Automated knitting system and method

A system comprising:

• (a) a seamless circular knitting machine, comprising:
• (a1) a circular set of needles having an M number of needles, wherein the M number of needles is in a range of 500 to 2,500 needles, wherein said needles are arranged in a circular pattern;
• and
• (a2) a knit controller, configured to selectively and separately operate each one of said M needles, on a needle-by-needle basis;
• and
• (b) a digital computational design tool, implemented by one or more hardware processors that are configured to execute code, wherein the one or more hardware processors are operably associated with one or more memory units to store the code;
• wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured to receive a bitmap image, having a pixel width resolution that is identical to said M number of needles;
• and based on processing of said bitmap image, to generate and to send knitting instructions to the knit controller of the seamless circular knitting machine, based on a direct one-to-one correlation between (I) an Nth pixel in an Rth row of said bitmap image, and (II) needle activity of a corresponding Nth needle out of said M needles when said Nth needle knits in the Rth row of a knitted product;
• wherein said digital computational design tool generates said bitmap image which has exactly two colors, which are a first color and a second color;
• wherein a pixel in said bitmap image, having said first color, located at an offset of P pixels from a start of a row of pixels, indicates a knitting instruction of the knitting instructions to knit a stitch by a needle which has an offset of P needles from a first needle that indicates a start of a circle of needles;
• wherein a pixel in said bitmap image, having said second color, located at an offset of K pixels from a start of a row of pixels, indicates a knitting instruction of the knitting instructions to miss or to skip a stitch by a needle which has an offset of K needles from the first needle that indicates the start of the circle of needles.

A system comprising:

• (a) a seamless circular knitting machine, comprising:
• (a1) a circular set of needles having an M number of needles, wherein the M number of needles is in a range of 500 to 2,500 needles, wherein said needles are arranged in a circular pattern;
• and
• (a2) a knit controller, configured to selectively and separately operate each one of said M needles, on a needle-by-needle basis;
• and
• (b) a digital computational design tool, implemented by one or more hardware processors that are configured to execute code, wherein the one or more hardware processors are operably associated with one or more memory units to store the code;
• wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured to receive a bitmap image, having a pixel width resolution that is identical to said M number of needles;
• and based on processing of said bitmap image, to generate and to send knitting instructions to the knit controller of the seamless circular knitting machine, based on a direct one-to-one correlation between (I) an Nth pixel in an Rth row of said bitmap image, and (II) needle activity of a corresponding Nth needle out of said M needles when said Nth needle knits in the Rth row of a knitted product;
• wherein in the digital computational design tool, the one or more hardware processors are further configured:
• to generate said bitmap image which is a dual-color bitmap image, wherein each pixel in said dual-color bitmap image has either a first color or a second color;
• wherein a pixel having the first color indicates a knitting instruction of the knitting instructions to knit a stitch by a corresponding needle of the seamless circular knitting machine;
• wherein a pixel having the second color indicates a knitting instruction of the knitting instructions to miss or to skip a stitch by a corresponding needle of the seamless circular knitting machine.

A system comprising:

• (a) a seamless circular knitting machine, comprising:
• (a1) a circular set of needles having an M number of needles, wherein the M number of needles is in a range of 500 to 2,500 needles, wherein said needles are arranged in a circular pattern;
• and
• (a2) a knit controller, configured to selectively and separately operate each one of said M needles, on a needle-by-needle basis;
• and
• (b) a digital computational design tool, implemented by one or more hardware processors that are configured to execute code, wherein the one or more hardware processors are operably associated with one or more memory units to store the code;
• wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured to receive a bitmap image, having a pixel width resolution that is identical to said M number of needles;
• and based on processing of said bitmap image, to generate and to send knitting instructions to the knit controller of the seamless circular knitting machine, based on a direct one-to-one correlation between (I) an Nth pixel in an Rth row of said bitmap image, and (II) needle activity of a corresponding Nth needle out of said M needles when said Nth needle knits in the Rth row of a knitted product;
• wherein in the digital computational design tool, the one or more hardware processors are further configured to provide to said knit controller the knitting instructions that are needle-by-needle and that correspond to pixel-by-pixel color values of said bitmap image.

A system comprising:

• (a) a seamless circular knitting machine, comprising:
• (a1) a circular set of needles having an M number of needles, wherein the M number of needles is in a range of 500 to 2,500 needles, wherein said needles are arranged in a circular pattern;
• and
• (a2) a knit controller, configured to selectively and separately operate each one of said M needles, on a needle-by-needle basis;
• and
• (b) a digital computational design tool, implemented by one or more hardware processors that are configured to execute code, wherein the one or more hardware processors are operably associated with one or more memory units to store the code;
• wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured to receive a bitmap image, having a pixel width resolution that is identical to said M number of needles;
• and based on processing of said bitmap image, to generate and to send knitting instructions to the knit controller of the seamless circular knitting machine, based on a direct one-to-one correlation between (I) an Nth pixel in an Rth row of said bitmap image, and (II) needle activity of a corresponding Nth needle out of said M needles when said Nth needle knits in the Rth row of a knitted product;
• wherein in the digital computational design tool, the one or more hardware processors are further configured to provide to said knit controller the knitting instructions that are needle-by-needle and that correspond to pixel-by-pixel color values of said bitmap image and which cause said needles to knit a gradually-changing compression structure which corresponds to a visual structure depicted in said bitmap image.

A system comprising:

• (a) a seamless circular knitting machine, comprising:
• (a1) a circular set of needles having an M number of needles, wherein the M number of needles is in a range of 500 to 2,500 needles, wherein said needles are arranged in a circular pattern;
• and
• (a2) a knit controller, configured to selectively and separately operate each one of said M needles, on a needle-by-needle basis;
• and
• (b) a digital computational design tool, implemented by one or more hardware processors that are configured to execute code, wherein the one or more hardware processors are operably associated with one or more memory units to store the code;
• wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured to receive a bitmap image, having a pixel width resolution that is identical to said M number of needles;
• and based on processing of said bitmap image, to generate and to send knitting instructions to the knit controller of the seamless circular knitting machine, based on a direct one-to-one correlation between (I) an Nth pixel in an Rth row of said bitmap image, and (II) needle activity of a corresponding Nth needle out of said M needles when said Nth needle knits in the Rth row of a knitted product;
• wherein in the digital computational design tool, the one or more hardware processors are further configured to provide to said knit controller the knitting instructions that are needle-by-needle and that correspond to pixel-by-pixel color values of said bitmap image and which cause said needles to knit a gradually-changing compression structure which corresponds to a visual structure depicted in said bitmap image,
• wherein a first row of pixels in the bitmap image, which has a total of P pixels, represents a first level of fabric compression due to a first knitted pattern represented by said first row of pixels;
• and causes said seamless circular knitting machine to knit a first circular fabric-portion of the knitted product that has a first level of body compression and that has a first diameter in centimeters;
• wherein a second row of pixels in the bitmap image, which also has a total of P pixels, represents a second, different, level of fabric compression due to a second, different, knitted pattern represented by said second row of pixels;
• and causes said seamless circular knitting machine to knit a second, different, circular fabric-portion of the knitted product that has a second, different, level of body compression and that has a second, different, diameter in centimeters.

A system comprising:

• (a) a seamless circular knitting machine, comprising:
• (a1) a circular set of needles having an M number of needles, wherein the M number of needles is in a range of 500 to 2,500 needles, wherein said needles are arranged in a circular pattern;
• and
• (a2) a knit controller, configured to selectively and separately operate each one of said M needles, on a needle-by-needle basis;
• and
• (b) a digital computational design tool, implemented by one or more hardware processors that are configured to execute code, wherein the one or more hardware processors are operably associated with one or more memory units to store the code;
• wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured to receive a bitmap image, having a pixel width resolution that is identical to said M number of needles;
• and based on processing of said bitmap image, to generate and to send knitting instructions to the knit controller of the seamless circular knitting machine, based on a direct one-to-one correlation between (I) an Nth pixel in an Rth row of said bitmap image, and (II) needle activity of a corresponding Nth needle out of said M needles when said Nth needle knits in the Rth row of a knitted product;
• wherein in the digital computational design tool, the one or more hardware processors are further configured to provide to said knit controller the knitting instructions that are needle-by-needle and that correspond to pixel-by-pixel color values of said bitmap image and which cause said needles to differentially knit different circular portions of a garment of the knitted product, and which cause the seamless circular knitting machine to automatically produce a generally tubular fabric of the knitted product having a plurality of different diameter values for a plurality of different circumferential fabric-regions;
• wherein said digital computational design tool causes the same seamless circular knitting machine to knit a first tubular element of the generally tubular fabric having a first diameter and to also knit a second, adjacent, tubular element of the generally tubular fabric having a second, different, diameter.

A system comprising:

• (a) a seamless circular knitting machine, comprising:
• (a1) a circular set of needles having an M number of needles, wherein the M number of needles is in a range of 500 to 2,500 needles, wherein said needles are arranged in a circular pattern;
• and
• (a2) a knit controller, configured to selectively and separately operate each one of said M needles, on a needle-by-needle basis;
• and
• (b) a digital computational design tool, implemented by one or more hardware processors that are configured to execute code, wherein the one or more hardware processors are operably associated with one or more memory units to store the code;
• wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured to receive a bitmap image, having a pixel width resolution that is identical to said M number of needles;
• and based on processing of said bitmap image, to generate and to send knitting instructions to the knit controller of the seamless circular knitting machine, based on a direct one-to-one correlation between (I) an Nth pixel in an Rth row of said bitmap image, and (II) needle activity of a corresponding Nth needle out of said M needles when said Nth needle knits in the Rth row of a knitted product;
• wherein in the digital computational design tool, the one or more hardware processors are further configured:
• to generate an on-screen Graphic User Interface (GUI) element that enables a user to modify an attribute of a content of said bitmap image;
• to detect a user command, via said on-screen GUI element, requesting a modification of said attribute of the content of said bitmap image;
• and in response to detecting said user command, to perform said modification of said attribute, and to generate an updated version of said bitmap image which represents an updated version of said knitted product.