EP1880962B2 - Method for transferring processing parameters and for processing sheet samples of a print medium - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves transporting values of processing parameters from a data medium to a controller of a processing machine e.g. pre-press device, or from the controller to a data medium, where the data medium exhibits an electronic storage medium. The data medium is brought together with a stack of arc-shaped copies of a printing medium e.g. paper, within the processing machine in such a manner that an automated data transmission takes places into the controller or from the controller. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) a stack of arc-shaped copies of a printing medium (2) a method for processing arc-shaped copies of a printing medium.

Description

The invention relates to a method for transferring processing parameters of a print medium in which values of processing parameters are read from a transportable data carrier into a controller of the processing machine or from a controller of the processing machine to a transportable data carrier and a method for processing sheet-shaped copies of a print medium printed on the arcuate copies of the print medium in a printing press, the printed sheet-shaped copies of the print medium placed on a stack and the stacked arcuate copies are further processed in a print finishing machine.

The controls of individual processing machines, in particular pre-press devices, printing machines and further processing machines, in the processing chain for the production of copies of a printed product are often connected to one another via a network for data exchange. In this way, for example, suitable default settings for a processing step, in particular the print job, can be sent to a specific processing machine. The CIP4 organization, in which many graphic arts companies are members, has set itself the goal of standardizing the conditions necessary for such networking. For this purpose, the so-called Job Definition Format (JDF) has been created, which is specified in detail in individual specifications issued by the CIP4 organization, for example the JDF specification version 1.2. In particular, the JDF standard also makes it possible to store or process information about the waste produced in a printing process.

The treatment of waste paper in the production of printed products is of particular importance, since it is necessary for a high-quality order to separate the waste paper from those classified as orderly or quality-appropriate. Typically, a marking and / or separation of waste paper from a group of copies, for example from a stack of copies, takes place manually. In particular, the waste paper is sorted out manually from a corresponding sectionally marked stack in a further processing step. Such a procedure requires a high operating effort and is error-prone.

For example, in the document DE 103 29 833 A1 a boom of a sheet-processing printing machine is shown, which allows a storage of order-based sheet on a stack and the supply of waste paper to a sheet receiving device, such as a container. This sorting out the waste requires appropriate design measures on the boom, which are to be classified as complex.

For example, in the document DE 40 09 415 A1 It is described that occurring in a folding machine occurring occurring spoil sheets are clearly marked by intercalation, so that the waste can be visually recognized by the operator on the delivery table and manually discarded.

Furthermore, it goes out of the drafting DE 1 212 563 shows that a web-processing rotary printing press may have a monitoring device, which errors are already detected on the running paper web in the printing press, so that the affected defective copies can be discarded already in or before the rotary press connected to the folder.

In the document EP 1 760 638 A1 is a continuous paper processing machine described. The continuous paper is equipped with at least one RFID chip, so that it can be checked whether correct information has been transmitted to the machine. The electronic data, in particular processing parameters, on the RFID chip can be read by the machine, a checking operation of information to be checked stored in a memory of the machine with the read-in data can be carried out. The check result is stored in a log memory of the machine.

The object of the present invention is to improve the logistics in the production of printed products.

This object is achieved by a method for transferring processing parameters of a printing medium having the features according to claims 1 and 4. Advantageous developments of the invention are characterized in the dependent claims.

In the method according to the invention for the transfer (or for transfer or transfer) of processing parameters of a print medium, values of processing parameters are read from a transportable data carrier into a controller of the processing machine or from a controller of the processing machine to a transportable data carrier. The transportable data carrier is interacted with the processing machine together with a stack of arcuate copies of the print medium in such a way that an automated data transfer into the controller or from the control of the processing machine can take place.

The printing medium can also be referred to as printing material. The printing medium may in particular be paper, cardboard, paperboard or organic polymer film. The printing medium may preferably be flat and, in particular in the direction perpendicular to the sheet surface, thin in comparison to the dimensions of the sheet. The automated data transmission can be carried out preferably in particular contactless. The transportable data carrier may be directly or indirectly connected to the stack of arched specimens or received on the stack of arched specimens. The transportable data carrier can be attached to a stack carrier, in particular to a pallet. The controller may include a writing and / or reading device for the portable data carrier or be associated with such a device.

Advantageously, the logistics of the print production is improved, as without additional effort for the operator of the processing machine details about the processing, in particular to be taken into account or occurring values of processing parameters, automatically and in unambiguous relation to the Print medium can be transmitted. For the transmission of the concrete values of processing parameters, no network and / or a central computer, which links the individual processing machines, is necessary. Due to the concrete correlation of the transportable volume to the stack of arched items, allocation errors when multiple stacks and records of processing parameters exist can be avoided.

In concrete embodiments of the method for transferring processing parameters of a print medium, the transportable data carrier may comprise a barcode representation or an electronic storage medium. The data carrier is preferably an RFID chip (Radio Frequency Identification Chip). This can communicate electromagnetically with a writing and / or reading device on a radio frequency. The RFID chip can be active or passive.

It is particularly advantageous if the transportable data carrier is erasable and rewritable. so that the volume is reusable.

In the context of the inventive idea is - depending on or independent of the other features described in this presentation - also a method for transferring processing parameters of a printing medium, in which values of processing parameters from a disk into a controller of the processing machine or by a controller of the processing machine be read on a disk. In this method according to the invention, for a stack of printed sheet-shaped copies of the printing medium, the values of processing parameters include quantitative information about the waste in the stack.

In contrast to known devices for sorting out the waste sheets, the waste according to the invention is electronically marked or marked by storing information about its occurrence in the stack. In this way, a sorting out later in a different processing step as directly after the production of waste paper, for example in the printing press, especially directly in the boom, take place.

The quantitative information about the waste may relate, in particular, on the one hand to the entire sheets in the stack or, on the other hand, to the usefulness of individual uses on a sheet having a number of uses. In other words, the information transferable by means of the data carrier can be so detailed in the case of printed copies with a plurality of uses that the values of this processing parameter specify which parts of a spoons sheet are usable and which parts are no longer usable, that is, waste , As a consequence, it is advantageously possible to reduce the number of copies which are no longer usable to as small a number as possible, in particular partially usable copies can still be partly processed further.

In a preferred embodiment of this method according to the invention for the transfer of processing parameters of a printing medium, information about the sequence of waste sheets and good sheets in the stack of printed sheet-like copies of the sheet is provided on the data carrier Stored pressure medium. Furthermore or alternatively, in the event that several benefits are present on a printed sheet-shaped copy, information on the usefulness of individual uses is stored on the data sheet on the sheet-shaped copy.

In the method according to the invention for the transfer of processing parameters of a printing medium, the processing parameters can describe properties of the printing medium, in particular the thickness / height of the printing medium (printing substrate thickness), the format or the grammage. These values can be used to verify that the print media matches the intended job and / or used to automatically adjust the processing machine. Furthermore or alternatively, the processing parameters may include order data. The order data may in particular be the order number, order volumes, information about the customer, order completion deadlines and / or order data mentioned in the JDF specification.

The method according to the invention for the transfer of processing parameters of a printing medium is carried out for a printing press or a print finishing machine, in particular a sheet punch, a folding machine or a saddle stitcher. In other words, the processing machine may be a printing press or a print finishing machine.

The printing machine is preferably a direct or indirect planographic printing machine, in particular an offset printing machine. The printing press may preferably be a sheet-processing machine. The printing machine can have a sheet feeder, a plurality of printing units, for example 4, 6, 8, 10 or 12 printing units and a delivery.

In the context of the inventive idea is also a stack of arcuate copies of a print medium on a pallet, which has a data carrier, in particular an RFID chip, which is suitable for performing a method with features or feature combinations according to this representation.

In a consistent further development of the invention, a method for processing sheet-shaped copies of a printing medium is provided. This comprises according to the invention at least the following steps: The arcuate copies of the printing medium are printed in a printing press. The printed sheet-shaped copies of the printing medium are deposited on a stack, in particular a stack formed on a pallet. The stacked arched specimens are further processed in a print finishing machine. In this case, parameters of the print medium are transferred according to a method for transferring processing parameters of a print medium with features or feature combinations according to this representation.

Printing in an offset printing press, in particular a sheet-fed offset printing press, which takes place in such an embodiment is preferably carried out unprinted arcuate copies of the print medium are fed from a stack.

For the person skilled in this art, it is clear that not only a transportable data carrier, in particular an RFID chip, of a stack of arcuate copies of the printing medium is brought into interaction with the processing machine such that an automated data transmission into the controller or from the controller the processing machine can take place. It is also possible to equip consumables directly or indirectly (in particular their packaging or their containers) with a transportable data carrier in an analogous manner with features or feature combinations of this representation. Important examples of such consumables include printing inks and exposed printing forms. An inventively equipped printing machine can then check whether the correct printing ink and / or the correct printing forms are supplied.

Furthermore or alternatively, it is preferred in such developments that the control of the printing press stores on the transportable data carrier which waste is in the order of the arched copies deposited on the stack.

In addition, in such a method for processing sheet-shaped copies of a printing medium, the waste in the further processing machine can be processed separately automatically.

Figur 1

ein Ablaufdiagramm einer bevorzugten Ausführungsform des erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens mit diversen Weiterentwicklungen.

Further advantages of a preferred embodiment and advantageous developments of the invention will be described with reference to the following descriptions with reference to the accompanying figure. It shows:

FIG. 1

a flow diagram of a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention with various developments.

In the preferred embodiment described here, an RFID chip is attached or integrated on a pallet of a stack of paper sheets to be processed in a printing press, in particular offset printing press. An RFID chip integrated in a pallet of a paper stack can be described and / or read out by radio contactlessly. Information about the paper and the job are stored on the RFID chip without contact. Even the paper manufacturer can describe the RFID chip with information about the paper, in particular its material properties. Alternatively, the paper can be reloaded in the printing on the specially equipped pallets, then the associated information about the paper are written on the RFID chip. Restacking is already common practice in printers with special logistics systems, so that this inventive supplement requires no particularly disadvantageous effort. Alternatively, to receive an integrated RFID chip in the pallet, an RFID chip may be attached in the form of a sticker or mechanically, such as by festooning, to a conventional (paper-laden or unloaded) pallet. At the feeder of the printing machine, this information is in the control of the printing press read in so that it can be checked that the paper matches the current job and presets of the press can be made.

In the boom, processed paper sheets are stored stacked on a pallet, the pallet having an RFID chip. As already mentioned, a pallet with an integrated RFID chip or a conventional pallet to which an RFID chip is attached, in particular attached by the printer, can be used. There are non-contact data on the properties of the printed paper sheet, in particular which of the sheets in the discarded stack of waste paper, stored in the RFID chip. In further processing steps in a further processing machine, in particular in a punch or a folding machine, the waste sheets can be sorted out.

The FIG. 1 shows a flowchart of a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention with various developments to a workflow (workflow) in the print media production.

The recorded on a pallet RFID chip of a paper stack is read in the feeder of a sheet-fed press, so that information about the material properties of the paper can be read into the control of the sheet-fed press. The workflow of the preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention thus includes the step 10 of reading the printing material properties. Since the reading and writing range of RFID chips commonly used today can be up to several meters, the range in the feeder (and also in the boom) need not be particularly precisely aligned. The press reads the information stored on the RFID chip over the paper, verifies that the paper matches the current job, and makes presets of the machine.

Waste paper is created during printing due to the different influences. In particular, the printer must first set up the press before any good sheets are printed. In other words, all sheets up to the first sheet that meets the requirements (good sheet) are waste. Furthermore, waste also occurs when stopping and restarting the printing press (startup waste), when printing speed changes (for example, due to the associated loss of register) and in case of power supply disturbances.

In step 12, the resulting waste is identified. In particular, there are two ways to determine which part or parts of the production are waste paper or not. First, the printer can specify by input to the control of the press, which printed sheets are assigned to the waste and which not. On the other hand, an automatic check, in particular by an optical evaluation of the printed image, single or a series of sheets are recognized as waste. In other words, there is an identification value in the controller which can assume at least two states (for good and for waste). The state values can be switched, for example by input via a human-machine interface or by automatic regulation. In particular, by means of an evaluation of the complete print image, it is possible to recognize whether individual benefits of a sheet with multiple benefits are useless while other individual benefits of the same arc are useful, so meet the quality requirements.

In step 14, an electronic marking of the waste takes place. The information about which sheets or which are on a sheet with multiple benefits waste paper is written in the delivery of the printing press on the electronic storage medium, in the RFID chip in the pallet of the delivery pile. Advantageously, due to the invention, a staking of the waste in the stack, an optical marking of the waste or a removal from the stack is no longer necessary. In this embodiment with an RFID chip is to be mentioned as a further not to be underestimated advantage that due to the use of wireless or non-contact, non-optical data exchange between controller and electronic medium contaminants, such as those caused in a boom of a printing press, for example by powder dust have no negative impact on the functionality. In this embodiment, order data, such as the order number and order data mentioned in the JDF specification, are also stored on the RFID chip.

For a correct further processing of the stack, the assignment of the information stored on the RFID chip to the individual, located in a particular order on the stack sheet must be guaranteed. In particular, this requirement means that no printer is allowed to remove or rearrange sheets from the stack without informing the corresponding processing machine concerned in the workstation or correspondingly correcting the data on the RFID chip. As a consequence, the device for sampling in the delivery of the printing press is supplemented such that the removal of sheets is considered when writing the information onto the RFID chip. In addition, the boom has an input device so that the printer can provide the number of sheets withdrawn and other information relevant to the identification of the waste and / or the order of the sheets on the stack of the control of the printing press.

In step 16, the stack of sheets, of which at least one part is waste, with the described RFID chip from the printing press to a further processing machine, such as a sheet punching machine, transported. In this way, both the printed sheets to be processed and the associated relevant values of processing parameters are correlated and fed together to the further processing machine.

In step 18, the values of processing parameters are transmitted by means of the RFID chip to the further processing machine, so that the waste is taken into account in the further processing. The control of the further processing machine, here the sheet punching machine, reads the information stored on the RFID chip, so that a corresponding adjustment of the further processing machine and / or a corresponding reaction to each concrete to be processed sheet can be done.

At this point it should also be noted that in the event that it is only a first further processing operation, for example a cutting, a Printing with a special color or painting is done with a special machine, also waste may be incurred. For further subsequent processing operations, the information about this waste is stored in an analogous manner on an RFID chip in addition to the other relevant information. In other words, the procedure according to the invention can be iterated for several successive processing operations.

In step 20, the waste is sorted out. The sorting out of the waste contained in a stack of sheets according to the invention is carried out in a processing step of the printed product, which is associated with the least amount of effort. In the case of the sheet punching machine, the waste paper can be disposed of in the punching waste container. Also, individual erroneous benefits can then be removed by means of a sorting device and disposed of in the container, while good benefits are further processed.

Claims (14)

1. Method of transferring processing parameters of a print medium in which values of processing parameters are read into a control unit of the processing machine from a portable data carrier or into a portable data carrier from a control unit of the processing machine, wherein the portable data carrier, together with a stack of sheet-shaped specimen of the print medium, is caused to interact with the processing machine in such a way that an automated data transfer to the control unit or from the control unit of the processing machine may take place,
   characterized in
   that for a stack of printed sheet-shaped specimen of the print medium the values of processing parameters comprise quantitative information concerning the spoiled products that are present in the stack.
2. Method of transferring processing parameters of a print medium according to claim 1,
   characterized in
   that the portable data carrier comprises an electronic memory medium.
3. Method of transferring processing parameters of a print medium according to claim 1 or 2,
   characterized in
   that the portable data carrier is erasable and re-writable.
4. Method of transferring processing parameters of a print medium in which values of processing parameters are read into a control unit of the processing machine from a data carrier or into a data carrier from a control unit of the processing machine,
   characterized in
   that for a stack of printed sheet-shaped specimen of the print medium the values of processing parameters comprise quantitative information concerning the spoiled products that are present in the stack.
5. Method of transferring processing parameters of a print medium according to claim 4,
   characterized in
   that information concerning the order of spoiled sheets and good sheets in the stack of printed sheet-shaped specimen of the print medium is saved on the data carrier.
6. Method of transferring processing parameters of a print medium according to claim 4 or 5,
   characterized in
   that if multiple copies are present on one printed sheet-shaped specimen, information concerning the usability of individual copies is saved on the data carrier.
7. Method of transferring processing parameters of a print medium according to any one of the preceding claims,
   characterized in
   that the processing parameters describe properties of the print medium.
8. Method of transferring processing parameters of a print medium according to any one of the preceding claims,
   characterized in
   that the processing parameters comprise job data.
9. Method of transferring processing parameters of a print medium according to any one of the preceding claims,
   characterized in
   that the data carrier is a RFID chip.
10. Method of transferring processing parameters of a print medium according to any one of the preceding claims,
    characterized in
    that the processing machine is a printing press or a machine for the further processing of printed products.
11. Method of processing sheet-shaped specimen of a print medium including the steps of:

    printing on the sheet-shaped specimen of the print medium in a printing press, depositing the printed sheet-shaped specimen of the print medium on a stack,

    further processing of the stacked sheet-shaped specimen in a machine for the further processing of printed products,

    characterized by
    transferring parameters of the print medium in accordance with a method of transferring processing parameters of a print medium according to any one of claims 1 to 10.
12. Method of processing sheet-shaped specimen of a print medium according to claim 11,
    characterized in
    that the printing step is carried out in a sheet-fed offset printing press to which the unprinted sheet-shaped specimen of the print medium are fed from a stack.
13. Method of processing sheet-shaped specimen of a print medium according to claim 11 or 12,
    characterized in
    that information on which sheet-shaped specimen in the order of sheet-shaped specimen deposited on the stack are spoilt is saved on the portable data carrier by the control unit of the printing press.
14. Method of processing sheet-shaped specimen of a print medium according to claim 11, 12 or 13,
    characterized in
    that the spoilt specimen are automatically processed separately in the machine for further processing.

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