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US 12,516,206 B2Granted
Edible ink formulations, articles of manufacture, and related methods of forming images by droplet deposition
AssigneeRipples Ltd.
InventorAssaf Zeira
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Embodiments of the invention relate to edible ink formulations comprising a fluorophore (e.g. riboflavin phosphate), articles of manufacture (e.g. an ink-jet cartridge containing any edible ink formulation(s) disclosed herein), methods for printing on a edible substrates (e.g. food or beverage) using any edible ink formulation(s) disclosed herein. Methods for manufacturing the edible ink formulation are also provided.
Claims20
An article of manufacture for producing fluorescent ink-images, the article of manufacture comprising:
- a. an ink-jet cartridge;
- and
- b. a unfermented-wort-based ink formulation disposed within the ink-jet cartridge, the ink formulation comprising:
- i. between 0.05% and 1% wt/wt riboflavin and/or riboflavin phosphate as a fluorophore;
- ii. an unfermented wort;
- iii. a humectant for providing moisture-retention;
- and
- iv. a pH controlling agent for maintaining a pH of the ink formulation at or below 4.0;
- wherein ink formulation is edible, aqueous and has all of the following structural properties:
- i. the unfermented wort is the primary colorant of the ink formulation;
- ii. a 25° C. viscosity of the ink formulation is at most 7 centipoise;
- iii. the ink formulation is characterized by an EBC (European Brewing Convention) number of at least 1800 colorant units;
- and
- iv. a ratio between the EBC number of the ink formulation and the 25° C. viscosity thereof is at least (centipoise)−1 is at least 350.
11 more elements
A method of printing, the method comprising
- a. providing an edible ink comprising natural-colorant-bearing plant matter and a fluorophore;
- b. receiving a digital image, for example stored in computer-memory, the digital being providing non-uniform-geometry and/or non-uniform color features;
- c. depositing droplets of the edible ink onto or into a surface of a substrate, the substrate being edible, so as to convert the digital image into an ink image which is monochrome under white light but multi-color under black light or 450-nm-LED light, wherein:
- i. the ink image of formed by performing only single-reservoir droplet-deposition of the edible ink.
1 more element
A method of printing, the method comprising:
- a. providing an article of manufacture comprising:
- (i). an ink-jet cartridge;
- and
- (ii). an edible and aqueous ink disposed within the ink-jet cartridge, the edible ink formulation comprising a fluorophore;
- b. receiving, into a digital computer, a color-print directive to:
- (i) print a first portion of digital image and/or a first group of pixels and/or a first
- Image subsection in a first color;
- and
- (ii) print a first portion of digital image and/or a second group of pixels and/or a second image subsection in a second color;
- c. providing multi-color but single-ink calibration data describing a relationship between:
- (i) coverage fraction or line-thickness within ink-image to be printed:
- and (ii) a predicted color of a group pixels when printed at the coverage fraction when viewed under black light conditions;
- d. enforcing the color-print directive by depositing droplets of the edible and aqueous ink, the from the ink-jet cartridge, the droplets deposited onto a target surface by modulating droplet density and/or droplet
- size and/or grey-scale of portion of the ink-image wherein:
- in response to print in
- the first color, droplet size and/or density and/or coverage fraction and/or grey scale
- is increased,
- and in response to print in the second color, droplet size and/or density and/or coverage fraction and/or grey-scale is decreased,
- wherein the droplets of the edible ink are deposited at coverage fractions and/or to produce line-thicknesses that are determined so as to enforce the multi-coloring directive in accordance with multi-color but single-ink calibration data.
16 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.