Method and apparatus for automatically cutting material in standard patterns

A method of controlling a cutting machine having a pattern memory, for automatically cutting material in accordance with a standard pattern, comprising the steps of:

• assigning a name to the pattern;
• storing contour data, which enable the cutting machine to cut along a contour defined by the pattern, in the pattern memory of the cutting machine, and associating the contour data in the pattern memory with the name of the corresponding pattern;
• placing machine-readable coding on the pattern that is representative of the name of the pattern;
• placing the material to be cut onto the cutting machine, and placing the pattern at a desired position on the material;
• automatically detecting whether coding is present on the pattern, and if so, reading the coding to determine therefrom the name of the pattern and its position on the cutting machine;
• and
• automatically supplying data indicative of the name and position of the pattern to the cutting machine and thereby controlling the cutting machine to cut along the contour defined by the pattern at the position of the pattern;
• wherein the data indicative of the position of the pattern include X and Y data indicative of the X-Y displacement of a predetermined portion of the coding from a reference point on the cutting machine, and angle data indicative of the angular displacement of said coding with respect to a reference axis on the cutting machine;
• wherein the coding placed on the pattern comprises one code mark of a first type and at least one code mark of a second type, a grid arrangement being defined on the pattern and the name of the pattern being defined according to the location of the code marks on the grid arrangement;
• wherein the first and second types of code marks are substantially circular and have different diameters;
• and
• wherein the code marks comprise holes in the pattern and a cover strip is placed over the holes on a bottom surface of the pattern to provide the holes with color contrast with respect to a top surface when the holes are optically viewed from above

A method of controlling a cutting machine having a pattern memory, for automatically cutting material in accordance with a standard pattern comprising the steps of:

• assigning a name to the pattern;
• storing contour data, which enable the cutting machine to cut along a contour defined by the pattern, in the pattern memory of the cutting machine, and associating the contour data in the pattern memory with the name of the corresponding pattern;
• placing machine-readable coding on the pattern that is representative of the name of the pattern;
• placing the material to be cut onto the cutting machine, and placing the pattern at a desired position on the material;
• automatically detecting whether coding is present on the pattern, and if so, reading the coding to determine therefrom the name of the pattern and its position on the cutting machine;
• and
• automatically supplying data indicative of the name and position of the pattern to the cutting machine and thereby controlling the cutting machine to cut along the contour defined by the pattern at the position of the pattern;
• wherein the data indicative of the position of the pattern include X and Y data indicative of the X-Y displacement of a predetermined portion of the coding from a reference point on the cutting machine, and angle data indicative of the angular displacement of said coding with respect to a reference axis on the cutting machine;
• wherein the coding placed on the pattern comprises one code mark of a first type and at least one code mark of a second type, a grid arrangement being defined on the pattern and the name of the pattern being defined according to the location of the code marks on the grid arrangement;
• and
• wherein the first and second types of code marks are substantially rectangular and have different areas.

A method of controlling a cutting machine having a pattern memory, for automatically cutting material in accordance with a standard pattern, comprising the steps of:

• assigning a name to the pattern;
• storing contour data, which enable the cutting machine to cut along a contour defined by the pattern, in the pattern memory of the cutting machine, and associating the contour data in the pattern memory with the name of the corresponding pattern;
• placing machine-readable coding on the pattern that is representative of the name of the pattern;
• placing the material to be cut onto the cutting machine, and placing the pattern at a desired position on the material;
• automatically detecting whether coding is present on the pattern, and if so, reading the coding to determine therefrom the name of the pattern and its position on the cutting machine;
• and
• automatically supplying data indicative of the name and position of the pattern to the cutting machine and thereby controlling the cutting machine to cut along the contour defined by the pattern at the position of the pattern;
• wherein the data indicative of the position of the pattern include X and Y data indicative of the X-Y displacement of a predetermined portion of the coding from a reference point on the cutting machine, and angle data indicative of the angular displacement of said coding with respect to a reference axis on the cutting machine;
• wherein the coding placed on the pattern comprises one code mark of a first type and at least one code mark of a second type, a grid arrangement being defined on the pattern and the name of the pattern being defined according to the location of the code marks on the grid arrangement;
• and
• wherein the grid arrangement includes at least a first axis having a plurality of equally spaced positions defined thereon, the name of the pattern being determined according to which defined positions are occupied by the code marks.

An apparatus for automatically controlling a cutting machine to cut material thereon in accordance with a standard pattern placed at a desired position on the material, the apparatus comprising:

• pattern memory means in the cutting machine for storing contour data enabling the cutting machine to cut along a contour defined by the pattern, and storing a corresponding pattern name associated with the contour data;
• and
• means for detecting whether coding is present on such pattern, and if so, reading the coding to determine therefrom a pattern name represented by the coding, and to determine the position of the pattern on the cutting machine;
• and for automatically supplying data indicative of the name and position of the pattern to the cutting machine, and thereby controlling the cutting machine to cut along the contour defined by the pattern at the position of the pattern.

An apparatus for automatically controlling a cutting machine to cut material thereon in accordance with a standard pattern placed at a desired position on the material, the apparatus comprising:

• pattern memory means in the cutting machine for storing contour data enabling the cutting machine to cut along a contour defined by the pattern, and storing a corresponding pattern name associated with the contour data;
• and
• means for detecting whether coding is present on such pattern, and if so, reading the coding to determine therefrom a pattern name represented by the coding, and to determine the position of the pattern on the cutting machine;
• and for automatically supplying data indicative of the name and position of the pattern to the cutting machine, and thereby controlling the cutting machine to cut along the contour defined by the pattern at the position of the pattern;
• wherein the cutting machine has a work surface, and the detecting and reading means comprises
• an optical detector on the cutting machine producing a video output signal representative of objects on the work surface;
• a digital image memory for storing the video output signal as stored video data;
• and
• an image decoding system for receiving the stored video data and determining therefrom whether coding is present on a pattern on the work surface, and if so, generating control data indicative of the name and position of the pattern on the work surface;
• and
• wherein the digital image memory comprises
• input means for receiving the video output signal from the optical detector, comparing the video output signal against an adjustable threshold to produce binary video data, and also generating a sync signal related to the video output signal;
• instruction means for receiving the sync signal and generating storage instructions;
• buffer means for receiving the storage instructions and in response thereto storing the binary video data from the input means;
• and
• memory means for receiving the storage instructions and in response thereto storing the binary video data from the buffer means.

An apparatus for automatically controlling a cutting machine to cut material thereon in accordance with a standard pattern placed at a desired position on the material, the apparatus comprising:

• pattern memory means in the cutting machine for storing contour data enabling the cutting machine to cut along a contour defined by the pattern, and storing a corresponding pattern name associated with the contour data;
• and
• means for detecting whether coding is present on such pattern, and if so, reading the coding to determine therefrom a pattern name represented by the coding, and to determine the position of the pattern on the cutting machine;
• and for automatically supplying data indicative of the name and position of the pattern to the cutting machine, and thereby controlling the cutting machine to cut along the contour defined by the pattern at the position of the pattern;
• wherein the cutting machine has a work surface, and the detecting and reading means comprises
• an optical detector on the cutting machine producing a video output signal representative of objects on the work surface;
• a digital image memory for storing the video output signal as stored video data;
• and
• an image decoding system for receiving the stored video data and determining therefrom whether coding is present on a pattern on the work surface, and if so, generating control data indicative of the name and position of the pattern on the work surface;
• and
• wherein the image decoding system comprises a microcomputer including a bi-directional data bus connected for data transfer to an input port, a CPU, a keyboard, a display, a program memory, a working memory, and a data transfer system.

A method of controlling a cutting machine having a pattern memory, for automatically cutting material in accordance with a plurality of standard patterns, comprising the steps of:

• assigning respective names to a plurality of distinct patterns;
• storing respective contour data for each pattern, which enable the cutting machine to cut along a contour defined by the pattern, in the pattern memory of the cutting machine, and associating the contour data in the pattern memory with the names of the corresponding patterns;
• placing machine-readable coding within the contours of each pattern that is representative of the name of the pattern;
• placing the material to be cut onto the cutting machine, and placing such plurality of patterns at desired positions on the material;
• automatically detecting whether coding is present on the patterns, and if so, simultaneously reading the coding on all of said patterns to determine therefrom the respective names of the patterns and their respective positions on the cutting machine;
• and
• automatically supplying said data indicative of the names and positions of all of the patterns to the cutting machine and thereby controlling the cutting machine to cut along the contours defined by the patterns at the positions of the patterns.

An apparatus for automatically controlling a cutting machine to cut machine thereon in accordance with a standard pattern placed at a desired position on the material, the apparatus comprising:

• pattern memory means in the cutting machine for storing contour data enabling the cutting machine to cut along a contour defined by the pattern, and storing a corresponding pattern name associated with the contour data;
• and
• means for detecting whether coding is present on such pattern, and if so, reading the coding to determine therefrom a pattern name represented by the coding, and to determine the position of the pattern on the cutting machine;
• and for automatically supplying data indicative of the name and position of the pattern to the cutting machine, and thereby controlling the cutting machine to cut along the contour defined by the pattern at the position of the pattern;
• wherein the pattern memory means in the cutting machine is capable of storing respective contour data corresponding to a plurality of patterns, and a corresponding plurality of pattern names associated therewith;
• and
• wherein said coding-detecting means is capable of reading the coding on a plurality of said patterns simultaneously to determine therefrom all of the respective pattern names and positions of said patterns, and is capable of automatically supplying all said data indicative of the names and positions of the patterns to the cutting machine.

A method of controlling a cutting machine having a pattern memory, for automatically cutting material in accordance with a standard pattern, comprising the steps of:

• assigning a name to the pattern;
• storing contour data, which enable the cutting machine to cut along a contour defined by the pattern, in the pattern memory of the cutting machine, and associating the contour data in the pattern memory with the name of the corresponding pattern;
• placing machine-readable coding on the pattern that is representative of the name of the pattern;
• placing the material to be cut onto the cutting machine, and placing the pattern at a desired position on the material;
• automatically detecting whether coding is present on the pattern, and if so, reading the coding to determine therefrom the name of the pattern and its position on the cutting machine;
• and
• automatically supplying data indicative of the name and position of the pattern to the cutting machine and thereby controlling the cutting machine to cut along the contour defined by the pattern at the position of the pattern;
• wherein the data indicative of the position of the pattern include X and Y data indicative of the X-Y displacement of a predetermined portion of the coding from a reference point on the cutting machine, and angle data indicative of the angular displacement of said coding with respect to a reference axis on the cutting machine;
• and
• wherein the data indicative of the X-Y displacement comprises variables L1 and L2, which are defined as follows:
• L1=X1'+B
• L2=Y1'+A
• and said angle data indicative of said angular displacement comprises a variable L3, defined as follows:
• ##EQU2## wherein the variables L1 and L2 indicate the shifting of one coding mark P1 by the coordinate dimensions X1'+B and Y1'+A, wherein another coding mark P2 has been shifted by the coordinate dimensions X2'+B and Y2'+A, and wherein the angle alpha indicates the angle through which the pattern has been turned, with respect to a machine zero point MN, in conjunction with said shifting of the marks P1 and P2.

An apparatus for automatically controlling a cutting machine to cut material on a work surface of said cutting machine, in accordance with a standard pattern placed at a desired position on the material, the apparatus comprising:

• pattern memory means in the cutting machine for storing contour data enabling the cutting machine to cut along a contour defined by the pattern, and storing a corresponding pattern name associated with the contour data;
• and
• means for detecting whether coding is present on such pattern, and if so, reading the coding to determine therefrom a pattern name represented by the coding, and to determine the position of the pattern on the cutting machine;
• and for automatically supplying data indicative of the name and position of the pattern to the cutting machine, and thereby controlling the cutting machine to cut along the contour defined by the pattern at the position of the pattern;
• wherein the detecting and reading means comprises:
• an optical detector on the cutting machine producing a video output signal representative of objects on the work surface;
• a digital image memory for storing the video output signal as stored video data;
• and
• an image decoding system for receiving the stored video data and determining therefrom whether coding is present on a pattern on the work surface, and if so, generating control data indicative of the name and position of the pattern on the work surface;
• and
• wherein said control data indicative of the position of the pattern on the work surface comprises:
• data indicative of the X-Y displacement comprising variables L1 and L2, which are defined as follows:
• L1=X1'+B
• L2=Y1'+A
• and angle data indicative of the angular displacement of the pattern on the work surface, comprising a variable L3, defined as follows:
• ##EQU3## wherein the variables L1 and L2 indicate ,the shifting of one coding mark P1 by the coordinate dimensions X1+B and Y1+A, wherein another coding mark, P2 has been shifted by the coordinate dimensions X2'+B and Y2+A, and wherein the angle alpha indicates the angle through which the pattern has been turned, with respect to a machine zero point MN, in conjunction with said shifting of the marks P1 and P2.