Method of making an article of footwear
AssigneeNIKE, Inc.
InventorsDavid P. Jones, Bruce J. Kilgore, Elizabeth Langvin, James C. Meschter
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Abstract
A method of making an article of footwear is disclosed. The method includes the steps of designing an article of footwear via a website, converting a footwear representation into a set of two-dimensional portions, printing the two dimensional portions onto a sheet material, cutting and assembling the two dimensional portions into a finalized article of footwear. The method further includes a step of shipping the article of footwear to a pre-designated shipping address. Systems for receiving an order for a customized article of footwear are also disclosed.
Claims22
A method for producing a customized article of footwear, comprising:
- receiving a customized three-dimensional footwear representation of the customized article of footwear,
- wherein the customized three-dimensional footwear representation includes a custom designated image to be applied to a customized portion of the customized article of footwear;
- converting the customized three-dimensional footwear representation into one or more two-dimensional portions,
- wherein a first two-dimensional portion of the one or more two-dimensional portions corresponds to the customized portion of the customized article of footwear;
- defining on a sheet material a cutout region corresponding to the first two-dimensional portion,
- wherein the sheet material has a color different from the custom designated image;
- applying the custom designated image to the sheet material within the first two-dimensional portion and also beyond the cutout region of the first two-dimensional portion;
- cutting the cutout region out of the sheet material to form the customized portion of the customized article of footwear;
- and
- assembling the customized portion with another portion of the customized article of footwear to form the customized article of footwear.
A system for designing customized articles of footwear having custom designated images, comprising:
- a server in communication with a plurality of user remote terminals through a communications network;
- and
- a graphical interface system in communication with the server and accessible to the plurality of user remote terminals, wherein the graphical interface system is configured to enable a user to design and order a customized article of footwear by:
- displaying to the user a footwear representation,
- receiving from the user a designation of a custom designated image,
- receiving from the user an instruction to place the custom designated image on the footwear representation at a customized portion of the customized article of footwear,
- modifying the displayed footwear representation to show the custom designated image at the customized portion of the customized article of footwear,
- receiving from the user a submission of a customized footwear representation including the custom designated image at the customized portion of the customized article of footwear, and
- receiving from the user an order for the customized article of footwear corresponding to the customized footwear representation.
A computer graphical interface system for designing and graphically displaying a customized article of footwear to enable a user to design and order the customized article of footwear, the system comprising:
- a computer graphical display of a three-dimensional footwear representation of the customized article of footwear;
- and
- a graphics tool configured to modify a customized portion of the customized article of footwear,
- wherein the computer graphical interface system receives from the user via the graphics tool a custom designated image to be applied to the customized portion of the customized article of footwear;
- wherein the computer graphical interface system applies the custom designated image to the customized portion of the customized article of footwear in a manner that accounts for the three-dimensionality of a surface of the customized article of footwear,
- wherein the computer graphical display displays to the user the three-dimensional footwear representation with the custom designated image applied to the customized portion of the customized article of footwear,
- wherein the computer graphical interface system receives from the user a submission of a finalized design including a customized footwear representation that incorporates the custom designated image applied to the customized portion of the customized article of footwear, and
- wherein the computer graphical interface system receives from the user an order for the customized article of footwear having the finalized design.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.