Customized, additive-manufactured outerwear and methods for manufacturing thereof

• US 10,241,498 B1
• Filed: 05/15/2015
• Issued: 03/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Casca Designs Inc.
• Original Assignee: Feetz, Inc.
• Inventors: Beard, Lucy A., Beard, Nigel P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lo, Kenneth M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Choi, Michael W
• Application Number:
  US14/714,052
• Time in Patent Office: 1,411 Days
• Field of Search: 700 98
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/393 for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/02 for controlling or regulating additive manufacturing processes
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 80/00 Products made by additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4097 characterised by using design data to control NC machines, e.g. CAD/CAM G05B19/4093 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/4099 Surface or curve machining, making 3D objects, e.g. desktop manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45243 Shoe, footwear making
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/49008 Making 3-D object with model in computer memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20108 Interactive selection of 2D slice in a 3D data set
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

Described herein is customized outerwear created through additive manufacturing to provide for a plurality of materials, patterns and shapes that are customized for a particular user. The outerwear is designed through the use of a three-dimensional (“3D”) model of a body part, such as an additively-manufactured shoe for a foot. The 3D model is analyzed to provide detailed information on the anatomical features of the body part, which aids in the selection of specific materials, patterns of materials and shapes that are integrated into the design of the customized outerwear. The design is then loaded into an additive manufacturing machine, such as a 3D printer, for inexpensive and rapid manufacturing.

Claims

1. A system for forming customized, additively manufactured outerwear for a portion of a body of a user, the system comprising one or more physical computer processors configured by computer readable instructions to:

receive an electronic model of the portion of the body of the user, the electronic model generated based on one or more images of the portion of the body of the user obtained via a user interface presented to the user on a computing device associated with the user;

analyze the electronic model to determine one or more dimensions of the portion of the body of the user;

determine an outerwear design based on the analysis, wherein the outerwear design includes at least one specific outerwear material determined based at least in part on the properties of the specific outerwear material matching dynamics of the portion of the body of the user;

prepare the outerwear design for additive manufacturing based on slicing, the slicing achieved by determining a combination of internal geometric shapes, the size, frequency and distribution of shapes in the combination of internal geometric shapes corresponding to the dimensions and the dynamics of the portion of the body of the user;

communicate the outerwear design to an additive manufacturing device; and

facilitate forming the customized, additively manufactured outerwear based on the communicated design with the additive manufacturing device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the outerwear design further includes at least one tunable structure, the at least one tunable structure comprising a subset of the combination of geometric shapes tunable to accommodate different biometric requirements for different activities.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physical computer processors are configured such that the outerwear material is determined based on the analysis and one or more material properties including one or more of flexibility, strength, durability, material finish properties, material coating properties, impact absorption, and texture of the outerwear material.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physical computer processors are further configured to facilitate, via the user interface presented to the user on the computing device associated with the user, obtaining user information including information related to one or more of a physical activity level of the user, a disability of the user, an age of the user, biomechanical information about the user, a physical history of the user;

and to determine the outerwear design based on the analysis and the user information.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physical computer processors are further configured to facilitate, via the user interface presented to the user on the computing device associated with the user, obtaining design preference information for the outerwear design from the user, wherein the design preference information includes information related to at least one shape and/or pattern for integrating into the outerwear, and wherein the outerwear design is further determined based on the design preference information.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physical computer processor are configured such that the one or more dimensions of the portion of the body of the user include one or more pressure point locations where the portion of the body of the user exerts pressure on the outerwear.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physical computer processors are configured such that determining the outerwear design includes determining designs of three or more separate components that are assembled together to form the outerwear, and wherein facilitating forming the outerwear with the additive manufacturing device includes forming the three or more separate components.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the one or more physical computer processors are configured such that the outerwear is a shoe, and wherein the three or more separate components include an upper shoe component, a midsole component, and an outsole component.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more physical computer processors are configured such that the outerwear is a shoe, and wherein analyzing the electronic model to determine one or more dimensions of the portion of the body of the user includes determining a weight distribution of the user in the shoe such that the outerwear design is further determined based on the weight distribution.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physical computer processors are configured such that the outerwear is one or more of a shoe, a helmet, a hat, a shirt, pants, shorts, and glasses.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more physical computer processors are configured such that determining the outerwear design comprises using mathematical functions for GCode manipulation to generate fabric like structures from wave forms to customize the outerwear.

12. A method for forming customized, additively manufactured outerwear for a portion of a body of a user, the method comprising:

receiving an electronic model of the portion of the body of the user, the electronic model generated based on one or more images of the portion of the body of the user obtained via a user interface presented to the user on a computing device associated with the user;

analyzing the electronic model to determine one or more dimensions of the portion of the body of the user;

determining an outerwear design based on the analysis, wherein determining the outerwear design includes determining at least one specific outerwear material based on the properties of the specific outerwear material matching dynamics of the portion of the body of the user;

preparing the outerwear design for additive manufacturing based on slicing, the slicing achieved by determining a combination of internal geometric shapes, the size, frequency and distribution of shapes in the combination of internal geometric shapes corresponding to the dimensions and the dynamics of the portion of the body of the user;

communicating the outerwear design to an additive manufacturing device; and

forming the customized, additively manufactured outerwear based on the communicated design with the additive manufacturing device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein preparing the outerwear design further includes determining and tuning at least one tunable structure, the at least one tunable structure comprising a subset of the combination of geometric shapes tunable to accommodate different biometric requirements for different activities.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the outerwear material is determined based on the analysis and one or more material properties including one or more of flexibility, strength, durability, material finish properties, material coating properties, impact absorption, and texture of the outerwear material.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

facilitating, via the user interface presented to the user on the computing device associated with the user, obtaining user information including information related to one or more of a physical activity level of the user, a disability of the user, an age of the user, biomechanical information about the user, and a physical history of the user; and

determining the outerwear design based on the analysis and the user information.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising obtaining design preference information for the outerwear design from the user, the design preference information obtained via the user interface presented to the user on the computing device associated with the user, wherein the design preference information includes information related to at least one shape and/or pattern for integrating into the outerwear, and wherein the outerwear design is further determined based on the design preference information.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more dimensions of the portion of the body of the user include one or more pressure point locations where the portion of the body of the user exerts pressure on the outerwear.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein determining the outerwear design includes determining designs of three or more separate components that are assembled together to form the outerwear, and wherein forming the outerwear with the additive manufacturing device includes forming the three or more separate components.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the outerwear is a shoe, and wherein the three or more separate components include an upper shoe component, a midsole component, and an outsole component.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the outerwear is a shoe, and wherein determining the outerwear design includes determining a weight distribution of the user in the shoe such that the design is further determined based on the weight distribution.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the outerwear is one or more of a shoe, a helmet, a hat, a shirt, pants, shorts, and glasses.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein determining the outerwear design comprises using mathematical functions for GCode manipulation to generate fabric like structures from wave forms to customize the outerwear.