US 12,312,720 B2
Automated knitting system and method
Yoav Sterman, Ein Carmel (IL); and Eli Almog, Zurit (IL)
Assigned to DELTA GALIL INDUSTRIES LTD., Caesarea (IL)
Appl. No. 18/027,106
Filed by DELTA GALIL INDUSTRIES LTD., Caesarea (IL)
PCT Filed Sep. 30, 2021, PCT No. PCT/IL2021/051175
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 19, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/070188, PCT Pub. Date Apr. 7, 2022.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/163,893, filed on Mar. 21, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/086,083, filed on Oct. 1, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0332340 A1, Oct. 19, 2023
Int. Cl. D04B 9/28 (2006.01)
CPC D04B 9/28 (2013.01) [G05B 2219/45194 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system comprising:
(a) a seamless circular knitting machine, comprising:
(a1) a circular set of needles having an M number of needles, wherein the M number of needles is in a range of 500 to 2,500 needles, wherein said needles are arranged in a circular pattern; and
(a2) a knit controller, configured to selectively and separately operate each one of said M needles, on a needle-by-needle basis;
and
(b) a digital computational design tool, implemented by one or more hardware processors that are configured to execute code, wherein the one or more hardware processors are operably associated with one or more memory units to store the code;
wherein the one or more hardware processors are configured to receive a bitmap image, having a pixel width resolution that is identical to said M number of needles;
and based on processing of said bitmap image, to generate and to send knitting instructions to the knit controller of the seamless circular knitting machine, based on a direct one-to-one correlation between (I) an Nth pixel in an Rth row of said bitmap image, and (II) needle activity of a corresponding Nth needle out of said M needles when said Nth needle knits in the Rth row of a knitted product;
wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to modify a level of randomness of a blended knitting pattern of said knitted product, by performing an operation selected from the group consisting of: (i) randomly modifying a distance between pixels of a same color in said bitmap image; (ii) shuffling an order of knit structures that are used within said bitmap image; (iii) shuffling an order of pixel blocks that represent knit structures within said bitmap image.