High speed printing system for printing magnetic ink
View Patent ↗High speed printing system for printing magnetic ink systems and associated methods are disclosed. A color of the magnetic ink may be designed to resemble one of the non-magnetic inks so that instead of ejecting the one non-magnetic ink, the printing system ejects the magnetic ink. Nozzles in a printhead may also be arranged to be adjacent to each other and may be appropriately spaced without causing the inks to be mixed in the printhead. Additionally, a color transform system may be provided to transform a sheet image in accordance with ejecting at least the magnetic and the non-magnetic ink from the printhead.
1. A printing system, comprising:
a color transform system operable to transform a sheet image to separate a black color plane from a sheet image, and to generate a first bitmap based on the black color plane for printing magnetic ink in accordance with ejecting, from a single printhead, the magnetic ink;
the color transform system further operable to transform the sheet image to generate a second bitmap for printing non-magnetic ink in accordance with ejecting, from the single printhead, the non-magnetic ink; and
the single printhead operable to receive the first bitmap and the second bitmap, and to concurrently eject the magnetic ink based on the first bitmap and the non-magnetic ink based on the second bitmap.
2. The printing system of claim 1 , wherein the color transform system is further operable to compensate for a difference between a color of the magnetic ink and a color of another non-magnetic ink that resembles black.
3. The printing system of claim 1 , further comprising an International Color Consortium (“ICC”) profile corresponding with the magnetic ink and the non-magnetic ink, wherein the color transform system is further operable to transform the sheet image based on the ICC profile.
4. The printing system of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic ink is suitable for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (“MICR”) printing.
5. The printing system of claim 1 , wherein the magnetic ink includes dye colorant and ferrite particles.
6. The printing system of claim 1 , wherein the non-magnetic ink includes one of a pigment-based ink with colored particles and a dye-based ink with dye colorant.
7. The printing system of claim 1 , wherein a color of the magnetic ink resembles black, and a color of the non-magnetic ink resembles cyan.
8. A method of printing magnetic ink, comprising:
transforming a sheet image to separate a black color plane from a sheet image;
generating a first bitmap based on the black color plane for printing magnetic ink in accordance with ejecting, from a single printhead, the magnetic ink;
transforming the sheet image to generate a second bitmap for printing non-magnetic ink in accordance with ejecting, from the single printhead, non-magnetic ink;
receiving the first bitmap and the second bitmap at the single printhead; and
ejecting the magnetic ink based on the first bitmap and the non-magnetic ink based on the second bitmap concurrently.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
compensating for a difference between a color of the magnetic ink and a color of another non-magnetic ink that resembles black while transforming the sheet image.
10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
processing an International Color Consortium (“ICC”) profile that corresponds with the magnetic ink and the non-magnetic ink while transforming the sheet image.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein a color of the magnetic ink resembles black, and a color of the non-magnetic ink resembles cyan, the method further comprising:
transforming the sheet image to generate at least a third bitmap for printing a magenta ink and a fourth bitmap for printing a yellow ink in accordance with ejecting, from another single printhead, the magenta ink and the yellow ink;
receiving the third and the fourth bitmap at the other single printhead; and
ejecting the magenta ink based on the third bitmap and the yellow ink based on the fourth bitmap concurrently.
12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the sheet image is a front sheet image and a color of the magnetic ink resembles black, the method further comprising:
transforming a back sheet image for printing in accordance with ejecting another non-magnetic ink that also resembles black in color; and
compensating for a difference between a color of the magnetic ink and a color of the other non-magnetic ink while transforming the front sheet image.
13. A non-transitory computer readable medium tangibly embodying programmed instructions which, when executed by a computer system, are operable to execute a method of printing magnetic ink, the method comprising:
transforming a sheet image to separate a black color plane from a sheet image;
generating a first bitmap based on the black color plane for printing magnetic ink in accordance with ejecting, from a single printhead, the magnetic ink;
transforming the sheetside image to generate a second bitmap for printing non-magnetic ink in accordance with ejecting, from the single printhead, the the non-magnetic ink;
receiving the first bitmap and the second bitmap at the single printhead; and
ejecting the magnetic ink based on the first bitmap and the non-magnetic ink based on the second bitmap concurrently.
14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprising:
compensating for a difference between a color of the magnetic ink and a color of another non-magnetic ink that resembles black while transforming the sheet image.
15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprising:
processing an International Color Consortium (“ICC”) profile that corresponds with the magnetic ink and the non-magnetic ink while transforming the sheet image.
16. A printing system, comprising:
a color transform system operable to transform a sheet image based on an International Color Consortium (“ICC”) profile that corresponds with a magnetic ink and a non-magnetic ink to generate at least a first bitmap for printing the magnetic ink and a second bitmap for printing the non-magnetic ink in accordance with ejecting, from a single printhead, the magnetic ink and the non-magnetic ink; and
the single printhead operable to receive the first bitmap and the second bitmap, and to concurrently eject the magnetic ink based on the first bitmap and the non-magnetic ink based on the second bitmap.
17. A method of printing magnetic ink, comprising:
transforming a sheet image based on an International Color Consortium (“ICC”) profile that corresponds with a magnetic ink and a non-magnetic ink to generate at least a first bitmap for printing the magnetic ink and a second bitmap for printing the non-magnetic ink in accordance with ejecting, from a single printhead, the magnetic ink and the non-magnetic ink;
receiving the first bitmap and the second bitmap at the single printhead; and
ejecting the magnetic ink based on the first bitmap and the non-magnetic ink based on the second bitmap concurrently.