JP3141172B2 - Flatbed scanner with original film cassette interrupt function - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing plate making scanner, and more particularly to a scanner for interrupting scanning of another original film in the course of steady continuous processing of a plurality of original films to the scanner. About the means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, plate making data for printing plate making, especially for multi-color plate making, has been prepared by using a scanner which performs color separation of an original film and image reading. The original film on which the plate was made was usually wound around a transparent drum and scanned and scanned.However, this could damage an important document received from a customer or damage the drum. The operation of winding and holding the original film on the paper is troublesome and the efficiency is poor, which is not preferable in terms of productivity. for that reason,
The original film is held in a cassette to prevent the original from being damaged, and the cassette is stacked and stored in a stacker. For example, the lowermost layer of the stacker is sequentially fed to the scanner. This original film is carefully held between the acrylic plate or glass plate in a flat state in a cassette, and the scanner also changes from a cylindrical original scanning method to a flat original scanning method. Has emerged, and the platen has only to move the length of the original on a plane, so that there is an advantage that the configuration can be made quite compact.

[0003] The applicant has already published the following application.

JP-A-2-20170 JP-A-3-188446 JP-A-3-95036 JP

[0005]

As described above, a plurality of original film cassettes are stored in a stacker in a stacked state. For example, the original film cassettes are sequentially taken out from the lowermost layer or the uppermost layer and supplied to the scanner. A series of processing operations such as color separation reading of an image and its correction can be continuously and automatically processed, and the time and labor required to manually select and process a cassette for each cassette can be greatly reduced. Was. One stacker accommodates 60 cassettes. The lower or upper cassette is automatically supplied to the scanner, and each cassette is returned to the upper position of the stacker as soon as scanning by the scanner is completed. I have.

However, when such a large number of cassettes are stacked in the order of the processing plan from the bottom or from the top and the supply and recovery are continuously performed and the continuous operation is performed, it is a very efficient and desirable state. However, when a color separation original is created by such image processing for printing plate making, a problem such as a request for re-correction from a customer and a shortened delivery time always occur. This is a common occurrence in the fast-moving world of advertising, and platemakers must take appropriate measures to deal with such situations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a flat scanner having a function of interrupting a cassette of a document film so that such a demand can be quickly satisfied.

[0008]

This object is solved by the following technical means.

[0009] In a printing plate making scanner having a plurality of cassettes in which a document film is held in a planar shape with an image frame mask attached thereto and which can be moved, the stacker is used during continuous disassembly processing of the document film. When performing an interrupt scanning process on a cassette containing another original film that has not been attached to the cassette, the continuous disassembly process is interrupted, the elevating case of the stacker is lowered, and the cassette containing the interrupt original film is externally removed. The stacker is loaded into the upper part of the elevating case and is automatically supplied from the uppermost cassette to the document loading table supply port of the scanner.The scanning of the interrupted original film is performed. A mode changing means is provided so as to return to the continuous disassembling process of the original film cassette. Plane scanner with a set interrupt function.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a flat scanner 1 according to the present invention.
Will be described with reference to a schematic diagram of FIG.

The cassette 10 of the required original film 50 loaded on the elevating case 102 of the stacker 100 is
The document is supplied onto the original mounting table 210 of No. 0. That is, the required cassette 10 is mounted on the stacker 1 provided on the original placing table 210 which is moved to the vicinity of the supply port of the stacker 100 on the left side of FIG.
The rear portion of the cassette 10 is pushed from a supply port of 00 by a pressing member (not shown), is sandwiched between the guide rollers 231 and 232, and is further fixed at a predetermined position on the document table 210 by the receiving and conveying rollers 233 and 234. Carried.

When the original table 210 is moved rightward by the reverse rotation of the driving device 222, the sub-scanning of the screen of the original film 50 of the cassette 10 on the original table is performed.

On the other hand, scanning in the main scanning direction is performed by the light sources 301 and 45 °.
The original lens 50 is transmitted through the original film 50 by the reflecting mirror 302 inclined to the right side, the projection lens 303, the V mirror 304 for changing the optical path direction,
An image is formed on the CCD 308 as a plurality of line sensors for image reading by the 305. A color separation filter or a dichroic mirror is provided in front of the CCD 308.

That is, the image of the color original film 50 read and formed on the CCD 308 is, for example, color-separated, and is sequentially digitized by the A / D converter 410. The necessary corrections are made via the means 430 and input to the memory 440 and stored.

A color CRT monitor 470 for adjusting the image density and inputting characters while viewing the image displayed on the CRT is connected via an interface 460 for a personal computer terminal as a control device. Have been.

Then, the cassette 10 of the original film 50 is
Stacker 10 carrying the cassette 10 or storing the cassette 10
0 up and down case 102 is moved up and down.
0 for receiving the cassette 10, moving the cassette 10 in the sub-scanning direction, and turning on and off the illumination light source 301.
0 is provided.

Next, the cassette 10 for the original film 50 used in the present invention will be described with reference to the perspective view of FIG.

The cassette 10 includes a document holding sheet 13 for holding a document film 50 between a lower cassette frame 11 and an upper cassette frame 12.
Are provided, and windows for the original image area are opened, and transparent holding plates 14 and 15 made of acrylic or glass are fitted therein, so that the flatness of the original film 50 is maintained and the original film 50 is Strong protection from trauma.

The cassette 10 in which the original film 50 is stored, the upper and lower cassette frames 11 and 12 are closed and the cassette lock 17 is locked, and the elevating case 1 of the stacker 100 is
02 is placed and stored in the original mounting table 210 of the scanner 1
Is supplied to the scanner and scanned, image reading and various intended required corrections are performed, and necessary data for printing plate making desired by the customer is created.

Further, an independent identification mark 16 corresponding to each original film 50 is provided on a part of the side surface of the cassette 10 in which the original film 50 is stored.

As the identification symbol 16, a bar code and an arithmetic numeral printed in parallel as shown in the plan view of FIG. 4 are conveniently used.

The identification signal target 16 is used in various ways.

In order to specify the screen of the original film 50 during the operation, it is troublesome and error-prone to pick up the necessary original film as if looking at the screen each time and feeling uncomfortable. In order to eliminate such inconveniences and inconveniences, it is desirable to specify by the number or symbol attached to the cassette 10 for storing the original film 50, and this can be said to be the simplest and accurate specifying means. Also, the identification symbol
16 includes a machine language that can be intuitively understood by humans and a bar code, for example, a bar code. The scanner 1 also includes the fixed frame 101 of the stacker 100.
This can be conveniently read because it can be read by the barcode reader 21 or the like attached to the device and stored. The information such as the screen size can be entered therein, and the scanner can be used as a means for storing the cassette 10 together with various data.

Next, the scanner having the cassette interrupt function of the present invention will be described more specifically.

The lifting case 102 of the stacker 100 is
Driven by a driving motor 105 mounted on the fixed frame 101 and mounted on the fixed frame 101 so as to move up and down. This is achieved, for example, by the fact that a guide block 103A which is screw-fitted to a lead screw 104 directly connected to the motor 105 and is moved up and down is integrally attached to the lift 103.

Now, as shown in the perspective view of FIG. 3, the present applicant puts 60 cassettes into one elevating case 102,
The case, that is, a total of 120 sheets are loaded in the stacker 100,
Separately, the collection elevating case 102 that has been scanned is loaded, so that the scanning of the cassette 10 of 120 original films can be automatically and continuously processed in the continuous mode.

Then, four lifting cases 102 can be provided. That is, two cassettes each containing 60 sheets and two empty cassettes.

FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b) are schematic plan views showing this state.
2A, the next waiting elevating case is 102B, the next empty case is 102C, and the last empty elevating case is 102D.

FIG. 5 (a) shows that the ascending / descending case 102A first starts scanning sequentially from the top cassette, and the scanned cassette 1 is placed in an empty case of the ascending / descending case 102C.
0 is being collected, and FIG. 5 (b) shows that the scanning of the 60 cassettes 10 in the first row elevating case 102A is completed and the second row elevating case 102B is All elevating cases 102A, 102 to be located at the supply port
B, 102C, and 102D have shown the state moved by one row.

With such a scanner, both pre-scanning and main scanning are possible.

The pre-scan is an operation including various corrections, layout of image positions, and writing of characters when disassembling the image of the original film, and requires a fairly skilled operation. Since the scan is performed to execute such pre-scan data, almost all automatic operations are required.

In any case, when the interrupt mode is entered while the continuous scan mode is entered,
When the scanning of the specific cassette 10 in the continuous mode is completely completed, and when it is discharged into the recovery elevating case (e.g., 102C), the elevating case (e.g., 102A) supplying the cassette 10 is placed one stage below. If the cassette 10 to be lowered by one cassette and to be interrupted is mounted on the elevating case 102 and started up, the series of interrupt processing can be completed. The cassette after the interruption processing is received in the elevating case 102C for recovery, and can be converted into the continuous scan mode again to resume the normal operation.

Such a mode is referred to as a step interrupt mode.

The interrupt mode can be switched to the continuous interrupt mode by inserting a plurality of other cassettes. In this case, the cassettes are inserted one by one in the same operation as in the step interrupt mode, and are repeated for a plurality of cassettes. In the meantime, all the interrupted cassettes are continuously scanned, and when the scanning is completed and the scanned interrupted cassette is discharged to the recovery elevating case 102C and taken out, the normal continuous scanning is performed again. The mode is switched to the mode to be operated.

When returning to the normal continuous mode, the elevating case 102A rises to the original supply port. However, since the identification code of the cassette is confirmed by the bar code reader 21, an unscanned cassette may be pulled out. Never.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the interrupt operation of the step interrupt mode among the interrupt functions described above.

[0037]

According to the present invention, there is provided a scanner for printing plate making which can efficiently automate cassette scanning in a continuous mode and can cope with an emergency interruption without impairing the work efficiency. I realized it.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a flat scanner showing the overall configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an original film cassette used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a flat scanner according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an identification code.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view of a supply and recovery stacker.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an interrupt operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Flatbed scanner 10 Cassette 16 Identification mark 21 Bar code reader 50 Document film 100 Stacker 101 Fixed frame 102, 102A, 102B, 102C, 102D Lifting case 103 Lifting table 103A Guide block 104 Lead screw 105 Motor 200 Subscanning section 210 Document table 231,232 Guide rollers 233,234 Receiving / conveying rollers 300 Optical system 301 Light source 303 Projection lens 308 Line sensor (CCD) 410 A / D converter 420 Signal correction means 430 Color correction means 440 Memory 450 Control device for machine control 460 Interface 470 CRT monitor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI H04N 1/10 G06F 15/64 320P 1/107 H04N 1/10 // G06K 13/103

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printing plate making scanner having a plurality of cassettes in which a document film is held in a planar shape with an image frame mask and arranged in a movable manner and having a movable stacker during continuous disassembly of the document film. When performing an interrupt scanning process on a cassette containing another original film not attached to the stacker, the continuous disassembling process is interrupted, the elevating case of the stacker is lowered, and the cassette containing the interrupt original film is externally mounted. The stacker is loaded into the upper part of the elevating case of the stacker, automatically supplied from the uppermost cassette to the document mounting table supply port of the scanner, scans the interrupted original film, and after the interrupting operation is completed, the regular stacker is operated. An original film provided with a mode changing means for returning to a continuous disassembling process of the original film cassette being loaded; Flatbed scanner with a cassette interrupt function.