CA1056064A - Composite page setter - Google Patents
Composite page setterInfo
- Publication number
- CA1056064A CA1056064A CA248,812A CA248812A CA1056064A CA 1056064 A CA1056064 A CA 1056064A CA 248812 A CA248812 A CA 248812A CA 1056064 A CA1056064 A CA 1056064A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- laser
- page
- text
- illustrative
- computer
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Abstract
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A system and method for assembling all components of a page to be printed, such as a full newspaper page consisting of both text and illustrations. The end product can be a positive or negative image on paper or film, or a final printing plate. The uniqueness of the invention resides in the combination of text matter directly from a computer memory with illustrations physically stored on part of a device. A
photoelectric transducer scans the illustrative copy to generate electronic signals. These electronic signals are combined with the electronic signals generated by the computer text through a logic circuit so that each item is transmitted through a recording means such as a recording (writing) laser to provide the proper image, in the proper page location on the recorder surface. The approach of the invention is a machine with illustrative copy working jointly with a computer containing text matter that outputs the completed page, with each component in its proper position, through a laser output device.
A system and method for assembling all components of a page to be printed, such as a full newspaper page consisting of both text and illustrations. The end product can be a positive or negative image on paper or film, or a final printing plate. The uniqueness of the invention resides in the combination of text matter directly from a computer memory with illustrations physically stored on part of a device. A
photoelectric transducer scans the illustrative copy to generate electronic signals. These electronic signals are combined with the electronic signals generated by the computer text through a logic circuit so that each item is transmitted through a recording means such as a recording (writing) laser to provide the proper image, in the proper page location on the recorder surface. The approach of the invention is a machine with illustrative copy working jointly with a computer containing text matter that outputs the completed page, with each component in its proper position, through a laser output device.
Description
105~i4 Tl-is invention rel~t~s to a composite page set~er.
Computers are acc~pted tools in to~ay's newspaper or the like production methods. The computer can store inputted text, provide hyphenization and justification to lines, and assemble the component stories of the page iQ an ordered sequence within its memory.
These computer internal operations are relatively high speed, but, when the computer is ordered to output the information, its speed is cut drastically by the limitations of the output devices to which it is connected.
NewYpaper and the like presently output computer stored text in columnar form, proce6s photographs separately, assemble these page components by a hand paste-up operation, produce a photographic negative, and finally make a printing plate. This proce~s currently requires about forty minutes per page.
In addition, illustrations, e~pecially photographs, can, with present technology, be digitized and ~tored within a computer memory.
However, such a procedure is not used in practice because it requires an excessive amount of memory for storage of each illustration. This require6 a considerably larger, more expensive computer than newspaper presently find economical and, therefore, i~ not a prsctical solution.
Utilizing the teachings of the present invention, the equipment, with its related technique, is aimed at producing a page, photographic negative, or plate from start to finish in ten minutes or less and with economically feasible computer hardware.
The present invention utilizes a new approach to a system and method by providing a machine, operating Jointly with a computer, that will scan illustrative copy concurrently with page text material belng manipulated and stored in an active computer, and selectively outputs from elther the illustrative storage device or the computer memory the neces~ary information, in its proper sequence, to assembly all components of a page in one location, at one time, and in full page assembly form.
This informstion is used to modulate a la~er that can expose photosensitive l(~S~ 4 material, heat ~ensitive material W sensitive material or printing plates ~-directly.
The final material to be imaged depend~ upon the imaging energy required and wavelength sensitivity it possesses and a matching la~er w~se output be~am is efficient in both the wavelength and energy ranges for the material used. For example, a photographic film negative or positive would normally be "exposed" by a laser beam that has a peak output in the vi~ual region of the spectrum. An ultraviolet (UV) sensitive material would be exposed by a W peaking laser. A heat sensitive material could be exposed by a heat generatlng infra-red (IR) laser, etc.
Hère the term "exposed" i9 used to indicate reaction to the laser beam.
In some instance~, ~uch as certain printing plates, the laser beam may actually vaporize, or otherwi~e remove the material it contscts.
In essence, the present invention permit~ combining text and illustrations in full page assembly quickly without the need of extensive high-c08t computer 8torage. This is accomplished through a logic circuit that acts as a switchlng network to selectively operate from either of the storage devlces, i.e., computer memory and illustration hard copy.
Accort~ngly, in keeping with the foregoing there is provided in accordance with the present invention a composite page ~etter system comprising: ~A) an illustrative material storage device; (B) a text material memory 8torage computer; (C) scanner means for scanning material on sald lllustrative material storage device and operable to 8enerate electronic signals therefrom; (D) a composite illustrative material and text materlal recording surface; (E) recorder means operable to record lllustrstlve materlal and text material on sald compo~lte recording surface; and (F) means for selectively outputting informatlon from elther the illu8trative storage device or the computer memory operably to activate the recorder means to transmit and assemble all components of the illustrative material and text material on gald recording surface in desired location and in proper ~equence to con~tltute a full page assembly a8 a final image recording.
105~64 There is also provided in ac~ordance with L~e present lnvention a process for assembling and producing a full newspaper and the like page consisting of both text and illustrations comprising: (A) scanning illustrative material with photoelectric transducer means and generating electronic signals indicative of the material scanned; (B) storing text ma~erial as memory in a computer adapted to output electronic signals indicative of the text material; (C) computer controlled pr~cessing the electronic signals generated from the illustrative material for proper recording laser modulation; (D) combining the electronic signals from the illustrative material and the text materlal; (E) selectively outputting signals from the scanned illustrative material and text material a~ information in its proper 6equence to a~emble all components of a page ln one location, at one time, and ln full page assembly form on a printing mediwm.
The inventlon 18 illustrated, by way of exa~ple, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the component breakdown of the overall system of the invention; and FIG. 2 is a schematlc representing, more fundamentally, the operation of each of the basic components of an embodiment of the present inventlon.
Referring now in greater detail to Fig. 1, the composite p~ge 8etter, hereafter referred to as CPS, consists of four basic components:
Computer 12, Electronic Control Logic Circuitry 14, ~llustrative Copy Scanning Device 10, and the Full Page Recording Device 16.
The function of the computer generally indlcated at 12 i~ to assemble story text, provide hyphenation/~ustification, and to as~Rmble story components in page format, blocking out areas designated for illustration8, ~11 within its memory. Additionally, the computer, whether it is the same computer that performs the function above or another computer deslgned as a front end for the CPS, is required to take the stored paginated text and create scan lines acros6 the page 10~6~;4 in the form of meaningful electronic signals. The number of scan lines created per unit page length determines the resolutlon of the output;
i.e., 100 lines/inch, 500 lines/inch, 1000 lines/inch, etc. This operation requires the storage o digitized fonts within the computer memory. Consequently, the end result of the computer function is to output, upon command, meaningful electronic signals representing scan lines across the computer ~tored page.
The illustrative copy scanning device, generally indicated at 10, is the lllustration storage component of the CPS. The size of the ~urface upon which the illu~trative copy i~ physically attached is determined by the application size required; i.e., a newspaper page would require a scanning surface of approximately 15 x 24 inche~. The location of the illustrative copy on the scanning surface of the device is obtained from the computer memory and the illustration i9 physically attsched in its proper corre~ponding position on the surface. The entire ~urface of the scanning device 10 iY scanned a line at a time concurrent wlth the computer generatlon of a scan llne from the computer stored text.
Output from the illustrative copy scannlng device 10 18 in the form of ' an electronlc slgnal 8enerated by a photoelectric transducer which is responsive to reflected light from the scanned surface.
It is the function of the electronic control logic clrcuitry, generally indicated at 14, to ~ynchronize the computer 12 output with the lllu8tratlve copy scanning device 10 output and to select and swltch between the twa such thst the electronic output data of the control loglc clrcultry contalns both text and illustrations in thelr proper order.
This electronic output from the control logic clrcultry 14 is then u~ed to drive a full page recording tevice, generally indlcated at 16. The recordlng device con8i8ts of a ~urface upon whlch the recordlng medium (photo~ensitive material, heat sen~ltive ~aterial, W sensitive materlal, or printlng plate) ls placed. A laser beam from a dulated laser ~ource scans the recording medium in much the same way as the ,, 10~064 illustrative copy scanning device. With the scan cycle of the recording device synchroni~ed with the other components of the CPS the output of the electronic control logic circuitry Ls used to modulate the laser beam, thereby either exposing the recording medium with the laser beam or not~ Thi~ is done one scan line at a time until all the text matter in the computer and all the illustrations on the scanning device have been comblned and exposed on the recording medium in their proper order, in full page assembly form. The recording medium may then be removed and further proces~ed (if necessary) according to its development cycle.
Fig. 2 i~ a schematic repre~entation of one form of the present inventlon. Although this particular system uses rotating drums as scanning and recording surfaces, a PDP-ll mini-computer, and a specific electronic control logic circuit arrangement designed to interface with, and operate on the data from the PDP-ll, the invention does contemplate the u~e of other arrangements that would accompli~h the same intent as thè present invention; i.e., flat bed scanning and recording techniques, ètc., computers other than PDP-ll, other mean~ of handling the co~puter a~d illustrative copy generated data, mare than one recording laser, etc.
~n Fig. 2, there is shown a PDP-ll in connection with a DECkit ll-H interface generally indicated at 62. To illustrate handling of newsprint data for the la~er page setter in digital form, spparatus for handling a 16 bit blnary word wlll show ln prlnciple the function and is to be considered illustrative of a slngle embodiment only, The computer recognizes three states of paglnated lnformatlon; i,e., black, white and illustration. When a scan llne of computer stored text 18 generatet wlthln the computer, lt exists as a digital serles of 16 blt blnary words. The~e worts are broken into two parts as shown below:
lOS~;0~4 16 Bit Binary Word , . _, .
5 1 14 1 13 12 ~ 10 1 9 ~ 7 6 5 4 1 3 1 2 STATE DURAT ION l:N STATE
(These 14 binary bits can count number of points in a given state, 0-16383; i.e., if the scan line resolution is 1000 points per inch, then, the 16 bit word would be capable of describing a state up to 16.383 lnches long.) 00 xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Represents white state 01 xxxxxxxxxxxxxx " black state 10 xxxxxxxxxxxxxx " illustration state The illustration ~tate tells the electronic control logic circult to accept data from the illustrative copy scanning device. The electronic handling of printed information in this manner has traditionally been called "run length coding". At the end of a scan line, the computer generates the following word: llxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. This word signals end of scan line to CPS.
The 16 blt words di~cussed above are tran~mltted to the eleetronic control logic circuit of CPS, generslly indicated at 82, through the D~Cklt ll-H lnterface 62, Thi~ interface i~ capable of sendlng four 16 blt words ln parallel snd receivlng four 16 bit w~rds in parallel.
However, ln thls application, the DECkit sends four word~ through cables 74, but receives only one word through a cable 46. The one word that the DECklt receive~ from the CPS control loglc circuitry i8 used to tell the PDP-ll that the CPS i8 ready to receive atditional words for processlng. Processing of the 16 bit blnary wort from the PDP-ll by the control logic clrcuitry 82 consists of the following operations:
When the 16 bit word enters the logic circuitry it is divided into its two parts. The two blts that describe the state of the word enters ant controls a loglc circult hereafter called "State Logic Network".
The 14 bits that determlne the durstlon of the state are shifted into the inputs of a 14 blt, blnary, down counter. There are four ~tate logic netwDrks and four associated down counters to handle the four 16 bit words that enter the control logic circuitry 82 through cables 74.
~OStiO~;4 Addition~lly, withill the control logic circuitry 82 there are two 163~3 bit static shift registers. Since, as discussed previously, a bit corresponds to .001 of an inch for 1000 lines per inch resolution, the static shift re~isters are capable of storing the data for a 16.383 inch scan line.
Now, as a clock oscillator drives the counters counting down the 14 bit preset value to zero, it al~o clocks into the shift registe~ the state of thè word. Thus a logic "1" or logic `'0" will be clocked into ~he shift register one bit per clock cycle until the counters reach zero.
At that time, the next counter starts counting down and clocking its state into the shi~t register~; and so on, until a co~plete scan line has been clocked into the two ~hift registers. Note that the value of one of the two state bits i8 clocked into the input of one shift register ant the value of the other bit i9 clocked into the second shift register.
When the computer has generated one complete scan line of information it gives the CPS a llxxxxxxxxxxxxxx word. This stops the counters and tell~ the CPS that the shift registers containe one complete scan llne of informatlon and are ready to control the laser modulator.
The output of one 8hlft register is used to control the flow of informatlon from the lllustrative copy scanning devlce and the output from the second shift register controls the black or whlte of the text matter.
The mechanical portion of the system consists of a read drum 18 and write drum 20 connected ~n series by lnterconnecting shaft 22 and driven by a motor 24. The scanner uses a laser beam 38 generated by a laser 34 which passes through a beam splitter 36 and is focused on the read drum 8urface by the optics indlcated 32, The reflected image from the lllustrative copy 30 on the read drum passes back through the optlcs ant iB reflectet lnto a phatoelectric transducer 40 by the beam splltter 36, The signal~generated by the photoelectric transducer i~
proce88ed by the electronlcs lndicated at 42 and enters the electronic contral logic circuitry 82 through an interconnecting cable 66. Note that the flow of illustrstive copy data to the write laser madulator ig controllet ~y one of the static shift registers discussed above;
lOS~0~i4 i.e., when a logic "1" appears at this ~hif t register output, the signal from the scanning electronics is used to modulate the write laser beam.
The recordlng portion of the syste~ con~ists of a laser 80 generating a beam 84 which passes through a modulator 78 and is directed at the write drum 20 by the appropriate optics of 52. Note the optics of 52 and 32 are mechanically linked together as shown at 50. The read and write laser beams are stepped from one scan line to the next down the length of the drum mechanically by a stepping motor 56 and lead screw 54.
The photoelectric tran~ducers at 70 and 68 sen~e the position of the drum and signal the electronic control logic circuitry 82 through a cable 64 when the la~er can begin modulation to expose one scan line across the recording medium. If the shift registers are full, and photo-electric transducer~ 68 and 70 give the go-ahead~ then the electronic control logic circuitry 82 clocks the information out of the shift registers such that a signsl i~ fed to the motulator electronlcs 76 through a cable 72, The~e electronic signals contain black or whlte electronic data or ~lgnsls generated from the photoelectric tran~ducer of the scanning devlce.
When a scan line has been completely exposed on the recording medium, a command from the control logic circuitry is ~ent to the stepping motor drive electronics 58 through a cable 60, the laser beams move over one scsn line and the cycle repeats ltself.
The drum rotational ~peed is synchronlzed with the clock which drive~ the shift registers ~uch that the length of an exposed scan line does not vary down the length of the recordlng medium, This is accomplished by provlding an appropriate signal to the drum motor drive electronlcs 28 through cable 44.
The specifics of the circult are de~cribed only insofar a~ sre necessary for an understanding of the functlon and operatlon of the present system.
~anifestly, changes in details can be effected without departing from the splrit ant scope of the invention as defined in and limited solely by the appended claims,
Computers are acc~pted tools in to~ay's newspaper or the like production methods. The computer can store inputted text, provide hyphenization and justification to lines, and assemble the component stories of the page iQ an ordered sequence within its memory.
These computer internal operations are relatively high speed, but, when the computer is ordered to output the information, its speed is cut drastically by the limitations of the output devices to which it is connected.
NewYpaper and the like presently output computer stored text in columnar form, proce6s photographs separately, assemble these page components by a hand paste-up operation, produce a photographic negative, and finally make a printing plate. This proce~s currently requires about forty minutes per page.
In addition, illustrations, e~pecially photographs, can, with present technology, be digitized and ~tored within a computer memory.
However, such a procedure is not used in practice because it requires an excessive amount of memory for storage of each illustration. This require6 a considerably larger, more expensive computer than newspaper presently find economical and, therefore, i~ not a prsctical solution.
Utilizing the teachings of the present invention, the equipment, with its related technique, is aimed at producing a page, photographic negative, or plate from start to finish in ten minutes or less and with economically feasible computer hardware.
The present invention utilizes a new approach to a system and method by providing a machine, operating Jointly with a computer, that will scan illustrative copy concurrently with page text material belng manipulated and stored in an active computer, and selectively outputs from elther the illustrative storage device or the computer memory the neces~ary information, in its proper sequence, to assembly all components of a page in one location, at one time, and in full page assembly form.
This informstion is used to modulate a la~er that can expose photosensitive l(~S~ 4 material, heat ~ensitive material W sensitive material or printing plates ~-directly.
The final material to be imaged depend~ upon the imaging energy required and wavelength sensitivity it possesses and a matching la~er w~se output be~am is efficient in both the wavelength and energy ranges for the material used. For example, a photographic film negative or positive would normally be "exposed" by a laser beam that has a peak output in the vi~ual region of the spectrum. An ultraviolet (UV) sensitive material would be exposed by a W peaking laser. A heat sensitive material could be exposed by a heat generatlng infra-red (IR) laser, etc.
Hère the term "exposed" i9 used to indicate reaction to the laser beam.
In some instance~, ~uch as certain printing plates, the laser beam may actually vaporize, or otherwi~e remove the material it contscts.
In essence, the present invention permit~ combining text and illustrations in full page assembly quickly without the need of extensive high-c08t computer 8torage. This is accomplished through a logic circuit that acts as a switchlng network to selectively operate from either of the storage devlces, i.e., computer memory and illustration hard copy.
Accort~ngly, in keeping with the foregoing there is provided in accordance with the present invention a composite page ~etter system comprising: ~A) an illustrative material storage device; (B) a text material memory 8torage computer; (C) scanner means for scanning material on sald lllustrative material storage device and operable to 8enerate electronic signals therefrom; (D) a composite illustrative material and text materlal recording surface; (E) recorder means operable to record lllustrstlve materlal and text material on sald compo~lte recording surface; and (F) means for selectively outputting informatlon from elther the illu8trative storage device or the computer memory operably to activate the recorder means to transmit and assemble all components of the illustrative material and text material on gald recording surface in desired location and in proper ~equence to con~tltute a full page assembly a8 a final image recording.
105~64 There is also provided in ac~ordance with L~e present lnvention a process for assembling and producing a full newspaper and the like page consisting of both text and illustrations comprising: (A) scanning illustrative material with photoelectric transducer means and generating electronic signals indicative of the material scanned; (B) storing text ma~erial as memory in a computer adapted to output electronic signals indicative of the text material; (C) computer controlled pr~cessing the electronic signals generated from the illustrative material for proper recording laser modulation; (D) combining the electronic signals from the illustrative material and the text materlal; (E) selectively outputting signals from the scanned illustrative material and text material a~ information in its proper 6equence to a~emble all components of a page ln one location, at one time, and ln full page assembly form on a printing mediwm.
The inventlon 18 illustrated, by way of exa~ple, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the component breakdown of the overall system of the invention; and FIG. 2 is a schematlc representing, more fundamentally, the operation of each of the basic components of an embodiment of the present inventlon.
Referring now in greater detail to Fig. 1, the composite p~ge 8etter, hereafter referred to as CPS, consists of four basic components:
Computer 12, Electronic Control Logic Circuitry 14, ~llustrative Copy Scanning Device 10, and the Full Page Recording Device 16.
The function of the computer generally indlcated at 12 i~ to assemble story text, provide hyphenation/~ustification, and to as~Rmble story components in page format, blocking out areas designated for illustration8, ~11 within its memory. Additionally, the computer, whether it is the same computer that performs the function above or another computer deslgned as a front end for the CPS, is required to take the stored paginated text and create scan lines acros6 the page 10~6~;4 in the form of meaningful electronic signals. The number of scan lines created per unit page length determines the resolutlon of the output;
i.e., 100 lines/inch, 500 lines/inch, 1000 lines/inch, etc. This operation requires the storage o digitized fonts within the computer memory. Consequently, the end result of the computer function is to output, upon command, meaningful electronic signals representing scan lines across the computer ~tored page.
The illustrative copy scanning device, generally indicated at 10, is the lllustration storage component of the CPS. The size of the ~urface upon which the illu~trative copy i~ physically attached is determined by the application size required; i.e., a newspaper page would require a scanning surface of approximately 15 x 24 inche~. The location of the illustrative copy on the scanning surface of the device is obtained from the computer memory and the illustration i9 physically attsched in its proper corre~ponding position on the surface. The entire ~urface of the scanning device 10 iY scanned a line at a time concurrent wlth the computer generatlon of a scan llne from the computer stored text.
Output from the illustrative copy scannlng device 10 18 in the form of ' an electronlc slgnal 8enerated by a photoelectric transducer which is responsive to reflected light from the scanned surface.
It is the function of the electronic control logic clrcuitry, generally indicated at 14, to ~ynchronize the computer 12 output with the lllu8tratlve copy scanning device 10 output and to select and swltch between the twa such thst the electronic output data of the control loglc clrcultry contalns both text and illustrations in thelr proper order.
This electronic output from the control logic clrcultry 14 is then u~ed to drive a full page recording tevice, generally indlcated at 16. The recordlng device con8i8ts of a ~urface upon whlch the recordlng medium (photo~ensitive material, heat sen~ltive ~aterial, W sensitive materlal, or printlng plate) ls placed. A laser beam from a dulated laser ~ource scans the recording medium in much the same way as the ,, 10~064 illustrative copy scanning device. With the scan cycle of the recording device synchroni~ed with the other components of the CPS the output of the electronic control logic circuitry Ls used to modulate the laser beam, thereby either exposing the recording medium with the laser beam or not~ Thi~ is done one scan line at a time until all the text matter in the computer and all the illustrations on the scanning device have been comblned and exposed on the recording medium in their proper order, in full page assembly form. The recording medium may then be removed and further proces~ed (if necessary) according to its development cycle.
Fig. 2 i~ a schematic repre~entation of one form of the present inventlon. Although this particular system uses rotating drums as scanning and recording surfaces, a PDP-ll mini-computer, and a specific electronic control logic circuit arrangement designed to interface with, and operate on the data from the PDP-ll, the invention does contemplate the u~e of other arrangements that would accompli~h the same intent as thè present invention; i.e., flat bed scanning and recording techniques, ètc., computers other than PDP-ll, other mean~ of handling the co~puter a~d illustrative copy generated data, mare than one recording laser, etc.
~n Fig. 2, there is shown a PDP-ll in connection with a DECkit ll-H interface generally indicated at 62. To illustrate handling of newsprint data for the la~er page setter in digital form, spparatus for handling a 16 bit blnary word wlll show ln prlnciple the function and is to be considered illustrative of a slngle embodiment only, The computer recognizes three states of paglnated lnformatlon; i,e., black, white and illustration. When a scan llne of computer stored text 18 generatet wlthln the computer, lt exists as a digital serles of 16 blt blnary words. The~e worts are broken into two parts as shown below:
lOS~;0~4 16 Bit Binary Word , . _, .
5 1 14 1 13 12 ~ 10 1 9 ~ 7 6 5 4 1 3 1 2 STATE DURAT ION l:N STATE
(These 14 binary bits can count number of points in a given state, 0-16383; i.e., if the scan line resolution is 1000 points per inch, then, the 16 bit word would be capable of describing a state up to 16.383 lnches long.) 00 xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Represents white state 01 xxxxxxxxxxxxxx " black state 10 xxxxxxxxxxxxxx " illustration state The illustration ~tate tells the electronic control logic circult to accept data from the illustrative copy scanning device. The electronic handling of printed information in this manner has traditionally been called "run length coding". At the end of a scan line, the computer generates the following word: llxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. This word signals end of scan line to CPS.
The 16 blt words di~cussed above are tran~mltted to the eleetronic control logic circuit of CPS, generslly indicated at 82, through the D~Cklt ll-H lnterface 62, Thi~ interface i~ capable of sendlng four 16 blt words ln parallel snd receivlng four 16 bit w~rds in parallel.
However, ln thls application, the DECkit sends four word~ through cables 74, but receives only one word through a cable 46. The one word that the DECklt receive~ from the CPS control loglc circuitry i8 used to tell the PDP-ll that the CPS i8 ready to receive atditional words for processlng. Processing of the 16 bit blnary wort from the PDP-ll by the control logic clrcuitry 82 consists of the following operations:
When the 16 bit word enters the logic circuitry it is divided into its two parts. The two blts that describe the state of the word enters ant controls a loglc circult hereafter called "State Logic Network".
The 14 bits that determlne the durstlon of the state are shifted into the inputs of a 14 blt, blnary, down counter. There are four ~tate logic netwDrks and four associated down counters to handle the four 16 bit words that enter the control logic circuitry 82 through cables 74.
~OStiO~;4 Addition~lly, withill the control logic circuitry 82 there are two 163~3 bit static shift registers. Since, as discussed previously, a bit corresponds to .001 of an inch for 1000 lines per inch resolution, the static shift re~isters are capable of storing the data for a 16.383 inch scan line.
Now, as a clock oscillator drives the counters counting down the 14 bit preset value to zero, it al~o clocks into the shift registe~ the state of thè word. Thus a logic "1" or logic `'0" will be clocked into ~he shift register one bit per clock cycle until the counters reach zero.
At that time, the next counter starts counting down and clocking its state into the shi~t register~; and so on, until a co~plete scan line has been clocked into the two ~hift registers. Note that the value of one of the two state bits i8 clocked into the input of one shift register ant the value of the other bit i9 clocked into the second shift register.
When the computer has generated one complete scan line of information it gives the CPS a llxxxxxxxxxxxxxx word. This stops the counters and tell~ the CPS that the shift registers containe one complete scan llne of informatlon and are ready to control the laser modulator.
The output of one 8hlft register is used to control the flow of informatlon from the lllustrative copy scanning devlce and the output from the second shift register controls the black or whlte of the text matter.
The mechanical portion of the system consists of a read drum 18 and write drum 20 connected ~n series by lnterconnecting shaft 22 and driven by a motor 24. The scanner uses a laser beam 38 generated by a laser 34 which passes through a beam splitter 36 and is focused on the read drum 8urface by the optics indlcated 32, The reflected image from the lllustrative copy 30 on the read drum passes back through the optlcs ant iB reflectet lnto a phatoelectric transducer 40 by the beam splltter 36, The signal~generated by the photoelectric transducer i~
proce88ed by the electronlcs lndicated at 42 and enters the electronic contral logic circuitry 82 through an interconnecting cable 66. Note that the flow of illustrstive copy data to the write laser madulator ig controllet ~y one of the static shift registers discussed above;
lOS~0~i4 i.e., when a logic "1" appears at this ~hif t register output, the signal from the scanning electronics is used to modulate the write laser beam.
The recordlng portion of the syste~ con~ists of a laser 80 generating a beam 84 which passes through a modulator 78 and is directed at the write drum 20 by the appropriate optics of 52. Note the optics of 52 and 32 are mechanically linked together as shown at 50. The read and write laser beams are stepped from one scan line to the next down the length of the drum mechanically by a stepping motor 56 and lead screw 54.
The photoelectric tran~ducers at 70 and 68 sen~e the position of the drum and signal the electronic control logic circuitry 82 through a cable 64 when the la~er can begin modulation to expose one scan line across the recording medium. If the shift registers are full, and photo-electric transducer~ 68 and 70 give the go-ahead~ then the electronic control logic circuitry 82 clocks the information out of the shift registers such that a signsl i~ fed to the motulator electronlcs 76 through a cable 72, The~e electronic signals contain black or whlte electronic data or ~lgnsls generated from the photoelectric tran~ducer of the scanning devlce.
When a scan line has been completely exposed on the recording medium, a command from the control logic circuitry is ~ent to the stepping motor drive electronics 58 through a cable 60, the laser beams move over one scsn line and the cycle repeats ltself.
The drum rotational ~peed is synchronlzed with the clock which drive~ the shift registers ~uch that the length of an exposed scan line does not vary down the length of the recordlng medium, This is accomplished by provlding an appropriate signal to the drum motor drive electronlcs 28 through cable 44.
The specifics of the circult are de~cribed only insofar a~ sre necessary for an understanding of the functlon and operatlon of the present system.
~anifestly, changes in details can be effected without departing from the splrit ant scope of the invention as defined in and limited solely by the appended claims,
Claims (14)
1. A composite page setter system comprising:
(A) an illustrative material storage device;
(B) a text material memory storage computer;
(C) scanner means for scanning material on said illustrative material storage device and operable to generate electronic signals therefrom;
(C) a composite illustrative material and text material recording surface;
(E) recorder means operable to record illustrative material and text material on said composite recording surface;
and (F) means for selectively outputting information from either the illustrative storage device or the computer memory operably to activate the recorder means to transmit and assemble all components of the illustrative material and text material on said recording surface in desired location and in proper sequence to constitute a full page assembly as a final image recording.
(A) an illustrative material storage device;
(B) a text material memory storage computer;
(C) scanner means for scanning material on said illustrative material storage device and operable to generate electronic signals therefrom;
(C) a composite illustrative material and text material recording surface;
(E) recorder means operable to record illustrative material and text material on said composite recording surface;
and (F) means for selectively outputting information from either the illustrative storage device or the computer memory operably to activate the recorder means to transmit and assemble all components of the illustrative material and text material on said recording surface in desired location and in proper sequence to constitute a full page assembly as a final image recording.
2. A page setter system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said scanner means comprises a laser scanner.
3. A laser page setter system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said recorder means includes a laser output device to provide the proper image, in the proper page location, on the recording surface.
4. A laser page setter as claimed in claim 3, including means for modulating the recorder laser to expose a printing plate and the like by reaction to a laser beam emanating from the laser device.
5. A laser page setter as claimed in claim 1, wherein said means for selectively outputting information from either the illustrative storage device or the computer memory constitutes a digital logic circuitry acting as a switching network to selectively operate either of the storage devices consisting of computer memory and illustrative material.
6. A laser page setter system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said illustrative material storage device constitutes a rotating drum, said recording surface a rotating drum with said drums interconnected for simultaneous rotation, and means for driving said drums and drum drive electronics.
7. A laser page setter system as claimed in claim 6, wherein said scanner means comprise a laser scanner.
8. A laser page setter system as claimed in claim 7, said laser scanner means including a laser beam output means, a beam splitter, photoelectric transducer means for said beam and means for correlating laser scanning with the recorder means, said recorder means constituting a laser beam
9. A laser page setter system as claimed in claim 8, including stepping motor driven screw means operable for moving and positioning the laser of said recorder means.
10. A laser page setter system as claimed in claim 9, including laser recorder means for the illustrative material ant text material respectively, and means for stepping and shifting both said laser recorder means in oriented sequence and spatial relationship for recording the respective materials on said composite recording surface.
11. A process for assembling and producing a full newspaper and the like page consisting of both text and illustrations comprising:
(A) scanning illustrative material with photoelectric transducer means and generating electronic signals indicative of the material scanned;
(B) storing text material as memory in a computer adapted to output electronic signals indicative of the text material;
(C) computer controlled processing the electronic signals generated from the illustrative material for proper recording laser modulation;
(D) combining the electronic signals from the illustrative material and the text material;
(E) selectively outputting signals from the scanned illustrative material and text material as information in its proper sequence to assemble all components of a page in one loca-tion, at one time, and in full page assembly form on a printing medium.
(A) scanning illustrative material with photoelectric transducer means and generating electronic signals indicative of the material scanned;
(B) storing text material as memory in a computer adapted to output electronic signals indicative of the text material;
(C) computer controlled processing the electronic signals generated from the illustrative material for proper recording laser modulation;
(D) combining the electronic signals from the illustrative material and the text material;
(E) selectively outputting signals from the scanned illustrative material and text material as information in its proper sequence to assemble all components of a page in one loca-tion, at one time, and in full page assembly form on a printing medium.
12. A process for assembling and producing a full composite newspaper, and the like, page image, comprised by both text and illustrative copy, comprising the steps of:
A. generating text material data representing the text, and its position within a complete page format, and storing same as memory in a computer adapted to output a first electronic signal representing said text material data, and;
B. scanning a surface including a hard copy display of illustrative copy with photoelectric transducer means and simultaneously generating a real-time second electronic signal representing the output of said scanning, and;
C. processing said second signal, as it is being generated, with said first signal, which represents said stored text and its position within 8 complete page format, to provide a third signal, and;
D. recording a full composite page image in response to, and simultaneous with, the generation of said third signal.
A. generating text material data representing the text, and its position within a complete page format, and storing same as memory in a computer adapted to output a first electronic signal representing said text material data, and;
B. scanning a surface including a hard copy display of illustrative copy with photoelectric transducer means and simultaneously generating a real-time second electronic signal representing the output of said scanning, and;
C. processing said second signal, as it is being generated, with said first signal, which represents said stored text and its position within 8 complete page format, to provide a third signal, and;
D. recording a full composite page image in response to, and simultaneous with, the generation of said third signal.
13. The process according to claim 12 wherein the step of generating said third signal further comprises sequentially generating complete scan line inputs for said recording step.
14. The process according to claim 12, wherein the steps of scanning and recording a full composite page are accomplished employing laser beam scanning.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA248,812A CA1056064A (en) | 1976-03-25 | 1976-03-25 | Composite page setter |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA248,812A CA1056064A (en) | 1976-03-25 | 1976-03-25 | Composite page setter |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1056064A true CA1056064A (en) | 1979-06-05 |
Family
ID=4105551
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA248,812A Expired CA1056064A (en) | 1976-03-25 | 1976-03-25 | Composite page setter |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1056064A (en) |
-
1976
- 1976-03-25 CA CA248,812A patent/CA1056064A/en not_active Expired
Similar Documents
| Publication | Publication Date | Title |
|---|---|---|
| US3949159A (en) | Composite page setter | |
| US3820123A (en) | Laser microfilm recorder | |
| US4967286A (en) | Method and apparatus for forming a digital image on an optical recording disc | |
| US3664737A (en) | Printing plate recording by direct exposure | |
| US4003626A (en) | Distortion correction apparatus for electro-optical reflectors which scan beams to produce images | |
| GB1240579A (en) | Data expander for display system | |
| US4135212A (en) | Printing methods and apparatus | |
| US3165045A (en) | Data processing system | |
| US4081604A (en) | Superposition recording apparatus | |
| CA1089922A (en) | Laser operated scanning and printing system | |
| JPS58204668A (en) | Method for scanning and recording picture | |
| CA1056064A (en) | Composite page setter | |
| US3864697A (en) | Non-impact printer | |
| JPS6141415B2 (en) | ||
| US4495521A (en) | Electronic copying apparatus | |
| JPS61274575A (en) | Scan printer | |
| US3199079A (en) | Apparatus for reading characters recorded on a carrier by producing corresponding electrical impulses | |
| GB2089504A (en) | Checking micromasks | |
| JPH02710B2 (en) | ||
| JPS598050A (en) | Recording device | |
| JPS5990824A (en) | Method and apparatus for transferring information in the form of electrical signal to recording medium at high speed | |
| JPS6056637B2 (en) | printing device | |
| Amtower | Laser Platemaking For The Graphics Industry | |
| SU1057302A1 (en) | Device for putting image into photo composing | |
| JP2733347B2 (en) | Output device |