Apparatus and method for setting design parameters
First Claim
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1. A method of determining optimum product design values for a visually perceivable design parameter of a product, comprising the steps of:
- a. choosing a target percentage of a population of customers for which said product is targeted;
b. displaying a plurality of images having varying values of the design parameter to the customers;
c. receiving customer responses indicating preferred design parameter values;
d. graphing a histogram of the preferred design parameter values for a plurality of customers to provide peaks centered at various design parameter values, being the Collective Preference values;
e. displaying a plurality of images varying in values of the design parameter to customers;
f. receiving customer responses indicating differences between the images;
g. using the customer responses to identify a minimum change in design parameter values which the customer can perceive, being the Resolution Limit for each customer;
h. repeating steps “
e”
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g”
for a plurality of customers;
i. identifying a Collective Resolution Limit which is a design parameter value range which includes the Resolution Limit of the target percentage of the customers, indicating a range of design parameter value changes which would be unperceivable to a target percentage of the population of customers;
j. defining products having design parameter values spaced by more than the Collective Resolution Limit from each of the Collective Preference Centers.
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14 Claims
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1. A method of determining optimum product design values for a visually perceivable design parameter of a product, comprising the steps of:
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a. choosing a target percentage of a population of customers for which said product is targeted;
b. displaying a plurality of images having varying values of the design parameter to the customers;
c. receiving customer responses indicating preferred design parameter values;
d. graphing a histogram of the preferred design parameter values for a plurality of customers to provide peaks centered at various design parameter values, being the Collective Preference values;
e. displaying a plurality of images varying in values of the design parameter to customers;
f. receiving customer responses indicating differences between the images;
g. using the customer responses to identify a minimum change in design parameter values which the customer can perceive, being the Resolution Limit for each customer;
h. repeating steps “
e”
-“
g”
for a plurality of customers;
i. identifying a Collective Resolution Limit which is a design parameter value range which includes the Resolution Limit of the target percentage of the customers, indicating a range of design parameter value changes which would be unperceivable to a target percentage of the population of customers;
j. defining products having design parameter values spaced by more than the Collective Resolution Limit from each of the Collective Preference Centers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method of determining maximum product tolerance values for a visually perceivable design parameter, comprising the steps of:
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a. displaying a plurality of images varying in values of the design parameter to customers;
b. receiving customer responses indicating differences between the images;
c. using the customer responses to identify a minimum change in design parameter values which the customer can perceive, being the Resolution Limit for each customer;
d. repeating steps “
a”
-“
c”
for a plurality of customers;
e. identifying a Collective Resolution Limit which is a design parameter value range which includes the Resolution Limit of the target percentage of the customers, indicating a range of design parameter value changes which would be unperceivable to a target percentage of the population of customers;
f. defining product manufacturing tolerance value ranges for the design parameter being less than the Collective Resolution Limit. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system for objectively determining values of a design parameter of a product being designed, intended to retrofit an existing personal computer (PC) having a monitor for displaying images provided to it, and input devices capable of interacting with a consumer to receive the responses from a consumer, including software capable of running on the PC, the PC and software together being adapted to:
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a. provide images varying slightly in said design parameter to said monitor, b. prompt said consumer to differentiate between images, and receive responses from the consumer, c. calculate a Resolution Limit for the consumer based upon the responses of the consumer;
d. send the Resolution Limit and other information relating to the consumer to a host computer which used this information to determine values of the design parameter. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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Specification