A system and method of printing on a strand element with a printer head. The printer head includes a conduit and a cavity formed within the conduit, wherein the cavity is configured to receive the strand element and pass the strand element from a first end of the cavity to a second end of the cavity. The printer head also includes a first set of fluid nozzles formed on the conduit and positioned on a perimeter of the cavity around a first target location within the cavity, wherein each of the fluid nozzles in the first set is positioned to aim at the first target location, and the first target location corresponds to a location of a first segment of the strand element when the strand element is positioned within the cavity.

A system (10) for in-line treatment of thread (20) for use with a thread consuming device (15) is provided. The system comprises a treatment unit (100) comprising at least one discharge device (150) being configured to dispense one or more coating substances onto the at least one thread (20) when activated; and a drive unit (32) being configured to move said at least one discharge device (150) between an idle position (42) and an operational position (41) being arranged along an axis of movement (A).

A system for in-line treatment of at least one thread is provided. The system is configured to be used with a thread consuming device and comprises a treatment unit having a plurality of nozzles arranged at different positions relative the at least one thread, said at least one thread being in motion in use, each nozzle being configured to dispense one or more coating substances onto the at least one thread when activated; and at least one thread engagement device configured to rotate the at least one thread along its longitudinal axis as the at least one thread moves through said treatment unit.

A system and method of printing on a strand element with a printer head. The printer head includes a conduit and a cavity formed within the conduit, wherein the cavity is configured to receive the strand element and pass the strand element from a first end of the cavity to a second end of the cavity. The printer head also includes a set of nozzles formed on the conduit and positioned on a perimeter of the cavity around a first target location within the cavity, wherein at least one of the nozzles is a fluid nozzle configured to dispense a fluid, and at least one of the nozzles is a vacuum nozzle configured to apply a vacuum force on the cavity.

A system and method of printing on a strand element with a printer head. The printer head includes a conduit and a cavity formed within the conduit, wherein the cavity is configured to receive the strand element and pass the strand element from a first end of the cavity to a second end of the cavity. The printer head also includes a set of nozzles formed on the conduit and positioned on a perimeter of the cavity around a first target location within the cavity, wherein at least one of the nozzles is a fluid nozzle configured to dispense a fluid, and at least one of the nozzles is a vacuum nozzle configured to apply a vacuum force on the cavity.

Computerized methods of creating embroidery including capturing embroidery instructions, receiving instructions at an embroidery engine, creating planned patterns of stitches, and outputting instructions for stitching, including instructions for printing colors onto a thread before stitching. Color may be printed in a gradient or gradually faded, for example, from a start color to an end color, or from a start color to an intermediate color and from the intermediate color to an end color. Color may be gradually faded from a start location to an end location or from a start location to an intermediate location and from the intermediate location to an end location. Varying shades of colors may be printed, patterns may be repeated, outlines, segments, and vectors may be used, and intermediate stitch color may be determined based on number of stitches or vector length. Some embodiments allow a user to change embroidery instructions while reapplying unchanged instructions.

A liquid discharge apparatus includes a discharge head having a nozzle row, a conveyor is configured to convey a discharge target medium, a head mover configured to move the discharge head in an orthogonal direction, a head rotator configured to rotate the discharge head, and circuitry configured to perform a position setting operation to cause the head mover to move the discharge head to a position in the orthogonal direction, a discharging operation to cause the discharge head to discharge a liquid at the position, a medium conveying operation to cause the conveyor to convey the discharge target medium, and a changing operation to cause the head mover to change the position of the discharge head, and cause the head rotator to rotate the discharge head based on a length of droplets of the liquid landed on the discharge target medium by the above-described operations.

An embroidery apparatus is configured to perform an embroidery operation according to embroidery data. The embroidery apparatus includes a thread assumed consumption amount calculator configured to calculate an assumed consumption amount of a thread in the embroidery operation, based on initial embroidery data input in advance; a thread consumption amount detection mechanism configured to detect an actual consumption amount of the thread; and a thread consumption amount adjuster configured to adjust the actual consumption amount of the thread in the embroidery operation by adjusting output embroidery data to be output, based on a difference between the calculated assumed consumption amount of the thread and the detected actual consumption amount of the thread.

An embroidery apparatus is configured to perform an embroidery operation according to embroidery data. The embroidery apparatus includes a thread assumed consumption amount calculator configured to calculate an assumed consumption amount of a thread in the embroidery operation, based on initial embroidery data input in advance; a thread consumption amount detection mechanism configured to detect an actual consumption amount of the thread; and a thread consumption amount adjuster configured to adjust the actual consumption amount of the thread in the embroidery operation by adjusting output embroidery data to be output, based on a difference between the calculated assumed consumption amount of the thread and the detected actual consumption amount of the thread.

A system for in-line treatment of at least one thread is provided. The system is configured to be used with a thread consuming device and comprises a treatment unit having a plurality of nozzles arranged at different positions relative the at least one thread, said at least one thread being in motion in use, each nozzle being configured to dispense one or more coating substances onto the at least one thread when activated; and at least one thread engagement device configured to rotate the at least one thread along its longitudinal axis as the at least one thread moves through said treatment unit.