JPH1165081A - Plate making data control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate data waiting time for an operator and enhance work efficiency at the time of making prints, by checking up on the status of a work at a work terminal and by controlling the work according to the status of the work. SOLUTION: An operator performs a plate making work at a work terminal 4 while inquires of a control server 1 via a network 3 about material data to be used in a following process. The control server 1 retrieves data of the locations where material data corresponding to the inquiry and material data to be used in a following process are stored, and then sends the data to a material memory data base device 2. The material memory data base device 2 retrieves material data corresponding to the data of the locations and outputs them to the work terminal 4. In the event that a plate making work has finished or the finish is near at hand, the work terminal 4 stores the material data in a memory or stores in a work terminal memory device 5 and displays the material data on a display of the work terminal 4 after the plate making work has finished.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plate making system for storing material data as a database and making a plate using the database, and more particularly to a plate making data management system for exchanging data using a network or a storage medium. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, printed matter has been manufactured using a computer. In particular, material data constituting a printed matter composed of image data such as photographs, figures, and patterns, and character data such as characters and character strings is processed. It is used in the plate making process of laying out and creating a printing plate. Further, the efficiency of the plate making operation has been improved by storing the material data as a database for each data type and each related data in a storage device such as a hard disk.

Furthermore, in recent years, the storage capacity of storage media such as FDs (floppy disks) and MOs (magneto-optical disks) has been increased, and network environments such as LANs (local area networks) and the Internet have been developed. Therefore, even if the processes such as the design process, the character data creation process, the image data input process, the plate making (plate collection) process, and the printing process are far away, the transfer of the storage medium and the exchange of data via the network can be performed. The work can be easily performed, each work can be shared, and the efficiency of the work can be improved. For example, when exchanging data via a network, when processing and editing material data with a work terminal device (computer), connect to a main storage device that temporarily stores material data and search for necessary data. Then, the work is performed after the corresponding material data is stored in the storage device of the work terminal device.

[0004]

However, in the plate making operation, first, an operator sends an instruction to the main storage device to perform the operation, and the main storage device prepares and returns necessary data in accordance with the instruction, and returns the instruction. The operator has started work based on the data thus obtained. Therefore, the operator cannot perform the plate making operation until the data is sent from the main storage device, and this waiting time causes the efficiency of the plate making operation to decrease. In addition, when a plurality of work terminals are connected to the main storage device, the main storage device performs all of the above-described processing, so that it takes a long time for the processing, so that the efficiency of the plate making operation is further reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and provides a plate making data management system which can improve the work efficiency in producing printed matter by eliminating the waiting time for data by an operator. is there. Another object of the present invention is to provide a stencil making data management system capable of reducing work time by performing each work in a distributed manner.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 of the plate making data management system according to the present invention is characterized in that text data such as characters and character strings constituting a printed matter, In a plate making system for making a plate using material data composed of image data such as photographs, figures, patterns, etc., a first storage means for classifying the material data for each data type or for classifying related data and storing them. And second storage means for storing the content of the material data processed by the work terminal and the location of the material data in the first storage means; and the location of the material data relating to the next work to be performed at the work terminal Reading means for reading out from the second storage means, and correspondence from the first storage means according to the location of the material data read out by the first reading means. A second reading unit that reads out the material data, a third storage unit that stores the material data read out by the first reading unit, and checks a work situation at the work terminal, and controls the work according to the work situation. And a management means.

[0007] If the location of the material data read from the second storage means by the first reading means is set so as to read the location of the material data related to the work next to the work performed in the work terminal, When the work is completed, the material data of the next work is displayed, so that the waiting time for the work of setting the location of the material data, searching, reading, etc. can be eliminated. Note that the material data to be read is not limited to the above settings, and the setting conditions can be changed according to the work content, the type of material data, and the like.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the management means controls the plate making operation at the same time that the operator performing the plate making operation is performing the plate making operation at the work terminal. The above-described plate making data management system is characterized. The management means for controlling the plate making operation may be provided in a work terminal where the operator performs the plate making operation, or a server may be provided to provide the server with a management function. In addition, by providing a server, it is possible to perform plate making work by reducing the work addition of work terminals, and to manage data of a plurality of work terminals, so that plate making work can be performed easily and promptly. Will be able to

The invention described in claim 3 is the plate making data management system for exchanging data using a network or a storage medium.

[0010] The invention described in claim 4 is the plate making data management system described above, further comprising conversion means for converting the read material data into a data format usable by a work terminal.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an example of a plate making data management system according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a functional configuration of a plate making data management system according to the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a management server which stores the location of a material storage database device 2 of material data including text data such as characters and character strings used for plate making, and image data such as photographs, pictures and figures as a database. It manages the content of the work performed at each work terminal and the progress of the work.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a material storage database device, which stores material data including text data input by a word processor or the like and image data read by a scanner or the like as a database for each data type or for each related data. Things.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a network for transmitting data, such as a LAN, the Internet, or an intranet, but other information transmission media may be used. In this embodiment, the network is used as the information transmission medium. However, data can be exchanged using a storage medium such as an FD or an MO.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a work terminal composed of a computer for processing the material data and making a plate. 5
Reference numeral denotes a work terminal storage device including a storage device such as a hard disk, which stores data such as the material data processed by the work terminal 4. The server, storage device, network, computer, and the like are not new, but use conventionally used devices.

Hereinafter, the flow of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. The plate making data management system according to the present invention is a system for controlling an operation performed when an operator performs a plate making operation on material data at the work terminal 4. Step 201 (S201) First, at the same time as the operator is performing a plate making operation at the work terminal 4, an inquiry is made from the work terminal 4 to the management server 1 via the network 3 for material data to be used in the next work. For example, the content of the inquiry data is the progress of the work performed on the work terminal 4 and the like, and need not be specific data relating to the material data required for the next work.

Step 202 (S 202) Next, the management server 1 stores management data such as material data required according to the progress of the work terminal 4. Searching for the location data stored in the material storage database device 2 of the material data used in the next process of the work,
The data of the location of the material data corresponding to the inquiry is sent to the material storage database device 2 via the network 3.

Step 203 (S 203) Next, the material storage database device 2 searches for the material data corresponding to the sent data of the location and outputs it to the work terminal 4. Step 204 (S204) Next, the material storage database device 2 checks whether the output material data is in a format that can be processed or displayed on the work terminal 4, and if it can be processed or displayed, the material data is sent to the work terminal via a network. Since it is sent, the process proceeds to step 206, and if it cannot be processed or displayed, the process proceeds to step 205. Step 205 (S205) Next, the material storage database device 2 changes the material data in a format that cannot be processed or displayed on the work terminal 4 into a format that can be processed or displayed, and outputs the data to the work terminal 4.

Step 206 (S206) Next, when the plate making operation is completed or is about to be completed, the work terminal 4 stores the transmitted material data in a memory (not described) or stores it in the work terminal storage device 5. Let it.
Then, after the prepress work is completed, the memo or the material data stored in the work terminal storage device 5 is displayed on the display of the work terminal 4, and the operator performs the prepress work, thereby completing the present process.

The time of the inquiry sent from the difference terminal 4 to the management server 1 can be set by an operator such as an operator depending on factors such as the contents of the plate making operation.

In the above-described embodiment, the data of the location of the material data output from the management server 1 is directly output to the material storage database device. By storing the data in the storage device 5, the data of the material location can be handled by the work terminal.

[0021]

As described above, in the plate making data management system of the present invention, when the plate making operation is completed, the material data for the next plate making operation is automatically prepared, so that the material data is read out. Time can be eliminated, so that work efficiency can be improved.

Further, since the management server 1 manages the data, the work status of the work terminal can always be grasped and updated, so that the data can be managed according to the work terminal status. Further, since the plate making operation can be performed without the work terminal 4 performing operations such as data management, the efficiency of the plate making operation can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a plate making data management system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows the flow of the plate making data management system of the present invention.
5 is a flowchart shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 management server 3 material storage database device 3 network 4 work terminal 5 work terminal storage device

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A plate making system for making a plate using material data consisting of text data such as characters and character strings constituting a printed matter, or image data such as photographs, figures and patterns. A first storage unit that classifies or classifies and stores each related data, a second storage unit that stores contents of material data processed by the work terminal, and a location of the material data in the first storage unit. (2) first storage means, first reading means for reading the location of the material data related to the work performed by the work terminal from the second storage device, and first reading means for determining the location of the material data read by the first reading means. Second reading means for reading the corresponding material data from the storage means,
A third storage unit that stores the material data read by the first reading unit, a management unit that checks a work situation at the work terminal, and controls the work according to the work situation;
A plate making data management system comprising: 2. The plate making data management system according to claim 1, wherein said management means performs work control simultaneously with work at said work terminal. 3. The plate making data management system according to claim 1, wherein data exchange is performed using a network or a storage medium. 4. The plate making data management system according to claim 1, further comprising a conversion means for converting the read material data into a data format usable by a work terminal.