Research & Patent Information
PATENT INFORMATION
The DigiEye hardware and software is a patented system, the patents being listed below.
C. Li, M. R. Luo, owner of British Patent (Application No. 0123810.4) entitled Method of Predicting Reflectance functions, DigiEye Plc, 4 October 2001.
M. R Luo, G. H. Cui and C. Li, owner of British Patent (Application No. 0124683.4) entitled Apparatus and method for measuring colour (DigiEye System), DigiEye Plc, 4 October 2001.
RESEARCH PAPERS
There are four research papers relating to the grading of textile colour fastness using the DigiEye system.
- Part 1: Using a digital camera system
- Part 2: Development of a new staining fastness formula
- Part 3: Development of a new fastness formula for assessing change in colour.
- Part 4: An inter-laboratory trial using DigiEye system
Below are abstracts from each of the four paper. The full papers, which are SDC publications (The Society of Dyers and colourists), can be puchased from Blackwell Publishing, from whom permission has been granted to show the abstracts shown below. The journal homepage can be found at www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/CTE
PART 1: Using a digital camera system
G Cui, M R Luo, P A Rhodes, B Rigg and J Dakin
Color. Technol., Vol. 119 (4) (2003) 212
26-Feb-04
This paper describes an imaging system based upon a digital camera for assessing the fastness of textile materials to staining and colour-change. Large sets of samples were assessed by a panel of professional assessors and these results were used to evaluate the inter-observer and between-laboratory variations, and the instrumental method against the visual results. In addition, the measured results from a camera imaging system and a spectrophotometer are compared.
The results show excellent agreement between the two instrumental methods. The agreement is even better than the inter-observer and between- laboratory agreements. It was also found that the present ISO standard formula gave a very poor prediction to the visual results for staining fastness.
After a simple correction, the formula fits the data much better. In conclusion, applying a digital camera system plus a revised ISO formula can provide an accurate and rapid method for assessing textile fastness.
PART 2: Development of a new staining fastness formula
G Cui, M R Luo, P A Rhodes, B Rigg and J Dakin
Color. Technol., Vol. 119 (4) (2003) 219
26-Feb-04
In the first paper in this series, the results obtained showed that the present ISO standard for assessing staining fastness gave a poor performance with the experimental data accumulated.
This paper describes the development of new formulae to fit not only the new data sets described earlier but also another set which was used to derive a previous UK staining formula.
The results show that the new formulae developed can fit all these data sets very well. It even out-performed the panel of observers from different laboratories.
PART 3: Development of a new fastness formula for assessing change in colour
G Cui, M R Luo, B Rigg, M Butterworth and J Dakin
Color. Technol., Vol. 120 (5) (2004) 226
02-Nov-04
In Part 1 of this series of papers, a new method for assessing textile fastness using an imaging system based upon a digital camera was introduced. The results from the system agreed well with those obtained using conventional spectrophotometers.
Although the ISO fastness formula for assessing change in colour gave reasonable correlation with the available visual data, the data sets included very few test specimens.
In Part 2 a new formula was proposed. This markedly outperformed the current ISO staining formula, ISO 105-A04, and its predictive errors were encouragingly few.
Now, in Part 3, two new data sets have been examined, together with an earlier data set, and observer and instrumental variances evaluated. A new formula for colour change has been developed, and again its predictive errors found to be fewer than those of a panel of observers.
PART 4: An inter-laboratory trial using DigiEye systems
G Cui, M R Luo, B Rigg, M Butterworth, N Maplesden and J Dakin
Color. Technol., Vol. 120 (5) (2004) 231
02-Nov-04
In Part 1 of this series of papers, a new method for assessing textile fastness using an imaging system based upon a digital camera was introduced.
In Parts 2 and 3, all available experimental data were used to develop new fastness formulae for assessing staining and change in colour, respectively. The combination of the digital method and the two formulae markedly outperformed the current ISO formulae.
In the present study a further inter-laboratory trial has been conducted under the auspices of TCI/81, Colour Fastness and Colour Measurement Committee. Twelve laboratories and 38 professional assessors took part in this trial. Two DigiEye systems were used to measure all the colours.
The results provide strong evidence that the newly developed formulae together with the digital imaging method can accurately predict the visual results.