WO2016047874A1 - Method for controlling 3d printing - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided is a method for controlling 3D printing. A method for controlling 3D printing according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of: receiving and analyzing, by a server, a 3D printing request signal from a first client device; extracting, on the basis of detailed information on printing comprised in the 3D printing request signal, a printing candidate group among a plurality of 3D printers connected to the first client device and other client devices; generating a print code with respect to a 3D printer which belongs to the printing candidate group and is connected to a second client device; and transmitting print information comprising the print code to the second client device.

Description

3D printing control method

The present invention relates to a 3D printer control device, and more specifically, to control the printing process of a plurality of printers located in different areas connected to the server in response to the user's printing requirements, it is possible to determine whether the normal output of the printer It is about how.

A 3D printer is a machine or apparatus that can output a desired three-dimensional shape based on a three-dimensional drawing made by a computer design program. Printing materials, which were initially limited to plastics, were able to produce prints using a variety of raw materials such as nylon, metal, and elastic members. Output parts, which were limited to printing industrial samples, also include watches, shoes, mobile phone cases, and automotive accessories. As it becomes possible to print, not only a workplace but also an individual user has a trend of having a 3D printer.

In recent years, with the spread of 3D printers, 3D printing services and related industries that output on behalf of 3D output by other people's requests are increasing, and appropriate printing services can be provided according to various requests of consumers. The importance of technology and platform development is on the rise.

Conventional 3D printers have had to perform complicated procedures until the user performs the 3D printer. In other words, the user has to select a material to be used for the output, determine the type of 3D printer that can perform the printing process using the selected material, and there was a problem that to control the printing process by operating the 3D printer. For example, if your 3D printer is unable to print using the material you choose, you will have to ask a professional to provide 3D printing services, which will cost you time and money. .

In addition, the conventional 3D printer can not detect the malfunction of the printer itself during the printing process, there is an inconvenience that the user must continuously observe the printing process, even if abnormal output is output due to the printer malfunction is constantly There was a problem of wasting time and money by performing the printing process.

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention to solve the above problems, the printing process can be performed in the 3D printer disposed in a physically spaced place and the output requester, among the various 3D printers having different specifications connected to the server An object of the present invention is to provide a 3D printing control method for selecting equipment to perform a printing process in response to detailed information of a user's output request.

Another technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a 3D printing control method that can easily control the output process using a 3D printer safely in everyday life even a general user without professional knowledge.

Another technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a 3D printing control method that can notify the user by predicting the malfunction time of the 3D printer by measuring the environmental information during the printing process in the 3D printer.

The technical problems of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned technical problems, and other technical problems not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

In order to solve the above technical problem, the 3D printing control method according to an embodiment of the present invention, the server receiving and analyzing the 3D printing request signal from the first client device, the client different from the first client device Extracting a printing candidate group based on the printing detailed information included in the 3D printing request signal among a plurality of 3D printers connected to the device, and generating a print code for the 3D printer connected to the second client device included in the printing candidate group; And transmitting the print information including the print code to the second client device.

The plurality of other client devices including the second client device include a control device for controlling the 3D printer, the control device controls the printing process of the 3D printer based on the print information, and the printing process The sensing information can be generated by measuring the printing environment information.

The controller may learn a plurality of the sensing information to determine a normal operation section of the 3D printer, and determine whether the 3D printer is normally operated by comparing the sensing information with the normal operation section.

The control device may generate a notification signal and transmit the notification signal to the server when the sensing information is out of the normal operation section, and the server may retransmit the notification signal to the second client device.

The server may receive the sensing information from the control device in real time, extract a feature vector according to a time interval change rate of the sensing information, and predict a malfunction time of the 3D printer apparatus based on the feature vector.

Receiving a response signal for whether to perform printing corresponding to the print information from a plurality of the second client device and a predetermined client device for performing a printing process from the printing candidate group based on the plurality of received response signal The method may further include determining.

The method may further include receiving a notification message regarding the printing process from the determined client device and transmitting the notification message to the first client device.

The 3D printing request signal may include one of a 3D modeling drawing, location information of the first client device, a printing method, a use of a printout, a material, a color, an internal filling degree, a price, an expected output completion date, and a stacking unit.

The analyzing may include analyzing the 3D modeling drawing to generate analysis information including one of an output size, a stacking direction, a density, an estimated time required, and an expected amount of material, and based on the analysis information. And extracting a candidate group.

The extracting of the candidate group may determine a client device located within a predetermined radius based on the location information of the first client device as the printing candidate group.

According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to determine a 3D printer that satisfies the requirements of the print requester among a plurality of 3D printers arranged in different areas connected to the server and the network, even ordinary users without professional knowledge in everyday life You can conveniently print out the result using a 3D printer.

In addition, it is possible to determine whether or not the output is normally output during the printing process by sensing the 3D printer surroundings during the printing process of the 3D printer, it is possible to predict when the malfunction and abnormal results of the 3D printer is output.

In addition, it is possible to provide an integrated service by connecting a control device to an existing 3D printer operating in different operating environments for each manufacturer.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a schematic flow of a 3D printing control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of determining a printing candidate group of FIG. 1.

3 is a diagram illustrating an example of controlling a 3D printing process by using the 3D printer control apparatus of FIG. 1.

4 is a diagram illustrating an example of determining whether normal output is performed during a 3D printing process using the 3D printer control apparatus of FIG. 1.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Advantages and features of the present invention and methods for achieving them will be apparent with reference to the embodiments described below in detail with the accompanying drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below, but may be implemented in various forms, and only the embodiments are intended to complete the disclosure of the present invention, and the general knowledge in the art to which the present invention belongs. It is provided to fully inform the person having the scope of the invention, which is defined only by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used in the present specification may be used in a sense that can be commonly understood by those skilled in the art. In addition, the terms defined in the commonly used dictionaries are not ideally or excessively interpreted unless they are specifically defined clearly.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. In this specification, the singular also includes the plural unless specifically stated otherwise in the phrase. As used herein, "comprises" and / or "comprising" does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other components in addition to the mentioned components.

Hereinafter, a 3D printer control apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1, there is shown a schematic configuration of a 3D printer control device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the present specification, a client may be a subject performing a series of processes of exchanging data with a server using a client device. In addition, the client device may refer to a client access terminal device for performing a function of collecting and transmitting necessary various information scattered on a server in some cases.

For example, the client device may be a computer such as a desktop PC or a notebook PC, and may be any kind of wired / wireless communication device that can use a two-way communication service by accessing a server through a predetermined network. In addition, the client device includes a mobile terminal that communicates via a wireless Internet or a portable Internet, and in addition to a Palm Personal Computer (PDA), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a smart phone, a mobile game machine ( All wired / wireless home appliances / communication devices having a communication module, a display device, and a user interface for connecting to a server such as a mobile play-station may be comprehensively referred to. In the embodiments to be described later, the client and the client device may be interpreted in the same sense.

The client or client device communicates with the server and can send and receive certain data with the server. The client device may be directly connected to the server to transmit and receive data, but is not limited thereto. The client device may be connected to a predetermined intermediate server to transmit and receive data through the intermediate server.

The server may allow connection of one or more client terminal devices through the network. The network may be a wired or wireless Internet, or may be a core network integrated with a wired public network, a wireless mobile communication network, or a portable Internet. The network may include various services existing in the TCP / IP protocol and higher layers, that is, the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP). ), A global open computer network architecture that provides Telnet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Domain Name System (DNS), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and so on.

First, the server may receive a 3D printing request signal from the first client device (S11).

In this embodiment, the 3D printing request signal is a 3D modeling drawing, location information of the first client device, delivery date, price range, delivery method, printing method, material, color, internal filling degree, lamination unit, the use and strength of the output, ductility Information on specific features such as water resistance, conductivity, etc. may be included, but is not limited thereto.

The output requester may generate and transmit a 3D printing request signal including the above information to the server by using the first client device (S11), and the server may extract the printing candidate group by analyzing the received 3D printing request signal. There is (S12).

For example, the server analyzes the 3D modeling drawing included in the 3D printing request signal and prints detailed information, that is, the size of the output 3 axes (X-axis, Y-axis, Z-axis), the stacking direction of the output, and the degree of internal filling. Estimated time required, estimated amount of material consumed, etc. can be calculated, and a 3D printer capable of performing the requirements corresponding to the detailed printing information can be set as a printing candidate group.

As another example, the server may include, in the printing candidate group, a 3D printer located within a predetermined radius based on the location information of the first client device included in the 3D printing request signal. That is, the printing candidate group may be determined in consideration of the physical proximity to the print requestor, and in addition, the printing candidate group may be determined in consideration of the reliability of the 3D printer holder.

In some other embodiments, extracting the printing candidate group (S12) may determine the printing candidate group in consideration of all or a part of the above-described printing candidate group determination process. That is, the server may analyze the 3D modeling drawing and determine the printing candidate group in consideration of the location information and the reputation information of the first client device.

When the printing candidate group is determined at the server, a print code corresponding to the 3D printer included in the printing candidate group may be generated (S13).

The print code is an operable format of a 3D printer, and examples of representative print codes include, but are not limited to, .gcode, .x3g, and .s3g.

To this end, the server may receive and manage printer detailed information of each of the 3D printers connected to the client device from the plurality of client devices connected to the server and the network. Accordingly, the server may generate a print code corresponding to the operable format of each 3D printer connected to the server.

Subsequently, the print information including the print code may be transmitted to the second client device included in the printing candidate group (S14).

In this embodiment, the second client device may include a control device for controlling the 3D printer, the control device controls the printing process of the 3D printer connected to the second client device based on the print information received from the server, The sensing information may be generated by measuring printing environment information during the printing process.

Specifically, the controller may generate new work commands in the work queue of the 3D printer by analyzing the detailed information included in the 3D printing request signal, and the 3D printer may perform the printing process in the order of work arranged in the work queue. have.

The controller can also adjust the priority of waiting jobs. For example, two job commands are already created in the job queue, and new job information can be further generated by receiving new print information from the server. At this time, by analyzing the new print information, the delivery date of the corresponding output may be analyzed to rearrange the work commands arranged in the work queue according to the delivery date.

The controller may generate printing information by measuring printing environment information during the printing process of the 3D printer, and transmit the sensing information to the server in real time. For example, the sensing unit 13 may be a temperature measuring sensor and may generate sensing information by measuring a temperature around the 3D printer while the 3D printer performs the printing process. To this end, the control device may include a temperature measuring sensor, but is not limited thereto, and may further include various sensor modules for measuring temperature, humidity, vibration, noise, and taking an image. The role of the specific control device will be described later with reference to FIGS.

The sensing information may be various sensing values measured by sensing the 3D printer in the sensing unit of the control device, or may be printing environment information generated by the 3D printer itself. In general, the 3D printer itself measures the temperature and output speed of the nozzle and bed at the time of output, and the control device may further receive such operation information and use it as sensing information.

In some other embodiments, the control device may determine whether the 3D printer is operating normally using the generated sensing information. For example, the controller sets the threshold value by numerically measuring the temperature, vibration, and noise values when the 3D printer is in normal operation, and indicates that the 3D printer is malfunctioning or abnormally operated when the measured sensing value exceeds the threshold. You can judge. Alternatively, the feature vector may be extracted according to the time interval change rate of the transmitted sensing information, and the feature vector may be compared with the normal or abnormal feature vector stored in the control device to determine whether the 3D printer is in normal operation.

The control device analyzes the received print information, determines whether to perform printing, and transmits the result to the server (S15). For example, when the required delivery date included in the 3D printing request signal is compared with the amount of work in the work queue of the 3D printer connected to the 3D printer control device, the output rejection signal may be transmitted to the server when the required delivery date is not satisfied. Alternatively, if it is determined that the remaining material amount of the 3D printer is not able to output the output included in the request signal as the current remaining amount, the output rejection signal may be transmitted to the server, but the present invention is not limited thereto and printing is performed according to various criteria. Can be sent to the server.

Finally, the server may determine a specific client device that performs the printing process based on the plurality of response signals received from the printing candidate group. The specific client device to be determined may be automatically determined by the server, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The specific client device may be retransmitted to the first client device to select a specific client device from the above-described printing candidate group in the first client device, thereby reproducing the server. Can also be sent.

Referring to FIG. 2, an example of determining the printing candidate group of FIG. 1 is illustrated.

As illustrated, the print requester may transmit the 3D printing request signal including the user's request related to 3D printing of the user to the server 30 using the first client device 41.

To this end, the server 30 may first collect and database the device information of each of the 3D printers connected to the second client device 42 from the plurality of second client devices 42 disposed at different places.

In the present embodiment, the device information may include the printable size of the 3D printer, the type of the available material, the operable format, the location information, the work queue information, and the like, but is not limited thereto.

As described above, the first client device 41 and the second client device 42 may be a PC or a mobile terminal, and the second client device 42 may further include a control device for controlling a printing process of the 3D printer. Can be. That is, the second client device 42 may receive device information of the 3D printer measured from the control device connected to the 3D printer, or receive the device information set at the time of manufacturing the 3D printer from the 3D printer and transmit it to the server 30. .

The server 30 compares the printing detailed information included in the 3D printing request signal received from the first client device 41, that is, the request of the output requester, with the device information received from the second client device 42. Can be generated. A candidate group may be extracted based on analysis information among a plurality of second client devices arranged in different regions. For example, the 3D modeling drawings included in the printing detail information may be analyzed to determine the requested X, Y, The size of the Z-axis may be calculated, and a second client device connected to the 3D printer capable of outputting the size may be determined as a printing candidate group. Alternatively, the second client device located within a predetermined radius based on the position information of the first client device 41 may be determined as a printing candidate group, but is not limited thereto. Printing candidates may be determined by further considering the filling level, price, expected output completion date, and stacking unit.

When the candidate group is determined, the server may generate print information including the print code and selectively transmit the print information to the second client device included in the printing candidate group.

Referring to FIG. 3, an example of controlling a 3D printing process using the 3D printer controller of FIG. 1 is illustrated.

The controller 10 may be connected to the 3D printer 20 by wire or wirelessly. For example, the controller 10 and the 3D printer 20 may be connected to each other by a USB cable or by using a wireless communication network such as Wi-Fi. You can also send and receive.

The server 30 may be connected to a network with the 3D printer control apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment, but is not limited thereto, and a plurality of different 3D printer control apparatuses may be further connected with the server.

The server 30 may receive the 3D printing request signal from the first client device 41 which is the print requestor. For example, the output requester may request output to the server using the first client device 41, and the 3D printing request information including the printing method, the material to be used, the color, the density, the required delivery date, and the purpose of the output may be used. It may transmit to the server 30.

The 3D printing request information may further include a 3D modeling drawing, but is not limited thereto. When the 3D printing request information does not include the 3D modeling drawing, the server 30 may perform 3D modeling from another client device connected to the server. A drawing can be received. For example, if the output requester sends print information to the server 30 using the first client device 41, but the output requester does not have a 3D modeling drawing or is an expert in the field, the request of the output requester The 3D modeling drawing may be generated by the server 30 itself, or may be requested by receiving a 3D modeling drawing from another client device that is an external expert.

The server 30 may generate print information based on the 3D printing request signal. In this case, the server 30 may determine a printing candidate group that satisfies the requirements of the print information among the plurality of control apparatuses connected to the server 30, and selectively transmit the print information only to the control apparatus included in the printing candidate group. In addition, the server 30 may further receive location information of the first client device 41, and may select a candidate group optimized for the location information of the client device 40.

In addition, the server 30 may transmit the print information to the plurality of control devices 10 included in the candidate group, and may transmit different print information corresponding to different types of 3D printers connected to each control device. The 3D printer may perform output in different operable formats such as .gcode, .x3g, and .s3g, and the server may transmit a request signal in a format corresponding to the format received from each controller.

When receiving the print information from the server 30 (S13), the controller 10 transmits the second client device 42, which is the 3D printer holder, and the second client device 42 analyzes and outputs the request signal. It may determine whether to perform, and resend the response signal to the server 30. The second client device 42 compares the received request information with detailed information of the 3D printer 20 connected to the control device 10, and outputs an output rejection signal when the request information is satisfied, and when the request information is not satisfied. It can transmit to the server 30, and when the output is approved, it is possible to update the work queue by creating a new work command in the work queue of the 3D printer 20.

Referring to FIG. 4, an example of determining whether normal output is performed during a 3D printing process using the 3D printer control apparatus of FIG. 1 is illustrated.

When the printing process is performed in the 3D printer 20 by the control device 10, the sensor unit included in the control device 10 measures the environmental information during the printing process of the 3D printer 20 to generate sensing information. Can be. For example, the 3D printer 20 output unit may be photographed using a camera module provided at one side of the control apparatus 10 to generate an image file or a video file photographing the shape of the output in real time or at predetermined time intervals. Alternatively, the temperature sensor provided in the control device 10 measures the temperature around the 3D printer 20, measures the ambient noise using the microphone module, or senses the vibration degree during the printing process using the vibration sensing module. Although not limited thereto, and referring to FIG. 1, the sensing unit 13 included in the control device 10 may include one or more of a thermometer, a hygrometer, a three-axis acceleration sensor, an angular velocity sensor, a microphone, and a camera unit. It may include, it is possible to sense the environment information of the 3D printer 20 using this.

The control device 10 may determine whether the 3D printer 20 operates normally based on the sensing information collected as described above. That is, the control device 10 may compare the 3D printing request signal received from the server 30 with the sensing information to determine whether it is normally operated. For example, the controller 10 may determine the shape of the required output included in the 3D printing request signal. It can be compared with the image or video captured by the camera unit, and if the output is different from the shape of the required output, it can be determined that the current printer outputs a wrong result. Alternatively, the sensing information related to the received temperature, noise, and vibration may be compared with a threshold value set by the control device 10 to determine whether the 3D printer 20 operates normally or malfunctions.

If the 3D printer 20 is determined to be a malfunction, abnormal state or outputs an abnormal result during the printing process, the control device 10 may transmit the same to the server 30, but is not limited thereto. In real time, the sensing information may be transmitted to the server 30, and the server 30 may determine whether the normal output or the printer malfunctions.

To this end, the control apparatus 10 receives and learns information related to the output from the connected 3D printer 20, and compares the operation values measured at the time of output based on the learned normal operation values to determine whether the operation is normal. Can be.

If it is determined that the 3D printer is malfunctioning or abnormal, the server 30 may generate a notification message and transmit the notification message to the first or second client devices 41 and 42, and the output requester or the 3D printer holder may receive the notification message. You can check the normal output in real time.

In addition, the server 30 may receive the sensing information in real time from the control device 20, and may predict the malfunction time of the 3D printer based on the received sensing information. In detail, the server 30 constructs a sensing information pattern when the 3D printer 20 is in a normal operation or a malfunction as a database, and compares the pattern of sensing information received in real time with the learned information to predict a malfunction at a specific point in time. Can be.

Although embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may implement the present invention in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features thereof. I can understand that. Therefore, it should be understood that the embodiments described above are exemplary in all respects and not restrictive.

Claims (10)

The server receiving and analyzing the 3D printing request signal from the first client device; Extracting a printing candidate group based on printing detailed information included in the 3D printing request signal among a plurality of 3D printers connected to the first client device and another client device; Generating a print code for a 3D printer connected to a second client device included in the printing candidate group; And And transmitting the print information including the print code to the second client device. The method of claim 1, The plurality of other client devices including the second client device includes a control device for controlling the 3D printer, The control device controls the printing process of the 3D printer based on the print information, And generating sensing information by measuring printing environment information during the printing process. The method of claim 2, The control device, Determine a normal operating section of the 3D printer by learning a plurality of the sensing information; And determining whether the 3D printer is in normal operation by comparing the sensing information with the normal operation period. The method of claim 3, The control device generates a notification signal and transmits to the server when the sensing information is out of the normal operation section, And the server retransmits the notification signal to the second client device. The method of claim 2, The server, To determine the normal operating period of the 3D printer by learning the plurality of sensing information received in real time from the control device, It is determined whether the 3D printer is operating normally by comparing the first sensing information received from the control device with the normal operation section. And extracting a feature vector according to a time interval change rate of the first sensing information to predict a malfunction time of the 3D printer apparatus based on the feature vector. The method of claim 1, Receiving a response signal for performing printing corresponding to the print information from a plurality of second client devices; And And determining a predetermined client device that performs a printing process from the printing candidate group based on the plurality of received response signals. The method of claim 6, Receiving a notification message for a printing process from the determined client device; And Sending the notification message to the first client device. The method of claim 1, The printing detailed information may include a 3D modeling drawing, location information of the first client device, a printing method, a use of an output, a material, a color, an internal filling degree, a price, an expected completion date, and a stacking unit. Way. The method of claim 8, The analyzing step, Analyzing the 3D modeling drawing to generate analysis information including one of an output size, a stacking direction, a density, an estimated time required, and an estimated required material amount; And And extracting the printing candidate group by comparing the printing detailed information and the analysis information. The method of claim 8, Extracting the candidate group, And determining a client device located within a predetermined radius based on the location information of the first client device as the printing candidate group.

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