Encrypted 3D Object File Analysis for Printability and Compatibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing additive manufacturing technologies face challenges in ensuring the printability of complex 3D object models, particularly when small features are involved, and in determining compatibility with post-printing processes and assembly interfaces, while maintaining proprietary design confidentiality.
Innovation Solution
A privacy-preserving protocol using homomorphic encryption enables a service provider to perform computations on encrypted 3D object files, employing Minkowski sum protocols to assess printability and compatibility without decrypting the data, allowing collaboration between parties without revealing their designs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the designer shares the 3D object model with a service provider for analysis, then the service provider can evaluate printability and compatibility, but the designer's proprietary information is exposed
Solution Approach 1:
Homomorphic encryption serves as an intermediary mechanism that allows the service provider to perform computations on encrypted 3D model data without being able to decrypt or view the actual proprietary information. The encryption layer mediates between the need for accurate evaluation and the need for privacy protection, enabling the service provider to work with ciphertext that preserves all necessary geometric and feature information while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates and processes encrypted copies of the 3D object model rather than the original plaintext data. These encrypted copies contain all the necessary information for printability and compatibility analysis, allowing the service provider to perform evaluations on the copy without accessing the actual proprietary design information stored in the original file.
2Reliability
If the designer performs comprehensive analysis locally, then all design objectives can be verified, but the computational resources required are excessive
Solution Approach 1:
The computational workload is segmented between the designer's local system and the service provider's remote system. The designer's system handles data preparation and encryption, while the service provider's system performs the computationally intensive printability and compatibility analysis. This segmentation allows comprehensive verification without requiring the designer's local hardware to have excessive computational resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The service provider performs comprehensive analysis actions in advance before the designer needs the results. By using homomorphic encryption to enable remote processing, the system allows the service provider to complete all necessary evaluations (printability, tool accessibility, part compatibility) beforehand, reducing the designer's local computational burden and providing ready-to-use verification results.
3Measurement precision
If the service provider accesses the unencrypted 3D model, then analysis accuracy is improved, but intellectual property protection is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Homomorphic encryption acts as an intermediary that preserves full analysis accuracy while blocking intellectual property exposure. The encryption mechanism maintains all geometric relationships, feature dimensions, and spatial information needed for accurate printability and compatibility evaluation, yet simultaneously prevents the service provider from viewing or extracting any proprietary design information.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the traditional mechanical approach of sharing plaintext data with secure analysis systems with a cryptographic approach. Instead of relying on trust or secure physical handling of design files, the system uses homomorphic encryption mathematics to enable accurate analysis while inherently protecting intellectual property, substituting cryptographic security for mechanical security measures.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides techniques for processing a three-dimensional (3D) object file in a privacy-preserving manner. An example method includes obtaining an object file that comprises a specification of a 3D printable object, encrypting the object file using a public key to generate an encrypted object file, and sending, to a remote computing system, the encrypted object file and a request to process the encrypted object file to identify a characteristic of the 3D printable object. The method also includes receiving an encrypted result file from the remote computing system, wherein the encrypted result file comprises an encrypted Minkowski sum of the encrypted object file and an encrypted comparison file. The method also includes decrypting the encrypted result file using a private key corresponding with the public key to generate an unencrypted result file and processing the unencrypted result file to determine the characteristic of the 3D printable object.