Patent ID: 7394555

Claim:
An electronic digital control system for printing a pattern onto the surface of a moving substrate in accordance with digitally-defined pattern data using a plurality of individually controllable colorant-dispensing applicators arranged in a series of arrays positioned along the path of said moving substrate, each array containing a colorant representing a separate process color, said digital control system being adapted to convert said pattern data, expressed in terms of a color assignment for each individual pattern element comprising said pattern and containing base firing times for each of said process colors, into a series of logical firing instructions for each of said applicators as required to reproduce said assigned color on said substrate using one or more of said process colors, said digital control system comprising a. a digital computer providing a source of pattern data and multiple data ports from which said computer can output said pattern data, said pattern data comprising said color assignments as well as conversion data for converting said color assignments into said firing instructions; b. means for measuring movement of said substrate in uniform, discrete increments, said increments individually serving to define fine scale movement of said substrate and thereby serving to define a single control cycle of said control system and, when arranged in groups of a uniform predetermined number, also serving to define the distance along the path of said substrate to which a single pattern line defined by said pattern data is assigned; c. At least one electronically-defined look-up table comprising a plurality of addressable locations within a memory device, each such location containing data relating to a specific pixel to be patterned on said substrate, said data comprising instructions for reproducing the color assigned to each pixel comprising said pattern, said instructions including the relative percentage of each base firing time to be used to reproduce the assigned color.