Virtual build beds
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsSebastia Cortes, Jun Zeng, Xavier Vilajosana
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus partition a AM build bed of a AM unit into a first virtual build bed and a second virtual build bed. The first virtual build bed is assigned to a first user while the second virtual build bed assigned to a second user. A first digital file for a first object to be generated in the first virtual build bed is received from the first user. A second digital file for a second object to be generated in the second virtual build bed is receive from the second user. Output signals are transmitted to the AM unit to generate the first object in the first virtual build bed and the second object in the second virtual build bed during a build cycle.
Claims19
A method comprising:
- partitioning a build bed of an additive manufacturing (AM) system into a first virtual build bed and a second virtual build bed;
- assigning the first virtual build bed to a first user;
- assigning the second virtual build bed to a second user;
- receiving, from the first user, a first digital file for a first object to be generated in the first virtual build bed;
- and
- receiving, from the second user, a second digital file for a second object to be generated in the second virtual build bed during a same build cycle in which the first object in the first virtual build bed is generated, wherein the first virtual build bed and the second virtual build bed are assigned to the first user and the second user, respectively, prior to the receiving of the first digital file or the receiving of the second digital file.
An apparatus comprising:
- an additive manufacturing (AM) system having a build volume for a build cycle;
- a controller to partition the build volume for the build cycle into first and second sub volumes for the build cycle and to assign ownership of the first and second sub volumes for the build cycle to first and second users, respectively, wherein the first virtual build bed and the second virtual build bed are assigned to the first user and the second user, respectively, prior to the receiving any digital file for objects to be built during the build cycle in either of the first and second sub volumes.
An apparatus comprising:
- non-transitory computer-readable medium containing program logic to direct a processor to:
- partition an additive manufacturing (AM) build bed of an additive manufacturing unit into a first virtual build bed and a second virtual build bed for a build cycle prior to receiving any digital file for objects to be built in the first virtual build bed or the second virtual build bed during the build cycle;
- assign the first virtual build bed to a first user;
- assign the second virtual build bed to a second user;
- receive a first digital file for a first object to be generated in the first virtual build bed from the first user;
- and
- receive a second digital file for a second object to be generated in the second virtual build bed from the second user;
- and
- output signals to the AM unit to print the first object in the first virtual build bed and the second object in the second virtual build bed during a single build cycle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.