Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Controller
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-03
2004-09-21
Nguyen, Lamson (Department: 2861)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Controller
C358S001200, C068S20500R
Reexamination Certificate
active
06793309
ABSTRACT:
The novel development described herein relates to a process for coloring substrates, using the application of liquid colorants, in which the assignment of color is done on a pixel-by-pixel basis. Specifically, the following describes a process, and the resulting product, whereby relatively large areas of a substrate may be given the appearance of being uniformly colored by successively replicating or tiling a group of individually colored pixels comprising a repeating unit (i.e., a superpixel) across the substrate surface. The repeating unit is constructed in such a way that if a colorant application error develops, causing one or more pixels within the repeating unit to be colored incorrectly or incompletely, the overall arrangement of the pixels within the repeating unit will render such error less visually apparent when viewed on the substrate.
Many techniques have been developed for patterning or coloring substrates, notably absorbent substrates, and particularly textile substrates. With the development of the electronic computer, such techniques have included the use of individually addressable dye applicators, under computer control, that are capable of dispensing a predetermined, and in some cases, variable, quantity of a dye or liquid colorant to a specifically identified area or pixel on a substrate surface. Such techniques have been disclosed in, for example, commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,116,626, 5,136,520, 5,142,481, and 5,208,592, the teachings of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
In the devices and techniques described in the above-referenced U.S. patents, the pattern is defined in terms of pixels, and individual colorants, or combinations of colorants, are assigned to each pixel in order to impart the desired color to that corresponding pixel or pixel-sized area on the substrate. The application of such colorants to specific pixels is achieved through the use of hundreds of individual dye applicators, mounted along the length of color bars that are positioned across the path of the moving substrate to be patterned. Each applicator in a given color bar is supplied with colorant from the same colorant reservoir, with different arrays being supplied from different reservoirs, typically containing different colorants. By generating applicator actuation instructions that accommodate the position of the applicator along the length of the color bar and the position of the color bar relative to the position of the target pixel on the moving substrate, any available colorant from any color bar may be applied to any pixel within the pattern area on the substrate, as may be required by the specific pattern being reproduced.
It is contemplated that other arrangements or techniques for systematically applying various colorants to a substrate surface in accordance with pattern data, such as, for example, having one or more sets of colorant applicators that are moved or indexed across the face of a relatively stationary or intermittently indexed substrate, may also employ the teachings herein.
Regardless of the nature or configuration of the patterning device, a common problem with the use of such devices involves the occasional malfunction of one or more of the colorant applicators, as when such applicators become clogged, blocked, mis-aligned, or otherwise become incapable of reliably and accurately dispensing to each assigned pixel the required quantity of the assigned colorant to that pixel. If the malfunction is intermittent, such as an applicator that occasionally dispenses the incorrect quantity of colorant, the resulting patterning irregularity may be relatively unobtrusive, depending, of course, upon the nature of the pattern being reproduced, the nature of the substrate being patterned, and other factors. If the malfunction is persistent, such as an applicator that has become blocked, mis-aligned, or has ceased to function altogether, the resulting patterning irregularity may be so obtrusive as to cause visually objectionable streaks, bands, or the like that tend to extend in the direction of primary relative motion between the colorant applicator(s) and the substrate, hereinafter referred to as the “machine direction” (e.g., as indicated by the arrow in FIGS.
1
and
2
).
The result of such malfunctions manifests as linear patterning anomalies known as “streaks” or “bands” and may be somewhat visually analogous to the striations associated with old or worn film or videotape images. Areas of the substrate in which the pattern requires a relatively uniform solid color or shade to be reproduced on the substrate are generally the least tolerant of either type of malfunction—such malfunctions result in solid color areas that are non-uniform, either due to the formation of the streaks and bands referred to above, or due to otherwise unintended and visually objectionable pattern irregularities. Accordingly, the uniform appearance of such areas patterned by such patterning devices as described above has been particularly dependent upon the absence of colorant applicator malfunctions.
By use of the teachings herein, substrate pattern areas may be generated that effectively emulate uniformly colored pattern areas, but that have dramatically increased tolerance for individual colorant applicator malfunctions that might otherwise render such pattern areas distinctly non-uniform and visually objectionable. In accordance with one embodiment of the teachings herein, areas of the substrate that are intended to carry a solid color or shade instead may be patterned with an arrangement of different colored pixels, selected to replicate the required color on the substrate, that collectively comprise a repeating unit or superpixel.
The distribution of such colored pixels within such superpixel are carefully constructed to avoid or minimize the formation of visually obtrusive clumps or islands of color within the superpixel, as well as the unintended alignment of such pixels either within a given superpixel or across several superpixels, particularly in the machine direction. In single color areas, the former condition tends to promote a speckled or heathered appearance, which may or may not be desirable, while the latter condition tends to generate visually apparent twill lines under some conditions. When such repeating unit or superpixel is tiled or otherwise replicated across the substrate surface and observed at a distance, this patterned area—although generally comprised of a dense arrangement of chromatically compatible, but not identically colored, pixels—is capable of serving as an effective visual surrogate for a uniformly colored solid shade area on the substrate.
Advantageously, the resulting pattern area, which may, in some cases, result in a somewhat “heathered” appearance, effectively disguises patterning irregularities due to the misapplication of colorant by individual, improperly functioning colorant applicators in individual pixel areas, particularly in cases in which colorant applicator malfunctions are persistent and result in a systematic patterning irregularity that is replicated throughout the pattern area. It has also been found that, through use of such “fault-tolerant” superpixels, the resulting pattern area tends to allow contours in the surface of the substrate, as, for example, would be found in a multi-level carpet substrate, to maintain a desired degree of visual prominence, which the generation of bands, streaks, and the like tends to obscure.
In another embodiment of the teachings herein, the pixels comprising the superpixel may be identically colored, but may be colored in a manner that involves the use of multiple (and technically redundant) colorant applicators to provide an applicator-to-pixel relationship that can disguise individual improperly functioning colorant applicators, as will be discussed in further detail below.
For purposes herein, the following terms shall have the indicated meanings, unless the context or explicit language otherwise dictates.
The term “pixel” shall refer to the smallest area or location in a pattern or
Bailey Lisa
Gurr John K.
McCay Jonathan C.
Stoyles Richard
Webster Lou Herring
Fisher George M.
Milliken & Company
Moyer Terry T.
Nguyen Lamson
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