WO2012052044A1

WO2012052044A1 - Scanner - assisted selection of appropriate footwear with individualized footbed

Info

Publication number: WO2012052044A1
Application number: PCT/EP2010/006480
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dirk Rutschmann
Original assignee: Corpus.E Ag
Priority date: 2010-10-22
Filing date: 2010-10-22
Publication date: 2012-04-26
Also published as: EP2629641A1; EP2629641B1; US20140149072A1

Abstract

A description is given of a method for cost-effectively selecting in a largely automated manner bestfit footwear with an optimally selected or individualized footbed. A preferably multi-sensory foot scanner is used to determine, at the same time, the geometrical 3-dimensional shape of the foot and the printed image of the foot sole, which is registered for this purpose. A database of digitized shoe interiors is used to determine, via a best fit selection, the mass-produced item of footwear which best matches the 3D foot model. Using a traditional system for producing individualized insoles or footbeds, an insole appropriate for the sole of the foot is selected or produced and, in a further, novel method step according to the invention, using numerical determination of the 3-dimensional surface areas of the footbed, foot sole and peripheral zone of the sole in the inner shoe, or the insole chamber, the required insole, which constitutes the footbed, is selected, or further processed numerically, such that it fits optimally into the selected bestfit item of footwear which has been put on.

Description

Scanner-assisted selection of suitable footwear with individualized footbed The cost-effective supply of customers with well-fitting footwear is a hitherto by the still little metrologically optimized shoe retail unsatisfactorily solved problem, both in the field of street shoes, sports shoes, orthopedic shoes or special shoes such. Safety shoes. The selection of the most suitable footwear from a catalog of available products is often referred to as a "best-fit" selection in the English language, while the production of custom-made footwear is referred to as "tailor-made". It goes without saying that a "best-fit" solution is generally much cheaper than a custom made.The subject matter of the present application relates to methods and arrangements for the realization of a cost-effective supply of the customer with best-fit footwear which individually tailored or best-fit selected footbed with includes.

The previous efforts of cost-effective production of custom footwear or best-fit shoes have the role of the matching footbed mostly excluded. However, the footbed or an insert assumes at least as important a role in the fit and operation of a shoe as the fit of the shoe upper and represents a common way for individual optimization of footwear. For this purpose, either series or custom-made inserts are used, which for the individual foot selected (best fit inserts) or custom made (custom inserts).

Known methods for this are, inter alia, for the selection of a series-produced insert: by an expert or the shoe wearer himself, through an analysis and suggestion system, eg a 2D flatbed scanner to determine the outline of the sole of the foot and a corresponding expert system that generates a suggestion (http://www.boot-doc.com/) for the production of individual insoles: the sole of the foot The customer is molded using a step foam, a plaster cast or a vacuum pad and made on this basis manually or semi-automatically an insert (http://www.conform-able.com, http://www.fussqesundheit.info/abdruck.htm ) the sole of the foot of the customer is determined with a flatbed scanner as a 2D outline and from this via an interactive computer program a CAD / CAM milling machine is activated which produces an individual pair of inserts from a blank (see eg www.iosamerica.com, System Ortho Scan Organizer) the 3D shape of the foot including the sole of the foot is determined with a 3D scanner (see eg www.vorum.com: System CanFit Plus Yeti or http://www.pedcad.de) the printed image, ie the local distribution of the load on the sole of the foot is recorded with a high-resolution local image sensor (see eg www.bauerfeind.com: Foot Pressure Measurement System Medi Logic ^® ).

From these data, an individual insert suitable for each foot is selected or manufactured by manual or semi-automated methods.

However, the insoles chosen or created from the sole information (eg 2D image of the sole of the foot or 2D pressure distribution) are not yet adapted to a selected footwear, since the spatial coordinates of the inner liner required for the definition of the outer edge zone of the footbed are determined by these insoles. Manufacturing technologies are not identified and also not used. Due to the lack of spatial information between the foot, liner and liner, it is not possible with the known methods, an insert next to the contact surface to the sole of the foot also automatically make or select appropriate to their extent and their contact surfaces to the customer shoe.

The company corpus.e AG, Stuttgart (www.corpus-e.com) has developed under the name "lightbeam®" a particularly cost-effective photogrammetric 3D foot scanner, which simultaneously fully digitizes the visible parts of the human foot from above and from the side ( see Rutschmann US 7,433,502 B2

And at the same time measures the printed image of the sole of the foot by means of a locally resolving pressure sensor installed in the foot scanner (see Rutschmann et al., US Pat. No. 7,489,813 B2, Method and System for Detecting the Three-Dimensional Shape of an object ".

Since both measurement methods are mechanically rigidly combined in the photogrammetrically marked platform on which the customer is scanning, this "lightbeam®" scanner provides a combined data set: the geometric 3D model of the foot and the print image of the sole of the foot the structure forcibly registered (aligned with each other) and generate a so-called. "Multi-sensorial" record. As illustrated in FIG. 2 for clarity of the prior art, the 3D geometric shape -11- and the soleseal physical print image -21- are merged into a single numerical model. With this scanner technology, therefore, the position of the sole of the foot (based on the printed image) with respect to the spatial foot model (determined by the photogrammetric 3D foot scanner) is known individually for each customer and individually for each foot. corpus.e AG has also developed a cost-effective technology for digitizing the interior of series shoes (see Pfeiffer and Rutschmann DE 2007 032 609 A2, "Cost-effective Detection of the Inner Space Shape of Footwear and Bodies"; Spatial form of inside Spaces and a device for carrying said method "). Thus, a numerical 3D model of the interior of a manufactured shoe can be created, ie an interior, which in shape much better matches the anatomical shape of the foot as one after Production-technical aspects produced, required for the production of footwear bars. corpus.e AG has also developed a novel strategy of so-called "best-fit" selection, which is based on the comparison of the determined by the 3D foot scanner numerical 3D model of the foot of a customer with the stored in a database 3D models of the interiors of offered, mass-produced footwear (see: Robert Massen, "Cost-effective and calibration-free 3D digitization of legs, feet and shoe interiors for orthopedic and normal footwear", satellite symposium on the occasion of the exhibition Orthopedics + Rehabilitation Technology, Leipzig 2008, Congress 28 Advanced Technical Orthopedics and Biomechanics: SD Surveying and Analysis in Technical Orthopedics, Lecture Group "Blunt and Shank, CAD / CAM".

Due to this new approach of adapting the numerical 3D model of the customer foot to the numerical 3-dimensional interior of the candidate series shoes eliminates the previous problematic adaptation of the digitized 3D foot shape of the customer to the principle-not sufficiently the liner representing strip form of a last Database.

The physical and production reasons basically shaped differently than the shoe interior ledges according to the prior art to the fact that an automatic best-fit selection of footwear by adapting the scanned foot to a last library remains unsatisfactory in principle. A groin has a significantly different shape than the anatomical foot due to the production requirements: it has a considerably narrower shape compared to the foot, because the leather is sewn under tension and stretched over the groin with automatic machines because of the need to remove the last finished shoe has the last a folding mechanism and a particularly narrow shape at the beginning of the leg The customary customization of a scanned foot to a last mold is therefore much less favorable than the adaptation of a scanned foot to a shoe interior. Foot and shoe interior represent congruent 3D shapes, foot and strips, however, match in principle in their spatial form much worse.

Despite these advances in adapting foot-to-shoe interior for the best-fit selection of a series shoe to a customer foot, the problem of the unmatched footbed also remains with this new concept. A satisfactory and cost-effective best-fit of footwear must not be limited to the spatial form of the upper as in the current state of the art but must also be the individual cost-effective, i. largely automated individual customization or best-fit selection of the footbed include, for example in the form of an insert, which is adapted to both the anatomy of the individual sole of the customer and its load zones as well as to the geometric interior of the selected best-fit footwear.

There is therefore a great deal of commercial and technical interest in a cost-effective best-fit footwear solution in which a footprint and soleprint combined numerical model from a database of shoe interior models provides a foot's best-fit selection the customer matching footwear is performed and at which at the same time with the help of the digitized inner shape of the selected footwear and the measured, registered to the foot model sole pressure image adapted to both the individual anatomy of the foot as well as to the specific interior of the selected series footwear insert or customized Footbed largely automatically created or can be selected from a database of digitized deposits.

This is accomplished according to the invention by the teachings of the method and arrangement claims of the present patent application. Here, the following figures are used to illustrate the concept of the invention:

FIG. 1 shows in a black and white diagram to illustrate the state of the art and the geometrical conditions that with the aid of a photogrammetric multisensory scanner obtained 3D foot model -1 1- of a customer in a footwear -13-, with the sole of the foot -12- rests on an insole -14- forming the footbed.

Fig. 2 shows in a view obliquely from below on the sole of the foot 3D model of a scanned with a multisensorial foot scanner foot -1 1 - and in this same model superimposed on the local Sohlendruckbild -21-, which with a built-in scanner soles Print image sensor was created. For technical reasons, the color coded sole pressures -21 - are shown here as black zones. Therefore, this simplified drawing reflects only the location of the highest foot pressures, but not the pressure amplitudes also measured.

Fig. 3 shows a graphic representation of a heel view from which the position of the sole of the foot -12- of the customer's foot -1 1- within the shoe interior - 13- is visible, as well as the vertically hatched liner -14-, both laterally and from below to the non-level sole must adapt as well as to the non-planar footbed -31- in the lower part of the liner. The shoe sole -32- with its profile is shown in black.

Fig. 4 shows the preparation of the desired insert -14-, which fits both the sole of the foot, on the two side inner walls of the footwear as well as on the often not even footbed of the best-fit series shoe and therefore with, for example, two numeric XYZ milling cutters -41 - and -42- is produced from a prefabricated block.

5 shows the step-by-step process in the practice of the invention, from scanning the customer's foot, including obtaining a registered soleprint image, via the best-fit selection of a matching shoe by comparison with a database of liner 3D models, the classical derivation of the insert the printed image, wherein the fit into the shoe is not yet realized, the numerical milling out of the inserted into the shoe interior liner from a blank, wherein the milling data set is calculated as a differential 3D surface model of the fitted into the best-fit liner shoe model 3D foot model to the liner model. The idea of the invention is intended to be explained by way of example with reference to the best-fit selection of a shoe with an individual footbed, this illustration being limited to a single shoe for reasons of clarity. The idea of the invention in any case enables the selection of two different shoes and different fitted inserts for a customer anyway and thus takes into account the often encountered anatomical asymmetries between the left and the right foot of a customer.

As shown in Fig. 1, the inventive concept aims at the cost-effective largely automated best-fit selection of footwear -13- from an existing series production, this footwear optimally enclosing the foot anatomically, aesthetically and functionally, and the footbed being insulated. individually adapted to the soles of the patient's sole as well as to the selected footwear.

For this purpose, according to the invention, in a first step, the foot of the customer is scanned as shown in FIG. 2 with a preferably multisensorial 3D scanner with integrated pressure measuring plate and a numerical 3D model of the foot shape of the customer is created in which the foot is integrated with the scanner Pressure measuring plate identified sole impression image -21- correctly aligned and registered is integrated. We refer to this integrated numerical model as a "multisensorial" 3D model, which numerically describes the two related information contents "geometric foot space form" and "bottom print image".

Thus, according to the invention, a single integrated numerical model is present and not two separate models, as is usual today: a geometric 3D model determined with a 3D scanner and a second 2-dimensional sole pressure image determined with an external pressure measuring plate. This separate determination according to the current state of the art has the great disadvantage that the two information "Fußraumform" and "Sohlendruckbild" are not registered, that are not set to each other in spatial terms. However, the inventive concept is not limited to this advantageous multi-sensor foot digitization, but also includes the separate recording of the 3D model of the foot with a scanner and the sole pressure image with a separate footprint sensor. The expert knows several manual procedures to register these two records. For example, the contour of the sole of the foot from the 3D model of the foot can be printed on a foil and placed on the pressure sensor in such a way that the XY coordinate axes of the 3D scanner and those of the foot sole pressure sensor match.

Fig. 3 shows from a heel view, the spatial relationships of shoe interior -13-, the foot -1 1- the customer, lying on a hatched insole -14- lying sole -12- and the critical left and right edge zone, in which the insert has to adapt to the inside of the foot. Furthermore, it can be seen from this sketch that the footbed of a series shoe located above the shoe sole shows a standard sole which is not necessarily flat and produced by the manufacturer, to which the individual insert 14 to be produced must likewise conform. The selection or production of an individualized insert into a standard shoe selected according to a best-fit method therefore requires an automated procedure as possible for the cost-effective production of a complex complex-shaped insert, as illustrated in FIG. 4: the upper surface of the insert Insert must take a shape derived from the soles of the sole of the foot according to the rules known to an orthopedic practitioner or incorporated in insert manufacturing programs. The lower surface of the insert must conform to the existing footbed of the selected series shoe Fit clearance between the foot and the shoe inner wall at the bottom of the shoe. The insert must conform to the shoe interior and foot so as not to restrict the clearance required for the foot.

It is common today to manually select deposits from a large number of different series-made deposits or numerically controlled with the help of prefabricated blanks from one side to mill, where 06480

9 according to the current state of the art in this case the data of the shoe interior space are not used, as previously shoe interior scanner were not available. Therefore, today the fitting of the selected or the milled insert into the shoe of the customer must be carried out purely manually by using a knife, grinder or similar tools, the edge zone of the orthopedist, shoe master, salesman, etc. is cut so until it enters the shoe fits into it. Apart from the fact that this process is time-consuming, inaccurate and undocumented, the insert thus produced is still not anatomically defined in height. it is not certain that after inserting the insert the clearance in the shoe interior fits for a good wearing comfort.

It is therefore an essential element of the inventive idea that by the invention best-fit selection of a suitable series shoe based on the adaptation of 3D foot model and 3D shoe interior (which, for example, with the above-mentioned scanner according to the teaching of DE 2007 032 609 A2 was digitized) at the same time the spatial coordinates can be determined, which describe the space occupied by the insert between the shoe inner wall, sole and shoe footbed as shown in Fig. 4, and these space coordinates are used to produce an individual, both the foot and the shoe fitting insert.

According to the invention, the individualized insert is produced with numerically controlled cutting, applying or thermally deforming insert manufacturing machines by controlling the axes of movement of these machines with the spatial coordinates of the 3-dimensional surface of the space to be occupied by the insert. We will hereinafter refer to this complex shaped space as the "insert space", i.e. the space portion inside a worn shoe to be filled by the insert or footbed.

For the simpler and more cost-effective method of a best-fit footwear and a best-fit insert according to the invention using the spatial coordinates of the 3-dimensional surface of the space to be occupied by the deposit, the "deposit space" from a database of digitized deposits determine the deposit which fits best in this deposit space.

According to the best-fit selection of an insert from a database of series bars is performed on the basis of measures that describe the deposit space.

The inventive method for the cost-effective production of a best fit footwear with individually adapted footbed / insert is summarized in FIG. 5 as a flowchart:

Step 1: with a preferably multi-sensorial foot scanner, which simultaneously creates a numerical model of the spatial shape of the foot and a soles printed thereon, the foot of the customer is scanned and digitized

Step 2: By comparing the geometric 3D model of the foot with a database of digitized interiors of available shoes, the most appropriate shoe is determined

Step 3: the surface model of the insert for the area of the contact surface of foot sole insert is calculated fully automatically or computer-supported from the sole of the foot print using known methods of insert production. This so-called "classic" insert model is not defined on the underside or in the height or in the edge zone.

Step 4: From the intersection of the spatial coordinates of the 3D model of the best-fit liner, the 3D model of the customer's foot and the unilaterally defined "classic" 3D model of the liner, the spatial coordinates for the edge zone and the underside of an insert fitting into the inner liner become determines, adds the 3D model of the "classic" deposit by these coordinates to the "deposit space" and individually completed by numerically controlled machines or correspondingly by best-fit comparison of the deposit space with a database of spatial forms of prefabricated series bars a matching insert selected Step 5: the insert is fixed in the best-fit shoe and the best-fit shoe with insert is presented to the customer The inventive concept is not limited to a specific type of footwear but includes both street shoes, sports shoes, safety shoes and orthopedic footwear of any kind.

The concept of the invention describes a method and an arrangement which makes possible a highly automated, best-fit method for selecting footwear with an individualized footbed at low cost. However, the idea of the invention allows various degrees of automation or non-automation such as: the decision for a particular best-fit footwear from the n> 1 reported by the database best-fit candidates by the sales staff or the customer itself the production the "classic" 3D model of the insole can be used interactively by a specialist on the basis of his experience and additional information such as body weight, age, purpose of the footwear (street shoe, sports shoe, orthopedic shoe, etc.), materials used (leather, textile, plastic etc.). ) to be influenced

Decisive for the idea of the invention is the multi-step process, which proceeds from the digitized foot, the sole pressure image and a database of digitized shoe interiors and with the help of numerically available data and if necessary. interactively influenced parameters and criteria delivered to the customer a best-fit footwear with an individual, in the available shoe interior fitted over the "deposit space" defined deposit delivers.

In addition to the reduction of costs through the extensive automation of the process of delivery of individually fitting footwear despite low in series produced shoes, the inventive method also allows to meet the ever-increasing lack of expertise of sales personnel.

According to the invention, the numerical 3D models of the foot, the shoe interior and the insert space are visualized in the sales room on a data monitor and show the customer and the sales staff how in a complex computed tomography the position and fit of the foot and insert to the chosen shoe.

As a result, the decision ultimately remaining with the customer for a particular shoe model and insert is made much easier on the basis of the anatomical, easily understandable 3D visualization of the foot fitted into the shoe with insert.

According to the best-fit selection of footwear and the individual creation of the insert or their best-fit selection is done separately for each foot, so that asymmetries and anatomical differences between the feet of a customer are taken into account.

According to the visualized data are collected by the shoe trade and transmitted to the shoe manufacturer so that they are supplied to the trade with a specially optimized to his clientele range of series shoes and inserts and thus the cost of warehousing be optimized.

According to the invention, the feet of the customer are digitized at longer intervals (spatial form and sole print image) and informed the customer about whether the footwear is anatomically fit due to its 3D shape. The inventive concept also includes the situation in which subsequently a well-fitting insert for an already worn shoe is made individually or selected as the best-fit insert. In this case, step 2 (access to a database of available footwear interiors) is replaced by digitizing the interior of the worn footwear for which an insert is desired. The remaining steps remain unchanged.

According to the invention, steps 3 and 4 can be combined by individually fabricating the dimensional shape of the insert to be produced or to be selected in the best-fit (dimension insert) or as best after determining the 3D insert space and taking into account the compressibility and flexibility of the insert blank -fit deposit is selected from a database. Another idea of the invention is to handle the entire business process via the Internet by the feet of the customer are digitized once with the help of a preferably multi-sensor foot scanner and these person-related data are stored in a central database or presented to the customer on a digital storage medium and that the ordering process for new best-fit footwear with individualized custom or best-fit inserts is carried out via a computer terminal.

Summarized and simplified, the inventive concept describes new largely automated processes and arrangements, which with the help of the combined technologies "3D foot scanner", "3D shoe interior scanner" and "sole solver scanner (optical sole image and / or sole-printed image)" calculate the complex-shaped insert space to be occupied by a suitable insert inside the worn footwear from the 3D and 2D data supplied by these scanners, and which numerically process either the footbed or the footbed fitting individually make a blank or select as a best-fit insert from a collection of pre-made inserts.

Claims

claims

1. A method of equipping footwear with a footbed individually adapted to a foot of a person, comprising the steps of:

a) a numerical model of the spatial form of the foot is detected with a foot scanner;

b) a foot-sole print image of the foot is created by means of a pressure sensor plate on which the person stands;

c) the sole of the foot is registered with the numerical model of the spatial form of the foot;

d) a numerical model of the interior shape of the footwear is procured or detected by means of an interior scanner;

e) from the plantar pressure image, a surface model of an insert for the contact surface to the sole of the foot is calculated;

f) from the intersection of the space surfaces of the interior shape of the footwear and the surface model of the insert are the

Determines spatial coordinates for the edge zone and the underside of the insert taking into account the spatial shape of the foot and determines therefrom the spatial shape of an insert suitable for the footwear;

g) the deposit defined by the determined spatial form is procured or made individually and inserted into the footwear.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein on the basis of the numerical model of the spatial shape of the foot and numerical models of the interior shape of available footwear suitable footwear is selected.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a selected or existing footwear is used.

A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the insert is selected by comparing its spatial shape with data sets of a database of available prefabricated inserts.

A method according to any one of the preceding claims, performed separately for each foot of the person.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the detected numerical model of the spatial shape of the foot and / or the created plantar footprint of the foot are documented.

7. The method according to claims 2 and 6, wherein the selection of the appropriate footwear based on the documented numerical model of

Space shape of the foot done online via the internet.

8. The method according to claims 4 and 6, wherein the selection of the prefabricated insert on the basis of the documented numerical model of the spatial shape of the foot and based on the documented soles print image online via the Internet.

A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the detected numerical model of the spatial shape of the foot is superimposed and visually displayed with models of the interior shape of candidate footwear.

10. Arrangement for carrying out the method according to one of the preceding claims, comprising:

an optical 3D foot scanner;

a pressure sensor plate having a footprint for a person in the operation of the 3D foot scanner;

an arithmetic unit for processing the data supplied by both scanners with a program which calculates from the data a surface model of an insert and the surface model of the insert, the numerical model of the spatial form of a scanned foot supplied by the foot scanner as well as numerical models of the interior shape candidates of suitable footwear calculated the spatial form of a customized insert.