Method for digitally printing color selection cards by matching the base inks to the base paints, dyes, or plastics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10326914-B2
Application number	US-201414906428-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 6, 2014
Priority date	Aug 12, 2013
Publication date	Jun 18, 2019
Grant date	Jun 18, 2019

Abstract

A system and method are described for the production of color selection swatch cards for point of purchase displays of custom blended paints, textiles or plastics using a digital inkjet printer and custom blended inkjet inks based on a set of base inks that can be blended using commercial match prediction software. The base inks are matched spectrally to the base paints, dyes or plastics.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for digitally printing a custom color swatch comprising:
a) producing a custom color ink that is a spectral match to a reference color by blending an inkjet base ink having a reflectance factor value with transparent white bases to produce the custom color ink; wherein the reference color is prepared using a paint primary color base; wherein the reflectance factor value of the inkjet base ink differs by no more than 3% from the reflectance factor value of the paint primary color base of the reference color at each wavelength; and
b) printing the custom color ink using an inkjet printer to produce the printed custom color.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reflectance factor value of the inkjet base ink differs by no more than 1% from the reflectance factor value of the paint primary color base of the reference color at each wavelength.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the custom color is a paint color.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the custom color is a textile color.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the custom color is a plastic color.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the paint color is part of a paint color selection guide.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the textile color is part of a textile color selection guide.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the plastic color is part of a plastic color selection guide.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the custom color ink is produced using a computer assisted colorant recipe prediction system optimized for matching ink colors and containing a library of base inks whose colors are spectral matches to a set of universal colorant dispersions used to produce said color when mixed with transparent white bases.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the use of a portable digital format image file that contains the image of the color swatches to be printed.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inkjet printer is a wide format inkjet printer.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the base inks are kept in a container interfaced to a computer capable of digitally dispensing the base ink into a container or package so that the combination of base inks can be thoroughly mixed and charged into a printing head for a digital printer.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital printing is carried out by a digital UV printer that incorporates either UV LED sources or UV arc lamp sources to provide energy for curing UV inks.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital printing is carried out by a digital printer that uses water-borne or latex inks and that incorporates a heating and drying station to dry the water-borne inks.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital printing is carried out by a digital printer that is a solvent-based printer that incorporates a heating and drying station to dry the solvent-based inks.

16. The method of any one of claim 1 , wherein the digital printing is carried out by a digital printer that incorporates hot melt inks.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital printing is carried out by a digital printer incorporating thermal transfer printing.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inkjet printer uses a continuous inkjet printing method.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inkjet printer uses a drop-on-demand inkjet printing method.

20. The method of claim 1 , in which color swatch and graphic text labels are applied in a 1-step printing process.

21. The method of claim 1 , used to produce a printed sheet of color swatches.

22. A color swatch card, palette, or display produced using the method of claim 1 .

23. A method for digitally printing a custom color directly on a product comprising:
a) producing a custom color ink that is a spectral match to a reference color by blending an inkjet base ink having a reflectance factor value with transparent white bases to produce the custom color ink; wherein the reference color is prepared using a paint primary color base; wherein the reflectance factor value of the inkjet base ink differs by no more than 3% from the reflectance factor value of the paint primary color base of the reference color at each wavelength; and
b) printing the custom color ink using an inkjet printer to produce the printed custom color.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the product is a food product.

25. The method of claim 23 , wherein the product is a pharmaceutical product.

26. The method of claim 23 , wherein the product is a packaging material for food or pharmaceuticals.

27. The method of claim 23 , wherein the product is a wood product.

28. The method of claim 23 , wherein the product is a metal product.

29. The method of claim 23 , wherein the product is a glass product.

30. The method of claim 23 , wherein the product is a plastic product.

Assignees

• Sun Chemical Corp
• Rich Danny
• Chiu Aileen
• Lovell Veronika

Inventors

• Rich Danny
• Chiu Aileen
• Lovell Veronika

Classifications

• G09F2003/0282

  for textiles, e.g. clothing · CPC title

• C09D11/033

  characterised by the solvent · CPC title

• C09D11/037

  characterised by the pigment · CPC title

• H04N1/54

  Conversion of colour picture signals to a plurality of signals some of which represent particular mixed colours, e.g. for textile printing · CPC title

• C09D11/101

  Inks specially adapted for printing processes involving curing by wave energy or particle radiation, e.g. with UV-curing following the printing · CPC title