The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 14, 2003
Filed:
Dec. 11, 1998
Bruno Mueller, Duesseldorf, DE;
William E. Bird, Winksele, BE;
3M Innovative Properties Company, St. Paul, MN (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides a method of displaying an image on a display device having first and second sides, said image including a light restricting silhouette pattern having a plurality of first transparent or translucent areas, and at least one design layer having at least one color, said at least one design layer being visible from one side of said display device and substantially less visible from the other side, said image being substantially transparent or translucent as viewed from the other side, comprising the steps: 1) providing at least a definition of said design layer to a computer, 2) generating a computerized version of said design layer with,he computer, 3) outputting the computerized version of said design layer to said display device, the computerized version of said design layer being modified to subdivide said design layer into a plurality of second discrete transparent or translucent areas and other areas; and 4) displaying said modified design layer and said silhouette pattern with said first and second transparent areas being in registry. Articles produced in accordance with the method are also described. Printers, raster image; processing methods and systems, computer graphics systems are described for producing the article.