System and method for parametric display of modular aesthetic designs

• US 8,988,418 B1
• Filed: 07/02/2012
• Issued: 03/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Florelle, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Florelle, Inc.
• Inventors: Banschick, Kenneth, Gurulev, Andrei
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phu K
• Application Number:
  US13/540,589
• Time in Patent Office: 995 Days
• Field of Search: 345/418, 345/441, 345/589, 345/593, 705/7, 705/10, 705/14.36, 705/26.5, 705/26, 705/42, 709/229
• US Class Current: 345/418
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications

Abstract

A system and method for the aesthetic design of a modular assemblage, comprising means for providing a client graphic user interface for receiving an input for defining parameters of the modular assemblage, and for presenting an image of the defined modular assemblage; communicating a code to a server representing the defined parameters; at the server, in dependence on the communicated code, defining a set of graphic elements corresponding to the defined modular assemblage; communicating the graphic elements from the server to the client; and displaying, at the client, the graphic elements received from the server to represent the defined modular assemblage.

Claims

1. A method for designing a parametric aggregation of components, comprising:

(a) receiving, from a user through an automated browser, a first user input defining aesthetic characteristics of a plurality of components, comprising at least two different non-shape and non-size attributes, and at least one additional parameter for each component;

(b) automatically generating, by an automated server, based on at least the received first user input, a first data set representing a first distribution of the user input-defined aesthetic characteristics of the components within an aggregation of components, the aesthetic characteristics of the components being automatically distributed according to an aesthetic design algorithm implementing an aesthetic paradigm representing three dimensions, responsive to the at least one additional parameter and at least a complementarity of the at least two different non-shape and non-size attributes;

(c) presenting to the user through the automated browser, the first distribution of the aggregation of components;

(d) receiving, from the user, through the automated browser, a second user input representing a user-desired change in the at least one additional parameter;

(e) automatically generating, by the automated server, a second data set representing a second distribution of the aesthetic characteristics of the components according to the aesthetic design algorithm, responsive to at least the complementarity of the at least two different non-shape and non-size attributes, the first user input and the second user input representing the change in the at least one additional parameter, wherein the second distribution is different from the first distribution; and

(f) presenting to the user through the automated browser, the second distribution of the aggregation of components including the at least two different non-shape and non-size attributes.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the automated browser comprises a web browser, the automated server comprises a web server, and the first distribution and the second distribution are each communicated to plug-in software associated with the web browser as respective sets of parameters, which are processed by the plug-in software and the web browser to generate the image, selectively dependent on the set of parameters.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising automatically defining a search query based on at least the first user input received through the automated browser and automatically querying an Internet search engine from the automated server, and receiving from the Internet search engine by the automated server a set of parameters representing the characteristics of at least one of the plurality of components, wherein the Internet search engine is distinct from the automated server.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the Internet search engine searches an index of items which have not been prescreened or otherwise validated for use as components.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the characteristics of a plurality of components, having at least two different non-shape and non-size attributes, comprise at least two different colors associated with components of the same type.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising automatically selecting at least one characteristic by the automated server in response to the first user input received through the automated browser.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the automated browser presents a user-selectable color for interactive modification of a selection of respective color of respective components.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the automated browser has at least one plug-in which responds to a set of parameters received from the automated server, for defining non-shape and non-size attributes of respective components of the parametric aggregation of components, further comprising automatically displaying the image responsive to the received set of parameters by the automated browser.

9. A method for designing a representation of an aggregation, comprising:

(a) receiving, through a communication network, an input from an interface defining at least two different non-shape and non-size sensory attributes of components within an aggregation of components;

(b) automatically generating, by an automated processor, a distribution of the aggregation of components according to an aesthetic paradigm, responsive to at least a complementarity of the defined at least two different non-shape and non-size sensory attributes of the components;

(c) automatically communicating sets of parameters representing a distribution of non-shape and non-size sensory attributes of each respective component of the aggregation of components through the communication network to the interface; and

(d) automatically communicating modified sets of parameters representing the distribution of non-shape and non-size sensory attributes of each respective component of the aggregation of components through the communication network to the interface, in response to a further input from the interface, representing at least one change in the at least two different non-shape and non-size sensory attributes of the components, and presenting of the aggregation of components.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising receiving from an Internet search engine by the automated processor, through a distinct communication channel from the interface, a set of parameters representing non-shape and non-size sensory attributes of the respective components.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising receiving from an Internet search engine at least one image of a component in response to a user query communicated through the interface and the automated processor, receiving from the user a selection of the at least one image as a representation of the non-shape and non-size sensory attribute of the respective component, and including the respective component in the selected at least one image in the aggregation of components.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the plurality of components comprise at least two different types, each type being independent of the non-shape and non-size sensory attributes, wherein the aesthetic paradigm is responsive to a complementarity of both the different non-shape and non-size sensory attributes and a complementarity of the different types.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the non-shape and non-size sensory attributes comprise colors, further comprising automatically selecting by the automated processor at least one color non-shape and non-size sensory attribute responsive to and in addition to the at least two received color non-shape and non-size sensory attributes, and presenting in the aggregation of components, at least one component having the automatically selected at least one color non-shape and non-size sensory attribute.

14. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

automatically defining a search query based on at least the input received through an automated browser;

automatically querying an Internet search engine by the automated processor, wherein the Internet search engine is distinct from the automated processor and the Internet search engine searches an index of items which have not been prescreened or otherwise validated for use as components; and

receiving from the Internet search engine by the automated processor a set of parameters representing the sensory attributes of components.

15. A method for composing a parametric design, comprising:

(a) receiving an input from a user interface through a communication port defining a state of at least two color characteristics of an aggregation of components and at least one additional characteristic;

(b) generating an optimized distribution of the aggregation of components using an automated processor remote from the user interface, according to aesthetic criteria comprising at least;

(i) a complementarity of the at least two color characteristics; and

(ii) a distribution symmetry factor, responsive to at least the defined state of the at least two color characteristics and the at least one additional characteristic of the aggregation of components; and

(c) representing the characteristics of each respective component of the aggregation of components, and the distribution of the aggregation of components as a set of parameters stored in a memory.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the received input defining the state of the at least one additional characteristic is received from an Internet search engine based on an automatically generated query.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising automatically generating and communicating a query to an Internet search engine, wherein the Internet search engine searches an index of available components, and communicates at least one image and at least one physical parameter of the respective component, the automated processor receiving the at least one image and the at least one physical parameter and including the respective component defined according to the at least one image and the at least one physical parameter in the optimized distribution of components.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein the at least one additional characteristic comprises a content associated with a respective component.

19. The method according to claim 15, wherein the set of parameters are processed by an Internet browser to present a color image to a user.

20. The method according to claim 15, further comprising interactively modifying the aggregation of components or a distribution of the aggregation of components based on user inputs received through an interactive user interface of a browser, communicated to a remote Internet server.

21. The method according to claim 15, further comprising providing an automated recommender to a user for automatically determining and providing complementary items to a received user selection.

22. A method for composing a parametric aggregation, comprising:

receiving an input defining parametric characteristics of a plurality of separable and independent components or subcomponents, each representing a physical characteristic which permissibly varies over a range of a parameter comprising at least three distinct values, at least one parametric characteristic being a characteristic exclusive of shape and size;

automatically generating a representation of a distribution of the plurality of components or subcomponents having at least two different values of the parametric characteristics comprising the characteristic exclusive of shape and size, distributed according to a design logic responsive to at least perceptual differences between respective different values of the respective parametric characteristics comprising the characteristic exclusive of shape and size of the plurality of components or subcomponents; and

representing the parametric characteristics, and the model of the aggregation as a set of values stored in a memory.

23. The method according to claim 22, further comprising:

receiving an input from a user which alters at least a number or proportion of respective components or subcomponents having different characteristics exclusive of shape and size;

automatically regenerating a representation of a distribution of components or subcomponents having the altered number or proportion, distributed according to the design logic, responsive to at least the perceptual differences; and

representing the parametric characteristics, and the model of the regenerated aggregation as a set of values stored in the memory.

24. The method according to claim 22, wherein the at least one parametric characteristic comprises an aesthetic characteristic exclusive of shape and size, and the design logic implements an aesthetic theme.