MECHANICAL HANDWRITING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF USE THEREOF
The invention comprises a mechanical handwriting system linked to a user input system to generate a plotted document, such as a greeting card, note card or document, using a conveyor belt unit to support and move the document, a plotter, and a series of rollers to position and constrain movement of the greeting card, which is optionally and preferably linked to a paper feeder system in an assembly line format, where the rollers are optionally and preferably adjustable in position to accommodate varying paper sizes and to allow movement of the document during a plotting period to avoid positional overlap constraints of the rollers and a plotter head of the plotter in a process of plotting the document/card in sections.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/128,828 filed Sep. 12, 2018, all of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference thereto.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the InventionThe invention relates generally to a handwritten card method and apparatus.
Discussion of the Prior ArtPatents related to the current invention are summarized here.
Loeb, Michael R., “Realistic Machine-Generated Handwriting with Personalized Fonts”, U.S. Pat. No. 7,352,899 (Apr. 1, 2008) describes a system for producing machine generated handwriting having a realistic human appearance using a scanned representation of a person's handwriting.
ProblemThere exists in the art a need for a personalized appearance of a machine generated printed and/or plotted document.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe invention comprises an automated mechanical handwriting system for plotting on documents, such as greeting cards, stickers, notes, and/or stationery, using a real pen or pen-like device.
A more complete understanding of the present invention is derived by referring to the detailed description and claims when considered in connection with the Figures, wherein like reference numbers refer to similar items throughout the Figures.
Elements and steps in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been rendered according to any particular sequence. For example, steps that are performed concurrently or in different order are illustrated in the figures to help improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONThe invention comprises a mechanical handwriting system linked to a user input system to generate a plotted document, such as a greeting card or note, using a conveyor belt unit to support and move the document, a plotter, and a series of rollers to position and constrain movement of the document, which is optionally and preferably linked to a paper feeder system in an assembly line format, where the rollers are optionally and preferably adjustable in position to accommodate varying paper sizes and to allow movement of the document during a plotting period to avoid positional overlap constraints of the rollers and a plotter head of the plotter in a process of plotting the card in sections, where the plotted document optionally and preferably contains an indentation trail emulating a downward force of a human hand writing on a deformable surface, such as a pad of paper.
Herein, an x-axis and a y-axis define a plane perpendicular to a z-axis, where the z-axis is optionally and preferably aligned with gravity.
Mechanical Handwriting SystemReferring now to
-
- receives and/or controls a paper specification input system 120, such as input specifying a desired appearance of a handwritten card;
- controls a paper movement system 130;
- controls a plotter system 140; and/or
- controls a paper feeder system 150,
where an output of the mechanical handwriting system 100 comprises a printed and preferably plotted output document, such as a note, handwritten card, and/or a handwritten document 160. For clarity of presentation and without loss of generality a handwritten card as the plotted output/document is used as an example of the handwritten document 160. However, it is recognized that the plotted output optionally comprises: (1) any graphic, symbol, and/or text and/or (2) output plotted on any substrate, paper, and/or high quality paper, such as in the form of a decorated card, a greeting card, a sympathy card, a card expressing a sentiment, and/or a foldable card plotted on a front side, a back side, and/or a front and back side.
For clarity of presentation and without loss of generality, examples of the paper/card specification input system 120, the paper movement system 130, the plotter system 140, the paper feeder system 150, and the plotted output, such as the handwritten document 160, are provided, infra, to further describe the mechanical handwriting system 100.
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A handwritten note by a person typically leaves an indentation trail under the handwritten text, due to the applied pressure of the user writing with a pen on a surface that yields, such as a pad of paper, blotter, backboard, or wood desk. Still referring to
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The inventor notes that modern fonts, such as TrueType® (Apple Inc., Cupertino, Calif.); OpenType® (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash.); and PostScript® (Adobe Systems, Inc., San Jose, Calif.), which are used in word processing programs, use an outline for each character/symbol to represent each character/symbol, which starkly contrasts with an output of the handwriting system 100, which uses single line representation of character strokes in each character, where the character strokes are within the modern font representation, such as down a centerline, along a left edge, a right edge, or a modern font perimeter boundary for each character symbol. The inventor notes that by definition a font is an outline and that the mechanical handwriting system 100 optionally and preferably plots a representation of the font. For example, a font of the letter “S” is a downward curve from top to bottom and a separate upward curve from bottom to top of the “S”. However, the main controller direct the plotter 210 to only draw one of the two curves forming the letter “S”, a midline between the downward curve and the upper curve, or any non-outline representation of the “S”.
Still yet another embodiment includes any combination and/or permutation of any of the elements described herein.
The main controller client includes a computer-readable storage medium, such as memory. The memory includes, but is not limited to, an electronic, optical, magnetic, or another storage or transmission data storage medium capable of coupling to a processor, such as a processor in communication with a touch-sensitive input device linked to computer-readable instructions. Other examples of suitable media include, for example, a flash drive, a CD-ROM, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a DVD, magnetic disk, an optical disk, and/or a memory chip. The processor executes a set of computer-executable program code instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may comprise code from any computer-programming language, including, for example, C originally of Bell Laboratories, C++, C #, Visual Basic® (Microsoft, Redmond, Wash.), Matlab® (MathWorks, Natick, Mass.), Java® (Oracle Corporation, Redwood City, Calif.), and JavaScript® (Oracle Corporation, Redwood City, Calif.).
Herein, any number, such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, is optionally more than the number, less than the number, or within 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, or 50 percent of the number.
Herein, an element and/or object is optionally manually and/or mechanically moved, such as along a guiding element, with a motor, and/or under control of the main controller.
The particular implementations shown and described are illustrative of the invention and its best mode and are not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the present invention in any way. Indeed, for the sake of brevity, conventional manufacturing, connection, preparation, and other functional aspects of the system may not be described in detail. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the various figures are intended to represent exemplary functional relationships and/or physical couplings between the various elements. Many alternative or additional functional relationships or physical connections may be present in a practical system.
In the foregoing description, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments; however, it will be appreciated that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth herein. The description and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative manner, rather than a restrictive one and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined by the generic embodiments described herein and their legal equivalents rather than by merely the specific examples described above. For example, the steps recited in any method or process embodiment may be executed in any order and are not limited to the explicit order presented in the specific examples. Additionally, the components and/or elements recited in any apparatus embodiment may be assembled or otherwise operationally configured in a variety of permutations to produce substantially the same result as the present invention and are accordingly not limited to the specific configuration recited in the specific examples.
Benefits, other advantages and solutions to problems have been described above with regard to particular embodiments; however, any benefit, advantage, solution to problems or any element that may cause any particular benefit, advantage or solution to occur or to become more pronounced are not to be construed as critical, required or essential features or components.
As used herein, the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any variation thereof, are intended to reference a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, composition or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements recited, but may also include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, composition or apparatus. Other combinations and/or modifications of the above-described structures, arrangements, applications, proportions, elements, materials or components used in the practice of the present invention, in addition to those not specifically recited, may be varied or otherwise particularly adapted to specific environments, manufacturing specifications, design parameters or other operating requirements without departing from the general principles of the same.
Although the invention has been described herein with reference to certain preferred embodiments, one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that other applications may be substituted for those set forth herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the invention should only be limited by the Claims included below.
Claims
1. A method for producing a document with a handwritten appearance, comprising the steps of:
- plotting text, using a mechanical writing arm and a pen, onto a first area of the document at a first time;
- subsequent to said steps of plotting and generating, moving the document, using a conveyor belt, to a new position relative to an end of said conveyor belt; and
- subsequent to said step of moving, plotting text, using said plotting pen, onto a second area of the document at a second time, said second position inaccessible to said plotting pen at said first time.
2. A method for using a machine to produce a handwritten appearance of input text on a marking surface of a markable material, comprising the steps of:
- backing the markable material with a conveyor belt;
- machine plotting the input text on the marking surface using a pen with a downward force; and
- generating a downward indentation trail on the marking surface using said downward force to deform, to a depth of greater than two micrometers, a deformable surface of said conveyor belt, said downward force comprising one-half to forty ounces.
Type: Application
Filed: Feb 8, 2021
Publication Date: Jun 3, 2021
Inventors: David Wachs (Phoenix, AZ), Roxanne E. Abul-Haj (Sedona, AZ)
Application Number: 17/170,774