Patent US 5,953,232

A method of cutting out blanks from workpieces of a sheet material comprises the steps of spreading the workpieces on a supporting surface of an imaging apparatus, manually marking the characteristic features of the workpieces to obtain markings, assigning a workpiece identifier to each spread workpiece, photographing the contour of the workpieces, the markings and the workpiece identifiers to obtain corresponding data, entering the obtained data into a computer having a memory having stored therein data as to number, contour and quality requirements of the blanks, the computer computing a pattern on the basis of the entered and stored data, storing the computed pattern and allocating the stored pattern to the workpieces identified by the workpiece identifiers, placing a respective workpiece on a working surface of a cutting apparatus in a determined position, photographing the one workpiece and the determined position thereof to obtain corresponding data, entering the obtained data into the computer, the computer computing the determined position and selecting the stored pattern allocated to the one workpiece, repositioning the one workpiece in a position adjusted to the selected stored pattern, and cutting the one workpiece in response to a control program responsive to the selected stored pattern allocated to said workpiece.