Embellishments, such as stones or beads (raised portions of metal on a like metal substrate) are frequently used to decorate jewelry items such as rings, bracelets, necklaces, pendants, earrings, etc. In many cases, such as championship rings, it is desirable to have a plurality of small stones 12, such as shown in the ring 10 of FIG. 1, to create visual impact. Similar visual impact can alternatively be created by providing metal beads 22 along the surface of the ring 20, such as shown in FIG. 2. Regardless of the type of embellishment provided, for example stones or beads, it is often desirable that the placement of the embellishments fills the space on the ring and appears random.
Generally, to create placement positions for embellishments, a designer manually determines placement of each individual embellishment. Such manual determination is time-consuming and costly. Therefore, a need exists for an automated process for determining embellishment placement.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds