IP Library Granted Patent US 7,593,563
Granted Patent B2
US 7,593,563 · App. 10/887,032 · Granted Sep 22, 2009

Image variety on edible substrates

Assignee: The Procter & Gamble Company
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 7,593,563
App. No.
10/887,032
Granted
Sep 22, 2009
Kind
B2
Abstract

An article of commerce comprising an edible substrate having an image disposed thereon, and a method for making edible substrates having a variety of different images.

Claims (37)

1. A method of making a fabricated snack chip having an image disposed thereon, comprising:

(a) providing at least one fabricated snack piece;

(b) providing an image source, wherein said image source comprises a plurality of different images;

(c) creating a script, wherein said script comprises a script image selected from said image source, and wherein said script includes a pattern change;

(d) communicating a script image from the script to an image disposal device, wherein said image disposal device comprises an ink jet printer;

(e) disposing said script image on said fabricated snack piece with said ink jet printer to form an image-disposed fabricated snack piece;

(f) detecting an image on said image-disposed fabricated snack piece;

(g) evaluating said detected image and providing feedback to modify said script of images, as a function of the evaluation of said detected image, to create a modified script;

(h) communicating a second script image from said modified script to an image disposal device;

(i) disposing said second script image on a second fabricated snack piece with said image disposal device to form a second image-disposed edible substrate.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said fabricated snack pieces are uncooked sheeted dough.

3. A method of making fabricated snack chips having a variety of images disposed thereon, comprising:

(a) providing a stream of fabricated snack pieces, wherein said stream comprises a plurality of fabricated snack pieces;

(b) providing an image source, wherein said image source comprises a plurality of different images;

(c) creating a script, wherein said script comprises a plurality of script images selected from said image source, wherein said script includes a pattern change, and wherein said script images are arranged in a pre-determined order in the script;

(d) communicating the script images in a pre-determined order from the script to an image disposal device, wherein said image disposal device comprises an ink jet printer;

(e) disposing script images on the fabricated snack pieces with the ink jet printer to form image-disposed fabricated snack pieces;

(f) detecting an image on one of said image-disposed fabricated snack pieces;

(g) evaluating said detected image and providing feedback to modify said script of images, as a function of the evaluation of said detected image, to create a modified script:

(h) communicating a second script image from said modified script to an image disposal device;

(i) disposing said second script image on a second fabricated snack piece with said image disposal device to form a second image-disposed edible substrate.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein each said fabricated snack piece is an uncooked sheeted dough.

5. A method of making edible substrates having a variety of images disposed thereon, comprising:

(a) providing a stream of edible substrates, wherein said stream comprises a plurality of edible substrates;

(b) providing an image source, wherein said image source comprises a plurality of different images;

(c) creating a script, wherein said script comprises a plurality of script images selected from said image source, wherein said script includes a pattern change, and wherein said script images are arranged in a pre-determined order in the script;

(d) communicating a plurality of script images in a pre-determined order from the script to an image disposal device;

(e) disposing a plurality of script images on a plurality of edible substrates to form a plurality of image-disposed edible substrates, wherein said image-disposed edible substrates have a level of pattern change of from 2% to 100%;

(f) detecting an image on said image-disposed fabricated snack piece;

(g) evaluating said detected image and providing feedback to modify said script of images, as a function of the evaluation of said detected image, to create a modified script;

(h) communicating a second script image from said modified script to an image disposal device;

(i) disposing said second script image on a second edible substrate with said image disposal device to form a second image-disposed edible substrate.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the script images are arranged in a predetermined order in the script by an algorithm that assigns at least one image from said image source to a first position and to a second position in the script, and wherein the first position of said at least one image has a pattern change with respect to the second position.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein said algorithm assigns images from said image source to positions in said script at random.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein said image disposal device comprises an ink jet printer.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein said edible substrates are sheeted snack dough.

10. The method of claim 5 , wherein said edible substrates are fabricated snacks.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 6, 2012
From: THE PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY
To: KELLOGG NORTH AMERICA COMPANY
Reel/Frame 028906/0218 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 7, 2004
From: WEN, LUFANG; ROMANACH, BENITO ALBERTO; PHILLIPS, AMY DAWSON
To: THE PROCTER & GAMBLE COMPANY
Reel/Frame 015430/0352 →
Continuity (3)
Provisional Application 6048631100 · Jul 11, 2003
Provisional Application 6050371900 · Sep 17, 2003
Related Publication 20050069612A1 · Mar 31, 2005