Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim
111 words
An area cutting method for cutting the interior of an area bounded by a closed curve, characterized by having a step of calculating a centroid of an area bounded by said closed curve, a step of determining whether each line segment connecting said centroid with each vertex of the area intersects the closed curve, a step of partitioning each line segment into a predetermined number of partitions if said each line segment does not intersect the closed curve, and a step of performing cutting by moving a tool along plural closed paths each of which is obtained by connecting corresponding ones of partitioning points of respective ones of said line segments.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
111 words
An area cutting method for cutting the interior of an area bounded by a closed curve, characterized by having a step of calculating a centroid of an area bounded by said closed curve, a step of determining whether each line segment connecting said centroid with each vertex of the area intersects the closed curve, a step of partitioning each line segment into a predetermined number of partitions if said each line segment does not intersect the closed curve, and a step of performing cutting by moving a tool along plural closed paths each of which is obtained by connecting corresponding ones of partitioning points of respective ones of said line segments.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
100 words
The area cutting method of claim 1, characterized by having a step, which is executed if at least one line segment intersects the closed curve, of partitioning said area into a plurality of regions, calculating the centroid of each partitioned region, partitioning a line segment connecting the centroid with each vertex of the partitioned region corresponding to said centroid into a predetermined number of partitions, finding plural closed curves, for each partitioned region, obtained by connecting corresponding ones of partitioning points of respective ones of the line segments, and performing cutting by successively moving the tool along each closed path.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
42 words
An area cutting method according to claim 2, characterized in that if a line segment connecting an i-th vertex Pi with the centroid intersects the closed curve, a region composed of vertices Pl, P2, ... Pi-1 is treated as one partitioned region.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
57 words
An area cutting method according to claim 3, characterized by checking whether each line segment connecting the centroid of a region composed of vertices Pi, Pi+1, ... Pl with each vertex of the region intersects a curve of an external shape specifying the area, and treating said region as a partitioned region if intersection does not occur.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
38 words
An area cutting method according to claim 1, characterized in that said centroid is the centroid of an area bounded by an offset curve offset a predetermined amount from a curve of an external shape specifiying the area.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
25 words
An area cutting method according to claim 5, characterized in that said predetermined amount is the sum of a finishing tolerance and a cutter diameter.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
43 words
An area cutting method according to claim 5, characterized in that when said offset curve includes a circular arc portion, said centroid is the centroid of an area bounded by a linearly approximated offset curve obtained by linearly approximating said circular arc portion.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
41 words
An area cutting method according to claim 7, characterized in that when said circular arc portion is approximated by a straight line, the maximum distance between the circular arc portion and approximating straight line is less than a predetermined cut-in pitch.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
55 words
An area cutting method according to claim 1, characterized in that said predetermined number of partitions is decided in such a manner that the length of partitioned line segments, obtained by partitioning a line segment of maximum length among the line segments connecting said centroid with said vertices, is less than a predetermined cut-in pitch.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
154 words
An area cutting method according to claim 7, characterized by dividing the area bounded by said linearly approximated offset curve into plural triangles, calculating the centroids and areas of the respective triangles, partitioning a line segment, which connects the centroids of first and second neighboring triangles, by a partitioning point at the ratio of the area of said first triangle to the area of said second triangle, adopting said partitioning point as the centroid of a quadrilateral obtained by combining said first and second triangles, partitioning a line segment, which connects the centroid of said quadrilateral and the centroid of a third triangle, by a partitioning point at the ratio of the area of said quadrilateral to the area of said third triangle, adopting said partitioning point as the centroid of a pentagon obtained by combining said first, second and third triangles, and thereafter calculating the centroid of the area in a like manner.