EP3808564B1 - Autonomous sheet numbering - Google Patents

Description

The present invention is concerned with a method for the macula deforestation of printed products using an autonomous production line with central printed product detection.

The invention lies in the technical field of printing logistics.

Various solutions for implementing fully automatic waste removal are known in the prior art. One known solution, for example, is to manually mark printed sheets with a fluorescent pen during the first pass. This pin is then recognized during the second or next pass of the printed sheet and accordingly a process such as switching on a good sheet counter in the case of a correctly printed printed sheet and the ejection of the printed sheet in the case of an incorrectly printed printed sheet is initiated. However, with this approach, autonomous printing is not possible on the first print run. The operator therefore has to stop the machine and mark the printed sheet with a fluorescent pen at exactly the point where the sensor will later be located in the reverse printing. To do this, he must remove the printed sheet from the delivery or mark it in the delivery. To do this, it is necessary to stop the machine, and when it restarts, start-up waste is created again. Furthermore, there is no comparison between front and back printing. There is a risk here that individual signatures can be mixed in.

From the German patent specification DE 10 2010 003 913 B4 is a storage of the stack structure, in the form of waste and good sheets, and the use for a second pass in a printing press is known, including marking the waste by an inkjet unit and modifying the pallet via an input field on the machine or a terminal, for acknowledgment or .Entering manually extracted sheets. Here, print sheets are written on automatically using an inkjet unit.

However, the disadvantage here is that the marking unit can only distinguish whether the printed sheet is waste or not.

The German patent specification DE 103 49 896 B4 reveals an auto non-stop in the delivery of the setup waste and start-up waste are automatically separated from the production sheets.

The German patent application DE 10 2005 009 301 A1 again shows how an electronic memory is permanently connected to the printing material and recorded with all events that occur during printing. The costs for an electronic memory result in higher costs than for a visually applied ID. Furthermore, a reading device is required to read this information.

The European patent application EP 1 939 800 A1 in turn describes storage of printing material and printing information, such as the condition of the sheet, information about the inspection and measuring system, on a data storage or storage on a database with assignment via an ID with feedback to a database or a production system and a corresponding log creation. Furthermore, locating the position of the substrate pallet is disclosed.

From the German patent application DE 102005037497 A1 is a method for individually marking each benefit on a printed sheet using a laser device during the printing process in a sheet-fed printing machine, preferably sheet-fed offset printing machine, with a visual or machine-readable unique coding is known. To simplify the method, it is provided that a printing ink or coating is applied to the printing sheet using a printing device, the printing device being arranged upstream of the laser device in the sheet running direction of the printing machine, and the printing ink or coating applied by the printing device being a thermosensitive printing ink or Coating that changes color under the influence of a laser beam.

The German patent application DE 102006015828 A1 in turn discloses an image processing system for a printing press that is suitable for variably inspecting image data. The invention also describes methods that are used in the event of an error in order to reduce misprints.

The European patent application EP 3 168 045 A2 On the other hand, discloses a method for controlling or regulating a production process in the production of printed products from a web-shaped printing material in a printing system, the method having the following steps: printing a code, in particular a matrix code, with production information contained therein for the control or .Regulation of the production process for the printing material; Detecting the code using a detection device; Evaluation of the production information contained in the code using an evaluation unit; Execution of the control or regulation actions based on the production information determined by the printing system; wherein a code containing production information about several different signatures is printed on at least one signature to be separated from the web-shaped printing material by cross-cutting.

The European patent application EP 3 456 535 A1 shows a method for waste management in a machine that processes printing materials by means of a computer, wherein as part of waste management, sensors, in particular in the form of an image capture system with at least one image sensor, capture print images from the printed products and compare them with a digital reference and, in the event of deviations from the recorded ones Print images from the digital reference, the incorrectly recognized printed products are removed, and which is characterized in that waste profiles are created, which contain parameters to which certain actions are assigned and for print images that deviate from the digital reference and are recorded as part of the image inspection depending on the parameters certain actions are carried out, with different devices being controlled depending on the specific actions.

The task therefore arises of disclosing a method for waste management of printed products, which works as completely autonomously as possible and therefore much more efficiently than the systems known in the prior art and also avoids their known disadvantages.

This task is solved by a method according to claim 1, namely a method for waste management of printed products in a system processing printing materials, consisting of at least one computer and at least one printing press, which includes the steps of assigning a central ID for each printed product to be processed in the system by means of a Computer, assignment of certain events to each ID by the computer, printing of printed products in a printing press of the system, examination of the correspondingly printed printed products using a computer-aided image capture system and, depending on this, assignment of a specific state to each printed printed product by the computer, assignment of all recorded states to a specific event and triggering the specific event for all printed printed products depending on the respectively assigned state of the respective printed product and a specific further processing by the computer, wherein the printing press is a sheet-fed printing press and an ID is assigned to each printed sheet used by the computer , the events in the case of further processing in the sheet-fed printing press include activating a good sheet counter or stopping the printing press and, in the case of further processing in a separate further processing unit, feeding the printed printed product into the separate further processing unit, the separate storage of the printed printed product as a sample, stopping the separate further processing unit, as well as the loading of stored configuration data for an autonomous presetting of the separate further processing unit and in both cases the removal of the printed print product as waste.

Fundamental to the method according to the invention is therefore the feature chain that a central and unique ID is assigned for each printed product to be processed in the system. After this printed product has been created and the corresponding quality analysis carried out by an image capture system, a condition is also assigned to this printed product. Since at the same time each ID is assigned an Sct of certain possible events and the activation of the events depends on the respective state of the print product assigned to the ID, as well as on the respective desired further processing of the generated print product, a specific event is selected and executed automatically depending on this. In the simplest case, this means nothing other than that a printed product gets a specific ID, this printed product is checked and, for example, B. is assessed as an error-free, accepted printed product and is accordingly released for further processing in a folding machine, transported to this further processing unit and processed there accordingly. An alternative scenario would be that a printed product with its unique ID is assessed as waste by the image capture system and thus, as a possible event, it is rejected as waste. The information about the printed product is linked to the ID and, depending on the condition, its possible further processing.

The first case of further processing in the printing press usually involves printing on the back of the printed product. In this case, in the good case, the good sheet counter must be incremented and in the bad case, i.e. H. that the printed product was assessed as waste by the image capture system, the printing press is stopped, since in this case no further processing in the form of printing on the back is possible. If the printing press in question also has an internal waste filter, in this case the printed product that is classified as waste can also be rejected directly. In this case, it may be possible to avoid stopping the printing press. Furthermore, actions specific to this case can be assigned as events in the event of further transport of the printed print product into the further processing unit, such as those mentioned accordingly.

Advantageous and therefore preferred developments of the method result from the associated subclaims and from the description with the associated drawings.

A preferred development of the method according to the invention is that the ID is applied to the respective printed product by means of a writing unit, in particular an inkjet unit, in the form of a machine-readable code, in particular a 1D or 2D code, or an alphanumeric code. These are just the most common ones

Ways in which the ID can be assigned to the respective print product.

As an alternative to these analog markings, in which the respective printed product is always described with the ID, a digital assignment would also be conceivable, in which a corresponding ID is only assigned to a counted sheet in the computer or in the computer's memory. However, this complicates the method according to the invention, since subsequent identification of a specific printed product is difficult.

A further preferred development of the method according to the invention is that the IDs are newly assigned by the computer or specified externally to the system and both the IDs and the assigned events and states are stored by the computer on a local memory of the computer or the printing press, a central memory of the System or an external network storage. Whether the computer itself assigns the IDs continuously, usually incrementally, or whether exact IDs are specified accordingly by an external control depends on the local location, i.e. the printing shop in which the method according to the invention is carried out. However, it is important that in the present system consisting of computer and printing press, each ID with its corresponding event(s) and, if the assigned printed product has already been qualitatively examined, the corresponding status is also available to the computer.

A further preferred development of the method according to the invention is that the states of the printed and examined printed products include the state of a set-up waste, a production waste or a good sheet. In the event that an examined printed product is in the form of waste, a distinction is made between setup and production waste, since a certain amount of waste is generated as standard when setting up the printing press until all parameters of the printing press, particularly with regard to color control, correspond to the desired target parameters. The setup waste is therefore at least partially independent of the quality assessment of the image capture system, since a certain amount of waste always occurs when setting up the printing press anyway, while production waste is only the final state if it is produced after the setup process has been completed and after the actual production has started printed product was assessed as rejects by the image capture system.

A further preferred development of the method according to the invention is that the assigned state as a good sheet automatically results in the assignment of the event of activating the good sheet counter. This applies in particular to the case of further processing in the sheet-fed printing press, since the good sheet counter must be activated automatically as soon as printed products recognized as good sheets enter the printing press. But even with external further processing, the good sheet counter must be incremented accordingly in the case of an evaluated good sheet.

A further preferred development of the method according to the invention is that further processing of the printed printed product involves post-processing in the sheet-fed printing press, in particular printing on the back of the printed product or a second printing process, or post-processing in a separate further processing unit of the system, in particular a punch, a rotary die cutter, a folding machine or a folding box gluing machine.

The list is not limited to the cases mentioned. Other forms of further processing are also possible; However, the cases mentioned are by far the most common and important.

A further preferred development of the method according to the invention is that an inline image capture system is used as the image capture system, which is located in the printing press behind a final printing or coating unit. Although an external image capture system can also be used for the method according to the invention, in the sense of an autonomous production line that requires a high degree of automation, an inline image capture system is preferable.

Another solution to the task is a computer-aided automated waste management system for a machine that processes printed sheets and is set up to carry out the above-mentioned method.

The invention as such as well as structurally and/or functionally advantageous developments of the invention are described in more detail below with reference to the associated drawings using at least one preferred exemplary embodiment. In the drawings, corresponding elements are provided with the same reference numerals.

Figur 1:

schematisch den Aufbau eines Bilderfassungssystems

Figur 2:

den schematischen Ablauf einer bevorzugten Ausführungsform des erfindungsgemäßen Verfahrens

The drawings show:

Figure 1:

schematically the structure of an image capture system

Figure 2:

the schematic sequence of a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention

Figure 1 shows an example of an image capture system 2 which uses the method according to the invention. It consists of at least one image sensor 5, usually a camera 5, which is integrated into the sheet-fed printing press 4. The at least one camera 5 records the print images generated by the printing press 4 and sends the data to a computer 3, 6 for evaluation. This computer 3, 6 can be its own separate computer 6, for example one or more specialized image processing computers 6, or also with be identical to the control computer 3 of the printing press 4. At least the control computer 3 of the printing press 4 has a display 7 on which the results of the image inspection are displayed to the user 1. According to the invention, the printing press is a sheet-fed printing press 4, with which the printed products correspond to printed sheets 9.

In Figure 2 The process of the method according to the invention in its preferred embodiment will now be explained in more detail. When printing, the machine control in the form of the control computer 3 of the printing press 4 gives each sheet 9 a unique number or ID, which is unique in the production line. This is applied using a marking unit, which is controlled by a separate control unit 8. Events that the machine control 3 generates are assigned to this number. In a downstream process, the number is automatically read out and Automatic processes are triggered accordingly. These include, for example, switching on the good sheet counter during reverse printing or the removal of faulty printed sheets or blanks in the downstream process, such as a folding machine, by the control unit of this postpress system 10.

The procedure is explained in more detail below using various scenarios. When sheets are fed in, a unique ID is generally generated for each printed sheet 9. This can be generated by the control computer 3 of the printing press 4 and then transmitted to the control unit of the marking unit 8. Alternatively, the control computer of the marking unit 8 can also create the ID itself and then transmit it to the control unit 3 of the printing press 4. Another alternative is to specify the ID by a central production system 11 using a database and transmit it to the control unit 3 of the printing press 4 and then from there to the control unit of the marking unit 8. The ID can be a consecutive number or an arbitrarily generated number.

This unique ID is applied via a marking unit, such as an inkjet unit on the sheet feeder. Alternatively, this marking unit can also be attached to a different position in the printing press 4. The ID can be applied in the form of an alphanumeric number that can be read electronically, e.g. via OCR. In an alternative version, a machine-readable 1D or 2D code, e.g. a barcode or a QR code, can also be used.

If there is already an ID on the sheet 9, it is read in using the camera of the image capture sensor, checked by the control computer 3 of the printing press 4 or by the image processing computer 6 and processed accordingly by them, so that no new generation of an ID is necessary for this sheet.

• Einrichtemakulatur - also Druckbogen 9, die benötigt werden um zu Beginn die Soll Parameter zu erreichen
• Fortdruckmakulatur - also Druckbogen 9, deren Bildqualität innerhalb der Produktionsphase außerhalb der vorgegebenen Toleranzen liegt
• Gutbogen - Druckbogen 9, die innerhalb der vorgegebenen Toleranzen liegen

By means of the inline image capture system 2 of the printing press 4 and/or additional color and quality measurement systems in the printing press 4, which evaluate the condition of currently processed printed sheets 9, these corresponding states are then determined by the Control computer 3 of printing press 4 is assigned to the associated ID of the respective printed sheet 9. These correspond to certain properties, which are determined by the configuration and presetting of the machine control 3 and recognition of features and comparison with a previously defined tolerance properties such as:

• Setup waste - i.e. print sheets 9, which are needed to achieve the target parameters at the beginning
• Production waste - i.e. print sheet 9, the image quality of which lies outside the specified tolerances during the production phase
• Good sheets - print sheets 9 that are within the specified tolerances

This feature automatically modifies the sheet counting device so that the required quantity of sheets 9 is produced.

In addition, the printing press control 3 can receive additional parameters and settings that set tighter tolerances in order to determine which printing sheets 9 have no or almost no deviations. These receive another feature, sample sheets, and can be automatically discharged via a separate production line in the downstream postpress process and treated separately. If there are deviations from a reference, the actual deviation is documented so that threshold values can be subsequently configured, thus allowing the properties of each individual sheet 9 to be modified. If there are several benefits or elements on a printed sheet 9, the position or benefit number of the deviation is also documented so that subsequent and clear identification is possible. Furthermore, all other job-specific data is assigned to this ID. These can be, for example, order number, work process, signature, front or back page, language, etc.

The unique ID with all the information will then be saved or cached in a data storage.

• Lokal auf dem Steuerungsrechner 3 der Druckmaschine 4
• Zentral im Produktionssystem 11
• Global in einer Cloud oder Ähnlichem

Storage such as:

• Locally on the control computer 3 of the printing press 4
• Central in the production system 11
• Globally in a cloud or similar

All of this data is subsequently used for various purposes and related procedures.

A possible preferred application is a second printing pass of a printed sheet 9 in the same printing press 4. In such a second pass, the same printed page is printed again. For this purpose, the sheet ID is read in the printing press 4 by means of a sensor device in the sheet feed area, in a printing or coating unit or integrated into a color and quality measurement system. In production, the information behind the associated ID is then expanded using signals in production. For example, a printed sheet 9 that was previously evaluated as a good sheet will later be evaluated as production waste when a deviation is detected. Furthermore, the new color and quality information is also assigned to the print sheet 9 or its stored ID.

• Automatisches Aktivieren des Gutbogenzähler, sobald Gutbogen in die Druckmaschine 4 einlaufen,
• Anhalten der Druckmaschine 4, wenn die benötigen Referenzwerte noch nicht erreicht sind, damit aus dem ersten Druckdurchgang keine Gutbogen für das Einrichten verwendet und im Anschluss die vorgegebene Auflage nicht mehr erreicht wird.

The next step when setting up a job is to automatically initiate events on the printing press 4 based on the stored information behind the ID. These include, for example:

• Automatic activation of the good sheet counter as soon as good sheets enter the printing press 4,
• Stopping the printing press 4 if the required reference values have not yet been reached so that no good sheets from the first printing run are used for set-up and the specified print run is no longer achieved.

In addition, there is a plausibility check to ensure that it is the same order as the first round, which creates a mix of different print sheets 9, orders and languages.

• Automatisches Aktivieren des Gutbogenzähler, sobald Gutbogen in die Druckmaschine 4 einlaufen,
• Anhalten der Druckmaschine 4, wenn die benötigen Referenzwerte noch nicht erreicht sind, womit aus dem ersten Druckdurchgang keine Gutbogen für das Einrichten verwendet und im Anschluss die vorgegeben Auflage nicht mehr erreicht wird.

Another preferred application is reverse printing on straight printing machines. Here, the other printed side or back of the printed sheet 9 is printed in a second pass. Here too, the ID is read in the printing press 4 by means of the sensor device, which is attached to the sheet feed areas on the lower opposite side. In the production phase of the printing press 4, the information behind the associated ID is expanded. For example, a printed sheet 9 that was previously evaluated as a good sheet is evaluated as production waste when a deviation is detected. Furthermore, the new color and quality information is also assigned to the print sheet 9 or the stored ID. As an addition, another ID can be printed again on the other side of the sheet, which is combined with the previous ID by the control computer 3 of the printing press 4. Then, in the next step when setting up a job, certain events are automatically initiated on the printing press 4 based on the information behind the ID. These include here:

• Automatic activation of the good sheet counter as soon as good sheets enter the printing press 4,
• Stopping the printing press 4 if the required reference values have not yet been reached, which means that no good sheets are used for setup from the first printing run and the specified print run is no longer achieved.

Alternatively or as a supplement, the plausibility is checked.

The third preferred purpose is to send information generated by the printing press control 3 to a central production system 11 or cloud downstream production unit. A die cutter, a rotary die cutter, a folding machine or a folding box gluing machine come into consideration.

Here, too, when the sheet is fed in, the sheet-specific ID is read out via an attached sensor unit and compared with the previously generated data. Due to the information that the current print sheet 9 then contains, an event is initiated by the control computer 3, which happens to the respective print sheet 9.

• Das Entsorgen von Makulatur über eine Ausschleusung oder eine separate Ausgabestrecke
• Das Zuführen des Gutbogens zur Produktionsstrecke für die nachgelagerte Produktionseinheit
• Die separate Ablage für Muster, falls ein direkter Versand an den Kunden oder die Ablage in ein Archiv notwendig ist
• Das Stoppen der Produktionseinheit bei nicht plausiblen Jobdaten, damit eine Untermischung verhindert wird
• Das Laden von jobspezifischen Preset-Daten, für eine autonome Voreinstellung der nachgelagerten Produktionseinheit.

The following events come into question:

• The disposal of waste via an ejection or a separate output route
• Feeding the good sheet to the production line for the downstream production unit
• Separate storage for samples if direct shipping to the customer or storage in an archive is necessary
• Stopping the production unit if job data is implausible to prevent mixing
• Loading job-specific preset data for autonomous presetting of the downstream production unit.

The following table shows an example of different print sheets 9, or the IDs assigned to them, including the information stored. Sheet ID Order number Signature r Order name e Fine printing / reverse printing Waste / good sheets Color deviation compared to reference Print quality / printing errors in use 12352 2 99855 1 Ibuprofe n Nice Gutbogen n Delta E2 no mistake 12352 3 99855 1 Ibuprofe n Nice Gutbogen n Delta E2 no mistake 12352 4 99855 1 Ibuprofe n Nice Gutbogen n Delta E2 no mistake 12352 5 99855 1 Ibuprofe n Nice maculature r Delta E2 in benefit 3 12352 6 99855 1 Ibuprofe n Nice maculature r Delta E2 in benefit 3 12352 7 99855 1 Ibuprofe n Nice Gutbogen n Delta E2 no mistake 12352 8 99855 1 Ibuprofe n Nice Gutbogen n Delta E2 no mistake

Reference symbol list

1

user

2

Image capture system

3

Printing machine control computer

4

printing press

5

Image sensor

6

Image processing computer

7

display

8th

Marking unit control unit

9

Print sheet with ID

10

Postpress control unit

11

central production system

Claims (8)

1. Method of managing unusable printed products (9) in a system for processing printing substrates, the system consisting of at least one computer (3, 8, 10) and at least one printing machine (4), the method comprising the steps of allotting by means of a computer a central ID for every print product (9) to be processed in the system, assigning specific events to every ID by means of the computer (3, 8, 10), printing on print products (9) in a printing machine (4) of the system, examining the print products (9) that have been printed in this way by means of a computer-assisted image recording system (2), and, as a function of the examining step, assigning a specific state to every one of the printed print products (9) by means of the computer (3, 8, 10), assigning, by means of the computer (3, 8, 10) all recorded states to a respective specific event, and initiating the specific event for all of the printed print products (9) as a function of the respective assigned state of the respective print product (9) and of a specific further processing by means of the computer (3, 8, 10), wherein the printing machine (4) is a sheet-fed printing machine (4),
   characterized
   in that the computer (3, 8, 10) assigns an ID to every utilized print sheet (9) in a corresponding way, in that, in case of further processing in the sheet-fed printing machine (4), the events comprise activating a good sheet counter or stopping the printing machine (4) and, in case of further processing in a separate further processing unit, the events comprise feeding the printed print product (9) to the separate further processing unit, separately depositing the printed print product (9) as a sample sheet, stopping the separate further processing unit, as well as loading provided configuration data for an autonomous presetting of the separate further processing unit and in that in both cases, the events comprise removing the printed product (9) as unusable.
2. Method according to claim 1,
   characterized
   in that the ID is applied to the respective print product (9) by means of a marking unit, in particular an inkjet unit, in the form of a machine-readable code, in particular a 1D or a 2D Code or an alphanumerical code.
3. Method according to claim 2,
   characterized
   in that the IDs are newly allotted by the computer (3, 8, 10) or externally prescribed to the system and both the IDs and the assigned events and states are saved by the computer (3, 8, 10) on a local memory of the computer (3, 8, 10) or printing machine (4), a central memory of the system, or an external network memory.
4. Method according to any one of claims 2 to 3,
   characterized
   in that the states of the printed print products (9) that have been examined comprise the state of unusable prints created during set-up, of an unusable sheet created during the production run, or of a good sheet.
5. Method according to claim 4,
   characterized
   in that the assigned state of being a good sheet automatically results in assigning the event of activating the good sheet counter.
6. Method according to any one of claims 2 to 5,
   characterized
   in that the further processing of the printed print product (9) includes post-processing in the printing machine (4), in particular printing on the back side of the printed products (9) or applying a second print, or post-processing in a separate further processing unit of the system, in particular in a die-cutting machine, a rotary die-cutter, a folding machine, or a folder-gluer.
7. Method according to any one of the preceding claims,
   characterized
   in that the image recording system (2) is an inline image recording system (2) disposed downstream of a last printing or varnishing unit in the printing machine (4).
8. Computer-assisted automated unusable print management system for a machine for processing print sheets, equipped to implement a method according to any one of the preceding claims.

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