# US 5,703,781 A · Automatic market making system and method > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 5,703,781 A - Document ID: US5703781A - Status: Granted - Kind: A - Application number: 08/712,993 - Filed: 1996-09-05 - Granted: 1997-12-30 - Earliest claimed: 1994-01-24 - Assignees: Gerger Garment Technology, Inc. - Inventors: Charles R. Martell; Michael J. Cassidy; Anita K. Ramsey; Zih-Fang Liu; Chou Ling Ting; H. Anderson McKellar - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US5703781A ## CPC - G06Q 10/043: {Optimisation of two dimensional placement, e.g. cutting of clothes or wood} - A41H 3/007: {Methods of drafting or marking-out patterns using computers (computer-aided design G06F30/00)} - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - A41H: APPLIANCES OR METHODS FOR MAKING CLOTHES, e.g. FOR DRESS-MAKING OR FOR TAILORING, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract An automatic marker making system and method are provided in which the creation of a new marker is facilitated through the use of already existing marker designs. A computer database of existing markers is searched for markers that are "similar" to the marker being created. An existing marker is considered "similar" if it meets certain user-specified, marker making criteria. Initially, position and orientation data from pattern pieces in the "similar" marker are used to position and orient corresponding pieces in the new marker. Then, the new marker is "compacted" using a software routine to nest all of the new pieces simultaneously, instead of nesting one or two pieces at a time. The compacting routine corrects overlaps between pieces and assures that the new pieces are nested as efficiently as possible. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A system for automatically making markers, comprising: a network of interconnected digital processors, each of said digital processors operable to store marker information in memory; at least one of said digital processors operable to retrieve and process said marker information stored by each of the other said digital processors; said at least one of said digital processors further operable to: rank similar markers retrieved from said retrieved marker information according to predetermined marker making criteria; select one of the ranked similar markers; position and orient pieces in a new marker in accordance with the position and orientation of corresponding pieces in the selected similar marker; correct the new marker to eliminate overlaps between the new pieces; and compact the new marker using a Minkowski Sum algorithm to shorten the length. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein said network of interconnected digital processors comprises a local area network. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein said network of interconnected digital processors comprises a "Token Ring" network. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein said network of interconnected digital processors comprises an "Ethernet" network. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one of said digital processors comprises a file server. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein said at least one of said digital processors is further operable to compact the new marker using linear programming to shorten the length. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the memory of said each of the other said digital processors includes at least a diskette. ### Claim 8 A method of automatically making markers using a database of existing markers, comprising the steps of: retrieving marker information from said database of existing markers; ranking similar markers retrieved from said retrieved marker information according to predetermined marker making criteria; selecting one of the ranked similar markers; positioning and orienting pieces in a new marker in accordance with the position and orientation of corresponding pieces in the selected similar marker; correcting the new marker to eliminate overlaps between the new pieces; and compacting the new marker using a Minkowski Sum algorithm to shorten the length. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein said step of positioning and orienting further comprises the steps of pairing pieces in the new marker with corresponding pieces in the selected similar marker. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein said step of pairing pieces further comprises the steps of substituting the styles and sizes of pieces in the selected similar marker for the styles and sizes of the corresponding pieces in the new marker. ### Claim 11 A system for automatically making markers, comprising: a digital processor including memory, said digital processor operable to: store marker information in said memory; retrieve said marker information; rank similar markers retrieved from said retrieved marker information according to predetermined marker making criteria; select one of the ranked similar markers; position and orient pieces in a new marker in accordance with the position and orientation of corresponding pieces in the selected similar marker; correct the new marker to eliminate overlaps between the new pieces; and compact the new marker using a Minkowski Sum algorithm to shorten the length. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The system of claim 11, wherein said digital processor comprises a file server. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The system of claim 11, wherein said memory includes a storage area defined as a database. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The system of claim 13, wherein said marker information stored in said database is in an SQL format. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The system of claim 11, wherein said digital processor is further operable to compact the new marker using linear programming to shorten the length. ### Claim 16 A method of automatically making markers using a database of existing markers, comprising the steps of: retrieving marker information from said database of existing markers; ranking similar markers retrieved from said retrieved marker information according to predetermined marker making criteria; selecting one of the ranked similar markers; positioning and orienting pieces in a new marker in accordance with the position and orientation of corresponding pieces in the selected similar marker; correcting the new marker to eliminate overlaps between the pieces; and compacting the new marker using linear programming to minimize the marker's length.