Abstract:
Motifs and patterns are generated by computer and printed on fabric, paper or plastic materials in continuous non-repeating patterns. The data is produced automatically by a random math algorithm, so that each of the printed patterns is similar, but not identical. The layout is arranged in a random manner, so that every part of the print is unique and exclusive. The size, color, motifs as well as the level of similarity or variety of the motifs and any other parameter essential to the design are all managed by the software.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the invention  
           [0002]    Generating patterns for printing them on fabric, paper or plastic materials for use in the Apparel, Textile, Decor and Furnishings.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    Traditionally textiles are planned and printed with repeating patterns due to both the technological limits and the intended use of the printed material. Up until a few years ago, all fabric print production was based on rotary screen printing, with standard roll sizes and therefore standard repeat sizes, particularly in textiles used for decor, that are commonly printed in repeat size of 64 cm. When finally used the repeat is important, as it is necessary to attach the fabrics together, such as in the case of curtains, wherein the left side of the fabric must match the right side.  
           [0005]    Recently developed digital printing technology provides for printing designs on fabric directly from a computer, with no added steps. The latest models of digital printers can print up to 3.5 meters in width and at a speed of around 55 m 2 /hour, and thus allow printing that is fast enough to enable mass production. The printing of patterns generated by a computer does not require any specific repeat sizes nor repeat design. For example, printing of graphic banners, advertisements and artworks can be designed and printed in complete form. However, when it comes to the continuous printing of hundreds or thousands of meters, the repeat pattern is the only method used. The use of repeat limits the design to a repetition of the same design. Therefore when it comes to mass production of apparel, curtains and upholstery it required the use of two or more pieces of repeated fabric attached together, and when an exact match is obligatory, it leads to an inevitable waste of material. Moreover, each such curtain, apparel or upholstery will be identical to another which makes it nonexclusive.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    An object of the present invention is to generate non-repeating patterns for continuous printing on fabric, paper, plastic and other materials. This is achieved by using a computerized design process, which starts from creating the motifs by using different mathematical algorithms and organizing the layout into randomly arranged patterns and printing them onto rolls of materials using well-known laser printer or ink printer and similar well-known digital printers.  
           [0007]    The main object of the invention is to create patterns that are both organically balanced, yet endlessly changing. The data is generated automatically by a computer in a way that the outputted patterns are similar, but none of them is identical to another. As the layout of motifs is also arranged endlessly in a random manner, every part of the print is unique. Size, color, and the level of similarity or dissimilarity of the motifs and any other parameters essential to the design are preprogrammed and calculated using a random variable algorithm, thus along with commonly processed software.  
           [0008]    The algorithm files and the variant for the motifs could be selected for vector or pixel modes, and exported to other design programs such as well-known Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.  
           [0009]    This process provides for mass production of printed material, where every product can become an original product that nobody else could possibly ever have. Thanks to the dynamic nature of patterns, the printed material could be calculated for cutting at any length so it can match other cuts that are attached together in an waste reducing way, than the repeated print which must be cut precisely to match the repeat.  
           [0010]    Moreover, a chain of non-repeating motifs can be memorized in a computer memory file for reprinting in different colors and materials, or can be printed reversely, left to right, or upside down and negative to positive, providing an extension to the originals or individual numbered copies in variation for the fashion industry, which is novel original concept for generating fashion original and numbered or modified original copies. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1A is a straight segmented line used as an input for a fractal calculation, for the generation of the motifs shown in FIG. 1E. FIG. 1B is a curved line calculated on the basis of straight segmented line shown in FIG. 1A.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIGS. 1C and 1D are the calculation result of first and second fractal iteration of the input shown in FIG. 1A.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1E is a calculated result of third fractal iteration, which is an example of final fractal motifs shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3.  
         [0014]    [0014]FIGS. 2A, 2B,  2 C are an example of three selection tables for the calculation of the inputs as used to generate the fractal motifs.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2D shows an example of a fractal motif generated through randomly selected length of segments, angles and number of points of FIGS. 2A, 2B and  2 C.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 3 is an example of a printout of non-repeating motifs resulting from the third fractal iteration of a randomly altered input shown in FIG. 1A.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIGS. 4A, 4B,  4 C and  4 D are an example of four selection tables for the calculation of the line motifs.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 4E shows an example of randomly generated grid of lines using randomly selected intervals, deviations, segments and angles, shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B,  4 C,  4 D, selected for a total of 10 lines.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 4F is yet another example of a randomly generated grid of 20 lines, similar to the 10 line grid of FIG. 4E.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIGS. 5A, 5B,  5 C,  5 D,  5 E and  5 F are a combined example of selection tables for generating lines and fractal motifs in one pattern. FIG. 5G shows a randomly generated pattern that consist of a grid of lines calculated on the basis of randomly selected lengths of the segments and angles and includes fractal motifs calculated on the basis of randomly selected length of the segments, angles, size, and number of points, shown in FIGS. 5A, 5B,  5 C,  5 D,  5 E and  5 F.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 5H is an example of another randomly generated pattern, calculated through the same tables used for generating the pattern of FIG. 5G.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIGS. 6A, 6B,  6 C and  6 D are an example of the selection tables used to calculate zigzag lines.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 6E shows an example of randomly generated layout of five zigzag lines using randomly selected angles, sequence, width and intervals, shown in FIGS. 6A, 6B,  6 C and  6 D.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIGS. 6F, 6G,  6 H and  6 I are yet another example of the same tables of FIGS. 6A, 6B,  6 C and  6 D, but with different setting for generating different zigzag pattern as shown in FIG. 6J.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 6J shows a layout of 25 zigzag lines, generated via same selection tables used for generating the zigzag lines of FIG. 6E, but with different settings.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIGS. 7A and 7B are an example of selection tables for randomly calculating the color and the line thickness of any motif.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 8 is an example of a continuous printout of patterns randomly generated using randomly altered non-repeating motifs. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0028]    [0028]FIG. 1A is an input for the fractal calculation and it is shown as a segmented straight line  10 S 1  to  10 S 5 . This segmented straight line is calculated on the basis of randomly selected number of points, where  10  is the starting point,  10 A to  10 D are break points and  10 E is the end point, angles α 10  to α 10 D and length of segments  10 S 1  to  10 S 5 .  
         [0029]    The method of setting the necessary data is shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B and  2 C. From the starting point  10  of FIG. 1A, the length of the segment is selected randomly from a defined range shown in the graph  2 A 1  to  2 A 25  of FIG. 2A. The horizontal axis of the table  2 A shows the amount of pixels and the vertical axis indicates relative probability of the selected values. The relative probability means that the probability is calculated on the basis of correlation of the selected values and not to the 100%. Thus, values  2 A 8  to  2 A 13  (angles 130° to 155° and probability of 38) of the FIG. 2A will have the same probability, which is higher than the probability of the values  2 A 1  and  2 A 25 , for example.  
         [0030]    The angle of the first segment  10 S 1  of FIG. 1A is measured from the invisible vertical axis and drawn on the basis of the randomly selected angle from the graph  2 B 1  to  2 B 39  of the table of FIG. 2B. The horizontal axis of the table  2 B indicates the degree of the angle and the vertical axis indicates relative probability.  
         [0031]    Point  10 A of the FIG. 1A is a result of the first random selection of the angle and length of the segment of FIGS. 2A and 2B respectively. Similarly, break points  1 B,  1 C,  1 D and the last point  1 E are the results of random calculation of the angle and length of the segment.  
         [0032]    In the case of segmented straight line  10 S 1  to  10 S 5 , where starting point  10  is selected randomly and five next points  10 A to  10 E are the result of random calculation of angle and length, done in rotation, five points needed to be selected, since  10 D is actually the last point selected by the computer and  10 E is just a result of the fifth calculation of the length of the segment and angle. The number of points was selected randomly from the graph  2 C 1  to  2 C 3  of FIG. 2C, where the value  2 C 1  represents the 5 points. The horizontal axis indicates the number of points and the vertical axis indicates relative probability of the selected values  2 C 1  to  2 C 3 .  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 1B is a curved line  10 C 1  to  10 C 5  calculated on the basis of a segmented straight line  10 S 1  to  10 S 5  of FIG. 1A, using spline curve algorithm. Since straight line is the primal input, both straight and curved line motifs can be created. The curved line  10 C 1  to  10 C 5  is an input for the first fractal iteration shown in FIG. 1C.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 1C is an output of the first fractal iteration and an input for the second fractal iteration shown in FIG. 1D.  
         [0035]    Similarly, FIG. 1D is an output of the second fractal iteration and an input for the third iteration, shown in FIG. 1E.  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 1E is an output of the third iteration and an example of a final motif, such as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIGS. 2A, 2B and  2 C show a method of generating a fractal motif  2 D using randomly selected length of segments from the range  2 A 1  to  2 A 25  of the table of FIG. 2A, angles  2 B 1  to  2 B 39  of the table of FIG. 2B and number of points  2 C 1  to  2 C 3  of the table of FIG. 2C. The random selection made by computer from the defined range of length of the segments, angles and number of points shown in the FIGS. 2A, 2B,  2 C resulted in a completely different output of the FIG. 2D, than the motif shown in the FIG. 1E.  
         [0038]    Details  2 D 1  to  2 D 3  are an example of lines that become darker, when overlap, creating a three-dimensional effect.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 3 represents the variety of motifs that could be generated through the randomly calculated alteration of input shown in FIG. 1A, and motifs  3 A to  3 A 3   3  are an example of non-repeating motifs resulted from third fractal iteration of a randomly altered input.  
         [0040]    [0040]FIGS. 4A, 4B,  4 C and  4 D are selection tables used for generating a continuous non-repeating pattern of lines  4 E 1  to  4 E 10  of FIG. 4E and  4 F 1  to  4 F 20  of FIG. 4F that are calculated on the basis of randomly selected intervals, deviations, segments and angles. The curved lines  4 E 1  to  4 E 10  and  4 F 1  to  4 F 20  are calculated on the basis of segmented straight lines using spline curve algorithm.  
         [0041]    The starting point of every line  4 E 1  to  4 E 10  and  4 F 1  to  4 F 20  is selected randomly within the defined distance, which is calculated according to the number of lines and width of the frame. Since a total of 10 lines were selected for the pattern shown in FIG. 4E, the width of the frame is divided in the 10 overlapping areas, such as  4 E 10 ,  4 E 20  and so on. The starting point of the line  4 E 1  is selected randomly from the area  4 E 10  and the starting point of the point  4 E 2  is selected randomly from the area  4 E 20 .  
         [0042]    From the starting point, the length of the segment is selected randomly from a defined range shown in the graph  4 A 1  to  4 A 37  of the FIG. 4A. The horizontal axis of the table of the FIG. 4A indicates the amount of pixels and vertical axis indicates relative probability.  
         [0043]    The angle of the first segment is drawn on the basis of randomly selected angle, as shown in the graph  4 B 1  to  4 B 34  of the table of FIG. 4B. The horizontal axis of the table of FIG. 4B indicates the degree of the angle and the vertical axis indicates relative probability. The high probability of values  4 B 17  to  4 B 24  located in the area of 180° secures the general vertical direction of the lines, while a wide variety of other angles  4 B 1  to  4 B 16  and  4 B 25  to  4 B 34  defines line&#39;s intricate character.  
         [0044]    The construction of the straight segmented line, calculated on the basis of randomly selected angle and length of the segments, is adjusted according to the amount of interval and deviation. The setting of the necessary data is shown on the table “Deviation” of the FIG. 4C and table “Interval” of the FIG. 4D. The table of the FIG. 4C shows the amount of point located at Interval (n)&#39;s deviation to the left or right from the location of the previous point at Interval (n−1). The horizontal axis of the table of FIG. 4C indicates the number of lines, where value “0” means zero deviation from the previous points and value “1” to the left of “0” means deviation of one line to the left of the previous point. The vertical axis of the table of the FIG. 4C indicates relative probability of the selected values.  
         [0045]    The table of the FIG. 4D shows a distance from the first randomly selected point to the next Interval point the line will pass, which is measured according to the invisible vertical axis. The horizontal axis of the table of the FIG. 4D shows the amount of pixels and vertical axis indicates relative probability. This setting regulates the infinite continuation of the pattern.  
         [0046]    Lines  4 E 11 ,  4 E 33  are coming out from the defined frame and lines  4 E 22 ,  4 E 44  are the lines, starting from the opposite side of the frame, in order to maintain the constant number of lines, while creating a dynamic pattern.  
         [0047]    [0047]FIG. 4F shows a randomly generated grid of lines  4 F 1  to  4 F 20 , calculated on the basis of the same settings as grid of FIG. 4A, however for a total of 20 lines. Since the starting point of every line  4 F 1  to  4 F 20  is selected randomly within the defined areas that overlap each other, as explained earlier for lines  4 E 1  and  4 E 2  and overlapping areas  4 E 10  and  4 E 20  in the FIG. 4E, it can lead to an overlapping of a two lines&#39; starting point, such as the starting point of lines  4 F 14  and  4 F 15 .  
         [0048]    [0048]FIG. 5G shows a combined pattern that consists of randomly generated grid of lines  5 G 1  to  5 G 6 , selected randomly for a total of 6 lines from the defined 5 to 10 lines range, and fractal motifs  5 G 10  to  5 G 50 .  
         [0049]    The pattern of lines is calculated on the basis of randomly selected length of segments and angles. The necessary data is set using table “Random line Angle” of the FIG. 5A and “Random line Length” of the FIG. 5B. The horizontal axis of the table of FIG. 5A indicates the degree of the angle and the vertical axis indicates relative probability. The length of the segments is defined by the graph  5 B 1  to  5 B 36  of the table of FIG. 5B. The horizontal axis indicates length of the segments in pixels and the vertical axis indicates relative probability of the selected values. The high probability of the short length segments  5 B 1  to  5 B 15  enables the generation of small details, such as loops (details  5 G 101  to  5 G 104  of the FIG. 5G).  
         [0050]    The fractal motifs  5 G 10  to  5 G 50  are generated on the basis of randomly selected angles, length of the segments, number of points and size, using selection tables of FIGS. 5C, 5D,  5 E and  5 F. The graph  5 C 1  to  5 C 28  of the FIG. 5C indicates length of segments, the graph  5 D 1  to  5 D 11  of the FIG. 5D indicates the degree of the angle and the graph  5 E 1  to  5 E 2  of the FIG. 5E defines the number of points. The method of calculating a fractal motif, using randomly selected angles, segments and number of points, is shown in FIGS. 1A to FIG. 3.  
         [0051]    The method of calculating a size of the motif is shown in the graph  5 F 1  to  5 F 42  of the table of FIG. 5F. The horizontal axis of the table of FIG. 5F indicates size that is related to the length of the segment shown in the table of FIG. 5C, where a 100% of size is equal to the originally selected length of the segment. Thus value  5 F 1 , for example, will minimize the originally selected length of the segment to 8% of its initial value. The vertical axis of the table of the FIG. 5F indicates relative probability of the selected values.  
         [0052]    [0052]FIG. 5H is an example of randomly generated another pattern, calculated through the same selection tables used for generating the pattern of FIG. 5G, and consists of randomly generated grid of lines  5 H 1  to  5 H 8 , selected randomly for a total of 8 lines from the defined 5 to 10 lines range, and fractal motifs  5 H 10  to  5 H 50 .  
         [0053]    [0053]FIG. 6E shows an example of randomly generated layout of 5 zigzag lines  6 E 1  to  6 E 5  calculated on the basis of randomly selected angles, sequence, width and intervals, using selection tables of FIGS. 6A,  6 B,  6 C and  6 D.  
         [0054]    The defined frame is divided according to the number of zigzags and their width, shown in the FIG. 6B. Zigzag line is generated to the right and left repeatedly from the central vertical axis, such as  6 E 506 E 51  of the line  6 E 5  of the FIG. 6E. From the line&#39;s starting point, for instance, point  6 E 50  of the line  6 E 5 , the first segment is drawn according to the angle that has been selected randomly from a defined range shown on the graph  6 A 1  to  6 A 24  of the table of FIG. 6A. The horizontal axis of the table of FIG. 6A indicates the degree of the angle and the vertical axis indicates relative probability.  
         [0055]    The length of the segment is calculated on the basis of graph  6 B 1  to  6 B 17  of the table of FIG. 6B. The horizontal axis indicates the value of width, calculated in percents, and related to the degree of the angle from the table of FIG. 6A, so that when value of 100% width is selected along with 90° angle, the distance between zigzags is zero. When width of more than 100% is selected as in the graph  6 B 8  to  6 B 17 , zigzags overlap, as do lines  6 E 1  to  6 E 5  of the FIG. 6E and when selected width is less than 100%, the distance between zigzag lines grows, as for lines  6 J 1  to  6 J 25  of the FIG. 6J. The vertical axis of the table of the FIG. 6B indicates relative probability of the selected values.  
         [0056]    The first randomly selected angle of the segment can be repeated 0 to 37 times according to the value selected randomly from the graph  6 C 1  to  6 C 10  of the table of FIG. 6C. The horizontal axis of the table of the FIG. 6C indicates the how many times the selected angle will be repeated and vertical axis indicates relative probability.  
         [0057]    The continuation of the zigzag is defined by the amount of interval that is calculated on the basis of the selected value  6 D 1  of the table of FIG. 6D and measured from the vertical axis such as  6 E 50   6 E 51  of the line  6 E 5 . The horizontal axis of the table of FIG. 6D shows the amount of interval in pixels and vertical axis indicates probability, which in this case is not relevant, since only one value  6 D 1  was selected.  
         [0058]    [0058]FIG. 6J shows randomly generated layout of 25 zigzag lines  6 J 1  to  6 J 25 , using a similar method as for generating a pattern shown in FIG. 6E, but with change in the settings for outputting a completely different pattern. FIGS. 6F, 6G,  6 F and  6 I are an example of the same selection tables of FIGS. 6A, 6B,  6 C and  6 D, but with different setting. Thus the graph  6 G 1  to  6 G 12  of the table of FIG. 6G defines a distance between the zigzag lines. The graph  6 F 1  to  6 F 21  of the table of FIG. 6F shows the degree of the angles used to generate a zigzag. The graph  6 H 1  to  6 H 9  of the table of FIG. 6H indicates how many times the angle selected from the table of FIG. 6F will be repeated and the graph  6 I 1  to  6 I 2  of the table of FIG. 6I shows the amount of interval.  
         [0059]    Table of the FIG. 7A is an example of a selection table for calculating the line thickness of any motif. The range  7 A 1  to  7 A 12  of the table defines the thickness of the line. The horizontal axis shows the thickness of the line in millimeters and vertical axis indicates the relative probability of the selected values.  
         [0060]    The graph  7 B 1  to  7 B 3  of the FIG. 7B is a selection table for calculating the color of the defined motif, or part of the motif, or part of the layout. The horizontal axis of the table of FIG. 7B indicates the color range from red to violet (red-orange-yellow-green-blue-violet) and the vertical axis indicates relative probability of the selected values.  
         [0061]    Details  8 A,  8 A 1 ,  8 A 2  and  8 A 3  of the FIG. 8 are an example of randomly altered non-repeating motifs, which arranged randomly in a continuous pattern.  
         [0062]    It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing disclosure relates to one computerized method of generating the patterns, motifs, etc. for the fabrics. It shows the present preferred embodiment such computer generation. However, other computer algorithms and methods could be utilized to generate patterns for the fabrics, which is the concept of the present invention, and that it is intended to cover all such possible methods as well as changes and modifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for the purpose of the disclosure, which modifications do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.