Appeal No. 1996-2027
Application 07/965,079
which constitute all of the claims pending in the application.2
BACKGROUND
The subject matter on appeal is directed to a method and apparatus for forming an object
based on free-form surface data. As indicated in the specification (page 1), the invention is particularly
applicable to CAD/CAM design in three-dimensional space. Appellants recognized that the prior art
suffered from the problem that free-form curves used in wire-frame models of the objects to be formed
must be represented by Bezier curves (see specification, page 5), the Bezier curves in turn being made
up of contours consisting of a series of points, wherein it can be difficult to shape an object having a
surface geometry which changes smoothly as intended by a designer (see specification, pages 4 to 5).
To overcome this problem, appellants provide a free-form surface forming method and apparatus for
generating Bezier curves which reproduces designed objects more accurately and faithfully.
Independent claim 5, which is representative of Group I, is reproduced below:
5. A method of forming an object on the basis of data representing a free-form surface,
the method comprising the steps of:
generating control points between two nodal points on a three-dimensional space;
generating a free-form curve represented by a vector function using a predetermined parameter
on the basis of said nodal points and control points;
setting a start point and an end point of an input series of points as said nodal points and
temporarily setting said control points on the basis of points adjoining said start point and said end point
Claims 1 to 4 were canceled as per appellants’ first amendment dated November 18, 1994.2
2
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