WO2008100029A1

WO2008100029A1 - Chocolate goods using digital picture principale

Info

Publication number: WO2008100029A1
Application number: PCT/KR2008/000619
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dong-Sik Tark
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2007-02-14
Filing date: 2008-02-01
Publication date: 2008-08-21
Anticipated expiration: 2009-08-14
Also published as: KR200437919Y1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a chocolate product using the principle of a digital picture and including a solid chocolate type of chocolate panel corresponding to the panel in a digital display device and a plurality of chocolate blocks corresponding to the pixels as basic elements constituting a digital picture, wherein the chocolate panel and each chocolate block have one or more cavities or protrusions formed thereon, such that they are frictionally fitted to each other, thereby representing a variety of pictures by using chocolate.

Description

[DESCRIPTION] [Title of invention] chocolate goods using digital picture principle

[Technical Field]

Generally, chocolate is made by adding milk, butter, sugar, flavors and the like to cacao dough and hardening the mixture. Chocolate is largely divided into the following five types depending on its shape' solid chocolate, shell chocolate, enrober chocolate, hollow chocolate and pan- work chocolate.

The solid chocolate invented in Europe has a hard plate-like shape owing to a molding technology introduced in 1830. The solid chocolate has a variety of kinds such as natural chocolate, hazelnut or almond- mixed chocolate, fried rice-mixed chocolate, paraline- added chocolate, almond paste-added chocolate and the like, and is most popular in the market.

The shell chocolate is made such that fluidized chocolate material is put into a frame to make a shell into which cream, jam, nuts, fruits and the like are filled and then, chocolate is covered on the shell. The shell chocolate, which is filled at the inside thereof with a variety of contents, is the most popularized among premium chocolate products.

The enrober chocolate is made by covering chocolate on biscuits, wafers or the like, which are commonly available in the market.

The hollow chocolate takes the shapes of dolls, animal characters, eggs or the like and are empty at the interior thereof. Generally, the hollow chocolate has a relatively large size and has no substance at the inside thereof since it is of the shapes of persons, animals and objects. As the hollow chocolate is specially made as season products of premium branded chocolate, it cannot be purchased commonly in the market.

The pan-work chocolate is made in a granular shape by putting fluidized chocolate material into nuts, candies or the like that become a center portion in a rotating pot. Alternatively, the center portion may become chocolate and a sugar layer may be coated on the chocolate. [Background Art]

Since chocolate is sweet, it is popularly used as a gift on memorial days. A person who gives a chocolate product as a gift to somebody contains his or her best wish in the chocolate product, rather than simply giving a gift. In this case, the person' s wish can be represented as a variety of shapes on the chocolate product. That is, people do not want to present packed chocolates products having fixed shapes that are mass- produced by specific manufacturers. Instead, they make a chocolate product to present a gift personally by melting solid-phase chocolate, putting the melted chocolate to a shape mold, hardening it to a desired shape or by adding materials like candies, peanuts, walnuts or the like to the chocolate. Besides, they make a chocolate product of a desired pattern, for example, a heart pattern by using a plurality of chocolate pieces.

In order to implement a letter, a picture or a pattern that a user wants to represent by using the chocolate pieces, it is required that chocolate pieces should be fixed one by one at a predetermined position, or shape molds having desired letters, pictures or patterns should be made or purchased. In case of the former, generally, the chocolate pieces are first packed individually and fixedly put one by one into a paper box having a plurality of partitions so as to form the desired letters, pictures or patterns. However, the work for packing the chocolate pieces one by one needs a considerable time and labor forces, and it is difficult to elaborately represent letters, pictures or patterns due to an increase in volume caused by the packing work.

In case of the latter, it is actually impossible to make the shape molds having desired letters, pictures or patterns so as to use it only one time, and thus, the user generally used to purchase the shape molds having specific letters, pictures or patterns. However, since such shape molds have a limited diversity, it is difficult to create desired letters, pictures or patterns.

[Disclosure] It is an object of the present invention to provide a chocolate product that is capable of representing desired letters, pictures or patterns with a variety of colors, without having any processes of individually packing chocolate pieces, making a box having fixing frames, and using shape molds.

To achieve the above object, there is provided a chocolate product including' a solid chocolate type of chocolate panel having one or more cavities or protrusions formed thereon; and a plurality of chocolate blocks each having one or more cavities or protrusions formed thereon, by using the principle of a digital picture where specific colors are displayed at each pixel on a panel like an LCD panel and a plasma display panel, thereby forming a given picture on the entire panel.

Since the chocolate panel and the plurality of chocolate blocks have there one or more cavities or protrusions formed thereon, each of the chocolate blocks may be fittingly fixed to the chocolate panel. First of all, the definition of terminologies used in the detailed description of this invention will be discussed below. A digital picture refers to a picture which is continuously spread two-dimensionally or three- dimensionally and has continuous values for dark and light colors, is divided into small dispersed pixel groups according to sampling, and allows the concentration values of each pixel to be represented as disperse values on the picture according to quantization.

The picture refers to an image displayed on the screen of a television set, and is used herein as a meaning including letters, pictures or patterns to be implemented by the present invention.

The pixel is referred to as a sample picture element at the time of sampling of a two-dimensional picture. Also, the pixel is a basic element for segmentation of the picture, that is, a component of the spatial picture when picture signals are scanned on a television or picture transmission so as to be input to a computer.

A panel means a generally large rectangular plate, and in a display device, the screen display part including a glass plate is called the panel. Meanwhile, the panel also means a drawing board serving as canvas in a field of pictures. That is, the present invention includes a solid chocolate type of chocolate panel corresponding to the panel in the digital display device and a plurality of chocolate blocks corresponding to the pixels as basic elements constituting a digital picture.

According to the present invention, when it is desired to represent letters, pictures or patterns by using chocolate, they are implemented in a variety of colors by merely frictionally fitting the plurality of chocolate blocks to the chocolate panel, without any additional processes of individually packing chocolate pieces, making a box having fixing frames, and molding specific shapes by using shape molds.

[Description of Drawings]

FIG.l is a plan view showing a chocolate panel. FIG.2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the chocolate panel having one or more protrusions.

FIG.3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the chocolate panel having one or more cavities.

FIG.4 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing a chocolate block having a protrusion. FIG.5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the chocolate block having a cavity.

FIG.6 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the chocolate block having a sugar layer coated on its one surface.

FIG.7 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the chocolate block having a sugar layer coated on its entire surfaces. FIG.8 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing a chocolate product according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG.9 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing a chocolate product according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG.10 is a plan view showing an example of a picture formed according to the present invention.

[Best Mode for Invention] Hereinafter, an explanation on a chocolate product according to preferred embodiments of the present invention will be given with reference to the attached drawings.

In a first embodiment of the present invention, a chocolate panel has one or more cavities 20 formed thereon and a plurality of chocolate blocks each has one protrusion 30 formed thereon. Referring to FIGS.l, 3 and 4, 80 cavities 20 are equidistantly spaced apart from each other on the top surface of the chocolate panel, such that 80 chocolate blocks each having the protrusion 30 can be frictionally fit into the chocolate panel. The frictional fitting method is carried out by frictionally coupling the protrusion 30 of each chocolate block to a predetermined position of each cavity 20 formed on the chocolate panel (see FIG.8). In a second embodiment of the present invention, a chocolate panel has one or more protrusions 10 formed thereon and a plurality of chocolate blocks each has one cavity 40 formed thereon. Referring to FIGS.l, 2 and 5, 80 protrusions 10 are equidistantly spaced apart from each other on the top surface of the chocolate panel, such that 80 chocolate blocks each having the cavity 40 can be frictionally fit into the chocolate panel. The frictional fitting method is carried out by frictionally coupling the cavity 40 of each chocolate block to a predetermined position of each protrusion 10 formed on the chocolate panel (see FIG.9). The shape of the horizontal section of each protrusion and cavity may be varied within the technical scope of this invention.

Referring to FIGS.6 and 7, the chocolate block in this invention may include a sugar layer containing food coloring agent coated on a partial surface 50 or entire surface 60 thereof. Therefore, the top surface of the chocolate block has a specific color according to the food coloring agent, and the combination of the top surfaces of the chocolate blocks having specific food coloring agent enables a user' s desired picture to be displayed.

FIG.10 illustrates an example of a picture formed according to the present invention.

While the present invention has been described with reference to the particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted by the embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Claims

[CLAIMS]

[Claim 1] A chocolate product comprising: a solid chocolate type of chocolate panel having one or more cavities or protrusions formed thereon; and a plurality of chocolate blocks each having one or more cavities or protrusions formed thereon, wherein each of the one or more protrusions 30 or cavities 40 formed on each chocolate block is fit into an associated one of the one or more cavities 20 or protrusions 10 formed on the chocolate panel by means of frictional coupling. [Claim 2]

The chocolate product as defined as claim 1, wherein each chocolate block comprises a sugar layer containing food coloring agent coated on a partial or entire surface thereof.