Patent ID: 8468939

Claim:
A method of forming a printing plate, comprising: providing an array of cells on a substrate, wherein each cell corresponds to an element of a print image, a solid deformable polymer material localized into the cells, the cells formed by spacers to contain the deformable polymer material; a reservoir corresponding to each cell to collect the deformable polymer material from the cell as needed; and a heater to cause the deformable polymer material to one of either melt or soften; actuating the deformable polymer by first heating selected ones of the array of cells such that the deformable polymer material in selected ones of the cells does one of either melts or softens, the reservoir arranged to collect the deformable polymer material when the material either melts or softens such that at least some portion of the deformable polymer material moves into the reservoir; cooling the array of cells to solidify the deformable material in the selected ones of the cells in a deformed state; second heating the selected ones of the array of cells such that the deformable polymer material in selected ones of the cells does one of either soften or melt and returns to a less deformed state to form a printing pattern on the substrate; and cooling the surface of the array of cells to solidify the melted or softened deformable polymer material in the printing pattern.