METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR THE PRODUCTION OF VARIABLE-DIMENSIONAL PRINTED SUBSTRATES

• US 20100098319A1
• Filed: 10/22/2008
• Published: 04/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Gombert, Barry Glynn, Rose, Philip Crane, Prakhya, Sri Hemanth
• Granted Patent: US 7,983,792 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/141
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 1/00 Books or other bound products match books A24F27/12; picture books with additional toy effects A63H33/38; indexing features B42F21/00; educational or demonstration appliances G09B, e.g. textbooks for teaching foreign languages G09B19/08
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 15/04 Foldable or multi-part cards or sheets
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00

Abstract

A method and system for generating a customized, printed, three-dimensional object accesses a data record for a selected recipient and prints objects on a substrate based on the data record. The method and system then generates die lines based on the data record, and finishes the substrate by cutting, perforating, creasing, folding or otherwise finishing the substrate along the die lines to yield a customized, three-dimensional printed object.

Claims

1. A production system for producing a printed substrate having structural features, comprising:

a memory storing a plurality of recipient records, each recipient record including at least one object to be printed on a customized substrate and data corresponding to at least one structural feature;

a data iterator that selects a recipient record from the memory;

a document instance generator that generates a document rendering output sequence in an object-oriented code, the document rendering output sequence comprising instructions for printing at least one object from the selected recipient record on the customized substrate;

a rendering system that prints the at least one object on the customized substrate;

a structural design producer that generates a die line output code sequence in an object-oriented code based on the selected recipient record; and

a converting system that applies a structural feature to the customized substrate based on the generated die line code sequence.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the application of a structural feature comprises applying a crease, fold, cut, insert, slit, adhesive, or perforation to the substrate along the die line.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the object-oriented code is compatible with the variable print specification (VPS) language, personalized print markup language (PPML), virtual reality modeling language (VRML), or portable document format (PDF).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the data iterator and the document instance generator comprise a single processor.

5. The method of claim 1:

wherein the data iterator comprises a first processor and the document instance generator comprises a second processor, and

the system further comprises a content buffer that enables the first processor to operate as a producer, the second processor to operate as a consumer, and the first and second processors to operate together in a producer-consumer manner.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a definitions dictionary containing reusable object names and definitions for the names,

wherein the document instance generator also uses information from the definitions dictionary to generate the document rendering output sequence.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

a dies database comprising layout information for pages of dynamic document instances;

wherein the structural design producer also uses information from the dies database dictionary to generate the die line output code sequence.

8. A method of printing a customized printed substrate, comprising:

receiving a structural design template for a first substrate to be printed;

receiving a first recipient record;

rendering, based on the first recipient record, at least one printed object on the first printed substrate;

generating a first code sequence based on the first structural design template and the first recipient record, wherein the first code sequence comprises instructions for creating a first die line for the first substrate, the first die line corresponding to data from the first recipient record;

appending the first code sequence to a first output code sequence in an object-oriented language; and

using, by a converting system, the first output code sequence to apply at least one three-dimensional structural feature to the first substrate in accordance with the first die line.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a second recipient record;

rendering, based on the second recipient record, at least one printed object on a second substrate;

generating a second code sequence, wherein the second code sequence comprises instructions for creating a second die line for the second substrate, the second die line corresponding to data from the second recipient record;

appending the second code sequence to a second output code sequence in an object-oriented language; and

using, by the converting system, the second output code sequence to apply at least one three-dimensional structural feature to the second substrate in accordance with the second die line.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first output code sequence and the second output code sequence are included in a single code sequence.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first output code sequence and the second output code sequence are included in separate code sequences.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the object oriented language comprises hypertext markup language (HTML) virtual reality modeling language (VRML), variable print specification (VPS), or personalized print markup language (PPML).

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

identifying a computer-aided manufacturing definition for the converting system;

wherein the instructions for creating the first die line comprise instructions that are compatible with the computer-aided manufacturing definition.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein generating a first code sequence comprises selecting and retrieving, from a computer-readable memory, a set of instructions for the first die line.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein generating a first code sequence comprises generating a customized set of instructions for the first die line based on the data from the first recipient record.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein

rendering the at least one printed object on the first printed substrate comprises rendering a unique identifier on the first substrate;

and

generating the second code sequence comprises selecting, based on the unique identifier, the first die line based on the unique identifier.

17. The system of claim 8, wherein the applying at least one structural feature comprises applying, by the converting system, a crease, fold, cut, insert, slit, adhesive, or perforation to the first substrate along the first die line.

18. A method of printing a customized printed substrate, comprising:

receiving a structural design template for a first substrate to be printed;

receiving a first recipient record;

rendering, based on the first recipient record, at least one printed object including a first identifier on the first printed substrate;

generating a first code sequence based on the first structural design template and the first recipient record, wherein the first code sequence comprises instructions for creating a first die line for the first substrate, the first die line corresponding to data retrieved based on the first identifier;

appending the first code sequence to a first output code sequence in an object-oriented language;

using, by a converting system, the first output code sequence to apply at least one three-dimensional structural feature to the first substrate along the first die line;

receiving a second recipient record;

rendering, based on the second recipient record, at least one printed object including a second identifier on a second substrate;

generating a second code sequence, wherein the second code sequence comprises instructions for creating a second die line for the second substrate, the second die line corresponding to data retrieved based on the second identifier;

appending the second code sequence to a second output code sequence in an object-oriented language; and

using, by the converting system, the second output code sequence to apply at least one three-dimensional structural feature to the second substrate along the second die line.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein applying each three-dimensional structural feature comprises applying, by the converting system, a crease, fold, cut, insert, slit, adhesive or perforation.