US-12626285-B2 - Systems and methods for generating wraps and real time pricing information thereof

US12626285B2US 12626285 B2US12626285 B2US 12626285B2US-12626285-B2

Abstract

The disclosed system provides a new platform that allows users to access installation target templates, powerful design software, and automated pre-production processes and enables them to create their own production-ready designs. Once a design is complete, the system directly connects the consumer to nearby service providers with the capabilities to complete the work. Importantly, the disclosed systems provide complete real-time pricing transparency. As a user manipulates a design or scrolls through service providers, they are presented with dynamic pricing. The disclosed system represents a novel end to end fully transactional consumer experience.

Inventors

Christopher Loar
Jacob Atler LOZOW
Shawn Anthony Holmes

Assignees

WRAPMATE INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20201029

Claims (20)

1 . A method for generating a wrap for an installation target, comprising: (a) obtaining from a customer, via a user interface generated on a display of a customer computing device, a request to initiate a wrap design and installation project, wherein the request comprises a project wrap design comprising at least one element and the user interface includes an initial price quote; (b) receiving, via one of one or more computing devices, from the customer computing device project information comprising initial information of the installation target; (c) receiving, via one of the one or more computing devices, one or more measurements of the installation target from at least one of: a camera or a sensor of the customer computing device; (d) generating, via one of the one or more computing devices, a three-dimensional representation of the installation target, based on the one or more measurements, on the user interface, wherein the three-dimensional representation comprises a plurality of segments and the project wrap design imposed over the plurality of segments; (e) determining, via one of the one or more computing devices, a difficulty score for each of the plurality of segments; (f) receiving, via one of the one or more computing devices, an input to the three-dimensional representation modifying the project wrap design imposed over the plurality of segments, wherein the input is received from the user interface and modified the at least one element to overlay a subset of the plurality of segments; (g) determining, via one of the one or more computing devices, a new price quote based on the difficulty score associated with the subset of the plurality of segments and the project information and service provider information, stored in a database, of one or more service providers capable of producing and installing the wrap; (h) transmitting, via one of the one or more computing devices, to the computing customer device the project wrap design and pricing information comprising the new price quote, wherein transmitting the new price quote to the customer computing device updates the user interface to reflect the new price quote; (i) receiving, via one of the one or more computing devices, a customer input from the user interface displayed on the customer computing device, comprising: confirmation of acceptance or rejection of the project wrap design or the price quote; or a request for modification of the project wrap design and optionally one or more elements to be added to the project wrap design; and (j) if the customer input comprises the confirmation of acceptance, providing, by a project fulfillment module, the project wrap design to a service provider to fulfill the wrap design and installation project; or (k) if the customer input comprises the request for modification, modifying the project wrap design based on the request for modification and optionally the one or more elements; transmitting to the customer computing device a modified project wrap design and adjusted pricing information comprising an adjusted price quote; and repeating step (i).
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the one or more measurements further comprises a customer input comprising dimensions of the installation target.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to receiving the input to the three-dimensional representation, determining the difficult score associated with the subset of the plurality of segments based on the input.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor comprises a LiDAR sensor, a gyroscope, GPS, accelerometer, barometer or a combination thereof.
5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the three-dimensional representation comprises a dimensionally accurate model of the installation target based on the one or more measurements.
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to receiving the input to the three-dimensional representation modifying the project wrap design, performing a customer operation on the project wrap design.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the customer operation comprises adding, scaling, rotating, cropping, dragging, or mirroring the at least one element or assigning a color to the at least one element.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the at least one element comprises a logo, a company name, contact information, a URL, a trademark, a slogan, or a combination thereof.
9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the at least one element is provided by an asset placement module.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the request to initiate a wrap design and installation project comprises receiving the at least one element through a file upload module or through a query of a library.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the three-dimensional representation of the installation target comprises identifying an excluded surface area on the installation target.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the excluded surface area is excluded from coverage of the project wrap design based on a legal requirement or not being suitable for coverage by the wrap.
13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the excluded surface area comprises a physical surface of a window, a tire, an area near or below waterline.
14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising choosing a desired wrap material based on a physical surface of the installation target.
15 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a print layout for the project wrap design based on design or size limitations of the desired wrap material or a printing device, thereby minimizing waste of the desired material and maximizing profit.
16 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising verifying a color of the project wrap design to ensure that the color is consistent with the color assigned by the customer, optionally based on Pantone coding or CMYK values.
17 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting the service provider based on proximity to the customer, accolades, a schedule of the service provider, or combinations thereof.
18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the service provider information comprises location, capability, capacity, service provider preferences, accolades, maximum printable width, or a combination thereof.
19 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the desired wrap material comprises a plastic material.
20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the installation target comprises a vehicle, an appliance, or an architectural object.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a U.S. national phase application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2020/057944 filed Oct. 29, 2020, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. FIELD OF THE INVENTION This disclosure relates generally to methods and systems for automatically or interactively generating wraps for various objects, calculating real-time pricing information, and facilitating production and installation thereof. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Wraps are typically used as a means to place advertisements or other graphic elements on vehicles, appliances, and architectural objects. Generally speaking, a wrap represents a flexible piece of material upon which a graphical image has been printed or otherwise applied. The wrap is applied to an installation target to cover it, either partially or completely, and thereby place the image of the wrap on a portion or entire exterior of the installation target. The large format printing industry has been a marketing staple in this country and abroad for decades. One particularly significant format is custom wraps. A large portfolio of raw materials is available to consumers to customize and ultimately be installed on an installation target of their choice. Whether a consumer is a commercial business looking to cover their vehicle or building with information about their business or an individual looking to personalize their personal property, there is a path for them. However, the journey for these consumers and the service providers to complete a project has been hindered by several factors. For example, the composition of the cost of a particular project is determined by many factors not available to the consumer, such as intricacies of their installation target, the cost of raw materials, and the project design itself. Furthermore, most consumers are unable to meaningfully participate in the design process because they do not have access to specialized software, scaled dimensionally accurate digital representations of their installation target, and industry knowledge. In the meantime, service providers are looking for ways to expand their market and utilize idle time. These factors, amongst many others, have an impact on the total market size and customer perception of a transaction. It is with these problems, among others, that aspects of the present disclosure were conceived. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This disclosure addresses the challenges mentioned above in a number of aspects, e.g., by providing methods and systems that allow customers to automatically or interactively generate wraps designs for various objects while providing real-time price quotes (e.g., final cost to get it produced) and ultimately schedule the production and installation of the customer designed wrap. In one aspect, this disclosure provides a method for generating a wrap for an installation target. The method comprises: (a) obtaining from a customer via a customer device a request to initiate a wrap design and installation project; (b) receiving from the customer device project information comprising initial information of the installation target; (c) generating by a design module a project wrap design for the installation target based on the project information; (d) determining by a pricing module pricing information comprising a price quote for the wrap design and installation project based on the project information and service provider information, stored in a database, of one or more service providers capable of producing and installing the wrap; (e) transmitting to the customer device the project wrap design and the pricing information comprising the price quote; (f) receiving a customer input from the customer device, comprising: confirmation of acceptance or rejection of the project wrap design or the price quote; or a request for modification of the project wrap design and optionally one or more elements to be added to the project wrap design; and (g) if the customer input comprises the confirmation of acceptance, providing by a project fulfillment module the project wrap design to a service provider to fulfill the wrap design and installation project; or (h) if the customer input comprises the request for modification, modifying the project wrap design based on the request for modification and optionally the one or more elements; transmitting to the customer device the modified project wrap design and adjusted pricing information comprising an adjusted price quote; and repeating step (f). In some embodiments, step (c) further comprises: determining whether a scaled dimensionally accurate digital representation for the installation target is available in a database; and if the scaled accurate dimensional representation is available, generating the project wrap design based on the scaled accurate dimensional representation; or if the scaled accurate dimensional representation