, adding a block to the user's profile, reporting (a function of the agricultural information system), system settings, billing information, user profile setting, or changing wallpaper and skins. The command icons on the right of the printable document area include a 'logout' icon (208), the activation of which logs the user out from his or her session. Furthermore, a widget addition icon (212) is provided. Activating this icon opens a light-box in which a list of all available widgets is displayed. The user can select which widgets he or she wants to add to the printable document area for the current block. All widgets which are already in the printable document area are shown with a tick, but the user is not limited to add these a second or third time to the printable document area. All widgets come in a standard size, some widgets having a larger standard area than others. Should a page already be fully occupied by widgets, it will automatically add the widget to a new next page. An option may also be provided in the widget list to enable a user to create a customised widget. It will be appreciated that the printable document area does not limit the number of widgets which can be added by the user. If the collective area of the added widgets exceeds the display area available on the user communication device, the widgets can overflow onto successive pages. Figure 5 illustrates an exemplary page position illustration or "indicator". The page position illustration appears on the left of the printable document area in the illustrated embodiment. Of course, the page position illustration may similarly appear on the right, top or bottom of the printable document area. The page position illustration is graphically rendered by the GUI to remain in its location as the user scrolls down through the widgets. Figure 6 illustrates an exemplary widget according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that a "widget", in the context in which it is used here, refers to a component of a graphical user interface, which may be logically associated with an application, and that enables a user to perform a function or access a service.

In some embodiments, a widget is a graphical element (for example including a graph, text, etc.) which provides a view on a particular type and set of data. For example, a GIS widget has a GIS image on which may be provided various layers containing specific sets of data (e.g. block outline, biomass production image etc.).

The illustrated widget shows a graph plotting leaf moisture as measured by field information sensors against scheduled irrigation cycles. However, many other combinations of information are possible. For example, in another case, instead of irrigation cycles, leaf moisture could also be plotted against one or more of the following: rainfall, humidity, temperature, soil moisture, depletion rates evapotranspiration or any other source of data that can be shown in the same manner. Each widget in the present invention includes graphically rendered information, which information may include information received by the agricultural information system from field information sensors, user communication devices, independent and/or ancillary information sources, corresponding modules, aggregated forms of this received information, calculations based on scientific formulas executed on the received information or aggregated information, events detected based on this information or aggregated information, and the like. Each widget may be editable and/or customisable by the user to fulfil his or her specific requirements, thus making the GUI relevant to the particular user's specific needs. Because selected or customised widgets will to a large extend determine which received information has to be processed and graphically rendered, and to what extent, it is foreseen that it will result in a significant reduction in processing time over previous systems, in which all or most received information typically has to be processed. In addition, this customisable selection of information results in a reduction in the volume of data that has to be graphically rendered and stored at the user device. As such, the amount of data cached on the user communication device may be reduced. Furthermore, user communication device caching may enable the re-use of data across various widget instances where possible. For example, even if a user has N weather widgets, only one copy of the weather data is stored/cached on the user communication device and each of these widgets use the same cached dataset, but with different views on it.

Figure 7 shows an 'edit' icon (402) of a widget being activated. By activating the 'edit' icon of this widget, a light-box is opened (which is described further below with reference to Figure 19) providing the user with options to edit, update and input data as well as change the visual appearance of the widget in question as it will be rendered and displayed in the printable document area.

Figure 8 in turn illustrates a 'remove widget' icon (404) of a widget being activated which causes that widget to be removed from the printable document area. Figure 9 illustrates a 'move widget' icon (406) of a widget being activated. This will allow the widget to be moved around the printable document area and repositioned at, for example, a more convenient location on the printable document area. It will be appreciated that different users of the system may have different preferences and may consider some widgets as being more important than others. Users may wish to display more important widgets higher up on the printable document area and may also choose to remove unwanted widgets or introduce other standard, or customised, ones. In this way, and as has been mentioned above, only information that the user regards as relevant may have to be rendered and displayed, and only relevant field information sensor and/or ancillary information has to be processed, thereby significantly reducing rendering and processing time, as well as reducing local device storage requirements. If a widget is repositioned by a user, any other widgets in the way of where the user wants to reposition the widget will be automatically repositioned to alternative locations on the printable document area.

Figure 10 illustrates a 'help' icon (408) of a widget being activated, responsive to which, a dropdown box (410) is displayed which includes a help message explaining, for example, the information and/or meaning of the information of that widget. Figure 1 1 illustrates a widget being resized (412). In resizing a widget, neighbouring widgets are automatically repositioned and so as to provide area in the printable document area in which the widget can be expanded. In the event of a widget displaying a table requiring more space than has been allocated to the widget, the widget automatically shows scrolling arrows (414), as shown in Figure 12, which enable the user to scroll to specific columns and rows. The user's selection may be stored, in a configuration file, cookie file or the like, in a memory of the communication device on which the GUI is being displayed, such that subsequent reconfigurations of the table are not necessary.

Embodiments of the described system and GUI may also provide for so-called "tooltips" to be displayed in which additional information may be provided concerning various aspects displayed on user device. Tooltips may, for example, provide more information on nutrients and their role in metabolisms, particular colours of satellite images, meanings of scientific words and formulas behind numbers to name but a few. Of course the number and variations of tooltips that will be displayed will also depend on a user's chosen customisation of the GUI and, in particular, the widgets it chooses to include on the printable document area. In addition to this, an exact date may be displayed in a tooltip if, for example, expanding on a column only showing ' 2012' as the season or showing if the value in a cell is too high or too low. This can principally be applied to any cell on any widget where it is important or at least interesting to explain the content in more detail. It is also foreseeable that a user may enter his or her own tooltips and attach them to items. This will allow users to have customised messages and information displayed on their GUIs which will be especially helpful if a number of different users are given access to the same user profile. It will be appreciated that tooltips may be displayed when certain information of the printable document area is, for example, scrolled over with a pointing device (e.g. a mouse pointer) of the user communication device.

Figures 13 to 17 illustrate exemplary widgets that may be included in a user customised GUI. At least some of the illustrated widgets include information from one or more different software modules on the server. Figure 13 illustrates a Geographical Information System (GIS) widget which includes disease data which may, for example, have been entered by the user. This widget has the ability to import any information from available modules which in turn receive information from, for example field information sensors, independent information sources or user entered data. Some of the information may be geo-spatially tagged.

Figure 14 illustrates a widget which includes information of a growth and ripening module and has the ability to import data, as in this example, from a satellite imagery module and an irrigation module. Figure 15 illustrates a widget in which information from leaf and soil moisture modules is used to present an irrigation schedule. Figure 16 illustrates an exemplary soil moisture and irrigation widget. This widget can show information from a variety of modules, such as an irrigation schedule module, a weather module, a leaf moisture module and the like. Figure 17 illustrates an exemplary weather widget, which includes information from a weather module, but also shows information from other modules, such as, in the illustrated example, irrigation information from an irrigation module. At least some of these widgets may have been customised by the user in that the user selected specific information from specific modules to be graphically rendered and displayed in a widget.

Figure 18 illustrates the menu area (106 of Figure 1 ) of the GUI. The menu area, placed at the bottom of the display area in a preferred embodiment, visually resembles the message area (102 of Figures 1 and 2), for example by having the same colour and opacity as the message area. The colour of the menu area (and message area) may be chosen such that the printable document area is emphasised. The menu area includes icons corresponding to the different blocks which the user has set up over time. Should the number of blocks created by the user be such that the menu area provides insufficient area in which to display icons of all of the blocks, the user can navigate to those blocks by scrolling with the left and right arrow icons on the sides of the menu area. A 'home' icon (214) provided on the menu area, when activated, displays the dashboard. An icon corresponding to a block being displayed (218) in the printable document area is graphically rendered to appear elevated so as to indicate which block is being viewed. Moving a mouse pointer or other cursor over icons of other blocks in the menu area results in information about a block (e.g. the size, the crop type and the planted clone) being displayed (216). Icons in the menu area may be labelled with abbreviated names of the blocks to which they correspond. Figure 19 illustrates an exemplary light-box. The light-box mode is displayed when the user activates an 'edit' icon as previously described. The exemplary light-box in Figure 19 is a leaf moisture sample with an editable line graph. When the light-box is being displayed, in a top section (302) the user sees a table including all the information for that widget while in a bottom section (304), a visual, graphical representation of that information is shown, for example, as a line graph or, bar chart, or the like. In the table in the top section the user can add, edit and delete data sets as well as single data points. The user can add columns and rows to extend the table, which changes are saveable. In some cases, information obtained from some independent information sources may not be editable by the user, such as satellite information, for example. The user will not be able to edit such information nor will he/she be able to change the way in which the information is displayed. Similarly information received from some modules, such as weather information, cannot be edited, but the way in which the information is graphically rendered (such as in a table, graph, chart, etc.) may be configurable by the user. It should therefore be clear that the way in which information is displayed in a widget, as well as which information is displayed in that widget, can be user-customisable, which leads to the reduced processing and data storage advantages mentioned above. Such customisations may be effected by the user by activating the 'edit' icon of the widget which the user wishes to customise, as has been previously described.

Figure 20 illustrates a table in which a user may remove information pertaining to a particular year (221 ) or may remove information pertaining to a particular crop (223) from the relevant table. Embodiments of the described GUI provide for a cross (225) to be displayed in response to a user hovering a mouse pointer over a heading of a given row or column. The user may click on the cross (225) to remove the corresponding column or row.

Figures 21 and 22 illustrate exemplary light-box command icons. Figure 21 illustrates a 'save' icon (224), a 'mount' icon (222) which, when activated will allow the widget to be added to the current printable document area or the printable document area of any other block, and an 'export' icon (220) which, when activated causes the information being displayed in the light box to be exported to a PDF file. Figure 22 illustrates further light-box command icons including a 'compare' icon (228) and a 'combine' icon (226). The 'compare' icon allows the user to directly compare tables, graphs and data of the current block against tables, graphs and data of other blocks. The 'combine' icon allows the user to choose to combine data with data from any other widget. Activating the 'combine' icon opens an 'assistant display' showing the user all available modules containing compatible information which can be graphically rendered together with the information of the current widget such that the information can appear, for example, in a single chart, graph or table in a single widget.

Figure 23 is a schematic diagram representation of a printable document area (600) as described above. The figure illustrates a plurality of widgets (602) and actions (604) which can be performed on the widgets. The figure shows the GIS widget (606) being resized, an image scouting widget (608) being removed, a season's planner widget (610) being added, as well as a leaf moisture widget (612) being added. The figure also shows an expanded view of previously described widget command icons (614). Furthermore, command icons (616) of the printable document area are shown. Any available widgets can be mounted by activating the previously described widget addition icon (618). The illustrated schematic diagram representation of a printable document area (600) differs from previously illustrated embodiments in that printable document area command icons (616) appear only on the right-hand side of the printable document area (600). It is anticipated that the command icons (616) of the printable document area may be located anywhere within the printable document area (600), or in further embodiments, may be located in the menu area or message area.

A GUI for an agricultural information system has been described which is displayed on the user's communication device such that the user may view, interpret and edit information including agricultural data, aggregated agricultural data, events, calculated outputs, messages and the like. Embodiments of the invention are directed at a GUI which is graphically rendered, for example using PHP, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, Java or any appropriate programming language, mark-up language or scripting language. While rendering is foreseen to be conducted at the user communication device, at least some of the rendering may also be conducted at the remotely accessible server. In a preferred embodiment, however, the information, including agricultural data, aggregated agricultural data, events, calculated outputs, messages and the like, may be graphically rendered at the user communication device, for example, by a mobile software application resident on a mobile communication device of the user (e.g. a smartphone). In such an embodiment, the remotely accessible server communicates the relevant information to the user communication device which then graphically renders the information for display on a display screen of the communication device. Similarly, embodiments of the invention provide for a software application GUI which is graphically rendered on a user communication device (e.g. a personal computer, laptop, tablet, etc.). In such an embodiment, the remotely accessible server communicates the relevant information to the user communication device which then graphically renders the information for display on a display screen of the user communication device. Such embodiments are anticipated without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention.

The agricultural information system, with which the GUI is used, will now be further described with reference to Figures 24 to 28. Figure 24 is a flow diagram showing various software modules of the remotely accessible server through which data are received, processed and output to make up the agricultural information system. The remotely accessible server receives agricultural data (620) and ancillary data (622) relating to the agricultural data, via application programming interfaces (APIs) (624) and comma separated values (CSV) files, from a plurality of field sensing modules each of which may include numerous field information sensors, independent information sources and possibly the user communication device itself. The agricultural information system provides for a continuous detection to be built into an operating system, called the business intelligence module (BIM) which provides algorithms, functions and tables and allows for testing of specific data points or parameters, which when they exceed or fall short of predetermined thresholds, initiate further processing to result in the generation of messages which are communicated to a user. These messages can be alerts, or warnings, or notifications.

The software modules illustrated in Figure 24 are stored and executed on the remotely accessible server which may, for example, be a cloud-hosted computation platform, i.e. a server and a database. Data is collected from external sources (e.g. independent information sources and field information sensors) through API's and CSV's, such as from weather service providers or laboratories and from internal sources, i.e. user input logged directly by the user into the database, for example with the use of a logging user interface in a light-box of a module. All the data is aggregated in a database and stored centrally and is accessible to, for example, user communication devices. Furthermore a business intelligence module (630), which may be executed by a Business Intelligence Engine (BIE) (631 ) module, provides formulas (632), functions (634) and tables (636), tests specific data points stored in the database and, if set parameters exceed their thresholds, the BIE generates messages, such as warning and alerts (638) and communicates these messages to a communication device of the user. The BIM also provides a statistics master (640), helping the user to generate statistics from his database and a reports module (642), which has predefined reports such as for example for legal requirements or other auditing requirements, such as for organic audits. The BIE may be programmed using, for example Java or PHP and functions off a system architecture, based on Java or Python, so as to allow for modularity. Interaction with the BIE may take place through a RESTful interface, implemented using the Spring Java framework and hosted in an Apache Tomcat server instance. Exemplary modules include, but are not limited to: GIS mapping (NDVI, NIR, multi spectral imaging), Geo referenced data display, Season's program, Growth, ripening & production, Leaf moisture, Irrigation planner, Disease & pest scouting, Business Intelligence centre, Weather, Soil moisture, Soil recommendation (Soil minerals, Leaf samples, Water samples), Satellite Images, Pesticide application tracker, Application tables, Audit requirements, Packing requirements, Fruit ripening, Crops farmed, Image scouting, Biodynamic Calendar, Costing, Crop season planner, Leaf Brix and Visual soil inspection modules.

Data corresponding to the modules is stored in a database and form individual data points which are managed by each module's architecture. The BIE can be updated at any time to include new or further sets of testing parameters and also to accommodate and include new modules data added to the system.

Figures 25A, 25B, 25C and 25D illustrate how the data of different types of modules may be stored in the database. For example, backend modules (650) host data the user never sees, while the data of front end modules (652) may be visible to the user. Similarly, some modules collect data with the use of CSV services (654), through the use of APIs (656) or directly through user input (657). Then there are modules that are a combination of the mentioned types.

Figures 25B, 25C and 25D also illustrate a message filter (658) through which messages are channelled. The filter only allows those messages to be forwarded to the user in accordance with a user-configuration. Embodiments further provide for the use of separate databases, each of which is run on a separate server computer. For example all modules which are not related to Geographical Information Systems (GIS) or do not have any Geo referenced data, i.e. soil moisture, weather data or data logged internally by the user, may be hosted on a server running Apache or Nginx web servers. The server could be a dedicated hosting server or an Amazon Web Service (AWS) cloud server or other equivalent. The data of these modules are stored in cases in a PostgreSQL database. Other embodiments provide for a MySQL or MemSQL database. All GIS type data and Geo referenced data, such as for example from NASA, ESA or other GIS service providers, may be hosted on a MAP server, running, for example, MapFish and the data may be stored in a PostgreSQL database with GeoJSON tables. It is anticipated that the vast majority of Geo referenced data will be hosted within the Map server and PostgreSQL setup. Preferably, and depending on an amount of users, all the data might be hosted in one PostgreSQL database.

Embodiments also provide for at least some of the graphical rendering of the data from the databases, to make use of, for example, HTML5, CSS3 and Java Script, and are supported by a predefined AngularJS framework used for displaying data in table or graph form and the user manipulation of data. Embodiments may also make use of additional JavaScript libraries such as Highcharts for specific tasks like graphing.

JQuery and JQueryUI may be employed to aid user interaction with the data and may further provide animation. PostGIS may be used as a spatial extension of the relational PostgreSQL database and GRASS GIS for the management, processing and visualization of geographic data.

The block diagram of Figure 25A also illustrates the BIE testing data points of a plurality of modules against predetermined thresholds of such data points. Once the BIE detects that a data point of a module exceeds a predetermined threshold of that module, (i.e. the BIE detects an event), the BIE is configured to evaluate that data point for a category and a relationship. Depending on the category of the data points and any relationships thereof, the BIE is configured to generate messages including those data points exceeding their thresholds and, optionally, related data points which may too be exceeding their thresholds.

Figure 25B, illustrates a scenario in which the BIE evaluates data points of only one module (660), the data points of which constitute a first category of data points in that, if predetermined thresholds for these data points are exceeded, the BIE is configured to generate a message at least including that data point which exceeds its threshold. For instance, a user might indicate, by configuration, that he or she would like to informed if a soil moisture measurement drops below a certain value. If the BIE detects a soil measurement which is below this predetermined threshold, a message is generated and sent to the user which includes that soil measurement.

Figure 25C shows a scenario in which the BIE evaluates data points of only one module (660), the data points of which constitute second category data points, in that for such data points exceeding their predetermined threshold, the BIE also identifies one or more related data points (662). The relationships between data points may be multi-tiered in that different tier relationships require different actions from the BIE. For example, the relationship illustrated in Figure 25C is a first tier relationship, for which if a data point value is outside of its corresponding threshold, a message including that data point value being outside its threshold and data point values of first tier related data points is generated. These first tier related data points are indicated in Figure 25C as "return values". For example a user may set a leaf moisture threshold of 1200 kpa and in such an event may also request, by configuration, a weather forecast as well as a current soil moisture measurement. In this case the BIE will test a leaf moisture data point against the predetermined threshold and, if exceeded, obtain the corresponding weather forecast as well as a current soil moisture data point from their respective modules and generate a message including these data points. Figure 25D shows a scenario in which the data points of three modules (664) are evaluated against predetermined thresholds. In some embodiments the BIE may test each of the three data points and require each of the three data points to exceed their predetermined threshold. Only when data points from all three modules exceed their corresponding threshold does the BIE generate a message containing the data points exceeding their thresholds. In other embodiments, the BIE may test data points of just one module against its predetermined threshold. If that data point exceeds its threshold, the BIE then identifies related data points (666), which may for example be second tier related data points in that, a message is generated which includes that data point being outside its threshold as well as all second tier related data points which are also outside of their corresponding thresholds. In this case the exceeding of one data point triggers the continuous testing of second tier related data points until they also exceed their corresponding thresholds. If they do so, a message is generated. For example, a user may wish to be informed when a leaf moisture exceeds a threshold 1 100 kpa and a soil moisture exceeds a threshold of 20% and a set of three consecutive days in two days' time occurs where each day has an average daily temperature of above 32°C. The generated message may also, for example, include recent satellite readings and a planned spray program. In this case the BIE will test data points against their predetermined thresholds (i.e. test data points for events) until the leaf moisture, the soil moisture and the weather forecast exceed their respective thresholds, following which, a message is generated. The function below illustrates an exemplary function which establishes relationships between data points.

Function start: IF(AND(

Leaf moisture > 1200kpa;

Soil moisture < 20% to RAW;

AND(

Average Temperature for 5 days in 2 days' time > 32C;

3 of those 5 days > 35C;

))THEN: Send following message: Your soil for block XX is getting dry and your plant shows first signs of stress. We also predict a heat wave for next week and therefore suggest to rather do a smaller irrigation now than a big correctional irrigation after the heat wave'.

Furthermore, a function such as the one above may be used in conjunction with a scientific formula to enhance information provided to the user. Any appropriate scientific formula may be used and which may be obtained from a science or research institution. An exemplary scientific formula includes:

Whereby:

SL = sugar loading in mg/berry/day

BO = Balling most recent sample

B-1 = Balling of previous sample

SO = size in ml of most recent sample

S-1 = size in ml of previous sample

SI = sampling intervals is the amount of days that have passed since last sampling

SI = Dl - D2

With this formula a warning can be generated, through a function, to indicate when the size of fruit growth reaches a plateau indicative to the user that the crop, e.g. fruit, should be harvested. An exemplary message generated and transmitted may include the weight of the fruit, as well as its pH and total acidity.

Figure 26 is a block diagram in which the system architecture of the agricultural information system, as described above, is illustrated.

Figure 27 is a flow diagram illustrating how information from a plurality of modules (670) may be aggregated and graphically rendered for display in the printable document area of the GUI according to embodiments of the invention. This printable document area may be sent to a printer for printing upon activation of the appropriate icon by the user. The printed document visually resembles the printable document area, including for example scroll positions of tables, etc. When the user activates a print icon on his or her communication device, an XpressDox module server action, which uses XML, is initiated at the remotely accessible server. The output of the XpressDox module is a PDF file which is communicated to the user communication device, and is printed; or in the absence of appropriate drivers or setup, is rather displayed as a PDF file. Figure 28A is a block diagram of an exemplary agricultural information system (500). The system (500) includes a remotely accessible server (510), independent information sources (532, 534), field sensing components (542, 544, 546) and user communication devices (522, 524) of a user (520). Although only one user (520) is shown, a plurality of users is anticipated, each having their own communication device(s) and each optionally maintaining their own field information sensors. The plurality of users may be independent of each other and may be geographically separated across, for example, different farms, provinces, counties, states, countries or continents. In the illustrated embodiment, the user (520) is a farmer producing a crop (550), although the invention may be employed in any form of agriculture. The user (520) has both a smartphone (524) and a laptop computer (522) serving as communication devices. The user communication devices (522, 524) are in communication with the remotely accessible server (510) via a communication network (560), such as for example the Internet. Each user communication device (522, 524) is running a GUI, either natively or in a web browser which is configured to receive user input, to communicate the user input to the remotely accessible server (510) when appropriate, to receive information from the remotely accessible server (510) and to graphically render and display the received information on a display screen thereof. Each of the user communication devices (522, 524) may have an appropriate software application or mobile software application resident therein (the GUI) which is operable to at least in part cause the communication device to receive the user input, communicate with the remotely accessible server (510), to receive information from the remotely accessible server (510) and to graphically render and display the received information on the display screen thereof. The communications devices (522, 524) may accordingly be configured to receive user input, entered into the communication device by the user (520), and to communicate the user input to the remotely accessible server (510). The user input may, for example include leaf moisture data, harvesting figures, application- and spray times, amongst others. Exemplary user communication devices include mobile phones such as smart phones, laptop computers, desktop computers (e.g. a personal computer or Macintosh), tablet computers, personal digital assistants, smart televisions or appliances and the like. In some cases, the user (520) may have only one user communication device. Similarly, the user (520) may make use of any publicly available communication device not under his or her direct control or ownership.

In the illustrated system, a weather intelligence data server (534) and a satellite imaging data server (532) are provided as independent information sources, although the independent information sources (532, 534) may be any appropriate independent information sources maintained by an appropriate information service provider. The information source may be a web application server, data server, data centre or the like having stored, in a digital memory or an associated data centre, ancillary data. The independent information sources (532, 534) are in communication with the remotely accessible server via a communication network (560) and communicate ancillary data to the remotely accessible server (510) upon receiving a request from the remotely accessible server. The ancillary data may either be pushed from the independent information source in that the independent information sources (532, 534) periodically communicate relevant ancillary data to the remotely accessible server (510). Alternatively, the remotely accessible server (510) may pull the ancillary data from the independent information sources (532, 534) by communicating a request for ancillary data to the independent information sources (532, 534).

Requests to the independent information sources (532, 534) from the remotely accessible server may include situational information pertinent to the user (520) such that the independent information sources (532, 534) are operable to identify ancillary data relevant only to that request or that user (520). Situational information may include a geo-spatial location information amongst others.

Communication between the independent information sources (532, 534) and remotely accessible server (510) may be via an application programming interface (API). Alternatively the independent information sources (532, 534) may communicate ancillary data in comma separated values (CSV) files. Exemplary independent information sources include weather data servers, geographic information system data servers, remote sensing data servers, satellite image data servers and the like. Exemplary information service providers maintaining independent information sources include Outline Imaging, Weather Intelligence services, Bemlab Laboratory, Hill Laboratory, Brookside Laboratory, eLeaf real time satellite imaging, Trimble, Esri, AgLeader, Case IH, Astrium, Satimaging Corp, Google Earth amongst others.

The field sensing components in the illustrated system (500) may include field information sensors configured to sense certain parameters. In the illustrated embodiments, the field sensing components include an irrigation control component (542), a soil moisture sensing component (544) and a leaf moisture sensing component (546). In the illustrated system (500), the agricultural specimen to which respective sensors of the irrigation control component (542) and the soil moisture sensing component (544) interface is soil in which a crop (550) is planted. The agricultural specimen to which sensors of the leaf moisture sensing component (546) interfaces is a leaf or leaves of the crop (550). Each one of the field sensing components (542, 544, 546) in the illustrated embodiment is in communication with the remotely accessible server via a communication network (560). In some cases, one or more of the field sensing components may first need to be interfaced to, for example, a communication device such as a personal computer via which field information data from the field sensing component may be communicated to the remotely accessible server (510).

The field sensing components (542, 544, 546) may take on various other forms. For example the field sensing components may include soil and leaf moisture sensing components, soil mineral sensing components, irrigation control components, soil nutrient sensing components, water usage components, plant sap flow meters, soil sensing components, implement and machinery sensing components and the like. As mentioned above, the field sensing components may include field information sensors which interface to agricultural specimens or systems, such as for example leaves, soil, roots, stems, an irrigation system, a fertilizer system, machinery or the like. The field information sensors may be permanent or fixed field sensors in that they remain in the field and are operable to communicate field information data therefrom. Alternatively the field sensing components may be temporary or hand-held in that their sensors may be interfaced to the agricultural specimens or driven by machine/farming implements or systems for a duration of sensing only, after which they are removed. The field sensing components may be maintained by the user (520) or by a third party.

The field sensing components may be operable to communicate the field information data to the remotely accessible server (510) either via a communication interface thereof, or via a communication interface of a device to which the field sensing component is connected. In addition to communicating field information data, the field sensing components may also communicate situational or location data, such as global positioning system (GPS) coordinates or the like. The communication between the field sensing components (542, 544, 546) or associated devices and the remotely accessible server (510) may be via an application programming interface (API). Alternatively, the field sensing components (542, 544, 546) may communicate data to the remotely accessible server in comma separated values (CSV) files. In some embodiments, respective field information components communicate field information data to respective modules of the remotely accessible server (510).

The remotely accessible server (510) may be any appropriate server computer, distributed server computer, cloud computing platform or the like. Embodiments of the system provide for the remotely accessible server (510) to be configured to receive, from at least one agricultural data source, for example user communication devices (522, 524) or field sensing components (542, 544, 546), agricultural data, and/or receive, from one or more independent information sources (532, 534), ancillary data relating to the agricultural data.

The remotely accessible server is further configured to identify, based on calculations conducted on the agricultural and ancillary data, one or more events corresponding to data points in the received data. The remotely accessible server is further configured to communicate electronically the one or more events for graphical rendering and display in the GUI running on the user communication device (522, 524) as, for example, adjacent, linearly aligned, text messages which may be graphically rendered to scroll across the display of the communication device (522, 524).

Furthermore, the GUI is configured to, responsive to receiving a user input including a selection of data points, select and graphically render data points of the received data. The selected data points may, for example be rendered on charts, diagrams, tables, flow diagrams or images. The GUI may further be configured to graphically render, simultaneously in the display area, a plurality of charts, diagrams, tables, flow diagrams and images, for each of the graphically rendered charts, diagrams, tables, flow diagrams and images to include data points from a respective agricultural data source or independent information source.

As such, embodiments of the invention provide for the remotely accessible server (510) to be configured to request one or more of field information data, ancillary data and user input (collectively data), from one or more field sensing components (542, 544, 546), independent information sources (532, 534) and user communication devices (522, 524) respectively. The request for this data may include, for example a situational information or a user identifier such that the field sensing components (542, 544, 546), independent information sources (532, 534) and user communication devices (522, 524) are operable to identify data corresponding to the situational information and/or user identifier to be communicated to the remotely accessible server (510). The remotely accessible server (510) is configured to receive field information data, ancillary data and user input, from the field sensing components (542, 544, 546), independent information sources (532, 534) and user communication devices (522, 524) respectively. The remotely accessible server (510) may receive the respective data via an appropriate application programming interface (API) or alternatively in a comma separated values (CSV) file. The received data from each of the field sensing components (542, 544, 546), independent information sources (532, 534) and user communication devices (522, 524) includes a user identifier or situational information. Embodiments of the described system therefore provide for the remotely accessible server (510) to store the received field information data, ancillary data and user input in a database in association with a user profile corresponding to the user identifier or situational information.

The remotely accessible server (510) is further configured to test respective data point values of the field information data points, ancillary data points and user input points against corresponding predetermined thresholds set therefor. For example, field information data originating from a soil moisture sensing component (544) corresponding to a user (520) may have a soil moisture threshold. This threshold may either be user configurable or predefined. For each soil moisture data point received, the remotely accessible server (510) tests the received soil moisture data point against the soil moisture threshold.

If one or more data point values for a tested data point is found to be outside the corresponding threshold set therefor, the remotely accessible server (510) is configured to optionally, depending on category of the data point being tested, generate a message or identify one or more related data points. For example the remotely accessible server (510) may, for a first category of data point exceeding its corresponding threshold, generate a message at least including that threshold. Similarly for a second category data point exceeding its corresponding threshold, the remotely accessible server (510) may identify one or more related data points. The data categories may be predefined or user specified. Furthermore, the relationships between data points may be multi-tiered and user configurable. In a first tier relationship, for example, if a data point value is outside of its corresponding threshold, a message including the data point value and data point values of first tier related data points is generated. In a second tier relationship, if a data point value is outside of its corresponding threshold, a message including the data point value and second tier related data point values which are also outside of their corresponding thresholds is generated. For example, electronic messages may be generated when a specific combination of data points established by algorithm(s) and/or formula(s) pass predetermined thresholds.

The remotely accessible server is configured to perform calculations or algorithms on relevant data points in order to identify events, responsive to which the remotely accessible server is configured to generate a message at least including the outcomes or results of the calculations or algorithms or events. The remotely accessible server (510) is then configured to transmit the generated messages, if any, to the user communication devices (522, 524). The remotely accessible server (510) may be further configured to transmit one or more of the generated messages to communication devices of third parties, for example a farm manager, or a soil expert. Furthermore, the remotely accessible server (510) is configured to generate, either upon receiving an authorised request or at predetermined intervals, one or more reports including at least some or all of the field information data points, ancillary data points and user input points. Exemplary reports which the remotely accessible server (510) may generate include any applicable agricultural industry report.

The remotely accessible server (510) is configured to transmit, upon receiving an authorised request, at least some or all of the field information data points, ancillary data points and user input points to an appropriate communication device, for example user communication device (e.g. 522 or 524) for rendering. The described embodiment therefore provides a system in which data from one or more of a field sensing component, a web application module and a user communication device are consolidated at a remotely accessible server (510), which may, for example, be a cloud computing platform. At least some of the data (e.g. ancillary data) is communicated from various existing independent information sources (532, 534) maintained by independent information service providers, to which a user (520) would conventionally have to subscribe, run and operate independently on incompatible platforms. The system (500) provides the user (520) with data from the information service providers to which he subscribes on one platform and/or database. Furthermore, the system (500) is configured to receive data from one or more field sensing component (542, 544, 546) and is configured to combine and/or compare and/or processes the data with scientifically researched formulas. The remotely accessible server (510) then generates messages containing at least some of the data points received which exceed corresponding thresholds or are related to data points which exceed corresponding thresholds.

The remotely accessible server (510) may also be configured to advise the user (520), in a message transmitted to a user communication device (e.g. 522 or 524), to subscribe to predetermined information service providers which have been deemed as providing valuable data. Similarly, the remotely accessible server (510) may inform the user (520) that the more valuable information service providers he subscribes to, the more useful messages can be generated and communicated to the user (520) in the form of warnings, alerts and general information on various events which may have occurred within areas or blocks of, for example, the user's (520) land.

The remotely accessible server (510) thus combines independent information service provider data, field information data and user input with scientific formulas, developed together with research institutions and government departments, to compute real time, live messages, warnings, and/or advice. Exemplary data includes agricultural data, such as weekly satellite images, disease forecasting, disease warning, healthy soil management, soil moisture monitoring, automated data capturing, GIS mapping, soil/leaf analysis, proven scientific methods and many other modules and statistics, to assist farmers in decision making for irrigation, fertilization, pest and disease control as well as short and long term planning. Exemplary data which is received by the remotely accessible server (510) includes soil minerals, soil nutrients, planted crops, production, irrigation, leaf moisture, soil moisture, weather data, spraying regimes, growth indexes amongst others.

A user (520), wishing to make an effective, well considered decision on irrigation for example, would typically consider soil moisture, leaf moisture, weather forecasting and the satellite images in making his or her decision. Conventionally a plurality of data sources, available from different information service providers or from different field information modules, including for example, satellite images, weather forecasting, soil / leaf moisture sensing, GIS mapping data may be consulted by the user (520) for such a task.

The remotely accessible server (510) may therefore be configured to aggregate and/or analyse data from one or more of the above mentioned data sources and accordingly communicate information based on the data to the user's communication device. Exemplary messages include email messages, social media messages such as Twitter messaging services, short messaging service (SMS) messages and the like and may be user-configurable. Furthermore, this information is communicated to the user communication device such that the aggregated data, received data, events and messages are rendered in a GUI on the user (520) communication device (e.g. 522 or 524) to facilitate user inspection and analysis of data from a plurality of sources and to also provide the user with enhanced information pertaining to his or her farm. As mentioned above, it will be appreciated that the information displayed to the user on the user device may be a selected and customisable by the user. This in combination with the fact that received information may be received, collated and evaluated at the remotely accessible server and only relevant information and results of evaluations forwarded to the user device for graphic rendering by the GUI, significantly reduces the computational and processing requirements of the user device and also results in a reduction in the volume of data that has to be processed and stored at the user device.

Figure 28B is a flow diagram illustrating the generation of agricultural information messages according to the system described above. The method (580) is conducted at the remotely accessible server and comprises a series of method steps.

At a first step (582), the remotely accessible server receives agricultural data from at least one agricultural data source. This may include receiving field information data from at least one field information sensor and/or receiving user input from at least one user communication device entered by means of a GUI operating on the user communication device. Receiving field information data from at least one field information sensor may include receiving data points corresponding to soil moisture data, leaf moisture data, irrigation data, soil mineral data, soil nutrient data or the like. The field information data may be communicated to the remotely accessible server via an application programming interface (API) or comma separated values (CSV) file. Receiving user input may include receiving data points recorded by a user and entered into the user communication device. Exemplary data points entered by the user may include soil moisture measurements, leaf moisture measurements, irrigation data, soil mineral measurements, soil nutrient measurements or the like.

At next step (584), the remotely accessible server receives ancillary data relating to the agricultural data from at least one independent information source. This may include receiving data corresponding to weather data, geographic information system data, remote sensing data satellite image data or the like, and for the ancillary data to be communicated via an API or CSV file. At a next step (586), the remotely accessible server identifies, based on calculations conducted on the agricultural and ancillary data, one or more events corresponding to data points in the received data. This may include calculating, using scientific formulas and data points of the received data, one or more parameters and testing the calculated parameters against a predetermined threshold. This step may further include the remotely accessible server testing data points of the received data against predetermined thresholds for such data points. At least some data points of the agricultural and ancillary data may be related to other data points of the agricultural and ancillary data. The relationships between the data points may be user configurable, and each relationship may belong to one of at least two tiers, where in a first tier relationship, if a data point is outside of its corresponding threshold, a message including the data point and data point of related data points is generated; and in a second tier relationship, if a data point is outside of its corresponding threshold, a message including the data point and related data points also being outside of their corresponding thresholds is generated.

At a next step (588), the remotely accessible server generates an electronic message which includes at least the identified event and corresponding data point and, in a following step (590), the remotely accessible server automatically transmits the generated electronic message to a communication device of the user. The electronic message may then be graphically rendered by a GUI operating on the communication device and displayed to the user in an appropriate format.

Figure 29 is a block diagram which illustrates typical users of the system and their interaction therewith. An admin user can add many farms to his profile, register a company if required and also allocate (register) a "Manager User" to one or more farms to manage them and their data. Both admin and manager user can add blocks, but a manager user cannot add farms or other manager users. The admin and manager user though can also allocate a "Viewer User" to access a farm's database. In the case that a manager user requests access for a viewer user the admin user is requested to confirm the manger user's request. The viewer user has the rights of viewing data, without the rights of editing data. The viewer user is convenient for consultants of a farm. For example, with reference to Figure 29, a super-admin user may be a developer and/or manager of GUI and/or associated agricultural information system while user 1 and user 2 may be admin users. User 3 may be a manager and user 4 a viewer. Figure 30 is an exemplary block diagram of the process of adding a farm to a particular user profile. Figure 31 in turn is an exemplary block diagram of the process of adding another block to a particular farm/user profile.

Furthermore, the communications channels through which a user receives communications for each module may be user configurable. For each module, a user is able to configure to whom a message is communicated, the communication channel used, and the time of the communication. Exemplary communication channels include email, social media such as Twitter messaging services, short messaging service (SMS) messages amongst others. Exemplary communication times include at point of generation, or at a predetermined time the following day, or at a user specified point in time. Furthermore, message categories are anticipated, some of which (for example alert messages) may ignore a time setting and are sent. If a specific time is selected, all messages accumulated up to that point are posted at once and the following rules of group notifications apply. It is also anticipated that rules may apply for different communication channels. Exemplary rules include that SMS messages are all sent individually while should there be more than four messages to be sent, a web based link is sent automatically via SMS instead which will direct the user to a notification area in a graphically rendered user interface being displayed on his or her communication device. For email messages, up to fifteen (or any other predefined number of) notifications are sent directly through email but should there be more than fifteen notifications a web based link will be sent instead which will direct the user to a notification area in a user interface being displayed on his or her communication device. Messages to a user interface are posted immediately. The user may also request, by configuration, that an SMS informing him that an email was sent also containing a web based link to take him to the message ribbon inbox.

Figure 32 is a block diagram which illustrates an agricultural information system (700) including a user communication device (710) and a remotely accessible server (750). The user communication device (710) includes a communication component (712) for communicating with the remotely accessible server (750). The communication component (712) is configured to receive information including at least agricultural data and messages relating to one or more user specified blocks of agricultural land, from the remotely accessible server (750). The user communication device (710) includes a graphics rendering component (714) for rendering the received information for display on a display (716) of the user communication device (710). The graphics rendering component (714) is configured to render: a message area including one or more text messages conveying one or more events, the events having been identified based on calculations performed on the agricultural data; a menu area including one or more icons, each of which corresponds to one of the user specified blocks of agricultural land; and a user customisable printable document area including one or more widgets, each of which displays a graphically rendered selection of agricultural data.

The remotely accessible server (750) may run one or more services and may include a communications component (752) for communicating with the user communication device (710) and one or more agricultural information sources. The communications component (752) is configured to receive agricultural data from at least one agricultural data source and ancillary data relating to the agricultural data from at least one independent information source. The communications component (752) is further configured to transmit information including at least agricultural data and messages relating to one or more user specified blocks of agricultural land to the user communication device (710). The remotely accessible server (750) includes a processing component (754) for processing the agricultural and ancillary data. The processing component (754) is configured to identify, based on calculations conducted on the agricultural and ancillary data, one or more events corresponding to data points in the received data. The processing component (754) is further configured to, responsive to receiving a user input entered on the user communication device (710), select and modify for graphical rendering on the user communication device (710), data points of at least some of the received data. The communications component (752) is configured to communicate the events and data points to the user communication device (710) of the user for rendering and display on the display screen (716) thereof by means of a graphical user interface (GUI) running in a web browser or natively on the user communication device (710).

Figures 33 and 34 illustrate an exemplary message configuration table which may also be used by the BIE as a basis of testing specific data parameters in the database to formulate the messages.

Exemplary science and research institutions from whom scientific formulas may be obtained include WineTech, VinPro, Infrutec, Stellenbosch University, SA Cane Growers Association, 'Soil conservation Council' of the Department of Agriculture, Elsenburg University, SAWIS(IPW) amongst others. Exemplary web application and/or field sensing service providers include Outline Imaging, Weather Intelligence services, Bemlab Laboratory, Hill Laboratory, Brookside Laboratory, DFM soil moisture probes, eLeaf real time satellite imaging, Trimble, Esri, gLeader, Case IH, Astrium and Satimaging Corp.

Exemplary field information modules include weather modules, which contains all sorts of weather data and a season's planning module, which records all spray programs and applications of a farmer.

It will be appreciated that the above description is by way of example only and that numerous changes and modification may be made to the embodiments described without departing from the scope of the invention. In particular, the various features described with reference to the Figures may be employed in any number of different and alternative combinations. The various components of the invention described provide systems, methods and apparatus which facilitate the provision and display of agricultural information, messages and event notifications, amongst others, on a user communications device while significantly reducing the processing requirements, processing time and volumes of data that need to be stored at the user communications device. Features of the invention also make it possible for users of the systems, methods and apparatus to customise their user experience and the relevance of the agricultural information they receive, enabling them to act quickly and effectively on the information received, and also to see a convenient and customised view of their entire agricultural operations in a manner that is personalised and easily reproducible in printed format.

The above description is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure. Some portions of this description describe the embodiments of the invention in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on information. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are commonly used by those skilled in the data processing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively to others skilled in the art. These operations, while described functionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to be implemented by computer programs or equivalent electrical circuits, microcode, or the like. The described operations may be embodied in software, firmware, hardware, or any combinations thereof.

The software components or functions described in this application may be implemented as software code to be executed by one or more processors using any suitable computer language such as, for example, Java, C++, or Perl using, for example, conventional or object-oriented techniques. The software code may be stored as a series of instructions, or commands on a non- transitory computer-readable medium, such as a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a magnetic medium such as a hard-drive or a floppy disk, or an optical medium such as a CD-ROM. Any such computer- readable medium may also reside on or within a single computational apparatus, and may be present on or within different computational apparatuses within a system or network.

Any of the steps, operations, or processes described herein may be performed or implemented with one or more hardware or software modules, alone or in combination with other devices. In one embodiment, a software module is implemented with a computer program product comprising a non-transient computer-readable medium containing computer program code, which can be executed by a computer processor for performing any or all of the steps, operations, or processes described.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based hereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.