Data processing: measuring – calibrating – or testing – Measurement system – Dimensional determination
Reexamination Certificate
2003-02-28
2004-11-09
Shah, Kamini (Department: 2863)
Data processing: measuring, calibrating, or testing
Measurement system
Dimensional determination
C702S158000, C702S161000, C702S162000, C033S491000, C033S784000, C033S663000, C708S105000, C708S171000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06816805
ABSTRACT:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
BACKGROUND
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to the use of a computer and computer printer to print a scale and/or conversion instrument used to prepare and interpret scaled drawings, maps, aerial photographs, graphs and similar documents. In it's major embodiment, the present invention particularly relates to the fast and economical production of a scale instrument which is matched or calibrated to the same scale as a drawing, map, graph, or similar document, the scale of which has been enlarged or reduced from the original; or to the same scale as an aerial photograph or other image which has not been printed at a specific predetermined scale. The tasks performed with this scale instrument would otherwise be more costly and subject to significant error because of the time and care necessary to fabricate, on a case by case basis, a manually produced scale instrument which matches the scale of each of such documents. The instruments printed by the present invention also can be calibrated in the same scales as the engineer's and architect's scale instruments typically used for producing scaled drawings of all types,
In other embodiments, the present invention can also produce a conversion instrument denominated in a different measuring system than that used to produce the drawing, thus allowing the easy conversion to alterative systems of measurement such as from the English system to Metric. The process also can produce an instrument containing one or more scales which allows the conversion, without additional measurement or calculation, of units of distance into units of another system such as area units or monetary units, or into units of any other measuring system where the total units in such system has a direct relationship with the total distance measured on the drawing. As one example, the process can print a scale instrument to be used in estimating the acreage in a 100 foot wide railroad right of way using a map scaled at 1″=154′. In such an instrument, each linear inch would be equivalent to 15,400 square feet or 0.35 acres, and the one acre index mark would be 2.83 inches from the “0” index mark, the two acre index mark would be 5.66 inches from the index and so on, with intermediate index marks between such major index marks. Such an instrument can be printed with one or more scales which can be used by folding the media along the base line of each such scale so that the base line can be placed on and manipulated across the drawing. Continuing the example, if land in the area shown by the map were worth $10,000 per acre, the value of land within the right of way could be estimated with a scale instrument denominated in dollars per acre. In this case, a mark at 2.83 inches from the index would also indicate that the dollar value of land in a corridor 100 feet wide extending from the index mark to that point is equal to $10,000. Such dollar denominated index marks would be extended along the scale, together with intermediate index marks. In addition, the scale instrument can be printed on media which was flexible enough to be folded and unfolded such that multiple scales could be printed on one sheet of media, one indicating, for example, distance, another acreage, and yet another dollar value so that each of these factors could be read with the same instrument by folding and unfolding the printed media so as to expose the appropriate scale. It is obvious that there are many more examples of situations where the instrument can be used in determining useful information which is mathematically correlated to a distance within scaled drawings, maps, aerial photographs, graphs and similar documents.
2. Description of Prior Art
Cartographers, architects, engineers, and others have traditionally prepared drawings which graphically represent full sized objects by a process in which a dimension measured on the full sized object is represented by a fraction or multiple of that measurement on the drawing. The mathematical relationship between the two units is generally known as the “scale.” Different professions use different measurement systems and label their scale instruments differently (e.g. cartographers may indicate scale as 1″=1 mile, or 1:25,000, engineers may use 1″=40′, architects may use ¼″=1′, etc.). Scale instruments to assist the drafting and interpretation of scaled drawings, etc. are well known to those who practice the art. One of the most common is a triangular scale instrument constructed of wood, plastic, metal, or similar material which features six faces, each denominated in a different scale. Such scale instruments are manufactured with scales commonly used by civil engineers, scales commonly used by architects, and metric scales. Flat ruler-like instruments with one or two common scales are also available in various configurations. More recently, CAD (Computer Assisted Drafting) programs have all but eliminated the need for the use of a scale instrument in the preparation of many scaled drawings since that functionality has been integrated into the CAD programs. Scale instruments, however, continue to be employed extensively by users of scaled drawings, maps, aerial photographs, graphs and similar documents.
Recent technology has allowed drawings, etc., which have been created on one size of media to be readily converted to another size, often via other media such as microfilm or computer image files. Thus, drawings and maps prepared and plotted on large sheets of paper are regularly reduced to 11″=17″ or 8½″=11″ or other size sheets of media by such means as changing the print parameters in a CAD program, scanning a document and converting the image into a computer file, or publishing the drawing in proprietary computer file formats such as Adobe Corporation's Acrobat program. Modern office copiers have the ability to shrink or enlarge an image. While the scale of the drawings is changed by such actions, normally the relative spatial relationship between the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the drawing remains intact. Therefore, where the length of one dimension in the full sized object is known, the length of the corresponding line in the revised drawing can be measured and the revised scale ratio determined by calculation as follows:
Revised Scale=Distance Represented by the Line/Measured Length of a Drawn Line
Knowing the revised scale ratio, the user can determine the length of any dimension in the full sized object by measuring the corresponding dimension in the revised scale drawing and solving the equation as follows:
Distance Represented by the Line=Measured Length of a Drawn Line * Revised Scale
Even in those cases where the vertical and horizontal dimensions are changed by differing amounts, the user can determine the new scale for lines on the x axis, for lines on the y axis, and for lines having various bearings between the x and y axes with the number of additional scale instruments being interpolated based on the need for accuracy.
Where the reduction or enlargement of the drawing is an exact multiple of the original scale, a common scale instrument calibrated in that multiple of the original can be used to read distances represented by lengths of the various lines on the drawings. For example, if a drawing in which 1″=200″ is reduced from 22″=34″ to 11″=17″, a factor of one half, a scale instrument calibrated at 1:40 can be used to interpret the drawing. However, since the most common scale instruments using these units of measurement are denominated in 1:10, 1:20, 1:30, 1:40, 1:50, and 1:60, a drawing prepared such that 1″=40″ and which has been reduced by half cannot be as easily interpreted with the common instrument. In practice, it is typical to use the 1:40 scale on the common scale instrument and double the reading, either mentally or by th
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