Waterjet cutting tool interface apparatus and method

Claim 1

A method for generating cutting instructions from a pattern stored in a known format, the format being of the type output from a computer aided design software program, comprising the steps of: (a) loading a pattern from a known format into a computer memory location, wherein the pattern includes one or more draw primitives; (b) applying a set of predetermined rules to the draw primitives to determine a cutting path along the one or more draw primitives without operator intervention, wherein the rules form a hierarchical structure such that finding the next draw primitive to be cut dictates subsequent draw primitives to be cut, and wherein the applying step includes the step of determining bounding boxes to rank the one or more draw primitives relative to one another; and (c) determining cutting instructions from the cutting path.

Claim 2

A method for generating cutting instructions from a pattern stored in a known format, the format being of the type output from a computer aided design software program, comprising the steps of: (a) loading a pattern from a known format into a computer memory location, wherein the pattern includes one or more draw primitives; (b) applying a set of predetermined rules to the draw primitives to determine a cutting path along the one or more draw primitives without operator intervention, wherein the rules form a hierarchical structure such that finding the next draw primitive to be cut dictates subsequent draw primitives to be cut, and wherein the applying step includes the step of determining bounding boxes to rank the one or more draw primitives relative to one another; and (c) determining cutting instructions from the cutting path.

Claim 9

A method of generating cutting instructions for a glass pattern having one or more panes formed with known objects, the objects including arcs, circles, lines, and complex objects and each object having known geometrical relationships to the other objects, the method comprising the steps of: a) selecting a desired glass pattern; b) reading the DXF file associated with the desired glass pattern; c) sorting the list of objects according to the bounding box of the individual objects; d) determining the location of each pane to be cut and the exterior edge of the pattern; e) finding the starting pane to be cut according to predetermined criteria; f) determining a cutting path along an object; and g) generating cutting instructions.

Claim 10

A method of generating cutting instructions for a glass pattern having one or more panes formed with known objects, the objects including arcs, circles, lines, and complex objects and each object having known geometrical relationships to the other objects, the method comprising the steps of: a) selecting a desired glass pattern; b) reading the DXF file associated with the desired glass pattern; c) sorting the list of objects according to the bounding box of the individual objects; d) determining the location of each pane to be cut and the exterior edge of the pattern; e) finding the starting pane to be cut according to predetermined criteria; f) determining a cutting path along an object; and g) generating cutting instructions.

Claim 15

An apparatus for generating cutting instructions for a waterjet device from an art glass pattern having one or more panes and stored in a DXF format file, the DXF format file being of the type output from a computer aided design software program, the apparatus comprising: (a) means for reading a pattern including one or more draw primitives, wherein associated with the draw primitives is data representative of the spatial relationship between the draw primitives in the pattern; (b) means for applying a set of predetermined rules to the draw primitives, wherein the panes are determined, and wherein the rules form a hierarchical structure such that finding the next draw primitive to be cut dictates subsequent draw primitives to be cut, and wherein the applying means includes bounding box determining means to rank the one or more draw primitives relative to one another; and (c) means for generating a cutting path along the ranked draw primitives, wherein cutting instructions are determined automatically without operator input.

Claim 16

An apparatus for generating cutting instructions for a waterjet device from an art glass pattern having one or more panes and stored in a DXF format file, the DXF format file being of the type output from a computer aided design software program, the apparatus comprising: (a) means for reading a pattern including one or more draw primitives, wherein associated with the draw primitives is data representative of the spatial relationship between the draw primitives in the pattern; (b) means for applying a set of predetermined rules to the draw primitives, wherein the panes are determined, and wherein the rules form a hierarchical structure such that finding the next draw primitive to be cut dictates subsequent draw primitives to be cut, and wherein the applying means includes bounding box determining means to rank the one or more draw primitives relative to one another; and (c) means for generating a cutting path along the ranked draw primitives, wherein cutting instructions are determined automatically without operator input.

Claim 20

A method for generating cutting instructions from a pattern stored in a known format, the format being of the type output from a computer aided design software program, comprising the steps of: (a) loading a pattern from a known format into a computer memory location, wherein the pattern includes one or more draw primitives; (b) applying a set of predetermined rules to the draw primitives to determine a cutting path along the one or more draw primitives without operator intervention, wherein the rules form a hierarchical structure such that finding the next draw primitive to be cut dictates subsequent draw primitives to be cut, and wherein the applying step includes determining each separate item to be cut in the pattern by starting at opposing ends of each of the one or more draw primitive and traversing the draw primitive in opposite directions; and (c) determining cutting instructions from the cutting path.

Claim 21

A method for generating cutting instructions from a pattern stored in a known format, the format being of the type output from a computer aided design software program, comprising the steps of: (a) loading a pattern from a known format into a computer memory location, wherein the pattern includes one or more draw primitives; (b) applying a set of predetermined rules to the draw primitives to determine a cutting path along the one or more draw primitives without operator intervention, wherein the rules form a hierarchical structure such that finding the next draw primitive to be cut dictates subsequent draw primitives to be cut, and wherein the applying step includes determining each separate item to be cut in the pattern by starting at opposing ends of each of the one or more draw primitive and traversing the draw primitive in opposite directions; and (c) determining cutting instructions from the cutting path.

Claim 22

A method for generating cutting instructions from a pattern stored in a known format, the format being of the type output from a computer aided design software program, comprising the steps of: (a) loading a pattern from a known format into a computer memory location, wherein the pattern includes one or more draw primitives; (b) applying a set of predetermined rules to the draw primitives to determine a cutting path along the one or more draw primitives without operator intervention, wherein the rules form a hierarchical structure such that finding the next draw primitive to be cut dictates subsequent draw primitives to be cut, and wherein the applying step includes determining each separate item to be cut in the pattern by starting at opposing ends of each of the one or more draw primitive and traversing the draw primitive in opposite directions; (c) storing information relative to traversing the draw primitive in a memory location, wherein duplicating traversing of draw primitives is minimized; and (d) determining cutting instructions from the cutting path.

Claim 23

A method for generating cutting instructions from a pattern stored in a known format, the format being of the type output from a computer aided design software program, comprising the steps of: (a) loading a pattern from a known format into a computer memory location, wherein the pattern includes one or more draw primitives; (b) applying a set of predetermined rules to the draw primitives to determine a cutting path along the one or more draw primitives without operator intervention, wherein the rules form a hierarchical structure such that finding the next draw primitive to be cut dictates subsequent draw primitives to be cut, and wherein the applying step includes determining each separate item to be cut in the pattern by starting at opposing ends of each of the one or more draw primitive and traversing the draw primitive in opposite directions; (c) storing information relative to traversing the draw primitive in a memory location, wherein duplicating traversing of draw primitives is minimized; and (d) determining cutting instructions from the cutting path.

Claim 24

An apparatus for generating cutting instructions for a waterjet device from an art glass pattern having one or more panes and stored in a DXF format file, the DXF format file being of the type output from a computer aided design software program, the apparatus comprising: (a) means for reading a pattern including one or more draw primitives, wherein associated with the draw primitives is data representative of the spatial relationship between the draw primitives in the pattern; (b) means for applying a set of predetermined rules to the draw primitives, wherein the draw primitives are ranked relative to one another and the panes are determined, and wherein the rules form a hierarchical structure such that finding the next draw primitive to be cut dictates subsequent draw primitives to be cut, and wherein the applying means includes determining means for separating each pane to be cut in the pattern by starting at opposing ends of each of the one or more draw primitives and traversing the draw primitives in opposite directions; and (c) means for generating a cutting path along the ranked draw primitives, wherein cutting instructions are determined automatically without operator input.

Claim 25

An apparatus for generating cutting instructions for a waterjet device from an art glass pattern having one or more panes and stored in a DXF format file, the DXF format file being of the type output from a computer aided design software program, the apparatus comprising: (a) means for reading a pattern including one or more draw primitives, wherein associated with the draw primitives is data representative of the spatial relationship between the draw primitives in the pattern; (b) means for applying a set of predetermined rules to the draw primitives, wherein the draw primitives are ranked relative to one another and the panes are determined, and wherein the rules form a hierarchical structure such that finding the next draw primitive to be cut dictates subsequent draw primitives to be cut, and wherein the applying means includes determining means for separating each pane to be cut in the pattern by starting at opposing ends of each of the one or more draw primitives and traversing the draw primitives in opposite directions; and (c) means for generating a cutting path along the ranked draw primitives, wherein cutting instructions are determined automatically without operator input.

Claim 26

An apparatus for generating cutting instructions for a waterjet device from an art glass pattern having one or more panes and stored in a DXF format file, the DXF format file being of the type output from a computer aided design software program, the apparatus comprising: (a) means for reading a pattern including one or more draw primitives, wherein associated with the draw primitives is data representative of the spatial relationship between the draw primitives in the pattern; (b) means for applying a set of predetermined rules to the draw primitives, wherein the draw primitives are ranked relative to one another and the panes are determined, and wherein the rules form a hierarchical structure such that finding the next draw primitive to be cut dictates subsequent draw primitives to be cut, and wherein the applying means includes determining means for separating each pane to be cut in the pattern by starting at opposing ends of each of the one or more draw primitives and traversing the draw primitives in opposite directions; (c) a memory storage device for storing information relative to traversing the draw primitive in a memory location, wherein duplicating traversing of draw primitives is minimized; and (d) means for generating a cutting path along the ranked draw primitives, wherein cutting instructions are determined automatically without operator input.

Claim 27

An apparatus for generating cutting instructions for a waterjet device from an art glass pattern having one or more panes and stored in a DXF format file, the DXF format file being of the type output from a computer aided design software program, the apparatus comprising: (a) means for reading a pattern including one or more draw primitives, wherein associated with the draw primitives is data representative of the spatial relationship between the draw primitives in the pattern; (b) means for applying a set of predetermined rules to the draw primitives, wherein the draw primitives are ranked relative to one another and the panes are determined, and wherein the rules form a hierarchical structure such that finding the next draw primitive to be cut dictates subsequent draw primitives to be cut, and wherein the applying means includes determining means for separating each pane to be cut in the pattern by starting at opposing ends of each of the one or more draw primitives and traversing the draw primitives in opposite directions; (c) a memory storage device for storing information relative to traversing the draw primitive in a memory location, wherein duplicating traversing of draw primitives is minimized; and (d) means for generating a cutting path along the ranked draw primitives, wherein cutting instructions are determined automatically without operator input.