US3887903A

US3887903A - Interactive man-machine method and system for grading pattern pieces and for producing an apparel marker

Info

Publication number: US3887903A
Application number: US392651A
Authority: US
Inventors: Charles Ronald Martell
Original assignee: Camsco Inc
Current assignee: Gerber Camsco Inc
Priority date: 1973-08-29
Filing date: 1973-08-29
Publication date: 1975-06-03
Anticipated expiration: 1992-06-03

Abstract

The specification discloses a technique for laying out an apparel pattern marker by efficiently arranging a plurality of apparel pattern pieces within a predetermined marker area. The system includes a digitizer for inputting digital coordinate data representative of a plurality of apparel pattern pieces. A central controller receives and stores the coordinate data and upon command, applies predetermined grading rules to the pattern pieces. The graded pattern pieces may be displayed upon a cathode ray tube display and checked by the operator. To produce a pattern marker, the operator faces the cathode ray tube display on which is displayed miniature representations of the marker area and the pieces comprising the desired style and sizes. The operator manually operates a stylus on a data tablet which is interconnected with the central controller and the cathode ray tube display. The operator further operates a multi-button function box in conjunction with movement of the stylus, in order to arrange the piece reproductions within the marker area on the cathode ray tube. When the desired miniature marker layout has been produced on the cathode ray tube display, the operator may cause the full sized apparel pattern marker to be automatically plotted. The pattern marker may then be utilized to cut cloth to enable the fabrication of a large number of garments of the desired style and sizes.

Description

United States Patent 1191 Martel! INTERACTIVE MAN-MACHINE METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GRADING PATTERN PIECES AND FOR PRODUCING AN APPAREL MARKER [75] Inventor: Charles Ronald Martel], Dallas, Tex.

[73] Assignee: Camsco, Inc., Richardson, Tex.

[22] Filed: Aug. 29, 1973 [2|] App]. No.: 392,651

Primary ExaminerHarvey E. Springborn Attorney. Agent. or Firm-Richards, Harris & Medlock [57] ABSTRACT The specification discloses a technique for laying out 1 June 3, 1975 an apparel pattern marker by efficiently arranging a plurality of apparel pattern pieces within a predetermined marker area. The system includes a digitizer for inputting digital coordinate data representative of a plurality of apparel pattern pieces. A central controller receives and stores the coordinate data and upon command. applies predetermined grading rules to the pattern pieces. The graded pattern pieces may be displayed upon a cathode ray tube display and checked by the operator. To produce a pattern marker, the operator faces the cathode ray tube display on which is displayed miniature representations of the marker area and the pieces comprising the desired style and sizes. The operator manually operates a stylus on a data tablet which is interconnected with the central controller and the cathode ray tube display. The operator further operates a multi-button function box in conjunction with movement of the stylus, in order to arrange the piece reproductions within the marker area on the cathode ray tube. When the desired miniature marker layout has been produced on the cathode ray tube display. the operator may cause the full sized apparel pattern marker to be automatically plotted. The pattern marker may then be utilized to cut cloth to enable the fabrication of a large number of garments of the desired style and sizes.

30 Claims, 56 Drawing Figures 12 DIGITIZER 27 ALPHA, FUNCT'ON NUMERIC -l6 Box CRT INTERFACE COORDINATE CARD DIGITIZER READER I4 46 CENTRAL PRINTER 4a CONTROLLER DISK INTERFACE #"fifi ,4? (-b STORAGE 16 KEY 50 20w FUNCTION gggfgsnvz BOX INTERFACE DATA MARKER TABLET PLOTTER I FIG. 2

SHEET 2 TIA 8/ B 9 SIDZE l 4/x 5/H 6/T i I Us 2m 5/\. ALPHA K NEW END RUB PIECE PIECE OUT J GRADE W1 POINT F.I

+ LET 66- IP T,P

NOTCH SWITCH ZERO F STOP @QQQQQQQ 6 00000000 LIST CHANGE ACCEPT REJECT PLOT AREA RULE RULE OGGOGO HOR. VER. ROT ROTATE BUMP BUMP FLIP SPECIAL LOCK LOCK C CCW RIGHT UP RELEASE PICK TILT BUMP BUMP OVERLAP PICK CK CCW LEFT DOWN CHE FIG. 7

BIT 3 DIODE MATRIX BIT 2 BIT l I I I20 0| g MATRIX 130- :on

732 I I00 I I0! I38 llll FIG. 8

BIT O +V FROM CONTROLLER STROBE SIGNAL +5V 6RD FIG 9 SHEET TETENTE" JUF3 I975 I GE NQm

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6. 6E mrwzimmk 9 SHEET 7 INPUT SHADE MAXIMUM REQU'RED BUSY OVERLAP VIOLATION TILT ERROR L4 1 j l l J 340/ 342/ 344 j 346 34a 350 FIG. /2

2 FIG. /7

l23456789 III B I UL FIG. /3

I23 456 TBSIOIIIEBMISISITIBIQ $RULE RULE NA E FIG. /4

5R L LI 5 ULE E 5 l 2 I 28 FIG. /5

$RULE I FIG. /6

LETTERING INTERNAL POI NT U POWT REFERENCE LINE 7 l6 7 REFERENOE LINE 8 STRIPE LINE :2

I? /PUNCH HOLE LETTERING f POINT FIG. /9

START 7 POINT END 2I POINT 22 MONITOR DISPLAY OuEsTION "MARKHOR CHECK I 382 376 380 I IIIIR SL IQSED QUEUE PROGRAM CHECK PROGRAM 1 392 386 PLOT PROGRAM ORAw PROGRAM MIscELLANEOus PROGRAMS 'EIROLE, MAINT, TABLE, Ecr.

TWTEPSTEDJUR 3 ms 3 887} 903 SHEET 12 FIG. 28

$MA=MARKERID,WI=59.0 GO=4/24, 5HADE=3; STYLEID, SIZE, SIZE2 SIZE PICKED SHADE AREA- FIG. 32

"MARKER" REMOVABLE PLATTER "MARKD" o MARKER DIRECTORY "MARKR" MARKER DEFlNITIONS SHEET FIXED PLATTER SYSTEM MARKAMATIC PROGRAMS "PLoTF" "uxxxx" "SECTR" IICHEKN "cums" "oPTNs" "MEsss" "sTYLo" "STYLE" TPECD "PIEco o PIECE DIRECTORY "TEPcs" "smoo" "GRADE" "RuLED" "RuLEs "PIECE" REMOVABLE PLATTER PIECE DEFINITIONS U'FIUTP'UJKTS W5 3. 03

LAS ER FLAGS c2 1 WORD/ 1o ENTRY C4 ASCII 18 C6 CHARACTER ENTRIEs MARKER PER C8 ID sEcToR NUMBER RELATIvE SECTOR 0 I OF PIEGEs gggg RELATIVE sEcToR 1 2 0F I0 #OF 6 MARKER 10 NEW STYLES s sPLIGEs MAN II oLDI o F HADE 3 I4 A REES 2 4 0 DATA MuLTIPLIER A 5 1s INTERNAL PIEGE e WIDTH 15 4 1 7 LENGTH 1 MAsTER IMAGE# 2&5? EE ggg 3 GOAL LENGTII*I 5 l4 1 2 3 I I oPP. MAx. RuLE H F SHADE BLOCK 9 MARKER EFFICIENCY FLAG Tm TABLE# 93% CONSTR FLAG Io sTRIPE OFFSET 15 1 5 T 7 1 ONE 8 woRu II sTRIPE sPAGING x% mm. Y% INGR. ENTRY PER I2 PLAID sPAcING 5 8 7 8 GE IEE IQ 15 RK 1 MARKER STYLE/SIZE SIZE 0F (15 ENTRIE x% INcREAsE B Y% INcREAsE a wow PIEcE 8 PER 14 INTERNAL STYLE III P3335 5 *1 SECTOR 15 sIzEIII SIZE(2) a 1x *1 7s STARTING x VALUE OF SPLICEH I I as 11 ENDING x vALuE OF sPLIcE 1 I ANS Q J I06- F /G 3 7 I28 AcTuAL LENGTH FIG. 36

LAsER FLAGS C4 10 F 7 AscII [G WORDS/ C6 gTIEACRACTER ENTRY 08 E ENTRIES :RJMBHR sEcToR C10 sEcToR PLus 1 RELATIVE SECTOR 0 G i 4 DATE IRRORGRAIN OF ZER 9 1 FLAG FLAG sEcToRs 4 mlLk li E o 5 5 0 IT N RULE TABLE SAMPLE an 8% SECTORS 7 a 1 H6 39 PM RULE TYPE 4 12 3 WORD ENTRY FOR EACH MINT (42 PolNTs PER SECTOR) 15 12 ITYPE Joe 1 NSECG (JTYPE) 3 (JOB) 1 2 NSECP 15 NSEC 1e 1; FIG 4/ :2 R1sv AXLD 16 PLOTTER 1 AYLD STATUS 15 14 12 11 1o 9 P08 TOOL HOME XYN PA mm; 1 XPBND (JPOS) M001.) (JHOME) (JIZ) HEADER 1 2 1 1 1 (SECTOR 0) Ax 3 amex AY 32 R1GY 35 cm FIG 42 3s PSTATUS g; AYQLD (OPTIONAL) 2 XPBND 41 LDIRC "DXXXX" c1 c2 P1ECE 12s 03 c4 Z A S YF HEADER 2 WORD C6 CHARACTERS HEADER CT c8 PER wono SWORDDATA NTRY gg DATA ENTRY 42 ENTRIES SECTOR c9 1-n) DIGITIZER CODES DATA ENTRY m N u MaER O 9 6 1 ASCII CODE 205011 5 1 3 CHARACTER wonos m SECTOR FIG 45 0 ONLY smrus 15 11 1o 9 aROTARY x BUTTON OF 0 qam s SWTCH (74 1o Asc1| 2m cs 21112 15 F /(5 47 18 ENTRIES/ c8 NUMBER SECTOR SECTOR IN PLUS 1 OF PIECES OF sEcToRs figg g i 15 4 4 EEETORS RULE TABLE 7 REQUIRED INTERNAL PIECE wARPIxI FILL (Y) ALLOWANCE 3 ALLowANcE 3 P'ECE MESSAGES F l G 15 6 3 I2 I o sTRIPE SHADE ROTATE FLIP NAP GROUP FLAG FLAG GROUP GROUP 5 WORDS s a I 1 I 1 PER ENTRY 15 4 g 2 0 (25 ENTRIES OPP. MAX HALF PIECE BLOCK PER SECTOR) FLAG TILT TABLE 7 FLAG x INCREASE Y (%I INcREAsE INTERNAL PIECE ca 04 s 10 AscII 2 1mg? C5 c6 CHARACTER 1 s ENTRIEs/ PIEcE ID EcToR 1:? cs NUMBER I uRGE STARTING sEcToR FLAG 1 1 IN GRADE PLUS 1 14 -11 sEcToRs 3T0TAL# 0F ZERo ADDITIONAL 5 PER SIZE 4 SECTORS 9 y SECTCIJRRED ANGLE OF GRAIN LINE F ag iEADER l5 7 RULE O i 8 TABLE# 7 MINIMUM x vALuE MINIMUM Y VALUE HEADER 1 X OFFSET OF cENTER Io woRos PER ENTRY, Y OFFSET CENTER I2 ENTRIES PER sEcToR AREA PERIMETER x mm. 7 Y% mm. 8

mm TABLE NUMBER C3 C4 10 ASCII 7 WORD/ C5 6 cI-IARAcTER I EwI'RIES/ 6 mm ID F e SECTOR 0? ca NUMBER c9 C10 I=uRGE sTARTING sEcToR FLAG 1 I IN RuLEs PLUS 1 14 SHEET CHECK STATUS RETURN DISPLAY START -UP BUILD PLOT QUEUE ENTRY BUILD DRAW QUEUE ENTRY WPURGE QUEUE [ENTRY RETURN YES FROM 12002 mm ERRDR READER NO IN CARDS NO READY READ YES YES PURGE AND PACK JOB QUEUE 548- CALL PROD2 YES START-UP 557 NO cARDs READ 560 YES 2 55a PURGE ALL YES CHECK PLOT GRA m ENTRIES 2 REQUEST HALT TO SLAVE REQUEST HALT TO SLAVE GRADING CALL PGRAB FIG. 53

INITIALI ZE PLOT POINTERS PROCESS 582 ALL AREA REQUESTS SELECT PLOT 0R DRAW JOB cALL 500 LASEM CALL PLOTP SET PRIORITY 0F ENTRY To ZERO T A'ERR ELELE MARK NOT READY (E FIG. 54

Claims

1. A system for laying out an apparel pattern marker wherein a plurality of apparel pattern pieces are arranged within a predetermined marker area comprising: screen means for displaying to an operator scaled miniature representations of said pattern pieces adjacent a scaled miniature representation of said marker area; positioning means movable by the operator to selectively move said representations of said pattern pieces one at a time on said screen means to within said representation of said marker area, wherein said representations of said pattern pieces may be efficiently arranged within said representation of said marker area to form a simulated marker; and means responsive to the orientation of said representations of said pattern pieces forming said simulated marker on said screen for plotting the full size marker layout of said pattern pieces in the predetermined full size marker area.

2. The system of claim 1 and further comprising: a data tablet interconnected with said screen means and said positioning means for generating electrical signals representative of the position of said positioning means relative to said data tablet, and means responsive to said electrical signals for causing selective movement of said representations of said pattern pieces on said screen means.

3. The system of claim 2 and further comprising: circuitry responsive to movement of said positioning means relative to said data tablet for causing corresponding movement of a light cursor over said screen means.

4. The system of claim 3 and further comprising pick means for being operated such that pattern pieces displayed on said screen jump to a predetermined location relative to said cursor when said cursor is moved adjacent said pattern pieces.

5. The system of claim 1 and further comprising: a function box interconnected with said screen means and including function buttons for varying the position of said pattern pieces within said displayed marker area.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said function box includes a button for causing selected pattern pieces to be abutted within said displayed marker area.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein said function box includes a button for causing a pattern piece to be selectively rotated within said displayed marker area.

8. The system of claim 5 wherein said function box includes a button for causing a pattern piece to be flipped over within said displayed marker area.

9. A system for preparing an apparel pattern marker comprising: a digitizer for generating digital coordinate signals representative of the coordinates of points defining a plurality of model size pattern pieces; means for storing said coordinate signals and for grading said stored model pattern pieces according to predetermined grading rules; a display screen operable in response to said stored coordinatE signals for displaying miniature representations of a predetermined size of pattern pieces and a miniature representation of a marker area; a data tablet interconnected with said display screen and said storing and grading means and including a stylus movable adjacent said data tablet, circuitry responsive to movement of said stylus relative to said data tablet for selectively causing movement of said pattern pieces on said display screen into said marker area; a function box operable to arrange said pattern pieces in an efficient abutting relationship within said marker area; and a plotter for plotting a full sized marker corresponding to a final arrangement of pattern pieces within said marker area on said display screen.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said digitizer includes a light for being illuminated if the operator does not operate said digitizer in accordance with predetermined criteria.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein said digitizer includes a cursor member movable over a table and including switches operable to designate types of coordinate signals being generated.

12. The system of claim 9 and further comprising means for calculating the efficiency of the utilizatiton of the marker area by a particular arrangement of pattern pieces on said display screen within the marker area, and means for displaying the efficiency of a finished marker layout on said display screen.

13. The system of claim 9 and further comprising means for terminating display of pattern pieces and marker area and for displaying a nested plot of various graded sizes of a pattern piece on said display screen, said stylus operable to check the grading applied to said nested plot.

14. A system for laying out a plurality of pattern pieces in a pattern marker comprising: a digitizer for generating pattern pieces coordinate data from said pattern pieces and grading instructions from said coordinate data; means for storing said coordinate data and grading instructions; means for selectively retrieving portions of said coordinate data and grading instructions corresponding to pattern pieces of a preselected style; means for applying said grading instructions to said retrieved coordinate data to grade said pattern pieces to preselected sizes; a display screen for displaying miniature representations of said graded pattern pieces and said marker area; a data tablet; stylus means movable relative to said data tablet; circuitry responsive to movement of said stylus means relative to said data tablet for causing movement of said pattern pieces on said display screen into said displayed marker area; and means for plotting a full sized marker corresponding to the final arrangement of pattern pieces within said marker area on said display screen.

15. The system of claim 14 and further comprising means for displaying said miniature pattern pieces on said display screen in an order of decreasing size.

16. The system of claim 14 and further comprising a function box having a plurality of keys, one of said keys operable to cause one of said displayed pattern pieces to be locked on to movement of said light cursor in order to move said pattern pieces into said displayed marker area.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein one of said keys is operable to cause selected pattern pieces to be abutted within said displayed marker area.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein said forming means comprises a plotter for plotting a full sized marker on a sheet of pattern paper.

19. The system of claim 14 and further comprising means for displaying a goal line on said marker area to designate a desired area to be filled with said pattern pieces.

20. The system of claim 14 and further comprising means for generating an alarm indication if the boundaries of any of the pattern pieces arranged in said displayed marker area by operation of said stylus means are overlapped with one another.

21. A system for grading And checking model pattern pieces comprising: a digitizer for generating pattern piece coordinate data and grading instructions for said coordinate data; means for storing said coordinate data and grading instructions; means for applying said grading instructions to said coordinate data according to predetermined grade rules; display means for selectively displaying nested plots of a a plurality of graded sizes of each of said pattern pieces; a data tablet interconnected with said displaying means and including a stylus; means responsive to movement of said stylus adjacent said data tablet for displaying grading instructions on said display means corresponding to selected points on said displayed nested plots; a function box having switches operable to revise said grading instructions displayed on said display means corresponding to said selected points on said displayed nested plots; and means for regrading said selected points on said displayed nested plots according to said revised grading instructions.

22. The system of claim 21 and further comprising means for displaying on said display means a rule table selected from said function box.

23. The system of claim 21 and further including means for displaying a selected plurality of pattern pieces adjacent a marker area and for moving said pattern pieces into said marker area.

24. A method for arranging a plurality of apparel pattern pieces within a marker area to form a pattern marker comprising: displaying on a screen miniature representations of said pattern pieces and of said marker area; operating a positioning system to move said pattern pieces into said marker area on said screen and to arrange said pattern pieces within said marker area; and automatically tracing out a full sized apparel pattern marker corresponding to the final arrangement on said screen of said pattern pieces in said marker area.

25. The method of claim 24 and further comprising: operating buttons on a function box to cause selected ones of said displayed pattern pieces to be abutted together within said marker area.

26. A method of preparing an apparel pattern marker comprising: generating digital coordinate data representative of the coordinates of points defining a plurality of model size pattern pieces; storing said coordinate data; grading said stored coordinate data according to predetermined grading rules; displaying on a screen miniature representations of a predetermined size and style of pattern pieces and a miniature representation of a marker area; moving a cursor on said screen for picking selected pattern pieces displayed on said screen and for moving said pattern pieces into said displayed marker area; operating function buttons for arranging and orienting said displayed pattern pieces within said displayed marker area; and plotting a full size marker corresponding to the final arrangement of pattern pieces within said marker area on said screen.

27. The method of claim 26 and further comprising operating ones of said function buttons for causing pattern pieces to be moved into abutment with one another within said displayed marker area.

28. The method of claim 26 and further comprising: operating ones of said function buttons for causing rotation of selected ones of said displayed pattern pieces within said displayed marker area.

29. The method of claim 26 and further comprising generating an alarm indication when pattern pieces overlap one another within said marker area.