Claims
- 1. A display substrate having two or more areas of different patterns, colors, or shades thereon produced by a process including the steps of assigning liquid colorants to individual pixels within a superpixel, said pixels being arranged within said superpixel in an array comprised of columns and rows, wherein each of said pixels is assigned at least one process color and wherein said superpixel, when appropriately tiled across a pattern area on a substrate surface, effectively simulates the appearance of a desired fill color within said pattern area;
defining an array comprised of rows and columns of individually colorable pixels, each row and column containing at least two pixels; assigning a color to each of said individual pixels comprising said defined array, said assigned pixel colors collectively forming a desired fill color within said array when said array is observed from a distance at which said individually assigned pixel colors are visually indiscernible, and wherein all side-wise adjacent pixels along any row of said array will be assigned different colors; configuring a plurality of said arrays in adjacent relation to form a superpixel capable of being tiled across said substrate surface to form said fill color, said superpixel being configured so that, when tiled within a pattern area on said substrate surface, every assigned pixel color within said superpixel appears in every column defined by said tiled superpixels within said pattern area.
- 2. The substrate of claim 1, wherein said substrate is an absorbent textile substrate, and wherein the assignment of a color to a pixel within said superpixel results in the application of at least one liquid colorant to an area on said substrate surface corresponding to that pixel.
- 3. The substrate of claim 2, wherein said colorants are applied by a plurality of individually-actuated colorant applicators in response to digitally-encoded patterning data.
- 4. The substrate of claim 1, wherein said substrate is a display rug having at least four of said areas of different patterns, colors, or shades thereon.
- 5. The substrate of claim 2, wherein all of said pixels comprising at least one column of said array are assigned the same color, said same color corresponding to a process color, and wherein, within said column, liquid colorant from a first colorant applicator is directed onto a first pixel within said column and liquid colorant from a second colorant applicator is directed onto a second pixel within said column, said first pixel being side-wise adjacent to said second pixel.
- 6. The substrate of claim 5, wherein said process colorant is applied to pixels within the same column of said array by at least three different colorant applicators.
- 7. The substrate of claim 5, wherein said first colorant applicator is associated with a first color bar and said second colorant applicator is associated with a second color bar.
- 8. The substrate of claim 2, wherein said substrate is a textile floor covering.
- 9. The substrate of claim 8, wherein said textile floor covering is comprised of fibers selected from the group consisting of natural and synthetic fibers.
- 10. The substrate of claim 4, wherein said substrate is one of a sample, carpet, rug, mat, runner, and tile.
- 11. The substrate of claim 2, wherein said color assigned to said pixel is generated by the in situ blending of at least two liquid colorants applied to the same pixel on said substrate surface.
- 12. The substrate of claim 10, wherein said areas of different patterns, colors or shades are contiguous.
- 13. The substrate of claim 2, wherein said color assigned to said pixel is generated by the in situ blending of liquid colorants applied to adjacent pixels on said substrate surface.
- 14. The substrate of claim 13, wherein said color assigned to said pixel is generated by the in situ blending of liquid colorants applied to a first and a second, adjacent pixel within said superpixel, and wherein the volume of liquid colorant applied to said first pixel is sufficient to oversaturate said first pixel and the volume of liquid colorant applied to said second pixel is insufficient to saturate fully said second pixel.
- 15. The substrate of claim 12, wherein said substrate has at least 6 areas or blocks of pattern, color, shade, or combinations thereof thereon.
- 16. The substrate of claim 2, wherein said superpixel is in the form of a parallelogram.
- 17. The substrate of claim 2, wherein said superpixel is in the form of an offset parallelogram.
- 18. A textile substrate for coordinating with other flooring, furnishings, pattern goods, or the like, having one or more patterns, colors or shades thereon produced by a process including the steps of constructing a superpixel to be replicated on the surface of the substrate, said superpixel being comprised of a plurality of contiguous pixels that collectively provide said superpixel with a geometric shape that can be tiled on said substrate surface, each of said plurality of contiguous pixels comprising said superpixel being assigned a color from a dither palette in a relative proportion to simulate a target color, wherein at least two different colors are individually assigned within said superpixel in accordance with a placement algorithm that precludes the assignment of the same color on adjacent pixels within said superpixel.
- 19. The substrate of claim 18, wherein said substrate is an absorbent textile substrate, and the assignment of a color to a pixel within said superpixel results in the application of at least one liquid colorant to an area on said substrate corresponding to that pixel.
- 20. The substrate of claim 19, wherein said colorant is applied by a plurality of individually-actuated colorant applicators in response to digitally-encoded patterning data.
- 21. The substrate of claim 18, wherein said substrate is one of a sample, carpet, rug, mat, runner, or tile.
- 22. The substrate of claim 20, wherein said substrate is a textile floor covering.
- 23. The substrate of claim 22, wherein said textile floor covering is comprised of fibers selected from the group consisting of natural or synthetic fibers.
- 24. The substrate of claim 18, wherein said substrate includes a plurality of areas of said patterns, colors, or shades.
- 25. The substrate of claim 19, wherein said color assigned to said pixel is generated by the in situ blending of at least two liquid colorants applied to the same pixel on said substrate surface.
- 26. The substrate of claim 18, wherein said superpixel is formed, of at least three different colors.
- 27. The substrate of claim 19, wherein said color assigned to said pixel is generated by the in situ blending of liquid colorants applied to adjacent pixels on said substrate surface.
- 28. The substrate of claim 27, wherein said color assigned to said pixel is generated by the in situ blending of liquid colorants applied to a first and a second, adjacent pixel on said substrate surface, and wherein the volume of liquid colorant applied to said first pixel is sufficient to oversaturate said first pixel and the volume of liquid colorant applied to said second pixel is insufficient to saturate fully said second pixel.
- 29. The substrate of claim 18, wherein said substrate is one of a display or sample carpet or rug.
- 30. The substrate of claim 19, wherein said superpixel is in the form of a parallelogram.
- 31. The substrate of claim 19, wherein said superpixel is in the form of an offset parallelogram.
- 32. The substrate of claim 18, wherein the application of said algorithm results in the placement of color in rows and columns within said superpixel such that each row and each column comprising said superpixel has no more than one pixel of a given color.
- 33. The substrate of claim 32, wherein each row and each column comprising said superpixel has at least two pixels of a given color.
- 34. The substrate of claim 29, wherein said substrate has at least 4 different areas of patterns, colors, or shades.
- 35. A display substrate having at least two areas of different patterns, colors or shades produced by a process including the steps of constructing a superpixel to be replicated on the surface of the substrate, said superpixel being comprised of an N×N array of pixels, each of said pixels having been assigned a color from a dither palette in a relative proportion to simulate a target color, wherein said colors are assigned within said superpixel in accordance with a placement algorithm that assigns a given color to a pixel in each of the N rows and each of the N columns in a manner that said given color is found no more than once in any row or column in said array and each pixel assigned to said given color is surrounded by pixels to which other colors have been assigned.
- 36. The substrate of claim 35, wherein the assignment of a color to a pixel within said superpixel results in the application of at least one liquid colorant to an area on said substrate corresponding to that pixel.
- 37. The substrate of claim 36, wherein said colorant is applied by at least one array of individually-actuated colorant applicators in response to digitally-encoded patterning data.
- 38. The substrate of claim 35, wherein said substrate is one of a sample, carpet, rug, mat, runner, and tile.
- 39. The substrate of claim 36, wherein said substrate is a textile floor covering.
- 40. The substrate of claim 39, wherein said textile floor covering is comprised of fibers selected from the group consisting of natural and synthetic fibers.
- 41. The substrate of claim 35, wherein said substrate includes at least 4 of said areas of different patterns, colors, or shades.
- 42. The substrate of claim 36, wherein said color assigned to said pixel is generated by the in situ blending of at least two liquid colorants applied to the same pixel on said substrate surface.
- 43. The substrate of claim 41, wherein said substrate is one of a display or sample rug or carpet.
- 44. The substrate of claim 35, wherein said color assigned to said pixel is generated by the in situ blending of liquid colorants applied to adjacent pixels on said substrate surface.
- 45. The substrate of claim 35, wherein said color assigned to said pixel is generated by the in situ blending of liquid colorants applied, to a first and a second, adjacent pixel within said superpixel, and wherein the volume of liquid colorant applied to said first pixel is sufficient to oversaturate said first pixel and the volume of liquid colorant applied to said second pixel is insufficient to saturate said second pixel.
- 46. The substrate of claim 35, wherein said substrate forms part of a display system.
- 47. The substrate of claim 35, wherein N is at least 4 and said placement algorithm assigns a given color to a pixel in each of the N rows and each of the N columns in a manner that said given color is found no more than twice in any row or column in said array, and wherein each pixel assigned to said given color is side-wise adjacent to a pixel assigned a color different from said given color.
- 48. The substrate of claim 46, wherein each of said areas of different patterns, colors, or shades is contiguous.
- 49. The substrate of claim 35, wherein N is at least 6 and said placement algorithm assigns a given color to a pixel in each of the N rows and each of the N columns in a manner that said given color is found no more than twice in any row or column in said array, and wherein each pixel assigned to said given color is surrounded by pixels to which other colors have been assigned.
- 50. The substrate of claim 48, wherein said substrate is a high twist, jet dyed, cut pile carpet.
- 51. The substrate of claim 49, wherein N is 8.
- 52. The substrate of claim 49, wherein N is 10.
- 53. The substrate of claim 49, wherein N is 12.
- 54. A patterned carpet for coordinating with other flooring, furnishings, pattern goods, or the like, and having a multi-colored pattern thereon and being comprised of fibers selected from the group consisting of polyamide fibers and wool fibers, said substrate having the pattern imparted by the pixel-wise application to said substrate, in response to electronically-defined instructions, of at least a first and a second liquid colorant representing a first color and a second color, said pattern being formed, at least in part, by a plurality of superpixels arranged in a tiled formation in which each individual superpixel is comprised of an array of individually colored pixels arranged in rows and columns, wherein pixels of each of said first and second colors within said superpixel are represented in each column comprising said array.
- 55. The carpet of claim 54, wherein said pattern is imparted by the application of said two different liquid colorants to the same pixel, thereby generating an in situ blend of said liquid colorants.
- 56. The carpet of claim 54, wherein said pattern is imparted by the application of the first liquid colorant to a first pixel, and the second liquid colorant to a second pixel, where said first pixel and said second pixel are adjacent, thereby generating an in situ blend of said liquid colorants.
- 57. The carpet of claim 56, wherein said pattern is imparted by the application of said first liquid colorant to a first pixel, and said second liquid colorant to a second pixel, where said first pixel and said second pixel are adjacent, thereby generating an in situ blend of said liquid colorants, and wherein the volume of said first liquid colorant applied to said first pixel is sufficient to oversaturate said first pixel and the volume of said second liquid colorant applied to said second pixel is insufficient to saturate said second pixel.
- 58. The carpet of claim 54, wherein said substrate is a frieze, cut pile substrate.
- 59. The carpet of claim 54, wherein said substrate is a loop pile carpet tile.
- 60. The carpet of claim 57, wherein said substrate is a frieze, cut pile substrate.
- 61. The carpet of claim 57, wherein said substrate is a loop pile carpet tile.
- 62. A display system comprising a plurality of different display substrates of claim 1.
- 63. A display system comprising a display substrate of claim 1 and a display cover placed over said substrate.
- 64. The display system of claim 63, wherein said cover includes a plurality of respective transparent windows which overlie said areas of different patterns, colors or shades.
- 65. A display system comprising a plurality of different display substrates of claim 35.
- 66. A display system comprising a display substrate of claim 35 and a display cover placed over said substrate.
- 67. The display system of claim 66, wherein said cover includes a plurality of respective transparent windows which overlie said areas of different patterns, colors or shades.
- 68. A display system comprising at least one large display rug, and a plurality of different color family sample rugs.
- 69. A display system comprising a display rug and a display cover placed over said display rug.
- 70. The display system of claim 69, wherein said cover includes a plurality of respective transparent windows which overlie respective areas of different patterns, colors or shades on said display rug.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/138,837, filed on May 3, 2002, hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10138837 |
May 2002 |
US |
Child |
10167185 |
Jun 2002 |
US |