Textiles: weaving – Fabrics – Drier felts
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-31
2001-10-02
Calvert, John J. (Department: 3741)
Textiles: weaving
Fabrics
Drier felts
C139S00100C, C139S38300A, C139S417000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06296022
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to a woven fabric, in particular but not exclusively a woven label, incorporating a woven in machine-readable code.
The present invention also relates to a process for producing woven fabric, in particular labels, incorporating a woven in machine-readable code.
According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a woven fabric, in particular a label, having a region formed from a ground weave which defines a background, said region including an array of spaced apart dots formed by yarns exposed on the surface of the ground weave, said array of spaced apart dots collectively defining a machine-readable code.
Preferably the dots are defined by weft yarns which contrast with the background defined by the ground weave.
In a first embodiment, the dots are spaced apart in both the warp and weft directions to define a two dimensional machine-readable code. Preferably for the first embodiment each dot is of the same size and is defined by a predetermined number of adjacent wefts which float over a predetermined number of adjacent warps to define a dot of a predetermined shape. Preferably said predetermined shape of each dot is generally square.
As an example the square shape of each dot is formed by two adjacent wefts extending across three adjacent warps.
Preferably for the first embodiment the array of dots is arranged in a predetermined number of rows and columns, the spacing between adjacent rows being preferably 2 wefts and the spacing between adjacent columns being preferably 3 warps.
In a second embodiment the dots are spaced in the weft direction only to define warp extending columns spaced apart in the weft direction and thereby define a one dimensional machine-readable code, commonly referred to as a bar code.
For the second embodiment the dots in each column are formed by dot forming weft yarns floating over the same number of warps in order to produce a bar of a desired width extending in the warp direction.
For both embodiments, the dot forming yarn from which the dots are formed is chosen to provide a contrast with the ground weave such that a machine is able to detect the presence of the dots on the surface of the ground weave. Accordingly the yarn for forming the dots may be of any type which achieves this function.
For example the dot forming yam may be of a colour which contrasts with the colour of the ground weave. With such an arrangement the array of dots is visible on the surface of the ground weave.
Alternatively, the dot forming yarn may be invisible under normal white light but is detectable under a different light, eg. ultraviolet light. With such an arrangement the array of dots would be not be visible on the surface of the ground weave under normal white light conditions.
According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a process for producing woven fabric, in particular labels, the process comprising weaving a ground weave from weft and warp yarns, and at a predetermined region of the fabric selectively introducing dot forming yarns to create an array of dots on the surface of said ground weave to define a machine-readable code.
Preferably the fabric is woven on a loom having a jacquard for controlling shedding of warp yarns and preferably at least in said region the jacquard is arranged to selectively control shedding of individual warp yarns.
Preferably the jacquard is electronically controlled by a computer which is programmed to provide the pattern information for generating the desired array of dots in said region. The computer may be arranged to provide the same array of dots for each successively woven region or may be arranged to provide a different array of dots for each successively woven region.
The loom may be a narrow fabric loom or a broadloom.
When producing labels, it is envisaged that a ribbon of successive labels will be produced and that more than one ribbon may be simultaneously produced across the width of the loom. The individual ribbons may be woven separately side by side, for example on a twin rapier needle loom, or may be joined whilst being woven to form a sheet and then subsequently separated, for example by slitting.
When producing more than one ribbon of labels simultaneously, it is envisaged that the jacquard may be controlled so as to weave the same or different arrays of dots in said regions which are being simultaneously woven across the loom.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4766301 (1988-08-01), Evers
patent: 5845148 (1998-12-01), Ichikawa et al.
patent: 0076405 (1983-04-01), None
patent: 2337724 (1999-12-01), None
Calvert John J.
Hagen Law Firm PLLP
J&J Cash Limited
Muromoto Jr. Robert H.
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