EP0096238A2 - Multiple-machine operating device for the remote control of printing machines - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to multi-machine operation for remote control of printing presses, in which a central color density measuring system (5) via a multi-channel interface multiplexer (11) for data transmission electrically and / or optically simultaneously with remote control panels (19, 21, 22) and / or screen terminals (20 and 23) a plurality of printing presses (1, 2, 3) for the purpose of controlling their coloring can be coupled. For automatic detection of the assignment of the respective print product (7) measured by the central printing density measuring system (5) to the associated printing press (1, 2, 3, 4), there is a separate one for each printing press (1, 2, 3, 4) and each print job Data carrier (26) for correspondence with the central color density measuring system (5) is provided, which is provided with all order and machine-specific data. At the same time, for each optically and / or electrically coupled printing machine (1, 2, 3) and / or for each print job, an identification measuring field (28) recognizable for the color density measuring system (5) is provided in a control strip (27) of the respective printed product (7) , by means of which the central ink density measuring system (5) can automatically determine with each measuring run which printing press (1, 2, 3) the measured printed product (7) belongs to. It is provided that the central color density measuring system (5) and the electrical and / or optical data transmission are computer controlled.

Description

The invention relates to multi-machine operation for remote control of printing presses.

It is known, in the course of the progressive automation measures on printing presses to relieve the operating personnel and to shorten the set-up times, to carry out the presetting and ongoing influencing of the coloring during machine operation from a computer-assisted control panel of the machine. However, this requires a color density measurement value acquisition on the printed product, for which purpose partially or fully automated color density measurement devices are required, which also work with computer support and have a high degree of automation.

Color density measuring devices of this type - in particular for measuring print control strips - for quality control of printed products are used in such a way that the measuring desk and control desk of the printing press form spatially and / or electrically separate units. These units can also be mechanically connected directly to one another, so that the measuring and control panel can preferably be assigned to a specific printing press. In the case of a free-standing measuring desk with display and output units integrated there, it would in principle be conceivable to carry out the quality controls for several printing machines, i.e. measure the pressure control strips. However, this requires selection of the respective print job. This is e.g. possible with the scanning densitometer (Grapho-Metronic) presented on the IPEX 80.

In such color density measuring devices, the user must log on to the device in a suitable manner, for example using the keyboard or a special magnetic card, in which case he can then take over the measurement result only in the form of lists or log printouts to the control panel of his printing press. Since the acquisition costs for partially or fully automated color density measuring devices are relatively high depending on their degree of automation, they are often not in a favorable ratio to the purchase price of the printing press on which they are used, so that single-machine operation appears to be questioned for cost reasons. Since there are generally space problems in the machine halls, measuring desks - especially several - are often for spatial reasons not to install. Due to the compulsory assignment of the color density measuring device to a printing machine, there is a lack of flexibility with regard to format, print control strips, number of colors or printing units, etc., so that a relatively poor utilization of an expensive color density measuring device is given.

Starting from this prior art, the object of the invention is to provide an ink density measuring device which can simultaneously influence the coloring of several printing presses with a minimum of effort and production costs for the purpose of optimal utilization.

The object is achieved in that a central color density measuring system for data transmission electrically and / or optically at the same time. can be coupled with remote control panels and / or screen terminals of several printing machines. This measure ensures the best possible use of the color density measurement system and achieves a reasonable cost-benefit ratio, with three transmission options being available for transferring information to the respective printing press and direct further processing of the color density measurement values to influence the coloring is possible.

Additional advantageous refinements and developments of the inventive concept are laid down in subclaims 2 to 11 and in the description.

The invention is explained below with reference to an embodiment shown in the drawing.

• Fig. l: den schematischen Aufbau einer erfindungsgemäßen Mehrmaschinenbedienung zur Fernsteuerung von Druckmaschinen.

It shows:

• Fig. L: the schematic structure of a multi-machine operation according to the invention for remote control of printing machines.

According to FIG. 1, a central ink density measuring system 5 is stationed at a location that is as central as possible within a machine room between several printing machines 1 to 4. The color density measuring system 5 consists essentially of a measuring table 6 for placing the printed product 7 with a Computer-assisted densitometric measuring device 8, a personal computer 9 with its own screen and detection electronics 18 and from a log printer 10. The central color density measuring system 5 is also equipped with a multi-channel interface multiplexer 11, the number of which channels 12 to 17 are used, in particular according to the number the desired electrical and / or optical couplings aimed.

The printing press 1 is equipped with a control panel 19 and a screen terminal 20, the printing press 2 exclusively with a control panel 21, and the printing press 3 with a control panel 22 and a screen terminal 23. In these printing presses 1 to 3, the coloring can be influenced remotely from their control panel 19 as well as 21 and 22. The printing press 4 is neither equipped with a control panel nor with a screen terminal and is provided, for example, with a known type of knife ink fountain that can still be adjusted manually.

The interface multiplexer 11 permits the direct transmission of measured values from the central color density measuring system 5 to various printing presses 1 to 3. For this purpose, the central color density measuring system 5 is coupled via the first channel 12 of the interface multiplexer 11 to the screen terminal 20 of the printing press 1 exclusively for the purpose of data transmission for optical display. Here the operator of the printing press 1 can have all the measured values of the printed product, such as dot gain, contrast, shift / duplication values, but in particular the spot color density measured values and color density setpoints as well as color density differences between the measured values and specified setpoints, displayed as reference values serve for the adjustment of the color metering elements and by means of which he can influence the coloring from the control panel 19 by remote control. Since the control panel 19 itself is not electrically coupled to the central color density measuring system 5, this represents an inexpensive coupling variant, which is also particularly suitable for retrofitting and coupling existing control panels of an older type that are not intended for electrical coupling.

In the second printing press 2, on the other hand, the control panel 21 is connected to the central ink density measuring system 5 via the second channel 13 of the interface multiplexer 11 exclusively for the purpose of data transmission for electrical coupling the. The target and measured values transferred from the color density measuring system 5 are automatically converted into control values in the form of follow-up recommendations in the control panel 21. Processed change of color guide for the operator of the printing press 2. In addition to the color profile, ie the position of the color metering elements, the operator can also have the color density trend and the tracking recommendations shown in a display display of the control panel 21, which is not shown and is described in more detail. On the one hand, he now has the option of accepting these tracking recommendations and tracking the color control elements continuously, automatically, or instead only once after initiating a tracking command. However, he can also position individual color control elements by manually initiating remote control commands. The automatic further processing of the data transferred from the central color density measuring system 5 normally makes the additional arrangement of a screen terminal unnecessary. This coupling variant can be used if printing machines are equipped with appropriate control panels.

As shown in the printing machine 3, however, a double coupling, i.e. both an electrical coupling with the control panel 22 and an optical coupling with the screen terminal 23 are conceivable. Here, the operator of the printing press 3 has the possibility, in addition to the visual display of the color density deviations in a so-called graphical form, alternatively also to view all the measured values numerically.

A control terminal 25 is connected to the fifth channel 16 of the interface multiplexer 11 and, for the purpose of monitoring, is located, for example, at the printing line, so that the latter has the opportunity at any time, among other things. to monitor the coloring of the individual printing presses 1 to 4 directly. The separate log printer 10 can be controlled via the sixth channel 17 of the interface multiplexer 11. The latter produces log printouts 24 on which all the data that can also be displayed on the personal computer 9 and in the screen terminals 20 or 23 are printed out.

In older-type printing presses with the knife ink fountain set mentioned at the outset, which can still be adjusted manually, and which has neither a control panel nor a If the screen terminal is equipped, the operator can take the log printout 24 of the log printer 10 directly to his printing machine 4 for the purpose of manual log coupling and can adjust the color meters manually based on the log values. This results in the possibility of using the central ink density measuring system 5 specifically for older printing presses without any automation aids and thereby optimizing their coloring more quickly.

Since printed products 7 of any format with different print control strips 27 of different control systems can be measured densitometrically in succession on the central color density measuring system 5, a separate data carrier 26 is provided for each printing machine 1 to 4 coupled directly to the central color density measuring system 5, which is preferably designed as a job-specific diskette is. Each of these floppy disks 26 contains the entire program of all permissible print control strips that are used in the respective print shop, all standard target values and tolerances etc., as well as the job-specific program.

Before each print job, the specific information for the respective print job is compiled from this overall menu of information in a start dialog in the personal computer 9. As a result, only the job-specific information noted on the diskette 26 need be used for the repetitive measuring processes. After each color density measurement, certain measured values are also stored on the diskette 26 in order to be able to output a print run report after the print run has ended.

To ensure that the correct assignment of the printed product 7 measured with the central color density measuring system 5 to the corresponding disk 26 is created automatically, a different, usually non-measuring field, of the print control strip 27 is used for identification for each coupled machine and / or for each print job . A control field provided exclusively for the visual assessment of the disk copy control is preferably used as the identification measuring field 28. This identification measuring field 28 can be made, for example, before the start of the edition on the printing plate by means of masking lacquer to a full tone or by etching to a white field and e.g. be explained as such at the start dialog in a positioning run of the dcnsitomctrischen measuring device 8.

The measurement value of the identification measurement field 28 is stored on the respective diskette 26 and a printed product 7, which is later measured on the central color density measurement system 5 and is not assigned to this diskette 26, is detected by means of the detection electronics 18 of the personal computer 9 as a result of the measurement values which differ considerably from the measurement value of the identification measurement area 28 recognized, e.g. if, in the case of an identification measuring field 28 declared to be a full tone, a significantly different measured value, caused by no full tone, is determined at this point. The diskette 26 thus forms a coherent control unit for the respective print job and the respectively measured print product 7, in the example shown in the figure a support sheet. Before each measuring operation of a support sheet 7, the operator of the printing press must therefore insert the correct order-specific disk 26 into the drive of the personal computer 9 so that the correct assignment of support sheet 7 - disk 26 is ensured. An incorrect assignment between the support sheet 7 and the diskette 26 is signaled on the screen of the personal computer 9, since in this case the measured values are not accepted by the identification electronics 18 due to the different measured value of the identification measuring field 28.

For the sake of simplicity, the identification measuring field 28 can already be determined in the repro department before the plate copy is made and corresponding to the solid or white field or also e.g. be prepared with a special barcode.

If no use is to be made of this method of automatic recognition of the printed sheet 7, the print job or the corresponding printing press, e.g. in the case of single-machine operation, no identification measuring field is only declared during the positioning run in the start dialog.

Of course, the invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiment laid down in the description, it goes without saying that numerous modifications and variations of both structural and procedural nature are conceivable and are within the scope of the invention.

PARTS LIST

• 1 2 Printing press 3 4
• 5 central color density measuring system
• 6 measuring panel
• 7 printed product
• 8 densitometric measuring device
• 9 personal computers
• 10 log printers
• 11 interface multiplexers
• 12 13 14 channel 15 16 17
• 18 Detection electronics
• 19 control panel
• 20 screen terminal
• 21 control panel
• 22 control panel
• 23 screen terminal
• 24 Report printout
• 25 control terminal
• 26 data carriers
• 27 print control strips
• 28 Identification measuring field

Claims (11)

1. Multi-machine operation for remote control of printing machines,
characterized,
that a central color density measuring system (5) for data transmission can be coupled electrically and / or optically simultaneously with remote control panels (19, 21, 22) and / or screen terminals (20 and 23) of several printing machines (1, 2, 3). 2. Multi-machine operation according to claim 1,
characterized,
that an automatic recognition of the assignment of the respective printed product (7) measured by the central color density measuring system (5) to the associated printing press (1, 2, 3, 4) or to a data carrier (26) is provided. 3. Multi-machine operation according to claim 1 and / or 2,
characterized,
that a multi-channel interface multiplexer (11) is provided for electrical and / or optical coupling. 4. Multi-machine operation according to one or more of the preceding claims,
characterized,
that a protocol printer (10) can be connected to at least one channel (17) of the interface multiplexer (11), the protocol (24) for coupling the protocol to the inking unit of a printing press (4) can be adopted directly. 5. Multi-machine operation according to one or more of the preceding claims,
characterized,
that the central color density measuring system (5) and the electrical and / or optical data transmission are computer-controlled. 6. Multi-machine operation according to one or more of the preceding claims,
characterized,
that a computer (9) for automatically recognizing the assignment of the respective printing press (1-4) to the central ink density measuring system (5) is provided. 7. Multi-machine operation according to one or more of the preceding claims,
characterized,
that the current assignment of the respective printing press (1-4) to a multiplexer channel (12-17) can be selected and changed as desired. 8. Multi-machine operation according to one or more of the preceding claims,
characterized,
that for each printing machine (1-4) or each print job, a separate data carrier (26) is provided for correspondence with the central color density measuring system (5), which provides all job and machine-specific data, such as type of measuring strip, format, etc. is. 9. Multi-machine operation according to one or more of the preceding claims,
characterized,
that the data carrier (26) is designed as an order diskette. 10. Multi-machine operation according to one or more of the preceding claims,
characterized,
that for each optically and / or electrically coupled printing machine (1, 2, 3) and / or for each print job in a print control strip (27) of the printed product (7), one that is recognizable for the color density measuring system (5), own. Identification measuring field (28) is provided so that the assignment to the respective printing press (1, 2, 3 or 4) can be determined automatically. , 11. Multi-machine operation according to one or more of the preceding claims,
characterized,
that a positioning or recognition run of the central color density measuring system (5) is provided for the declaration of the identification measuring field (28).

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