Method and apparatus for customizing toilet tanks

Abstract

A method and computer program product creates a customized toilet tank wrapper according to personal preferences. Information identifying a toilet and a selection of digital artwork is received. The artwork is sized to fit the identified toilet and printed to create a physical copy of the artwork, which is laminated to create a customized toilet tank wrapper. The wrapper is cut to fit the identified toilet. The toilet tank wrapper includes a first poly-vinyl material layer overlaid on a front side of the physical copy of the artwork, an adhesive coating layer covering the back side of the physical copy of the artwork, and a removable layer protecting the adhesive coating layer. Optionally, the wrapper may include a second poly-vinyl material layer overlaid on the back side of the physical copy of the digital artwork, in which case the adhesive coating layer being is to the second poly-vinyl material layer.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method of creating a customized toilet tank wrapper comprising:
 receiving information identifying a toilet;   receiving a selection of a digital artwork;   sizing the digital artwork to fit the identified toilet;   printing the digital artwork to create a physical copy of the digital artwork, the physical copy of the digital artwork having a front side and a back side;   laminating the physical copy of the digital artwork to create a customized toilet tank wrapper, the customized toilet tank wrapper comprising:
 a first poly-vinyl material layer overlaid on the front side of the physical copy of the digital artwork, 
 an adhesive coating layer covering the back side of the physical copy of the digital artwork, and 
 a removable layer protecting the adhesive coating layer; and 
   cutting the customized toilet tank wrapper to fit the identified toilet.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information identifying the toilet includes at least one of a brand and a model number. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising retrieving toilet tank measurements corresponding to the identified toilet. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information identifying the toilet includes toilet tank measurements. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the toilet tank measurements include at least some of a length of the toilet tank, a width of the toilet tank, a depth of the toilet tank, a location of a handle, a size of the handle and at least one location of a toilet-specific feature. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein cutting the customized toilet tank wrapper to fit the identified toilet comprises:
 cutting the customized toilet tank wrapper to have an overall size conforming to the length, width and depth of the toilet tank;   cutting a handle opening at the location of the handle large enough to accommodate the size of the handle; and   cutting an opening at the least one location of a toilet-specific feature to accommodate the toilet-specific feature.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the toilet tank wrapper further comprises a second poly-vinyl material layer overlaid on the back side of the physical copy of the digital artwork, the adhesive coating layer being applied to the second poly-vinyl material layer. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving a selection of a digital artwork comprises receiving a selection of an artwork offered via menu selection. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein receiving a selection of a digital artwork comprises receiving a copy of digital artwork uploaded by a user. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the removable layer comprises a waxed paper. 
     
     
         11 . A customized toilet tank wrapper comprising:
 a physical copy of digital artwork, the digital artwork having been selected by a customer, the physical copy of the digital artwork having a front side and a back side;   a first poly-vinyl material layer overlaid on the front side of the physical copy of digital artwork;   an adhesive coating layer covering the back side of the physical copy of the digital artwork; and   a removable layer protecting the adhesive coating layer;   the customized toilet tank wrapper being cut to fit a toilet identified from information supplied by the customer.   
     
     
         12 . The customized toilet tank wrapper of  claim 11 , wherein the digital artwork is sized to fit the identified toilet. 
     
     
         13 . The customized toilet tank wrapper of  claim 11 , wherein the information identifying the toilet includes at least one of a brand and a model number. 
     
     
         14 . The customized toilet tank wrapper of  claim 13 , wherein the information identifying the toilet includes toilet tank measurements corresponding to the identified toilet. 
     
     
         15 . The customized toilet tank wrapper of  claim 14 , wherein the toilet tank measurements include a length of the toilet tank, a width of the toilet tank, a depth of the toilet tank, a location of a handle, a size of the handle and at least one location of toilet-specific features. 
     
     
         16 . The customized toilet tank wrapper of  claim 15 , wherein the customized toilet tank wrapper is cut to fit the identified toilet by:
 cutting the customized toilet tank wrapper to have an overall size conforming to the length, width and depth of the toilet tank;   cutting a handle opening at the location of the handle large enough to accommodate the size of the handle; and   cutting an opening at the least one location of a toilet-specific feature to accommodate the toilet-specific feature.   
     
     
         17 . The customized toilet tank wrapper of  claim 11 , further comprising a second poly-vinyl material layer overlaid on the back side of the physical copy of the digital artwork, the adhesive coating layer being applied to the second poly-vinyl material layer. 
     
     
         18 . The customized toilet tank wrapper of  claim 11 , wherein the digital artwork is selected via a menu selection of offered artwork. 
     
     
         19 . The customized toilet tank wrapper of  claim 11 , wherein the digital artwork is uploaded by a user. 
     
     
         20 . A computer program product for creating a customized toilet tank wrapper, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a device to cause the device to perform a method comprising:
 receiving information identifying a toilet;   receiving a selection of a digital artwork;   sizing the digital artwork to fit the identified toilet;   printing the digital artwork to create a physical copy of the digital artwork, the physical copy of the digital artwork having a front side and a back side;   laminating the physical copy of the digital artwork to create a customized toilet tank wrapper, the customized toilet tank wrapper comprising:
 a first poly-vinyl material layer overlaid on the front side of the physical copy of the digital artwork, 
 an adhesive coating layer covering the back side of the physical copy of the digital artwork, and 
 a removable layer protecting the adhesive coating layer; and 
   cutting the customized toilet tank wrapper to fit the identified toilet.