阅读说明：本技术 用于三维零件计算机辅助制造的方法和系统 (Method and system for computer-aided manufacturing of three-dimensional parts ) 是由 佩雷兹·佩拉奇 于 2020-02-07 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明涉及用于通过制造装置来计算机辅助制造三维零件的方法和系统(2)以及用于完全或部分再制造的关联方法和系统(4),这些方法和系统使用至少一种预定制造材料,并且实施制造数据集。制造系统(2)包括模块(14、18、22、6),模块被配置为在三维零件的制造期间或结束时实施：-计算一条再制造信息,该一条再制造信息与所述三维零件相关联,并且包括或允许访问用于制造所述三维零件的数据集；并且-通过预定标记方法在所述三维零件的表面上或主体中铭刻再制造标记,该再制造标记对所述再制造信息进行编码。再制造系统包括模块(32、36、40、46、48),模块被配置为实施：读取再制造标记；获得初始三维零件的制造数据集；并且完全或部分再制造在机械上与所述初始三维零件相同的三维零件。(The invention relates to a method and a system (2) for computer-aided manufacturing of three-dimensional parts by means of a manufacturing device and an associated method and system (4) for complete or partial remanufacturing, using at least one predetermined manufacturing material and implementing a manufacturing data set. The manufacturing system (2) comprises modules (14, 18, 22, 6) configured to carry out, during or at the end of the manufacture of the three-dimensional part: -calculating a piece of remanufacturing information associated with the three-dimensional part and comprising or allowing access to a data set for manufacturing the three-dimensional part; and-inscribing, by a predetermined marking method, remanufacturing markings on the surface or in the body of the three-dimensional part, the remanufacturing markings encoding the remanufacturing information. The remanufacturing system includes modules (32, 36, 40, 46, 48) configured to implement: reading a remanufactured mark; obtaining a manufacturing dataset of an initial three-dimensional part; and completely or partially remanufacturing a three-dimensional part that is mechanically identical to the original three-dimensional part.)

1. A method of computer-aided manufacturing of a three-dimensional part using at least one predetermined manufacturing material by a manufacturing apparatus and implementing a manufacturing dataset comprising data relating to the shape of the three-dimensional part and corresponding commands usable by the manufacturing apparatus for implementing a predetermined manufacturing method, data relating to the manufacturing material and data relating to the apparatus and the manufacturing method, characterised in that during or at the end of the manufacturing of the three-dimensional part, the following steps are included:

-calculating (50-62) a piece of remanufacturing information, the piece of remanufacturing information being associated with the three-dimensional part and including or allowing access to all of the manufacturing data of the three-dimensional part; and

-inscribing (64) remanufacturing indicia on a surface or in a body of the three-dimensional part by a predetermined marking method, the remanufacturing indicia encoding the remanufacturing information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said calculating a remanufacturing information comprises:

-calculating (50, 52) a unique identifier of the three-dimensional part; and

-applying (56-60) a cryptographic combination combining the unique identifier of the part and data from the manufacturing dataset.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the calculating the unique identifier of the three-dimensional part comprises: a physical unclonable function of at least a portion of the three-dimensional part is calculated (50) to obtain a value of an unclonable physical property of the at least a portion of the three-dimensional part.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the calculating a unique identifier further comprises: applying (52) a cryptographic function to the physical property value to obtain the unique identifier.

5. The method of any of claims 2 to 4, wherein the applying the cryptographic combination comprises: concatenating (58) the manufacturing data sets and applying (60) a key cryptographic function, the key for the function being the unique identifier.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of: compressing (56) at least a portion of the manufacturing data.

7. The method of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the marking (64) is performed by printing an encoded representation of the remanufacturing information.

8. The method of any of claims 1-7, wherein at least a subset of the manufacturing dataset is replaced with a network address of a file containing the subset of the manufacturing dataset.

9. A method of reproducing, completely or partially, an initial three-dimensional part of a mark by means of a reproducing apparatus, said initial three-dimensional part of a mark being manufactured by a manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, said method comprising the steps of:

-reading (72) the marking inscribed on the surface or in the body of the initial three-dimensional part;

-obtaining (74-82) a manufacturing dataset of the initial three-dimensional part from the obtained remanufacturing information; and

-completely remanufacturing (100) a three-dimensional part mechanically identical to the initial three-dimensional part by the remanufacturing device or partially remanufacturing a portion of the initial three-dimensional part using data from the obtained manufacturing data set.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the remanufacturing device has associated configuration parameters and the method further comprises the step of verifying (108, 114, 116): conforming the configuration parameters of the remanufacturing device to the obtained manufacturing dataset.

11. The method of any of claims 9 or 10, wherein obtaining the manufacturing dataset for the initial three-dimensional part comprises:

-calculating (74, 76) a unique identifier of the initial three-dimensional part; and

-applying a cryptographic reorganization (78-82) combining the unique identifier and the obtained remanufacturing information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the calculating the unique identifier of the initial three-dimensional part comprises: a physical unclonable function of at least a portion of the three-dimensional part is calculated (74) to obtain an unclonable physical property value for the at least a portion of the initial three-dimensional part.

13. The method of any one of claims 11 or 12, wherein the cryptographic reorganization comprises: applying (78) a second key cryptographic function associated with the applied (60) key cryptographic function to the remanufacturing information of the initial three-dimensional part obtained under the manufacturing method of any one of claims 1 to 8, the key for the application being the unique identifier; and applying (80) a de-concatenation to the decrypted result to obtain manufacturing data.

14. A system for computer-aided manufacturing of three-dimensional parts, said system being intended to use at least one predetermined manufacturing material by a manufacturing apparatus and to implement a manufacturing dataset comprising data relating to the shape of said three-dimensional part and corresponding commands operable by said manufacturing apparatus to implement a predetermined manufacturing method, data relating to said manufacturing material and data relating to said manufacturing apparatus and method, said system being characterized in that it comprises modules (14, 18, 22, 6) configured to implement, during or at the end of said manufacturing of three-dimensional parts:

-calculating a piece of remanufacturing information, said piece of remanufacturing information being associated with said three-dimensional part and comprising or allowing access to all of said manufacturing data of said three-dimensional part; and is

-inscribing remanufacturing indicia on a surface or in a body of the three-dimensional part by a predetermined marking method, the remanufacturing indicia encoding the remanufacturing information.

15. A system for reproducing, completely or partially, an initial three-dimensional part of a mark by means of a reproducing device, said initial three-dimensional part of a mark being manufactured by means of a manufacturing system according to claim 14, said system comprising modules (32, 36, 40, 46, 48) configured to implement:

-reading the marking inscribed on the surface or in the body of the initial three-dimensional part;

-obtaining a manufacturing dataset of the initial three-dimensional part from the obtained remanufacturing information; and is

-completely remanufacturing a mechanically identical three-dimensional part as the initial three-dimensional part by the remanufacturing device or partially remanufacturing a portion of the initial three-dimensional part using data from the obtained manufacturing dataset.

[ technical field ] A method for producing a semiconductor device

The present invention relates to methods and systems for computer-aided manufacturing of three-dimensional parts, and associated methods and systems for computer-aided remanufacturing of three-dimensional parts.

The invention belongs to the field of computer-aided manufacturing of three-dimensional parts, and particularly belongs to the field of repair or replacement of parts.

[ background of the invention ]

In the field of computer-aided manufacturing, there are additive manufacturing (e.g. three-dimensional printing) which involves manufacturing a part by depositing successive layers of one or more predetermined materials, on the one hand, and subtractive manufacturing (e.g. machining, plastic injection (or injection molding) or assembly), on the other hand, in which a three-dimensional part is manufactured by removing material from a block of material. The present invention is applicable to all of these fields and methods.

In all cases, computer-aided manufacturing is carried out on the basis of a manufacturing dataset comprising, on the one hand, three-dimensional models obtained by computer-aided design and represented in a predetermined file format, and, on the other hand, parameters relating to the manufacturing method and apparatus, parameters relating to the materials used and configuration parameters of the apparatus used to manufacture the part.

In the case of additive manufacturing, more precisely three-dimensional printing, the manufacturing method specifies the technique used to form the material layer. For example, the technique may be Selective Laser Melting (SLM) in which a laser beam is directed towards a previously deposited powder bed or Directed Energy Deposition (DED) in which a laser beam is directed towards a jet of material as the material to be melted is deposited. Other methods are known and the present invention is applicable in their context. For each of these methods, corresponding parameters are set.

The manufacturing data contributes to the final characteristics of the manufactured object, thereby conforming to the specifications of the part to be manufactured. The manufacturing data is developed by the manufacturer of the three-dimensional part, and its development requires implementation of specific technical expertise.

Computer-aided manufacturing also includes the creation and storage of manufacturing reports. The latter contains data characteristic of the actual conditions of the part fabrication obtained by the sensors fitted to the fabrication apparatus.

In the case of additive manufacturing, a manufacturing report typically comprises one report per layer, which may for example contain the melting temperature, an assessment of the melting homogeneity of the material used, and images obtained by means of thermal, acoustic or ultrasonic sensors and infrared cameras.

In various practical scenarios, for example in the case of local wear or damage of a three-dimensional part, an operator of the part, usually different from the manufacturer, needs to replace the existing part.

The classic solution is to make a request to the manufacturer of the original part, who can remanufacture and return a replacement part. In a variation, it is also known to manage replacement parts inventory. Both of these conventional solutions have disadvantages in terms of manufacturing time or difficulty in managing large replacement part inventories.

Alternatively, when a maintenance agent other than the manufacturer of the original part has sufficient manufacturing equipment, a replacement part may be remanufactured with such a maintenance agent. These manufacturing devices, called remanufacturing devices, are particularly limited and do not allow the maintenance agent to freely perform all parameterizations. Moreover, the maintenance agent is not authorized to perform upstream or downstream computer-aided manufacturing operations, such as a pre-processing stage of the three-dimensional model of the part to be manufactured or finishing of the manufactured three-dimensional part. The maintenance agent was previously authenticated by the manufacturer. A Digital Rights Management (DRM) system or any other type of access control system may be used to control the authorization. Such a maintenance agent may, for example, be advantageously located in the geographic vicinity of the operating location of the three-dimensional part to be replaced.

[ summary of the invention ]

It is an object of the present invention to facilitate repair or remanufacture of three-dimensional parts by maintenance agents other than the manufacturer.

To this end, the invention provides a method for computer-aided manufacturing of a three-dimensional part by a manufacturing apparatus using at least one predetermined manufacturing material and implementing a manufacturing data set comprising data relating to the shape of the three-dimensional part and corresponding commands operable by the manufacturing apparatus to implement the predetermined manufacturing method, data relating to the manufacturing material and data relating to the apparatus and the manufacturing method. During or at the end of the manufacture of the three-dimensional part, the method comprises the following steps:

-calculating a piece of remanufacturing information associated with the three-dimensional part and comprising or allowing access to all manufacturing data of the three-dimensional part;

-inscribing (engraving) remanufacturing marks encoding said remanufacturing information on a surface or in a body of said three-dimensional part by a predetermined marking method.

Advantageously, the method of the invention makes it possible to facilitate and automate the partial or complete remanufacture of an initial three-dimensional part, since the inscription of a marking encoding remanufacturing information on the surface or in the body of the initial three-dimensional part makes it possible to remanufacture a mechanically identical three-dimensional part as the initial three-dimensional part by a maintenance agent different from the initial manufacturer.

The three-dimensional part manufacturing method according to the invention may have one or more of the following features taken independently or in any acceptable combination.

Calculating a piece of remanufacturing information includes:

-calculating a unique identifier of the three-dimensional part; and

-a cryptographic combination of a unique identifier of the application part and data from the manufacturing data set.

Calculating the unique identifier of the three-dimensional part comprises: a physical unclonable function of at least a portion of the three-dimensional part is calculated to obtain a value of a physical unclonable characteristic of the at least a portion of the three-dimensional part.

Calculating the unique identifier further comprises: applying a cryptographic function to the physical property value to obtain a unique identifier.

Applying the combination of passwords comprises: concatenating (configure) data from the manufacturing data set and applying a key cryptographic function, the key for the function being the unique identifier.

The method further comprises the following steps: at least a portion of the manufacturing data is compressed.

Marking is performed by printing an encoded representation of the remanufacturing information.

At least a subset of the manufacturing dataset is replaced with a network address of a file containing the subset of the manufacturing dataset.

According to another aspect, the invention relates to a method for reproducing, completely or partially, by means of a reproducing device, an initial three-dimensional part of a marking, which is manufactured by means of a manufacturing method as briefly described above. The remanufacturing method comprises the steps of:

-reading a marking inscribed on the surface or in the body of the three-dimensional part;

-obtaining a manufacturing data set of the original three-dimensional part from the obtained piece of remanufacturing information; and

-completing remanufacturing of a mechanically identical three-dimensional part as the initial three-dimensional part by a remanufacturing device or partially remanufacturing a portion of the initial three-dimensional part using data from the obtained manufacturing data set.

The method for remanufacturing a three-dimensional part according to the present invention may have one or more of the following features taken independently or in any acceptable combination.

The remanufactured device has associated configuration parameters and the remanufacturing method further comprises the steps of: the configuration parameters of the remanufacturing device are verified for compliance with the acquired manufacturing data set.

Obtaining a manufacturing dataset for an initial three-dimensional part includes:

-calculating a unique identifier of the initial three-dimensional part;

-applying a cryptographic reorganization combining said unique identifier and the obtained piece of remanufacturing information.

Calculating the unique identifier of the initial three-dimensional part includes: a physical unclonable function of at least a portion of the three-dimensional part is calculated to obtain an unclonable physical property value for the at least a portion of the initial three-dimensional part.

The password reorganization comprises the following steps: applying a second key cryptographic function associated with a key cryptographic function applied at the time of initiating the three-dimensional part to the obtained remanufacturing information, the key for the application being the unique identifier; and applying de-concatenation (de-concatenation) to the decrypted result to obtain manufacturing data.

According to another aspect, the invention relates to a manufacturing system for computer-aided manufacturing of a three-dimensional part by a manufacturing apparatus using at least one predetermined manufacturing material and implementing a manufacturing data set comprising data relating to the shape of the three-dimensional part and corresponding commands operable by the manufacturing apparatus to implement a predetermined manufacturing method, data relating to the manufacturing material and data relating to the manufacturing apparatus and method. The system includes a module configured to implement, during or at the end of the manufacture of the three-dimensional part:

-calculating a piece of remanufacturing information associated with the three-dimensional part and comprising or allowing access to all manufacturing data of the three-dimensional part;

-inscribing remanufacturing indicia on a surface or in a body of the three-dimensional part by a predetermined marking method, the remanufacturing indicia encoding the remanufacturing information.

According to another aspect, the present invention relates to a remanufacturing system for remanufacturing, in whole or in part, an initial three-dimensional part of a mark by a remanufacturing device, the initial three-dimensional part of the mark being manufactured by the manufacturing system as briefly described above, the remanufacturing system comprising a module configured to:

-reading a marking inscribed on the surface or in the body of the initial three-dimensional part;

-obtaining a manufacturing dataset of the initial three-dimensional part from the obtained remanufacturing information; and is

-remanufacturing a three-dimensional part mechanically identical to the initial three-dimensional part completely by a remanufacturing device or partially remanufacturing a portion of the initial three-dimensional part using data from the obtained manufacturing data set.

[ description of the drawings ]

Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, given by way of indication and not limitation, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a system for manufacturing and remanufacturing a three dimensional part according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the main steps of a method for manufacturing a three-dimensional part according to a first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of the steps of a variant of the three-dimensional part manufacturing method;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the main steps of a method for remanufacturing a three-dimensional part according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the main steps for performing remanufacturing using manufacturing data extracted from a marked three-dimensional part.

[ detailed description ] embodiments

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a system for manufacturing and remanufacturing a three dimensional part according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the system 1 comprises a first subsystem 2 for manufacturing a three-dimensional part marked with remanufactured marks, and a second subsystem 4 for remanufacturing the three-dimensional part, either completely or partially, from the marked three-dimensional part.

In an application scenario, the first subsystem 2 and the second subsystem 4 are located in geographically distant locations and operated in different environments by operators of different occupations.

For example, the first subsystem 2 is integrated into a manufacturing environment operated by the manufacturer and generally also comprising a method office responsible for pre-processing operations of the three-dimensional model of the part to be manufactured and a post-processing plant responsible for finishing operations of the manufactured part. The second subsystem 4 is isolated, for example, in an environment operated by a three-dimensional part maintenance agent that is not authorized to perform certain computer-aided manufacturing operations, in particular stages of pre-processing a three-dimensional model of the part to be manufactured or finishing the manufactured three-dimensional part.

The first subsystem 2 includes an apparatus 6 for manufacturing three-dimensional parts, for example a computer-aided additive manufacturing apparatus such as a three-dimensional printer.

The apparatus 6 is controlled in accordance with a manufacturing data set 8 and uses material 10 to manufacture a three-dimensional part P, indicated at 12 in fig. 1.

The manufacturing data set 8 includes:

data 8A relating to the shape of the part to be manufactured, such as a model defining the shape of the three-dimensional part to be manufactured and corresponding commands operable by the manufacturing apparatus to implement a predetermined manufacturing method;

-data 8B relating to the manufacturing material;

data 8C relating to the manufacturing apparatus and the manufacturing method, in particular the manufacturing apparatus type identifier and configuration parameters of the manufacturing apparatus.

In one embodiment, the manufacturing data set 8 is stored in a file in a predetermined format.

According to one embodiment, the data 8A, 8B, 8C are stored in separate files.

According to another embodiment, the data 8A, 8B, 8C is compressed by applying a compression method and stored in compressed form.

When compression is performed in the event of loss of information, the compressed data is stored together with uncompressed data.

According to another embodiment, only a part of the data 8A, 8B, 8C is compressed.

The manufacturing data 8A, 8B, 8C is stored by the manufacturer on at least one non-volatile, computer-readable electronic storage medium, preferably on at least one server connected to the manufacturing apparatus via a network or to a computer configured to control the manufacturing apparatus.

In one embodiment, the data 8A includes a three-dimensional model of the three-dimensional part to be manufactured and corresponding commands that may be used by the manufacturing apparatus to implement a predetermined manufacturing method.

In particular, in the case of layered additive manufacturing, they include commands from the manufacturing apparatus for the layers of material to be deposited.

Such a three-dimensional model is obtained in a known manner from a CAD model describing the geometry of the three-dimensional part to be manufactured and from manufacturing method parameters, for example during a pre-processing stage of the design office. For example, the data 8A is an exchange format, such as IGES ("initial graphics exchange specification"), STEP ("product model data exchange standard"), STL ("stereolithography"), AMF ("additive manufacturing file format"), or 3MF ("3D manufacturing format").

In an alternative embodiment, the data 8A are formed by electronic addresses, for example network addresses, for storing files comprising the three-dimensional model of the part to be manufactured and corresponding commands that can be used by the manufacturing apparatus to implement a predetermined manufacturing method.

Data 8B relating to the manufacturing of the material includes, for example, physical characteristics of the material, such as properties (polymer or metal), particle size, moisture and oxidation rate, melting temperature.

In an alternative embodiment, the data 8B is formed by an electronic address, for example a network address, for storing a file comprising data relating to the manufacturing material.

The data 8C relating to the apparatus and the manufacturing method includes, for example, a manufacturing apparatus type identifier, a manufacturing method identifier, a manufacturing apparatus configuration parameter, and a manufacturing method-related parameter.

For example, the configuration parameters are parameters set for device operation, i.e., both physical parameters (e.g., physical characteristics of the laser beam) and environmental parameters (atmosphere, humidity, oxygen, or radon level in the manufacturing chamber).

The data 8C also include data relating to the manufacturing method, for example data relating to the positioning of the part, the supports used in the deposition of the material or the laser strategy to be implemented for the various layers to be manufactured (scanning direction, etc.).

In an alternative embodiment, the data 8C is formed by an electronic address, for example a network address, for storing a file comprising data relating to the device and the manufacturing method.

The manufactured three-dimensional part 12 is analyzed by the module 14 to calculate a unique identifier 16, also referred to as a UID ("unique identifier") of the part 12. Preferably, the identifier 16 is derived from the random physical properties of the three-dimensional part, also referred to as the "physically unclonable function" of the part. Such identifiers are inherently associated with the manufactured part.

In one embodiment, the physically unclonable function is an inherent physically unclonable characteristic, such as physical irregularity of the surface of the part observed at a predetermined level of detail, electromagnetic particle orientation of the material comprising the part, or a distribution of chemical molecules of the material comprising the part observable by a spectrometer. Because the physically unclonable function is not under the control of the manufacturer, it is unpredictable for any new parts to be manufactured. Thus, the manufacturer cannot manufacture parts that are identical in this respect, or therefore cannot manufacture parts that are exactly identical to the first given part, i.e. cannot clone the first part. In this case, the module 14 comprises a suitable analysis device, such as a scanner, an electromagnetic radiation sensor or a spectrometer.

In one embodiment, during additive manufacturing or plastic injection molding, the manufacturing of the part is modified to add such random physical properties, for example by adding to the first manufacturing material a second material having mechanical properties similar to those of the first material but including random physical properties.

According to another variant, a piece of semiconductor material is inserted into the part during the manufacture of the part, and the physical unclonable function is calculated from the electrical conductivity of the semiconductor piece. The conductivity of the semiconductor material in relation to thermal agitation, impurities or different types of defects is random.

The UID is preferably calculated from the value of a physically unclonable function of the three-dimensional part, for example by applying a hash function or symmetric blockchain encryption (i.e., in CBC ("cipher blockchain") mode) or any other cryptographic function. This calculation enables keeping the values of the physically unclonable functions of the parts secret, giving the UID identifiers a predetermined length, and dispersing the UID identifiers of the three-dimensional parts in their value space. In a variation, the UID identifier is taken to be equal to the value of the physical unclonable function of the part.

The obtained UID 16 is provided to a calculation module 18, which is configured to calculate remanufacturing information 20. The module 18 also receives as input the manufacturing data set 8.

The calculation module 18 is implemented by means of programmable electronic devices, for example a computer, or an electronic device made in the form of programmable logic components, such as FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) or application specific integrated circuits of the ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) type. The electronic device includes a central processing unit or CPU that includes one or more electronic processors that are capable of executing computer program instructions when the electronic device is powered on. The calculation module 18 is for example made in the form of computer program code instructions.

Module 18 is a computing module that, in one embodiment, performs a cryptographic combination of UID 16 and manufacturing data 8. This cryptographic combination is, for example, a cryptographic function parameterized by a key, also called a secret key, which is intended to be constituted by UID 16.

For example, the manufacturing data 8A, 8B, 8C is concatenated into a string, and then a cryptographic function parameterized by the UID 16 is applied to the string. For example, the string is encrypted by a symmetric key encryption algorithm, and the key is used to be constituted by UID 16. The result of this operation is remanufactured information 20. UID 16 and manufacturing data 8 are tied together in remanufacturing information 20, making it difficult to parse the latter to infer the former.

The three-dimensional part is then marked with a mark (hereinafter, remanufacturing mark) encoding remanufacturing information 20 using a marking module 22 that implements a predetermined marking method to output a three-dimensional part 24 marked with remanufacturing marks.

The remanufacturing indicia is, for example, remanufacturing information 20 in alphanumeric format, or a QR code encoding remanufacturing information 20, or a bar code encoding remanufacturing information 20, or any other representation of the information. Thus, the marking module 22 calculates the remanufactured mark and then triggers or executes the actual marking.

For example, the effective marking is performed by printing on the surface of the three-dimensional part. In this case, for example, the marking module 22 includes a printing device for this purpose. In another example, when manufacturing a part by additive manufacturing, the marking module 22 transmits remanufactured marks to the manufacturing device 6 that printed it.

According to another variant, when manufacturing a part by additive manufacturing, the marking module 22 is adapted to interact with the manufacturing device 6 once the three-dimensional part 12 is partially manufactured. In this variant, the indicia representing the remanufacturing information may be inserted or inscribed in the body of the manufactured three-dimensional part, i.e., on the inner surface or in the interior volume of the part, outside of the part it was previously manufactured. It should be noted that in this case, the unique identifier calculation module 14 is applied to the partially fabricated three-dimensional part. It is then contemplated to use the physical characteristics of the manufactured part of the three-dimensional part, which will also be extractable from the three-dimensional part when the three-dimensional part is fully manufactured.

The device 6 and modules 14, 18 and 22 are organized according to any feasible architecture of the subsystem 2. For example, modules 14, 18 and 22 are integrated with device 6, or with a single second device of subsystem 2.

The second subsystem 4 performs the remanufacturing of three-dimensional parts that are mechanically identical to the three-dimensional parts manufactured by the manufacturer.

The term "mechanically identical" is understood here from the point of view of the manufacturer, the manufacturing method and the specifications to be met.

Two different parts, even if they belong to the same series manufactured by the same manufacturer and are identical from the point of view of manufacturer and manufacturing method (as long as they meet the same specifications), will never be identical. For example, two parts of the same series of polished parts are equally smooth as long as they meet the same requirements, for example in terms of the maximum limit of surface irregularities. On the other hand, if their surfaces are observed with a high level of precision (for example ten or one hundred times, i.e. with a level of precision that is not controlled by the manufacturer and the manufacturing method), their irregularities are different, random and unpredictable before manufacture.

The second subsystem 4 receives as input an initial three-dimensional part 30 that may be partially worn or damaged for remanufacturing the same three-dimensional part on a machine.

The subsystem 4 comprises a module 32 for unique identifier calculation 34. Module 32 is similar to module 14 forming part of first part-manufacturing subsystem 2. It performs the calculation of the physical unclonable function of the same part as that calculated by module 14 and, if applicable, performs a unique identifier UID calculation similar to that performed by module 14. The UID 34 is obtained.

Subsystem 4 includes indicia reading module 36 adapted to read indicia inscribed on the surface or in the body of the three-dimensional part by indicia module 22 of first subsystem 2 and allow the remanufactured indicia to be decoded to obtain associated remanufactured information. For example, when the marking module 22 performs QR code printing, the module 36 includes an optical reader and an image processing module for obtaining remanufacturing information from the read and decoded QR code. Indicia reading module 36 provides the obtained remanufacturing information 38.

The unique identifier 34 and remanufacturing information 38 obtained from the original three-dimensional part are provided to a calculation module 40 that performs a cryptographic reassembly of the unique identifier and remanufacturing information associated with the cryptographic combination operation performed by the calculation module 18 to obtain manufacturing data 42.

For example, the cryptographic reorganization is a key cryptographic function associated with the cryptographic function applied by module 18, the key being used as the unique identifier 34.

For example, if module 18 performs concatenation and symmetric encryption of data 8A, 8B, 8C by a symmetric encryption algorithm in which the selected key is UID 16, module 40 performs the corresponding decryption with UID 34 as the key. The decrypted string is then obtained. Module 40 performs de-concatenation to extract the extracted manufacturing data, labeled 42A, 42B, 42C.

In case the manufacturing data is compressed without information loss, the corresponding decompression algorithm is applied.

In the case where the manufacturing data is compressed to lose information, the uncompressed manufacturing data is obtained using the compressed manufacturing data stored in association with the uncompressed manufacturing data.

The manufacturing data 42A, 42B, 42C is then evaluated to determine the material 44 used by a remanufacturing system 46 comprising a remanufacturing device 48 such as a three-dimensional reprinting printer.

As explained in detail below with reference to fig. 5, remanufacturing system 46 performs a compliance check of its set of configuration parameters on the obtained manufacturing data 42 prior to initiating actual remanufacturing in order to ensure remanufacturing of a three-dimensional part that is mechanically identical to the original three-dimensional part.

Indeed, in order to avoid possible attacks on the remanufacturing system, it is useful to ensure that real and complete manufacturing data of the original three-dimensional part is obtained, and to ensure that the actual remanufacturing is performed from such manufacturing data.

In one embodiment, remanufacturing device 48 is similar to manufacturing device 6, but is particularly constrained and does not allow maintenance personnel to freely perform all of the settings.

The devices 46 and 48 and modules 32, 36 and 40 are organized according to any feasible architecture of the subsystem 4. For example, modules 32, 36 and 40 are integrated into the same third device of subsystem 4, either external or internal to device 46, and in the latter case, external or internal to device 48.

Fig. 2 is a flow chart of the main steps for manufacturing a marked three-dimensional part according to a first embodiment of the invention.

The method comprises the steps of 50: the values of the unclonable physical properties of the finished or in-process three-dimensional part are extracted (i.e., calculated) by computing the physical unclonable function as described above with reference to FIG. 1.

In step 52, a unique identifier of the three-dimensional part is obtained, for example by applying a cryptographic hash function or any other cryptographic function to the characteristic values obtained by computing the physically unclonable function. Any known hash function may be used, such as SHA-1. At the output of step 52, a unique identifier UID for the three-dimensional part is obtained.

According to a variant, step 52 is omitted and the unique identifier of the part is the unclonable physical characteristic value obtained in step 50.

According to another embodiment, the unique identifier of the three-dimensional part is obtained by incrementing a serial number and/or generating a random or cryptographic key associated with the part.

A step 54 of receiving a manufacturing Data set (Data) is performed. As already explained, the manufacturing data set contains data relating to the shape of the part to be manufactured and corresponding commands operable by the manufacturing apparatus to carry out a predetermined manufacturing method, data relating to the manufacturing material and data relating to the manufacturing apparatus and method.

If the manufacturing data set is large, then in this embodiment, it is considered to compress at least a portion of such data (step 56).

In this sense, the compressed manufacturing data is concatenated in a concatenation step 58.

In one embodiment, the manufacturing data is first concatenated and then compressed.

In the case where lossy compression is performed, compressed manufacturing data is stored in association with uncompressed manufacturing data.

It should also be noted that steps 50 and 52 may be performed after steps 54 to 58, or substantially in parallel with these steps.

At the end of step 58, a string representing the manufacturing data is obtained.

The unique identifier obtained in step 52 and the string representing the manufacturing data obtained in step 58 are provided as input to a password combination step 60.

For example, a symmetric key encryption algorithm is implemented to obtain remanufactured information, the key used by the symmetric key encryption algorithm being the unique identifier calculated in step 52.

Any known encryption algorithm may be used in step 52, such as AES (advanced encryption standard).

In step 62, a mark to be affixed to a surface of the three-dimensional part or inserted into a body of the three-dimensional part is generated based on the remanufacturing information. The indicia is then inscribed on the surface or in the body of the three-dimensional part by a predetermined marking method (step 64).

For example, a QR code is created, which is a matrix of black and white pixels that encodes remanufacturing information.

The QR code is then printed on the surface of the part, inside or outside the part, or in the volume of the part, at a marking step 64. A three-dimensional part marked with indicia encoding remanufacturing information is then obtained.

Steps 52 to 62 are preferably implemented as software code that can be executed by a computer.

The compression step 56 is optional and according to a variant, the manufacturing data is used without compression.

Fig. 3 is an outline of main steps in an embodiment of the manufacture of a marked three-dimensional part.

The embodiment of fig. 3 differs from the embodiment of fig. 2 in that steps 56 and 58 are replaced by steps 66 and 68, while the remaining steps remain unchanged.

As in the first embodiment described with reference to fig. 2, in a receiving step 54, a manufacturing data set is received.

The data is presented, for example, in one or more files having a predetermined file format.

In step 66, the file or files containing the manufacturing data are stored in a local or remote storage unit.

The address of the storage unit, e.g. the network address of the storage unit, which is allowed to access the file storing the manufacturing data is obtained in step 68.

In this embodiment, the network address used to access the manufacturing data is a string that is provided as input to the password combination step 60.

The embodiments described with reference to fig. 2 and 3 may be combined, i.e. implemented during the same manufacturing method used for manufacturing the separate parts of the data.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the main steps of a method for reproducing a three-dimensional part, either completely or partially, from a three-dimensional part marked during the manufacture of the three-dimensional part described above.

The embodiment shown in fig. 4 corresponds to the first embodiment of the manufacturing method described above with reference to fig. 2.

The method includes a first step 70 of receiving an initially marked three-dimensional part to be repaired (partially remanufactured) or remanufactured (fully remanufactured).

The indicia reading 72 is then applied. The indicia reading step implements a reading method adapted to read indicia inscribed on the surface or in the body of the three-dimensional part by the marking method implemented in the marking step 64.

For example, when the marking step 64 implements QR code printing, step 72 implements QR code scanning reading and character string extraction by image processing applied to the read QR code.

Then step 74 is performed: the unclonable physical features of the received three-dimensional part are extracted, similar to step 50 described with reference to FIG. 2. Step 74 is followed by step 76: a unique identifier for the received part is obtained, similar to step 52 described above.

Steps 74 and 76 may be performed prior to steps 70 and 72 or substantially in parallel.

Then, using the unique identifier and the string obtained in step 72, a cryptographic reassembly step 78 associated with the combination performed in step 60 is performed.

In this embodiment, the cryptographic reorganization consists in applying a decryption algorithm that allows decrypting the data encrypted by the encryption algorithm implemented in step 60, using the unique identifier obtained as a key.

At the end of the code reorganization step 78, remanufacturing information extracted from the part is obtained.

In this embodiment, the remanufacturing information corresponds to the compressed and concatenated manufacturing data during manufacturing.

The reassembly step 78 is followed by a de-concatenation step 80, and then, when the manufacturing data has been compressed in step 56, a step 82: the uncompressed manufacturing data is obtained by decompression or from the manufacturer using compressed manufacturing data that he has stored in association with the uncompressed manufacturing data, depending on whether compression has been performed without or with loss of information, respectively.

The manufacturing data extracted from the initially marked three-dimensional part is then obtained at the output of step 82 and temporarily stored in storage step 84 for use in the implementation of the actual remanufacturing. Preferably, the obtained manufacturing data is only stored for performing remanufacturing, so as to avoid any subsequent reuse of the maintenance agent.

In a second embodiment of the remanufacturing method, corresponding to the embodiment described above with reference to figure 3, the string obtained from step 78 includes at least one network address of at least a portion of the manufacturing data.

In the remanufacturing method described with reference to fig. 4, in the event of an error in reading a mark or extracting an unclonable physical characteristic different from the unclonable physical characteristic extracted therefrom in step 50 from the received three-dimensional part, the obtained manufacturing data cannot be used as it is. In this case, the remanufacturing is stopped.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the main steps in performing remanufacturing using manufacturing data obtained from an initially marked three-dimensional part according to the method described above.

In this embodiment, the remanufacturing method comprises a first step 100 of receiving manufacturing data obtained by the method described with reference to figure 4.

In step 102, an indication of the type of manufacturing device is extracted from the manufacturing data, and in step 104 the indicated type of remanufacturing device is selected. Additionally, a set of configuration parameters for the remanufactured device is obtained in step 104.

In a variation, when the remanufacturing subsystem has only one remanufacturing device, the selection of the remanufacturing device is omitted.

In step 106, manufacturing data relating to the configuration of the manufacturing apparatus is extracted from the manufacturing data obtained in step 100.

A compliance test of the remanufactured device configuration parameter set with manufacturing data relating to the manufacturing device configuration obtained in step 106 is conducted in step 108 and the results of the compliance test, indicating compliance or non-compliance, are transmitted to step 116, described below.

For example, a piece of configuration data of a remanufactured device, once of a different value than the corresponding obtained manufacturing data, may force its value to eliminate such substantial non-compliance (if possible) or to discover substantial non-compliance.

If no substantial non-compliance is found, compliance is diagnosed only at the end of test step 108.

A step 110 of obtaining manufacturing data relating to the manufacturing material is also performed, e.g., substantially in parallel with step 102.

By selection, the material so identified is locally obtained (step 112), and a compliance test between the characteristics of the locally obtained material and the manufacturing data relating to the material is conducted in step 114.

Similar to the compliance test in step 108, the compliance test in step 114 transmits the compliance or non-compliance results to step 116.

At step 116, the results of the compliance test are compiled and if a compliance is found, no remanufacturing is performed (stop step 118).

Advantageously, this avoids remanufacturing parts that do not meet the specifications that the parts should meet.

If no non-compliance is detected, the actual data of the remanufacturing subsystem (referred to as remanufacturing data) is deemed to be in compliance with the manufacturing data obtained from the marked three-dimensional part and step 116 is followed by step 120 of actually remanufacturing a new three-dimensional part from the obtained manufacturing data, the new three-dimensional part being mechanically identical to the received marked three-dimensional part.

In one embodiment, step 120 implements remanufacturing of a three-dimensional part that is not marked.

According to one embodiment, step 120 implements the remanufacturing of the marked three-dimensional part, i.e., the manufacturing method steps described above.

According to another variant, step 120 carries out a partial remanufacturing of the initial three-dimensional part, or in other words, a repair of the initial three-dimensional part. In this case, the initial three-dimensional part received as input to the method in step 70 above is supplemented with the missing part portion.

The invention is also applicable to the case of material reduction manufacturing. In this case, the marking performed in the marking step 64 is performed on the outer surface of the part.

In the case of an additional production by plastic injection, the production device comprises in particular an appropriately dimensioned injection mould. Such injection molds are obtained by means of a mold or mold type identifier included in the manufacturing data or are remanufactured according to the manufacturing data relating to the shape of the three-dimensional part. In particular, three-dimensional models of parts are used for this purpose.

Advantageously, the present invention enables the remanufacturing of a three-dimensional part from an initial three-dimensional part, the remanufactured three-dimensional part being mechanically identical to the initial three-dimensional part in a new state. Therefore, the invention is beneficial to the maintenance performance of the three-dimensional part. In particular, the present invention facilitates remanufacturing of maintenance agents at the request of the manufacturer, thereby allowing replacement thereof in the inventory management of spare parts.