Stone slab production methods and systems

Abstract

This document describes systems and processes of manufacturing, visualizing, and distributing stone slabs. In an exemplary embodiment, a 3D scene may be generated that depicts a portion of a major surface of a stone slab at a target area of a slab installation environment.

1 .- 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A system for producing stone slabs, comprising:
 a production database stored at a server system and including slab image files associated with a physical inventory of stone slabs, each slab image file associated with only a single stone slab in the physical inventory of stone slabs and including:
 an image of a major surface of the single stone slab, and 
 image metadata including an identifier that uniquely identifies the single stone slab, and one or more characteristics of the single stone slab; 
   the server system including software programmed to identify a first slab image file from the production database that is similar to a second slab image file from the production database based on the one or more characteristics.   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the one or more characteristics include a color characteristic, and the software is programmed to identify the first slab image file and the second slab image file based on the color characteristic. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the color characteristic includes a numeric value that represents an overall color characteristic of the associated stone slab. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the color characteristic includes a color intensity value, color uniformity value, or color tonality value. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the color characteristic includes a veining characteristic. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the color characteristic includes a flow characteristic. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the color characteristic includes a location-specific color characteristic. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the characteristic includes a gloss value. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the image of the major surface of the single stone slab has an image length and an image width, the single stone slab has a stone slab length and a stone slab width, and the characteristic includes a numeric ratio of the stone slab length to the image length (L slab /L image ). 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the one or more characteristics include:
 a first numeric value corresponding to a first visual quality of the single stone slab, and   a second numeric value corresponding to a second visual quality of the single stone slab.   
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the server system includes software programmed to receive the first and second slab image files from the production database and an environment image of a slab installation environment, and generate a 3D scene depicting at least a portion of major surfaces of first and second stone slabs associated with the first and second slab image files in the slab installation environment. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the server system is further programmed to determine a geometry of a target area of the slab installation environment where the first and second stone slabs are to be installed, and wherein the target area has a different geometry than the major surfaces of the first and second stone slabs. 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the inventory of stone slabs comprises processed stone slabs. 
     
     
         34 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the inventory of stone slabs comprises quarried stone slabs. 
     
     
         35 . A method for producing stone slabs, comprising:
 storing slab image files at a production database of a server system, the slab image files associated with a physical inventory of stone slabs, each slab image file associated with only a single stone slab in the physical inventory of stone slabs, each slab image file including:   an image of a major surface of the single stone slab, and   image metadata including an identifier that uniquely identifies the single stone slab and one or more characteristics of the single stone slab, the one or more characteristics including a color characteristic; and   identifying a first slab image file from the production database and a second slab image file from the production database based on a similarity of color characteristics of the first and second slab image files.   
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 35 , wherein the one or more characteristics include:
 a first numeric value corresponding to a first visual quality of the single stone slab, and   a second numeric value corresponding to a second visual quality of the single stone slab.   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the color characteristics includes a numeric value that represents an overall color characteristic of the associated stone slab. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37 , wherein the color characteristics includes a gloss value and a location associated with the gloss value. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 38 , further comprising: determining a location for a seam based on the color characteristics. 
     
     
         40 . A system for producing stone slabs, comprising:
 means for generating slab image files associated with a physical inventory of stone slabs, each slab image file associated with only a single stone slab in the physical inventory of stone slabs, each slab image file including:   an image of a major surface of the single stone slab, and   image metadata including an identifier that uniquely identifies the single stone slab and one or more characteristics of the single stone slab, the one or more characteristics including a color characteristic; and   means for storing the slab image files, the slab image files configured to be matched based on a similarity of color characteristics.