Methods and systems for printing vibrant grey colors on plastic cards
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of printing on a surface of plastic card in a plastic card printing mechanism, the method comprising:
- a) obtaining a source digital image;
b) scanning each pixel of the source digital image to identify each pixel as either color or monochrome;
c) generating a color digital image from the identified color pixels and a monochrome digital image from the identified monochrome pixels;
d) wherein c) includes, for the color digital image, replacing every pixel at coordinates corresponding to the monochrome pixels with white pixels; and
e) wherein c) further includes, for the monochrome digital image, replacing every pixel at coordinates corresponding to the color pixels with white pixels; and
f) sending the color digital image and the monochrome digital image to the plastic card printing mechanism, and printing the color digital image on the surface of the plastic card using cyan, magenta and yellow pigment ink and printing the monochrome digital image on the surface of the plastic card using black pigment ink to produce a combined image on the surface.
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Abstract
Methods and systems are disclosed for printing vibrant grey color(s) on plastic cards. The following features, which can be used individually or in any combination thereof, can be implemented to achieve the vibrant grey color(s): 1) use of CMYK pigment inks to achieve CMYK printing; 2) a pixel extraction process and/or a print trapping process; 3) two separate print commands including a CMY (or CMYK)+blending print command and a K+blending print command; and 4) proper card set-up.
14 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of printing on a surface of plastic card in a plastic card printing mechanism, the method comprising:
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a) obtaining a source digital image; b) scanning each pixel of the source digital image to identify each pixel as either color or monochrome; c) generating a color digital image from the identified color pixels and a monochrome digital image from the identified monochrome pixels; d) wherein c) includes, for the color digital image, replacing every pixel at coordinates corresponding to the monochrome pixels with white pixels; and e) wherein c) further includes, for the monochrome digital image, replacing every pixel at coordinates corresponding to the color pixels with white pixels; and f) sending the color digital image and the monochrome digital image to the plastic card printing mechanism, and printing the color digital image on the surface of the plastic card using cyan, magenta and yellow pigment ink and printing the monochrome digital image on the surface of the plastic card using black pigment ink to produce a combined image on the surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of printing on a surface of plastic card in a plastic card printing mechanism, the method comprising:
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a) obtaining a source digital image; b) scanning each pixel of the source digital image to identify each pixel as either color or monochrome; c) generating a color digital image from the identified color pixels and a monochrome digital image from the identified monochrome pixels; d) wherein c) includes, for the color digital image, determining if red, green, blue (RGB) values of each pixel of the source digital image are substantially equal, and for every pixel of the source digital image where the RGB values are substantially equal, replacing every pixel with equal RGB values with a white pixel; e) wherein c) further includes, for the monochrome digital image, replacing every pixel at coordinates corresponding to the replaced pixels in d) with grey pixels; and f) sending the color digital image and the monochrome digital image to the plastic card printing mechanism, and printing the color digital image on the surface of the plastic card using cyan, magenta and yellow pigment ink and printing the monochrome digital image on the surface of the plastic card using black pigment ink to produce a combined image on the surface. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification