Online decorating system for edible products

• US 9,282,750 B1
• Filed: 11/25/2014
• Issued: 03/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DecoPac Incorporated
• Original Assignee: DecoPac Incorporated
• Inventors: Davila, Carlos A., Anderson, John R., Schnoebelen, Andy, Whitten, Kent D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rust, Eric A
• Application Number:
  US14/553,884
• Time in Patent Office: 476 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.1, 358/1.15
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A21C 15/002 Apparatus for spreading granular material on, or sweeping or coating the surface of baked articles of pieces of dough A21C9/04; for confectionary A23G3/28
• CPC Class Codes: A21D 13/47 Decorated or decorative products
• CPC Class Codes: A23G 3/0097 Decorating sweetmeats or confectionery
• CPC Class Codes: A23G 3/28 Apparatus for decorating sweetmeats or confectionery
• CPC Class Codes: A23P 20/15 Apparatus or processes for coating with liquid or semi-liquid products
• CPC Class Codes: A23P 2020/253 Coating food items by printing onto them; Printing layers of food products
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/126 Job scheduling, e.g. queuing, determine appropriate device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1285 Remote printer device, e.g. being remote from client or server
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/1894 Outputting the image data to the printing elements
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/4045 Managing the interface to the data source, e.g. choosing an interface for data reception
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00145 from a remote location
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00164 at a remote location
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00167 Processing or editing H04N1/00196 - H04N1/00201 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00188 Printing, e.g. prints or reprints H04N1/0019, H04N1/00196 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/0019 on souvenir-type products or the like, e.g. T-shirts or mugs

Abstract

A web-enabled standalone application may, in selected implementations, prevent received license-controlled image data from unauthorized re-use, editing, or distribution, and permits image processing, such as applying the International Color Consortium'"'"'s color correction process, at the local control device. The web-enabled standalone application may further generate a printer specific byte stream based on post-image processed data, providing a color managed workflow independent of local control device operating system print drivers.

Claims

1. A system for printing images on edible media sheets, comprising:

a central server including circuitry configured to

receive a plurality of cake decorating instructions and a plurality of images, wherein the cake decorating instructions and images are uploaded to the central server from a plurality of mobile devices, each mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices being operated by a different user, and

prepare, using the plurality of cake decorating instructions and the plurality of images, a plurality of print instructions;

a plurality of local controllers, wherein

at least one respective video capture device is installed for use with each local controller,

each local controller comprises a handheld computer,

each local controller is disposed at a bakery remotely located relative to the central server and each of the other local controllers, and

each local controller includes circuitry configured to receive print instructions from the central server, and cause printing of edible ink upon edible media sheets; and

a plurality of edible media printers, each edible media printer being uniquely assigned to and connected to one of the local controllers, wherein each edible media printer is equipped with edible ink and specially configured to print on edible media sheets, wherein

the edible media sheets include an edible substrate layer adapted to receive edible ink and a backing layer that adheres to the edible substrate layer, the backing layer being adhered to the edible substrate layer during operation of the edible media printers and being readily removable from the edible substrate layer by a bakery operator after being printed upon by edible media printers;

wherein the circuitry of each local controller is configured to;

capture, by the respective video capture device, a respective video signal comprising an image of the respective printed edible substrate layer, and

provide the respective video signal to an augmented reality module for recognition of an augmented reality marker printed upon the respective printed edible substrate.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each local controller is a personal computer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein causing printing of edible ink upon edible media sheets comprises:

performing at least one color management function upon an image received in the print instructions, wherein the at least one color management function is configured to maintain color consistency between various types of local edible media printers connected to the plurality of local controllers; and

transmitting, to the edible media printer, file including the image.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein causing printing of edible ink upon edible media sheets comprises bypassing a respective operating system print driver when transmitting, to the edible media printer of the respective local controller, a print file.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the central server provides an interface for the users to make cake decorating selections.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the cake decorating selections include a cake size and at least a subset of the plurality of images to be printed on the edible media sheets.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the selections further include a cake shape.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the central server maintains profiles for each of the users.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein at least a subset of the plurality of images includes images captured with at least a subset of the plurality of mobile devices.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the users are customers other than bakery operators.

11. A method for printing images on edible media sheets, comprising:

receiving, at a central server, a plurality of cake decorating instructions from a plurality of mobile devices operated by different users;

transmitting sets of print instructions to a plurality of local controllers, wherein each local controller is disposed at a bakery remotely located relative to the central server and each of the other local controllers;

receiving, at each local controller, a set of print instructions from the central server, each set of print instructions being uniquely associated with a given user;

transmitting a print file from each local controller to a local edible media printer, wherein

each local edible media printer is uniquely assigned to and connected to one of the local controllers, and

each local edible media printer is equipped with edible ink and specially configured to print on edible media sheets;

printing, at each local edible media printer, an edible media sheet according to the print file, wherein the edible media sheet comprises an edible substrate layer adapted to receive edible ink and a backing layer that adheres to the edible substrate layer during printing and is readily removable from the edible substrate layer by a bakery operator after printing;

applying each edible substrate layer to a respective cake positioned proximate the corresponding edible media printer;

capturing, at each local controller by a respective video capture device, a video signal comprising the respective printed edible substrate layer; and

providing, by each local controller, the video signal to an augmented reality module for recognition of an augmented reality marker printed upon the respective printed edible substrate layer.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the print files are color corrected print files, the method further comprising, prior to transmitting the print files,

performing at least one color management function upon an image received in the print instructions, wherein the at least one color management function is configured to maintain color consistency between various types of local edible media printers connected to the plurality of local controllers.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein transmitting the respective print file comprises bypassing a respective operating system print driver.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising providing, by the central server, an interface for the users to make cake decorating selections.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the cake decorating selections include a cake size and an image to be printed on the edible media sheets.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the selections further include a cake shape.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the central server provides different sets of users of the plurality of users access to different sets of images of a plurality of sets of images for printing on the edible media sheets based at least in part upon an authorized image list designated by at least one principal user different than the plurality of users.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the central server maintains profiles for each of the users.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein each respective cake decorating instructions includes a respective image captured with a respective mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the users are bakery customers other than bakery operators.

21. The method of claim 11, wherein each local controller is a personal computer.