Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Ejector mechanism
Reexamination Certificate
2002-10-04
2004-06-01
Stephens, Juanita (Department: 2853)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Ejector mechanism
C358S502000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06742869
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention pertains to ink jet printing and more particularly to ink jet printing of wide format substrates such as textiles.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The printing of textiles is currently accomplished primarily by rotary screen methods. In operation, screen printing is rapid and, for large runs, cost effective. However, cutting screens is expensive and time consuming thus making the per unit cost for short runs and strike-offs quite substantial and, in many cases, prohibitive.
A digital printing method such as ink jet printing offers a number of potential benefits over conventional screen printing methods. Digital printing eliminates the set up expense associated with screen preparation and can potentially enable cost effective short run production.
Ink jet printing furthermore allows visual effects such as tonal gradients and infinite pattern repeat size which can not be practically achieved by a screen printing process.
A disadvantage of ink jet printing, as it exists today, is relatively slow print speed. Current ink jet printers print at a rate of about 1-10 m
2
/hr max compared to a rate of greater than 1000 m
2
/hr for screen printing. To be competitive even for short runs, therefore, the speed of ink jet printers needs to be increased.
Another current disadvantage of ink jet printing is the limited amount of colorant and other solids an ink jet ink can contain. Ink jet printing cannot deliver the balance of vivid color as well as end use performance (durability) expected for production quality prints, particularly with pigmented inks. Also, pretreatment of textile fabrics has been required to get good color thus adding an additional step and cost to the manufacturing process. Prints on pretreated fabric may be more susceptible to pigment removal by abrasion and thus have reduced durability and wash fastness.
Yet another current disadvantage of ink jet printing is the limited number of inks which can be practically used on an ink jet printer at any one time. Screen printing can employ twenty or more (typically 10-13) mother colors which can provide a very wide gamut. Ink jet printers have traditionally been limited to no more than about six colors. Ink jet ink colors must thus be chosen judiciously in order to achieve a gamut similar to that of screen printing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an objective of this invention to provide an ink jet printing system adapted for high speed printing of textiles.
A further objective of this invention is to provide inks which are formulated to deliver both high color expression and good durability on untreated fabrics as well as a broad gamut with a limited number of colorants.
A further objective of this invention is to provide a system which can optimally predict and control ink jet printer output to obtain the desired image quality.
Thus, there is provided a system for printing an image on a wide format recording medium (such as a textile) with an ink jet printer, wherein said system can simulate screen printing, comprising a computer interconnected to an ink jet printer, said ink jet printer being adapted for the printing of said wide format medium, preferably with an aqueous ink jet ink, and more preferably with a pigmented aqueous ink jet ink, wherein said computer is programmed to:
(1) accept a data input constituting said image in a plurality of acceptable file formats, at least one of said acceptable file formats being an indexed RGB file format, and at least another of said acceptable file formats being a monochromatic image format;
(2) transform said data input from said acceptable file format into a suitable L*a*b* file format;
(3) convert said suitable L*a*b file format into a driver format which can drive said ink jet printer to print said image on said wide format recording medium; and
(4) communicate said driver format to said printer.
Said computer can optionally also be programmed to limit the color gamut of said image in said L*a*b file format to fall within an estimated screen gamut of said screen printer, by mapping said color gamut of said image in said L*a*b file format against said estimated screen gamut of said screen printer so that said color gamut is limited to said estimated screen gamut. The color gamut limited L*a*b file format is then converted into a driver format in step (3) above.
There is also provided a system for printing an image on a wide format recording medium (such as a textile) with an ink jet printer, wherein said system can simulate screen printing, comprising a computer interconnected to an ink jet printer, said ink jet printer being adapted for the printing of said wide format medium, preferably with an aqueous ink jet ink, and more preferably with a pigmented aqueous ink jet ink, wherein said computer is programmed to:
(1) accept a data input constituting said image in an acceptable file format selected from the group consisting of an indexed RGB file format and a monochromatic image format;
(2) transform said data input from said acceptable file format into a suitable L*a*b* file format;
(3) map said color gamut of said image in said L*a*b file format against an estimated screen gamut of said screen printer so that said color gamut is limited to said estimated screen gamut;
(4) convert said color gamut limited L*a*b file format into a driver format which can drive said ink jet printer to print said image on said wide format recording medium; and
(5) communicate said driver format to said printer.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for printing an image on a wide format recording medium (such as a textile) with a system comprising a computer interconnected to an ink jet printer, adapted for the printing of said wide format medium, preferably with an aqueous ink jet ink, and more preferably with a pigmented aqueous ink jet ink, comprising the steps of:
(1) accepting into said computer a data input constituting said image in a plurality of acceptable file formats, at least one of said acceptable file formats being an indexed RGB file format, and at least another of said acceptable file formats being a monochromatic image format;
(2) transforming in said computer said data input from said acceptable file format into a suitable L*a*b* file format;
(3) converting in said computer said suitable L*a*b file format into a driver format which can drive said ink jet printer to print said image on said wide format recording medium; and
(4) communicating said driver format to said ink jet printer to drive said ink jet printer to print said image on said wide format recording medium.
Optionally, the color gamut of said image in said L*a*b file format can be limited to fall within an estimated screen gamut of said screen printer, by mapping said color gamut of said image in said L*a*b file format against said estimated screen gamut of said screen printer so that said color gamut is limited to said estimated screen gamut. The color gamut limited L*a*b file format is then converted into a driver format in step (3) above.
There is also provided a method printing an image on a wide format recording medium (such as a textile) with a system comprising a computer interconnected to an ink jet printer, adapted for the printing of said wide format medium, preferably with an aqueous ink jet ink, and more preferably with a pigmented aqueous ink jet ink, comprising the steps of:
(1) accepting into said computer a data input constituting said image in a plurality of acceptable file formats, at least one of said acceptable file formats being an indexed RGB file format, and at least another of said acceptable file formats being a monochromatic image format;
(2) transforming in said computer said data input from said acceptable file format into a suitable L*a*b* file format;
(3) mapping in said computer said color gamut of said image in said L*a*b file format against an estimated screen gamut of said screen printer so that said color gamut is limited to said estimated screen gamut;
(4) converting in said computer said color gamut limited L*a*b file
Anton Waifong Liew
Liang Tony Z.
Locke John Stephen
Omura Hisanori
Redding Martin E.
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
Lerman Bart E.
Mouttet Blaise
Stephens Juanita
LandOfFree
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