JPH08292548A - Unified management method for plural plate making systems and device therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To realize a unified management of image parts in which the image parts accumulated in respective plate making systems among those plate making systems can be easily utilized by other plate making systems, in a composite plate making system having plural plate making systems. CONSTITUTION: A wide-area identifier (I-ID) and a local identifier (D-ID) are assigned to the respective image parts. The wide-area identifier is common to all the management stations, and the local identifier is generated as the identifier peculiar to a management station in which substance data of parts information or attribute information are stored. The wide-area identifier is generated in a host management station (master station) and the local identifier is generated in each management station (slave station). Corresponding relation between the wide-area identifier and the local identifier is registered in each management station, and the acquisition of parts information from another management station is attained or managed with the wide-area identifier as an index.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for uniformly managing a composite plate making system,
In particular, in a complex plate-making system in which a plate-making management station is provided for each of the plate-making systems and the plate-making process is executed under the control of each plate-making management station, image parts are unified. Technology for managing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In response to the demand for efficiency in the plate making process, it is often practiced to provide a plurality of plate making systems in parallel and perform plate making in each system. In each plate making system, various image parts (picture images, characters, line drawings, logos, etc.) are processed. In the case of a picture image as an example, the original film of the picture image is color-separated by an input scanner,
The digital data is stored in the storage device as an image file. Each plate making system is provided with a plate making management station, and the plate making management station sets a unique file identifier for the image file. Next, the image data and the file identifier are stored in the memory in association with each other, and when the image data is needed in a later process such as a retouching process, the image data is called from the memory using the file identifier as a search index. Has become.

[0003]

By the way, in the conventional plate-making management method, the data of the image parts using such an identifier is stored independently in each plate-making system. Relevance is not considered. Therefore, even if an image component stored in another management station system is called from one management station, it is not possible to know what identifier the desired image component is stored in the other management station. However, there is a problem that a desired image component cannot be specified by an identifier. Therefore, it is difficult to utilize and interchange the image parts managed by each of the plurality of management stations.

There is also a problem that the image parts accumulated as a whole cannot be managed in a unified manner by a plurality of management stations. In particular, when a plurality of management stations adopt their own data management method, it is difficult to share data or manage the data in a unified manner.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to overcome the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and in a composite plate making system having a plurality of plate making systems, image parts accumulated in each plate making system can be transferred from other plate making systems. It is a first object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus that can be easily used and that enable unified management of image parts.

Further, according to the present invention, while achieving the first object, even if each management station adopts a different management system, it is possible to maintain a unified management as a whole while maintaining each management system. The second purpose is to

[0007]

To achieve the above object, the first method of the present invention is such that a plate-making management station is provided in each of a plurality of plate-making systems, and each plate-making management station manages each plate-making management station. A method for uniformly managing a complex plate-making system in which a plate-making process is executed, wherein the plurality of plate-making management stations are communicatively coupled to each other, and each plate-making management station is provided with parts for the management station. To each of the image parts in which at least a part of the information is stored, a unique local identifier is assigned in the plate making management station, and the image parts in which the part information is stored in any of the plurality of plate making management stations. A global identifier common to the plurality of platemaking management stations is assigned to all the Calling the image parts stored in each plate-making management station in association with the local identifier from the other plate-making management station by storing them in association with the local identifier in each plate-making management station. Is characterized by.

According to the second method of the present invention, in the first method, each piece of component information includes substance data of a corresponding image component and attribute information indicating an attribute of the substance data.
In the plate making management station in which at least one of the substance data and the attribute information is stored, a local identifier is generated in the plate making management station.

According to the third method of the present invention, in the first or second method, a local identifier and a wide area identifier are assigned to each plate-making job using each image component, and a local identifier for the plate-making job is assigned. And a wide area identifier are associated with each other and further stored in each plate making management station.

According to a fourth method of the present invention, in the first to third methods, the respective plate making management stations are communicatively coupled to the upper management station, and the wide area identifier is issued by the upper management station. The local identifier is issued by each platemaking management station.

According to a fifth method of the present invention, in the first to fourth methods, a code label in which the wide area identifier or the local identifier is displayed as a code on a main body of an original corresponding to each image part or a storing means thereof. Is affixed.

On the other hand, a first device of the present invention is a device for integrally managing a composite plate-making system in which a plate-making process is executed in each of a plurality of plate-making systems, and the plate-making systems provided so that they can communicate with each other. A management station is provided in each of the plurality of plate-making systems, and a higher-level management station communicatively coupled to each plate-making management station is provided. For each plate-making management station, at least one of the component information is stored in the plate-making management station. All image parts in which parts are stored are assigned a unique local identifier in the plate-making management station, and part information is stored in any of the higher-level management station and plate-making management station. A wide area common to the platemaking management stations Besshi is assigned.

Each of the plate making management stations is provided with a storage means for storing the correspondence between the wide area identifier and the local identifier for an image part in which at least a part of the part information is stored in the plate making management station. The upper management station includes a storage unit that stores a correspondence relationship between the wide area identifier and the local identifier for all image parts for which part information is stored in either the upper management station or each platemaking management station. I have it. The upper management station and any plate-making management station can call the component information of the image component stored in another management station via the wide area identifier.

According to a second device of the present invention, in the first device, a wide area identifier issuing means for issuing the wide area identifier is provided in the upper management station, and a local identifier issuing means for issuing the local identifier is provided. It is installed in the platemaking management station.

The "image component" in the present invention is a general term for an array unit of images such as a picture and a picture, as well as an image to be displayed on a printed matter such as a line drawing, a character and a logo. Also, image layout information and the like can be handled as one of image components.

[0016]

According to the first to fifth methods of the present invention, since a local identifier unique to each plate-making management station and a wide-area identifier common to each plate-making management station are stored in association with each other for image parts, a wide area is stored. It is possible to take out a desired image component from another platemaking management station via the identifier. Therefore, each plate-making management station can be treated as a whole as a single management apparatus while maintaining the information management method unique to each station.

Further, since the wide area identifier is common to a plurality of plate making management stations, unified management of images can be carried out for all plate making systems.

The component information of an image component usually includes the entity data and attribute information of the image component, which may be stored in one management station or distributed to a plurality of management stations. And may be stored. According to the second method of the present invention, a local identifier is generated in the plate making management station which stores at least one of entity data, attribute information and component information.

According to the third method of the present invention, since the local identifier and the wide area identifier are also assigned to the plate-making job, it is possible to identify the individual plate-making management station by the index common to each plate-making job through the wide area identifier.

Further, according to the fourth method of the present invention, since the upper management station is provided and the wide area identifier is issued by the upper management station, adjustment such as prevention of duplication of the wide area identifier can be efficiently performed.

Further, according to the fifth method of the present invention, since the wide area identifier or the local identifier is attached in the form of a code sticker to the original of the image parts or the storing means thereof, the correspondence between each identifier and the original can be easily grasped. Is.

The first apparatus of the present invention has a configuration suitable for carrying out the above-mentioned first method, and utilizes the association between the wide area identifier and the local identifier so that the image parts of different plate making systems can be connected to each other. Mutual use and unified management of each image component are possible.

Further, in the second device of the present invention, the issuance of the local identifier and the wide-area identifier is shared by each management station and the upper management station, whereby the identifier can be efficiently generated.

[0024]

【Example】

[0025]

[1. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a composite plate making system 100 to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied. The composite plate making system 100 includes a parent system (parent plate making system) PM and a plurality of child systems (child plate making system) P1 to Pn. However, n is an integer of 2 or more, and hereinafter, the child systems P1 to Pn are collectively referred to as "child system P". The parent system PM and each child system P are all connected by a local area network or the like, and can communicate with each other.

Each of the parent system PM and the child system P individually has a function as a plate making system.
The internal structure of each system is shown in FIG.
In FIG. 2, the system Pi (PM) includes a device corresponding to each process of plate making, that is, a typical example, including an input scanner 11, a retouching device 12, a plate collecting device 13, and an image output device (output scanner) 14. Management station S
It is under the control of Ti (or parent management station STM). Each of the devices 11 to 14 is a management station STi.
Each terminal has a terminal connected to (STM) and can exchange data with the management station STi (STM).

It should be noted that the parent system PM may mainly perform only plate-making management, and a specific plate-making process may be performed only by the child system P. In this case, devices such as the input scanner 11 in the parent system PM are unnecessary.

[0028]

[2. Details of Management Station FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of the parent management station STM. This parent management station STM has a CPU 11, a RAM 12 and a ROM.
Equipped with 13. Further, a bar code reader 15, a keyboard 16 and an ID management device 17 are provided. Of these, the ID management device 17 includes a microcomputer and the like, and manages an identifier (ID) described later by software.

The communication device 18 is a child management station ST.
The printer 19 has a printing function for communicating with each of i (i = 1 to n).

The database memory 30M stores various management data in the database DB using the identifier of the image part as an index.
Although it is intended to be stored as M, the contents of various tables stored in this database DBM will be described later. And these elements 11-19, 30M are mutually connected via the bus.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the internal structure of the child management station STi. The child management station STi is similar to the parent management station STM of FIG.
In addition to the RAM 22 and the ROM 23, the barcode reader 25, the keyboard 26, and the ID management device 27 are provided. The ID management device 27 is also equipped with a microcomputer, etc., and manages the identifiers by software.

The communication device 28 is the parent management station STM.
A printer 29 similar to the child management station STi is also provided for communicating with the child management station STi.

The database memory 30S is the database memory 30 in the parent management station STM (FIG. 3).
It corresponds to M and stores the database DBS. These elements 21 to 29 and 30S are connected to each other via a bus.

On the other hand, the image data of various image parts used for plate making can be stored in any one of the parent management station STM of FIG. 3 and the child management station STi of FIG. It is also possible to store these management stations STM and STi in duplicate. This storage may be performed, for example, by accumulating in the database memories 30M and 30S, or may be stored in separate storage devices (local media) provided in association with the database memories 30M and 30S, respectively. The storage address may be stored in.

[0035]

[3. Types of Identifiers and Outline of Database of Management Station In the management of the composite plate making system 100 of this embodiment, the following two types of identifiers are assigned to each image part.

Wide area identifier (wide area ID): All image parts (hereinafter, image parts) in which part information is stored in at least one of the management stations STM and STi (i = 1 to n).
"All image parts"), and is an identifier of each image part that is common to all management stations STM and STi (i = 1 to n). Different image parts are given different identifiers, but when one image part is focused on, this wide area identifier is assigned to each management station STM, STS.
Is common in.

Local identifier (local ID): an identifier given to an image component of each image component (hereinafter, “in-station image component”) in which at least a part of the component information is accumulated in each child management station. Is.
Focusing on one child management station STi, different local identifiers are given to different image parts in the child management station STi, but this is irrelevant to what kind of local identifier is generated by another management station. Is. For image parts whose part information is stored only in the parent management station STM, the wide area identifier is also used as the local identifier.

Therefore, for example, four image parts A1
~ A4 (not shown), each of the parts information of the image parts A1 and A2 is in both the first and second child management stations ST1 and ST2; the part information of the image parts A3 is the second child management station. When the component information of the image component A4 is stored only in ST2; only in the parent management station STM; respectively, the identifiers (ID) of the image components A1 to A4, for example, are assigned as shown in Table 1 below. .

[0039]

[Table 1]

The component information of the image component includes the substance data of the image of the image component and the attribute information of the substance data. The attribute information is information indicating the type and format of actual data such as the type and file size of the image part, and the amount of data. These entity data and attribute information may be stored together in one management station or may be stored separately in another management station. In the latter case, the local identifier is generated in all the management stations storing either the entity data or the attribute information. Such distributed storage is generally related to the fact that the amount of substantial data is large. That is, when there is little free space in the database memory in the management station in which the image parts are to be registered, only the actual data of the part information is stored in another management station and “deposited” in the other management station. Distributed storage is effective. Such various aspects will be described later with reference to FIG.

Similarly to the image parts, a wide area identifier and a local identifier are also assigned to the data in which the content of each job is registered as an identifier for mutually distinguishing different plate making jobs. The rules for generating a wide area identifier and a local identifier for a job are the same as those for image parts.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an outline of various tables stored in the database DBM of the parent management station STM, and FIGS. 6 to 8 are diagrams showing examples of concrete registration data in these tables. is there. Database DBM
Various data including the above-mentioned identifiers are registered in the table in association with each other in the following table. Although these figures show image parts, a table is created in the same format for jobs and job identifiers and other information are registered.

“Identifier key control parent table” (M-control table) = see FIGS. 5 and 6. Wide area identifier (wide area ID) Wide area identifiers for all image parts are registered. In the example of FIG. 6, "0001" to "0504" are used as the wide area identifiers of the image parts.
Is registered.

Local Identifier (Local ID) For all image parts, the local identifiers at the stations that mainly manage the attribute information are registered. In the example of FIG. 6, “0001”, ...
“1”, “9320”, etc. are registered. Of these, the local identifiers “0001”, “0501”, and “0503” are the same codes as the corresponding wide area identifiers “0001”, “0501”, and “0503”, and all of the component information of these image components is the parent code. Since it is stored and managed in the management station STM, it corresponds to the allocation of the same local identifier as the wide area identifier. In addition, local identifiers “9320”, “9321”, “93
"22" is for an image part in which the attribute information is stored and managed in one of the child management stations, and is a code of the local identifier in the child management station storing the attribute information.

Regarding the image part with the wide area identifier "0505", the attribute information is stored in the child management station.
Substantial data is stored only in the parent management station STM. Thus, even if only the substantive data is stored in the parent management station STM, if the attribute information is registered in the child management station, a local identifier is issued at the child management station and the parent management station STM is also issued. be registered.

Wide Area Attribute Address For all image parts, the attributes of the image parts, for example, storage addresses such as the type of image and the date of creation are registered. A station identifier is individually assigned to each management station. In the example of FIG. 6, the image component whose attribute information storage station is the parent management station STM is “Mother” and the first child management station ST1. The image parts such as are registered in "Son-1". Also, the symbol "P" indicates a path,
For example, "P-Image" corresponds to the attribute information stored in the paths classified as "Image" (pattern). "Text" indicates a text file of characters, and "Line"
"art" indicates a line drawing. Furthermore, "A" is an attribute (Attr
ibute) information, for example, “A-Ship” is a storage address of a file of attribute information stored as an image part of “ship”.

Wide Area Entity Address The storage address of entity data of all image parts is registered here. Even in this case, the station that stores the actual data of the image part is "Mother" or "Son-1".
, And the storage path (“P”) is registered. Also, "E" indicates "Entity",
For example, the substantial data of the image part with the wide area identifier "0001" is the storage address of the substantial data stored as the image part of "E-Ship", that is, "ship"; ◎ "wide area identifier and wide area attribute information table" (M- (Information table) = See FIGS. 5 and 7. Wide area identifiers Wide area identifiers for all image parts are registered. This is similar to the M-control table (FIG. 6).

Wide area attribute information Specific contents of attribute information of all image parts are registered. Figure 7
In, "File Type", "File Name", "Creation Date", "File Format", "File Size""Size)" and "File Volume (file data volume)". The abbreviations in "File Format" indicate the following.

"TIFF" = "Tag Image File Format";"SGML" = "Standard General Markup Language (Standard Gen)
"eralized Markup Language)";"EPS" = "Encapsulated Postscript Language (Enc
apsulated PostScriptLanguage: registered trademark) ";" BITMAP "=" bitmap format ".

"Wide area identifier, station identifier and station address table" (M-address table) = See FIGS. 5 and 8. Wide area identifier: Wide area identifiers for all image parts are registered.

Station identifier (station I
D): This is an identifier indicating which management station stores the attribute information of the image component.

Station Address This is address information indicating at which address of the management station identified by the station identifier the attribute information of the image part is stored. Each management station is assigned an address on the network, and "Network address-1" is the parent management station STM.
, And "Network address-2" indicates the address of the first child management station ST1.

On the other hand, FIG. 9 shows a child management station STi.
It is a figure which shows the various tables registered into the database DBS of, and the contents are as follows.

"Identifier key control child table" (S-
Control table) = See FIGS. 9 and 10. Wide area identifier: The wide area identifier of the image component in the station in the child management station is registered. Image parts whose part information is stored only in the parent management station STM or other child management stations are not registered in this table.

Local identifier: The local identifier at the child management station for the in-station image part at the child management station is registered in association with the wide area identifier.

Local attribute address The storage address of the attribute information of the image component in the station in the child management station is registered.

Local entity address This is the storage address of the entity data of the in-station image part in the child management station. As for the image component with the wide area identifier “0505”, since the entity data is stored in the parent management station STM as described above, the address in the parent management station STM is registered.

“Wide area identifier and local attribute information table” (S-information table) ● Wide area identifier The wide area identifier for the image component in the station in the child management station is registered.

Local Attribute Information The attribute information of the image component in the station in the child management station is registered.

"Wide area identifier, station identifier and station address table" (S-address table) Wide area identifier: A wide area identifier for the image component in the station is registered.

Station identifier: This is an identifier indicating in which management station the attribute information of the image component is stored.

Station Address This is address information indicating which address of the management station identified by the station identifier stores the attribute information of the image part.

As described above, the wide area identifier and the local identifier are associated with each other and registered in each database, and the parts information is stored in each table using these as an index. Here, since the wide area identifier is registered as an index in all the databases and all the tables, it is possible to efficiently search and transmit the component information between the management stations via the wide area identifier.

A concrete example of the routine for registering / using each of these tables will be described later.

[0065]

[4. Functions of ID Management Device Next, the basic functions of the ID management device 17 (FIG. 2) provided in the parent management station STM and the ID management device 27 (FIG. 3) provided in the child management station STi will be described. To do. FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the basic functions of the ID management device 17 provided in the parent management station STM. The ID management device 17 includes the following function realizing means realized by software.

Wide area identifier / local identifier managing means: means for holding wide area identifiers and local identifiers for all image parts in the M-control table; wide area identifier issuing means: generating a wide area identifier in response to a request to issue a wide area identifier A means of assigning each image part or job. The wide area identifier may be generated by a serial number having a predetermined number of digits, or the wide area identifier having a designated number may be generated.
The generated wide area identifier is used by the parent management station or the child management station; Local identifier registration means: A local identifier transmitted from each child management station and a wide area identifier issued corresponding thereto are paired with M -Means for registering in the control table; ● Wide area identifier / local identifier communication means: The wide area identifier or the local identifier is transmitted to the child management station in response to an inquiry about the identifier information about the specific image component requested by the child management station. Means: ● Wide area identifier / local identifier erasing means: A wide area identifier or a local identifier for an image component or a job for which an erase request is issued from the parent management station or child management station,
Means to delete individually or collectively; ● Parts entity location registration means: parent management station ST
A function to register the location (storage location) of the actual data of image parts or jobs managed by M or the child management station, using only the wide area identifier, the local identifier, or both the wide area identifier and the local identifier as keys. Specifically, in the file management system operated by each management station, the path or file name storing the entity data is specified as the location of the entity data.

Component entity location contact means: This is an image component or inquiry made by the parent management station or the child management station using the wide area identifier only, the local identifier only, or both the wide area identifier and the local identifier as keys. It is a means of notifying the management station that made an inquiry about the location of the job.

Part entity registration / deletion means: This registers entity data of image parts requested by the parent management station or child management station based on wide area identifier / local identifier information and component entity location information. It is a means of erasing.

Part entity copy / move means: This copies or copies the entity data of the image part requested by the parent management station or child management station based on the wide area identifier / local identifier information and the part entity location information. It is a means of moving.

On the other hand, FIG. 14 shows a child management station ST.
It is a block diagram showing a basic function of an ID management device 27 provided in i, and this ID management device 27 includes the following function realizing means realized by software. A unit having the same function is provided for the job.

Wide area identifier / local identifier managing means: This is means for holding the relationship between the wide area identifier given from the parent management station STM and the local identifier issued by the child management station in the S-control table. is there.

Wide area identifier issuance request / reception means: This is means for requesting the parent management station STM to issue a wide area identifier and receiving the issued wide area identifier.

Wide area identifier / local identifier registration means: This registers a wide area identifier transmitted from the parent management station STM and a local identifier issued by the child management station STi as a pair in the S-control table. It is a means. The target image parts are only in-station image parts.

Wide area identifier / local identifier communication means: This is from the child management station to the parent management station ST.
This is a means for communicating to M the local identifier information for the image component of interest.

Wide-area identifier / local identifier erasing means: When the child management station erases the wide-area identifier and local identifier of the image component of interest, it informs the parent management station STM of the information to this effect. It is a means. The wide area identifier and the local identifier can be erased individually, or both can be erased collectively.

Part entity location location contact means: This is the location (storage location) of entity data of the image component in the station at the child management station, that is, the wide area identifier only, the local identifier only, or the wide area identifier and the local identifier. It is a means to contact with both as a key. The “part location” includes the path of the storage location and the storage file name.

Part entity registration / deletion means: This is when the child management station registers or erases the identifier of the image component of interest, according to the conditions, the information of the wide area identifier / local identifier and the information of the entity location are displayed. It is a means for registering or erasing the actual data of the image part based on it.

The above is the main function of the ID management devices 17 and 27.

[0079]

[5. Bar code issuance and pasting] By the way, the wide area identifiers and local identifiers are registered in the databases DBM and DBS and used for managing the plate making process. In the print instruction and the manuscript, which image part corresponds to which identifier. It is desirable to display whether or not. This is because it is possible to easily and accurately correspond the identifier on the digitized database to the image component or individual document arranged in the print instruction.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the identifier assigned to each image component or job is attached to a print instruction sheet in the form of a barcode sticker so that it can be read by a barcode reader.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of issuing a bar code sticker. For example, in the case of a print instruction in which five image parts are arranged on one page, one type as shown in FIG. Issue the page barcode sticker and the barcode sticker for 5 types of image parts. This may be printed using the printers 19 and 29 (FIGS. 3 and 4) or may be printed using a dedicated barcode sticker issuing device. The code displayed on the barcode sticker may be a code corresponding to a wide area identifier or a code corresponding to a local identifier.

Of these, for the manuscripts that have already been submitted, the same bar code seal for image parts is issued two by two.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing the usage of these bar code seals. Of these, in FIG. 16 (a), a bar code seal (part ID) is attached to each image part in the copy of the print instruction. Attach it. Also, a page barcode sticker (page ID) is attached to the corner of the page. It is customary for a print instruction to have tracing paper overlaid on a block as a mount on which the image layout is stated, and print instructions are written on this tracing paper. It is preferable to attach a barcode sticker to this tracing paper.

As shown in FIG. 16 (b), a manuscript bag in which manuscripts that have already been submitted are individually accommodated has the same code as the bar code sticker attached to the instruction sheet for the image parts corresponding to the manuscripts. Manually attach the barcode sticker. 16 shows a bar code reader for reading these bar code stickers, which corresponds to the bar code reader 15 in FIG. 3 and the bar code reader 25 in FIG. Further, by providing a similar bar code reader on the input scanner 11 of FIG. 2 and the terminals on the side of the other working devices 12 to 14, it is possible to read the bar code stickers from these working devices as well.

On the other hand, the work sheet (FIG. 15B) on which the processing contents of the plate making process is printed is the printer 1
Issued on September 29, 29 (Figs. 3 and 4). Although the job identifier (job ID) is printed in the form of a barcode on this worksheet, the job ID may be either a wide area identifier or a local identifier.

By thus displaying the identifier on the print instruction sheet or the worksheet, the association with the identifier on the database becomes easy.

[0087]

[6. FIG. 17 shows a manner of managing substantial data such as image parts.
It is a figure which shows the variation of the aspect managed by BS etc. Three types I to III are shown here. In any type, the parent management station STM manages wide area identifiers and local identifiers for all image parts,
In the child management station, the wide area identifier and the local identifier are managed only for the in-station image parts in the child management station. The same applies to jobs.

In the first type I, the substantial data of the image parts is stored in the parent management station STM, and the path information (which corresponds to the attribute information address) indicating the storage location is stored only in the parent management station STM. Has been done. When the child management station needs the substantive data of the image part, it makes an inquiry to the parent management station STM via the wide area identifier, and the parent management station STM refers to the path information about the image part to refer to the substantive data of the image part. Call and transmit it to the child management station.

In the second type II, the actual data of the image parts is still stored in the parent management station STM, but the path information of the storage location is the parent management station ST.
It is registered with M and each child management station.

In the third type III, the substantial data of the image parts is stored in the child management station, and the path information of the storage location is stored in the parent management station STM and the child management station.

Note that FIG. 17 is focused on an arbitrary image component, and among the plurality of image components, some are type I and others are type II or type III. Management is also possible. This is because there is no mode in which both the substantive data and the attribute information are managed only by the child management station.
This is because M cannot have management information about the image component.

[0092]

[7. Example of Data Storage of Image Parts Next, the variation of the storage location of the actual data of the image parts will be described more concretely.

[0093]

[7-1. Example of Accumulation of Image Component Data in Parent Management Station] FIGS. 18 and 19 show a situation in which substantial data of image components is stored only in the parent management station STM. In addition to these FIG. 18 and FIG.
21 to 27 described later, the "parent management station" is abbreviated as "parent station", and the "child management station" is abbreviated as "child station".

In the storage modes shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, patterns, line drawings, and characters that are image parts to which a wide area identifier (abbreviated as "I-ID") and a local identifier (abbreviated as "D-ID") are attached. Is stored in the location designated by the wide area physical address of the parent management station STM. The local identifier has the same code as the wide-area identifier because the information of the three image components illustrated is all in the parent management station STM.

[0095]

[7-2. Example of Data of Image Parts Accumulated in Parent and Child Management Station] In FIGS. 20 and 21, actual data of image parts are distributed and stored in the parent management station STM and the child management station STi. It shows the situation. Of the four image parts illustrated in the parent management station STM, the wide area identifiers "0001", "0503", "0501"
The image parts marked with have the same code as the wide area identifier because the local information is stored in the parent management station STM, but for the picture to which the wide area identifier "0505" is assigned, Station ST
A local identifier of 1 is assigned. This is shown in FIG.
As described above, while the entity data is stored in the parent management station STM, while the attribute information is registered in the child management station ST1, the child management station S
This is because the local identifier "9322" at T1 is generated.

Since the parts information of the pattern and line drawing exemplified in the child management station ST1 exists in the child management station ST1, the local identifier in the child management station ST1 is generated.

[0097]

[7-3. Example of Accumulating Data of Image Parts in Child Management Station] FIGS. 22 and 23 show a situation in which substantial data of image parts is stored only in the child management station ST1. Therefore, in addition to the wide area identifier, the local identifier at the child management station ST1 is generated for all of the illustrated image parts.

As described above, in the system of this embodiment, the management station for storing the parts information of the image parts is arbitrary and can be accessed from any management station via the wide area identifier. While maintaining a unique data management system, it becomes possible to manage them as if they were one system.

[0099]

[8. Example of identifier / image part registration routine]

[0100]

[8-1. Image part registration from the parent management station] Figure 24
6 is a flowchart showing a routine for registering the component information of the image component from the parent management station and also registering the component information so that the child management station can also utilize the component information. Note that what data is registered in the table in the database in each step of FIG. 24 is illustrated in FIG. 25, and these figures will be referred to below.

First, in step S101 of FIG. 24, in order to register a new image component from the parent management station STM, issuance and registration of a new wide area identifier are requested.
This is done, for example, by input from the keyboard 16 of FIG.

Then, in the parent management station STM, for example, the wide area identifier "0502" is generated and registered in the M-control table and the M-information table (step S10).
2). This is shown in the column of step S102 in FIG.

In the next step S103, the parent management station STM requests registration of the wide area attribute information based on the thus generated wide area identifier, and in response to this, the parent management station STM requests the wide area attribute information table (M-
The component attribute information of the image component is registered in the information table) (step S104). Further, in step S105, a storage request for the actual data of the image component is issued, and the parent management station STM stores the actual data of the image component in the designated location (step S106). This storage location can be arbitrarily designated by input from the keyboard 16 or the like. In FIG. 25, it is shown that the wide area attribute address and the wide area physical address are registered at the stage after these steps S105 to S106. Note that the storage state of the actual data itself is not shown in FIG. 25, but only the registration of the address of the storage location is shown. Further, the fact that the wide area attribute information has been registered is shown in the "wide area attribute information" column.

The registration of the component information is completed up to this stage, and the following is the step of using it in the child management station. In step S107, the wide area identifier of the image component is input from the keyboard 26 on the child management station side requiring the image component, or the barcode attached to the instruction sheet is hit with the barcode reader. This wide area identifier is transmitted from the child management station to the parent management station STM, and the parent management station S
In TM, the part information (entity data and attribute information) of the image part is moved to the child management station using the wide area identifier as a key, and stored in the database of the child management station. At this time, since the actual data moves to the child management station, it does not remain in the parent management station STM, but since the parent management station STM needs to manage all image parts, data such as the storage address of the attribute information is stored in the parent management station STM. Also keep it registered. It should be noted that the parent data is copied by copying the actual data.
It is also possible to transmit from the TM to the child management station, in which case the actual data also remains in the parent management station STM.

In step S108, the child management station defines a local identifier corresponding to the wide area identifier, registers it in the child management station, and transmits it to the parent management station STM for registration in the parent management station STM. This allows the child management station to use the image component, and both the parent management station and the child management station are in a state in which the correspondence between the wide area identifier and the local identifier is registered.

[0106]

[8-2. Image part registration from child management station] Figure 26
27 is a flowchart showing a routine for registering the part information of an image part from one child management station, and also registering the part information so that it can be used from other management stations. The state corresponding to each step is shown in FIG. Is illustrated in. In the following, parts information is registered from the first child management station ST1 and
Consider the case where the part information is used in the child management station ST2 of FIG.

First, in step S201 of FIG. 26, in order to register a new image component, the first child management station ST1 requests the issuance and registration of a new wide area identifier. This is done using, for example, input from the keyboard 26 of FIG. 4 or a bar code reader.

Then, first, the first child management station ST1 itself generates a local identifier (“9321” in FIG. 27) unique to the first child management station ST1,
Register at the child management station ST1 of. Also, the first
The child management station ST1 of the above transmits the local identifier to the parent management station STM and requests the issuance of the wide area identifier corresponding to this local identifier. The parent management station STM registers the transmitted local identifier in the database of the parent management station STM (see the column of step S202 in FIG. 27).

In step S203, a request for registration of wide area attribute information based on the wide area identifier is made from the first child management station ST1. Then, the parent management station STM generates a new wide area identifier corresponding to this local identifier, registers it in the parent management station itself, and transmits the wide area identifier to the first child management station ST1 to register it. The first child management station ST1 notifies the parent management station STM of the storage address of the attribute information of the image component, and the parent management station STM stores the attribute information in the wide area attribute information table (M-information table). And the attribute information is registered in the address specified in this table (step S204).

In step S205, a request for registration of the actual data of the image component is made, and the parent management station STM
The entity data of the image component is stored in the address designated by the wide area attribute information table (step S206).

This completes the storage of the component information about the image component. The following is the step of using it from an arbitrary child management station, but here, as described above, consider the case where the image parts are used in the second child management station ST2.

In step S207, the wide area identifier of the image component is input from the keyboard 26 on the second child management station ST2 side, or the barcode attached to the instruction sheet is hit by the barcode reader 25. This wide area identifier is transmitted from the second child management station ST2 to the parent management station STM, and the parent management station S2.
In TM, the component information (entity data and attribute information) of the image component is ordered from the first child management station ST1 and transmitted to the second child management station ST2 using the wide area identifier as a key.

In this way, the parts information registered in the first child management station ST1 can be used in the second child management station ST2, but the parent management station STM itself needs the actual data of the image parts. When doing so, it is possible to issue a move or copy request to the parent management station STM.

As described above, in this embodiment, the wide area wide area identifier and the local area identifier are issued and registered, and
Parts information can be ordered from any management station using the wide area identifier as a key. Further, since the storage address of the attribute information of all image parts is registered in the parent management station STM, all image parts can be managed in a unified manner.

[0115]

[9. [Modification] With the above-mentioned embodiment, the plate-making process can be unified and efficiently managed by the above-mentioned configuration. However, the present invention can be modified as follows.

The information of the printing page as well as the image parts and the job may be managed by the wide area identifier and the local identifier. Also, layout information and the like can be handled as one of the image parts. In the above-described embodiment, the image parts have been mainly described, but the description about the image parts can be similarly applied to the job and page information.

The parent management station STM as the upper management station may not be provided separately from the child management station STi, and any one child management station may have the function of the parent management station STM.

It is possible to issue these identifiers efficiently by issuing the wide area identifier by the parent management station STM and the local identifier by each child management station STi, but it is possible to issue them to all child management stations STi. It is not prohibited to have a function of issuing a wide area identifier or a function of issuing a local identifier to the parent management station STM. However, when providing the wide area identifier generation means in each child management station STi, it is necessary to communicate the issuance status of the wide area identifier to each other so as not to issue a duplicate code. It is preferable to issue it centrally at the station STM.

The code of the image part is not limited to the bar code, but may be a two-dimensional code or a code such as a number.
Further, it is preferable to attach a code sticker such as a bar code sticker to the instruction manual to display the code. However, for example, when a handwritten character OCR (optical character reading device) is used, the code display is performed using handwritten characters. You can also do

In the above-described embodiment, the job ID is displayed on the worksheet as a part of the printing of the worksheet, but the barcode sticker may be used for the job ID.

The print instruction is not the instruction written on the paper from the beginning, but is the one in which the artwork (digital artwork) digitally recorded on a medium such as a floppy disk is received from the customer and printed. May be.

The part ID attached to the original can be prevented from being stained by attaching it to the original bag. However, when the original ID is allowed to be attached, the barcode may be attached to the original itself.

[0123]

As described above, according to the methods of claims 1 to 5, a local identifier unique to each plate making management station and a wide area identifier common to each plate making management station are stored in association with each other for image parts. Therefore, it is possible to take out a desired image component from another platemaking management station via the wide area identifier. Therefore, each plate-making management station can be treated as a whole as a single management apparatus while maintaining the information management method unique to each station. Therefore, the image parts accumulated in each plate making system can be easily used from other plate making systems, and the image parts can be managed in a unified manner.

Further, even if each plate making management station adopts a different management method, it is possible to carry out unified management as a whole while maintaining each management method.

In particular, according to the method of claim 2, when the component information of the image component includes the entity data and the attribute information of the image component, the local identifier is set in the plate making management station storing at least a part of the component information. As a result, the parts information can be managed by a management method unique to the management station.

According to the method of claim 3, since the local identifier and the wide area identifier are also assigned to the plate-making job, it is possible to specify the individual plate-making management station by the index common to each plate-making job through the wide area identifier.

According to the method of claim 4, since the upper management station is provided and the wide area identifier is issued by the upper management station, adjustment such as prevention of duplication of the wide area identifier can be efficiently performed.

According to the method of claim 5, since the wide area identifier or the local identifier is attached to the original of the image component or the storing means thereof in the form of the code seal, the correspondence between each identifier and the original can be easily grasped.

The apparatus of claim 6 is an apparatus suitable for implementing the method of claim 1.

In particular, the device of claim 7 can efficiently generate the identifier by making each management station and the upper management station share the issuance of the local identifier and the wide area identifier.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a composite plate making system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of each plate making system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of a parent management station STM.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of a child management station STi.

[Fig. 5] Database DBM of the parent management station STM
It is a figure which shows schematic structure of.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of an M-control table registered in a database DBM.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of an M-information table registered in a database DBM.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of an M-address table registered in a database DBM.

FIG. 9: Database D of the child management station STi
It is a figure which shows schematic structure of BS.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an S-control table registered in a database DBS.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of an S-information table registered in the database DBS.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of an S-address table registered in the database DBS.

FIG. 13: ID management device 1 of parent management station STM
It is a functional block diagram of 7.

FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram of an ID management device 27 of a child management station STi.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram of a barcode displaying an identifier.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating the use of a barcode sticker.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing classified storage types of identifiers and component information.

FIG. 18 is a parent management station STM in the case where entity data of image parts is stored only in the parent management station STM.
It is a figure which shows the state in.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a state in the child management station when the entity data of the image part is stored only in the parent management station STM.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a state in the parent management station STM when the substantial data of the image parts are stored in the parent management station STM and the child management station in a distributed manner.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a state in the child management station when the entity data of the image parts are stored in a distributed manner between the parent management station STM and the child management station.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a state in the parent management station STM when the substantial data of the image parts is stored only in the child management station.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a state in the child management station when the substantial data of the image parts is stored only in the child management station.

FIG. 24 is a flow chart in the case of registering image parts from the parent management station STM and using them from the child management station.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing a state in which various data are registered in the table corresponding to the flow of FIG. 24.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart in the case of registering an image component from a child management station and using it from an arbitrary management station.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a state in which various data are registered in the table corresponding to the flow of FIG. 26.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 compound plate making system 15,25 bar code reader 17,27 ID management device 18,28 communication device 30M, 30S database memory PM master plate making system P1 to Pn; P child plate making system STM parent management station STi child management station DBM parent database DMS Children database

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A method for uniformly managing a complex plate-making system in which a plate-making management station is provided in each of a plurality of plate-making systems, and the plate-making process in each plate-making system is executed under the control of each plate-making management station. Then, the plurality of plate making management stations are communicably coupled to each other, and for each plate making management station, in each of the image parts for which at least a part of the part information is stored in the corresponding management station, In addition to assigning a unique local identifier, all of the image parts whose part information is stored in any of the plurality of plate making management stations, a wide area identifier common to the plurality of plate making management stations is assigned, It is stored in each platemaking management station in association with the local identifier. Unified management method of a plurality of plate making system characterized by calling the image parts stored in correspondence with the local identifier to each plate-making management station, via the wide area identifier from another prepress management station. 2. The management method according to claim 1, wherein each component information includes entity data of the corresponding image component and attribute information indicating an attribute of the entity data, and the entity data and the attribute information are A unified management method for a plurality of plate making systems, wherein a local identifier is generated at the plate making management station in which at least one is stored. 3. The management method according to claim 1, wherein a local identifier and a wide area identifier are assigned to each plate making job using each image component, and a local identifier and a wide area identifier for the plate making job are assigned. A unified management method for a plurality of plate-making systems, characterized in that each is further stored in each plate-making management station. 4. The management method according to claim 1, wherein each plate-making management station is communicatively coupled to an upper management station, and the wide area identifier is issued by the upper management station. A unified management method for a plurality of plate-making systems, wherein the local identifier is issued by each plate-making management station. 5. The code according to claim 1, wherein the wide area identifier or the local identifier is displayed as a code on a main body of a document corresponding to each image component or a storing means thereof. A unified management method for a plurality of plate making systems, which is characterized in that labels are attached. 6. An apparatus for uniformly managing a complex plate-making system in which a plate-making process is executed in each of a plurality of plate-making systems, wherein a plate-making management station provided to be able to communicate with each other is one of the plurality of plate-making systems. An upper management station, which is provided for each plate and communicatively coupled to each plate making management station, is provided. For each plate making management station, at least a part of the part information is stored in the plate making management station. Each of them is assigned a unique local identifier in the plate-making management station, and all of the image parts whose part information is stored in either the upper-level management station or the plate-making management station are assigned to the plurality of plate-making management stations. A common global identifier is assigned to each product The management station includes a storage unit that stores a correspondence relationship between the wide area identifier and the local identifier for the image component in which at least a part of the component information is stored in the plate making management station, A storage means for storing the correspondence between the wide area identifier and the local identifier for all image parts whose part information is stored in either the upper management station or each plate making management station; The unitary management apparatus for a plurality of plate-making systems, wherein the plate-making management station can call the component information of the image component stored in another management station via the wide area identifier. 7. The management apparatus according to claim 6, wherein wide area identifier issuing means for issuing the wide area identifier is provided in the upper management station, and local identifier issuing means for issuing the local identifier is provided in each plate making management station. A unified management device for multiple plate making systems.