JP2002086684A - Multi-color printing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the internal state of a device, and corresponding relationships between printing drums and a plate discharging section, or a plate making section or the like understandable at a glance to reduce mental labor of an operator, and at the same time, prevent a work efficiency from reducing by eliminating a troublesome checking operation. SOLUTION: On a liquid crystal display section 48 of a control panel of this multi-color printing device, the corresponding relationships of printing colors and draft colors or the like for the printing drums 4, 6 and 8 are displayed in a manner to be understandable at a glance. Drum colors are automatically detected and displayed by a control means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multicolor printing apparatus such as a stencil printing apparatus capable of performing multicolor printing in one pass (one sheet conveyance).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a one-pass type multicolor stencil printing apparatus, for example, as disclosed in JP-A-10-315601, a plurality of printing drums having different printing colors are arranged around a single impression cylinder. The multi-color printing is performed by nipping and transporting the paper fed by the paper feeding means with a clamper of an impression cylinder. There is also known a method in which a plurality of printing drums are juxtaposed on a horizontal plane, and a sheet is conveyed linearly to perform multicolor overprinting. Such a multicolor printing apparatus usually has a plurality of printing drums and printing units, and the same number or less of plate discharging units and plate making units.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In a monochrome printing apparatus, 1
Since only one plate discharging unit and one plate making unit correspond to one printing drum, there is no confusion for the operator without special measures on the display on the operation panel. In the multicolor printing apparatus having the above, there is a problem that the correspondence between the printing drum and the plate making section becomes complicated, so that the operator is confused and the efficiency of the printing operation is reduced. In other words, which platemaking section corresponds to which printing section, where the printing drum of which color is mounted, which platemaking section and which printing section are currently in operation, which originals are being made by which platemaking section This is because it is complicated and difficult to understand. In particular, when the number of the plate discharging unit and the plate making unit is smaller than the number of the printing drums, one correspondence between the plate discharging unit and the plate making unit serves as the plate discharging and the plate making of a plurality of printing drums, and it is difficult for the operator to immediately recognize the correspondence. For this reason, it is possible to confirm where and what color of the print drum is mounted, and whether the master made on the basis of the plate making image data corresponding to the color of the print drum is correctly wound around the print drum. To do this, the user has to open the cover and pull out the print drum each time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is a main object of the present invention to provide a multicolor printing apparatus in which an operator can easily recognize at a glance the correspondence between a printing drum, a plate making section, and the like, and can prevent a reduction in printing efficiency. .

In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in a multicolor printing apparatus having a plurality of printing drums and printing units and capable of multicolor printing, the printing color of the printing drum is detected. And a display means for displaying a positional relationship of where and what color printing drum is mounted on the apparatus main body based on the detection information of the drum identification means. .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the multicolor printing apparatus according to the first aspect, the layout of the positional relationship displayed on the display means corresponds to the actual layout of the printing drums in the apparatus body. , Is adopted.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a multicolor printing apparatus having at least one plate discharging section and a plate making section, a plurality of printing drums and printing sections, and capable of performing multicolor overprinting. In connection therewith, a display means for displaying which step is being executed is provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the multicolor printing apparatus according to the third aspect, an arrangement layout of the plurality of printing units is displayed on the display means, and the step corresponds to the arrangement layout. It is configured to be displayed.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there are provided at least one original reading unit or an external data input unit, a plate discharging unit, a plate making unit, a plurality of printing drums and printing units, and a multi-color multi-color printing. The printing apparatus has a configuration in which display means for displaying a color name list of print colors and print color input means for selecting and specifying a print color for each document based on the color name list are provided. I am taking it.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the multicolor printing apparatus according to the fifth aspect, there is provided a drum identification means for detecting a print color of the printing drum, and the display means displays the detection information of the drum identification means. A function to display the positional relationship of where and what color of the print drum is mounted on the apparatus main body based on the function of displaying the order of the documents and the color of the designated document and the print drum in association with each other. Have
A warning is issued when the color of the original document does not match the print color of the print drum.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the multicolor printing apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the warning is given by a character display by the display means and a warning sound.

According to the present invention, there is provided a multicolor printing apparatus having at least one original reading section or external data input section, a plate discharge section and a plate making section, a plurality of printing drums and printing sections, and capable of multicolor overprinting. In the printing apparatus, a master made on the basis of image data of the first document set in the document reading unit is wound around a first color printing drum,
A control means for controlling to automatically perform plate making and plate feeding operations in the order that the master made based on the image data of the second original is wound around the printing drum of the second color; Is adopted.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, there are provided at least one original reading unit or an external data input unit, a plate discharging unit, a plate making unit, a plurality of printing drums and printing units, and a multi-color multi-color printing. In the printing apparatus, there is provided display means for comparing and displaying the type information of each document set in the document reading section and the information of a printing drum on which a master made on the basis of image data of the document is wound. Is adopted.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the multicolor printing apparatus according to the ninth aspect, there is provided a control means for controlling to automatically perform a plate making / plate feeding operation as displayed by the display means. Is adopted.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, in the multicolor printing apparatus according to any one of the first to seventh and ninth aspects,
The configuration is such that the display means is a liquid crystal display section of an operation panel.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, an outline of an overall configuration of a multicolor stencil printing apparatus as a multicolor printing apparatus according to the present embodiment and a control system will be described based on FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the multicolor stencil printing apparatus 2 includes a first color (green) print drum 4, a second color (red) print drum 6, and a third color (red) Black) printing drum 8. These printing drums 4, 6, and 8 are detachable from a drum mounting portion (not shown).

The printing drum 4 corresponds to the printing drum 4.
A plate discharging unit 10 for peeling off a used master, a plate making unit 12 for performing plate making of a master based on plate making image data obtained by processing a read image of a document, and supplying the plate finished master to the printing drum 4, A press roller 14 for pressing the sheet P against the printing drum 4 by a separation mechanism is provided. Even when the printing drum 6 is supported, the same plate discharging unit 1 is used.
6, a plate making unit 18 and a press roller 20 are provided, and the same plate discharging unit 22, plate making unit 24,
A press roller 26 is provided.

Further, drum identification means 28, 30, 32 for detecting the printing colors of the printing drums are provided corresponding to the printing drums 4, 6, 8, respectively. A scanner 34 for reading a document is provided at an upper portion of the apparatus main body (not shown), and image information read by the scanner 34 is output to an image processing unit 36. Note that an external data input method may be adopted in which an original image is read by a scanner 60 outside the apparatus, the image is read into a personal computer 62, and is input from the PC controller 64 to the image processing unit 36 and controlled. The printing operation of the multicolor stencil printing apparatus 2 is controlled by control means 38 as a main controller. The control means 38 here includes ROM, RA
M, a microcomputer including an I / O interface and the like. The control means 38 controls the image processing section 36 to create a plurality of plate-making image data separated for each color,
This is output to each of the plate making units 12, 18, and 24. In each of the plate making units 12, 18, and 24, a thermal head (not shown) is driven based on the plate making image data, and plate making is performed on the master.

Sheets P are fed one by one from a sheet feeding means (not shown). The fed paper P is temporarily stopped by a pair of registration rollers (not shown), and after correcting the oblique displacement or the like, the printing paper 4 is printed at the timing when the leading end of the image of the printing drum 4 matches the predetermined position in the feeding direction. To the print nip. The press roller 14 moves up in synchronization with this timing, and presses the sheet P against the print drum 4. The paper P on which the first color ink image has been transferred by the printing drum 4 subsequently enters the printing nip portion of the printing drum 6.
The press roller 20 rises in synchronization with this timing,
The sheet P is pressed against the printing drum 6. The paper P on which the second color ink image has been transferred by the printing drum 6 subsequently enters the printing nip portion of the printing drum 8. The press roller 26 rises in synchronization with this timing, and presses the paper P against the print drum 8. The paper P on which the third color ink image has been transferred by the printing drum 8 is transported by transport means (not shown), and is stacked on a paper discharge tray (not shown).

The printing drums 4, 6, 8 have a known drum configuration. That is, although not shown, one or more mesh screen layers are provided on the outer peripheral surface of the porous cylindrical substrate, and the master is wound around the outer peripheral surface. An ink supply unit is provided inside the cylindrical substrate, and the ink supplied by the ink supply unit oozes out of the perforated portion of the master by the pressing force of the press rollers 14, 20, and 26, and onto the paper P. It is something that transfers.

Designation of the color of the original is performed via the operation panel 40. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 42 denotes a buzzer as warning means. As shown in FIG. 2, the operation panel 40 has a plate making start key 44 for starting a plate making operation, a printing start key 46, a liquid crystal display section 48 as display means, a numeric keypad (not shown), and the like. 11).

As shown in FIG. 3, the drum discriminating means 28 is provided with a projection 2 formed at the leading end of the printing drum 4 in the mounting direction.
8a and 28b, and sensors 28d, 28e and 28f provided on the drum mounting portion 50. Sensor 28d,
28e and 28f are similarly provided in the printing drums 6 and 8. The combination of the protrusion 28a and the sensor 28d is responsible for detecting the presence or absence of the drum, and the sensor 28d is turned on by the contact of the protrusion 28a. This presence / absence detection configuration is provided on all of the printing drums 4, 6, and 8. The sensors 28e and 28f detect the printing color of the attached printing drum. In the case of the printing drum 4, only the sensor 28e is turned on by the projection 28b, and the printing drum 6 has no projection and the sensor 28e, 2
8f is off, and the sensor 28f
, Only the projection 28c is provided, and only the sensor 28f is turned on. The drum identification means 30 and 32 have the same configuration. In such a configuration, the number of protrusions and sensors increases or decreases according to the number of colors of the print drum. Other configurations may be adopted as the drum identification method.

As shown in FIG. 4, the control means 38 displays, based on the detection information of the drum identification means 28, 30, and 32, the positional relationship of where and what color of the printing drum is mounted on the apparatus main body. It is displayed by the section 48 (claim 1). On the liquid crystal display section 48, "document color", "document type", "print order", "drum color", and "process" are displayed in comparison with the order of each set document. The entire situation can be understood at a glance (claim 9). As can be seen from the column of "drum color", the layout of the positional relationship corresponds to the actual layout of the printing drums 4, 6, and 8 in the apparatus main body, so that the operator can grasp the situation without discomfort. (Claim 2). The "drum color" is automatically displayed by the control means 38 based on the detection information of the drum identification means 28, 30, and 32, and the colors (print colors) of the print drums 4, 6, and 8 are referred to as "color names". (Claim 1).

The "document color" and "document type" are basically input by the operator, and the "print order" and "process" are fixed and are not changed. The “process” indicates which process is currently being performed for which print drum after the plate making start key 44 is pressed.
4) The name of the process displayed for each of the printing drums 4, 6, 8 is clarified by black-and-white inversion display or blinking display.

The input of the document color by the operator is performed based on the color name list of the printing colors, and the color name list is displayed on the liquid crystal display section 48 of the operation panel 40 as shown in FIG. (Claim 5). Operation panel 4
Reference numeral 0 includes a document designation key 52, arrow keys 54 and 56, and a decision key 58 as print color input means. First, the document specification key 52 is used to specify the number of the document. When specifying a color, the cursor is moved by the arrow keys 54 and 56 to specify the color, and the enter key 58 is pressed. FIG. 5 shows a state in which the color green corresponding to the print drum 4 is designated. After the printing colors are designated in the document order in this way, if a confirmation key (not shown) is pressed, the display shown in FIG. 4 is made.

The control means 38 recognizes the color of the print drum mounted on each of the drum mounting sections based on the detection information of the drum identification means 28, 30, and 32. If it occurs, a warning is issued (claim 6). This warning is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 48, and, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, a character display "print drum for the first color is incorrect" is displayed. Upon seeing this warning, the operator will replace the print drum. In this case, if the buzzer 42 is turned on together with the character display and a warning sound is issued, the operator can quickly recognize the mounting error of the printing drum, and the working efficiency can be prevented from being reduced as much as possible. (Claim 7). When the display contents shown in FIG. 4 are determined, the control means 38 automatically performs plate making and plate feeding operations as displayed.
0).

In the present embodiment, the control means 38 controls the master made on the basis of the image data of the first document set on the scanner 34 to be wound around the printing drum 4 of the first color, Is controlled so that the master making and plate feeding operations are automatically performed in the order in which the master made based on the image data is wound around the printing drum 6 of the second color. ).

In the above embodiment, the drum identification means 28,
Each of the projections and the sensors that are turned on and off by the projections 30 and 32 has a different black and white pattern for each color printed on the surface of the ink pack set on the printing drum. The configuration may be such that the color of the print drum is determined by detecting with a plurality of light reflection sensors corresponding to the pattern.
In addition, internal data that differs for each color of the IC tag attached to a part of the printing drum or the ink pack is stored in a non-contact RF
The color of the printing drum may be determined by using an ID system and reading it with an antenna provided on the drum station side.

[0029]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the drum identification means for detecting the print color of the print drum, and the print drum of what color is mounted on the apparatus main body based on the detection information of the drum identification means. Display means for displaying the positional relationship between the printer and the printer. Thus, there is no need to worry about erroneous printing colors and order, and a reduction in work efficiency can be prevented. In addition, since it is immediately known whether or not the printing drum needs to be replaced, it is possible to immediately cope with a setting error.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the layout of the positional relationship displayed on the display means corresponds to the actual layout of the printing drums in the apparatus main body. The overall situation can be grasped.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the display means is provided for displaying which process is currently being executed in relation to which print unit, the correspondence is complicated. Also, the operator can easily grasp the current situation.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the arrangement layout of the plurality of printing units is displayed on the display means, and the steps are displayed in accordance with the arrangement layout. Even now, the operator can easily grasp the current situation without feeling uncomfortable.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, a display means for displaying a color name list of print colors, and a print color input means for selecting and specifying a print color for each document based on the color name list , The document color can be set easily and quickly.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, a warning is issued when the color of the original does not match the print color of the corresponding print drum, so that a printing error can be prevented.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the warning is made by the character display by the display means and the warning sound, so that the operator can quickly recognize that there is a mounting error of the printing drum. Thus, it is possible to prevent a decrease in work efficiency due to a lapse of time until the operator recognizes it.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, the order in which the originals are set and the order in which the print drums are arranged always match, so that which print drum corresponds to which original is determined. Don't worry about getting confused or lost.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the type information of each original set in the original reading section is compared with the information of the printing drum on which a master made on the basis of image data of the original is wound. Since the display device is provided with the display means for performing the display, the operator can recognize the correspondence at a glance, and can prevent a decrease in work efficiency.

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, since there is provided a control means for controlling the plate making / plate feeding operation automatically according to the display displayed by the display means, the printing operation is performed. Can be executed accurately.

According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, since the display means is a liquid crystal display section of the operation panel, existing equipment can be used without separately providing a display means, and the work efficiency is reduced at low cost. Can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration and a control system of a multicolor stencil printing apparatus as a multicolor printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a main part of an operation panel.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view of a drum identification unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a correspondence relationship between a document color and a drum color is displayed.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a color name list and print color input means.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a main part of the operation panel when a warning is issued.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4, 6, 8 Printing drums 28, 30, 32 Drum identification means 40 Operation panel 48 Liquid crystal display as display means

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A multi-color printing apparatus having a plurality of printing drums and a printing unit and capable of multi-color overprinting, comprising: drum identification means for detecting a printing color of the printing drum;
A multicolor printing apparatus, comprising: display means for displaying a positional relationship of where and what color print drum is mounted on the apparatus main body based on detection information of the drum identification means. 2. A multi-color printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the layout of the positional relationship displayed on said display means corresponds to the actual layout of the printing drums in the apparatus main body. Color printing device. 3. A multicolor printing apparatus having at least one plate discharge section and plate making section, a plurality of printing drums and printing sections, and capable of performing multi-color overprinting. A multi-color printing apparatus comprising a display unit for displaying whether the printing is being performed. 4. The multi-color printing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the layout of the plurality of printing units is displayed on the display means, and the steps are displayed in accordance with the layout. Multicolor printing device. 5. A multicolor printing apparatus having at least one document reading unit or external data input unit, plate discharge unit and plate making unit, a plurality of printing drums and printing units, and capable of multicolor overprinting. A multicolor printing apparatus comprising: display means for displaying a color name list; and print color input means for selecting and specifying a print color for each document based on the color name list. 6. A multi-color printing apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising: drum identification means for detecting a print color of said print drum, wherein said display means is provided at a position in the apparatus main body based on detection information of said drum identification means. It has a function of displaying the positional relationship of the number of print drums mounted, and a function of displaying the order of the originals and the color of the designated original in correspondence with the print drum. And a warning is issued when the print colors of the corresponding print drums do not match. 7. A multicolor printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said warning is made by a character display by said display means and a warning sound. 8. A multicolor printing apparatus having at least one document reading unit or external data input unit, plate discharge unit and plate making unit, a plurality of printing drums and printing units, and capable of multicolor overprinting. A master made on the basis of image data of the first document set on the reading section is wound around a print drum of the first color, and a master made on the basis of image data of the second document is prepared on the second color. A multicolor printing apparatus, comprising: control means for automatically performing plate making and plate feeding operations in the order of winding on a printing drum. 9. A multicolor printing apparatus having at least one document reading unit or external data input unit, plate discharge unit and plate making unit, a plurality of printing drums and printing units, and capable of multicolor overprinting. Display means for comparing and displaying the type information of each document set in the reading unit and the information of the printing drum on which a master made on the basis of image data of the document is wound. Multicolor printing device. 10. A multi-color printing apparatus according to claim 9, further comprising control means for controlling to automatically perform plate making and plate feeding operations as displayed by said display means. Multicolor printing device. 11. The multicolor printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said display means is a liquid crystal display section of an operation panel.