Patent Application
20080020151
The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The exemplifications set out herein illustrate embodiments of the invention, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limited the scope of the invention in any manner.
A transparent sheet/label is desirable type of an adhesive ink-receiving sheet, because it may be applied to various articles, for example glassware, windows, stationary, cellular phones, advertising displays, office equipment, etc., for example, to label or identify the article, to provide instructions regarding the use of the article, or simply to serve as an advertisement.
Such an adhesive print medium may include a transparent printing sheet having a printed side on which information is printed by a printer, an adhesive layer stacked on the other side of the printed side of the printing sheet, and a separable protective sheet stacked so as to cover the adhesive layer. In use, the protective sheet is removed, and the printed sheet is applied to an article.
However, drawbacks of such print media include that the printing side of the sheet usually needs an ink-receiving coating/layer, so as to be able to receive the ink that is printed, which makes the sheet a four-layer structure that may be relatively costly. In addition, the printed surface holding the ink is vulnerable to water or other materials, scratching, staining, smearing, corrosion, oxidation, etc, which may adversely affect the printed information. A transparent protective film may be used to cover the surface after the printing is completed. However, it may be difficult and time consuming for the user to position the protective film to the surface. In addition, the addition of the protective film further increases the cost of the print medium.
An adhesive label scheme may employ a protective film over an adhesive, wherein the protective film is printed upon in a middle area of the label. The film has a cut extending around its periphery, and the peripheral area of the film is removed to expose adhesive. However, with this approach, only the periphery of the label is adhered to the desired article, with the result being that the adhesion force provided by the peripheral region may not be strong enough to keep the print media adhered to the article in many situations. In addition, it increases the cost of the label to manufacture the cut into the protective film so as to make the peripheral area separately removable. Further, it may be difficult for a user to remove only the peripheral portion of the protective film without accidentally removing the printed portion, which would yield a label having no adhesive.
Referring now to the drawings and particularly to
As used herein, an image is a rendering such as may be obtained via a digital camera or scanner, or which may be created or manipulated on a computer, such as a conventional personal computer or a workstation, and which may be printed or displayed for viewing by the human eye. In printed form, an image is referred to as a patent image. Images may be created or manipulated, for example, using conventional work processing software, graphics software, photography software, and the like. In order to print a latent image, i.e., to render a patent image from a latent image, an ink jet imaging apparatus ejects ink onto the print medium. As used herein, ink is a colorant used by a typical ink jet imaging apparatus to create a patent image, and may be, for example, a dye-based ink, a pigment-based ink, or any colorant that is ejected by an ink jet imaging apparatus onto a print medium to form the patent image.
Referring now to
In addition, when printed, the ink ejected from the ink jet imaging apparatus is viewed from first side 14 of the first layer, whereas the second layer that receives the ink faces the article to which print medium 10 is adhered, first layer 12 acting as a protective layer that helps protect the ink and the printed surface from water or other materials, and from scratching, staining, smudging, smearing, and oxidation. Hence, with the present invention, a separate protective sheet is not required, which may thus avoid additional cost and increase the case of use, while providing a strong and uniform bond strength.
In the present embodiment, first layer 12 is a transparent sheet. However, it is alternatively considered that first layer 12 may be translucent or opaque, for example, such as where print medium 10 will be viewed using backlighting. First layer 12 may be made from various materials, which include rigid materials such as glass, and flexible materials such as PE, PP, PVC, PU, PET, as well as other similar such materials known to those skilled in the art.
Similarly, in the present embodiment, second layer 20 is transparent. However, it is alternatively considered that second layer 20 may be translucent or opaque, for example, such as where print medium 10 will be viewed using backlighting.
In the present embodiment, compound 18 used to form second layer 20 is a pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA), such as is used in adhesive tape and labels, although it will be understood that other adhesives may be employed without departing from the scope of the present invention. PSA's generally combine a high degree of tackiness, for instantaneous bonding, with a high cohesive strength to facilitate removal of the PSA from the article to which the print medium is attached, while reducing the amount of any residue remaining on the surface of the article. Acrylic copolymers are common PSA materials today. PSA materials also include elastomers, polyvinyl ethers, silicones, polyurethanes, polyesters, and the polymers known to those skilled in the art.
In order to function as an ink receiving substrate, compound 18 is formulated with ink receiving materials. In the present embodiment, the ink receiving materials absorb ink ejected from an ink jet imaging apparatus. It is alternatively contemplated that the ink receiving materials may be porous. Examples of ink absorbing materials include any single or combination of polymeric materials utilized in polymer-based photo paper, which include, for example, gelatin, polyvinyl alcohol, acrylate polymer, polyethylene glycol, and other similar materials known to those skilled in the art, such as would absorb ink and swell in accordance with the amount of ink absorbed.
Examples of porous particles as ink-receiving materials include particles made of silca, alumina, and polymers. The porous ink-receiving particles may be used as filler in compound 18.
An appropriate concentration of ink-receiving materials in the PSA is characterized by second layer 20 having a good ink-receiving capacity as would be sufficient to retain an amount of ink used in typical ink jet printing, while maintaining a binding force appropriate for the application, e.g., enough binding force to hold print medium 10 to the desired article. For example, in some applications, it may be desirable for the print medium to be permanently adhered to the desired article, in which case a stronger binding force is required in comparison to a semi-permanent application wherein it is desired to easily remove the print medium from the article by peeling it off with a small amount of effort from a human hand.
The pressure sensitive adhesive materials and ink-receiving materials are blended in a ratio such that the dry films of the blend have both bind strength comparable to that of a common PSA tape and ink absorbing ability comparable to that of polymer-based photo paper upon printing. Depending on the material properties, the blend can be prepared as homogeneous solution or emulsion/dispersion in the proper solvent. This solution/emulsion/dispersion can be applied to the transparent layer by cast coating, blade coating, spin coating or any other coating methods known to those skilled in the art, for example, in the paper or adhesive industry.
Referring now to
Other embodiments of print medium 10 may not include third layer 22, which may further reduce the cost of print medium 10, and hence, increase the efficiency of print medium 10 to users. In such embodiments, first layer 12 serves protect second layer 20 from contamination until print medium 10 is ready to be used.
For example, referring now to
In stack 24, each print medium 10 is covered by another print medium 10 such that first layer 12 of one instance of print medium 10 is in protective contact with second layer 20 of an adjacent instance of print medium 10. Accordingly, first side 14 of first layer 12 of print medium 10 is configured to be separable from second layer 20 such that one instance of print medium 10, e.g., the top one, may be peeled off the next print medium 10 when needed for printing, without separating second layer 20 from second side 16 of first layer 12 of the print medium 10 being removed from the stack for printing. In the example of
Referring now to
Referring now to
At step S100, an adhesive print medium 10 for use with an ink jet imaging apparatus is provided.
Referring again to
Referring again to
At step S104, a mirror image of the latent image is created, for example, by the ink jet imaging apparatus or associated driver software.
At step S106, ink is ejected from the imaging apparatus onto second layer 20 to print a patent image based on the latent image as mirrored in step S104.
Referring now to
After having been printed, the user may apply print medium 10 to the desired article.
Referring now to
As set forth above, with the present invention, a user is able make a customized label or post and apply it to any desired article for home or business, e.g., office, use. In addition, for embodiments having first layer 12 that is flexible, print medium 10 may be printed upon using any commercially available ink jet imaging apparatus, e.g., a home or office printer. Further, because print medium 10 may only employ two or three layers, depending upon whether third layer 22 is desired for a particular application, cost may be kept at a minimum. Still further, first layer 12 functions as a protective layer for the printed image to provide protection against damage caused by water, scratches, smearing and smudging, staining, and oxidation, but without the need for a separate protective layer to be applied subsequent to printing.
While this invention has been described with respect to embodiments of the invention, the present invention may be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and which fall within the limits of the appended claims.
