Printed media products including data files provided in multiple layers of encoded, colored dots

Abstract

A printed media product, such as a trading card, that has a substrate and an encoded data element applied to a surface of the substrate containing information. The encoded data element includes first, second, and third data layers with first, second, and third patterns of encoded, colored dots defined by a binary encoding scheme. The dots of the first, second, and third layers are different colors separately resolvable by a scanner with decoding software. The colors of the dots are cyan, yellow, and magenta, and the layers are printed so that the dots overlap. The binary encoding scheme includes a two dimensional run length limited code. The printed media product includes a graphics element that can be interpreted by a human user, and typically, the information encoded in the encoded data element layers is related to the information in the graphics element.

1 . A printing device for printing a data file of information in multiple layers of encoded colored dots, comprising:
 a data formatting module processing the data file to create an encoded data file, wherein the data formatting module includes an encoder defining a first pattern of dots of a first color for a first color plane of the encoded data file, a second pattern of dots of a second color differing from the first color for a second color plane of the encoded data file, and a third pattern of dots of a third color differing from the first and second colors for a third color plane of the encoded data file; and   a printing mechanism processing the encoded data file to print the dots on a surface of a substrate in three data layers corresponding to the first, second, and third patterns in the first, second, and third color planes, the pattern of the dots in the three data layers being machine-readable to retrieve the set of information of the encoded data file.   
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the printed dots corresponding to the second color plane cover at least a portion of the printed dots corresponding to the first color plane and the printed dots corresponding to the third color plane cover at least a portion of the printed dots corresponding to the second color plane. 
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the first, second, and third colors are selected from the group of colors consisting of cyan, yellow, and magenta. 
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the encoder defines the first, second, and third patterns utilizing at least one binary encoding format. 
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 4 , wherein the binary encoding format comprises a two-dimensional run-length limited code. 
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 4 , wherein the binary encoding format comprises a non-return to zero inverted (NRZI) code. 
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein processing by the data formatting module includes dividing the information in the data file into three subsets of information and wherein the first, second, and third patterns of the dots encode the three subsets of information. 
     
     
         8 . A method for producing a data element containing binary information represented by encoded dots that is readable by a scanner, comprising:
 providing a data file of information;   dividing the information of the data file into a first data set and a second data set;   encoding the first data set and the second data set according to a binary encoding scheme;   assigning a first color to the encoded first data set and a second color differing from the first color to the encoded second data set;   printing dots having the first color in a first layer on a substrate surface in a pattern defined by the encoded first data set; and   printing dots having the second color in a second layer over the first layer in a pattern defined by the encoded second data set, the first and second patterns of the dots of the first layer and the second layer being machine-readable to retrieve the set of information of the encoded data file.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the dividing further includes dividing the information of the data file into a third data set, the encoding further includes encoding the third data set according to the binary encoding scheme, and the assigning includes assigning a third color differing from the first and second colors to the encoded third data set, and wherein the method further includes printing dots having the third color in a third layer over the second layer in a pattern defined by the encoded third data set. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the first, second, and third colors are selected from the group of color consisting of cyan, yellow, and magenta. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the binary encoding scheme comprises a two-dimensional run-length limited code. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , further including printing four alignment targets at corners of the printed dots in the first layer and in the second layer. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the binary encoding scheme further includes inserting a set of error correction code into the dot patterns and inserting horizontal and vertical synchronization patterns into the dot patterns. 
     
     
         14 . A scanner for use in decoding information encoded in multiple layers of colored dots, comprising:
 means for optically reading an encoded data element on a substrate comprising a first layer of printed dots of a first color encoded in a first pattern according to an encoding scheme, a second layer of printed dots of a second color encoded in a second pattern according to the encoding scheme, and a third layer of printed dots of a third color encoded in a second pattern according to the encoding scheme, the first, second, and third patterns comprising encoded binary data representing a set of information from a data file;   means for resolving the printed dots in each of the layers separately to create three encoded data files corresponding to the first, second, and third layers, wherein the first, second, and third colors differ from each other;   means for decoding the three encoded data files based on the encoding scheme to create three decoded data files corresponding to the first, second, and third layers; and   means for combining the three decoded data files into a decoded data file including the set of information from the data file.   
     
     
         15 . The scanner of  claim 14 , wherein the first, second, and third colors are selected from the group consisting of cyan, yellow, and magenta. 
     
     
         16 . The scanner of  claim 14 , wherein the third layer is printed over the first and second layers and second layer is printed over the first layer such that at least some of the first layer dots are covered by the second and third layer dots and at least some of the second layer dots are covered by the third layer dots. 
     
     
         17 . The scanner of  claim 14 , wherein the encoding scheme is based on a two-dimensional run-length limited code. 
     
     
         18 . An apparatus for displaying information including a machine-readable, encoded data file containing a set of information, comprising:
 a substrate having a first side and an opposite second side;   an encoded data element containing the set of information applied to the first side of the substrate, wherein the encoded data element comprises a first data layer including dots of a first color in a first pattern defined by a binary encoding scheme, a second data layer including dots of a second color differing from the first color in a second pattern defined by the binary encoding scheme, a third data layer including dots of a third color differing from both the first and second colors in a third pattern defined by the binary encoding scheme,   wherein the first, second, and third patterns of the dots of the first data layer, the second data layer, and third data layer being machine-readable to retrieve the set of information of the encoded data file,   wherein the third layer being printed over the first and second data layers with the dots of the third data layer at least partially covering the dots of the first and second data layers and first, second, and third colors being selected from the group of colors existing of cyan, yellow, and magenta, and   wherein the encoding scheme comprises a two-dimensional run-length limited code defining the first, second, and third patterns.   
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the encoding scheme further comprises formatting the dots of the first and second layers using a non-return to zero inverted (NRZI) binary encoding. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the encoding scheme further includes providing in the first and second data layers a set of alignment targets, a pair of alternating synchronization patterns, and error correction code. 
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , further comprising graphic elements applied to the second side of the substrate and wherein the substrate is a trading card substrate. 
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein the set of information in the encoded data file relates to the graphics element.