JPH08145910A - Inspection equipment of printing - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To obtain inspection equipment of printing which inspects a printing fault of a printed matter while taking in human visual information, executes printing again in the case when it is determined that the printing fault exists, and outputs only a normal printed matter. CONSTITUTION: An image input part 103 inputs an image on a printed matter P and a printing inspection part 104 inspects the quality of the printed matter P on the basis of the inputted image. When the result of this inspection shows a fault, the image inputted by the image input part 103 is displayed in an image display part 106. Based on the displayed image, a determiner executes determination of the quality and inputs the result of the determination by a determination input part 107. When this inputted result of the determination shows the fault, paper P' is supplied by a paper supply part 113 and printing is conducted again by a printing part 115. An image on the paper P' printed again is inputted by an image input part 123 and displayed in the image display part 106, and the determiner executes determination of the quality again and inputs the result of the determination by the determination input part 107.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a print inspection apparatus for inspecting a printed matter such as a New Year's postcard for good or bad, and for printing again if defective.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A print inspection in which an image is read at the same time as printing and the printed image is inspected by using the read image to select only good prints and, if the print is defective, print again. As a device, for example, one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-167453 is known.

[0003] This is a serial number print inspection apparatus for producing a print medium which is a serial number and the same number cannot be duplicated, and a printing means for printing the serial number on each conveyed print medium, and When the inspection means for inspecting the good or bad of the printing state by the printing means and the operation control of the conveying means, the printing means and the inspection means are performed, and the inspection result by the inspection means becomes defective, the inspection result is used as a basis. And a control unit for controlling reprinting of the printing unit.

[0004]

However, in such a print inspection apparatus, it is difficult to match the inspection result of the print inspection means with the print quality perceived by humans. For example, if you want to confirm the number printing by the composite similarity method,
The similarity value and print quality do not always match,
The inspection means may determine that printing is normal for humans, and the inspection means may determine that printing is defective for humans. There is a problem that it may not be reprinted.

Further, in this print inspection apparatus, when it is judged that the print is defective in the print inspection and reprinting is performed, the print quality for the print cannot be confirmed, and it is guaranteed that the print is a completely good product. The problem is that it is difficult.

Therefore, according to the present invention, a print defect of a printed matter is inspected while taking in visual information of a human being, if it is determined that the print is defective, the print is performed again, and the print state is confirmed as necessary. However, an object of the present invention is to provide a print inspection device that outputs only normal printed matter.

[0007]

A print inspection apparatus according to the present invention comprises an image input means for inputting an image on a printed matter, and an inspection for inspecting whether the printed matter is good or defective based on the image inputted by the image input means. Means and a display means for displaying an image input by the image input means when the inspection result of the inspection means is defective, and a judge judges whether the image is good or defective based on the image displayed on the display means. It comprises a judgment input means for inputting the judgment result made, and a printing means for printing a printed matter similar to the printed matter when the judgment result inputted by the judgment input means is defective.

Further, the print inspection apparatus of the present invention inspects whether the printed matter is good or defective based on the first image inputting means for inputting the image on the printed matter and the image inputted by the first image inputting means. And a second image inputting means for inputting an image on the printed matter printed by the printing means when the inspection result of the inspecting means is defective. , A display means for displaying the image input by the second image input means, and a determination input means for inputting the determination result of the determination made by the judge based on the image displayed on the display means. It has and.

Further, the printing inspection apparatus of the present invention inspects the first image inputting means for inputting an image on a printed matter, and the good or defective of the printed matter based on the image inputted by the first image inputting means. The inspection means, the first display means for displaying the image input by the first image input means, and the image displayed on the first display means when the inspection result of the inspection means is defective. First judgment input means for inputting a judgment result obtained by the judge based on whether the judgment is good or bad, and when the judgment result inputted by the first judgment input means is defective, a printed matter similar to the printed matter Printing means for printing, a second image input means for inputting an image on a printed matter printed by the printing means, and a second display means for displaying the image input by the second image input means. ,this Judge is good on the basis of the image displayed on the second display means, and a second determination input means for inputting a judgment result of performing judgment of a defective.

Further, the print inspection apparatus of the present invention comprises first image input means for inputting an image on a conveyed printed matter,
Inspecting means for inspecting whether the printed matter is good or bad based on the image inputted by the first image inputting means, and the image inputted by the first image inputting means when the inspection result of the inspecting means is defective. Based on the image displayed on the first display means for displaying the image transmitted by the first transmission means and the image transmitted by the first transmission means. A first judgment input means for inputting a judgment result of a defect judgment, a storage means for storing the judgment result inputted by the first judgment input means, and the judgment stored in the storage means. When the result is bad, the sorting control means for sorting the conveyed printed matter into a specific stacking unit,
When the determination result stored in the storage means is defective,
Printing means for printing a printed matter similar to the printed matter, second image inputting means for inputting an image on the printed matter printed by the printing means, and transmitting an image inputted by the second image inputting means Based on the second transmission means, the second display means for displaying the image transmitted by the second transmission means, and the image displayed on the second display means, the judge is good or bad. Second determination input means for inputting the determination result of the determination is provided.

[0011]

With respect to the defective print result of the inspection means, by referring to the information of the visual inspection, it is possible to obtain the defective result which is consistent with the human judgment, and the defective print result is printed again. Can be exchanged. In addition, it is possible to confirm whether the printed matter printed again is good or bad based on the image, and it is possible to generate a printed matter that has been completely printed and inspected.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows the configuration of a print inspection apparatus according to this embodiment. This print inspection device
1 printed printed matter P set in the supply unit (not shown)
It is mainly composed of a take-out section 100 for sequentially taking out the sheets one by one, a conveying path 101 for conveying the printed matter P taken out by the taking-out section 100, a line sensor for optically inputting an image on the printed matter P conveyed by the conveying path 101, and the like. The image input unit 103 for performing the sorting operation based on the inspection result of the printed matter P, and the printed matter P conveyed on the conveying path 101 is conveyed by the conveying path 101a or 101.
b, the gate mechanism 122 that guides the gate mechanism 122, the sorting control unit 111 that controls the driving of the gate mechanism 122, and the printed matter P (defective product) that is guided to the transport path 101b by the gate mechanism 122.
A stacking unit 112 for stacking sheets, a paper supply unit 113 for supplying a paper P ′ as a base paper for printing a predetermined image pattern one by one, and a paper P ′ supplied by the paper supply unit 113.
101 d for conveying the sheet P, the printing unit 115 for printing a predetermined image pattern on the sheet P ′ conveyed by the conveying route 101 d, the sheet P ′ printed by the printing unit 115 and conveyed by the conveying route 101 d (reprinted. Image input section 123 mainly composed of a line sensor or the like for optically inputting an image on the printed matter P), and a print inspection section 104 for inspecting good or bad printing based on the inputted image of the printed matter P. , Data communication units 105, 108, 109 for transmitting and receiving data,
124, an image display unit 106 that displays images and the like, a determination input unit 107 that inputs the determination result of the determiner based on the images displayed on the image display unit 106, and the final printed matter P.
Determination result storage unit 110 that stores the quality data of the above, a control unit 114 that controls the mechanical unit according to the result of the determination result storage unit 110, and sensors 117, 118, and 119 that detect the conveyance state of the printed matter P (paper P ′). , 120, 12
1. A system control unit 102 that controls the entire apparatus, an operation unit 125 that is used for system control, a conveyance path 101e that conveys the printed matter P that has been inspected, and a printed matter P that is conveyed by the conveyance path 101e. It is composed of a stacking unit 116 that stacks non-defective products.

The printed matter P is, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, number information 3 composed of a plurality of numbers on a sheet P '.
01 is printed. It is assumed that the number information 301 is continuously updated for each sheet, and that the same number cannot exist for two sheets.

The printed matter P taken out by the take-out section 100 is conveyed to the image input section 103 by the conveying path 101, passes through the gate mechanism 122, and then the conveying path 101a or 101b.
And is conveyed to the stacking unit 112 or the stacking unit 116, and the printed matter P is classified as a good product or a defective product. Further, when the printed matter P is defective in printing, the unprinted paper P ′ is supplied by the paper supply unit 113 and the printing unit 11 is supplied by the transport path 101 d.
5, it is conveyed to the image input unit 123, and is conveyed to the stacking unit 116 via the conveyance path 101e.

The print inspection unit 104, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, has an image buffer 501, threshold processing units 502, and 2.
Value image buffer 503, program memory 504, reference data storage unit 505, number information input unit 510, inspection result output unit 506, CPU 507, pattern comparison unit 508,
Further, it is composed of the communication data control unit 509, and compares the input image data with the reference data.

That is, the print inspection unit 104 converts the image data input from the image input unit 103 into the image buffer 50.
1, the threshold processing unit 502 converts the binary image into a binary image, and the binary image is stored in the binary image buffer 503. The threshold processing unit 502 converts each pixel of the image input from the image input unit 103 into pixel values “0” and “1” by determining whether each pixel is equal to or more than a certain threshold.

For example, if the input image data is the data shown in FIG. 6, the binary image as shown in FIG. 7 can be obtained by processing the data with the threshold value "60". . The binary image buffer 503 stores the binary image as shown in FIG. here,
In FIG. 7, the value “1” is expressed in black and the value “0” is expressed in white.

At the same time, the number information input section 510 receives the number information to be printed sent from the system control section 102. This number information is provided by the system control unit 102.
The detection output of the printing unit P obtained from the sensor 117 is counted on the basis of the start number input from the operation unit 125 at the start of the inspection, and is created while sequentially updating.

After the binary image is stored in the binary image buffer 503, the CPU 507 checks the printing according to the processing procedure (program) stored in the program memory 504. The processing procedure stored in the program memory 504 is a program represented by the flowchart shown in FIG. 8, and the inspection processing will be described below with reference to this flowchart.

First, for the binary image in the binary image buffer 503, the projection data, that is, the cumulative data of the extracted pixels in the vertical and horizontal directions is obtained (S1). For example, when the projection data is obtained for the binary image of FIG. 7, two one-dimensional data Prj1, Prj2 as shown in FIG. 9 are obtained.
Is obtained. That is, the horizontal projection data Prj1 represents the vertical coordinate range of the character, and the vertical projection data Pj1
Since rj2 represents the horizontal coordinate range, the position of the character can be easily detected by using the projection data Prj1 and Prj2.

Next, these two projection data Prj1, P
The position information for each character is extracted using rj2. That is, the detection cutout for each character is performed (S2). After that, printing inspection is performed by comparing each cut out character with the reference data stored in the reference data storage unit 505 (S3, S4).

The reference data storage unit 505 stores binary images of normal printed matter collected in advance for each numeral. In the printing inspection, the number information input unit 510 inputs the number information to be printed sent from the system control unit 102, and the reference data storage unit 50.
Select the reference data corresponding to the number information from 5,
The pattern comparison unit 508 compares the two.

The pattern comparison unit 508 is, for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in 0, the exclusive OR operation unit 901, the logical inversion unit 902, the counter 903, the address generation unit 904, the latch circuit 905, the buffers 906 and 907, and I
/ O ports 908 and 909.

That is, the pattern comparison unit 508 first selects the reference data according to the number information input from the number information input unit 510 via the I / O port 908 by the address generation unit 904. Storage unit 50
5, an address signal for accessing 5 and an address signal for accessing the corresponding binary image buffer 503 are alternately generated via the buffer 907, as shown in FIG.

The reference data read by the address signal generated from the address generator 904 is stored in the buffer 906.
Is held in the latch circuit 905 via the buffer, and then the binary image data is input via the buffer 906 and is input to the exclusive OR calculator 901 together with the output of the latch circuit 905. The output of the exclusive OR operation unit 901 is inverted by the logical inversion unit 902 and then becomes the input of the counter 903.

The data input to the counter 903 has a value of "1" when the values of the reference data and the binary image data match with each other, and has a value of "0" when the values do not match, due to the configuration of FIG. . The counter 903 counts this data according to a clock signal output from the address generation unit 904 every time one pixel is compared, and as a result, outputs the number of pixels in the image where the reference data and the binary image data match. Will be done. The output of the counter 903 is output via the I / O port 909.

In this way, the pattern comparison unit 508 compares the number of pixels for each character of the input binary image by counting the number of pixels that match the reference data of the number information to be printed, and the comparison is performed. It is an inspection.

Thereafter, it is judged whether or not the counting result is equal to or more than the preset allowable value (S5),
If not, it is determined that there is a printing defect, and the inspection result output unit 506 outputs the result (S9). If all the characters included in one printed matter P are judged to be good (normal), the printed matter P is regarded as normal.
The inspection result output unit 506 outputs the result (S6).
S7, S8).

Here, the permissible value is set to a value such that a printing defect is strictly inspected. That is, the print inspection unit 1
The allowable value is set so that what is judged to be “good” by 04 is judged to be “defective” if the data is suspicious even if the printing is completely completed.

The image display unit 106 is, for example, as shown in FIG. 12, a data receiving unit 1101 for receiving data from the data communication unit 108, a data read control unit 1102,
A frame memory 1103, a reference data storage unit 1104,
A multiplexer 1105 for selecting two image data,
An image data modulator 1106 for converting digital image data into a video (analog) signal, and a display unit 11 such as a CRT.
07, a switching signal input unit 1108, and a multivibrator 1109 that generates a pulse signal at regular time intervals.
It consists of

That is, the image display unit 106 stores the image data sent from the data communication unit 108 in the frame memory 1.
After storing in 103, the data read control unit 1102 reads the image data. At the same time, the reference data storage unit 11
The reference data stored in 04 is also read by the data read control unit 1102.

The multiplexer 1105 receives either the image data read from the frame memory 1103 or the image data read from the reference data storage unit 1104 according to a signal obtained from the switching signal input unit 1108 or the multivibrator 1109. Select and output. Any of the image data output from the multiplexer 1105 is converted into a video signal by the image data modulation unit 1106 and displayed on the display unit 1107 as shown in FIG.

According to the configuration of FIG. 12, the image display unit 106
Can switch and display the image to be inspected and the data of the standard sample according to the signal of the switch input to the switching signal input unit 1108, and can easily perform visual judgment as to whether the printing of the inspected object is good or bad. You can Also,
According to the signal from the multivibrator 1109,
The image to be inspected and the data of the standard sample can be switched and displayed at regular time intervals, and an environment where human confirmation work such as so-called afterimage inspection can be easily performed can be provided.

Next, the overall operation of the above-mentioned structure will be described with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGS. The take-out unit 100 takes out the printed matter P one by one according to the control signal from the system control unit 102,
The printed matter P taken out is conveyed by the conveying path 101 (S11). The printed matter P being conveyed is detected by the sensor 117
After passing through, the detection signal is input to the system control unit 102, so that the image is input by the image input unit 103 (S12). This input image is input as, for example, two-dimensional digital image data as shown in FIG. Here, in FIG. 6, one square represents one pixel, and the number in the square represents the pixel value. In the example of FIG. 6, each pixel of horizontal 40 pixels and vertical 20 pixels is input as an image of 256 stages.

The image input by the image input unit 103 is sent to the print inspection unit 104. The print inspection unit 104 inspects the printed matter P on the input image as described above (S13).

The inspection result of the print inspection unit 104 is normal (good).
If so (S14), the information of "good" is stored in the determination result storage unit 110 via the data communication units 105 and 109. Upon receiving the information stored in the determination result storage unit 110, the control unit 114 controls the gate mechanism 112 via the sorting control unit 111 for the corresponding printed matter P that has passed through the sensor 118 at the timing when the sensor 118 is blocked. Driven and select the route A (conveyance route 101a) for classification (S2
1), the sensor 121 is stacked on the stacking unit 116 at the timing when the sensor 121 is blocked via the transport path 101e (S31).

If the inspection result of the print inspection unit 104 is not normal (if printing is defective), the image of the printed matter P stored in the image buffer 501 is transferred to the data communication units 105, 1.
The image is transmitted to the image display unit 106 via 08 (S15), and the image is displayed on the image display unit 106 (S16).

By visually observing the image of defective printing displayed on the image display unit 106, it is judged whether or not the defective printing is finally made, and the judgment result is judged by the judgment input unit 1
It is input by 07 (S17). Determination input unit 107
For example, as shown in FIG. 13, it can be configured by two push button switches 1203 for inputting good and bad, and can be installed adjacent to the image display unit 106.

The final judgment result input by the judgment input unit 107 is stored in the judgment result storage unit 110 via the data communication units 108 and 109. If the determination result of “good” is stored in the determination result storage unit 110 (S18), the control unit 1
14 receives the information and drives the gate mechanism 112 through the sorting control unit 111 to select the corresponding route A (conveyance route 101a) for the corresponding printed matter P that has passed through the sensor 118. (S21), and the sensor 121 is stacked on the stacking unit 116 at the timing when the sensor 121 is blocked via the transport path 101e (S31).

When the result of determination of "defective" is stored in the determination result storage unit 110 (S18), the control unit 114 receives the information, and the corresponding printed matter P that has passed the sensor 118.
, The gate mechanism 112 via the sorting control unit 111.
Are driven to select the route B (conveyance route 101b) for classification (S20), and the sensors 119 are stacked at the timing when the sensors 119 are blocked.

At this time, the control unit 114 transfers the print information for reprinting to the printing unit 115 (S19) and drives the paper supply unit 113 to set the paper P'to 1
Sheets are supplied (S23), and the printing unit 1 is driven by the conveyance path 101d.
Transport to 15. The printing unit 115 prints the print information (number information in this case) transferred from the control unit 114 on the conveyed paper P ′ at the timing when the sensor 120 is blocked (S24).

Paper P'printed by the printing unit 115
Is sent to the image input unit 123 via the transport path 101d, the image is input here (S25), and is again transmitted to the image display unit 106 via the data communication units 124 and 108 (S26) and displayed (S26). S27).

Here again, the re-printed image displayed on the image display unit 106 is visually checked by the judge,
It is determined whether or not printing is defective, and the determination result is input by the determination input unit 107 (S28). Judgment input section 1
If the determination result input in 07 is normal (S29),
The sheets are stacked on the stacking unit 116 at the timing when the sensor 121 is blocked through the transport path 101e (S31). Judgment input section 1
When the determination result input in 07 is not normal, the information of the machine stop is displayed on the operation unit 125 or the like (S30), and the operation of this apparatus is temporarily stopped.

According to the printing inspection apparatus described above, the printed state of each printed matter P is automatically inspected one by one, and when it is determined that the printing is defective, a human visual judgment is made. Based on the above, the final judgment of good or bad printing is made.If the printing is still defective, the printing is performed again, and then the visual judgment is made again to make a judgment of good or bad printing. Inspection can be realized with little effort.

In the above embodiment, the inspection of printed matter such as New Year's postcards has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and is similarly applied to the inspection of securities such as banknotes and checks. it can.

[0046]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, regarding a print defect in the inspection result of the inspection means, by referring to the information of the visual inspection, the defect determination result that matches the human judgment can be obtained. In addition, it is possible to provide a print inspection apparatus that can obtain the print inspection device and can replace and replace only defective print products.

Further, regarding the printed matter which is printed again,
It is possible to provide a print inspection device capable of confirming whether the image is good or bad based on the image and capable of generating a printed matter that has been completely print-inspected.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of a print inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a printed matter to be inspected.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a print inspection processing operation.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a print inspection processing operation.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a print inspection unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a specific example of image data input by an image input unit.

7 is a diagram showing an example of a binary image obtained by binarizing the image of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a print inspection unit.

9 is a diagram showing an example of projection data created for the binary image of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of a pattern comparison unit in the print inspection unit.

FIG. 11 is a timing chart explaining the operation of the pattern comparison unit.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of an image display unit.

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing a specific external appearance of an image display unit and a determination input unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

P ... printed matter, P '... paper, 100 ... take-out section, 10
1 ... conveyance path, 102 ... system control section, 103 ...
Image input unit, 104 ... Print inspection unit, 106 ... Image display unit, 107 ... Judgment input unit, 110 ... Judgment result storage unit, 111 ... Classification control unit, 112 ... Stacking unit, 113
...... Sheet supply unit, 114 ...... Control unit, 115 ...... Printing unit, 116 …… Stacking unit, 122 …… Gate mechanism, 123
…… Image input section.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Toshiyasu Yamaoka 1-1 1-1 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo Toshiba Headquarters Office (72) Inventor Hideki Owada 70 Yanagicho, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Inside Terrigent Technology Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image input means for inputting an image on a printed matter, an inspection means for inspecting whether the printed matter is good or defective based on the image inputted by the image input means, and an inspection result of the inspection means is defective. At this time, the display means for displaying the image input by the image input means, and the judgment person is good based on the image displayed on the display means,
A judgment input means for inputting the judgment result of the judgment of the defect, and when the judgment result inputted by this judgment input means is defective,
A printing inspection device comprising: a printing unit that prints a printed matter similar to the printed matter. 2. The inspection means includes a character cutout means for detecting and cutting out a character from an image input by the image input means,
Comparing means for comparing the characters cut out by the character cutting means with the reference data stored in advance for each pixel, and a result of comparison by the comparing means,
It is characterized by comprising a counting means for counting the number of coincident pixels and an inspection result output means for outputting an inspection result of good or defective depending on whether or not the count value of the counting means is a preset allowable value or more. The print inspection apparatus according to claim 1. 3. A first image input means for inputting an image on a printed matter, an inspection means for inspecting whether the printed matter is good or defective based on the image input by the first image input means, and this inspection means. When the inspection result is defective, a printing means for printing a printed matter similar to the printed matter, a second image inputting means for inputting an image on the printed matter printed by the printing means, and a second image inputting means The display means for displaying the image input by, and the judgment person is good based on the image displayed on this display means,
A print inspection apparatus comprising: a judgment input means for inputting a judgment result of judgment of a defect. 4. A first image input means for inputting an image on a printed matter, an inspection means for inspecting whether the printed matter is good or defective based on the image input by the first image input means, and this inspection means. When the inspection result is bad, the first display means for displaying the image input by the first image input means, and the judge is good or bad based on the image displayed on the first display means. A first judgment input means for inputting a judgment result of the judgment, and a printing means for printing a printed matter similar to the printed matter when the judgment result inputted by the first judgment input means is defective. Second image input means for inputting an image on a printed matter printed by the printing means, second display means for displaying the image input by the second image input means, and second display means Based on the displayed image, the judge is good or bad. Print inspection device and the second determination input means for inputting a judgment result of performing determination, characterized by comprising a make. 5. A first image input unit for inputting an image on a printed material to be conveyed, and an inspection unit for inspecting whether the printed material is good or defective based on the image input by the first image input unit. When the inspection result of the inspection means is defective, a first transmission means for transmitting the image input by the first image input means and a first transmission means for displaying the image transmitted by the first transmission means Display means, a first determination input means for inputting a determination result of the determination made by the determiner as good or bad based on the image displayed on the first display means, and the first determination input means. A storage unit that stores the determination result input in step S6, and when the determination result stored in the storage unit is defective,
Sorting control means for sorting the conveyed printed material into specific stacking parts, and when the determination result stored in the storage means is defective,
Printing means for printing a printed matter similar to the printed matter, second image input means for inputting an image on the printed matter printed by the printing means, and transmission of the image input by the second image input means The second transmission means, the second display means for displaying the image transmitted by the second transmission means, and the judgment person is good or bad based on the image displayed on the second display means. A print inspection apparatus comprising: a second judgment input means for inputting a judgment result of judgment.