| United States Patent | 6,429,889 |
| Murokh | August 6, 2002 |
A unique method of marking individual consumable articles such as tablets, pills, and the like on the fly, without the deposition of ink or other marking materials on their surfaces, without degrading the articles, and without precise positioning and holding of the articles. Titanium dioxide is provided in a visible layer of the consumable articles in an amount that is effective to provide a mark when exposed to an effective amount of ultraviolet laser energy. The energy is emitted in a predefined pattern on the surface of the articles so as to define the desired marking pattern. Marking is effectively instantaneous, thereby permitting the target articles to be marked while in motion to efficiently and inexpensively provide marking rates that are as much as twenty times more than those provided by prior art ink deposition systems. Marking can be accomplished even when the articles are encapsulated in ultraviolet transparent packaging.
| Inventors: | Murokh; Igor Y. (Santa Monica, CA) |
| Assignee: | Tri-Star Technologies (El Segundo, CA) |
| Appl. No.: | 360233 |
| Filed: | July 23, 1999 |
| Current U.S. Class: | 347/224; 219/121.6 |
| Intern'l Class: | B41J 002/435; B23K 026/00 |
| Field of Search: | 347/224,262,235,234,248 524/360 219/121.71,121.85,121.7,121.6,121.61 |
| 3657510 | Apr., 1972 | Rothrock | 219/121. |
| 4595647 | Jun., 1986 | Spanjer | 430/138. |
| 4753863 | Jun., 1988 | Spanjer | 430/138. |
| 4769310 | Sep., 1988 | Gugger et al. | 430/346. |
| 4906813 | Mar., 1990 | Gajdos | 219/121. |
| 5030551 | Jul., 1991 | Herren et al. | 430/495. |
| 5091284 | Feb., 1992 | Bradfield | 430/292. |
| 5111523 | May., 1992 | Ferlier et al. | 385/100. |
| 5206280 | Apr., 1993 | Williams | 524/409. |
| 5294770 | Mar., 1994 | Riddle et al. | 219/121. |
| 5376771 | Dec., 1994 | Roy | 219/121. |
| 5415939 | May., 1995 | Yeung | 428/422. |
| 5489639 | Feb., 1996 | Faber et al. | 524/417. |
| 5501827 | Mar., 1996 | Deeney et al. | 264/460. |
| 5560845 | Oct., 1996 | Birmingham, Jr. et al. | 219/121. |
| 5568177 | Oct., 1996 | Talvalkar et al. | 347/217. |
| 5697390 | Dec., 1997 | Garrison et al. | 132/321. |
| 5698119 | Dec., 1997 | Geerke | 219/121. |
| 5773494 | Jun., 1998 | Gusi | 524/14. |
| 5789466 | Aug., 1998 | Birmingham, Jr. et al. | 523/213. |
| 5798037 | Aug., 1998 | Peacock | 210/85. |
| 5845264 | Dec., 1998 | Nellhaus | 705/28. |
| 5916943 | Jun., 1999 | Heller et al. | 524/360. |
| 6108026 | Aug., 2000 | Corbett | 347/262. |
| Foreign Patent Documents | |||
| WO 91/01884 | Feb., 1991 | EP | . |