Apparatus and method for inputting measurements into a software product to construct software models of architectural structures

• US 7,181,371 B2
• Filed: 10/22/2003
• Issued: 02/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Eflection, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Eflection, Inc.
• Inventors: Lindenbaum, Michael Neil
• Primary Examiner(s): FREJD, RUSSELL WARREN
• Application Number:
  US10/691,096
• Publication Number:
  US 20050091007A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,217 Days
• Field of Search: 703/1, 703/6, 703/22, 345/619, 345/419, 235/462.01, 701/213
• US Class Current: 703/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/10 Constructive solid geometry [CSG] using solid primitives, e.g. cylinders, cubes
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/04 Architectural design, interior design

Abstract

In accordance with the present invention, an apparatus and method for creating a model, including the third dimension (3D), in a CAD program directly from a laser or sonar measuring device. As the measurements of an architectural structure are taken and as numeric codes are entered into the keypad of the laser or sonar measuring device, the invention receives the data on a laptop, PC, or other computing device, interprets the data, and consequently engages commands in the CAD program to create a 3D file reflecting the architectural space being measured by the user.

Claims

1. A method of creating a 3 dimensional (“

3-D”

) computer model rendering of a plurality of rooms of an architectural structure comprising the steps of;

(a) launching a computer-aided design software program adapted to received measurements from a laser measuring device and operative to create a computer model of a room on a computing device;

(b) launching a dialog box of the software program by either using a mouse, or entering the designated number on the laser measuring devices;

(c) measuring a length of a wall of a room using the laser measuring device;

(d) transmitting the wall length measurement to the computing device;

(e) receiving the wall length measurement by the program

(f) populating a length field in the dialog box with the wall length measurement;

(g) measuring a height of the wall using the laser measuring device;

(h) transmitting the wall height measurement to the computing device;

(i) receiving the wall height measurement by the program;

(j) populating a height field with the wall height measurement;

(k) determining a thickness of the wall;

(l) inputting the wall thickness measurement into the program by manual entry into the computing device or by transmission by the laser measuring device and receiving by the program;

(m) accepting a rendering of the wall generated by the program by manual entry into the computing device or with the laser measuring device and thereby confirming the computer generated wall rendering has been created properly;

(n) moving around the interior of the room and repeating selected ones of steps (a) through (m) a plurality of times for each of a selected combination of architectural objects;

(o) moving to at least one more room in the architectural structure and repeating step (n) a selected number of times until a desired portion of the structure has been measured and the computer model rendering of the plurality of rooms of the architectural structure has been created.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of rooms of an architectural structure comprises all rooms of the architectural structure and the computer model is a model of the entire structure.

3. A computer system for forming a virtual model of a three-dimensional interior space, the computer system comprising:

a logic device capable of executing instructions embodied as software, wherein the logic device includes a display component;

a laser measuring device communicatively coupled to the logic device, wherein the laser measuring device is capable of creating measurement data by measuring a plurality of spans, and wherein the laser measuring device includes a user interface;

a software portion configured to receive a first user input identifying at least one structural category, wherein each of the at least one structural categories determines a plurality of structural measurement fields;

a software portion configured to receive from the laser measuring device measurement data;

a software portion configured to uniquely map each measurement data to at least one of the plurality of structural measurement fields of the at least one structural category;

a software portion configured to form on the display component a rendition of the identified structural category based on the measurement data mapped to the plurality of structural measurement fields;

a software portion to receive from the user interface a second user input identifying at least one structural object, wherein the at least one structural object is associated with the identified at least one structural category, and wherein the identified at least one structural object determines a plurality of object measurement fields;

a software portion configured to uniquely map measurement data to at least one of the plurality of object measurement fields of the at least one structural object; and

a software portion configured to modify the rendition of the identified structural category based on the measurement data mapped to the plurality of object measurement fields.