TRANSLATION (Rule 12.3) 28 APR 2008

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A PROCESS FOR OPTIMISING REALISATION OF ARTICLES BEARING LOGOS

TECHNICAL FIELD

5 The invention concerns a process for optimising realisation of articles bearing logos.

BACKGROUND ART

In processes for the production of fashion articles, in particular for articles 10 characterised by high prestige and quality (for example bags, wallets, etc.), the prior art comprises obtaining the relative blank shapes (constituting parts of the articles) from portions of textile, leather or textile coupled (for example by gluing) to a reinforcing material which confers greater rigidity on the assembly thus obtained.

15 Using known techniques, logos and the like are arranged on the above materials in a predetermined order, usually in a grid. To facilitate transport thereof, the printed textile (or hides) is wound on cylindrical supports to define corresponding rolls.

These operations (realisation of the logos and winding the hide or tissue on 20 rolls), especially when they are made on coupled textile, subject the textile (hides) to various kinds of stress which tend to partially deform them; by effect of these deformations, the original arrangement of the printed logos on the textile is changed, affecting the original grid-arrangement realised during printing.

25 This problem contrasts with the need to produce prestigious articles: indeed, during the creation and design of the articles, designers often have precise requirements in relation to the positioning of the logos on the finished product.

It is clear that the different arrangement of the logos with respect to the original grid in which they were printed on the textile (or hide) can negatively influence the quality of the finished product. In particular, one or more of the logos could be positioned wrongly on the same finished product, and what is more, during the cutting of the hide or textile, a logo might be partially cut.

At present, in order to obviate this drawback, the following procedure is performed. A portion of hide or textile on which the logos are printed is positioned on a work plane; then a specialised operator uses a tool (for example a hollow punch having a predetermined shape corresponding to a portion of the final product to be obtained) which the operator positions on the portion of textile (or hide) such that the edge of the hollow punch does not have any contact with a logo. This operation, which is done before cutting the textile (or hide), enables the operator to identify the correct positioning of the hollow punch, preventing the cutting perimeter of the hollow punch from entering, during the cutting operations, a zone of the hide or textile in which logos are present.

Operating in this way, all the logos contained in the area delimited by the perimeter of the hollow punch, and in particular those in proximity of the perimeter, are intact: the product thus obtained will therefore be free of partially-cut logos.

The main drawback deriving from the use of this technique is that the cutting precision, and therefore the relative quality of the final product, depends exclusively on the ability of the specialised operator, and obviously also on the physical conditions thereof, i.e. as the operator gets tired during his or her work shift, the resulting fatigue will have a negative influence on his or her performance and thus also on the cutting precision. To this add the fact that at present demand for specialised operators of this type is not met by supply.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The aim of the present invention is to provide a process for optimising realisation of articles bearing logos, which can obviate the above-mentioned drawbacks and which optimises and accelerates positioning, on a work area, of the forms defining the articles, at the same time preventing the areas bearing logos from being cut.

A further aim consists in providing a process which enables realisation of articles cut optimally independently of the operator's ability.

A further aim of the present invention consists in providing a process the operative stages of which enable products to be obtained which are characterised by high standards of quality.

A further aim is to provide a process characterised by simple and rapid operating stages.

With the invention, these aims are attained by means of a process for optimising realisation of articles bearing logos, characterised in that it comprises following operating stages: positioning, on a work plane, at least a portion of a predetermined flat article bearing logos, an exact positioning of which logos on the flat article is not priorly known; defining at least a theoretical shape, delimited by a relative perimeter, conformed alike to a predetermined article to be obtained and provided, at an area internally defined by the perimeter, with a plurality of references corresponding to an ideal positioning of the logos; defining, on the shape, at least a first ideal control point and a second ideal control point; projection of the shape onto a portion of the flat article; acquiring an image of the portion of the flat article and defining on the image, at respective and predetermined logos, a first real control point and a second real control point; positioning the shape on the acquired image and likewise on the portion in such a way as to cause the first ideal control point to coincide with the first real control point; rotation, on the image acquired and likewise on the portion, of the shape with respect to a perpendicular axis to the work plane and passing through the first ideal control

point and the first real control point, such as to make a distance between the second ideal control point and the second real control point less than a predetermined amount; selecting the shape previously orientated and positioned; cutting the selected shape.

The stages characterising the process advantageously enable optimising of the realisation of the articles bearing logos, optimising and accelerating the positioning, on the work plane, of the shapes defining the same articles, at the same time preventing the areas occupied by the logos from being cut.

The process of the invention also enables optimally-cut articles to be obtained, entirely independently of the operator's ability.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The characteristics of the invention will emerge from the following description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment thereof, with reference to the accompanying figures of the drawings, in which:

figures 1 , 2, 3, 4 schematically illustrate four operating stages of the process of the invention;

figure 5 is an additional operating stage of the process;

figure 6 shows operating means which enable some of the operating stages of the process to be performed.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

With reference to figures 1 , 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, operating stages will be described which characterise a process for optimising a realisation of articles 1 bearing logos 6.

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The process of the invention first comprises (figure 6) positioning, on a work plane P, of a portion of a predetermined flat article 2 bearing logos 6, an exact positioning of which on the flat article 2 is not priorly known, as will be better explained herein below. The flat article 2 can be a textile, a hide, or a textile coupled with a reinforcing material. By way of example, in the following reference will be made to textiles and/or hides on which logos 6 are printed in a grid order. In a known way, following the printing operations and in order to facilitate the transport operations, the textiles and/or hides are wound on cylindrical supports and are then partially and progressively unwound in order for a portion thereof to be correctly positioned on the work plane P. The printing operations of the logos 6 and the winding of the articles 2 on the cylindrical supports deform, sometimes even permanently, some portions of the articles 2: for this reason the logos 6 might be not perfectly arranged according to the original grid (at the moment of printing), but some logos 6 might now be out-of-position with regard to their original positions. For these reasons the exact positioning of the printed logos on the articles 2 cannot be said to be priorly known.

The process includes, thereafter, a definition of at least a theoretical shape 4 delimited by a relative perimeter 41 and conformed alike to a finished article 1 , still to be obtained. The shape 4 is, for example, obtained by means of a special processor program and is provided, at the area defined internally of the perimeter 41 , with a plurality of references 5, each of which corresponds to an ideal positioning of the logos 6 arranged in the grid distribution defined during the printing of the flat article 2 (figure 1 ).

The following operating stage includes the definition, on the shape 4, of a first ideal control point 51 , for example belonging to a plane of symmetry of the shape 4, and a pair of second ideal control points 52, 52A arranged, for example, symmetrically with respect to the plane of symmetry (figure 1).

The operating stage (figure 3) includes the projection of the shape 4 on a portion 21 of the flat article 2.

The following operating stage (figures 2, 6) comprise acquiring an image of the portion 21 and defining in the image, at positions bearing respective and predetermined logos 6, a first real control point 61 and a pair of second real control points 62, 62A. More precisely, . the area of the portion 21 is greater with respect to the area of the article 1 to be obtained and, by way of example, the image is acquired by means of a photographic device F connected to a processor unit E (figure 6).

At this point the positioning of the shape 4 is performed, on the acquired image and on the portion 21 , in such a way as to make the first ideal control point 51 coincide with the first real control point 61 (figure 3).

The following operating stage (figure 4) includes the rotation, on the acquired image and on the portion 21, of the shape 4 with respect to a perpendicular axis to the work plane P and passing through the first control points, both the ideal 51 and the real 61 (made to coincide, as above-described), in order that the distance between each of the second ideal control points 52, 52A and the corresponding second real control point 62, 62A is less than a predetermined amount. If this turns out to be the case, the shape 4 (previously orientated and positioned) is selected, and finally the selected shape 4 is cut.

In a case in which the distance between the second control points (ideal 52, 52A and real 62, 62A) is above the predetermined distance, the process comprises a repeat of all the above-described operating stages in order to use the portion 21 to obtain an article of smaller dimensions with respect to the article 1.

In a case in which the distance between the corresponding second ideal control points 52, 52A and the second real 62, 62A control points is even further above the predetermined amount, notwithstanding the reduction of size of the article to be obtained, the portion 21 of the flat article 2 is discarded.

With reference to figure 5, the process can include, following the operating stage of the control of the distance between the corresponding second ideal control points 52, 52A and second real control points 62, 62A, the following

operating stages: defining, on the shape 4, at least a pair of third ideal control points 53, 53A (figure 5); defining, on the portion 21, a pair of third real control points 63, 63A (figure 5); controlling that the distance between the third ideal control points 53, 53A and the corresponding third real control points 63, 63A is less than a further predetermined amount.

It is clear that more than one article 1 can be obtained simultaneously, by projecting several shapes 4 positioned side-by-side on the textile or hide positioned on the work plane P.

From the above description, it can be understood that the operating stages of the present process, thanks to the use of a processor and a relative program, enable the shapes to be positioned optimally on the textile or hide, so that products of a high quality standard are produced.

To this can be added the fact that the process is advantageously characterised by simple and rapid operating stages.

The invention in question has obviously been described, with reference to the accompanying figures of the drawings, purely by way of non-limiting example, and it is equally clear that all modifications and variants comprised within the ambit of the following claims can be brought to the invention.