US2008082191A1PendingUtilityA1

System and method for drawing and manufacturing bent pipes

42
Individually held — no corporate assignee on recordPriority: Feb 5, 2002Filed: Nov 14, 2007Published: Apr 3, 2008
Est. expiryFeb 5, 2022(expired)· nominal 20-yr term from priority
Inventors:Gary L. GreerJohn D. Mack
G06F 30/00G06F 2113/14Y10S715/964G06F 30/10
42
PatentIndex Score
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Claims

Abstract

Novel systems and methods of using a bent-tube object in a drawing file include entering a custom bent-tube object in a drawing file, and using the bent-tube object to generate bender driver data. In a particular method, the step of entering the custom bent-tube object in the drawing file includes entering a multi-segmented line, and generating the custom bent-tube object based at least in part on the lengths of and angles between the segments of the multi-segmented line. In a more particular method, the step of entering the custom bent-tube object further includes selecting a tube type (e.g., a particular diameter, material, etc.), and the step of generating the custom bent-tube object further includes retrieving bent-tube object data from an object data file based at least in part on the tube type.

Claims

exact text as granted — not AI-modified
1 . A method of using a bent-tube object in a drawing file, comprising: 
 providing a drawing file with a bent-tube object and other drawing objects; and    using said bent-tube object to generate bender driver data.    
   
   
       2 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein said step of using said bent-tube object to generate bender driver data includes: 
 presenting said drawing file to a user;    receiving input from said user indicating the selection of said bent-tube object from among a plurality of objects in said drawing file; and    generating at least a portion of said bender driver data from said selected bent-tube object.    
   
   
       3 . A method according to  claim 2 , wherein said other drawing objects include other bent-tube objects.  
   
   
       4 . A method according to  claim 3 , wherein said step of generating at least a portion of said bender driver data includes generating bender driver data based at least in part on a tube type previously associated with said bent-tube object.  
   
   
       5 . A method according to  claim 3 , wherein said step of generating at least a portion of said bender driver data includes generating bender driver data based at least in part on a tube diameter previously associated with said bent-tube object.  
   
   
       6 . A method according to  claim 1 , wherein said step of using said bent-tube object to generate said bender driver data includes extracting at least a portion of said bender driver data from said bent-tube object.  
   
   
       7 . A method according to  claim 6 , wherein said step of using said bent-tube object to generate said bender driver data comprises: 
 extracting a portion of said bender driver data from said bent-tube object; and    retrieving another portion of said bender driver data from a separate bender driver data file.    
   
   
       8 . A method according to  claim 7 , wherein said step of using said bent-tube object to generate said bender driver data further comprises: 
 selecting a bender type; and    retrieving said another portion of said bender driver data based at least in part on said bender type.    
   
   
       9 . A method according to  claim 1 , further comprising using said bender driver data to bend a tube.  
   
   
       10 . A method according to  claim 9 , wherein said step of using said bender driver data to bend a tube includes converting said bender driver data from driver data for a first type of bender to driver data for a second type of bender.  
   
   
       11 . An electronically readable media having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to facilitate the steps of the method of  claim 1 .  
   
   
       12 . An electronically readable media having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to facilitate the steps of the method of  claim 2 .  
   
   
       13 . An electronically readable media having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to facilitate the steps of the method of  claim 3 .  
   
   
       14 . An electronically readable media having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to facilitate the steps of the method of  claim 4 .  
   
   
       15 . An electronically readable media having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to facilitate the steps of the method of  claim 5 .  
   
   
       16 . An electronically readable media having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to facilitate the steps of the method of  claim 6 .  
   
   
       17 . An electronically readable media having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to facilitate the steps of the method of  claim 7 .  
   
   
       18 . An electronically readable media having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to facilitate the steps of the method of  claim 8 .  
   
   
       19 . An electronically readable media having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to facilitate the steps of the method of  claim 9 .  
   
   
       20 . An electronically readable media having code embodied therein for causing an electronic device to facilitate the steps of the method of  claim 10 .  
   
   
       21 . A system for using a bent-tube object in a drawing file, said system comprising: 
 a drawing engine operative to load a drawing file including a plurality of drawing objects, said plurality of drawings objects including a bent-tube object;    a user input device operative to facilitate the selection of said bent-tube object from among said plurality of objects in said drawing file; and    an extraction module operative to generate bender driver data from said selected bent-tube object.    
   
   
       22 . A system according to  claim 21 , wherein said plurality of drawing objects includes a plurality of bent-tube objects.  
   
   
       23 . A system according to  claim 21 , wherein said bent-tube object includes a previously selected tube type.  
   
   
       24 . A system according to  claim 23 , further comprising an object manager responsive to said previously selected tube type, and operative to retrieve bent-tube object data based at least in part on said tube type, and to include at least a portion of said bent-tube object data in said bent-tube object.  
   
   
       25 . A system according to  claim 23 , wherein said previously selected tube type of said bent-tube object is based at least in part on a tube diameter.  
   
   
       26 . A system according to  claim 21 , wherein said extraction module and said drawing engine are located on separate machines.  
   
   
       27 . A system according to  claim 21 , wherein said extraction module is operative to generate said bender driver data by generating a portion of said bender data from said selected bent-tube object, and to retrieve another portion of said bender driver data from a separate data file.  
   
   
       28 . A system according to  claim 27 , wherein said extraction module is operative to retrieve said another portion of said bender driver data based at least in part on a selected bender type.  
   
   
       29 . A system according to  claim 21 , further comprising a transfer media operative to communicate said bender driver data to a tube bender.  
   
   
       30 . A system according to  claim 21 , further comprising a data converter responsive to indicia of a selected bender type, and operative to convert said bender driver data to bender driver data compatible with said selected bender type.  
   
   
       31 . A system for using a bent-tube object in a drawing file, said system comprising: 
 a computer for loading a drawing file including a plurality of drawing objects, said plurality of drawing objects including a bent-tube object;    a selection device that facilitates user selection of said bent-tube object from said plurality of drawing objects; and    means for generating bender driver data from said selected bent-tube object.    
   
   
       32 . A system according to  claim 31 , wherein said plurality of drawing objects includes a plurality of bent-tube objects.

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