U.S. patent application number 13/880788 was filed with the patent office on 2014-05-29 for scanner-assisted selection of fitting footwear with individualized footbed.
This patent application is currently assigned to corpus.e AG. The applicant listed for this patent is Dirk Rutschmann. Invention is credited to Dirk Rutschmann.
Application Number | 20140149072 13/880788 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44262949 |
Filed Date | 2014-05-29 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140149072 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Rutschmann; Dirk |
May 29, 2014 |
Scanner-Assisted Selection of Fitting Footwear with Individualized
Footbed
Abstract
A method is described for selecting, in a cost-effective and
largely automated manner, best fit footwear with an optimally
selected or individualized footbed. With the aid of a preferably
multisensory foot scanner, the geometric three-dimensional shape of
the foot and the plantar pressure image registered with it are
determined at the same time. A database of digitized shoe interiors
is used for determining, by means of a best fit selection, the
series-produced shoe that best matches the 3D foot model. Using a
conventional system for producing individualized insoles and/or
footbeds, an insole that matches the sole of the foot is selected
or prepared and, in a further, novel method step according to the
invention, by means of numerical determination of the
three-dimensional surfaces of the footbed, the foot sole and the
peripheral zone of the sole in the inner shoe, the so-called insole
space, the required insole constituting the footbed is selected, or
further processed numerically, such that it fits in an optimum
manner into the selected best fit item of footwear in the put-on
condition.
Inventors: |
Rutschmann; Dirk;
(Stuttgart, DE) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Rutschmann; Dirk |
Stuttgart |
|
DE |
|
|
Assignee: |
corpus.e AG
Stuttgart
DE
|
Family ID: |
44262949 |
Appl. No.: |
13/880788 |
Filed: |
October 22, 2010 |
PCT Filed: |
October 22, 2010 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2010/006480 |
371 Date: |
July 1, 2013 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
702/167 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A43D 1/06 20130101; A43D
1/027 20130101; A43D 1/022 20130101; A43D 1/025 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
702/167 |
International
Class: |
A43D 1/02 20060101
A43D001/02 |
Claims
1. A method of equipping footwear with a footbed customized to a
foot of a person, comprising the following steps: a) acquiring a
numerical model of the three-dimensional shape of the foot by means
of a foot scanner; b) preparing a plantar pressure image of the
foot by means of a pressure sensor plate on which the person
stands; c) registering the plantar pressure image with the
numerical model of the three-dimensional shape of the foot; d)
obtaining, or acquiring by means of an interior scanner, a
numerical model of the interior shape of the footwear; e)
calculating, from the plantar pressure image, a surface model of an
insole for the surface contacting the foot sole; f) establishing,
from the intersection of the three-dimensional surfaces of the
interior shape of the footwear and the surface model of the insole,
the space coordinates for the peripheral zone and the lower side of
the insole, taking into consideration the three-dimensional shape
of the foot, and determining therefrom the three-dimensional shape
of an insole fitting into the footwear; g) obtaining or customizing
the insole defined by the three-dimensional shape determined, and
inserting it into the footwear.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a fitting footwear is
selected on the basis of the numerical model of the
three-dimensional shape of the foot and numerical models of the
interior shapes of available items of footwear.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a selected or existing
item of footwear is used.
4. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the
insole is selected by comparing its three-dimensional shape with
data records of a database of available prefabricated insoles.
5. The method according to any of the preceding claims, which is
carried out separately for each foot of the person.
6. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the
numerical model acquired of the three-dimensional shape of the foot
and/or the plantar pressure image prepared of the foot are
documented.
7. The method according to claims 2 and 6, wherein the selection of
the fitting footwear is effected online over the Internet based on
the documented numerical model of the three-dimensional shape of
the foot.
8. The method according to claims 4 and 6, wherein the selection of
the prefabricated insole is effected online over the Internet based
on the documented numerical model of the three-dimensional shape of
the foot and based on the documented plantar pressure image.
9. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the
numerical model acquired of the three-dimensional shape of the foot
is superimposed on models of the interior shape of potentially
fitting items of footwear and is visually displayed.
10. An arrangement for carrying out the method according to any of
the preceding claims, comprising an optically operating 3D foot
scanner; a pressure sensor plate which includes a surface for a
person to stand on during operation of the 3D foot scanner; a
computing unit for processing the data supplied by the two scanners
with a program that calculates a surface model of an insole from
the data and calculates the three-dimensional shape of a customized
insole from the surface model of the insole, from the numerical
model supplied by the foot scanner of the three-dimensional shape
of a scanned foot, and from numerical models of the interior shape
of potentially fitting items of footwear.
Description
[0001] Supplying customers with well-fitting footwear in a
cost-effective manner has been a problem that has, to date, been
only insufficiently solved by the shoe trade which still is not
very optimized in terms of metrology, whether in the area of dress
shoes or casual shoes, sports shoes, orthopedic shoes or special
shoes such as, e.g., safety shoes.
[0002] Selecting an item of footwear which fits best from a catalog
of available products is often referred to as "best fit" selection.
The production of individually made shoes, on the other hand, is
referred to as "customization". It goes without saying that a "best
fit" solution is, as a rule, considerably more reasonably priced
than an individual customization.
[0003] The subject matter of the present application relates to
methods and arrangements for putting to practice a cost-effective
supply of the customer with best-fit footwear which also comprises
an individually customized or best-fit type selected footbed.
[0004] The efforts that have been made so far to produce customized
footwear or best-fit footwear at low cost have, in most cases,
failed to take the role of a fitting footbed into consideration.
With regard to the correct fit and the functionality of a shoe, the
footbed or an insole, however, plays at least as significant a role
as the fit of the shoe upper and constitutes a commonly used option
for an individual optimization of footwear.
[0005] To this end, either series-produced or customized insoles
are used which are selected for an individual foot (best fit
insoles) or are specially made (customized insoles).
[0006] Known methods for this include, among others,
[0007] for the selection of a series-produced insole:
[0008] by an expert or by the wearer of the shoe
himself/herself
[0009] by an analysis and proposal system, e.g., a 2D flatbed
scanner for determining the contour of the foot sole and a
corresponding expert system which generates a proposal
(http://www.boot-doc.com/),
[0010] for the production of individual insoles:
[0011] the customer's foot sole is molded with the aid of a foot
impression foam, a plaster cast or a vacuum cushion and, on this
basis, an insole is produced manually or in a partly automated
manner (http://www.conform-able.com,
http://www.fussgesundheit.info/abdruck.htm),
[0012] the customer's foot sole is determined as a 2D contour using
a flatbed scanner
[0013] and, based thereon, a CAD/CAM milling machine is controlled
by means of an interactive computing program,
[0014] the milling machine producing an individual pair of insoles
from a blank (see, e.g., www.josamerica.com, System Ortho Scan
Organizer),
[0015] the 3D shape of the foot inclusive of the foot sole is
determined using a 3D scanner (see, e.g., www.vorum.com; System Can
Fit-Plus Yeti or http://www.pedcad.de),
[0016] the pressure image, i.e. the local distribution of the load
on the foot sole is recorded using a pressure image sensor with a
high local resolution (see, e.g., www.bauerfeind.com;
MediLogic.RTM. foot pressure measuring system).
[0017] On the basis of this data, manual or semi-automated
processes are used for selecting or producing an individual insole
that matches each foot.
[0018] The insoles selected or prepared based on the foot sole
information (e.g., 2D image of the foot sole or 2D pressure
distribution) are, however, not yet adjusted to a selected item of
footwear since the space coordinates of the inner shoe that are
required for the definition of the outer peripheral zone of the
footbed are not determined by these insole production technologies
and are not made use of, either. Due to the lack of spatial
information between the foot, the insole and the inner shoe, it is
not possible on the basis of the known methods to automatically
produce or suitably select an insole not only with respect to the
surface thereof that is in contact with the foot sole of the
customer, but also with respect to its extent and its surfaces in
contact with the customer's shoe.
[0019] The company of corpus.e AG, Stuttgart, Germany
(www.corpus-e.com) has developed a particularly cost-effective
photogrammetric 3D foot scanner under the designation
"Lightbeam.RTM.", which simultaneously and fully automatically
digitizes those areas of the human foot which are visible from
above and from the side (see Rutschmann, U.S. Pat. No. 7,433,502
B2, "Three-dimensional digitized capturing of the shape bodies and
body parts using mechanically positioned imaging sensors") and, at
the same time, measures the pressure image of the foot sole by
means of a locally resolving pressure sensor installed in the foot
scanner (see Rutschmann et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,489,813 B2, "Method
and System for Detecting the Three-Dimensional Shape of an
Object".
[0020] Since both measuring methods are mechanically rigidly
combined in the photogrammetrically marked platform on which the
customer stands during the scanning process, this "Lightbeam.RTM."
scanner provides a combined data record: the geometric 3D model of
the foot and, at the same time, the pressure image of the foot
sole. Due to this installation, both data records are compulsorily
registered (aligned with each other) and generate a so-called
"multisensory" data record. As is shown in FIG. 2 for a better
illustration of the prior art, the geometric 3D shape -11- and the
physical plantar pressure image -21- are blended into one single
numerical model. Using this scanner technology, the position of the
foot sole (based on the pressure image) in relation to the spatial
foot model (as determined by the photogrammetric 3D foot scanner)
is therefore known individually for each customer and separately
for each foot.
[0021] corpus.e AG has furthermore developed a cost-effective
technology for digitizing the interior space of series-produced
shoes (see Pfeiffer and Rutschmann, DE 2007 032 609 A2,
"Kostengunstige Erfassung der inneren Raumform von
Fu.beta.bekleidung and Korpern" [Cost-effective detection of the
three-dimensional inside shape of footwear and bodies]; Massen,
U.S. Pat. No. 7,446,884 B2, "Method for optically detecting the
spatial form of inside spaces and a device for carrying out said
method". Based thereon, a numerical 3D model of the interior of a
fabricated shoe can be established, i.e. of an interior the shape
of which matches the anatomical shape of the foot considerably
better than a last that is manufactured from the aspects of
production engineering and is required for the production of the
footwear.
[0022] Moreover, corpus.e AG has developed a novel strategy of the
so-called "best fit" selection, which is based on the comparison of
the numerical 3D model of the foot of a customer as determined by
the 3D foot scanner with the 3D models of the interior spaces of
available, series-manufactured footwear as stored in a database
(see: Robert Massen, "Kostengunstige und kalibrierungsfreie 3D
Digitalisierung von Beinen, Fussen und Schuh-Innenraumen fur
orthopadische und normale Fu.beta.bekleidung" [cost-effective and
calibration-free 3D digitization of legs, feet and shoe interiors
for orthopedic and standard footwear], satellite symposium on the
occasion of the Orthopadie+Reha-Technik trade fair, Leipzig,
Germany 2008, Kongress 28 Fortbildung Technische Orthopadie und
Biomechanik: 3D-Vermessung und Analyse in der Technischen
Orthopadie, Vortragsgruppe "Stumpf und Schaft, CAD/CAM" [congress
28, advanced training in technical orthopedics and biomechanics: 3D
measurement and analysis in technical orthopedics, "stump and
shaft, CAD/CAM" lecture group].
[0023] Owing to this novel approach of adapting the numerical 3D
model of the customer's foot to the numerical three-dimensional
interiors of the series-produced shoes that come into question, the
previous, problematical, adaptation of the digitized 3D shape of
the customer' foot to the shape of the last from a database of
lasts, which, for principle-related reasons, does not sufficiently
represent the inner shoe, is no longer required.
[0024] According to the prior art, the last which, for physical and
production engineering reasons, is shaped differently from the shoe
interior as a matter of principle, leads to the fact that an
automatic best fit selection of footwear by an adaptation of the
scanned foot to a library of lasts will, in principle, remain
unsatisfactory. On account of the production requirements, a last
has a shape that distinctly differs from that of the anatomical
foot:
[0025] in comparison with a foot, it has a markedly narrower shape
because automatic machines are used for sewing the leather in a
tensioned and stretched condition when pulled over the last;
[0026] the last has a folding mechanism and an especially narrow
shape where the leg starts because the last needs to be removed
from the shoe after sewing thereof has been completed.
[0027] The adaptation as commonly used today of a scanned foot to a
last shape is therefore considerably more unfavorable than the
adaptation of a scanned foot to a shoe interior. A foot and a shoe
interior constitute congruent 3D shapes, whereas the
three-dimensional shapes of a foot and a last are, in principle,
considerably less consistent with each other.
[0028] In spite of this progress based on the adaptation of a foot
to a shoe interior for a best fit selection of a series-produced
shoe for a customer's foot, the problems related to the non-adapted
footbed continue to exist in connection with this novel concept as
well. Unlike in the current prior art, a satisfactory and
cost-effective best fit of footwear should not be limited to the
three-dimensional shape of the upper part of the shoe, but should
also comprise an individual, cost-effective, i.e. largely automated
individual customization or best fit selection of the footbed, for
example in the form of an insole which is adapted to both the
anatomy of the individual foot sole of the customer and the load
zones of the foot sole and also to the geometric interior of the
selected best fit footwear.
[0029] There is, therefore, a great economic and technical interest
in a cost-effective best-fit solution for footwear, in which, with
the aid of the combined numerical model made up of the
three-dimensional shape of the foot and the plantar pressure image,
a best-fit selection of the footwear matching the foot of the
customer is performed from a database of shoe interior models and
in which, at the same time, with the aid of the digitized interior
shape of the selected item of footwear and the plantar pressure
image as measured and registered with the foot model, an insole or
footbed adapted to both the individual anatomy of the foot and the
specific interior of the selected series-produced footwear can be
generated largely automatically or selected from a database of
digitized insoles.
[0030] This is carried out according to the invention by the
teachings of the method and arrangement claims of the present
application for property rights. The following figures are used
herein for illustrating the concept of the invention more
clearly:
[0031] FIG. 1 shows, in a black-and-white diagram to illustrate the
prior art and the geometric conditions, the 3D foot model -11-,
obtained with the aid of a photogrammetric multisensory scanner, of
a customer in an item of footwear -13-, the foot sole -12- resting
on an insole -14- constituting the footbed.
[0032] FIG. 2 shows, in a plantar view from obliquely below, the 3D
wire frame model of a foot -11- scanned using a multisensory foot
scanner and, superimposed in this identical model, the local
plantar pressure image -21- which has been prepared using a plantar
pressure image sensor incorporated in the scanner. For reasons
relating to the printing process, the plantar pressures -21-, which
are color-coded in the original, are shown as black zones here.
[0033] This simplified drawing therefore only reproduces the places
of the greatest foot pressures, but not the pressure amplitudes
that were also measured.
[0034] FIG. 3 shows, in a graphical representation, a view of a
heel from which the position of the foot sole -12- of the
customer's foot -11- within the shoe interior -13- is visible, and
the insole -14- which is drawn using a vertical hatching and which
has to adapt to the non-flat foot sole -12- both on the sides and
from below and also to the non-flat footbed -31- in the lower part
of the inner shoe. The shoe sole -32- with its tread is shown in
black.
[0035] FIG. 4 shows the production of the desired insole -14- which
adjusts to the foot sole, to the two inner side walls of the
footwear, and also to the footbed, which oftentimes is not flat, of
the best-fit series-produced shoe and which is therefore produced
from a prefabricated block using, for example, two numerical XYZ
milling cutters -41- and -42-.
[0036] FIG. 5 shows the step-by-step sequence in the implementation
of the concept of the invention, from scanning the foot of the
customer inclusive of obtaining a registered plantar pressure
image, the best fit selection of a fitting shoe by a comparison
with a database of 3D inner shoe models, the classical derivation
of the insole from the pressure image, with the adjustment or
fitting into the shoe having not yet been realized, the numerical
milling-out, from a blank, of the insole fitted into the shoe
interior, the milling data record being calculated as a
differential 3D surface model of the 3D foot model fitted into the
best fit inner shoe model in relation to the inner shoe model.
[0037] The concept of the invention will now be explained, by way
of example, based on the best fit selection of a shoe with an
individualized footbed, this explanation being confined to one
individual shoe for reasons of clarity. In any case, the concept of
the invention inherently allows the selection of two different
shoes and different fitted-in insoles for a customer and in this
way takes into account the anatomical asymmetries which are often
encountered between the left foot and the right foot of a
customer.
[0038] As shown in FIG. 1, the purpose of the concept of the
invention resides in the cost-effective, largely automated, best
fit selection of an item of footwear -13- from an existing series
production, this item of footwear optimally enclosing the foot -11-
from an anatomical, aesthetic and functional point of view, and the
footbed -14- being individually adjusted to the foot sole anatomy
-12- of the customer and adjusted to and fitted into the selected
item of footwear.
[0039] To this end, according to the invention, in a first step the
customer's foot is scanned as shown in FIG. 2, using a preferably
multisensory 3D scanner having an integrated pressure measuring
plate, and a numerical 3D model of the foot shape -11- of the
customer is established, in which the plantar pressure image -21-
determined by means of the pressure measuring plate integrated in
the scanner is correctly aligned and integrated so as to be
registered. We refer to this integrated numerical model as a
"multisensory" 3D model, which numerically describes the two
connected information contents, "geometric three-dimensional foot
shape" and "plantar pressure image".
[0040] As a result, according to the invention, one single
integrated numerical model is available, rather than, as is usually
the case today, two separate models: one geometric 3D model
determined using a 3D scanner and a second, two-dimensional plantar
pressure image determined using an external pressure measuring
plate. This separate determination according to the current prior
art has the big disadvantage that the two items of information,
"three-dimensional foot shape" and "plantar pressure image", are
not registered, i.e. are not put into a spatial relation to each
other.
[0041] But the concept of the invention is not limited to this
advantageous multisensory foot digitization, but also comprises a
separate recording of the 3D model of the foot using a scanner and
of the plantar pressure image using a separate plantar sensor. A
person skilled in the art knows a variety of manual methods for
registering these two data records. For example, the foot sole
contour from the 3D model of the foot can be printed out on a film
or sheet and placed onto the pressure sensor such that the XY
coordinate axes of the 3D scanner and those of the plantar pressure
sensor coincide.
[0042] FIG. 3 shows, from a view of the heel, the spatial
relationships of the shoe interior -13-, the foot -11- of the
customer, the foot sole -12- resting on an insole -14- which is
drawn hatched, and the critical left and right peripheral zones, in
which the insole has to adjust or fit snugly to the foot interior.
It is furthermore apparent from this diagram that the footbed of a
series-produced shoe, which is located above the shoe sole,
features a standard sole as produced by the manufacturer, which is
not necessarily planar and to which the individual insole -14- to
be produced likewise has to snugly adjust.
[0043] The selection or production of an individualized insole in a
series-produced shoe selected according to a best-fit process
therefore requires a procedure which is automated, if possible, for
a cost-effective production of an insole which, as clearly shown in
FIG. 4, is usually given a complex shape:
[0044] the upper surface of the insole needs to assume a shape
which is derived from the plantar pressure image in accordance with
the rules which are known to a person skilled in orthopedics or
incorporated in insole manufacturing programs;
[0045] the lower surface of the insole needs to adapt to the
existing footbed of the series-produced shoe selected;
[0046] the lateral edges of the insole need to fit into the free
space between the foot and the inner wall of the shoe in the lower
portion of the shoe;
[0047] the insole needs to adapt to the shoe interior and the foot
such that it does not curtail the free space needed for the
foot.
[0048] It is common practice today to manually select insoles from
a large number of different series-manufactured insoles or else to
mill insoles from the top on one side in a numerically controlled
manner with the aid of prefabricated blanks; according to the
current prior art, the data of the shoe interior is not made use of
here since, to date, shoe interior scanners have not been
available. Therefore, it is currently necessary to fit the selected
or, respectively, milled insole into the customer's shoe in a
purely manual fashion, by an orthopedic specialist, shoe
technician, salesperson etc. using a knife, grinder or similar
tools for trimming the peripheral zone such as to make it fit into
the shoe. Aside from the fact that this process is time-consuming,
inaccurate, and undocumented, the insole produced in this way is
still not yet anatomically defined in terms of its height, i.e. it
is not made sure that once the insole is inserted, the free space
in the shoe interior is suitable for good wearing comfort.
[0049] It is therefore an essential element of the concept of the
invention that by the best-fit selection according to the invention
of a fitting series-produced shoe, on the basis of the adaptation
of the 3D foot model and the 3D shoe interior (which has been
digitized using, for example, the above-mentioned scanner according
to the teaching of DE 2007 032 609 A2), at the same time the space
coordinates can be determined which describe the space, taken up by
the insole, between the inner wall of the shoe, the foot sole and
the footbed of the shoe, as shown in FIG. 4, and that these space
coordinates are used for producing an individualized insole that
matches both the foot and the shoe.
[0050] According to the invention, the individualized insole is
produced by means of numerically controlled, chip-removing,
applying or thermally deforming automatic insole production
machines by controlling the traveling axes of these automatic
machines using the space coordinates of the three-dimensional
surface of the space to be occupied by the insole -14-. In the
following, we will refer to this complexly shaped space as the
"insole space", i.e. that portion of the space in the interior of a
shoe in the put-on condition which is to be filled by the insole or
the footbed.
[0051] For the simpler and more cost-effective process of
identifying a best-fit item of footwear and a best-fit insole,
making use of the space coordinates of the three-dimensional
surface of the space that is to be taken up by the insole, the
"insole space", according to the invention that insole which best
fits into this insole space is determined from a database of
digitized insoles.
[0052] According to the invention, the best-fit selection of an
insole from a database of series-produced lasts is carried out on
the basis of dimension specifications which describe the insole
space.
[0053] The method according to the invention for a cost-effective
production of a best-fit item of footwear with a customized
footbed/insole is summed up in FIG. 5 in the form of a flow
chart:
[0054] Step 1: the foot of the customer is scanned and digitized by
means of a preferably multisensory foot scanner which establishes a
numerical model of the three-dimensional shape of the foot and, at
the same time, a plantar pressure image registered therewith;
[0055] Step 2: the best-fitting shoe is determined by comparing the
geometric 3D model of the foot with a database of the digitized
interior spaces of shoes to choose from;
[0056] Step 3: using known methods of insole production, the
surface model of the insole is computed from the plantar pressure
image fully automatically or in a computer-assisted manner for the
region of the contact surface foot sole < > insole. This
so-called "classical" insole model is neither defined on the lower
side nor in its height nor in the peripheral zone.
[0057] Step 4: the space coordinates for the peripheral zone and
the lower side of an insole fitting into the inner shoe are
determined from the intersection of the space coordinates of the 3D
model of the best-fit inner shoe, of the 3D model of the customer's
foot, and of the "classical" 3D model, defined on one side, of the
insole, the 3D model of the "classical" insole is supplemented by
these coordinates to form the "insole space" and is finished in a
customized manner by a numerically controlled automatic processing
machine, or a fitting insole is selected accordingly by a best-fit
comparison of the insole space with a database of the
three-dimensional shapes of prefabricated series-produces
lasts;
[0058] Step 5: the insole is fixed in place in the best-fit shoe
and the best-fit shoe with the insole is handed over to the
customer.
[0059] The concept of the invention is not limited to a particular
type of footwear, but comprises dress shoes and casual shoes,
sports shoes, safety shoes and orthopedic footwear of any kind.
[0060] The concept of the invention describes a method and an
arrangement which allow a best fit method that is as highly
automated as possible, for the selection of footwear with an
individualized footbed at low cost. But the concept of the
invention permits various degrees of automation or non-automation,
such as, for example:
[0061] the decision by the sales staff or the customer
himself/herself in favor of a particular best fit footwear from the
n>1 potentially best-fitting items of footwear indicated by the
database;
[0062] the production of the "classical" 3D model of the insole can
be interactively influenced by a specialist on the basis of his/her
experience and with the aid of additional information such as the
body weight, age, purpose of the footwear (casual shoe, sports
shoe, orthopedic shoe, etc.), the materials used (leather, textile,
synthetic material, etc.).
[0063] What is decisive for the concept of the invention is the
multi-step method which proceeds from the digitized foot, the
plantar pressure image, and a database of digitized shoe interiors
and delivers to the customer a best fit footwear with an
individualized insole that is fitted into the available shoe
interior and defined by way of the "insole space" with the aid of
the numerically available data and, where desired, interactively
influenced parameters and criteria.
[0064] In addition to the reduction in cost by the automation, to a
large extent, of the process of supplying well-fitting footwear
separately for each customer in spite of shoes that are
mass-produced at low cost, the method according to the invention
also allows the ever increasing lack of technical knowledge of the
sales staff to be counteracted.
[0065] According to the invention, the numerical 3D models of the
foot, of the shoe interior, and of the insole space are visualized
on a data display unit in the salesroom and display to the customer
and to the sales staff the position and fit of the foot and the
insole in relation to the selected shoe, as in a complicated CAT
scan.
[0066] This considerably facilitates the decision that, in the
final analysis, remains to be taken by the customer in favor of a
particular shoe model and a particular insole on the basis of the
anatomical, easily comprehensible 3D visualization of the foot
fitted into the shoe with the insole.
[0067] According to the invention, the best fit selection of the
footwear as well as the individual preparation of the insole or the
best fit selection thereof are performed separately for each foot,
so that any asymmetries and anatomical differences between the feet
of a customer are taken into account.
[0068] According to the invention, the visualized data is collected
by the shoe trade and transmitted to the shoe manufacturers, for
the latter to supply the trade with a range of series-produced
shoes and insoles that are specially optimized with a view to its
customers, and for storage costs to be optimized in this way.
[0069] According to the invention, the feet of the customer are
re-digitized at greater time intervals (three-dimensional shape and
plantar pressure image), and the customer is informed of whether
the footwear, based on its 3D shape, is still anatomically
fitting.
[0070] The concept of the invention also comprises the situation in
which a well-fitting insole is customized or selected as a best fit
insole subsequently for a shoe that has already been worn. In this
case, step 2 (access to a database of available footwear interiors)
is replaced by the digitization of the interior of the already worn
footwear for which an insole is desired. The other steps remain
unchanged.
[0071] According to the invention, steps 3 and 4 may be combined in
that, following the determination of the 3D insole space and taking
into consideration the compressibility and flexibility of the
insole blank, the 3D shape of the insole to be produced or to be
selected in a best fit process is individualized (customized
insole) or is selected from a database as a best fit insole.
[0072] A further concept of the invention is to transact the entire
business process via the Internet in that the feet of the customer
are digitized once only with the aid of a preferably multisensory
foot scanner, and this person-related data is stored in a central
database or is handed over to the customer on a digital storage
medium, and that the process for ordering a new item of best fit
footwear with an individualized customized or best fit insole is
carried out via a computer terminal.
[0073] By way of summary and in simplified terms, the concept of
the invention describes novel methods and arrangements which
proceed in a largely automated manner and which, with the aid of
the combination of the "3D foot scanner", "3D shoe interior
scanner" and "foot sole scanner" technologies (optical image of the
sole and/or plantar pressure image), calculate from the 3D and 2D
data provided by these scanners the complexly shaped insole space
to be taken up by a fitting insole in the interior of the footwear
which is put on, and which by means of numerical processing
methods, produce the insole or footbed that matches both the foot
and the footwear either individually from a blank or select it as a
best fit insole from a collection of prefabricated insoles.
* * * * *
References