IP Library Granted Patent US 11,650,578
Granted Patent B2
US 11,650,578 · App. 17/397,499 · Granted May 16, 2023

Method and system for representation-agnostic composition of hybrid manufacturing services

Inventors: Morad Behandish (Mountain View, CA); Saigopal Nelaturi (Mountain View, CA)
Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated
G05B19/4188G05B19/4183G05B19/41885
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,650,578
App. No.
17/397,499
Granted
May 16, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

Two or more computational services are defined that each represent a respective different manufacturing capability used to partially create a target part model. A common space shared among the computational services is defined to reference the target part model and manufacturing primitives corresponding to each capability. The computational services are queried to construct a logical representation of the planning space based on intersections among the primitives. One or more process plans are formed using the different manufacturing capabilities to manufacture the part.

Claims (29)

1. A system, comprising:

two or more computational services that each represent a respective different manufacturing capability used to partially create a target part model of a part, each of the two or more computational services responding to queries on manufacturing primitives, the manufacturing primitives representing additive or subtractive region of influence within a space of the target part model; and

an orchestrator operational on a computer and configured to:

define a common space shared among the computational services to reference the target part model and the manufacturing primitives corresponding to each capability;

submit the queries to the computational services and use responses to the queries to construct a logical representation of a planning space based on intersections among the manufacturing primitives that satisfy a manufacturability test; and

form one or more process plans using the different manufacturing capabilities to manufacture the part according to the planning space.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the orchestrator additionally queries or computes quantitative measures of the intersections and cost factors to determine cost-effective or optimal process plans to manufacture the part.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the two or more computational services determine the intersections based on delegation by the orchestrator.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the target part model additionally comprises requirements for material properties and the orchestrator queries the computational services for material properties associated with intersection regions.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the intersections are implicitly computed by the orchestrator by sampling the common space and applying pointwise conjunctions to membership classification queries at sampled coordinates.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the target part model additionally comprises requirements for material properties and the orchestrator queries the computational services for material properties associated with intersection regions or probes the sampled coordinates for the material properties.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the orchestrator is further configured to query the two or more computational services to determine support for pairwise intersection queries, and in response to a queried service supporting the pairwise intersection queries, the queried service provides yes/no answers to whether shapes intersect in a common space, otherwise the orchestrator submits point membership classification queries to the queried service.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein forming the process plan comprises forming a truth table that encodes an inclusion or exclusion of each of the primitives, entries of the truth table obtained as groups of queried points with identical point membership classification responses across all of the computational services or directly from pairwise intersection queries on the computational services.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein forming the process plan comprises encoding a disjunctive normal form in which canonical intersection terms are included or excluded in an as-manufactured shape from some combination of additive manufacturing and subtractive manufacturing actions such that the as-manufactured shape is interchangeable with the target part model.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein forming the process plan comprises encoding a conjunctive normal form of partial ordering constraints on the order of appearance of additive manufacturing and subtractive manufacturing actions in the process plan that can generate an as-manufactured shape interchangeable with the target part model.

11. A method, comprising:

defining two or more computational services that each represent a respective different manufacturing capability used to partially create a target part model of a part, each of the two or more computational services responding to queries on manufacturing primitives, the manufacturing primitives representing additive or subtractive region of influence within a space of the target part model;

defining a common space shared among the computational services to reference the target part model and the manufacturing primitives corresponding to each capability;

submitting the queries to the computational services and using responses to the queries to construct a logical representation of a planning space based on intersections among the manufacturing primitives that satisfy a manufacturability test; and

forming one or more process plans using the different manufacturing capabilities to manufacture the part according to the planning space.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising additionally querying or computing quantitative measures of the intersections and cost factors to determine cost-effective or optimal process plans to manufacture the part.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the two or more computational services determine the intersections.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the target part model additionally comprises requirements for material properties, the method further comprising querying the computational services for material properties associated with intersection regions.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the intersections are implicitly computed by sampling the common space and applying pointwise conjunctions to membership classification queries at sampled coordinates.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the target part model additionally comprises requirements for material properties, the method further comprising querying the computational services for material properties associated with intersection regions or probing the sampled coordinates for the material properties.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising querying the two or more computational services to determine support for pairwise intersection queries, and in response to a queried service supporting the pairwise intersection queries, receiving from the queried service yes/no answers to whether shapes intersect in a common space, otherwise submitting point membership classification queries to the queried service.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein forming the process plan comprises forming a truth table that encodes an inclusion or exclusion of each of the primitives, entries of the truth table obtained as groups of queried points with identical point membership classification responses across all of the computational services or directly from pairwise intersection queries on the computational services.

19. The method of claim 11 , wherein forming the process plan comprises encoding a disjunctive normal form in which canonical intersection terms are included or excluded in an as-manufactured shape from some combination of additive manufacturing and subtractive manufacturing actions such that the as-manufactured shape is interchangeable with the target part model.

20. The method of claim 11 , wherein forming the process plan comprises encoding a conjunctive normal form of partial ordering constraints on the order of appearance of additive manufacturing and subtractive manufacturing actions in the process plan that can generate an as-manufactured shape interchangeable with the target part model.

Assignments (9)
SECOND LIEN NOTES PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Jul 2, 2025
From: XEROX CORPORATION
To: U.S. BANK TRUST COMPANY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 071785/0550 →
FIRST LIEN NOTES PATENT SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 11, 2025
From: XEROX CORPORATION
To: U.S. BANK TRUST COMPANY, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 070824/0001 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Feb 13, 2024
From: XEROX CORPORATION
To: CITIBANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 066741/0001 →
TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS RECORDED AT RF 064760/0389 Recorded Feb 13, 2024
From: CITIBANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
To: XEROX CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 068261/0001 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Nov 20, 2023
From: XEROX CORPORATION
To: JEFFERIES FINANCE LLC, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 065628/0019 →
CORRECTIVE ASSIGNMENT TO CORRECT THE REMOVAL OF US PATENTS 9356603, 10026651, 10626048 AND INCLUSION OF US PATENT 7167871 PREVIOUSLY RECORDED ON REEL 064038 FRAME 0001. ASSIGNOR(S) HEREBY CONFIRMS THE ASSIGNMENT. Recorded Jun 28, 2023
From: PALO ALTO RESEARCH CENTER INCORPORATED
To: XEROX CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 064161/0001 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jun 22, 2023
From: XEROX CORPORATION
To: CITIBANK, N.A., AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 064760/0389 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 20, 2023
From: PALO ALTO RESEARCH CENTER INCORPORATED
To: XEROX CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 064038/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 9, 2021
From: BEHANDISH, MORAD; NELATURI, SAIGOPAL
To: PALO ALTO RESEARCH CENTER INCORPORATED
Reel/Frame 057124/0810 →