Method and apparatus for inventory control to optimize usage of colored fabric

摘要

In a data base of inventoried fabric pieces (e.g. rolls) having associated predetermined color parameter value data, a target fabric piece is initially selected having color parameter values which substantially deviate from a nominal center point within the color parameter space. Thereafter, a subset of the inventoried fabric pieces is identified having associated color parameters sufficiently near to those of the identified target piece as to be commonly usable therewith (e.g. in the construction of a garment). The color parameters may include red/green difference (da*), yellow/blue difference (db*) and lightness difference (dL*) values. Those defined points which fall within an ellipsoidal color space volume (having axes dimensioned to correspond to a predetermined acceptable variations in the color parameters within the desired subset and having a center selected so as to cause the color parameter values of the target piece to be located at the outer portion of such an ellipsoidal volume) are selected as a potentially usable subset. The result is an inverted or outside-toward-inside shade grouping selection process (in color space) of the inventoried fabric pieces-rather than vice versa-thus tending always to concentrate the color space values of remaining inventoried fabric pieces.