Data processing: generic control systems or specific application – Specific application – apparatus or process – Product assembly or manufacturing
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-20
2004-03-23
Khatri, Anil (Department: 2121)
Data processing: generic control systems or specific application
Specific application, apparatus or process
Product assembly or manufacturing
C700S131000, C700S303000, C702S155000, C702S166000, C702S167000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06711455
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to custom manufacturing of apparel and more particularly to a method of calculating garment dimensions and production specifications based on information captured from or about the individual for whom the garment is to be made. More specifically, this invention relates to the use of a publicly-available anthropometric database for the statistical derivation of the parameters of a mathematical model of the relationship between reported and unreported human body dimensions. This invention also relates to the calculation of the dimensions of a garment based, in part, upon the human body dimensions calculated by application of the aforementioned mathematical model.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Matching apparel consumers with garments that have all the desired properties, features, and fit is one of the biggest problems that apparel retailers face. The vast majority of apparel retailers struggle with managing the tradeoff between carrying a larger assortment of products and paying the high costs of carrying large amounts of inventory. A company choosing to offer a large assortment of products, product features or variations, and sizes quickly finds the costs of inventory, inventory handling costs, and infrastructure (e.g., distribution centers) become prohibitively large as the number of stock keeping units (SKUs) increases. On the other hand, a company with a more limited assortment will find that consumers either can't find the product or size they desire, or choose a product that often they are not satisfied with, and end up returning the garment. The combined cost associated with inventory and merchandise returns represents a significant portion of the overall costs for apparel retailers, especially those who sell through direct channels such as the Internet, TV, or mail. The lost revenue opportunity for apparel retailers of all types, including store based retailers, associated with not having the correct size or product in stock can easily make the difference between a struggling and successful company.
Those consumers who find an apparel product in their size are often times settling for the best available option, rather than getting a garment that fits them properly. A survey cited in U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,519, issued to Sung K. Park on Aug. 20, 1996, for an apparatus and method for custom apparel manufacturing, found that the percentage of the population that is correctly fitted by an available standard-sized article of clothing without any alteration is only two percent.
There are two fundamentally different approaches to helping apparel consumers find garments that best meet their needs. The first involves gathering or capturing information about a consumer and using that information to recommend particular brands, products, and sizes that are likely to fit or match a consumer's tastes. The benefit of this approach is that it theoretically increases the probability that a consumer will find the best available standard product. The drawback is that this approach doesn't solve the assortment-inventory tradeoff described above, nor does it resolve the issue of failure to achieve proper fit without further garment alteration.
The second approach involves custom making of apparel garments for consumers after preference and sizing information has been captured. The apparatus and method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,519 is an example of this approach. This approach involves having consumers try on several products of predetermined dimensions until the consumer approves the fit and purchases the garment. At that point, the information captured during the try-on session is reported to a manufacturing system that begins the process of making the garment. Another approach, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,525, issued to Jacob Minsky on Sep. 21, 1999, for a method of measuring body measurements for custom apparel manufacturing, involves the use of multiple cameras in a specially designed room, capturing height and width data about a consumer. These data are then used to manufacture the clothing.
These approaches do provide the manufacturing system with information that is useful in producing a custom garment, and will likely result in a better fitting garment than the standard sizes. Since the garments are made after the consumer order has been completed, there is less of a need for retailers to carry large amounts of finished-goods inventory. The downside of these approaches is that they require substantial involvement and time from the consumer. The majority of consumers find that shopping for apparel is not a particularly desirable activity, but rather a necessary evil. Any product that requires more involvement and more time from consumers will find limited potential in today's environment where an increasingly large number of household or personal needs can be met from a computer, a laptop, a PDA, or even a cell phone.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for capturing information about a person and using that information to determine exact specifications for an apparel product and instructions for the production of a custom apparel product. The information can be communicated remotely over the phone, using the Internet, interactive television, via mail, or through any other communication device that is used for electronic commerce such as web-enabled phones or personal digital assistants (PDAs). This information can also be communicated directly to a retailer's agent, a kiosk, or any other information capture tool in a store environment.
A consumer is asked a series of questions about themselves (or the person for whom they are purchasing the item), their preferences, desired features, and other product choices regarding the item that is being considered. It is an object of the invention to select such questions in such a way that consumers neither have to be measured by a tailor or other person, nor measure themselves, in order to complete the ordering process. It is an object of the invention to make use of the information that is captured from or on behalf of the person for whom the item is intended to serve as inputs to a set of model formulas that calculates other pieces of information needed for developing product specifications and production instructions for the manufacturing of a custom apparel product, but not provided directly by the consumer.
It is an object of the present invention to apply methods of statistical analysis to a publicly available database of human anthropometric measurements as a means of determining the numerical coefficients of the model formulas used to calculate unprovided anthropometric measurements from provided anthropometric measurements. It is also within the scope of the present invention to supplement the anthropometric measurements in the publicly available database with measurements of additional individuals.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of shopping for products that can be customized based on an individual person's body shape, lifestyle attributes, and product preferences which allows customers to quickly, easily and conveniently order custom apparel.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method of determining necessary product specifications such as garment dimensions based upon both consumer-provided and model-derived human body measurements that provides retailers and manufacturers of these products with all the necessary dimensions and other specifications required to produce a custom apparel product. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method for adjusting calculated garment dimensions on the basis of consumer-selected garment fit preferences.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method of shopping for products that can be customized based on an individual person's body shape and product preferences as a marketing and sales tool for retailers and manufacturers to provide custom apparel
Heard Steven Carl
Holloway Robert Gordon Ernest
Luhnow Jeffrey Aldredge
Ramsey Philip J.
Archetype Solutions, Inc.
Barnes Crystal J.
Khatri Anil
Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP
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