Digitally printed color cards

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016155367-A1
Application number	US-201414906428-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 6, 2014
Priority date	Aug 12, 2013
Publication date	Jun 2, 2016
Grant date	—

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

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 inkjet base inks with transparent white bases to produce the color; 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 the 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 specifics of the color patches 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 the 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 inkjet base inks with transparent white bases to produce the color; wherein the reflectance factor value of the inkjet base ink differs by no more than 3%, and preferably no more than 1%, 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

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

Inventors

• Rich Danny
• Chiu Aileen
• Lovell Veronika

Classifications

• G09F2003/0202

  printed before use · CPC title

• G09F3/02

  Forms or constructions (layered products B32B) · CPC title

• G09F2003/0276

  Safety features, e.g. colour, prominent part, logo · CPC title

• B41J2/21

  for multi-colour printing · CPC title

• G09F5/04 Primary

  Cards of samples; Books of samples (packages comprising articles attached to cards, sheets, or webs for removal therefrom B65D73/00) · CPC title