This application claims priority and benefit from Swedish patent application No. 0400219-2, filed Feb. 3, 2004, the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a method and a device for forming patterns for bead-inlaid plates.
Bead-inlaid plates are laid using artificial resin beads, also called tube beads, comprising short thick-walled cylindrical tube pieces of different colours. They can be laid to form various motifs. Computer programs for producing patterns for bead-inlaid plates are previously known, the programs including a drawing program part for producing a picture from which a pattern then is obtained. In the published European patent application 0 829 378 a method and a device for automatically producing a bead-inlaid plate from a given picture are disclosed. A picture is converted to an electronic format or already exists in an electronic format, the electronic representation is fed to an image processing unit that divides the picture in square areas and analyzes the colour of each area and determines a suitable colour for a bead to be placed on a position corresponding to the place of the analyzed area in the original picture, and thereupon the information determined by the image processing unit is input to an apparatus in which beads are placed on a base according to said information.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method and a device for forming patterns for bead-inlaid plates that can use previously produced, original pictures.
In a method of forming patterns for bead-inlaid plates original pictures such as photographs are used which are converted to a digital, bitmapped representation. Thereupon, a pattern is produced from the digital representation by dividing the original picture using a grid of intersecting lines and then a colour matching for each square.
The method is performed by a user using a computer including associated software that is divided in various blocks or units. The computer including the software is an aid or assisting device for interactively creating patterns for bead-inlaid plates from pictures. Thus, the patterns are individually created and hence each pattern is unique. Thus, a personal interpretation of a photograph or another digital picture can be obtained. The individual patterns are created by adjusting colours, the light and contrast thereof. The number of different colours used in the grid dividing process can be determined by the user. The possibility of manual adjustment of individual beads after a grid dividing step gives the final personal interpretation.
The method offers the possibility for the user herself/himself or for her/him together with other persons to compose a bead-inlaid plate according to the new, created bead pattern which can also be seen as a new, created picture. Then, tube beads are placed having the calculated/chosen colours on a base, that can be a plate having upstanding pins and thereafter they can also be glued or melted to each other. Alternatively, they can obviously also be placed on a base having a frame and be adhesively bonded thereto.
The method cannot be compared to the previously known automatic apparatus for producing bead-inlaid plates mentioned above.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the methods, processes, instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
While the novel features of the invention are set forth with particularly in the appended claims, a complete understanding of the invention, both as to organization and content, and of the above and other features thereof may be gained from and the invention will be better appreciated from a consideration of the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments presented hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
In creating a pattern for a bead-inlaid plate one starts from an original picture that is converted or has been converted to a digitalized bitmapped picture, e.g. a picture that is defined by an image file intended for processing in computers and to be shown on a monitor. The picture or image file can for example be obtained using an electronic image scanner. The picture file is processed by a specially designed program 1 in a computer 3, see
Thereupon, either the total picture can be selected or a part thereof using suitable input operations, by means of the program unit 21, see also block 105 in
Then the format of the bead-inlaid plate is selected, i.e. the dimensions of the bead-inlaid plate. They can either be given as the dimension of the plate in lateral and height directions and preferably as the numbers of beads that the bead-inlaid plate is to obtain in the lateral and height directions. In order to perform this selection, a new image is displayed on the monitor, see
The image file is now processed by the program 1, see block 111 in
In the selection of format the program can also by itself suggest a format and show a picture such as in
Using the image displayed on the monitor and suitable input operations, the user can change, as is executed by a program unit 58, different colour quantities of the shown picture 55, such as its lightness, its colour saturation and colour mapping, by operating suitable symbols or changing suitable fields, that are simultaneously displayed on the monitor. Such symbols and fields can for example include colour scales, “colour scale mappings”, scales having a movable field, “indicator field”, that can be pulled in one of opposite directions by clicking and pulling, using the computer mouse, and input fields for suitable quantities. Such a scale and such an input field for brightness are shown at 57, 59, for contrast at 61, 63, for shading or tinting in red at 65, 67, for shading or tinting in blue at 69, 71. A particular colour hue or a plurality of colour hues can be excluded by the user clicking on a indicator field 73 existing in each colour hue field 75 in a colour palette 79 that is included in the image displayed on the monitor. The user's inputs in regard of the changes are confirmed by clicking on a suitable button, such as the button 79, “Create pattern”, see block 125 in
The user can thereafter, according to her/his desire, individually change the colour hue of each bead. Then, a new imaged on the monitor is displayed by a program unit 83, see
Finally, the selected pattern can be saved as a file that indicates the resulting pattern including numbers of selected colour hues of each square/bead, see block 137 in
While specific embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, it is realized that numerous additional advantages, modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, representative devices and illustrated examples shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. It is therefore to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within a true spirit and scope of the invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
0400219-2 | Feb 2004 | SE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/SE05/00146 | 2/3/2005 | WO | 7/31/2006 |