Foodstuffs imaging process and apparatus
AssigneeChocolate Printing Company
InventorsLeonid M. Kofman, Christopher J. Hill, Sigfried Stiber, Ilya L. Miller, Yuriy D. Chernov
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus for printing an image on a generally non-absorbent surface of a food item selected from the group consisting of chocolate, cheese and the like or a combination thereof includes a computer allowing an operator to create a unique template for the food item. The apparatus further includes software adjusting a scanned image to the created template and a production line controllably operating a process of making the food product that corresponds to the template. Also, the apparatus has a mechanism for treating the surface of the food item so as to directly print the image on its non-absorbent surface.
Claims8
A jet-printing apparatus for printing colored images upon a generally non-absorbent surface of a food item comprising:
- a print driver;
- and
- a controller operative to control the print driver 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 edible ink on the non-absorbent surface of the food item after the initial testing mode has been performed, and a semi-automatic mode, wherein the print driver is controlled with a modified calibration color profile to adjust the colors on the non-absorbent surface in accordance with individual preferences of an operator printing images on the non-absorbent surface.
A jet-printing apparatus for printing colored images comprising;
- a food item provided with a non-absorbent surface;
- a cartridge displaceable over the food item;
- a plurality of cartridges displaceable with the cartridge carrier, each of the cartridges being filled with a respective differently-colored ink, each of the cartridges being provided with a respective first storage device storing a code uniquely identifying the manufacturing authenticity of the edible ink;
- a computer;
- and
- software executing on the computer for identifying the authenticity of each of the cartridges and components with the computer to prevent the jet-printing apparatus from printing the images if at least one of the cartridges and components has been tempered with.
A jet-printing apparatus for printing multi-colored images comprising:
- a food item having a non-absorbent surface;
- a print driver having a supply system operative to selectively deliver a multiplicity of differently colored edible ink upon the non-absorbent surface of the food item;
- a controller operative to control the print driver in
- an initial testing mode, in which each of the differently colored edible ink is delivered on the non-absorbent surface to be evaluated independently from the rest of colored edible ink so that when a color profile of the evaluated edible ink does not correspond to a respective reference value, the evaluated edible ink is replaced,
- an automatic mode, wherein the print driver is controlled with an automatic calibration color profile to correctly print the colors by mixing the jetted edible ink on the non-absorbent surface of the food item after the initial testing mode has been performed, and
- a semi-automatic mode, wherein the print driver is controlled with a modified calibration color profile to adjust the colors on the non-absorbent surface in accordance with individual preferences of an operator printing images on the non-absorbent surface after the initial testing mode has been performed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.