Optimal printing of template components on a fabric substrate

A data processing system adapted for optimally printing template components on a fabric substrate, the system comprising:

• a host computing platform comprising one or more computers, each with memory and one or processing units including one or more processing cores;
• a template printer coupled to the host computing platform and loaded with a roll of fabric substrate of fixed width and length;
• and,
• a template print optimization module comprising computer program instructions enabled while executing in the memory of at least one of the processing units of the host computing platform to perform:
• reading from a pool of printable pieces a set of the printable pieces each having a corresponding one of a multiplicity of different patterns for respectively different garments, each of the printable pieces having known dimensions;
• locating on a section of a fabric substrate a starting point from which different ones of the pieces in the set are to be printed;
• computing for each different one of a multiplicity of subsets of the pieces in the set, different combinations of the pieces for which a sum of the known dimensions for the pieces of a corresponding one of the combinations is less than or equal to a constraining dimension of the fabric substrate measured from the starting point;
• selecting one of the different combinations which minimizes a difference between the constraining dimension of the fabric substrate and the sum;
• directing a printer to print the pieces of the selected one of the different combinations onto the fabric substrate;
• removing the pieces of the selected one of the different combinations from the pool;
• repeating the reading, locating, computing, selecting, directing and removing for remaining ones of the printable pieces of the patterns;
• thereafter detecting a printing error in respect to printing of one of the pieces;
• and,
• responsive to the detection, re-inserting the one of the pieces associated with the printing error into the pool for use in a new permutation of the printable pieces at a later time.

A computing device comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions stored therein, the instructions being executable by at least one processing core of a processing unit to cause the processing unit to optimally print template components on a fabric substrate by:

• reading from a pool of printable pieces a set of the printable pieces each having a corresponding one of a multiplicity of different patterns for respectively different garments, each of the printable pieces having known dimensions;
• locating on a section of a fabric substrate a starting point from which different ones of the pieces in the set are to be printed;
• computing for each different one of a multiplicity of subsets of the pieces in the set, different combinations of the pieces for which a sum of the known dimensions for the pieces of a corresponding one of the combinations is less than or equal to a constraining dimension of the fabric substrate measured from the starting point;
• selecting one of the different combinations which minimizes a difference between the constraining dimension of the fabric substrate and the sum;
• directing a printer to print the pieces of the selected one of the different combinations onto the fabric substrate;
• removing the pieces of the selected one of the different combinations from the pool;
• repeating the reading, locating, computing, selecting, directing and removing for remaining ones of the printable pieces of the patterns;
• thereafter detecting a printing error in respect to printing of one of the pieces;
• and,
• responsive to the detection, re-inserting the one of the pieces associated with the printing error into the pool for use in a new permutation of the printable pieces at a later time.