Gloss control through selective deposition of transparent ink
View Patent ↗Embodiments of the invention take advantage of the change in gloss caused by overprinting a printed image with clear ink. Embodiments of the invention thus implement gloss control functionality in a printer without the requirements of a pin and cure or other known systems.
1. A method for gloss control, comprising:
printing a plurality of swatches of an image with a printer, each swatch printed by applying a different percentage of clear ink to the swatch;
measuring gloss for each swatch to generate a gloss response curve for each swatch relative to the percentage of clear ink applied to the swatch;
storing the gloss response curve as an accumulation of all swatch measurements in a media database at least comprising points for gloss, satin, and matte;
applying a user selection to said gloss response curves within said database to control deposition of clear ink over said image and/or a print medium; and
depositing small (0-25%) amounts of clear ink to said image and/or print medium to lower said image and/or print medium gloss level, wherein the image and/or print medium is more matte.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
before image printing, receiving a user gloss control selection.
3. The method of claim 2 , said gloss control selection comprising any of a matte, satin, and gloss print.
4. The method of claim 2 , said gloss control selection comprising a variable value gloss control.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
applying clear ink equally to said entire image and said print medium.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
applying clear ink selectively to portions of any of said image and said print medium.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
curing said ink immediately after deposition, while said ink is proud of said image and print medium.