Method and system for converting a toner cartridge printer

Abstract

A method of converting a CMYW toner printer to print with one or more non-standard toners, comprising the steps: providing a CMYW toner printer; wherein the CMYW toner printer has four starting toner printing cartridges; wherein the four starting toner printing cartridges comprise a white toner printing cartridge, a cyan toner printing cartridge, a magenta toner printing cartridge, and a yellow toner printing cartridge; removing one or more of the four starting toner printing cartridges from the CMYW toner printer, such that there are one or more empty toner cartridge slots; providing one or more non-standard toner printing cartridges that are each filled with one type of one or more non-standard toners; and installing the one or more non-standard toner printing cartridges into the one or more empty toner cartridge slots.

Claims

1. A method of converting a CMYW toner printer to print with one or more non-standard toners, comprising the steps: providing a CMYW toner printer; wherein said CMYW toner printer has four starting toner printing cartridges; wherein said four starting toner printing cartridges comprise a white toner printing cartridge, a cyan toner printing cartridge, a magenta toner printing cartridge, and a yellow toner printing cartridge; removing one or more of said four starting toner printing cartridges from said CMYW toner printer, such that there are one or more empty toner cartridge slots; providing one or more non-standard toner printing cartridges that are each filled with one type of one or more non-standard toners; installing said one or more non-standard toner printing cartridges into said one or more empty toner cartridge slots; and providing raster image processor (RIP) software, such that said CMYW toner printer is configured to incorporate said one or more non-standard toner into one or more images printed by said CMYW toner printer; and wherein said RIP software allows for remapping of said CMYW toner printer, such that the converted toner printer prints using said non-standard toner from different cartridge positions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more non-standard toner printing cartridges each have an appropriate chip, such that when said one or more non-standard toner printing cartridges are installed in said CMYW printer said appropriate chip is configured to allow said one or more non-standard toner printing cartridges to be recognized by the CMYW toner printer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more non-standard toner printing cartridges are selected from the group of non-standard toner printing cartridges consisting of: clear and clear fluorescent.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more non-standard toner printing cartridge is selected from the group of non-standard toner printing cartridges consisting of: clear; clear fluorescent; metallic, ceramic, light/pastel; sublimation, and security.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said CMYW toner printer is a laser toner printer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said CMYW toner printer is a LED toner printer.

7. A method of converting a CMYW toner printer to print with a non-standard toner, comprising the steps: providing a CMYW toner printer; wherein said CMYW toner printer has four starting printing cartridges; wherein said four starting printing cartridges comprise a white toner printing cartridge, a cyan toner printing cartridge, a magenta toner printing cartridge, and a yellow toner printing cartridge; removing said white toner printing cartridge from said CMYW toner printer, such that there is an empty toner cartridge slot; providing a non-standard toner printing cartridge that is filled with a non-standard toner; and installing said non-standard toner printing cartridge into said empty toner cartridge slot; and providing raster image processor (RIP) software, such that said CMYW toner printer is configured to incorporate said non-standard toner into one or more images printed by said CMYW toner printer; wherein said RIP software allows for remapping of said CMYW toner printer, such that the converted toner printer prints using said non-standard toner from different cartridge positions.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said non-standard toner printing cartridge has an appropriate chip, such that when said non-standard toner printing cartridge is installed in said CMYW printer said appropriate chip is configured to allow said non-standard toner printing cartridge to be recognized by the CMYW toner printer.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said non-standard toner printing cartridge is selected from the group of non-standard toner printing cartridges consisting of: clear; clear fluorescent; metallic, ceramic, light/pastel; sublimation, and security.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein said CMYW toner printer is a laser toner printer.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein said CMYW toner printer is a LED toner printer.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein non-standard toner printing cartridge is selected from the group of non-standard toner printing cartridges consisting of: clear and clear fluorescent.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said empty slot is a first cartridge position and said non-standard toner printing cartridge is installed into said first cartridge position and said non-standard toner is configured to underprint.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said empty slot is a fourth cartridge position and said non-standard toner printing cartridge is installed into said fourth cartridge position and said non-standard toner is configured to overprint.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The drawings are of illustrative embodiments. They do not illustrate all embodiments. Other embodiments may be used in addition or instead. Details which may be apparent or unnecessary may be omitted to save space or for more effective illustration. Some embodiments may be practiced with additional components or steps and/or without all of the components or steps, which are illustrated. When the same numeral appears in different drawings, it refers to the same or like components or steps.

(2) FIG. 1 is a flow block diagram of one embodiment of the method of converting a CMYW toner printer to print with a non-standard toner with a single cartridge conversion.

(3) FIG. 2 is a flow block diagram of one embodiment of the method of converting a CMYW toner printer to a CMYX toner with a multiple cartridge conversion.

(4) FIG. 3 is a flow block diagram of one embodiment of the method of converting a CMYW toner printer to print with one or more non-standard toner printing cartridges.

(5) FIG. 4 is an illustration of one embodiment of a printer.

(6) FIG. 5 is an illustration of another embodiment of a printer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

(7) In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of one or more embodiments. However, these embodiments may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, and/or components have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of embodiments.

(8) While multiple embodiments are disclosed, still other embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description. As will be realized, these embodiments are capable of modifications in various obvious aspects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of protection. Accordingly, the screen shots, figures, and the detailed descriptions thereof, are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive. Also, the reference or non-reference to a particular embodiment shall not be interpreted to limit the scope of protection.

(9) In the following description, certain terminology is used to describe certain features of one or more embodiments. For purposes of the specification, unless otherwise specified, the term “substantially” refers to the complete or nearly complete extent or degree of an action, characteristic, property, state, structure, item, or result. For example, in one embodiment, an object that is “substantially” located within a housing would mean that the object is either completely within a housing or nearly completely within a housing. The exact allowable degree of deviation from absolute completeness may in some cases depend on the specific context. However, generally speaking, the nearness of completion will be so as to have the same overall result as if absolute and total completion were obtained. The use of “substantially” is also equally applicable when used in a negative connotation to refer to the complete or near complete lack of an action, characteristic, property, state, structure, item, or result.

(10) As used herein, the terms “approximately” and “about” generally refer to a deviance of within 15% of the indicated number or range of numbers. In one embodiment, the term “approximately” and “about”, refer to a deviance of between 0.0001-40% from the indicated number or range of numbers.

(11) In the following description, certain terminology is used to describe certain features of one or more embodiments. For purposes of the specification, unless otherwise specified, the term “printing cartridge(s)” generally refers to a toner cartridge, a laser toner cartridge, a LED toner cartridge, a drum cartridge, and/or a combined toner and drum cartridge.

(12) As used herein, the term “toner” generally refers to a powder, particulate, or dry ink that is used in laser printers, printers, and printing machines to form the printed text and images on the medium being printed. Generally, toner particles are melted by the heat of a fuser, and bound to the media.

(13) Regarding a CMYW printer, the letter “W” preferably stands for white.

(14) Regarding a CMYX printer, the letter “X” refers to a non-standard toner or toner color, such as metallic, fluorescent, light, clear, clear fluorescent, ceramic, and/or sublimation.

(15) The term transfer material may typically refer to a polyurethane media that accepts the toner print job and then allows the print job to be transferred to a final print surface via heat transfer. The transfer material may also be constructed from any suitable material, such as a specially coated paper or even just plain paper. The final print surface is preferably plastic or polymer, such as, for example, a polyester shirt or product.

(16) The present specification discloses a system and method for converting a four cartridge white toner cartridge printer to a non-standard toner printer. The method and system for converting a toner cartridge printer to a non-standard toner printer preferably requires no special or dedicated printer drivers.

(17) The present method and system for converting a white toner cartridge printer to a clear, clear fluorescent, fluorescent, metallic gold, metallic silver, light colors, ceramic toners, security, and/or sublimation toner printer may allow the conversion of: (1) a conversion of a CMYW machine that has combined toner and drum cartridges; (2) a conversion of a CMYW machine that has separate toner and drum cartridges; and (3) a conversion of a CMYW machine with a single drum and separate toner printing cartridges.

(18) Regarding the conversion of a CMYW machine that has a separate toner and drum cartridges, the conversion may comprise replacing one or more of the color cartridges or the white cartridge with one or more non-standard toner printing cartridge and replacing the accompanying one or more drums with one or more non-standard drum.

(19) Regarding the conversion of a CMYW machine that has separate toner printing cartridges, but a single drum cartridge, the conversion may comprise replacing the white or one or more of the color cartridges with one or more non-standard toner printing cartridge and cleaning the accompanying drum portion of the respective toner(s) and priming it with non-standard toner(s).

(20) One embodiment of the present disclosure may be replacing the white toner cartridge with a clear or clear fluorescent toner cartridge. Typically, the white cartridge may be in a first or fourth position, which allows for under or over printing, respectively. Thus, when the clear or fluorescent toner cartridges are swapped in, they may under or over print, similar to how the white toner cartridge was used. This over and under printing with the clear, clear fluorescent, or any other type of non-standard toner may be done in a single pass by using raster image processing (RIP) software.

(21) In another embodiment, the one or more non-standard toner printing cartridges may be provided by disassembling the removed printing cartridges to create one or more empty cartridges, which are then cleaned and refilled with a non-standard toner.

(22) In one embodiment, the starting cyan, yellow, magenta, and white toner printing cartridges are original/new cartridges. In another embodiment the starting cyan, yellow, magenta, and white toner printing cartridges themselves were previously used and/or refurbished.

(23) In various embodiments the positioning of the non-standard toner cartridge(s) and the programming of the RIP software allows the user to print with the non-standard toner cartridge(s) concurrently with the other colors in a single layer or print the non-standard toner as a separate layer before and/or after the other colors have printed.

(24) FIG. 1 is a flow block diagram of one embodiment of the method of converting a CMYW toner printer to print with a non-standard toner with a single cartridge conversion. FIG. 1 shows that the method 1100 may comprise the steps: providing a CMYW toner printer with four toner printing cartridges, cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and white (W) 1105; the cartridges may be in any order and the white cartridge may be in any position 1110; removing the white toner printing cartridge 1112; providing a non-standard toner printing cartridge 1115; installing the non-standard toner printing cartridge into the cartridge position that is empty after the white cartridge was removed 1120; providing raster image processor (RIP) software for cartridge remapping if necessary 1130; wherein the non-standard toner printing cartridges are selected from the group of non-standard toner printing cartridges consisting of: clear and clear fluorescent 1140; the RIP software may allow the printer to recognize the non-standard toner printing cartridge and specifically incorporate that toner into the image; and; wherein the non-standard toner printing cartridges may be selected from the group of non-standard toner printing cartridges consisting of: clear; clear fluorescent, metallic, fluorescent, light/pastel, ceramic, sublimation, and security 1160. The non-standard toner cartridges may each have a chip that allows the printer to recognize that the non-standard toner has replaced the white cartridge, so that RIP software may automatically recognize what non-standard color has been put into the printer to replace the white toner cartridge. In other embodiments, the user may manually enter into the RIP software what non-standard toner was inserted into the printer. The RIP software is configured to allow the printer to print images that incorporate the non-standard toner. In some embodiments, the user may move around the three starting color toners after taking out the white toner. The non-standard toner is then inserted into the empty slot and the RIP software is used to remap the printer.

(25) FIG. 2 is a flow block diagram of one embodiment of the method of converting a standard CMYW toner printer to a CMYX toner with a single cartridge conversion. FIG. 2 shows that the method 1200 may comprise the steps: providing a CMYW toner printer with four toner printing cartridges, cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and white (W) 1205; the cartridges may be in any order and the black cartridge may be in any position 1210; removing the black toner printing cartridge 1212; providing a white toner printing cartridge with an appropriate chip, wherein the chip allows the white toner printing cartridge to be recognized by the CMYW toner printer 1215; installing the white toner printing cartridge into the cartridge position that is empty after the black cartridge was removed 1220; providing raster image processor (RIP) software for cartridge remapping if necessary 1230; the RIP software may: (1) allow the printer to recognize the white toner printing cartridge and specifically incorporate that toner into the image; and (2) allow black to be printed using cyan, magenta, and yellow 1240 (the amount of each may be set or determined by RIP; usually 50-80% of each color is used to create a rich black). The white toner may have a chip that allows the printer to recognize that the non-standard toner has replaced the black cartridge, so that RIP software may automatically set black to print using of each of the color toners and automatically recognize what non-standard color has been put into the printer to replace the black toner cartridge. In other embodiments, the user may manually enter into the RIP software that the white toner was inserted into the printer. The RIP software is configured to allow the printer to print images that incorporate the white toner. In some embodiments, the user may move around the three color toners after taking out the black toner. The white toner is then inserted into the empty slot and the RIP software is used to remap the printer.

(26) FIG. 3 is a flow block diagram of one embodiment of the method of converting a CMYW toner printer to print with one or more non-standard toner printing cartridges. FIG. 3 shows that the method of converting a CMYW toner printer 2000 may comprise the steps: providing a CMYW toner printer with four toner printing cartridges: cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and white (W) 2005; wherein the four toner printing cartridges may be in any order 2010 within the CMYW toner printer; removing one or more of the four toner printing cartridges (one, two, three, or four of the starting toner printing cartridges may be removed) 2015; providing one or more non-standard toner printing cartridges (preferably, the number of starting cartridges removed, is the same as the number of non-standard toner printing cartridges provided); the provided non-standard toner printing cartridges may be new or recycled/refurbished 2020; and installing the one or more non-standard toner printing cartridges into the slots where the one or more starting toner printing cartridges were removed 2025. In some embodiments, the non-standard toner printing cartridges may be selected from the group of non-standard toner printing cartridges consisting of: clear; clear fluorescent; fluorescent; metallic, ceramic, sublimation, or security toner 2030. In some embodiments, the method may further comprise providing raster image processor (RIP) software for cartridge remapping if necessary 2040. In another embodiment, the non-standard toner printing cartridges each have an appropriate chip, such that when they are installed the chip allows the non-standard toner printing cartridge to be recognized by the CMYW toner printer 2050.

(27) In some embodiments, the method may comprise, as examples and not by limitation: removing all four starting toner cartridges and replacing them with four CMYW sublimation toner cartridges removing all four starting toner cartridges and replacing them with three CMY fluorescent cartridges and a clear toner cartridge removing all four starting toner cartridges and replacing them with three CMY fluorescent cartridges and a clear fluorescent toner cartridge removing all four starting toner cartridges and replacing them with three CMY light/pastel cartridges and a clear toner cartridge removing all four starting toner cartridges and replacing them with three CMY light/pastel cartridges and a clear fluorescent toner cartridge removing the three CMY colored cartridges and replacing them with CMY fluorescent cartridges removing the three CMY colored cartridges and replacing them with three CMY light/pastel cartridges removing the yellow cartridge and replacing it with gold metallic removing the white cartridge and replacing it with gold metallic, silver metallic, white metallic, or clear metallic removing the white cartridge and replacing it with clear fluorescent or clear removing all three starting color toner cartridges and replacing them with gold metallic, silver metallic, and clear removing all four starting toner cartridges and replacing them with gold metallic, silver metallic, and clear, and fluorescent white removing all three starting color toner cartridges and replacement them with gold metallic, silver metallic, and fluorescent clear removing all four starting toner cartridges and replacing them with gold metallic, silver metallic, and fluorescent clear, and fluorescent white any combination of the above and the swapping may or may not include matching similar incoming toners to the outgoing toners

(28) FIG. 4 is an illustration of one embodiment of a CMYW printer 700 with four toner cartridges, white 740, yellow 741, magenta 742, and cyan 743, which are in, respectively, cartridge slots 710, 715, 720, and 730. One or more of the cartridges 740, 741, 742, 743 may be removed and another cartridge may be swapped in, such as black or clear (which is an X cartridge). FIG. 7 shows that the white 740 cartridge may start (or end up in) the first slot at the front 702 of the printer 700. FIG. 8 shows the white 740 may start (or end up in) the last slot at the rear 703 of the printer 700.

(29) FIG. 5 is an illustration of another embodiment of a CMYW printer 700 with four toner cartridges, white 740, magenta 742, yellow 741, and cyan 743, which are in, respectively, cartridge slots 730, 720, 715, and 710. One or more of the cartridges 740, 741, 742, 743 may be removed and another cartridge may be swapped in, such as black or clear (which is an X cartridge). FIG. 8 shows the white 740 may start (or end up in) the last slot at the rear 703 of the printer 700.

(30) In some embodiments, the removed starting toner Unless otherwise stated, all measurements, values, ratings, positions, magnitudes, sizes, locations, and other specifications, which set forth in this specification, including in the claims that follow, are approximate, not exact. They are intended to have a reasonable range, which is consistent with the functions to which they relate and with what is customary in the art to which they pertain.

(31) The foregoing description of the preferred embodiment has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. While multiple embodiments are disclosed, still other embodiments will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the above detailed description, which shows and describes the illustrative embodiments. As will be realized, these embodiments are capable of modifications in various obvious aspects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the detailed description is to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive. Also, although not explicitly recited, one or more additional embodiments may be practiced in combination or conjunction with one another. Furthermore, the reference or non-reference to a particular embodiment shall not be interpreted to limit the scope of protection. It is intended that the scope of protection not be limited by this detailed description, but by the claims and the equivalents to the claims that are appended hereto.

(32) Except as stated immediately above, nothing which has been stated or illustrated is intended or should be interpreted to cause a dedication of any component, step, feature, object, benefit, advantage, or equivalent to the public, regardless of whether it is or is not recited in the claims.