Creating a cutting template for a virtual jigsaw puzzle using guide points and a spline-fitting algorithm

A method comprising:

• selecting adjacent piece intersection guide points that define geometric locations where a corner of a piece of a jigsaw puzzle intersects with a corner of an adjacent piece of the jigsaw puzzle;
• selecting perimeter intersection guide points that define the geometric locations where a corner of the piece of the jigsaw puzzle intersects with an outer perimeter of the jigsaw puzzle if the piece is geometrically contiguous to the perimeter of the jigsaw puzzle;
• selecting knob guide points that define a geometric shape of a knob of the piece and define a size of the knob relative to the size of the piece;
• repeating the selecting of the knob guide points for every knob of the piece;
• fitting a curve to the adjacent piece intersection guide points, the perimeter intersection guide points, and the knob guide points using a spline-fitting algorithm;
• combining the piece and an adjacent piece of the jigsaw puzzle where at least one of the group consisting of the piece and the adjacent piece is not within a predefined size range;
• and
• drawing the curve to define a consummate shape of the piece.

A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, which if executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method comprising:

• selecting guide points that define geometric parameters of a piece of a jigsaw puzzle;
• fitting a curve to the guide points using a spline-fitting algorithm to define a shape of the piece;
• and
• combining the piece and an adjacent piece of the jigsaw puzzle where at least one of the group consisting of the piece and the adjacent piece is not within a predefined size range.

A system comprising:

• a client computer to receive a user preference from a user to create a virtual jigsaw puzzle defined by puzzle parameters using the user preference, the virtual jigsaw puzzle being created by a method comprising selecting guide points that define geometric parameters of a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, fitting a curve to the guide points using a spline-fitting algorithm to define a shape of the piece, and combining the piece and an adjacent piece of the jigsaw puzzle where at least one of the group consisting of the piece and the adjacent piece is not within a predefined size range;
• a server communicatively coupled to the client computer to receive the puzzle parameters from the client computer;
• and
• another client computer communicatively coupled to the server to receive the puzzle parameters from the server and to create the virtual jigsaw puzzle using the puzzle parameters.

A jigsaw puzzle creating system comprising:

• a processing unit;
• a memory coupled to the processing unit through a bus;
• and
• a jigsaw puzzle creating process executed from the memory by the processing unit to select guide points that define geometric parameters of a piece of a jigsaw puzzle and fit a curve to the guide points using a spline-fitting algorithm to define a shape of the piece, and combine the piece and a adjacent piece of the jigsaw puzzle where at least one of the group consisting of the piece and the adjacent piece is not within a predefined size range.