JP2007216691A - Printing control method and printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing control method and a printing control apparatus which enables a good quality printing to be carried out in a short time, and artificial errors by an operator to be decreased. <P>SOLUTION: The printing system comprises servers keeping makeup data and relative information preserved as space data per each paper surface; a printing machine equipped with a plurality of printers; a terminal which obtains printing data of a server; a detection means which detects a printing paper face state; and a plurality of controllers for controlling each printer from the printing data and detected information. The printing data contains a plurality of sets of paper surface data for selection wherein the stencils are taken as one unit corresponding to the specific paper surface which is partial paper surface in a plurality of paper surfaces. The printing data are loaded on the terminal device. One is selected from among a plurality of sets of the paper surface data for selection on the specific paper, and the selected paper surface data are confirmed by displaying. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing control method and a printing system suitable for printing newspapers in newspaper printing factories provided in various places when a newspaper is issued to a wide area target such as national paper.

  For example, in the case of a newspaper company that publishes newspapers for a wide area such as national newspapers, the head office will edit the paper in a batch so that the latest information as possible can be delivered to subscribers, and newspaper printing will In general, a system such as that carried out in a newspaper printing factory installed in is adopted. In this case, the newspaper printing factory receives print data edited by communication with the head office, performs printing by performing a printing plate based on the print data.

  For example, in a system in which the head office and newspaper printing factory are connected via a known network, the newspaper head office can edit newspapers using an editing system for complex media that includes not only newspapers but also other media. Work is done. The result of the editing work is stored as print data in a server at the head office side and transmitted from the server at the head office side to each newspaper printing factory side.

  When each newspaper printing factory receives print data from the head office at a data server installed at the factory, the factory management system performs plate making based on the data. For this plate making, for example, a CTP (Computer-To-Plate) device or a CTF (Computer-To-Film) device is used, and if it is a CTP device, a printing plate is directly output from digital data on the paper surface. Since a platemaking film is output, platemaking is performed using this film. The plate produced in this way is usually manually mounted on the plate cylinder of the corresponding newspaper rotary press by an operator.

By the way, especially in newspaper printing, it is required not only to provide the latest information promptly to subscribers but also to provide information with high accuracy. Needless to say, the character information is not mistaken, but it is also required to faithfully reproduce and provide the image information. In particular, in recent years, the color of newspapers has been increasing, and there is a demand for faithfully printing and reproducing color image information.
Conventionally, in a general printing apparatus such as a lithographic offset, the plate making process, the printing plate process and the printing process exist separately, and the printing plate to be used is often created by analog exposure. The digital data on the paper used at the time of printing has not been used for printing management and printing control in the printing process. Digital data (print making data) of paper information is used for color tone control of printed matter in the printing process, specifically, preset control of ink key of a printing press, etc., which has been improved in printing efficiency and quality. .

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for controlling an ink supply amount of a printing press while feeding back detection information of an IRGB densitometer based on plate making data. In this way, the color tone control of the printed matter can be performed immediately after the start of the printing press based on the plate making data, and the time until the color tone control is started can be shortened and the work can be made efficient.
JP 2004-106523 A

However, the technique of Patent Document 1 is a technique for improving the efficiency of control relating to color tone correction using plate-making data, and is not sufficient in terms of improving work efficiency and quality as a whole printing process.
For example, in newspaper printing of national newspapers, etc., it is usually composed of a page that is common throughout the country (common side) and a different page (prefecture version / regional version) for each prefecture or region. Not only does it need to print in large quantities, but depending on the printing factory, it is necessary to print multiple prefecture plates, and frequent replacement work of the plates installed in the printing press (plates for each local area) May be done. Such plate replacement work is not limited to newspapers nationwide, but for example, even when printing commercial prints such as insert leaflets, the optimal information for each distribution area (such as a map of the nearest store) For example, a different printing plate is used for each folding distribution area.

However, this plate replacement operation is performed manually by an operator, and the operator selects a desired plate from a plurality of types of plates by the operator or the data sheet attached to the plate (plate name, (Each code related to page, color, etc.) is visually observed, and at this time, human error such as making a mistake in the printing plate is likely to occur.
Similarly, when correcting the color tone of the printing press based on the plate-making data, when the operator loads desired data from a plurality of plate-making data when reading the plate-making data, it is not desired to make a plate by mistake. In some cases, time is lost in the printing process by loading data and reloading desired data.

  The present invention was devised in view of such problems, and in a printing machine that performs quality control using plate-making data, it is possible to perform high-quality printing in a short time and to avoid human error by an operator. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printing control method and a printing system that can be reduced.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, a printing control method according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a server storing print data including plate-making data of a plurality of sheets and related information of the plurality of sheets, and a plurality of printings. A printer equipped with a printing apparatus; a terminal device connected to the server for acquiring the print image data and related information and outputting command information to the printing machine; and detecting a printed paper condition attached to the printing machine Printing that controls a printing system, comprising: a detection unit; and a control unit that controls each printing device based on print data and / or commands sent from the terminal device and detection information sent from the detection unit. In the control method, the operating conditions of the printing press are loaded by the terminal device based on the related information on the page from the server, and the operating conditions are also loaded to the control devices. A transfer condition loading step, an ink preset step of presetting the ink supply amount of each printing device based on the printing data of each paper surface by the terminal device, and the printing of a specific paper surface among the plurality of paper surfaces A job selection step for selecting one of the plurality of sets of selection data stored in the server as data as print data for the paper, and displaying the plate data on the display of the terminal device; An image confirmation process for confirming the arrival status of the printing plate data to the terminal device and the arrival of the printing plate data with reference to the display is sequentially performed as a pre-printing process, and then printing is started. In the printing process, the detection information sent from the detection means is based on the data and / or commands sent from the terminal device by the control device. Using feedback control based is characterized by controlling the respective printing apparatus of the printing press.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the print control method of the first aspect, in the job selection step, the plurality of sets of selection data are displayed on the terminal device, and the display is referred to. Then, one of the plurality of sets of selection data is selected and operated through the selection operation means of the terminal device.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the printing control method according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, wherein the printing process is first performed at a relatively low adjustment speed at the time of start-up to perform various adjustments. In the low-speed printing process and the normal printing process, the low-speed printing process for performing printing and the normal printing process for printing by running at a relatively high normal operation speed after completing various adjustments are performed. And a step of inspecting a print defect based on the detection information sent from the detection means.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the printing control method according to the first aspect, wherein the detecting means is an IRGB densitometer, and the printing step is performed from the IRGB densitometer. The control element of each printing apparatus of the printing press is controlled using feedback control based on the sent detection information.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing control method according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein an ink supply amount is adjusted to a control element of each of the printing apparatuses. And an ink supply amount of the ink supply device is controlled in the printing step.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing control method of the present invention according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein, as the pre-printing step, printing is performed using the detection means from a printing result of a predetermined reference pattern. A printing characteristic information acquisition step for acquiring characteristic information, wherein in the printing step, the control device receives the printing data and / or command sent from the terminal device and the printing characteristic information acquired in the printing characteristic acquisition step; The printing apparatus is controlled based on the control target value obtained by the above and the detection information sent from the detection means.

  The print control method of the present invention according to claim 7 is the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein in the step of inspecting the print defect, the inspection threshold level at the time of the print defect inspection is In the low-speed printing process, the permissible range is relatively wide with respect to the preset inspection standard value so that the product management level is moderate. In the normal printing process, the permissible range is relatively narrow with respect to the inspection standard value. It is characterized by the product management level.

  The printing system of the present invention described in claim 8 is connected to a server that stores print image data of a plurality of paper surfaces and related information of the plurality of paper surfaces, acquires the print image data and related information, and obtains the printing machine. A terminal device that outputs command information to the printer, a detection unit that detects a printed paper state attached to the printing press, data and / or commands sent from the terminal device, and detection information sent from the detection unit And a control device that controls each printing device based on the above-described configuration, and the server includes a plurality of sets of the print image data and the related information on the specific paper among the plurality of papers. Selection data is stored, and the terminal device displays a selection data display means for displaying the plurality of sets of selection data in a pre-printing process, and the plurality of sets of selection data displayed. A selection operation means for selecting one of them, display the selection information by the selection operation means on the display and transmit it to the corresponding control device, the control device corresponding to the specific paper, The printing apparatus is controlled based on the transmitted selection information.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the printing system according to the eighth aspect, wherein the detecting means is an IRGB densitometer, and the control device performs feedback control based on detection information sent from the IRGB densitometer. Is used to control the control elements of each printing apparatus of the printing press.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the printing system according to the eighth or ninth aspect, wherein the control element of each of the printing apparatuses includes an ink supply apparatus for adjusting an ink supply amount. The apparatus is characterized in that the ink supply amount of the ink supply apparatus is controlled based on data and / or commands sent from the terminal device and detection information sent from the detection means.

  The printing system of the present invention according to claim 11 is the printing system according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the printing characteristic information acquired from the printing result of the predetermined reference pattern by using the detection means is stored. A storage device, wherein the control device is based on the control target value obtained from the print data and / or command sent from the terminal device and the print characteristic information, and the detection information sent from the detection means; And controlling the printing apparatus.

  Therefore, according to the print control method of the present invention, the print data is loaded from the server, and the printing apparatus is feedback-controlled based on the print data. In addition, when there are a plurality of selection data in the server, such as data for changing the printing plate, desired print data can be selected in the job selection process, and the print data selected in the image confirmation process can be selected by the operator. Therefore, even if there are multiple print data on the server, the desired data can be loaded smoothly, and even if the wrong print data is loaded due to an operator's operation error, etc. The desired print data can be reloaded.

Further, according to the printing control method of the present invention described in claim 2, in addition to the effect of claim 1, in the job selection step, the operator can clearly understand a plurality of jobs by viewing the display on the display. The desired print data can be selected reliably through the selection operation means. .
According to the printing control method of the present invention described in claim 3, in addition to the effect of claim 1 or 2, in the printing process including the low-speed printing process and the normal printing process, the printing defect is detected based on the detection information by the detecting means. Since the inspection is performed, it is possible to find out that defects such as ink drop, density fluctuation, and oil spill are generated on the printed paper surface, and good print management can be performed.

According to the printing control method of the present invention described in claim 4, in addition to the effects of claims 1 to 3, the IGRB densitometer can reliably detect the state of the paper surface from the reflected light of the printed paper surface. .
Further, according to the printing control method of the present invention described in claim 5, in addition to the effects of claims 1-4, the ink supply amount of the ink supply device can be quickly adjusted based on the print data.

According to the printing control method of the present invention described in claim 6, in addition to the effects of claims 1 to 5, print characteristic information is acquired for each printing device, and the print data and the printing information of each printing device are used. Based on the obtained control target, an appropriate ink supply amount corresponding to each printing apparatus can be adjusted.
According to the printing control method of the present invention as set forth in claim 7, in addition to the effects of claims 1 to 6, printing defect inspection is performed based on a relatively gentle inspection standard in the low-speed printing process, and printing is performed in the normal printing process. Since the defect inspection is performed with relatively strict inspection standards (allowable range), it is possible to prevent the printing density from being determined to be defective in the low-speed printing process, where the printing density has not yet settled. In the printing process, inspection of printing defects is performed with relatively strict inspection standards (allowable range), and it is possible to reliably detect defects such as ink drop, density fluctuation, and oil scum on the printed paper. .

  According to the printing system of the present invention as set forth in claim 8, the print data stored in the server is loaded from the server to the terminal device and the control device of each printing device, and the control device is configured based on the print data. Since the control elements of the printing device are feedback-controlled, the time required for the start-up control of the printing press can be reduced, and the selection data display means can make multiple selections to the server, such as data for replacing the printing plate. If there is data for use, the data for selection is displayed on the display, and the selection operation means can select the desired data for selection. Therefore, even when the operator has a plurality of print data on the server, the desired data can be smoothly displayed In addition, even if wrong data is selected, it can be found immediately and desired print data can be quickly selected again by the selection operation means.

According to the printing system of the present invention described in claim 9, in addition to the effect of claim 8, the IGRB densitometer can reliably detect the state of the paper surface from the reflected light of the printed paper surface.
According to the printing system of the present invention as set forth in claim 10, in addition to the effect of claim 8 or 9, the ink supply amount of the ink supply device can be quickly controlled based on the print data.

  According to the printing system of the present invention as set forth in claim 11, in addition to the effects of claims 8 to 10, print characteristic information for each printing apparatus is acquired, and print data and / or instructions and each printing apparatus are acquired. Based on the control target obtained from the printing information, it is possible to adjust an appropriate ink supply amount according to each printing apparatus.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 19 show a printing control method and a printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. For easy understanding, a printing system to which this printing control method is applied in newspaper printing is assumed. This will be explained based on.
First, the configuration of the newspaper printing system according to the present embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, an editing center (not only a newspaper but also the Internet etc.) provided outside each newspaper printing factory (usually the head office of a newspaper company) is shown. , A center that edits complex media including other media), and edits newspapers, and the results of the editing are provided as print data from the head office server 50 to various newspaper printing factories via the communication network. Sent to the received data server 51. The print data includes plate making data (image data used for plate making, print image data) and related information related to each paper surface, and the print data for each paper surface is referred to as paper data.

  The page data received at each newspaper printing factory is stored in the data server 51 of each newspaper printing factory. In the newspaper printing factory, each received paper page data is transmitted from the data server 51 to the CTP system 52, and the CTP system 52 performs RIP processing on the paper image data as appropriate (not required when RIP processing has already been performed at the head office). In the case of color paper, halftone dot data corresponding to each color of CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) is created, and a printing plate for printing is made for each color from the RIP processed data. It has become.

The prepressed plate is usually mounted by an operator on a corresponding printing cylinder of a printing press for printing.
The paper data will be further described. The paper used here is a printing plate as one unit, and the paper data transmitted from the head office server 50 is image data having a printing plate mounted on a printing machine as one unit; It includes data such as “prefectural version information”, “version name”, “printing device information”, etc. as related information on the page.

The “prefectural version information” included in the page data is information indicating which prefecture version of the plurality of prefecture versions the page data is. If the page data is a page that is common throughout the country, information indicating that it is a common version is given.
The “printing device information” is information indicating which plate cylinder of a plurality of printing devices constituting the printing machine 54 is mounted with the printing plate corresponding to the paper surface data, and actually prints the paper surface data. It includes the number of the printing device to be used and information on the front and back.

Further, the “plate name” is a name given to each printing plate. The data server 51 stores these sheet data with printing plate and printing order information at the printing factory.
Next, with reference to FIG. 3, a configuration of a printing press including a plurality of printing apparatuses and an operation terminal for controlling the printing press will be described.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the printing press 102 according to the present embodiment includes ten printing apparatuses 103 from NO1 to NO10. Each printing apparatus 103 includes a control device 104 that controls the printing apparatus, and a printing unit. 105 and a sensor 106 are provided.
The control device 104 of each printing apparatus 103 is connected to a printing press OT (printing machine operation terminal) 101, and the printing press OT 101 sends a “printing device” to the control device 104 corresponding to “printing device information” included in the page data. Paper data (including image information and paper-related information) corresponding to “information” is supplied, and the control device 104 of each printing apparatus 103 receives the received paper data and the print sheet input from the sensor 106. The printing unit 105 is controlled based on the measurement information.

  In addition to an ink transfer unit (which includes a plurality of printing cylinders including a plate cylinder and a blanket cylinder), the printing unit 105 actually includes an ink supply device that supplies ink to the printing cylinder, and a dampening solution. The control device 104 can control each element of the printing unit 105 based on the paper surface data. The control device 104 includes a dampening device to be supplied and a simple plate inspection device that detects an error in applying the printing plate. . Details of the ink supply device, the dampening device, and the simple plate inspection device as elements of the control device 104 and the printing unit 105 will be described later.

The sensor 106 is a line sensor type IRGB densitometer installed on a line of a sheet printed through the printing unit 105, for example, and is arranged on both the front and back sides so as to sandwich the conveyance path of the printed sheet. The measurement information is transmitted to the control device 104.
Specifically, as necessary, the printing press OT101 scans a reference pattern such as a color chart printed on a printing sheet using this sensor 106, and measures printing characteristic information such as color development characteristics based on the scan data. Then, the measured color characteristics are converted into a data structure such as a color characteristics table and stored as print characteristics information in a predetermined storage means such as the storage / arithmetic unit 150 or the data server 51. In the printing preparation stage, when calculating the control target value such as the ink supply amount based on the plate-making data, the process of setting the control target value after referring to this color development characteristic table intervenes to achieve higher quality printing. It can be realized.

  The printing machine OT101 will be further described. As shown in FIG. 4, the printing machine OT101 includes a storage / arithmetic apparatus 150 including a memory and a CPU, image information of page data, operating conditions of each printing apparatus, and a data server. 51 includes a display device (display unit) 151 that displays index information and the like of data stored in 51, and an input device (selection operation unit) 152 for inputting instructions such as a selection operation by an operator. Here, the display screen of the display device 151 functions as a touch panel, and the display device 151 and the input device 152 are integrally formed.

  As described above, the printing press OT101 receives paper surface data (including paper surface related information) from the data server 51, and stores each received paper surface data in the storage / arithmetic unit 150. The page data stored in the apparatus 150 is sent to the control device 104 of each printing apparatus 103 and displayed on the display device 151 for each page data (see FIG. 5). In addition, when multiple types of prefecture version information are included in the page data, each prefecture version information is displayed as a job selection screen, and the operator can select a job to be printed by pressing the touch panel corresponding to the desired job. It is like that.

Further, on the load data confirmation screen of the display device, information on the page data corresponding to the front / back of each printing device can be confirmed (see FIG. 5).
If one page data of a plurality of types of prefecture information has already been transmitted to the control device 104 of each printing apparatus 103, but a different job is selected by the operator, the prefecture corresponding to the selected job Paper data including plate information is retransmitted.

  Accordingly, when the printing press OT101 is turned on, the page data stored in the data server 51 is acquired and stored in the storage / arithmetic apparatus 150. Information (image information, prefecture version information, version name, printing device information, etc.) included in the page data stored in the storage / arithmetic apparatus 150 is displayed on the display device 151 for each page data. As a result, the operator can confirm the reception status of the page data, the displayed image information, and other page related information, and whether or not erroneous page data is loaded in the storage / calculation device 150 of the printing machine OT101. It can be confirmed.

Next, a newspaper offset rotary press as the printing apparatus 103 will be described. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a newspaper offset rotary press according to an embodiment of the present invention. The newspaper web offset press of this embodiment is a multi-color printing duplex printing machine, and ink colors [black (k), indigo (c), red (m), yellow (y )] Is provided for each printing unit 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d. In the present embodiment, the printing units 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, and 2 d are provided with an ink key type ink supply device that includes an ink key 7 and an ink source roller 6.
In this type of ink supply apparatus, the ink supply amount can be adjusted by the amount of gap between the ink key 7 and the ink base roller 6 (hereinafter, this gap amount is referred to as the ink key opening). A plurality of ink keys 7 are juxtaposed in the printing width direction, and the ink supply amount can be adjusted in the width unit of the ink key 7 (hereinafter, the ink supply unit width by the ink key 7 is referred to as a key zone). The ink whose supply amount is adjusted by the ink key 7 is moderately kneaded in the ink roller group 5, is supplied to the plate surface of the plate cylinder 4 after forming a thin film, and the ink adhering to the plate surface passes through the blanket cylinder 3. As shown in FIG.

Although not shown in FIG. 6, the newspaper offset rotary press of this embodiment is a double-sided printing, and therefore a pair of printing units 2 a, 2 b, 2 c, and 2 d is provided so as to sandwich the conveyance path of the printing sheet 8. Blanket cylinders 3 and 3 are provided, and a plate cylinder 4, a simple plate inspection device, an ink supply device, and a fountain solution supply device 70 are provided for each blanket cylinder 3.
The newspaper offset rotary press according to the present embodiment includes a line sensor type IRGB densitometer (IRGB densitometer) 1 as a detecting unit further downstream of the most downstream printing unit 2d. The line sensor type IRGB densitometer 1 reflects I (infrared light), R (red), G (green), and B (blue) reflection densities (mixed-color network) in the form of a line in the print width direction of the pattern color on the printing sheet 8. It is possible to measure the reflection density of the entire print sheet 8 or to measure the reflection density at an arbitrary position. Since the newspaper offset rotary press of this embodiment is a double-sided printing, the line sensor type IRGB densitometer 1 is arranged on both the front and back sides so as to sandwich the conveyance path of the printing sheet 8, and the reflection density on both the front and back sides can be measured. .

  The reflection density measured by the line sensor type IRGB densitometer 1 is transmitted to the arithmetic unit 10. The arithmetic unit 10 detects a mistake in applying the plate (simple plate inspection device), and when there is a background stain, determines the color stain caused by the ink, and supplies dampening water based on this. There is a function for adjusting the amount Qw and a function for calculating control data of the ink supply amount. In any case, calculation is performed based on the reflection density measured by the line sensor type IRGB densitometer 1, and if simple plate inspection control is detected, an error in plate application is detected, and if dampening water supply amount control is performed. If the amount of dampening water is adjusted so as to eliminate background stains and the ink supply amount is controlled, the opening degree of the ink key 7 for calculating the color of the pattern of the printing sheet 8 to match the target color is calculated. adjust.

Since the printing control method and printing system according to an embodiment of the present invention are configured as described above, printing is performed by a printing machine according to the procedure shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, first, when the operator turns on the power of the printing press OT101 and the printing press 102 in step S101, the printing press OT101 that has received this on-information receives the above-mentioned paper surface from the data server 51 in step S102. Load paper data including related information (operation condition loading process). The information of the loaded page data is displayed on the input / display device of the printing press OT101. Further, the page data is supplied to the control device 104 of the printing apparatus 103 corresponding to the “printing device information” included in the page data (operation condition loading step).

In step S103, first, each control device 104 adjusts the opening degree of the ink key based on the image information of the received paper surface data, and presets the ink supply amount to be supplied to the ink transfer unit of each printing device (ink preset). Process).
In step S104, when a plurality of prefecture information is included in the page data loaded on the printing machine OT101, the operator prints by pressing the touch panel on the job screen corresponding to the prefecture information to be printed. Select a job (prefectural version) (job selection process). At this time, one of the plurality of jobs is already selected, and the operator does not need to do anything when the job to be printed is not changed.

The printing press OT101 that has received the job selection information via the touch panel as input means operated by the operator proceeds to step S105 when there is no job change instruction.
If the operator gives an instruction to change the job to be printed, the printing machine OT 101 displays the change of the selected job on the display device 151, and the control device 104 of each printing device 103 displays the change of the selected job. The paper data corresponding to the prefectural version information of the changed job is retransmitted, and steps S102 and S103 are performed again based on the changed paper data.

  In step S105, the operator confirms the arrival status of the platemaking image data and the platemaking image data from the information displayed on the display device 151 (image confirmation process). In step S106, the operator performs various controls as necessary. Set control of elements (ink supply control, dampening water supply control, etc.). Details of these image confirmation (simple inspection) and dampening water supply control will be described later. The color control and the dampening water control are automatically performed based on the feedback reference area and each target value given in advance as data as basic control. In some cases, it is better for the operator to manually adjust the color tone without performing automatic control by the supply control device. In such a case, the operator sets the ink supply control to manual.

  In step S107, when all the settings from step S101 to step S106 and the confirmation of the page data are completed, the operator gives an instruction to confirm the control using the input device 152 of the printing press OT101. The printing press OT101 that has received the operator's confirmation instruction via the input device 152 calculates and sets a printing-related control target value based on the determined control condition, and more preferably with reference to the color table described above. I do.

When a control confirmation instruction is issued in step S107, the printing press OT101 starts printing in step S108 based on the control target values such as the ink key opening and the ink base roller rotation speed calculated and set previously.
In step S109, as shown in FIG. 7, the print data is printed at low speed as the adjustment printing speed as the start-up control (low-speed printing process), and is transmitted to the control device of each printing device, and the measurement information of the sensor 106 Based on the above, a print defect inspection process (hereinafter simply referred to as a defect inspection process or a paper surface inspection) is performed.

Prior to this paper surface inspection, good paper (reference image) data as a reference for the paper surface inspection is taken in. This is because the operator visually determines the good paper and presses a good paper button or the like. In this way, an operation for taking in the reference image at that time is executed. Usually, it is often judged as good paper before density control and dampening control settle down.
For this reason, the printing press OT101 detects that a good paper button provided on the input device 152 such as a touch panel has been selected as an execution command, and performs processing for capturing a reference image according to the detection. After this, as a defect inspection process, the reference image and measurement information from the sensor being printed are compared by image processing. If there is a difference (when the difference is greater than a predetermined inspection threshold level), It is determined that defects such as ink drop, density fluctuation, oil dripping, etc. have occurred on the paper surface. If the difference rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined difference rate, a notification process such as a warning sound or warning display is performed on the assumption that a defect has occurred. That is, for defect inspection processing, a certain value (for example, a density value of a certain color) of the reference image is set to 100%, and a printing result with a printing result less than ± n% with respect to the value of the reference image is determined to be a good product Those with n% or more are judged as defective. In this case, 100 ± n% is the inspection threshold level.

In step S110, the printing press OT101 performs processing for displaying predetermined display screen information on the display device 151 so that the operator can check various control states.
After confirming the control state described above, processing for changing (adjusting) the printing speed and the paper surface inspection level is performed. In other words, in the low-speed printing process, the inspection level (= product management level) of the paper surface inspection is not yet settled until the normal speed is reached from the start of printing. During normal printing where the density is low, even a paper sheet that should be normal is erroneously determined to be a defect. Therefore, the threshold value that serves as a criterion for determining the difference is increased (that is, the value of n is increased), and the inspection level is increased. Is at a low level. Further, when the production speed is reached, the density becomes stable, so that the threshold value is lowered (that is, the value of n is reduced), and the inspection can be performed with strict (= high level). Based on this knowledge, adjustment processing is performed. This makes it possible to properly detect defects during normal printing while preventing them from being judged as being defective even though they are normally properly controlled due to factors such as the printing density not being settled during low-speed printing. To.

  In step S111, the printing press OT101 verifies the difference state of the comparison result between the reference image after the good paper button is pressed and the measurement information in step S109, and if the difference becomes smaller than a predetermined value. Then, it is determined that control such as color tone adjustment and dampening water adjustment has been settled, and the printing speed is increased to the normal production speed (see FIG. 7). At the same time, the threshold value in the above-described print defect inspection is changed so that the defect judgment standard in the normal printing process becomes stricter than the defect judgment standard in the low-speed printing process. Is changed to a lower threshold. When a difference rate higher than the changed setting is detected, a notification process such as a warning sound or a warning display is performed assuming that a defect has occurred.

  In step S112, if it is necessary to change the color tone of the print sheet, the adjustment opening information of the ink key intended by the operator is acquired via the input device 152, and an adjustment completion instruction is given. After the adjustment of the ink key, the subsequent feedback control is performed based on the measurement information of the sensor 106 (IRGB densitometer 1) when the adjustment is completed. In the feedback control, it is more preferable to correct the control target value by referring to the color development characteristic table as described above.

When the printing of the selected job (prefectural version) is completed in step S113, the next job is selected again by the input device, and the processing from step S103 to step S111 is repeated.
When the printing of all jobs is completed, the operator issues a printing completion instruction with the input device 152 in step S114, and the printing is completed. When the printing is completed, the printing machine OT101 and the printing machine 102 are turned off. The printing process ends.

[Simple inspection]
As shown in FIG. 8, the simplified plate inspection control unit of the arithmetic unit 10 is configured to have functions corresponding to a conversion means 41, a position deviation calculation means 42, a position deviation correction means 43, and a plate error detection means 44. ing.
The conversion means 41 uses the inspection image captured by the line sensor camera 3 with the width direction of the paper surface 1 as the x axis and the traveling direction of the paper surface 1 as the y axis, that is, the position (x, y) of the printing surface as a parameter. The gray level value (specifically luminance value) f (x, y) is converted into image data.
The conversion means 41 captures the image of the plate-making data as a reference image, and sets the line drawing rate for each pixel of the sensor from this reference image (for example, the dot to which ink is attached within each pixel is “1”, and otherwise) The ratio of “1” in one pixel when the number of dots is “0”) is calculated.

  Further, the conversion means 41 converts the CMYK image line ratio of the reference image into a density value by using a density conversion table (LUT: Look Up Table, also called CMYK image line ratio-density value table) prepared in advance. The density value is converted into an RGBIr luminance value using Equation 1 shown in FIG. In Equation 1, G is the reference brightness (brightness value of blank paper), and g is the brightness value.

As described above, the conversion unit 41 uses the reference image fbase (x, y) stored as CMYK color information in the same format as the inspection image f (x, y) captured by the line sensor camera 3, that is, RGBIr. The brightness value is digitized.
The positional deviation calculation means 42 uses the normalized correlation method to calculate the positional deviation amount (Δx, Δy) between the reference image fbase (x, y) and the inspected image f (x, y) whose luminance values have been converted by the conversion means 41. This is calculated using.

  In the normalized correlation method, as shown in FIG. 2, first, a two-dimensional image T prepared as a template and a partial image I ′ having the same size as the template image T are cut out from the target image I, and these two-dimensional images T, I ′ Is regarded as a one-dimensional vector, and a correlation value C is calculated by the following equation 2.

Then, according to Equation 2, the correlation value C is calculated for the entire target image while shifting the partial image I ′ pixel by pixel, and the point where the correlation value C is maximized is the point where the template image T exists. In this way, the positional relationship between the template image T and the target image I, that is, the positional deviation can be obtained.
The misregistration calculation unit 42 according to the present embodiment extracts a central portion (for example, horizontal 140 pixels × vertical 220 pixels) of a reference image (for example, the entire image: horizontal 160 pixels × vertical 240 pixels) as the template image T, and has been described above. By performing the calculation of the normalized correlation method as described above, the amount of positional deviation (Δx, Δy) between the reference image fbase (x, y) and the image to be inspected f (x, y) is calculated.

If the maximum correlation value C is smaller than a reference correlation value (reference correlation value) set in advance, the plate 5 mounted on the plate cylinder 6 is originally mounted by the plate loading error detection unit 44 described later. It is detected that the power plate 5 is completely different from the power plate 5 (the plate is incorrectly applied).
The positional deviation correction means 43 is adapted to correct the positional deviation of the image to be inspected f (x, y) based on the positional deviation amount (Δx, Δy) calculated by the positional deviation calculation means 42.

This positional deviation correction will be specifically described. In order to explain step by step, the image is assumed to be one-dimensional. That is, description will be made assuming that the base image is fbase (x) and the image to be inspected is f (x).
As shown in FIG. 10, when the inspection object is shifted by Δx in the positive direction of the x axis with respect to the reference image fbase (x), the captured inspection image f (x) is a print defect (ink spill). If there is no loss or color omission), it is expressed by Equation 3.

  Further, the corrected image F (x) after correcting the displacement of the inspection image f (x) is expressed by Expression 4.

By this equation 4, the luminance value F (x) of the corrected image can be obtained by correcting the positional deviation of the inspection image f (x).
Further, since the inspected image captured by the line sensor camera 3 may be brighter or darker than the reference image as a whole, in order to eliminate this level difference, the misregistration correction unit 43 includes the reference image and the corrected image. The brightness value levels are aligned with each other (scaling is performed).

  As the scaling procedure, first, the maximum value Maxstd and the minimum value Minstd of the luminance value of the reference image fbase (x) are obtained (procedure 1). Next, the maximum value Max and the minimum value Min of the luminance value of the corrected image F (x) are obtained (procedure 2). Then, the luminance value is converted for all the pixels of the corrected image F (x) by the following equation 5 (procedure 3). In Equation 5, ν represents the luminance value of each pixel of the corrected image.

By such a procedure, the luminance value levels of the reference image fbase (x) and the corrected image F (x) are scaled.
The printing error detection unit 44 first calculates a coefficient corresponding to the positional deviation amount of the reference image fbase (x) from the difference between the corrected image F (x) and the reference image fbase (x) according to Equation 6 below. The secondary differential value multiplied is subtracted.

Next, the printing error detection unit 44 compares the luminance value difference (light / dark level difference) S of the inspected image f (x) obtained by Expression 6 with a preset reference level difference.
Then, the number N of pixels in which S is larger than the reference level difference is calculated, and a ratio (that is, area) M of N to the total number of pixels N0 is obtained. If this M is smaller than a preset reference ratio, It is determined that the plate 5 mounted on the cylinder 6 is mounted properly (normally), and if M is larger than a preset reference ratio, the plate 5 mounted on the plate cylinder 6 is incorrectly set. It comes to judge that there is.

  By the way, the above equation 6 is obtained by the following calculation. First, Expression 7 is obtained by substituting Expression 3 into Expression 4.

  Here, when Δx (1−Δx) is arranged as k, the following Expression 8 is obtained.

Here, 0 ≦ Δx ≦ 1 and 0 ≦ k ≦ 0.25.
Further, when the inside of the curly braces on the right side of Expression 8 is arranged, the following Expression 9 is obtained.

Equation 9 shows the difference between the differences of the reference image fbase (x), that is, the second derivative of the reference image fbase (x).
Further, when the image is displayed two-dimensionally, that is, when the reference image is fbase (x, y) and the image to be inspected is f (x, y), the following expression 10 is obtained in the same way as described above.

Where kx = Δx (1−Δx) (0 ≦ kx ≦ 0.25 when 0 ≦ Δx ≦ 1)
ky = Δy (1−Δy) (0 ≦ ky ≦ 0.25 when 0 ≦ Δy ≦ 1)
The first term on the right side of Equation 10 is the secondary differential value in the x-axis direction of the reference image fbase (x, y), and the second term on the right side is the secondary differential value in the y-axis direction of the reference image fbase (x, y). The third term on the right side is the second-order differential value in the oblique direction of the reference image fbase (x, y).

As described above, even if the corrected image F (x, y) is subtracted from the reference image fbase (x, y), the result does not become 0 but has a certain value. It can be seen that this value is equal to the secondary differential value of the reference image fbase (x, y).
That is, in this detection apparatus, by further subtracting the secondary differential value of the reference image fbase (x, y) from the value obtained by subtracting the corrected image F (x, y) from the reference image fbase (x, y), After correcting the positional deviation with higher accuracy, a more detailed difference between the reference image fbase (x, y) and the image to be inspected f (x, y) is detected, and whether or not a plate 5 error has occurred. Can be detected more accurately.

  Further, in the present detection apparatus, when an error in applying the plate 5 is detected by the plate application error detecting means 44, it is displayed on the display 10 as the display means that an error in applying the plate 5 has occurred. It has become. As a result, the operator can easily know whether or not the plate 5 is wrong by looking at the display 10.

[Dampening water supply control]
As shown in FIGS. 6, 11, and 12, the dampening water supply device 70 includes a water source roller 71, a water reciprocating roller 72, a watering roller 73, and a water spray device 74, and a nozzle of the water spray device 74. The dampening water can be supplied to the plate cylinder (printing cylinder) 4 through the water reciprocating roller 72 and the watering roller 73 by spraying the dampening water from 74a onto the water source roller 71. A plurality of nozzles 74 a of the water spray device 74 are provided in a pipe 75 extending in the axial direction of the water source roller 71 along the axial direction of the water source roller 71, and each nozzle 74 is individually or adjacent to each other. The amount of injection can be controlled for each group in which a plurality of nozzles are grouped. Accordingly, the dampening water supply amount Qw can be adjusted in units of a plurality of areas divided in the axial direction of the plate cylinder 4. Covers 76 and 76 are provided on the outer sides of the nozzles 74a at both ends, thereby preventing the fountain solution from splashing outside the machine.

  Here, the nozzle 74a of the left group 74L and the nozzle 74a of the right group 74R can be controlled separately in the left and right groups. The dampening water supply amount Qw can be adjusted. Further, the dampening water supply amount Qw is specifically controlled as a dampening water injection amount (injection amount per unit time) from the nozzle.

Reference is now made to FIG. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a picture color tone control device for a newspaper offset rotary press according to the present embodiment, and at the same time, a functional block diagram focusing on a control function for adjusting a dampening water supply amount of the arithmetic device 10. It is.
The arithmetic unit 10 includes a DSP (digital signal processor) 11 and a PC (personal computer) 12 that are installed apart from the printing press. The PC 12 includes a color conversion unit 14, a stain determination unit 15a, and a dampening water amount. A function as the setting unit 16a is assigned. The line sensor type IRGB densitometer 1 is connected to the input side of the arithmetic device 10, and the control device 20 with a built-in printing press is connected to the output side. The control device 20 functions as a dampening water supply amount adjusting means that adjusts the dampening water supply amount Qw in units of a plurality of areas divided in the axial direction of the plate cylinder 4. The operation of the water spray device 74 can be adjusted. Further, a touch panel 30 as a display device is connected to the arithmetic device 10. On the touch panel 30, the print surface of the print sheet 8 imaged by the line sensor type IRGB densitometer 1 is displayed, and an arbitrary area on the print surface can be selected with a finger.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a process flow of the soiling determination by the arithmetic unit 10 and the dampening water supply amount adjustment performed based on this determination. Hereinafter, the processing content of the color tone control by the arithmetic unit 10 will be described with reference to FIG.
During printing, the processes after step S10 shown in FIG. 13 are repeatedly executed. First, as step S10, the line sensor type IRGB densitometer 1 measures the amount of reflected light i ′, r ′, g ′, b ′ for each pixel on the entire surface of the printing sheet 8. The reflected light amounts i ′, r ′, g ′, b ′ of each pixel measured by the IRGB densitometer 1 are input to the DSP 11.

In step S20, the DSP 11 performs a moving average of the reflected light amounts i ′, r ′, g ′, and b ′ of each pixel in units of a predetermined number of printed sheets, so that the reflected light amounts i, r of each pixel from which the noise component has been removed. , G, b are calculated.
In step S30, the target is specified as a blank area (non-image area), the reflected light amounts i, r, g, and b are processed for each pixel in the dampening water adjustment zone, and the reflected light amount of the blank paper portion is determined. The reference mixed color halftone density (actual mixed color halftone density) I, R, G, B is calculated. For the mixed color halftone density (actual mixed color halftone density) I, R, G, and B, for example, the reflected light amount of the infrared light of the white paper portion is assumed to be ip, and the average reflected light amount of the infrared light in the dampening solution adjustment zone. Is ik, the actual mixed color halftone density I of infrared light is obtained as I = log 10 (ip / ik).

The reason why the target is specified as a blank area (non-image area) is because it is difficult for the image area to distinguish between image lines and dirt. That is, in the blank area, the actual mixed color halftone density is 0 if there is no stain, but the actual mixed color halftone density is a positive value if there is stain. Accordingly, it is possible to determine the presence or absence of dirt from the actual mixed color halftone density value.
The location of the blank area of the printing paper can be recognized from the plate making data. Here, the DSP 11 identifies the location of the blank area of the printing paper from the plate making data and automatically sets it as the calculation area (measurement area). When an OK sheet is obtained, this setting can be set manually by looking at the image of the OK sheet.

  Also, even in the blank area (non-image area), the portion adjacent to the pattern area (image area) may be a blank area on the plate making data due to a detection position shift accompanying high-speed conveyance of printing paper. Actually, there is an image line portion, which may be detected. Therefore, in the DSP 11, as shown by a broken line in FIG. 14, the portion of the blank area (non-image portion) 52 of the plate-making image 50 that is close to the pattern area (image portion) 51 within a predetermined distance is excluded. Thus, an area (measurement area) 53 for calculating the mixed color halftone density (actual mixed color halftone density) I, R, G, B is set, and the actual mixed color halftone density is calculated (measured) for this measurement area 53. ing.

  As described above, the actual mixed color halftone densities I, R, G, and B for each dampening water adjustment zone in the blank paper area calculated by the DSP 11 are input to the color conversion unit 14 of the PC 12. The color conversion unit 14 performs the process of step S40. In step S40, the halftone dot area ratio of each ink color corresponding to the actual mixed color halftone density I, R, G, B calculated in step S30 is calculated. For this calculation, the database 141 is used, and based on the correspondence stored in the database 141, the halftone dot area ratio of each ink color corresponding to the actual mixed color halftone density I, R, G, B is calculated as the actual halftone dot area ratio k, Calculate as c, m, y.

Specifically, the database 141 according to the present embodiment stores a well-known Neugebauer formula that defines the correspondence between the halftone dot area ratio of each ink color and the mixed color halftone density.
Further, in the present embodiment, before performing the final printing of the printed matter on the printing machine (actual machine), the solids of k, c, m, and y (also referred to as solid density values) in advance on the printing machine, kc, km, ky, cm, cy, my that superimposes any two colors of k, c, m, and y, and kcm that superimposes any three colors of these solid k, c, m, and y , Kcy, kmy, cmy, and kcmy obtained by superimposing all four colors k, c, m, and y, and printing this color chart with the IRGB densitometer 1 By measuring the density values Dk (λ) and Dc (λ) corresponding to solid k, c, m, y, kc, km, ky, cm, cy, my, kcm, kcy, kmy, cmy, kcmy. , Dm (λ), Dy (λ), Dkc (λ), Dkm (λ), ky (λ), Dcm (λ), Dcy (λ), Dmy (λ), Dkcm (λ), Dkcy (λ), Dkmy (λ), Dcmy (λ), and Dkcmy (λ) are obtained. The values Dk (λ) to Dkcmy (λ) are substituted into the Neugebauer equation. Then, the actual mixed color halftone densities I, R, G, and B calculated in step S30 are substituted into the Neugebauer equation Dao (λ), respectively, and the four-dimensional simultaneous nonlinear equations are solved to obtain the actual mixed color halftone densities I, R, and G. , B, the real dot area ratios k, c, m, y of the respective ink colors are obtained. In this manner, the actual halftone dot area ratio can be easily obtained from the actual mixed color halftone density by calculation. Further, as in this embodiment, k, c, m, and y solids and k, c, m, and y solids kc, km, ky, cm, cy, my, kcm, kcy, and kmy are superimposed. , Cmy, and kcmy are constructed by substituting the solid density value previously obtained by using the IRGB densitometer 1 into the Neugebauer equation, thereby creating an actual halftone dot area in the color space corresponding to the solid density value. The rate can be calculated.

  If there is dirt in the blank paper area, that is, ink adhesion, the value of the actual mixed color halftone density becomes larger than 0, and one of the actual halftone dot area ratios k, c, m, y of each ink color or Multiples are greater than zero. Therefore, in step S50, the stain determination unit 15 determines whether or not the actual halftone dot area ratios k, c, m, and y of each ink color are greater than a preset threshold (or greater than or equal to a threshold). If the real dot area ratios k, c, m, and y are larger than the threshold value, it is determined that the ink is stained. At this time, it is also determined whether the dampening water adjustment zone (the left nozzle group 74L zone or the right nozzle group 74R zone) is contaminated.

Here, it is possible to identify even lighter stains as the threshold values for the actual halftone dot area ratios k, c, m, and y are reduced. However, the calculation error of converting from the actual mixed color halftone density to the actual halftone dot area ratio is not limited. For this reason, if the threshold value is increased too much, the determination accuracy of ink stains is lowered. Therefore, it is preferable to set the threshold value considering these. The threshold is basically common to each color.
In step S60, the dampening water amount setting unit 16a increases and corrects the dampening water supply amount Qw based on the determination result determined by the dirt determination unit 15a. That is, with respect to the dampening water supply device 70 of the ink printing unit that is determined to be dirty by the stain determination unit 15a, the humidity in the corresponding adjustment zone (the zone of the left nozzle group 74L or the zone of the right nozzle group 74R). The water supply amount Qw is increased from the current state by a predetermined amount (a constant amount) ΔQw. Specifically, the dampening water injection amount from the nozzle (injection amount per unit time) is set to increase by a predetermined amount.

However, if the dampening water supply amount Qw becomes excessive, problems such as floating dirt and roller stripping phenomenon are caused. Therefore, the dampening water supply amount has an upper limit value QwMAX, and the dampening water amount setting unit 16
When the dampening water supply amount Qw is increased by a predetermined amount, a is set so that the dampening water supply amount Qw is clipped at the upper limit value QwMAX.
Based on the corrected dampening water supply amount Qw transmitted from the dampening water amount setting unit 16 of the arithmetic device 10, the control device 20 determines the water injection amount from the nozzle of the water spray device 74 of the dampening water supply device 70. Control to the increasing side in each adjustment zone unit.

  After the increase control of the dampening water supply amount, the control device 20 starts counting the number of printed sheets from the time when the increase control is performed (step S70), and the number N of printed sheets is a predetermined number N1 (for example, about 100 to several hundred sheets). ) Is set to maintain that state (that is, the dampening water supply amount is not changed) through the determination in step S80. This is because even if the dampening water supply amount is adjusted, it takes time to eliminate ink stains. After confirming the correction result of the dampening water supply amount, Supply amount control is performed.

Since the background detection control of the printed matter according to the present embodiment is configured as described above, if there is background stain (ink stain) on the printed matter, even if a stain with a plurality of inks overlapped occurs, It is possible to easily and reliably determine which ink is stained.
Further, since the stain is detected by paying attention to the non-image area (that is, the blank area) of the printed matter, the detection accuracy is high. In particular, the measurement area 53 is set by excluding a portion within a predetermined distance adjacent to the image line portion in the blank area of the printed matter, and the actual mixed color halftone density is measured to determine the stain for each ink color. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent a problem that an adjacent image line portion is erroneously determined to be dirty.

And, according to this determination result, the control of the supply amount of dampening water of the corresponding ink unit will take measures to suppress the occurrence of ink stains. Since the dampening water supply amount is adjusted by appropriately determining whether or not the printing unit is in the dampening water supply amount state in which the soiling occurs, the generation of the soiling can be surely prevented.
In addition, if the amount of dampening water supplied becomes excessive, it will cause overemulsification, leading to problems such as floating stains and roller stripping. Since this is done, such a problem can be avoided.

  Furthermore, it takes time for this effect to appear after increasing the supply amount of dampening water. However, after a predetermined number of prints have been made, that is, after the effect of increasing the dampening water supply amount appears, Since dirt detection is performed, appropriate feedback control can be performed without increasing the dampening water supply amount excessively.

[Ink supply control]
FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a picture color tone control device for a newspaper offset rotary press according to an embodiment of the present invention, and at the same time, a functional block diagram focusing on the color tone control function of the arithmetic unit 10.
If attention is paid to the ink supply amount control, the arithmetic unit 10 has a DSP (digital signal processor, which has a function corresponding to a target pixel setting means, a halftone dot area ratio calculating means, and an actual mixed color halftone density measuring means) 11 and a PC. The PC 12 includes a color conversion unit (target color mixing halftone density setting means, target halftone dot area ratio calculating means, target single color halftone density calculating means, real halftone dot area ratio calculating means, actual single color halftone density. 14 as an ink supply amount calculation unit 15b, an online control unit 16b, a key opening limiter calculation unit 17b, and a reception unit (reception unit or data acquisition unit) 18. A function is assigned.

  The line sensor type IRGB densitometer 1 is connected to the input side of the arithmetic device 10, and the control device 20 with a built-in printing press is connected to the output side. The control device 20 functions as an ink supply amount adjusting means for adjusting the ink supply amount for each key zone of the ink key 7, and controls an opening / closing device (not shown) that opens and closes the ink key 7, and each printing unit 2a, The key opening can be adjusted independently for each of the ink keys 7 of 2b, 2c, and 2d. In addition, a touch panel (also having a function of an input unit) 30 as a display device is connected to the arithmetic device 10.

  16 and 17 are diagrams showing a processing flow of color tone control by the arithmetic unit 10. Hereinafter, the processing content of the color tone control by the arithmetic unit 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 16 and 17. Here, a description will be given of a case where the color tone control is performed in consideration of the ink strike-through without cutting the color tone control even when the ink strike-through estimation unit 50 estimates that the ink strike-through occurs. .

  In order to perform this color tone control, the above-mentioned newspaper page information (kcmy halftone dot area ratio data of the pattern to be printed) from the outside via a storage medium or network (which may be wired or wireless) by the receiving unit 18 And an ICC (International Color Consortium) profile (hereinafter referred to as an ICC profile of the reference printing machine) of the input device that created the color information of the paper surface. As described above, the newspaper page information is transmitted from the head office of the newspaper company to the printing factory in the form of bitmap data (1 bit-Tiff plate making data). The ICC profile is a conversion table that defines the correspondence between the halftone dot area ratio of the reference printing machine and the color coordinate value, which is the reference color tone in the current printing.

  First, in step T10, the DSP 11 converts the bitmap data acquired via the receiving unit 18 into low resolution data equivalent to CIP3 data corresponding to the format of the printing press, and uses the low resolution data as halftone dot area ratio data. Use. This resolution conversion process is for sharing with general CIP3 data, but the bitmap data itself can be used as the dot area ratio data in the subsequent process. Further, the DSP 11 is connected to a touch panel 30, and a picture image on a newspaper is displayed on the touch panel 30 based on the transmitted bitmap data.

  In step T20, specific attention points (remarked pixels) corresponding to the respective ink colors are set for each key zone by directly using a hand or a touch pen on the pattern image displayed on the touch panel 30. The point of interest is designated by arbitrarily selecting a specific point on the design image displayed on the touch panel 30 and input to the DSP 11 of the arithmetic unit 10. The attention point is the position of the pattern on the print sheet 8 where the color is particularly desired to match, and a specific pixel, a continuous group of pixels, or all pixels can be designated for each key zone. . For a key zone in which a point of interest is not designated by the operator, the DSP 11 automatically sets the point of interest. This automatic setting is performed by calculating and automatically extracting the pixel having the largest autocorrelation with respect to the dot area ratio of each color and each pixel. Specifically, for example, the autocorrelation sensitivity Hc of cyan can be expressed by “Hc = c 2 / (k + c + m + y)” using halftone dot area ratio data (k, c, m, y). The pixel having the highest correlation sensitivity Hc is the cyan attention point. Similarly, a pixel having the highest autocorrelation sensitivity is calculated for other ink colors, and the pixel is set as a point of interest. Further, for example, a color that is not included in an arbitrary design point designated by the operator and a color with a small design area can be automatically set.

  In addition, for one key zone, when a plurality of continuous pixels or all pixels are designated as a point of interest and the point of interest is a set of a plurality of pixels, the DSP 11 includes a plurality of pixels constituting the point of interest. Average processing. Further, for example, when an arbitrary pixel is selected by an operator or a pixel having the highest autocorrelation sensitivity is automatically selected, a pixel group including its surrounding pixels is selected as a point of interest, and a halftone dot of this pixel group is selected. The area ratio may be averaged. The number of surrounding pixels included in the attention point and the selection pattern thereof may be fixed (for example, the surrounding 8 pixels surrounding the selected or automatically extracted pixels), but preferably within the pattern of the selected or automatically extracted pixels. It is set so that the influence of the disturbance is suppressed in consideration of the position at. According to this, since the measurement data is less likely to fluctuate due to meandering or vertical displacement of the printing paper surface, stable feedback control is possible.

  Next, in step T30, the color conversion unit 14 uses the halftone dot area ratio ki, ci, mi, yi of the attention point input from the DSP 11 using the ICC profile of the reference printing machine transmitted from the head office of the newspaper company. The color coordinate values L, a, and b are converted. After this conversion, in step T40, the color coordinate values L, a, b are converted into halftone dot area ratios k ′, c ′, m ′, y ′ using the ICC profile of the device prepared in advance. It is supposed to be. The ICC profile of the own machine is a conversion table that defines the correspondence between the dot area ratio of the printing machine to be controlled in the current printing and the color coordinate values. In this way, by using the ICC profile of the reference printing machine and the ICC profile of the own machine, the halftone dot area ratio corresponding to the own machine can be obtained from the halftone dot area ratio of the pattern to be printed.

  Further, in step T50, the color conversion unit 14 uses the conversion table recorded in the database 141 to convert the halftone dot area ratios k ′, c ′, m ′, y ′ of the target points into the mixed color halftone densities Io, Ro, Go. , Bo, and in step T60, it is set as the target color mixture halftone density Io, Ro, Go, Bo. The database 141 associates the halftone dot area ratio of each ink color with the mixed color halftone density, and is provided in the color conversion unit 14 of the PC 12. The database 141 is a printed paper based on the Japan Color Japan Color standard established by the ISO / TC130 National Committee, and measured by the line sensor type IRGB densitometer 1 [standard dot area ratio (k, c, m, y ), Color mixture halftone density (I, R, G, B) and color coordinate value (L, a, b) corresponding conversion table]. If the target mixed color halftone density Io, Ro, Go, Bo set in this way is used, it is possible to match the color tone of the own machine with the color tone of the reference printing press.

  When the target mixed color halftone densities Io, Ro, Go, and Bo are set as described above, printing is started and the processes after step U10 in the flowchart shown in FIG. 17 are repeatedly executed. First, as step U10, the line sensor type IRGB densitometer 1 measures the reflected light amount i ', r', g ', b' for each pixel on the entire surface of the printing sheet 8. The reflected light amounts i ′, r ′, g ′, b ′ of each pixel measured by the line sensor type IRGB densitometer 1 are input to the DSP 11. However, since the print sheet is a blank sheet at the start of the flow, the licensor type IRGB densitometer 1 measures the reflected light amount of the blank sheet and inputs the measured reflected light amount of the blank sheet to the DSP 11.

  In step U20, the DSP 11 performs a moving average of the reflected light amounts i ′, r ′, g ′, and b ′ of each pixel in units of a predetermined number of printed sheets, so that the reflected light amount i, r of each pixel from which the noise component has been removed. , G, b are calculated. In step U30, the reflected light amounts i, r, g, and b are averaged for each point of interest in each key zone, and the mixed color halftone density (actual mixed color halftone density) I, R, G and B are calculated. For example, if the reflected light amount of the infrared light in the blank paper portion is ip and the average reflected light amount of the infrared light in the key zone is ik, the actual mixed color halftone density I of the infrared light is I = log 10 (ip / ik). Desired. The actual mixed color halftone densities I, R, G, and B for each target point of each key zone calculated by the DSP 11 are input to the color conversion unit 14 of the PC 12.

  The color conversion unit 14 performs the processes of steps U40, U50, and U60. First, as step U40, the dot area ratio of each ink color corresponding to the actual mixed color halftone density I, R, G, B calculated in step U30 is calculated. For this calculation, the above-described database 141 is used, and based on the correspondence stored in the database 141, the halftone dot area ratio of each ink color corresponding to the actual mixed color halftone density I, R, G, B is determined as the actual halftone dot area ratio. Calculate as k, c, m, y. Further, the color conversion unit 14 is based on the correspondence stored in the database 141, and the dot area of each ink color corresponding to the target mixed color halftone density Io, Ro, Go, Bo set in step T60 shown in FIG. The rate is calculated as a target dot area rate ko, co, mo, yo.

  Next, in step U50, the color conversion unit 14 sets the target single color halftone density of each ink color corresponding to the target halftone dot area ratios ko, co, mo, yo and the actual halftone dot area ratios k, c, m, y. The actual single color halftone density of each ink color corresponding to is calculated. For this calculation, a map as shown in FIG. C is used. FIG. C is an example of a map in which the monochromatic halftone density actually measured when the halftone dot area ratio is changed is plotted as a characteristic curve, and is created from data measured in advance. Here, a map is used in which the increase rate of the monochrome halftone density gradually increases as the halftone dot area ratio increases. In the example shown in FIG. 18, by comparing the black target halftone dot area ratio ko and the real halftone dot area ratio k with the map, the target single color halftone density Dako and the real single color halftone density Dak are respectively obtained from the characteristic curves in the map. It has been demanded. In this way, the color conversion unit 14 obtains the target monochromatic halftone densities Dako, Dako, Damo, Dayo and the actual monochromatic halftone densities Dak, Dac, Dam, Day for each ink color.

  Next, in step U60, the color conversion unit 14 determines the solid density deviation ΔDsk of each ink color corresponding to the deviation between the target single color halftone density Dako, Dako, Damo, Dayo and the actual single color halftone density Dak, Dac, Dam, Day. , ΔDsc, ΔDsm, ΔDsy are calculated. The solid density also depends on the halftone dot area ratio. For the same monochrome halftone density, the higher the halftone dot area ratio, the lower the solid density. Therefore, the color conversion unit 14 performs calculations using a map as shown in FIG. FIG. 19 is an example of a map in which the monochromatic halftone density actually measured when the monochromatic solid density is changed is plotted as a characteristic curve for each halftone dot area ratio, and is created from data measured in advance. Here, for each halftone dot area ratio, a map is used in which the monochromatic halftone density increases linearly or substantially linearly as the solid density increases. The color conversion unit 14 selects a characteristic curve corresponding to the target halftone dot area ratios ko, co, mo, and yo for each ink color from the map shown in FIG. 19, and sets the target monochromatic halftone densities Dako, Daco, The solid density deviations ΔDsk, ΔDsc, ΔDsm, ΔDsy are obtained by associating the Damo, Dayo with the actual monochromatic halftone densities Dak, Dac, Dam, Day. In the example shown in FIG. 19, when the black target halftone dot area ratio ko is 75%, the black color is determined from the 75% characteristic curve in the map by comparing the target single color halftone density Dako and the actual single color halftone density Dak with the map. The solid density deviation ΔDsk is obtained.

  The solid density deviations ΔDsk, ΔDsc, ΔDsm, ΔDsy of each ink color calculated by the color conversion unit 14 are input to the ink supply amount calculation unit 15b. In step U70, the ink supply amount calculation unit 15b calculates key opening deviation amounts ΔKk, ΔKc, ΔKm, ΔKy corresponding to the solid density deviations ΔDsk, ΔDsc, ΔDsm, ΔDsy. The key opening deviation amounts ΔKk, ΔKc, ΔKm, ΔKy are the current key opening Kk0, Kc0, Km0, Ky0 of each ink key 7 (the key opening output to the control device 20 of the printing press in the process of the previous step U100). Kk, Kc, Km, Ky) is an increase / decrease amount, and the ink supply amount calculation unit 15 performs calculation using a known API function (auto-preset inking function). The API function is a function showing the correspondence between the dot area ratio (k, c, m, y) of each key zone and the key opening K (Kk, Kc, Km, Ky) in order to obtain a reference density. As the halftone dot area ratio, bitmap data transmitted from the head office of a newspaper company can be used. Specifically, the ratio kd (kd = ΔDs / Ds) of the solid density deviation ΔDs (ΔDsk, ΔDsc, ΔDsm, ΔDsy) with respect to the reference density Ds (Dsk, Dsc, Dsm, Dsy) is obtained, and the halftone dot area ratio is calculated. The key opening K for obtaining the reference concentration is obtained using an API function, and a key opening deviation amount ΔK (ΔK = kd × K) for making the solid concentration deviation ΔDs zero is obtained as a product of these.

  Next, in step U80, the online control unit 16b sends the key opening deviation amounts ΔKk, ΔKc, ΔKm, ΔKy calculated by the color conversion unit 14 to the line sensor type IRGB from the respective printing units 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d. Correction is made in consideration of the dead time to the densitometer 1, the reaction time of the ink key 7 per hour, and the printing speed. This correction is detected as a change in the amount of reflected light by the IRGB densitometer 1 when the ink key 7 is moved after the key opening signal is input, the key opening is changed and the amount of ink supplied to the printing sheet changes. The time delay until is taken into consideration. As such an online feedback control system with a large dead time, for example, PI control with dead time compensation, fuzzy control, robust control and the like are optimal. The online controller 16b is for online control in which the current key opening Kk0, Kc0, Km0, Ky0 is added to the corrected key opening deviation amount (online control key opening deviation amount) ΔKk, ΔKc, ΔKm, ΔKy. The key openings Kk1, Kc1, Km1, and Ky1 are input to the key opening limiter calculation unit 17b.

  In step U90, the key opening limiter calculation unit 17b performs correction for restricting the upper limit value to the online control key openings Kk1, Kc1, Km1, and Ky1 calculated by the online control unit 16b. This is a process for restricting an abnormal increase in the key opening due to the estimation error of the color conversion algorithm (the processes of steps U40, U50, and U60) particularly in the low image area. Then, at step U100, the key opening limiter calculation unit 17b transmits the key opening Kk, Kc, Km, Ky whose upper limit value is restricted to the control device 20 of the printing press as a key opening signal.

In step U110, the control device 20b of the printing press determines the opening of each ink key 7 of each printing unit 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d based on the key opening signals Kk, Kc, Km, Ky transmitted from the arithmetic unit 10. Adjust. As a result, the ink supply amount of each ink color is controlled to match the target color tone for each key zone.
As described above, according to the color tone control according to the present embodiment, the kcmy halftone dot area ratio data of the pattern to be printed obtained from the print request source and the like, the ICC profile of the reference printing machine, and the ICC profile of the own machine are further obtained. Since the color tone is controlled by using the color tone, it is possible to accurately and easily match the color tone desired by the print requester immediately after the start of printing without waiting for the OK sheet to be printed. Thereby, it is possible to greatly reduce the amount of waste paper generated until an OK sheet is obtained.
[Others]
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where a plurality of prefecture plates are printed in the printing factory has been described. However, the job selection process by the selection operation unit is not limited to selecting prefecture plate information. For example, in the case of newspaper printing, it is necessary to print the latest information as much as possible. Therefore, after loading paper data to the printing machine OT, new paper data is transmitted from the newspaper headquarters once. It may be possible to replace the loaded paper data and print. Even in such a case, if it is before the control confirmation (print start) instruction, simply select the job corresponding to the newly replaced paper surface data, and each control device of each printing device can smoothly add a new paper surface. Since the data is retransmitted, it is possible to reduce the printing control based on erroneous paper surface data, and to reduce the labor required for replacing the paper surface.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case of newspaper printing has been described. However, what is printed is not limited to newspapers and can be applied. For example, when printing newspaper inserts such as stores with multiple stores, it is often necessary to replace the nearest store information for each insert area, and in this case, in each insert area It is only necessary to select the corresponding job and smoothly select the page data. In addition, the present invention can be widely applied not only to leaflets, but also to those that require printing with a part of the printing plate replaced.

1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a newspaper offset rotary press according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a lineblock diagram showing an example of a newspaper printing system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a terminal device, a printing machine, and a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows schematic function structure of the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display display of the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a newspaper offset rotary press according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a graph which shows the change of the printing speed (driving speed) of the newspaper offset rotary press which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram (partial block diagram) schematically showing a simplified plate inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the normalization correlation method which concerns on the simple plate inspection of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the process of the position shift calculation means which concerns on the simple plate inspection of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram showing a dampening water supply amount adjusting device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a functional block diagram which paid its attention to the dampening water supply amount control of the arithmetic unit which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing flow of the soil detection and the dampening water supply amount control which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a mimetic diagram of a platemaking image explaining background dirt detection concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a functional block diagram which paid its attention to the color tone control function of the arithmetic unit which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing flow of the color tone control which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the processing flow of the color tone control which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. 6 is a map that associates a monochrome halftone density with a halftone dot area ratio. 6 is a map that associates a solid density with a halftone dot area ratio and a monochrome halftone density.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Line sensor type IRGB densitometer 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d Printing unit 3 Blanket cylinder 4 Plate cylinder 5 Ink roller group 6 Ink source roller 7 Ink key 8 Print sheet 10 Arithmetic unit 11 DSP
12 PC
Reference Signs List 14 color conversion unit 15a stain determination unit 16a dampening water amount setting unit 15b ink supply amount calculation unit 16b online control unit 17b key opening limiter calculation unit 18 reception unit 20 control device built in printer 30 touch panel 32 display device 41 conversion means 42 Misregistration calculation means 43 Misregistration correction means 44 Printing error detection means 70 Dampening water supply device 74 Water spray device 50 Head office server 51 Data server (print factory side data server)
52 CTP system 53,101 Printing machine OT (terminal equipment)
54, 102 Printing machine 103 Printing device 104 Control device 105 Printing unit 106 Sensor (detection means)
150 Storage / Calculation Device 151 Display Device (Display)
152 Input device (touch panel) (selection operation means)

Claims (12)

A server that stores print data including plate-making data for each page and related information about the page as a page data for each of the pages,
A printing machine having a plurality of printing devices for printing;
A control device for controlling each of the printing devices;
A terminal device connected to the server for acquiring the print data and outputting the corresponding paper data of the print data to the control device; and a detecting means attached to the printing machine for detecting the printed paper status. In the printing system provided, the printing control method for controlling each printing device by the control device based on the paper surface data sent from the terminal device and the detection information sent from the detection means,
The print data includes a plurality of sets of selection papers, each of which is a part of the plurality of paper surfaces, and corresponding to a specific paper surface on which the printing plate is changed. Data included,
An operation condition loading step of loading the print data from the server to the terminal device and loading the page data corresponding to the control device from the terminal device;
A print job selection step of selecting one of the plurality of sets of paper data for selection of the specific paper loaded on the terminal device;
The plate making data included in the page data selected in the print job selection step is displayed on the display of the terminal device, and the arrival state of the plate making data at the terminal device and the arrived plate making data with reference to the display display The image confirmation process for confirming the data is sequentially performed as a pre-printing process,
Then start printing,
In the printing step, the printing device is controlled based on the paper surface data sent from the terminal device by the control device and the detection information sent from the detection means. . 2. The printing control method according to claim 1, further comprising an ink presetting step for presetting an ink supply amount of each of the printing apparatuses based on each paper surface data acquired from the server. In the print job selection step, the plurality of sets of paper data for selection are displayed on the terminal device, and the plurality of sets of paper data for selection are selected through the selection operation means of the terminal device with reference to the display. 3. The print control method according to claim 1, wherein one of them is selected and operated. The above-mentioned printing process is started at a relatively low speed for adjustment at the time of start-up, and a low-speed printing process for printing while performing various adjustments. With a normal printing process to run and print at normal operating speed,
The printing according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a step of inspecting a print defect based on detection information sent from the detection means in the low-speed printing step and the normal printing step. Control method. The detection means is an IRGB densitometer,
5. The print control according to claim 1, wherein in the printing step, feedback control is performed on a control element of each of the printing apparatuses using detection information sent from the IRGB densitometer. Method. The control elements of each printing device include an ink supply device that adjusts the amount of ink supplied,
The printing control method according to claim 1, wherein in the printing step, an ink supply amount by the ink supply device is controlled. As the pre-printing step, it further includes a printing characteristic information acquisition step of acquiring printing characteristic information from the printing result of a predetermined reference pattern using the detection unit,
In the printing step, the control device includes a control target value obtained from the paper surface data sent from the terminal device and the print characteristic information acquired in the print characteristic acquisition step, and detection information sent from the detection means. The printing control method according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is controlled based on the following. In the step of inspecting the print defect, the inspection threshold level at the time of the print defect inspection is set to a gentle product management level by relatively widening the allowable range with respect to the inspection reference value set in advance in the low-speed printing step, 5. The printing control method according to claim 4, wherein in the normal printing step, a permissible range is made relatively narrow with respect to the inspection reference value to a strict product management level. A server that stores print data including plate-making data for each page and related information about the page as a page data for each of the pages,
A printing machine having a plurality of printing devices for printing;
A control device for controlling each of the printing devices;
A terminal device connected to the server for acquiring the print data and outputting corresponding paper data of the print data to the control device;
A detecting means attached to the printing machine for detecting a printed paper surface condition;
A printing system for controlling each printing device by the control device based on the page data sent from the terminal device and the detection information sent from the detection means,
The print data includes a plurality of sets of selection papers, each of which is a part of the plurality of paper surfaces, and corresponding to a specific paper surface on which the printing plate is changed. Data included,
The terminal device is
In the pre-printing step, a selection data display means for displaying the paper data for selection of the plurality of sets on a display;
Selection operation means for selecting and operating one of the plurality of displayed sets of paper data for selection;
The plate-making data included in the paper data selected by the selection operation means is displayed on the display, and the paper data selected by the selection operation means is transmitted to the control device,
The printing system according to claim 1, wherein the control device corresponding to the specific paper surface controls the printing device based on the transmitted paper surface data and detection information sent from the detection means. The detection means is an IRGB densitometer,
The printing system according to claim 9, wherein the control device feedback-controls the control elements of the printing devices of the printing machine using detection information sent from the IRGB densitometer. The control element of each printing device includes an ink supply device that adjusts the amount of ink supplied, and the control device uses the page data sent from the terminal device and the detection information sent from the detection means. 11. The printing system according to claim 9, wherein the ink supply amount of the ink supply device is controlled based on the control. A storage device for storing printing characteristic information acquired from the printing result of the predetermined reference pattern using the detection unit;
The control device controls the printing device based on a control target value obtained from the paper surface data sent from the terminal device and the printing characteristic information, and detection information sent from the detection means. The printing system according to any one of claims 9 to 11.

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