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hzeller / ldgraphy

Simple Laser Direct Lithography / Laser Direct Imaging for PCB manufacturing
http://ldgraphy.org/
GNU General Public License v3.0
278 stars 43 forks source link

your idea might be patented by tecnica #10

Closed hstarmans closed 1 year ago

hstarmans commented 3 years ago

Look at article https://www.fabbaloo.com/news/looking-at-tecnicas-unusual-sls-optical-system

They use the same mirror system as you do, claim it's novel without mentioning your work. Are you familiar with this!?

hzeller commented 3 years ago

Not familiar with that. That article does not mention any patents.

But since it is documented here already it certainly can't be patented because prior art.

hstarmans commented 3 years ago

Henner,

Prior art does not make it impossible to get a patent. You r right that it does invalidate the patent but legal costs / risks are very high to invalidate it

An example is given by Bunnie ( Andrew "bunnie" Huang is an American researcher and hacker, who holds a Ph.D in electrical engineering from MIT and is the author of the freely available 2003 book Hacking the Xbox) https://patentpandas.org/stories/crowdfunding-backer-patented-my-project

The method of tecnica is slightly different from yours, they use a different rotating mirror (not a polygon one) see their website https://tecnica.com/

[image: afbeelding.png]

Their patent is US10473915B2 and US9435998B1, as you can see they don't use a polygon mirror but a mirrror with some angle.

[image: afbeelding.png] Conclusion; I might have rung the alarm bell too soon, but it is very close to your work so might be good to add to your project as a reference or be aware of non the less. I looked into the legal claims and it does seem different in that they hit the first reflector along the rotation axis and you hit it perpendical to the rotational axis. They might also be able to provide a mirror you need for your project

Regards,

Rik

Am Mo., 9. Aug. 2021 um 20:43 Uhr schrieb Henner Zeller < @.***>:

Not familiar with that. That article does not mention any patents.

But since it is documented here https://github.com/hzeller/ldgraphy/blob/master/design.md#cone-mirror-arc-exposure already it certainly can't be patented because prior art.

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hstarmans commented 3 years ago

As i see it, the main issue of ldgraphy is the cross scan error. Each facet is slightly different which gives an error orthogonal to the scanline. Tecnica fixed this by using only one facet. The manufacturing requirements of the curved mirror also decrease as you always hit this mirror at the same location. Even if it is not an arc it is constant. The duty cycle can be increased by using a non uniform rotation speed or completing the arc to a circle. If it is a circle or a large arc, the best way to hit the mirror is along the rotational axis. In your description you use an image where the polygon mirror is hit orthogonal to rotation, not perpendicular. This variation is not under patent.

hstarmans commented 3 years ago

Possible variations;