Patent ID: 6105520
Filing Date: 2000-08-22
Classification: D05B

Abstract:
A quilt manufacturing system comprising:a plurality of quilting machines, each having a programmed controller operative to control the machines to produce quilted products on multi-layered material in accordance with product configuration data;a scheduling sub-system having communication links to each of the quilting machines;a customer order input station for receiving customer order data identifying quilted products to be manufactured for customers;digital storage media connected to the scheduling sub-system containing:data identifying each of the quilting machines and certain of their features that affect details of quilted products identified in the customer order data and made by the respective machines,data identifying material from which quilted products identified in the customer order data are made, anddata of details of each respective product identified in the customer order data, which details specify materials of which the products are made and pattern and other machine parameter data required by a quilting machine to make the respective product; andthe scheduling sub-system including a digital processor programmed to generate schedules for each of the machines and to download schedules to controllers of each of the machines to cause the production of quilted products identified in the customer data, the processor being programmed to evaluate the material identifying data, the product details data and the machine identifying and feature data, and to determine the content of the generated schedules based on the evaluation.