Digital printing for flooring and decorative structures
AssigneeInterface, Inc.
InventorsGraeme Robert Ripley, John Proctor Bradford
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Certain aspects and features relate to using an image modifier to generate digital designs and to printing the digital designs on a structure for flooring or other decoration that can more realistically mimic designs found in nature or otherwise provide designers with the freedom to create aesthetic designs more easily. An image modifier can receive an image, such as an image of a naturally occurring view and generate modified designs based on the image. The modified designs can be slight modifications to the image and printed on the structures for flooring such that together the printed structures exhibit the appearance of a design found in nature or a desired appearance by a designer.
Claims20
A system comprising:
- a digital printer configured to print images received from a computing device onto blanks for flooring or other decoration to form a plurality of printed blanks such that each printed blank of the plurality of printed blanks depicts an image that is of a common appearance as images on other printed blanks of the plurality of printed blanks but that is different in at least one aspect as compared to the images on the other printed blanks of the plurality of printed blanks;
- a scanner configured to scan the plurality of printed blanks from the digital printer to detect depth shading to create a topography map file;
- an etcher device configured to remove material from the plurality of printed blanks according to instructions received from the computing device that are based on the topography map file;
- and
- an adder device configured to add material to the plurality of printed blanks according to instructions received from the computing device that are based on the topography map file.
A method comprising:
- receiving, by a digital printer, image data from a computing device;
- printing, by the digital printer, images in the image data onto blanks for flooring or other decoration to form a plurality of printed blanks such that each printed blank of the plurality of printed blanks depicts an image that is of a common appearance as images on other printed blanks of the plurality of printed blanks but that is different in at least one aspect as compared to the images on the other printed blanks of the plurality of printed blanks;
- scanning, by a scanner, the plurality of printed blanks from the digital printer to detect depth shading to create a topography map file;
- removing, by an etcher device, material from the plurality of printed blanks according to instructions received from the computing device that are based on the topography map file;
- and
- adding, by an adder device, additional material to the plurality of printed blanks according to instructions received from the computing device that are based on the topography map file.
Flooring for an area, the flooring comprising:
- a plurality of printed substrates with images on the plurality of printed substrates such that each printed substrate of the plurality of printed substrates depicts an image that is of a common appearance as the images on other printed substrates of the plurality of printed substrates but that is different in at least one aspect as compared to the images on the other printed substrates of the plurality of printed substrates,
- wherein the plurality of printed substrates are configured to be formed using:
- a digital printer configured to print the images using image data received from a computing device;
- a scanner configured to scan the plurality of printed substrates from the digital printer to detect depth shading to create a topography map file;
- an etcher device configured to remove material from the plurality of printed substrates according to instructions received from the computing device that are based on the topography map file;
- and
- an adder device configured to add material to the plurality of printed substrates according to instructions received from the computing device that are based on the topography map file.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.