US 12,257,123 B2
Methods and systems for locating marks on orthodontic appliances
Mithil J. Shah, North Hills, CA (US); Yevgeniy Sirovskiy, Castro Valley, CA (US); Wayne R. Murphy, Brea, CA (US); and Gopal Biswas, Maharashtra (IN)
Assigned to Ormco Corporation, Brea, CA (US)
Filed by Ormco Corporation, Brea, CA (US)
Filed on Jul. 18, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/813,144.
Application 17/813,144 is a continuation of application No. 16/362,118, filed on Mar. 22, 2019, granted, now 11,419,700.
Prior Publication US 2023/0076451 A1, Mar. 9, 2023
Int. Cl. G06F 30/20 (2020.01); A61C 7/00 (2006.01); A61C 7/08 (2006.01); B41M 5/00 (2006.01); B41M 5/26 (2006.01); A61C 9/00 (2006.01); A61C 13/00 (2006.01); A61C 13/34 (2006.01); B29C 37/00 (2006.01); B33Y 80/00 (2015.01)
CPC A61C 7/002 (2013.01) [A61C 7/08 (2013.01); B41M 5/0082 (2013.01); B41M 5/267 (2013.01); A61C 9/0053 (2013.01); A61C 13/0004 (2013.01); A61C 13/34 (2013.01); B29C 2037/80 (2013.01); B33Y 80/00 (2014.12)] 25 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for marking an object on a surface of an aligner with a marking device, the method comprising:
defining a mesh, wherein the mesh includes a plurality of virtual tiles for at least a portion of a virtual model of the surface;
calculating a normal for each of the plurality of virtual tiles of the mesh;
disqualifying at least one virtual tile from being selected for marking, wherein disqualifying includes comparing the calculated normal for each of the plurality of virtual tiles of the mesh with orientations reachable with the marking device;
for virtual tiles not disqualified, identifying a patch of virtual tiles that produce a markable area;
defining an orientation rectangle for the patch of virtual tiles, the orientation rectangle being determined by a boundary of the patch of virtual tiles;
determining a spatial overlap between the orientation rectangle with an object box that bounds a virtual representation of the object; and
providing a location of the markable area to the marking device.