Fabrication of products on demand

• US 10,049,395 B2
• Filed: 09/08/2015
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bodell, Colin, Meyers, Gregory J., Powers, Jeremy E., Beatty, Bryan K., Curtis, Michael G., Slosberg, Jeffrey B., Au, Leon L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Allen, William J
• Application Number:
  US14/848,098
• Publication Number:
  US 20150379599A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,071 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/20 Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/00 Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 80/00 Products made by additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/04 Manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/30 Computing systems specially adapted for manufacturing

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for fabricating products on demand. In some embodiments, a manufacturable model, which may include information about a three-dimensional representation of a product to be fabricated, is received by a user of an electronic system and may be validated by the electronic system. A prototype of the product can be generated based at least in part on the manufacturable model, and the manufacturable model and/or the product can be made available for selection by other users of the system. The product may be fabricated based at least in part on the manufacturable model using, for example, a three-dimensional printer, and may be delivered to users of the electronic system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer system, from a first user of an electronic catalog system a manufacturable model for a product to be fabricated, the manufacturable model comprising electronic information providing a three-dimensional representation of the product, the manufacturable model configured for use by a three-dimensional printer to fabricate the product;

validating, by the computer system, the manufacturable model, wherein validating comprises at least one of (1) verifying that the manufacturable model represents a three-dimensional representation of the product, (2) verifying the manufacturable model'"'"'s representation of product dimensions or configuration, (3) verifying the manufacturable model'"'"'s representation of material tolerance, or (4) testing simulated response of a model of the product to environmental conditions;

generating, by the computing system, a first display page comprising information about the product for presentation to users of the electronic catalog system, the information indicating that the product is available for selection by the users;

generating, by the computing system, a second display page comprising information about at least one of the product or the manufacturable model, the second display page presentable to the first user but not to other users of the electronic catalog system;

receiving, from a second user, a request to obtain the product;

in response to the request from the second user and the validation, providing, by the computer system to the three-dimensional printer, information for fabrication of the product based at least in part on the manufacturable model, wherein providing the information causes the three-dimensional printer to fabricate the product using the manufacturable model; and

causing a payment to be made to the first user in response to the request for the product by the second user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the manufacturable model comprises a three-dimensional computer-aided design electronic file.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the three-dimensional printer comprises a three-dimensional milling machine, a computer numerically controlled machine, or a laser cutter.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein fabrication of the product for delivery to the second user comprises communicating a copy of the manufacturable model to a product fulfillment center for fabrication of the product.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising communicating a message to the second user that the product is available from the product fulfillment center.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving one or more attributes associated with the manufacturable model, the one or more attributes comprising information related to at least one of:

product dimensions or configuration, material tolerances, or environmental conditions.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving permission from the first user to present information about the product on the first display page.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the product comprises a plurality of components, the information about the product comprises information about at least some of the plurality of components, and the request from the second user comprises a request to obtain at least one of the plurality of components.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a second product available from the electronic catalog system comprises or is usable with the product, and the second display page further includes information about the second product.

10. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer system, from a user of an electronic catalog system a manufacturable model for a product to be fabricated, the manufacturable model comprising electronic information providing a three-dimensional representation of the product, the manufacturable model configured for use by a three-dimensional printer to fabricate the product;

validating, by the computer system, the manufacturable model, wherein validating comprises at least one of (1) verifying that the manufacturable model represents a three-dimensional representation of the product, (2) verifying the manufacturable model'"'"'s representation of product dimensions or configuration, (3) verifying the manufacturable model'"'"'s representation of material tolerance, or (4) testing simulated response of a model of the product to environmental conditions;

in response to validating the manufacturable model, providing instructions, by the computer system, for fabrication of a prototype of the product for the user by the three-dimensional printer based at least in part on the manufacturable model, wherein providing the instructions causes the three-dimensional printer to fabricate the product using the manufacturable model; and

generating, by the computing system, a display page comprising information about the prototype, the display page accessible by the user but not by other users of the electronic catalog system.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving an updated manufacturable model from the user, the updated manufacturable model based at least in part on the information presented on the display page.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving one or more attributes associated with the manufacturable model, the one or more attributes comprising information related to at least one of:

product dimensions or configuration, material tolerances, or environmental conditions.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing instructions by the computer system for fabrication, by the three-dimensional printer, of an updated prototype based at least in part on the updated manufacturable model.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the receiving an updated manufacturable model from the user and providing the instructions for fabrication of an updated prototype are iterated a plurality of times.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving feedback from the user about the prototype, and updating the manufacturable model based at least in part on the user'"'"'s feedback about the prototype.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving feedback from the user comprises receiving instructions from the user about changes to be made to the prototype and updating the manufacturable model comprises implementing the instructions from the user.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving instructions from the user that the prototype is acceptable.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising generating a product display page comprising information about a product that can be fabricated from the manufacturable model, the display page presentable to users of the electronic catalog system, the display page indicating that the product, the manufacturable model, or both the product and the manufacturable model are available for selection by the users of the electronic catalog system.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising providing a payment to the user if the product, the manufacturable model, or both the product and the manufacturable model are selected by another user of the electronic catalog system.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising, in response to selection of the manufacturable model by a user of the electronic catalog system, communicating a copy of the manufacturable model to a product fulfillment center for fabrication of the product.