The technical part of an optician's job consists in mounting a pair of optical lenses in a spectacle frame selected by a wearer.
This mounting operation includes a first step of acquiring the geometry of the rims of the selected spectacle frame, and a second step of machining the lens, which in particular comprises an operation in which the outline of the lens is edged to the desired shape.
This edging operation consists in removing the superfluous peripheral portion of the optical lens in question, in order to machine its outline, which is most often initially circular, to an outline of identical shape to that of the outline of the rim of the spectacle frame or of similar shape.
Specifically, when the spectacle frame is rimmed, the acquiring step generally consists in probing the interior outline (the “bezel”) of the rim of the selected spectacle frame so as to precisely determine the coordinates of points characterizing the shape of the outline of this bezel.
The edging step then consists in machining the edge of the optical lens in such a way that it has, all the way around its outline, a bevel to be engaged in the bezel, the top of which has a shape that is substantially identical to that of the outline of the bezel.
This type of spectacle frame remains the type that is most commonly used. Moreover, implementation thereof is simple to automate. Therefore, a communication protocol has been developed in order to allow acquiring machines and machining machines to communicate together, in order to automate these two steps of acquiring and machining.
When the spectacle frame is more complex (semi-rimmed, rimless, or hybrid), these two steps are carried out differently.
In the acquiring step, a template (for example the reference lens supplied to the optician with the spectacle frame) is generally used to determine the shape required for the optical lens to be edged. Specifically, the acquisition of an image of this template allows the shape of the outline of this template and the position of any holes made in this template to be seen.
The subsequent machining step will then comprise an edging operation, then finishing operations (grooving, drilling, etc.) in order to allow the optical lens to be mounted in its frame.
These edging and finishing operations will vary substantially depending on the type of spectacle frame and on the complexity of the machining.
Thus, the aforementioned communication protocol cannot be used.
Each machining machine then has its own language and its own software allowing the optician to input the information required to machine each optical lens.
One drawback is that this software is generally not optimized to decrease the duration of the machining cycle of the lens.
Another drawback is that the operation of inputting information is long and tedious for the optician to implement.
To partially mitigate this drawback, the machining machine may be equipped with a memory allowing the settings for machining the optical lens to be stored. In this way, when another lens must be machined in order to be mounted in a spectacle frame of the same type, the machining machine may reuse these machining settings.
The problem with these machining settings is that not only are they not standard (they are generated depending on the characteristics of the machining machine and on the prescriptions of the wearer, and hence they are specific to this machine and to the wearer), but they are furthermore static (they cannot be adjusted when the characteristics of the machining machine change or when the prescriptions of the wearer change).
Specifically, it will be understood that these machining settings contain instructions that allow, given for example the diameters of the tools used, the optical lens to be machined to the desired shape.
Thus, these machining settings are valid only for one particular type of machining machine and they remain valid for this type of machine only for as long as the machining machine is not modified. As soon as a machining tool is replaced by another more effective tool of different shape, all of the stored machining settings become unusable.