Conditionally visible bite lines for footwear

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9668545-B2
Application number	US-201614988399-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 5, 2016
Priority date	Nov 19, 2013
Publication date	Jun 6, 2017
Grant date	Jun 6, 2017

Abstract

A conditionally visible bite line may be demarcated on a shoe upper using at least one of a fluorescent or an Infrared (IR)-responsive material. Such a conditionally visible bite line may be observable only under particular conditions, such as when illuminated by an ultraviolet light source or an IR light source, as appropriate. A light may be projected to intersect the conditionally visible bite line under conditions rendering the conditionally visible bite line detectable. The intersection(s) of the projected light and the conditionally visible bite line may be used to create a virtual bite line for use in generating a tool path to process the surface of a shoe upper bounded by the conditionally visible bite line.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for creating a virtual bite line in connection with an article of footwear, the system comprising:
a marking mechanism that applies conditionally visible indicia to a surface of a shoe upper at an interface of the shoe upper and a bottom unit when the shoe upper and the bottom unit are temporarily joined;
a first light source that projects a structured light pattern across at least a portion of the marked shoe upper when the bottom unit is removed from the shoe upper, the projected structured light intersecting the conditionally visible indicia at at least one point to create an illuminated intersection point; and
at least one camera that detects the illuminated intersection point between the projected light and the conditionally visible indicia.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first light source renders the conditionally visible indicia detectable by the at least one camera.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the marking mechanism applies the conditionally visible indicia utilizing a marking agent that is responsive to the Infrared light spectrum, and wherein the first light source is an Infrared light source.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a second light source that renders the conditionally visible indicia detectable by the at least one camera.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the marking mechanism applies the conditionally visible indicia utilizing a marking agent that is responsive to the Ultraviolet light spectrum, and wherein the second light source is an Ultraviolet light source.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a movement mechanism that moves at least one of the marked shoe upper, the first light source, and the at least one camera to sequentially create a plurality of illuminated intersection points between the projected light and the conditionally visible indicia, each of the plurality of intersections being detected by the at least one camera.

7. The system of claim 6 , further comprising a computing system that receives data representing the plurality of illuminated intersection points detected by the at least one camera and generates the virtual bite line based upon the data.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the virtual bite line generated by the computing system comprises a plurality of line segments and/or curves connecting the plurality of illuminated intersection points.

9. A system for creating a virtual bite line in connection with an article of footwear, the system comprising:
a press that engages a shoe upper with a shoe bottom unit;
a marking mechanism that applies conditionally visible indicia to a surface of the shoe upper as the shoe upper is engaged with the shoe bottom unit;
at least a first light source that that projects a structure light pattern onto the surface of the shoe upper when the shoe bottom is disengaged from the shoe upper, the projected structured light pattern intersecting the conditionally visible indicia at a plurality of intersection points;
at least one camera that detects the plurality of intersection points between the conditionally visible indicia and the projected light; and
a computing system that operably connects to the at least one camera to receive data representing the plurality of intersection points between the conditionally visible indicia and the projected light and generate the virtual bite line based on the received data.

10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a second light source that renders the conditionally visible indicia detectable by the at least one camera.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the marking mechanism applies the conditionally visible indicia utilizing a marking agent that is responsive to the Ultraviolet light spectrum, and wherein the second light source is an Ultraviolet light source.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the first light source renders the conditionally visible indicia detectable by the at least one camera.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the conditionally visible indicia are applied utilizing a marking agent that is responsive to the Infrared light spectrum, and wherein the first light source is an Infrared light source.

14. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a movement device that changes the relative position of at least the shoe upper and the first light source to sequentially create the plurality of intersection points between the conditionally visible indicia and the projected light.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the computing system generates the virtual bite line using a plurality of curves and/or line segments to connect the plurality of intersection points between the conditionally visible indicia and the projected light.

16. A method for processing a shoe upper, the method comprising:
lasting the shoe upper;
engaging the lasted shoe upper with a shoe bottom unit;
while the lasted shoe upper is engaged with the shoe bottom, demarcating, on the lasted shoe upper, a conditionally visible bite line at the intersection between the lasted shoe upper and the shoe bottom unit, the conditionally visible bite line being detectable only under predetermined lighting conditions;
disengaging the lasted shoe upper from the shoe bottom unit;
projecting light in a structured pattern from a first light source over at least a portion of a surface of the lasted shoe upper when the shoe bottom unit is disengaged from the lasted shoe upper, the structured pattern of light intersecting the conditionally visible indicia at least one point to create an intersection point;
moving at least one of the lasted shoe upper and the light source relative to the other of the lasted shoe upper and the light source to sequentially create a plurality of intersection points between a portion of the light reflected from the surface of the lasted shoe upper and the conditionally visible bite line; and
detecting the plurality of intersection points between the portion of the light reflected from the surface of the lasted shoe upper and the conditionally visible bite line using at least one camera.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
receiving data representing the plurality of intersection points between the portion of the light reflected from the surface of the lasted shoe upper and the conditionally visible bite line from the at least one camera in a computing system; and
generating, in the computing system, a virtual bite line that connects the plurality of intersection points between the portion of the light reflected from the surface of the lasted shoe upper and the conditionally visible bite line.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first light source renders the conditionally visible indicia detectable by the at least one camera.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the conditionally visible indicia are applied utilizing a marking agent that is responsive to the Infrared light spectrum, and wherein the first light source is an Infrared light source.

20. The method of claim 16 , further comprising a second light source that renders the conditionally visible indicia detectable by the at least one camera, wherein the conditionally visible indicia are applied utilizing a marking agent that is responsive to the Ultraviolet light spectrum, and wherein the second light source is an Ultraviolet light source.

Assignees

• Nike Inc

Inventors

• Jurkovic Dragan
• Huang Chun-Wei
• Jean Ming-Feng
• Lin Chin-Yi

Classifications

• G05B2219/45243

  Shoe, footwear making · CPC title

• G05B2219/37048

  Split beam, stripe projection on object, lines detected with cameras · CPC title

• A43D8/16

  Ornamentation (by creasing A43D8/44; of leather in general C14B1/56) · CPC title

• A43D8/20

  Dies therefor · CPC title

• A43D25/06

  Devices for gluing soles on shoe bottoms (A43D25/18, A43D25/20 take precedence) · CPC title