GB2271080A - Print monitor. - Google Patents

Print monitor. Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2271080A
GB2271080A GB9219020A GB9219020A GB2271080A GB 2271080 A GB2271080 A GB 2271080A GB 9219020 A GB9219020 A GB 9219020A GB 9219020 A GB9219020 A GB 9219020A GB 2271080 A GB2271080 A GB 2271080A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
successive
pattern
analyser
monitoring apparatus
video
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.)
Withdrawn
Application number
GB9219020A
Other versions
GB9219020D0 (en
Inventor
Stanley Malcolm Lear
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Tecscan Electronics Ltd
Original Assignee
Tecscan Electronics Ltd
Priority date (The priority date 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 date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Tecscan Electronics Ltd filed Critical Tecscan Electronics Ltd
Priority to GB9219020A priority Critical patent/GB2271080A/en
Publication of GB9219020D0 publication Critical patent/GB9219020D0/en
Publication of GB2271080A publication Critical patent/GB2271080A/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41F—PRINTING MACHINES OR PRESSES
    • B41F33/00—Indicating, counting, warning, control or safety devices
    • B41F33/0036—Devices for scanning or checking the printed matter for quality control

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Quality & Reliability (AREA)
  • Inking, Control Or Cleaning Of Printing Machines (AREA)

Abstract

An apparatus for monitoring printed matter in a printing press comprises a video camera 2 directed at a pattern of dots printed on successive copies to form an enlarged image of the dot pattern in a frame store 5. An analyser 6 analyses the successive video images to measure or determine various parameters of the dot pattern, such as dot gain, spread, shape, skip, slur, ink density and registration of the component colours. The measurements determined can be interpreted by the analyser 6 to control or adjust the printing press, in a closed-loop control system. <IMAGE>

Description

Print Monitor This invention relates to the monitoring of printed matter in a printing press.
In accordance with this invention, there is provided a method of monitoring printed matter in a printing press, in which the press prints a pattern of dots on successive copies and a video camera forms an enlarged video image of the successive dot patterns and writes the successive images into a video frame store, and an analyser is used to analyse the successive video images.
Also in accordance with this invention, there is provided a print monitoring apparatus, comprising a video camera for directing at a pattern of dots on successive printed copies to form an enlarged video image of the successive dot patterns, a frame store into which the successive images are written, and an analyser for analysing the successive video images.
The analyser can be arranged to measure or determine various parameters of the dot pattern, for example one or more of the following: dot gain, spread, shape, skip, slur, ink density, and registration of the component colours. These measurements can be interpreted by the analyser to control or make adjustments to the printing press, in a closed-loop control system.
Also, the analyser can compare each newly-read dot pattern with a stored dot pattern from a previous reading, to determine any significant changes with time, which would indicate that the printing plate is suffering wear.
The pattern of dots is preferably very small, e.g.
occupying an area of 1 square millimetre, and is formed on the printing plate during pre-print preparation.
An embodiment of this invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawing, the single figure of which is a schematic diagram of a print monitoring system in accordance with the invention.
Referring to the drawing, there is shown a print monitoring system used with a moving web W in a printing press.
The web W carries successive printed copies, each with a small pattern of dots (e.g. along an edge of each copy). the system comprises a strobe flash tube 1 to give an instantaneous illumination of the web at timed intervals synchronised with the movement of the web. The system further comprises a video camera 2 with microscope directed at the illuminated area of the web, and a control unit 4 controls the arrangement such that the camera 2 is focused on the pattern of dots carried by each copy, and an enlarged image of the dot pattern is formed on a video monitor 3 and captured in a video frame store 5.
A microprocessor-based analyser 6 is arranged to analyse the image stored in the frame store 5, to measure or determine various parameters of the dot pattern, e.g. dot gain, spread, shape, skip, slur, ink density, and registration.
These measurements are interpreted by the analyser 6 to control the printing press, over control lines 7. Also the analyser 6 compares each newly-read dot pattern with a stored dot pattern from a previous reading, to determine any significant changes with time, which would indicate that the printing plate is suffering wear.
It will be appreciated that the monitoring system which has been described provides considerable benefit to the operator of the printing press. The system can automatically adjust various controls of the press, and the printer will also know when the printing plate is becoming worn.

Claims (8)

1) A method of monitoring printed matter in a printing press, in which the press prints a pattern of dots in successive copies and a video camera forms an enlarged video image of the successive dot patterns and writes the successive images into a video frame store, and an analyser is used to analyse the successive video images.
2) A method of monitoring printed matter substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
3) A print monitoring apparatus comprising a video camera for directing at a pattern of dots on successive printed copies to form an enlarged video image of the successive dot patterns, a frame store into which the successive images are written, and are analysed for analysing the successive video images.
4) A print monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 3 in which the analyser is arranged to measure or determine various parameters of the dot pattern.
5) A print monitoring apparatus as claimed in claim 4 in which the measurements determined by the analyser are interpreted to control or adjust the printing press, in a closed-loop control system.
6) A print monitoring apparatus as claimed in any of claims 3 to 5 in which the analyser compares each newly-read dot pattern with a dot pattern from a previous reading.
7) A print monitoring apparatus as claimed in any of claims 3 to 6 in which the pattern of dots is very small.
8) A print monitoring apparatus substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
GB9219020A 1992-09-08 1992-09-08 Print monitor. Withdrawn GB2271080A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB9219020A GB2271080A (en) 1992-09-08 1992-09-08 Print monitor.

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB9219020A GB2271080A (en) 1992-09-08 1992-09-08 Print monitor.

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB9219020D0 GB9219020D0 (en) 1992-10-21
GB2271080A true GB2271080A (en) 1994-04-06

Family

ID=10721599

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB9219020A Withdrawn GB2271080A (en) 1992-09-08 1992-09-08 Print monitor.

Country Status (1)

Country Link
GB (1) GB2271080A (en)

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2299783A (en) * 1995-04-11 1996-10-16 Scitex Corp Ltd Printing press operator aide
EP1262323A1 (en) * 2001-05-29 2002-12-04 Web Printing Controls Co., Inc. A system for dynamically monitoring and controlling a web printing press
US6499402B1 (en) 2000-05-17 2002-12-31 Web Printing Controls Co., Inc. System for dynamically monitoring and controlling a web printing press
US7627141B2 (en) 2003-04-25 2009-12-01 Quad/Tech, Inc. System and method for measuring color on a printing press
US8817345B2 (en) 2003-04-25 2014-08-26 Quad/Tech, Inc. Image processing using multiple imaging devices

Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4371265A (en) * 1977-09-13 1983-02-01 Dai Nippon Insatsu Kabushiki Kaisha Dot percentage measuring device
US4567506A (en) * 1983-04-28 1986-01-28 Nippon Univac Supply Kaisha, Ltd. Monitoring apparatus for color printing
US4685139A (en) * 1985-03-14 1987-08-04 Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. Inspecting device for print
US4872024A (en) * 1988-01-29 1989-10-03 Sapporo Breweries, Ltd. Print inspection method, print inspection apparatus and automatic print sorting system
US5163012A (en) * 1989-07-24 1992-11-10 Man Roland Druckmaschinen Ag Apparatus for carrying out the comprehensive quality control of printed sheets
EP0533305A2 (en) * 1991-09-18 1993-03-24 Komori Corporation Method and apparatus for detecting defective printed matter in printing press

Patent Citations (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4371265A (en) * 1977-09-13 1983-02-01 Dai Nippon Insatsu Kabushiki Kaisha Dot percentage measuring device
US4567506A (en) * 1983-04-28 1986-01-28 Nippon Univac Supply Kaisha, Ltd. Monitoring apparatus for color printing
US4685139A (en) * 1985-03-14 1987-08-04 Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. Inspecting device for print
US4872024A (en) * 1988-01-29 1989-10-03 Sapporo Breweries, Ltd. Print inspection method, print inspection apparatus and automatic print sorting system
US5163012A (en) * 1989-07-24 1992-11-10 Man Roland Druckmaschinen Ag Apparatus for carrying out the comprehensive quality control of printed sheets
EP0533305A2 (en) * 1991-09-18 1993-03-24 Komori Corporation Method and apparatus for detecting defective printed matter in printing press

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
WPI Abstract Accession No 92-232128/28(VAN DAM) and NL 9002576 (see abstract) *

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2299783A (en) * 1995-04-11 1996-10-16 Scitex Corp Ltd Printing press operator aide
GB2299783B (en) * 1995-04-11 1998-09-16 Scitex Corp Ltd Printing press operator aide
US6499402B1 (en) 2000-05-17 2002-12-31 Web Printing Controls Co., Inc. System for dynamically monitoring and controlling a web printing press
EP1262323A1 (en) * 2001-05-29 2002-12-04 Web Printing Controls Co., Inc. A system for dynamically monitoring and controlling a web printing press
US7627141B2 (en) 2003-04-25 2009-12-01 Quad/Tech, Inc. System and method for measuring color on a printing press
US8817345B2 (en) 2003-04-25 2014-08-26 Quad/Tech, Inc. Image processing using multiple imaging devices

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB9219020D0 (en) 1992-10-21

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
WAP Application withdrawn, taken to be withdrawn or refused ** after publication under section 16(1)