Method for printing inks on a substrate

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for printing inks on a substrate, and also to a substrate obtained by using such a method, which method comprises the following steps: i) creating a digital file of an original image, ii) processing said digital file to obtain a processed digital file, which processed digital file is made up of a number of compositions of the original image, iii) presenting the processed digital file to a printing unit, iv) printing the substrate by means of said printing unit, wherein the processed file is printed on the substrate by the printing unit as a processed image of the original image, using inks, wherein the original dimension of the original image used in step i) is smaller than the dimension of the processed image being printed on the substrate by the printing unit.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for printing inks on a substrate, which comprises the following steps:
 i) creating a digital file of an original image, 
 ii) processing said digital file to obtain a processed digital file, which processed digital file is made up of a number of compositions of the original image, and comprises the processing of the original image via a computer in such a manner that the processed digital file can be regarded as a computer-synthesized version of the original image, in which transitions between compositions in the processed file are smoothly executed; and further comprises selecting a number of parts of the original image and positioning said parts at random positions, whereupon the thus positioned parts are processed via structure-synthesizing software, wherein said selection of parts takes place via random routines, in which size, dimension and location of the parts can be determined at random, 
 iii) presenting the processed digital file to a printing unit, 
 iv) printing a paper substrate by means of said printing unit, wherein the processed digital file is printed on the substrate by the printing unit as a processed image of the original image, using inks, wherein an original dimension of the original image used in step i) is smaller than a dimension of the processed image being printed on the substrate by the printing unit, 
 
       wherein a structure-synthesizing software module makes use of routines selected from random generation routines, fractal routines and rendering routines for converting the original image of step i) into a digitally processed image, wherein the extent to which exact copying of the original image takes place is minimized. 
     
     
       2. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein in step ii) the compositions of the original image comprise a number of blocks or parts of the original image, which compositions are obtained by computer processing. 
     
     
       3. The method according to  claim 2  wherein step i) comprises a recording of the original image and a possible correction of the image thus recorded. 
     
     
       4. The method according to  claim 2  wherein the method of printing in step iv) is selected from digital printing and inkjet printing. 
     
     
       5. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein step i) comprises a recording of the original image and a possible correction of the image thus recorded. 
     
     
       6. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein in step ii) the occurrence of exact repetitions of the original image in the processed digital file is minimized. 
     
     
       7. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein said substrate comprises a crosslinkable resin. 
     
     
       8. The method according to  claim 7 , wherein said crosslinkable resin is a resin which can be crosslinked by means of UV, electron beam radiation or by thermal means. 
     
     
       9. The method according to  claim 1  wherein the printing in step iv) is selected from digital printing and inkjet printing. 
     
     
       10. The method according to  claim 1  wherein in step iv) the paper substrate is supplied to the printing unit as an endless substrate from a supply roll, and wherein the substrate is rolled up after being printed in step iv) and then, the printed substrate is cut into individual units. 
     
     
       11. The method according to  claim 1  wherein the structure-synthesizing software module comprises mathematical routines in which the essence of the original image is captured in a dataset, which is used as input for the random generation routines. 
     
     
       12. A paper substrate provided with a print obtained by means of a method as defined in  claim 1 , which print has been obtained after digital processing of an original image and which comprises a number of compositions of the original image, a dimension of said print being larger than a dimension of the original image, wherein the extent to which transitions between the compositions in the print are distinguishable has been reduced to a minimum. 
     
     
       13. The substrate according to  claim 12 , wherein said substrate is a resin-impregnated paper. 
     
     
       14. A high pressure laminate panel comprising the substrate according to  claim 12 . 
     
     
       15. The method according to  claim 1 , wherein in step ii) the occurrence of exact repetitions of the original image in the processed digital file is minimized. 
     
     
       16. A method for printing inks on a substrate, which comprises the following steps:
 i) creating a digital file of an original image, 
 ii) processing said digital file to obtain a processed digital file, which processed digital file is made up of a number of compositions of the original image, and comprises the processing of the original image via a computer in such a manner that the processed digital file can be regarded as a computer-synthesized version of the original image, in which transitions between compositions in the processed file are smoothly executed; and further comprises selecting a number of parts of the original image and positioning said parts at random positions, whereupon the thus positioned parts are processed via structure-synthesizing software, wherein said selection of parts takes place via random routines, in which size, dimension and location of the parts can be determined at random, 
 iii) presenting the processed digital file to a printing unit, 
 iv) printing a paper substrate by means of said printing unit, 
 
       wherein the processed digital file is printed on the substrate by the printing unit as a processed image of the original image, using inks, wherein an original dimension of the original image used in step i) is smaller than a dimension of the processed image being printed on the substrate by the printing unit, 
       wherein said structure-synthesizing software as applied in step ii) is an image-based rendering method for constructing large images from small original images, making use of abstraction of texture information of the original image, in which texture synthesis algorithms allow the combination of several images for forming seamless and non-repetitive images of any selected size. 
     
     
       17. A method for printing inks on a substrate, which comprises the following steps:
 i) creating a digital file of an original image, 
 ii) processing said digital file to obtain a processed digital file, which processed digital file is made up of a number of compositions of the original image, 
 iii) presenting the processed digital file to a printing unit, 
 iv) printing a paper substrate by means of said printing unit, 
 
       wherein the processed digital file is printed on the substrate by the printing unit as a processed image of the original image, using inks, wherein an original dimension of the original image used in step i) is smaller than a dimension of the processed image being printed on the substrate by the printing unit; and 
       wherein a structure-synthesizing software module makes use of routines selected from random generation routines, fractal routines and rendering routines for converting the original image of step i) into a digitally processed image, wherein the extent to which exact copying of the original image takes place is minimized. 
     
     
       18. The method according to  claim 17  wherein the structure-synthesizing software module comprises mathematical routines in which the essence of the original image is captured in a dataset, which is used as input for the random generation routines.