Guide unit for positioning trays in edible ink printer

A machine for printing images on foodstuffs comprising:

• a frame;
• at least one support roller mounted on the machine frame and rotatable about a roller axis;
• at least one tray receiving the foodstuff to be printed upon and supported by the at least one roller;
• a printer head movable reciprocally in a direction parallel to the roller axis to apply edible ink to the surface of the of food items;
• and
• a guide mechanism operative to linearly displace the at least one tray in a direction transverse to the roller axis so that so that a distance between the printer head and the exposed surface of the food item remains uniform as the tray is displaced along the travel direction.

A method of printing a visual image on a generally surface of a food item, the process comprising the steps of:

• electronically creating a unique template of the food item having a specific shape and size;
• scanning a visual image to be printed upon the food item and adjusting the image to the template;
• and
• linearly displacing at least one tray in a travel direction to maintain a uniform distance between a printer head and the exposed surface of the food item as the tray is displaced along the travel direction while directly printing the image on a hardened surface of the at least one food item.

A jet-printing apparatus for printing colored images upon a generally surface of a food item comprising:

• a print driver;
• a guide mechanism operative to linearly displace at least one tray carrying the food item in a travel direction;
• and
• a controller for operating the printing apparatus in an automatic mode, wherein the print driver is controlled with an automatic calibration color profile to correctly print the colors by mixing the jetted ink on the surface of the food item, and in a semi-automatic mode, wherein the print driver is controlled with a modified calibration color profile to adjust the colors in accordance with individual preferences of an operator before printing images on the surface, the guide mechanism being controlled by the controller so that a distance between a printer head and the exposed surface of the food item remains uniform as the at least one tray is displaced along the travel direction.

A jet-printing apparatus for printing colored images upon a surface of a food item comprising:

• a guide mechanism operative to linearly displace at least one tray carrying the food item in a travel direction;
• a cartridge carrier displaceable over the food item in a direction perpendicular to the travel direction;
• a plurality of cartridges displaceable with the cartridge carrier, each of the cartridges being filled with a respective differently-colored edible ink, each of the cartridges being provided with a respective first storage device storing a code uniquely identifying the manufacturing authenticity of the;
• a computer;
• and
• software executed on the computer for identifying the authenticity of each of the cartridges and components within the computer to prevent the jet-printing apparatus from printing the images if at least one of the cartridges and the components has been tampered with.