Patent Application
20230333413
The present disclosure relates generally to a device and application for a method that develops an electronic rendering of the surface area of any eyeglass frame and creates an appliqué, a cosmetic apparatus, that attaches to any eyeglass frame, thereby creating a customized, temporary, removable and reusable or permanent look for an eyeglass frame.
In 2014, over 71.5 million pairs of prescription eyeglasses where sold in the United States at the retail level. Most eyeglass consumers are primarily concerned with functionality and features designed to correct vision and improve eye health. A growing segment also considers fashion an important consideration in making a purchase decision. Further, nearly one-fourth of adults in the United States have worn eyeglasses without a prescription lens for the purpose of fashion.
The cost of spectacle lenses and the frames holding such lenses can be very expensive. Prescription lenses made of special materials and select coatings can also add considerable cost. Depending on the quality, style and brand, frames can be expensive—nearly half of consumers are not willing to pay more for expensive designer frames. The overall cost of eyeglasses prohibits most people from buying a second or third pair for the purposes of convenience or fashion. Given these considerations, many eyeglass wearers update their eyewear once every year or two depending on their insurance coverage, disposable income and selection of optical retailer.
In terms of fashion and personal expression, many eyeglass consumers are forced to 1) choose a frame color/design that matches a limited number of outfits they own or 2) select a frame of neutral color to coordinate with additional outfits. Given the expense, most eyeglass users are unable or unwilling to purchase multiple pairs of glasses to match various outfits as they might do with other wardrobe items such as footwear or jewelry.
To address the desire to alter the appearance of eyeglasses without incurring substantial expense, some users may consider decorative attachments such as those offered by Jarvis or Mikolajczak. Both options provide a sheet of precut decorations for attachment to the temple leg, front face portion or bridge of the eyeglass frame. These users are limited to the designs on the preprinted adhesive sheet, which are not reusable, and only partially cover the frame surface since they arc not tailored to any specific frame. Some producers, such as Hodgson, use adhesive films to decorate or cover the lenses. Consumers may also buy sheets of decorative elements and cut them to match the desired eyeglass frame. These attachments may be secured with magnets or clips (Jin or Ling) or adhesive coatings (Jin). The processes and methods designed by these producers to customize and create a unique personalization require substantial effort on the part of the consumer. Further, options for customization are limited by what the manufacturer chooses to offer. Additionally, some brands offer customization for eyeglasses but only for those frames that have been produced in-house for that manufacturer. The products offered by these prior art producers do not provide a device or method for expeditious customization for any frame and not just the frame produced by a certain manufacturer.
The present disclosure, produced using information technology, smart devices and advanced materials, provides fast and economical and nearly unlimited eyewear style options for consumers. Using the products and methods of the present disclosure, consumers may obtain a completely new fashion or style without visiting a retailer or purchasing an entirely new pair of eyeglasses. The consumer may control and alter the appearance of their eyeglasses on a whim without regard to the manufacturer or style of the frame. The present disclosure transforms an ordinary pair of glasses into style-on-a-whim wear and serves as both a stylish fashion accessory for the user's face as well as a compliment to their existing wardrobe, tinder the present disclosure, users may purchase as few or as many of the items as they choose for future use and constantly change the appearance of their eyeglasses.
The present disclosure is a multi-use, removable and reusable accessory for eyeglass frames. The invention, an appliqué, can be manufactured in multiple colors, styles and textures, and provides a substrate for digitally printed art and decorative materials such as crystals and other embellishments, depending on the wearer's style preferences. The appliqué may be constructed of faux leather, leather, hard acrylics, plastics, any textiles, sustainable organic fibers, metal, tech and any similar materials and hacked with removable and reusable pressure-sensitive adhesive. The unique attributes of the removable, reusable, pressure-sensitive adhesive on the back side of the appliqué provide a secure bond to the eyeglass frame, but also allows flor repositioning and clean removal so the appliqué can be removed from the eyeglass frame, stored on a release liner or other amenable surface, and then used again many times according to the user's preferences.
An objective of the present disclosure is to provide a device and method for a user to customize colors and styles for eyewear.
Another objective is to provide a device and method for a user to cosmetically alter any pair of eyeglass frames currently in the marketplace, as well as, future eyeglass frames yet to be manufactured.
Another objective is to provide a device for the temporary customization of a pair of glasses.
Another objective is to provide a customized adhesive appliqué for glasses that may be easily applied, removed and re-applied multiple times to a pair of glasses.
Another objective is to provide a customized adhesive appliqué for glasses that will not damage the base pair of glasses during use or removal.
Another objective is to provide an unlimited selection of customizations.
Another objective is to provide a customization device for any pair of glasses without regard to the shape, brand or style of frame.
Another objective is to provide a ready to wear customization device for the entire glasses frame.
Another object of the invention is to provide a substrate to attach technology to eyewear frames.
Another object of the invention is to incorporate smart eyewear technologies licensed from third party developers to the eyeglass appliqués.
Another objective is to provide ecological integrity through a sustainable fashion process.
Another objective is to address the sustainable fashion movement, which is a movement and process of fostering change to fashion products and the fashion system towards greater ecological integrity, as it relates to the optical industry.
Another objective is to provide an amenable surface that maintains the adhesive integrity of the appliqué as the appliqué is attached, removed and stored between uses.
The present invention discloses an eyewear appliqué, which is a method and device to cosmetically alter the surface portion of any standard base pair of eyeglasses (sun, fashion, or prescription). An appliqué is declined herein as a decal or sticker that can be attached, removed, reused, and repositioned against a surface such as the eyeglass frame, in this embodiment. An appliqué is a removable, repositionable and reusable decal with an adhesive backing. The appliqué may rest on a release liner, or other storage receptacle made of any material that protects the integrity of the appliqué adhesive while the appliqué is not in use. The adhesive solution on the back side of appliqué is durable and resilient such that a user of the present invention may place, wear, remove, and store the appliqué multiple times without degrading the stickiness of the adhesive solution on the back of the appliqué.
The present invention describes two methods to generate and produce appliqués: by using data derived from a 3) scan file or using data derived from 21) images. The appliqué method involves a proprietary process for surfacing the frame and translating the surface into a customized appliqué that precisely fits the user's eyeglass frame. The present invention also discloses technology via a creation application that automates the appliqué method, via personal device such as smart device, mobile phone, or personal computer, to produce a customized appliqué for an eyeglass frame. The appliqué easily attaches and detaches, multiple times, from the surface of the pair of eyeglasses at the inclination of the wearer for the purpose of changing the stylistic appearance of the glasses at the wearer's whim. The user may choose to generate appliqués for the front face of the frame or temples of the frame or both portions (front face and temples) of the eyeglass frames.
The protective appliqué release liner may be in form of vinyl, plastic, coated paper, sheet of wax paper, a booklet of wax paper, a plastic card, silicone release paper, vinyl, paper, acrylic, parchment, metal or a similar nonstick material. At present, the adhesive consists of, but is not limited to, a double-coated polyester film tape this tape is coated on one side with a permanent, pressure-sensitive adhesive to adhere to the decorative appliqué material, and coated on the other side with a pressure-sensitive, removable and reusable adhesive to adhere to the eyeglass frame or storage receptacle when not in use, resting on a release liner or other amenable receptacle for safe-keeping when not adhered to the surface of a pair of eyeglasses. The adhesive may be emulsion acrylic adhesive, pressure-sensitive, water-based emulsion acrylic adhesive, tape, glue, polymer, hot melt adhesive or a similarly tacky substance to secure the appliqué to the frame. The appliqué material, which is made of microfiber polyurethane, paper, acrylic or other amenable material, is prepared by applying an adhesive (adhesive tape or adhesive liquid or a similar material with adhesive properties.) to the back surface of the appliqué, which is between the eyeglass frame and the appliqué in use.
The present appliqué system (appliqués, release liners and adhesives) may be manufactured by hand, artificial intelligence, machine manufacturer, or an appliqué creation application to which an operator would input style information wherein that user input is compared and cross-referenced with the existing library of appliqués. The present application collects and stores a library of scanned frames through uploaded user frame scan files that will be available to future users as well as existing users.
While many frame scan files are uploaded from users, some frame scan files may be sourced directly from the frame manufacturer or artificial intelligence powered tools. The frame scan files stored in memory are created by capturing the surface of a chosen frame through a three-dimensional scan or high resolution 2D images. The frame appliqué file is created from the frame scan files by outlining the profile of said chosen frame from the scan/images and exporting the profile, in a format such as a vector rile, to be used by the application to manufacture the appliqué. In the present disclosure, outlining the profile refers to the creation of an electronic rendering of the surface area of the frame that is used to create an outline of the surface area of the frame in vector format or other format required for manufacturing the appliqué. This frame appliqué file is stored in memory in the appliqué library. This vector file is then read by the manufacturing machine, such as a computer numerical control (cnc) machine used to flash cut or water-jet cut, a laser cutter, die cutter or other subtractive manufacturing machine, or additive manufacturing machine such as a 3D printer, or injection molding machine to create the appliqué.
A user would input the brand, size and style of their frame into the appliqué application, where that information is cross-referenced with the existing library of potentially compatible appliqués, i.e. frame appliqué files, matching the user's frame. If the appliqué application finds a match for the frame appliqué file within the library, then that user would forego the scanning process and move ahead to selection of specific appliqué design elements such as color, texture, cosmetic shape and material. If there is no pre-existing compatible frame appliqué file matching the user's desired brand, size and style of frame, then the user would need to input their frame specifications into the appliqué application and proceed to scanning the user's frames and desired design elements. Once the appliqué creation/selection process is completed according to the user's specifications, the appliqué application will produce the appliqué using the methods described herein. Appliqués may be produced by the inventor using the appliqué application or alternatively, by optical providers with the application and proper manufacturing equipment or users who have the application downloaded to their smart phone or otherwise licensed the technology.
Appliqué files, typically in vector format, are generated/derived from either a three-dimensional (3D) scan or two dimensional (2D) images. The surfaced file is imported into CAD software, such as UGS NX or Solidworks but a variety of CA) software systems will achieve a similar result and a vector file (appliqué file) is created in CAD for an outline. In order to create an appliqué file using the two-dimensional (2D) image process, 2D image(s) of the substrate frame taken with a high resolution camera are utilized to determine the scale of the images using appropriate geospatial, or if warranted, photogrammetry (the extraction of complex 2D and/or 3D measurements from 2D data i.e. images: for example, the distance between two points that lie on a plane parallel to the photographic image plane can be determined by measuring their distance on the image) software and methodologies. Once scale of the frame is determined, then the resultant frame image(s) are imported into Photoshop. Illustrator or another design software with similar functionality. Utilizing design software functionality, an outline of the eyeglass frames is created via common tools such as the pen tool, magic wand tool, or a similar tool to outline the edges of the frame, of which these processes could be automated through artificial intelligence or a series of actions stored in the design software. Then the outline profile is exported to a file type, such as but not restricted to, STL, DXF, DWG or other similar file type, for use by the manufacturing machine. However, in instances where 3D printing or injection molding arc used to produce the appliqués, adhesive is applied alter the appliqué is created.
However, within the appliqué application, after an appliqué is chosen and design elements are selected, the appliqué file in vector or other applicable format, which matches the previously selected user personalization data, is interpreted by the manufacturing machine to create the appliqué, which is hand embellished as needed and delivered/presented to the user. Once the user receives their personalized appliqu{tilde over (e)}, the user would peel the appliqué from the release liner or amenable storage receptacle or storage device protecting the removable, reusable adhesive side of the appliqué, align the appliqué with the frame, and press the appliqué firmly into place against the frame for a new, fully customized look a look that can be changed according the user's preferences by removing, storing, and later reusing the eyewear appliqué.
For a more complete understanding of this disclosure and its features, reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
If the user inputs a three-dimensional file, the appliqué application would process the frame scan file to derive/determine the surface specifications of the frame into a format readable by CAD (computer aided design). (10.1) The surface specification data of the frame is then imported into a CAD system to create an outline of the frame surface (10.F), which is used to create a vector appliqué file. (10.G) If the user instead inputs two-dimensional image(s), the appliqué application would instead use graphic design software to create an outline of the frame surface to create the vector appliqué file (10.F). The resulting appliqué file is then exported to the STL file format (STL is an acronym for stereolithography, a file format native to STL CAD software from 3D Systems) or a similar file type, to be read by the manufacturing machine. (10.G) which creates an outline of the frame surface, which directs the manufacturing machine to cut or build material, depending on machine, along the outline of the frame surface or produce an injection mold or three-dimensional print. STL files describe only the surface geometry of a 3D object without representation of the user's personalization data such as color, texture, or other common CAI) attributes. (10.II)
Once the user selects the custom elements for the desired appliqué, such as color, texture, shape, material, along with a host of other design elements (10.II), the adhesive backed material will be created according to the specifications indicated by the vector file (10.1). The manufacturing machine may be a laser cutter, die cutter, water jet cutter, flash cutter, plotter or other similar cutting mechanism, other subtractive manufacturing machine or an additive manufacturing machine such as a 3-D printer or injection molding machine (10.I), which is used by the appliqué application to generate the appliqué from adhesive backed vinyl or some other amenable material. Once the appliqué has been created by the appliqué application, the newly generated appliqué may be hand embellished as needed (10.J) after which fulfillment (10.K) of the order may take place via shipping, customer pickup, delivery, or in-house production if the customer has the required machinery and appliqué application in their possession.
Other technical features may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the above-described figures and descriptions.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 17025686 | Sep 2020 | US |
| Child | 18211253 | US |
